The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-06-01
Hear CALL TO DEFEND NATION
Attorney James Cavanagh in Eloquent
Address Urges People of the Nation
to Preserve the Union Established
by Sacrifices of the Grand Army.

------
Bearing just as proudly as in "61"
the flags for which they fought and for
which many Of their comrades died,
the thinning ranks of the Grand Army
Of the Republic turned out on Tuesday
for the observance of the annual
Memorial Day ceremonies and the day
proved one Of the most interesting in
the history of Kenosha. The weather
nan smiled his sweetest smile in honor
of the boys who wore the blue. Flags
were waving from hundreds of houses
in the city, business was suspended
and the people went by thousands out
TO the Library Park and out to the
Green Ridge cemetery to aid the mem
bers of the Grand Army in paying
tribute to the dead and in giving
praise to the living.
While patriotic expressions have
marked every passing Memorial Day
in Kenosha seldom was the day OBJ
served with such an outpouring of the
people and such general showing of
reverence for the soldiers.
There were less than fifty of the
members of the Grand Army in the
annual parade and many of them rode
in automobiles, but there were some
in the line who stepped off with the
old step Of wartime and they raised
+bA;,. x-oSao. - AL, ~ ,oxvono ~ !.
memory of the dead, but to call upon
the living to defend the nation which
they had offered their lives to save
from disruption.
The program for the annual observ-
ance did not vary greatly from that
Of other years. Just after nine clock
the Grand Army men and members of
allied organizations dropped into line
at the post hall and marched to Library
Park where with pretty ceremonies
wreaths were placed on the base of
the soldiers monument and on the
Lincoln IS statue
Hundreds Of school children waving
flags and singing patriotic songs greet
ed the veterans at the park and
dropped in behind in the march to the
cemetery. There was fully two thous-
and people at the cemetery.
Commander G. F. Stemm was master
Of ceremonies and he read the rituals
tic services of the Grand Army assist
ed by Theodore Boyington. Charles E.
Likes, past commander, read the gem
eral orders for the day, the first
Memorial Day order issued by Grand
Commander John A. Logan, way back
in 1868 and the Lincoln address at
Gettysburg. A poem was read by
Comrade Charles Leonard
The annual address, delivered by the
Hon. James Cavanagh, was one of the
most stirring addresses ever delivered
on a Memorial Day in Kenosha. Mr..
Cavanagh spoke earnestly Of the cry
ing needs of the nation today and he
was not forgetful Of the tribute Of
praise due to the members of the
Grand Army. He declared that the
nation would never be forgetful of
the services that the veterans of the
Union army had rendered in the FIGHT
for the preservation of the nation.
''When the last member 2of the
Grand Army of the Republic shall have
answered the final roll call and has
joined his comrades in the great be-
yond, (" said Mr.. Cavanagh. eve
pledge ourselves to keep up properly,
sacredly and religiously, these services
to keep bright the memory Of the men
who for five bloody years fought to
establish this nation. Americans will
never forget to teach it to their children
and to teach it in their homes and the
children of today stand ready to
carry on this great work Of reverence
and commemoration, which the Grand
Army has begun"
Mr.. Cavanagh then directed his adj
dress to a discussion of the great issue
of preparedness. He drew q striking
parallel between onditions in the ma
tion today and conditions which exist
ed at the opening of the civil war. He
spoke of how the nation had failed in
1912 because she was unprepared and
that England had been forced to give
up the war on account Of demands
made upon her by warning nations
abroad. He declared: This war end
ed not because we whipped the English
but because the English were too busy
elsewhere to take advantage Of our
unpreparedness. But the treaty which
ended the war made no mention of the