The Colorado statesman., 1913-07-11
VETERANS HEAR
The PRESIDENT
Mr.. Wllson Delivers Address at
Gettysburg Celebration.
DRAWS LESSON FROM BATTLE
Declares Great Army Of tho People
Must Fight Peacefully to
Perfect the Nation
All Love.

OF the Battle OF Gettysburg was made
especially notable by an address de-
nvered by President Woodrow Wilson.
In his audience were many thousands
OF the veterans who fought in the
great battle, as well as a great throng
of other visitors.
The presidents address follows:
Friends and Fellow Citizens: need
not tell you what the battle of Gettys-
burg meant. These gallant men in
blue and gray sit all about US here.
Many Of them met here upon this
ground in grim and deadly struggle
Upon these famous fields and hillsides
their comrades died about them. In
their presence 1t were an impertinence
to discourse upon how the battle went,
how 1t ended. what 1t signifled! But
30 years have gone by since then and
I crave the privilege of speaking to
you for a few minutes of what those
80 years have meant.
What have they meant7 They have
meant peace and union and vigor, and
the maturity and might of great ma
uon- How wholesome and healing the
peace has been! We have found one
another again as brothers and COM
rades in arms, enemies no longer, gen.
erous friends rather, our battles long
past, the quarrel forgotten-except
that we shall not forget the splendid
valor, the manly devotion of the men
then arrayed against one another, now
grasping hands and smiling into each
others eyes. How complete the union
has become and how dear to all of US,
how unquestioned. how benign and
majestic, as state after state has been
added to this great family of free
men! How handsome the vigor. the
maturity, the might of the great ma
ton we love with undivided hearts;
how full Of large and confident prom
lse that life will be wrought out
that will crown its strength with gra-
cious Justice and happy welfare that
will touch all alike with deep content
ment! We are debtors to those so
crowded years; they have made US
heirs to mighty heritage.
Nation Not Finished.
But do we deem the nation COM
plete and finished? These venerable
men crowding hero to this famous
neld have set US a great example of
devotion and utter sacrifice. They
were willing to die that the people
might live. But their task is done.
Their day is turned into evening. They
look to us to perfect what they estab-
lished. Their work is handed on to
us. to be done in another way but not
in another spirit. Our day is not over;
1t Is upon US in full tide.
Have affairs paused? Does y the
nation stand still? Is it what the so
years have wrought since those days
of battle finished, rounded out, and
completed? Here is great people,
great with every force that has ever
beaten in the life blood Of mankind.
And 1t is secure. There is no one
within its borders. there is no
power among the nations of the earth,
to make 1t afraid. But has it yet
squared itself with it's own great
standards set up at its birth, when 1t
made that first noble. naive appeal to
the moral judgment Of mankind to
take notice that government had
now at last been established which
was to serve men, not masters? 1t is
secure In everything except the salts
faction that its life is right, adjusted
to the uttermost to the standards of
righteousness and humanity. The
days of sacrifice and cleansing are
not closed. We have harder things
to do than were done in the heroic
days of war, because harder to see
clearly. requiring more vision. more
calm balance of Judgment, a more
candid searching of the very springs
Of right.
Tribute to Their vaIor.
Look around you upon the field OF
Gettysburg! Picture the array, the
fierce heats and agony of battle. col
umn hurled against column, battery
believing to batteryl Valor? Yes!
Greater no man shall see in war; and
self-sacrif1ce, and loss to the utter
most; the high recklessness OF exalt-
ed devotion which does not count the
cost. We are made by these tragic,
epic things to know what 1t costs to
make a nation-the blood and sacri-
fee of multitudes OF unknown men
lifted to a great stature in the view
of all generations by knowing no limit
to their manly willingness to serve.
In armies thus marshaled from the
ranks of free men you will see, as 1t
were, a nation embattled, the leaders
and the led, and may know. If you
will, how little except in form its
action differs in days of peace from
its action in days of war.
May we break camp now and be at
pase? Are the forces that fight for the
Nation dispersed. disbanded, gone to
their homes forgetful OF the common
cause? Are our forces disorganized,
without constituted leaders and the
might OF men consciously united be-
cause we contend not with armies, but
with principalities and powers and
wickedness in high places. Are we
content TO lie still? Does our union