New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-05-31
PEOPLES High Duty, He Declares,
to Stand Like Flint Against
Light Suggestions
of Change.
LESSON OF MEMORIAL DAY
Pillars of Popular Government,
Established at Appalling Cost
of Life and Treasure, Should
Not Be Pulled Down,
President Says.

Washington, May 30.-President Taft
made a strong and earnest appeal to-
day for preserving the limitations of the
he said, had been made sacred and in
violate 10y the War of the Revolution
and sealed in the blood of heroes They
had been maintained, he went on at the
cost of appalling sacrifices of life and
treasure. when the nation. led by Abrd-
ham Lincoln. went through the valley cf
the shadow of death, and il was the high
duty Of the people now TO set their faces
like flint against light suggestions IF
change in those dearly bought principles.
mortal Day services in Arlington Nd
tional Cemetery. He said in part:
Il IS the solemn contemplation OF what
the Civil War and it's consequences
really meant IN the history OF our ooun-
try that makes this days celebration
most valuable. It is religious regard
for the pillars Of popular government,
for the principle of liberty regulated by
resentatiVe institutions, which this
days ceremonies should consecrate and
strengthen.
On this day t is the high duty Of all
the people to reVitalize their love of their
country end renew their devotion 10 the
limitations Of its Constitution which
have made I permanent and useful to
the people, and 10 re ;ect, with stern and
Hintlike front, all light suggestion Of
1oa thnSA irla
cost centuries of struggle and heoaton'bs
cf lives 10 secure and maintain.
Rebuke to Congress.
President Taft rebuked Congress for
us failure TO provide at Arlington a
suitable building in which to hold the
annual memorial ceremonies and prop
erly attest the nations reverence for its
honored dead He added:
Such celebrations as this are important.
Of course, 70 renew the loving memories
of the individual heroes whom those OF the
the flesh, but as the Civil War wlthdravs
further and further into the past Memorial
Day becomes less individual and more i'm
personal. and while we do not minimize
IN the slightest the individual heroism Of
those who are buried here, We find our
selves more and more on each recurring
nous total sacrifice the value 10 mankind
81 the principles which these men about US
here Died to upao!d.
Principles Bought by Saorifces.
As we lock back over the range OF
history, the growth Of civilization. the
establishment Of lawful and peaceful au-
thority, and finally the working out Of
individual liberty through the growth of
popular government, we mark the mile
stones of progress by the tremendous
cost that humanity has paid in this on
ward march, and by that cost we note
the greatness OF the advance and tho
sacredness and inViolability Of the prln-
ipIes achieved.
Look back upon the sacrifice OF our an
restors the lives lost. the suffering, the
strenuous endeaVOr. the many defeats, ana
the hnal triumph Of weak s'ruse' NJ oon' 3ii
federacv after six wears Of continuous war
Is Il not the fact that all that effort ana ~
that cost which We celebrate IS the rourth
OF every July increases in our nlnoS me
ton cf Independence and the Constitution
which followed ito Arc not the limitations
of that Constitution. Us DECLARATIONS ~
divisions into separate brancHea tol
'.
them made sacred and inviolate oN N1e
revolutionary war. and are ihey not seS.eu
in the blood of its heroes?
And then when we come 70 the great
est ca.aeIysnn to which our nation nas
ever been subjected-indeed, the greatest
to which any nation has ever been sub
ieeted-wten we think how the ~hoIe
nation, led by Abraham Lincoln went
down into the valley Of the shade" OF
death and the agony Of spirit through
which every patriot passed, the hundreds
Of thousands Of lives and the hunoreos
OF millions OF treasure and the unlimited
SUFFERING OF the people. can we forget the
cause that thereby was maintained, tho
principles that thereby were VInd'eateo'
and the governmental structure whose
foundations were thereby renewed and
made more solid and more veneratedE
We fouoht TO preserve the Union, 10
maintain the Constitution, modIhed only
by striking out slavery and putting on
equality IS to freedom, as to civil and
political rights, the man with the DARK
skin With the man Of the white sk'n'
We consecrated again representative
government by the people. We conse-
Grated aaain the insIienable rights Of the
individual citizen, and we have given
them sanction and a stability that
annual observances like this are best
fitted TO preserve and to maintain.