Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-06-02
AMERICAS VETERAN SOLDIERS
Decoration Day Sacred; Essential to the Perpeuy Of
This Government Official Records Show
Concerning Rapidly Thinning Ranks

On this day there can be no theme
paramount to this: "America's Veter-
an Soldiers, Living and Dead" What
ever stirring questions of interest or
Importance there may be, however vital
they may be; they should either give
place in the thought of American peo-
pie, on this day to this theme OF
they should be viewed from that
standpoint to which a consideration of
The Theme "America's Veteran Sol
diers," must inevitably place US. For
this day Is by our nation dedicated,
consecrated to the American Veteran
Soldiers.
Out in the old cemeteries may be
found many marble slabs or more pre-
tensions monuments set by loving
hearts to mark the last earthly rest
ing place of some loved one gone be-
fore, bearing these words SACRED to
the Memory Of" To those friends
who were in any way connected with
the placing of such memorials, at
least, the use of such stones for any
other purpose would seem like sacri-
lege as indeed it would be. Decora-
ton Day is sacred to the memory Of
this nations veteran soldiers and the
devotion of this day to other purposes
to the exclusion of expression of honor
and gratitude to the nations soldier
heroes would be rank sacrilege.
It seems essential to the perpetuity
of this government that the sancrity
of this day be impressed upon the peo-
pie of this nation and especially upon
the younger and on coming genera
tions.
It is by holding sacred material
things Of time and place that human
ity learns reverence for The Divine
and the Eternal verities and so finds
its way into the presence Of God who
giveth 1t life.
Without reverence, without times or
places or objects held sacred, men
drift from ordered government to an
archy where greed and avarice and
lust grow strong and lead on to war
and desolation and carnage.
These words of ex-president Taft
should be carefully considered by all
the people of this nation:
Il is the solemn contemplation of
what the civil war and IT'S conse-
quences really meant in the history of
our country that makes Memorial
days celebration most valuable. It is
religious regard for the pillars Of po-
pular government, for the principle of
liberty regulated by law, for the pre-
servation Of popular representative in
stitutions, which this days ceremonies
should consecrate and strengthen. On
this day It is the high duty Of all the
people TO revitnlize their love of their
country and renew their devotion to
the limitations of its constitution
which have made il permanent and
useful to the people and 10 reject with
stern and fiintlike front all light sug-
gestions of change in those principles
whichlit has cost centuries of struggle
and hecatombs of lives to secure and
maintain.
We should feel with Henry Van
Dyke the sentiment expressed in these
lines:
Count not the cost Of honor to the dead
The tribute that a mighty nation pays
To those who loved her well in form
Means more than gratitude for glOr-
les fed;
For every noble man that she hath
bred
Lives in the bronze and marble that
we raise
Immortalized by arts immortal praise
To lead our sons as he our fathers led
These monuments of manhood strong
and high
Do more than forts or battleships tc
keep
Our dear bought liberty. They fortify
The heart of youth with valor wise
and deep;
They build eternal bulwarks and com
mand
Immortal hosts to guard our native
land.
There is a special significance il
this Memorial Day and the days thai
are TO follow it in succeeding years
National Commander Mount Of th'
Grand Army of The Republic has call
ed special attention to the reverse IL
the proportion of the living to th'
dead. In years gone by fifty or mor'
comrades gathered to decorate tn
graves Of four or five, now ten or fif
teen gather to decorate the graves O.
fifty or more. The ranks are thin
ningi
Official records show that 2,272, ,40'
men fought under the Stars AM
Stripes in the Civil war; 349,944 los
their lives before Lee surrendere'