The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-06-03

Where the Federal General, Mer-
ritt. and the Confederate General,
Wheeler, stood side by side and |
shoulder to shoulder under the
beautiful banner of the free. The
declaration of war in 1898 was a
trumpet call to duty. 1t unified this
country as no other agency could
have done. Instantly million OF
men were ready to respond to the
cries and they came from every city,
from every town, from every village,
from every hamlet in the broad land.
For the first time in generations
there was no North, no South, no
East, no West-only a single coun-
try, with a single emblem and sim
gle destiny. Thus fortified we pro-
ceeded from victory to victory. I'll
was our supreme privilege to again
Danish European tyranny from the
Occidental hemisphere. l do not
wish to violate the proprieties of
this occasion, but l have the pro-
| found conviction that there is no
place in the territory of this western
continent for any but American insti-
| tutions; there is no room in the at
mosphere of this western world for
any but the American flag.
Our past is magnificent-what of
the future. Today we are the most
important people on earth, today we
are the most progressive, today we
are the most powerful. The United
States of America is the best govern
ment organized by man. No other
nation so nearly approaches absolute
equality, no other Republic ever sur
vived half so long without a success
full revolution, and every additional
star we imprint upon our banner is q
perpetual evidence that we are re-
solved to advance throughout all
eternity.
What great questions may arise in
the future to divide great parties,
sever friendships and threaten the
very foundations of the Republic we
cannot know. The thinking conse-
Grated bayonet was needed to decide
the questions of the Civil war but the
thinking consecrated ballot shall suf-
flee to decide all questions that may
perpleX us in the future.
For when we think how the whole
nation led by Abraham Lincoln went
down into the valley of the shadow
of death and the agony of spirit thro'
which every patriot passed, the hun
= dreds of thousands of lives and the
, hundreds of millions of treasures and
the unlimited suffering of the peo-
t pie, we can never forget the cause
that was thereby maintained and the
principles of free government thai
) were thereby vindicated.
l am not depressed by the pessim
5 ism that characterizes some moderr
1 philosophy. On the contrary, l have
{ unlimited faith in the great Republic
2 A nation that is capable of produc
. ing George Washington, Thomas JEFF
ferson and Alexander Hamilton; tina
is capable of producing Andrew Jack
son and Henry Clay and Daniel Web
> ster; that is capable of producing Alb
6 raham Lincoln-that mysterious mix
q ture of melancholy and merriment o
laughter and tragedy, Of mirth an(
:, tears. When the nineteenth centur.
shall assemble its illustrious dead il
their final Pantheon there will b.
> Napoleon for France, Gladstone TO
:; Great Britain, Bismark for Germany
q q Tolstory for Russia, and for AmeRci
4 the grandest personality in all mod
q q ern history; the emancipator, tn
= martyr, the man, Abraham Lincoln
= A nation that is capable of produc
q ing Grant and Mckinley, men of tn
:, highest type of patriots.
= A nation capable of producing
y such a citizenship and inspiring
i with such a patriotism must have
h marvellous future. And it shall g
- onward forever, surmounting on
. obstacle after another until it shal
= attain an approximately perfect da
~ when it shall seize, hold and reflec
= the glory and grandure of all tn
earth and no decoration shall be S
> exclusive, no dignity so exceptiona
- no distinction so great as citizenshi
in the United States of America.
t.