New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-06-01
PEOPLES WILL
RULES LEADERS
In Wide Common Counsel
Lies Real Strength of
a Democracy.
SPEAKS TO VETERANS
Presidents Words Taken to
Show He Looks to Nation for
Guidance in Crisis.
From The Tribune Bureau

From The Tribune Bureau
Washington. May 81 President VIII
son gave up the whole of this after
noon to honor the dead of both the
Civil War and the Spanish-American
War in Arlington Cemetery. In his
speech n the veterans at the amphi-
theatre the President intimated very
broadly that his answer 70 the German
communication would find its inspira-
tior in the nations will
Duty for a nation is made up Of so
many complicated elements that no
man can determine it," the President
said. "No group of men without wide
common counsel can possibly deter
mine what the duty of the day is. That
is the strength Of democracy, because
there daily rises in the great body Of
democracy the expression Of an un-
.rsmmelled opinion which seems to fill
the air with its suggestions Of duty;
and those who stand at the head OF
affairs have it as their boundcn duty
10 ondeavor 20 express in their own
actions those things that seem to rise
out Of the conscience and hope and
rurpose Of the great body of the people
themselves
Only few moments before President
Wilson uttered these words Colonel
John McElroy. Department Commander
Of the Grand Army of the Republic
had aroused enthusiasm by asserting
that America could only live so long as
there were American citizens TO fight
for her President Wilson also lis
tened 70 the reading OF Lincoln's Get
tysburg address.
After the ceremonies in the amphl-
theatre the President drove to that
part Of Arlington Cemetery where the
Maine Memorial Monument was un-
veiled. There he listened TO speech
by Secretary Daniels and afterwsrd
held short reception.
Pirm Jaws and Stern Look.
What Mr.. Wilson's thoughts we're as
he rode through the cemetery and saw
the countless graves Of men who had
given their lives IN defence of the
Union one can only imagine Perhaps
there was an inkling Of it in his firm
SO. jaws and the stern look on his
face. There is no doubt that the Pres
ident was thinking gravely as he
looked at those silent reminders or
war and listened 10 the eulogies OF
those beneath the ground.
In his speech to the veterans in the
smphitheatre the President pointed 10
the future as the one thing 10 look TO.
He said that greater days were before
the nation than Il had yet seen, and
that the solemn consciousness OF those
who hold oficc now was that they must
make their best endeavor to embody
in what they did and said and were the
best things IN the United States.
II have not come here to-day to de-
liver an address" said President Will
son. "but merely reverently to take
part in expressing the sentiment OF
this impressive day. II is necessarily
day Of "reminiscences. Remlnlscence
is not always a profitable exercise. II
generally belongs TO those, approprl-
etely 70 those only, who have left the
active stage % life and have nothing
,o think about except the things that
are gone and dead
"lt does not behoove nation 70
walk with its eyes over its shoulder.
Is business is constantly in the years
that lie ahead and in the present that
challenge il 10 the display Of its
power. But there are "reminiscences
which are stimulating and wholesome,
and among these "reminiscences are
chiefly 10 be ranked the recollections
o. days Of heroism. days when great
nations found il possible TO express
the best that was in them by the
ardent exercise Of every power that
was in them.
Day Of Stimulation.
That is what gives dignity 70 q
Gay like this. II is not day of regret;
II Is not a day Of weakening memory;
y is day Of stimulation. But. my
friends, these stimpiating memories
We are sometimes apt 10 minimize be
cause we do not see the full signih-
oance Of them. We are constantly
speaking OF the great war Of which
we think to-day as a war which saved
the Union, and il did, indeed, save
the Union, but il was a war that did
great deal more than that. 1t
created in this country what had
never existed before-a national con
sclousness. IL was not the salvation
Of the Union; il was the rebirth Of
the Union. 1t was the time when
Continued on page 5, column