Arizona republican., 1910-05-31

l the fearful partings, and then weep ! ing women retracing their steps along | the silent streets. I sec again the hor- TOTS of the battlefield; comrades torn and mangled by shot and shell, sacri- | feed by the thousand on the red al tars of war. Then in every city, town and hamlet are received back, in long | pine boxes. the mortal remains of gall | lant sons. husbands and fathers, and | the minister proclaims, He died for | his country" Who can forget those | terrible years of strife and bloodshed? | Written in our very souls are they, and there they must remain forever.
 But this day has long since ceased to be an occasion for tears. We come not hither with silent tread and muf- | fled drum. On the first Decoration day wounds were fresh. battle scars | were unhealed, and many were the | desolate homes. The widow in her weeds. and sad-f faced, fatherless chil- dren filled the land with their piteous plaints of grief. They came to scenes like this with down-cast eyes and stricken hearts, that called forth the tender sympathy of every truly patri- otic soul. Let us hope that those days of sorroWing are passed away forever. The flowers we placed upon our com rades' graves this morning tell not of depression. They rather voice an ele- vation of spirit. Gathered by gentle hand, such as in hospital and home ministered to sick. wounded and dying, they are the sweet emblems of the brightness and glory that fills our souls.
 We are here to do honor, not to weep. Today we recall the noble deeds of our heroic dead, and not less heroic living. We think on the cruel hardships they passed. the battles they fought. and the victories they won-mOst of all that grandest victory of all ages-the Union preserved That fills our souls with supreme gladness.
 It was a simple but fundamental principle that summoned to arms the soldiers of the Union. It was theirs to maintain that the United States were a nation and not a loose confederation. The suicidal theory that the states were independent sovereignties had been adopted by the south. They claimed that any state could nullify such laws of the general government
 
 and If cOerced. secede.
 All through the nations history this doctrine of state rights had been a menace to our peace and greatness.
 The colonies came out of the revo- lutionary struggle confederate sov- ereignties. and immediately fell into the chaos of dscordant common wealth Through that war there was no general government worthy of the name. only the presence of a com mon foe unified them for the conflict and the victory.
 Washington, who led the armies in the field. when the war was over. led the way to the formation of the na- tional constitution His counsel die tated the convention that was called first at Annapolis. and afterwards at Philadelphia, and over which he pre- sided. It was at Mount Vernon that movement had its initiative. To Wash ington. as well as to Franklin and Jef- ferson and Madison do we owe consti- tutional liberty.
 We owe much also to the vast abil- ties of Alexander Hamilton. He has been worthily called the first and greatest expounder and defender of the national constitution. Webster be- came his mighty successor. He achieved a magnificent victory over that most eloquent son of the south, Colonel Haines. Webster of the arena of debate and Jackson in the chair of state noblv triumphed over state SOW ereignty in their day. Their was a bloodless victory and only for gen T ..4 conquer d permanent peace. The south grew more and more restive till it challenged to arms.
 The supremacy of the national con stitution must be tested in the cruci ble of civil war. Whether we were a nation or only confederation was to be decided by the sacrifice of blood and millions of treasure. Those who stood for the union felt they had re- ceived a heritage they were in honor bound to maintain ndssoluble. We felt that the fathers had toiled and suffered and sacrificed to hand down to posterity a country and government that should stand forever. We be- lieved that the highest interests of ev- cry part could be best conserved by the maintenance of all the parts in dssoluble. It was our faith, too, that the God of Nature had so constituted our land that it should be one. No na- tural boundaries separated the states. Mighty rivers seemed to unite the whole country for a stupendous com merce and for generating one great united. liberty-loving people. The very decrees of Heaven voiced in nature and in the genius of our institutions antagonized disunion.
 Fifty years ago we saw. too, what was the state of affairs in the num- erous petty. contending states of con- tinental Europe: Continual jealousies; heavy restrictions; burdensome taxes; the impossibility of extensive internal improvements; great standing armies and frequent wars to maintain the bal ance of power.
 A wholesome fear caused us to dread falling into the then chaotic condition of Europe. Should such a catastrophe befall us we could hope for nothing but centuries of fratricidal war. We would thus take perilous steps down wards in the scale of civilization We would ignore the unifying cementing power of our boasted Christian civili- zation and hand ourselves over to the dominion of selfshness, if not of an