Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1913-05-31

EMORIAI1 DAY this year Will wit
n M A n ness the perfecting of the nations
I'VE n plans for honoring her military
dead. 1t will the final fruiting
NXWOf of national official sympathy with
hIg the bereaved who have lost sons.
brothers and sweethearts in their
countrys service 1t will witness the final results
of the nations attempts to do all things possible
for those bereaved and for the memory ofithe
dead. 1t is big task, and the manner of its
accomplishment is the story of a tribute paid to
one the nobest sentiments that has ever been
lodged in the breasts of people.
In that attempt, since 1900, for instance, the
United States government has supplied free of
charge 10000 headstones to mark the graves OF
soldiers and sailors who have done her service
To the cemeteries of the great cities, to those
of the quiet hamlet to those the borderlands
of civilization, these headstones have gone
This Memorial day they offer themselves to a
scattered multitude fitting places for the be
stowal of floral wreaths. The unmarked graves,
through the efforts of the government, grow
ing fewer.
remains of 154 900 unknown heroes who have met
death in the defense of their country, and who
must because of the loss of their identity, be
denied individual recognition Yet the nation mas
exhausted every resource in attempting to find
the names these heroic dead. The very fulfil
ity of these deaths, from the standpoint of the
credit received by the individuals, calls
forth sentimental appreciation of their service
that overshadows that accorded the with the
handsomest monuments. The unknown being
reinterred in sacred ground their graves are
being kept green and great monuments are being
erected to them, collectively.
Every effort is being made to prevent the
currence in the future of the tragedy of the 'un-
known grave. At the department army
regulations have been drafted and put into execu-
ton that rigid that in the future it will be
impossible for the soldier who fights for his coun-
to fail Of Identification wherever he may fall
Above all this, the government has developed
a system of careful and generous disposition of
the remains of the dead soldier sailor that
offers the greatest possible recompense to the
aggrieved and the best possible chance for the
perpetuation of the memory of the gloriously
dead for the remains of any who dies in
the service wherever his end
transported to any other spot the globe that
be designated by his family and there given bur-
fal with military honors. All this Is at the
pense of the government, for the glory of the
dead and the consolation OF his family.
Finally the government Is marking the graves
and placing monuments over the remains of the
Confederate soldiers who died in the northern
prisons and hospitals during the Civil
Wherever any dies for whom it be
shown that he ever served in the United States
army navy. the Federal government stands
ready to furnish for his grave a headstone of
marble neatly inscribed with his and indi-
eating his military service. The government has
a large contract with a firm in Massachusetts, to
furnish these headstones. Under the contract
10000 such headstones delivered last year
An average of $4,000 year have been deliv-
cred for the last score of years. Since this pol
icy of marking the graves of the military dead
was inaugurated in 1873 there have probably
been 100000 stones that have gone forth and
which today standing the graves of
ton Is willing and anxious to continue their dis
tfibutiOn of monuments free charge with
freight paid to point 1t is hoped that event
ually every grave of every soldier will marked
with stone that will survive forever
The graves of all soldiers and sailors who are
buried in national cemeteries are SO marked
when the identity of the individual is known.
There some so such cemeteries with a total
of 100000 men buried in them. But of this great
aggregate of assembled dead of the military there
$4,000 buried beneath the slab of the sun-
known There and acres of these
white headstones that mark the graves of soldiers
whose identity established At Fred
er1cSsburg. Va, there is another $4,000 graves of
men whose mothers never knew where they rest
ed There 1000 of them at Memphis - 900
at Salisbury N c.: 5000 Richmond: 1000 at
Nashville and similar and smaller numbers scat
tered over the country a whole At the great
est of the national cemeteries. that Arlin gton
opposite Washington D. C. there Is single gre at
monument that marks the burying place of III
unknown soldiers whose remains gathered
from the battlefelds of Virginia.
But the unknown population OF the national
cemeteries Is to be prevented from largely in
creasing.
Today when is Inspected for active duty
| metal tag OF Identification is part of his