The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-05-31
VETERANS KEEP DAY.
Major General j. C. Caldwell Speaks
at Auditorium.

notwithstanding the precipitation of
the morning. the afternoon of Memorial
day was bright and the ceremonies
which had been scheduled We're held.
About 1900 people attended the Audi
torium meeting where General John G
Caldwell, the only surviving major gen
eral of the civil war. and who is n
years of age, gave the address of the
afternoon.
I'm my memory there have been Is
wars" said General Caldwell Some OF
these were the bloodiest in the annals
of human history. Were these in the
time when civilization was checked and
rations lived in barbarisrn? On the cor
trary, it was the golden age of Htera-
ture and civilization. They say this Is
HOW a day when the disputes of nations
will be settled by arbitration and war is
no more. 1 wish I could say so, but the
history of the past does not indicate
1T.
Strife Is Law.
Twill Germany submit to arbitration
and decide the question of giving back
Alsace. which was stolen? Will Italy
give Rome back to the pope? VII!
Germany and Russia arbitrate the queS-
ton of the freedom of Poland? VIII
England submit to arbitration, the free
dom of Ireland? No of course not.
Alsace, Poland, Ireland should be free,
but will those things be settled by ar
filtration? No. Strife is the law of
humanity and strife will always be the
defense of nations. There is no such
factor in the campaign for peace as
the ability to make war.
THE war of tomorrow will be bat
tie of machinery, not men," said the
speaker. There will be very few men
seen on the field of action. and the Old
heroic charges of the division, the bat
talon or the brigade will be thing
CT the past. It win then be the man
behind the machinery.
Tribute to Labor.
THE civil war not only perpetuated
the integrity OF the nation and wiped
out the only blot on our beloved land,
the enslavement of the black race, but
it fastened the time when labor should
stand pre- eminent in the minds of the
people The time has now come when
the sweat that distills on the honest
brow of labor is a more precious adorn
llent than the tiara of princes and the
horny hand of labor the truest badge
of nobility. Labor has covered the land
with it's trophies, whitened the seas with
it's commerce and has established net
work of communication throughout the
civilized world, uniting by muscles of
IRON and nerves of steel sections most
remote and interests most diverse. This
is the work of labor"
Praises Waters.
During the course Of his address the
speaker pll0 nIS1 u NdptdIu
Joseph G.. Waters of this city.
There is a man in this audience
whom I saw as a boy in the battle at
Franklin. Tenn" said he. 1T was one
Of the bloodiest battles of the war with
TIE exception of Antietam. Our forces
we're beaten and we were out of ammu-
milton. This boy was sent for one load
of ammunition through difficulties
which I Will not enumerate. He not
only brought one load. but 20 and the
Union army repulsed the enemy. One
load would have left us beaten, but 20
saved the day.
C. N. Bacon was master of celemonies
at the auditorium gathering, reading at
the opening of the exercises a poem on
abraham Lincoln by c. f. Eldridge.
Lincolu's Gettysburg address was read
by Capt. j. NJ. Miller. The invocation
was delivered by DR.. F. N. Lynch, and
the beuediction also given by him.
Miss Grace Bacon sang two patriotic
solos.
| A parade was hastily formed at 1870
o'clock and marched to the Auditorium.