The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-05-27
REILLYS TRIBUTE TO NATIONS, DEAD Democratic Congressman Chief Orator in New Haven Says Debt POsterjty Owes c. A. R. Can Not be Paid
 in Pensions

A great crowd turned out last night
 to participate in the Memorial day
 exercises of Admiral Foote post in
 New Haven. Congressman Thomas L.
 Reilly of Meriden was the chief speak
 CT and his oration was received with
 great applause throughout Upon his
 introduction by Commander Reynolds,
 the greeting from the audience show
 ed him at once .'that he was among his friends His statement that the country could not measure in pen sions, either one dollar day or one
 hundred dollars a day, the services of the veterans, was enthusiastically greeted
 He said in part:
 ''The debt this nation owes the men who fought to save it, from '61 to '65
 will never be repaid in money, though the country were to pour out to them | it's wealth of hidden gold. It can new | CT be paid by honors to their mem ory or to their surviving comrades l It can never be repaid in pensions, thought they be $1 or $100 a. day. l They can only be paid in. love, deep down and silent in the nations heart. That love cannot be spoken, cannot l be written, cannot be sung.
 | Yet realizing the weakness and fu- | tility of human effort to express that l love, we come to attest it in this 1 beautiful service. What thoughts the 1 war bring to us on this occasion! l! What inspiration comes from the mu- l sic that cheered them in the camp | or on the march! What sentiment is
 aroused by the war songs they sang years ago!
 Army men; you soldiers of the great est war that was ever fought, is alone lesson in loyalty and patriotism that needs no adornment by graceful
 Or homely speech. It might be far
 better were no word spoken, save
 perhaps a brief fervent prayer that the God of nations might continue to send men like them to preserve the country in time of war and conserve it in time of peace.
 q have no patience with those who wiring their grasping money clutch 1 ing fingers and cry over the burden of taxation when there is talk of giv- | ing to the surviving soldiers of the war between the states an increase in their pension pittance. wonder how many realize what the war meant. How many realize the fearful years: the awful carnage of that 11- tanic struggle.
 ''The past history of our country from Lexington to Appomatox and
 San Juan Hill is fraught with cher ished memories of patriotic loyalty and undying devotion to the flag and they will remain fresh and green while a grateful nation survives. The present is fraught with problems that require the same devotion that mark ed the trying days that are gone. These problems are not of war. They will not be decided on field of bat tie. They will not be fought out in fierce charge or gallant defense: They are questions. however. as yitally fn- portant to the perpetuity of the na- to arms; questions that must be set tied as decisively as were those of '76 or '61 There will be no trouble In the settlement if it is approached In the proper spirit; in the spirit that recognized that this country was made and preserved for all of the people and not for exploitation by any class. The hope of this country lies in ac- cording to every citizen all rights. privileges and opportunities that the spirit of the Republic guarantee! Rule of, by and for the rich or rule of, by and for the poor will not H do. There must be no arraignment of class against class. The rule must
 be for all the people. and when every of all will be preserved. In that lies the hope of the nation.
 When the men who control the af-
 fairs of the government; when the men who manage the big business
 corporations; when the men who con- trol the great labor organizations. when the individual himself realizes
 that justice, pure and simple, is the basic principle of every enduring gov
 ernment, municipal, state and nation al. then the United. States can and will be what it's defenders intended 1t should be-