The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-06-21

waukee, responded for the veterans
and aroused a great deal of enthusi-
asm by his commentator of the gov
eminent OH its stand for the principles
SO nobly defended by the Grand Army
Of the Republic. 1.-THE United States
today he asserted, lis in need of
the same union for which we fought in
1861 to 1865, if American democracy
is to survive Prussian imperialism. =
He concluded his remarks with an ap-
peal to his comrades in the greatest
army our nation has yet seen, to do
everything in their power to advance
the cause Of liberty in the present war
and to bring that conflict to an early
conclusion with a glorious victory for
the United States and her allies. At
the end of this impressive speech
the body went into secret session
for the transaction Of its first official
business
The address of Mayor Pfennig, the
most notable Grafton of the open
ING service. was so well delivered and
so we'll received as to be worthy OF
special attention. In view of this fact
il has been deemed deserving of pub
LEGATION. It's text in full follows:
Members Of the Grand Army Of the
Republic, fellow citizens, ladies and
gentlemen:
We are gathered here today to cele-
brate one of the most inspiring occa-
sions in the history of this clty-an
occasion which is at once patriotic and
personal, practical and sentimental,
religious and secular. We have come
here to welcome to Kenosha men
who risked their lives that this coun-
try might be free for every person
within its confines, men who suffered
and sacrificed that the United States
of America might be devoted to liberty
in practice as well as in sentiment, men
who in cause that was moral rather
than religious, unconsciously exempli-
fed the spirit of the Master in their
Willingness to yield themselves to death
that others "might have life and have
it more abundantly. 1t is. to such
men, veterans of the grandest army
that the United States of America has
vet seen, that we today open the streets
of the Dream-City of the North, 81
the city for which this organization has
coined the inspiring slogan 1t can be
done in Kenosha, with the firm be-
lief that these pavements and avenues
will be temporarily consecrated to the
cause of universal liberty by the tread
of feet that waded through blood at
Antietam and scaled the scarlet heights
of Missionary Ridge.
And yet noteworthy as this occasion
is it suggests another more than fifty
years ago which was even more notable,
even more inspiring, an occasion when
these same men who now are grave and
gray, were care-free, light-hearted
Youths, with but single serious pur-
pose in their lives, the dedication of
their country to "Union and Liberty. -
IN 1861 this city, which now so gladly
opens it's gates to the veterans of the
Civil War, was a great training camp
for the men of Wisconsin who volun-
teered their lives that this nation
might live' and who learned through
four years Of bitter fighting that pa
triotism demands sacrifice as we'll as
service. Here where rise today our
stately buildings of brick and stone
was then city of tents or rudely
boarded barracks, sheltering HOO pa
triots a third of whom were soon to be
sleeping forever on the crest of Gene
terry Hill or in the shadowy marshes of
the Wilderness. Here where we this
morning observe men with winter In
their hair and memory in their eyes
then marched youths with springtime
in their hearts and hope in every glance
they passed. These men who now look
backward to sacred past were once
the & forward-looking people of an
age when America had caught the
dream but not the CLEAN of true de-
mocracy, and from this spot to which
they now return they then went forth
to make that splendid vision a grand
reality. 1t is such men that we to21y
welcome to second encampmena in
Kenosha, an encampment which we
hope to make as interesting and in
spring as that of '61.
With this thorough understanding of
the mission, this week entrusted to us,
we have taken upon ourselves the task
of making our ~ and yours as beau
tiful and home1ike as we know how to
make it. To this end we have draped
it in cold Glory with the realization
that to men who have fought and con-
quered beneath its folds there is moth
ing in heaven or earth more beautiful
and with the well-founded knowledge
that no place is home without it to
soldiers, who have seen it wave in tri-
unlph in captured Donelson or faunt
defiance to the johnny Rebs at Shiloh
and at Gettysburg. With this resplend-
ent emblem of sacred cause so con-