New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-05-31
Addresses Veterans at Ar
lington After Declining
One Invitation.
FEARS STAND MAY
BE "MISCONSTRUED"
Crowd Gives President Orderly
Greeting-Champ Clark We'll
coined Vociferously.
rFrom The Tribune Bureau. ]

Washington. May Exchanging his
mind at the eleventh hour. the PRESIDENT
as well as Speaker Champ Clark, deiiV-
cred q patriotic address at the amman
Grand Army of the Republic Memorial
Day ceremonies at the Arlington Ma
t,onal Cemetery this afternoon. The one
extolled the virtues of peace, the other
hurled defiance at the armed forces OF
Europe
Not until this forenoon did the Presi-
dent decide to attend the ceremony, and
Their only because evidently false con-
struction had been placed upon his ac-
ton" in declining the invitation Of the
Grand Army of the Republic, according 10
a statement given out by Secretary Tum-
ulty. His belated acceptance or the
invitation, however, apparently did not
allay the resentment engendered py MS
original decllnation, as unmistaKapie
traces of Ill feeling were manifested by
the veterans and their friends.
President Wilson was accorded an or
utTjy OFdllOH WiCil ic hiii'NNb 1AAN $500
address was frequently applauded. When
Speaker Clark was introduced the cheer
ing continued several minutes. while his
address alsa was constantly applauded.
The contrast In the receptions was the
subject OF much comment.
The large audience in the ampitheatre
seemed to sense the awkward predica-
ment in which the President had been
placed by his first refusal to attend, al
| though he had consented to speak a week
from to-day at the unwilling of the Con-
| federate Monument at Arlington, and his
eleventh hour decision to be present.
Yelled reference to the Presidents orig
inal refusal to attend was made in the
invocation by the Rev. n. II. Holmes.
department chaplain, when he said: I'VE
pray that the day is far distant when
the great leaders Of our country Will
forget, as they have not to-day. to Join
In the service to the memory of those
men"
1t was explained at the White House
that the Presidents engagement to ad-
dress the Confederate veterans had been
been made several months before the
! Mexican situation became acute, and that
the President did not think he could con-
sistently speak at the Memorial Day
ceremonies. The President did not touch
| openly on Mexico. in to-day's address.
He said:
Had Peculiar Privilege.
IL have not come here to-day with a
prepared address The committee In
charge of the exercises of the day has
graciously excused me on the grounds OF
public obligations from preparing such
an address. but / will not deny myself
the privilege OF joining with you in an
expression OF gratitude and admiration
for the men who persisted for the sake
of the Union. They do not need our praise
They do not need that our admiration
should sustain them. There Is no i'm
mortality that is safer than theirs. We
come not for their sakes, but for our
owr. in order that we may drink 1T the
same springs of inspiration from which
they themselves drank.
"A peculiar privilege came to the men
who fought for the Union. There is no
other civil war in history, ladies and gen.
tlemcn, the stings of which were removed
before the men who did the fighting
passed from the stage of life.
sc that we owe those men something
more than q legal re-establshment Of
the Union. We owe them the spiritual
re-establishment Of the Union; for they
not only reunited states, but they re-
united the spirits Of men. That is their
unique achievement. unexampled any
where else In the annals OF mankind, that
the very men whom they overcame in
battle join in praise and gratitude that
the Union was saved. There Is something