Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-08-31

5alsuncauon or all that we mad dcu7
earlier and which marked the second
great period OF growth and develop
Iment. within
Browns Name Immortal.
The name OF John Brown will be
forever associated with this second
period of;Sthe isnation.s history, and
Kansas was sthe Etheaters upon which
the irsts act ons thesseeond. of our great
national nfess dramas was played.
ftywas theSresuIt of hetstruggle In
Kansas wtichS determined that our
country should be$ins deed as well as
freedom, that the sgreat4 experiment of
democratic government on a national
scale shouidt succeedg and not fail.
twas a heroicxstruggie, and, as is
Inevitable with all such struggles, it
hadsa1so dark and terrible side. Very
much was done. oftgcod andsmuch also
OF evil, and, asiwesSinevitable in such
@ period OF revolution often the same
man did both good evil.
For our great good fortune as d ma
ton we, the people Of the United
States as whole, can now afford 10
forget the evil or at least 20 remember
eyes with pride on the good that was
accomplished.
Problems of Life.
Even in ordinary times there are
very few. Of us who do not gsee the
problems Of life ass through a glass
darby, and when the glass is clouded
by3 the murk Sof furious popular pas
sion the vision of the best and the
bravest is dimmed
Looking sback, we are all of US now
able to do Justice to the va1or and the
disinterestedness and the love Of the
right as to each tt was given to see the
right, shown both by the men OF the
north and the men of the south in that
contest which was finally decided by
the attitude ofSthe west
We can admire the heroic valor, the
sincerity, the self devotion shown
alike by the men who wore the blue
ands the men who wore the gray, and
our sadness that such men should have
had to fight one another Is tempted by
the glad knowledge that ever hereafter
their descendants shall be found fight
ing side by. side. struggling In peace
as wen asain war for the uplift of their
common country, all alike resolute to
raise to the highest pitch OF honor and
usefulness the nation to which they all
belong.
AS for the veterans Of the Grand
Army OF the Republic, they deserve
honor and recognition such as are paid
to no other citizens Of the republic,
for to them the republic owes its all,
for to them it owes its very existence.
i do not speak OF this struggle of the
past merely from the historic stand
point Our interest is primarily in the
application today of the lessons taught
by the contest of half century ago.
! It is Of little use for us to pay lip
loyalty to the mighty men Of the past
unless we sincerely endeavor to apply
to the problems of the present pre-
cisely the qualities which in other
crises enabled the men Of those days to
meet those crises.
= 1t is half melancholy and half anus
ing to see the way in which well mean
ing people gather to do honor to the
men who in company with John Brown
and under the lead of Abraham Lin
coin faced and solved the great prob
lens Of the nineteenth century. while
at the same time these same good peo-
pie neFvously shrink from or frantical-
ly denounce those who are trying to
meet the problems Of the twentieth in