Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-02-23
JOHN FRANCIS SPRACUE SPEAKS
ATP0RTLAND BANQUET S. A. R.


| devastating and wrecking a continent.
beholds the government and nation Of
George Washington in peace and har-
| mony with all mankind
1t almost unbalances the human mind
to contemplate the magnitude of this
| CHASTITY struggle, this most tragic
slaughter of the ages. its cruelty. its
sufferings ana its sorrows, its inhuman-
| ity and its agony. and from a casual
view point apparently without adequate
cause or reasonable excuse. A momen-
tary impulse is that 1t ruthlessly tears
down all of the noblest ideals of the race
and gives the lie to our entire plan Of
Christian civilization. But yet there Is a
hope founded upon an enduring faith.
II cannot be possible for the worlds
progress to be set back for centuries
by the ambition of monarchs and des-
pots; men who have but one desire
which is to strengthen and perpetuate
absolutism and militarism over a people
whose philosophers, statesman and theo-
! logians have proclaimed doctrines like
| the following:
Efforts directed toward the abolition
of war are not only foolish, but abso-
lutely immoral. and must be stigmatized
as unworthy of the human race"
And again, War is a biological neces-
sity of the first importance, regulatiEe
element in the life of mankind which
cannot he dispensed with, since without
i il an unhealthy development will follow,
which eXli-lcs every advancement Of
| the race and therefore all real civiliZa
| ton"
| For more than seven centuries the
Anglo Saxon has led the forces of this
world, that have opposed government
! by tyranny and military supremacy, and
established in its place government upon
mans inherent right TO liberty and free
dom. And on the other side of the ocean
today, on slope and in vale and in hun
dreds of miles of bloody trenches in
| Western Europe. he is leading the Slav
and the Latin in the same contest for
the rights of mankind which he began
when the Magma Charta was wrested
from King John on the plain of Runny-
mede 700 years ago.
| 1t is the same strife as then; the same
/ that has produced its Cromwells. its
IincClns and its Washingtons-
And whatever fate may. be awaiting
our nation before this awful conflict
shall cease, it is with thankful hearts
that We contemplate the fact that at
the present hour our only participation
! in it is that the American people.
guided by an exalted justice and be-
nevolence," are undertaking in Belgium
| one OF the noblest examples of charity
! in the words history.
! When the nation that our forefathe-s
founded was passing into its greatest
/ crisis. the immortal Lowell sent off his
pen words which epitomizes the entire
history of the onward march Of Chris
tan civilizations
Careless seems the great Avenger; his
torys pages but record
One death-grapple in the darkness twixt
old systems and the Word:
Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong
forever on the throne
Yet that scafold sways the future. and,
behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping
| watch above his own
| This anniversary of the birthday Of
this great American, and one of the
! worlds greatest patriots, SHOULD inspire
US with deeper love for our country and
our flag and all that they represent.
| The sentiment expressed in these beau
| tif,ll lines should be ever in our hearts;
| Your flag and our flag.
| And how it floats today
Ger Your land and my land
! And half the world away.
| Blood-red and rose-red.
Its stripes forever CLEAN;
! Snow white and soul white,
The good forefathers dream.
| Sky blue and true blue,
| With stars that beam Alright;
| A gloried gUidon of the day,
| a shelter through the night.
! Your flag and my flag
| Oh, how much il holds!
! Your heart and my heart
Secure within its folds
| Your heart ana my heart
| Beat quicker at the sight:
| Sun kissed and wind tossed,
The red and blue and white.
| The one flag, the great fagl
The flag for me and you!
! Glorifed, all else beside.
The red and white and blue"