The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1917-06-06
VETERANS ARE
THRILLED BY.
PRES. WILSON
Tremendous Ovation Given
Mr.. Wilson by the
Old Soldiers.
9TH. REUNION
4 FORMALLY OPENS
Welcome to Vets to Nation
al Capital Most Cor
dial in History.
FORMALLY OPENS


the COnfederacy gave President Viii
son tremendous ovation here today
when he welcomed them to the ma
tional capital at the opening meet
ing of the 9th annual reunion. As
the president, accompanied by Mrs.
Wilson, assembled the platform, the
old soldiers waved their hats and the
hall resOunded with the famous
rebel" yell of the sixties.
Many of the veteEan7 who crowded
closely around the platform shpol,
hands with the president before he be
gan to speak and they cheered his
every utteTanCe.
The great hall was packed to the
doors and thousands stood on the
streets outside, unable to obtain ad-
mittance.
President Wilson told the warriors
from Dixie that the country was glad
to remember the heroic things done
on both sides of the war between the
states and that there were many
things which makes one proud to have
sprung from that stock.
"This is a day of memories" the
president declared, land yet the world
does not live on memories" Some
things, he said, thankfully severed,
one of which is the divisions of strife
which threatened to separate the
country half a century ago.
The president spoke as follows:
al esteem it a very great pleasure
and a real privilege to extend to the
men who are attending this reunion
the very cordial greetings of the
government Of the United States.
81 suppose that as you mix with
one another, you chiefly find these to
be days of memory, when your
thoughts go back and recall those
days of struggle in which your hearts
were strained, in which the whole ma
ton seemed in grapple, and I dare
say that your are thrilled as YOU re
member the heroic things that were
then done. You are glad to remem-
Der that heroic things were done or
both sides and that men in those days
fought in something like the old
spirit of chivalTiC gallantry. There
are many memories of the Civil Wan
that thrill along the blood and make
one proud to have been sprung of q
race that could produce such bravery
and constantly; and yet the world does
not live on memories. The world Is
constantly making its tOilsOme way
forward into new and different ways
and | believe that one of the things
that contribute satisfaction to a re
union like this and a welcome like this
is that this is also a day of oblivion
There are some things that we have
thankfully buried, and among then
are the great passions of division
which once threatened to rend this
nation in twain. The passion of ad
miration we still entertain for tn,
heroic figures of those old days, bu
the passion of separation, the passion
of difference of principle, is gone
gone out of our minds, gone oct o.
our hearts; and one of the things
that will thrill this country as i
reads of this reunion is that it vii
read also of the re-dedlCatiOn on the
part of all of US to the great nation
which we serve in common.
"These. are days of oblivion as wei
as of memory, for we are forgetting
the things that once held US asunder
Not only that, but they are days o
rejoicing, because we now at last SCI
why this great nation was kept uni
ted, for we are beginning to see TIL
great world purpose which it wa
meant to serve. Many men l know
particularly of your own generation
have wondered at some of the deal
ings of Providence, but the wise hear
never questions the dealings o
Providence, because the great Ion,
plan as it unfolds has a majesty abou
it and a definiteness of purpose, a
elevation of ideal, which we were in
capable of conceiving as we trie
to work things out with our Ow
short sight and weak strength. An
now that we see ourselves part of
nation united, powerful, great in spi
rit and in purpose, we know the gTea
ends which God has in His mysteriOU
E providence wrought through our in
\ strumentality, because at the heart o
the men of the north and of the sOut
there was the same of self govern
ment and liberty and now we are
be an instrument in the hands O
God tohsee that liberty is made secur
for mankind. At the day of our great
est division there was one commo
passion amongst US and that wa
the passion for human freedom. w
did not know that God was workin
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