Omaha daily bee., 1919-05-31
PE0PL T s
IN SADDLE
DECLARES
PRESIDENT
Private Councils of Statesmen
Will No Longer Determine
Destinies, Says Wilson in
Memorial Address.

councils is past because "the peo-
piles Of the world are in the saddle, "
President Wilson declared in his
Memorial day address in the Amer
lean cemetery at Suresnes. The
private councils of statesmen, he ad-
ded, will no longer determine the
destinies of nations.
An earnest defense of the league
of nations was prominent note of
the presidents address. He said
he looked for the time when a man
who failed to support the league
would be as ashamed as the man
who opposed the union of the
states after the civil war.
The presidents address was de-
livered in the presence of thousands
of American soldiers and many CT
villains and the official representa-
tives of the French government, in
cluding Marshal Foch.
Message from Clemenceau.
Before President Wilson began
his speech, message to the presi-
dent from Premier Clemenceau,
dealing with the fellowship between
the French and Americans, was read.
The letter begins:
Faithful to noble tradition, the
living army renders homage to the
dead army, and all France has as
sociated itself with this homage"
After comparing the Americans
who have fallen in France with the
French who fell in America, M.
Clemenceau continues: -
France will ever cherish their
memories. With America, France
will preserve in peace as an inspira-
ton and example an undying re-
membrance of their enthusiasm, dis
cipline and courage. We see the
wreaths on their tombs, and will
take care of them as piously and
gratefully as the tombs of our own
soldiers"
Address of the President.
The presidents address follows:
These men who lie here are men
of unique breed. Their like has not
been seen since the far days of cru
sades. Never before have men
crossed the seas to a foreign land
to fight for a cause of humanity
which they did not pretend was
particularly theirs, but knew it was
the cause of humanity and Of man
kind. And when they came they
found comrades for their courage
and their devotion. They found
armies of liberty already in the
feld-men who, though they had
gone through three years of fierce
trial, seemed only to be just dis
covering, not for a moment losing,
the high temper Of the great affairs;
men seasoned in the bloody service
of liberty. Joining hands with
these, the men of America gave that
greatest of all gifts, the gift of life
and the gift of spirit.
A Treasured Memory.
1T will always be treasured
memory on the part of those who
knew and loved these men that the
testimony of everybody who saw
them in the field of action was
their unfinching courage, their
ardor to the point of audacity, their
full consciousness of the high cause
they had come to serve and their
constant vision of the issue. 1t is
delightful to learn from those who
saw these men fight and saw them
waiting in the trenches for the sum-
mons to the fight that they had a
touch of the high spirit of religion.
that they knew they were exhibiting
a spirit as we'll as physical might,
and those of US who knew and love
America know that they were dis
covering to the whole world the
true spirit and devotion of their
motherland. 1t was America who
came in the person of these men,
and who will forever be grateful
that it was so represented.
And it is the more delightful to
entertain these thoughts because we
know that these men, though buried
in a foreign land. are not buried in
an alien soil. They are at home,
sleeping with spirits of those who
thought the same thoughts and en-
tertained the same aspirations. The
noble women. of Suresnes have
given evidence of the loving sense
with which they received these dead
as their own, for they have cared
for their graves, they have made it
their interest, their loving interest
to see that there was no hour of
neglect and that constantly through
all the months that have gone by
the mothers at home should know
that there were mothers here who
remembered and honored their
dead.
New Understanding.
"You have just heard in the beau-
tiful letter from Monsieur Clemen-
ceau what believe to be the real
message of France to us on day
like this, a message of genuine COM
radeship. message of genuine SYM