Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1917-07-04
G. n. FLAG POLE
FITTlNGLY DEDICATED
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II you still doubt, let me call atten-
ton to those days only a short time
gone by, when all Willmar turned out
to it, depot to bid Godspeed to our
valiant sons who had enlisted for flag
and country. watched the different
groups march to the train and leave,
perhaps never to return. Many of
them were sons of fathers who had
been reared across the water, some
could speak foreign tongue as good
as they could speak our American Ian
guage, but all were loyal.
Best of all, most remarkable of all,
and noblest Of all, some of the young
men who went from Willmar and
from surrounding towns, were Of Ger
man descent. can we'll imagine the
sleepless nights of anguish spent by
their parents in fighting the bitter
fight between sympathy for their own
people and their own land and loyalty
and duty to their adopted country.
And to their eternal credit be it said,
duty to their adopted country con.
quered and they became willing to Of
fer their sons as sacrifice to the
principles of the land Of liberty.
We have entered this war, fellow
citizens, with high and lofty motives.
No nation, in all recorded history, has
ever drawn the sword of justice with
more unselfish purpose. Not with
ideas Of hatred and revenge in our
hearts, not to gain rich indemnities,
not to add to our already rich and ex-
tensive possessions, but that the world
may be made safe for democracy, that
liberty and equality shall live, that
autocracy and brute force shall per-
ish from the earth, that small, weak
nations shall be permitted without in.
reference to work out their own des.
TIMES, and that the sacred torch of
freedom and human progress shall be
passed on undimmed to future genera
tions yet unborn. For these reasons
have we drawn the sword Of Lexing-
ton and Bunker Hill.
The people of this Republic have
entered this conflict with the grim de-
termination to see it thru. We do not
know what trails, what tribulations
and what sacrifices we may be called
upon to endure. We intend to spend
of our great wealth in untold millions,
how much we cannot say. We intend
to send our young men, the best and
| noblest blood of our land, to offer
them as sacrifice, il need be, upon
the altar Of the cause OF humanity.
Some are already answering the call
of duty two thousand miles across the
sea. Thousands, tens Of thousands,
perhaps hundreds of thousands, be-
fore this war is over, may be called
upon to pay the last full measure of
devotion to flag and country. It may
be the fate of some of Willmar's sons
to sleep their last sleep across the
sea, under foreign soil, in unknown
and unmarked sepulchers, with the
blue skies Of glorious, devoted France
above them. We do not know.
But this we know, that our people
face the issues of this conflict with
calmness and determination firmly and
steadfastly believing in the ultimate
triumph of the right, hoping and trust
ing that this nation, fused and ANAL
.gamated by the travail and white heat
Of war into one mighty people, with
common purposes, common ideals and
common love Of liberty, when thrown
into the scales of battle, shall be the
deciding factor which shall end this
war and all wars, and shall: usher in
the ten thousand years, yea, the end.
less era Of peace universal.
These are the things that our flag
stands for: Humanity, democracy, lib.
erty, equality, right, justice, progress
and peace, universal peace. A flag
and nation which represents such
principles Is worth making sacrifices
for, it is worth fighting for, and II
need be, my countrymen, it is worth
dying for.
| Rnow of no more fitting way OF
closing these brief remarks than by
addressing the words of the poet tc
the flag of our country which is soo1
to be hoisted to the top of this flae
staff:
Flag Of the free hearts hope anG
By angel hands to valor given,
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,
And all thy hues were made in heav
en-.
Forever float that standard sheet,
Where breathes the foe but falls be
fore US,
With freedoms soil beneath our feet
And freedoms banner streaming o'e
i U.s."
At the close Of the speech the ban,
struck up the Star-Spangled Banne
and the members Of the Col. Heg Pos
G.. A. R: proceeded to hoist the flae
The strong wind blew the large fla
against telegraph pole and wires
but it was soon freed and swung t
the breeze amid the applause of tn
standing multitude and the screecl
ing of the whistles Of the switch el
gines Rev. Father McDevitt pr,
nounced the benediction and a stanz
Of America was sung.