The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-07-05
WILSON'S TRIBuE
TO The HEROES
Continued From Page one.

own great standards set up at It's
birth, when it made that first noble,
naive appeal to the moral Judgment OF
mankind to take notice that a govern
ment had now at last been established
which was to serve men,, not masters2
1t is secure in everything except the
satisfaction that its life is right. ad-
justed to the uttermost to the stand
ards of righteousness and humanity.
The days of sacrifice and cleansing are
not closed. We have harder things to
do than were o in the heroic days
of war, because harder to see clearly,
requiring more vision, more calm bal
ance Of Judgment, a more candid
searching of the very springs of right.
Look around you upon the field Of
Gettysburg! Picture the array. the
fierce heats and agony of battle, coll
umn hurled against column, battery
believing to battery! Valor? Yes!
Greater no man shall see in war;; n
self-sacrifice, and loss to the utter
most; the high recklessness OF exalted
devotion which does not count the
cost. We are made by these tragic.
: epic things to know what it costs to
make a nation-the blood and sacri-
fee of multitudes of unknown men
lifted to a great stature in the view Of
| dI SSllSEdbIOIS DS owl no llIllI 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, il you will, how
little except in form it's action differs
In days of peace from its action in
days of war.
May we break camp now and be at
ease? Are the forces that fight for
the nation dispersed, ~disbanded, gone !.
to their homes forgetful of the COM
mon cause? Are u forces disorgan-
lied, without constituted leaders and
the might of men consciously united
because we contend, not with armies,
but with p~rincipalities and powers and
w~ickedness in high places. Are we
content to lie still? Does our union
mean sympathy, our peace content
ment. u vigor right action, our ma
turity self-comprehension and a clear
confidence in choosing what we shah
do? War fitted us for action, and ac-
ton never cease
/ have been chosen the leader Of the
nation. / can not justify the choice by
any qualities of my own, but SO 1t has
fcome about, and here L stand. Whom
do / commando The ghostly hosts who
fought upon these battlefields long
and are gone? These gallant gentle
men stricken in years whose fighting
days are over, their glory won? What
are h orders for them, and who rail-
lies them? have in my mind another
host, whom these set free of civil strife
in order that they might work out ii
days of peace and settled order the life
of a great nation. That host fs the
people themselves, the great and the
small, without class on difference of
kind or race or origin; and undivided
in interest, Ii we have but the Vision
to guide III direct them aAd order
their lives Alright in what we do. Our
constitutions are their articles OF en-
listraent. The orders OF the day are
the laws upon Y statute books. What
we strive for Is their freedom. their
right to lift themselves from day To
day and behold the things they have
hoped for, and SO make way for still
better days for those whom they love
who are to ON after them. The re-
cruits are the little children crowding
i'm The quartermaster's stores are in
the mines and forests and fields, III the
shops and factories. Every day some
thing must be done to push tfla cam
paign forward; and 1T must be done BY
Ian and with an ye to some great
destiny.
How shall we hold such thoughts iii
our hearts and not be moyed2 would
not have you live even today wholly
IAN the past but would wish to sfaTd
with you in the Light that streams
upon us now out of that great dayf
gone by Here lis the nation Cod has
builded by our hands. What shall we
do with 1T? Who stands ready 60 act
again and always in the spirit of this
day of reunion and hope ana patriotic
I~ferver? The day OF our counfry's life
has but broadened into morning. Do
not put uniforms by. Put the harness
of the present on. Lift our ewes d
the great tracts of life vet Id be con
Iquered in the interest of rightao1s
peace, OF that prosperity which lies Ia
q peoples hearts and outlasts all wars
and errors OF men Come, Iet us he.
comrades and soldiers vet I'd serve our
fellow men In quiet counsel. where the
bIare OF trurlpsts is neither heard nor
needed and where the things are done
which max Blessed the nations of the
world in peace and righteousness and
lloyss