The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-01

right as each saw it; we can acclaim, without abandoning any view which we may hold, that the men on each side were aetuated by high. pure purposes, and were compelled by their consci- ences to do what they did. Before the war we were a loosely y-connected band o$ communities; we emerged from 1t a firmly welded together nation
 We must recall that the settlers of our country came from all parts of the world. actuated by no common impulse, and associated for no common pur- pose: that the institution was with out modeb and at the inception 1t loosely bound together 13 common wealths that had little in common ex- cepting the necessity of combinations against an outer enemy. Each state or community. almost of necessity, be- came seIf-centered; and comn1unfca- ton and commerce in those days was so slight that there was little inter communion of any sort between the people of the different sections of the land
 "At the time of the Civil War this great, wonderful experiment. in self government was only 72 years old, and up to that time each community had busted itself with great energy to de- velop it's own resources and increase it's own strength and means So busy was each community in those pioneering days that, whatever. the inclination might have been, there was little time or opportunity for mutual consultation and effort.
 'tAnd then the time for the inevitable arrived. Those who honestly believed that the United States was a. volun- tary association of independent sover- eign states, met in irrepressibIe con hfct those who honestly believed that the United States was an indissolubIe 
 Bach side. with all the earnestness of those whoeej hearts, minds and con- sciences are committed to an ideal, sought to mold the government to their respective views. There was no earth 1y tribunal before which this great is- sue could be tried and determined. The aFbitFaEnent of arms alone remained.
 '"rhe war that followed had no ele- ment of wantonnesS, Or aggrandize- ment, or lust of gain; and no men of purer spirit ever lived than those who waged it upon the respective sides. It found the states, dn it's beginning, like a, loosely tied together bundle of flag gots, and at it's end, and when the wounds of it had been healed, it left a great sturdy oak as the central body of our Union, with strong, sturdy branches Of intense vitality firmly att tached to it. Hence, whatever ones views may have been upon the right eousness of the issue. wholesome re- spect to those of each side must be rendered. Such a gathering as this we have witnessed today would not other wise have been possible.
 Tt is through pain that we attain anything of value; 1t was through pain that this nation found itself; and, up on the great foundation thus secured and established, proceeded to advance with giant strides to the forefront of the nations of the earth
 Gan we not today, penetrated as we Are by the deep spiritual meaning of this impressive gathering surely say that 1t was worth it all; that those sf- lent martyrs lying forever enshrined upon this field, did not die in vain, that you who at the front bore the storm and stress of that great conflict, and those who waited in trembling anxiety at home and bore the woe and agony of suspense and uncertainty did not suffer in vain? Gan we not truly say that until this people had withstood some such stress as this, there was no assurance that this first great expert ment of the ability of men to govern themselves was surely successful? Shrink from the facts as we may, do they not prove their case? Would we within, or those who stood doubting, without ever have felt the assurance which is now felt? Do we not know that those who the God of Nations hath 1ajzged toSsther. no man can put