Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-05-31
PAY TRIBUTEA AT
ISLAND SERVICE
Thousands Go With Veterans to
Give Respects to Dead at Ma
donal Cemetery.

Just as erect as they we're In the
days of 81, veterans of the Civil
war, together with members OF the
Illinois militia, Spanish war SOL
diers and other patriotic groups
from Moline yesterday afternoon
marched across the Moline bridge
to the Rock Island arsenal where
they paid respects to the men VINO
are buried in the national cemetery.
Thousands from the quad-cities
attended the services, which were
given under the auspices of Graham
post No. 312, G. A. r. of Moline. AS
the parade crossed the Mississippi
the procession halted for a rev
moments to pay tribute to the ma
zine and sailor dead. Flowers were
strewn on the river and salute
was fired.
Americans must realize more
keenly and be moved by a deeper
sense of responsibility that the
state exists for the Individual and
not the individual for the state if we
are to be worthy of the sacrifice
made by the heroes of the civil
war" declared Rev. John McGown
Stevenson as the marchers sur
rounded the graves in the cemetery.
Speaking to the soldiers of nifty
years ago, Rev. Stevenson SAID:
But today we are still under
the shadow of a great world war.
The heroic dead command us by
their courage and sacrifice. Their
words, still more their acts, com
pei us to listen. Each of US is in
~ 1ihnPfU
his home. The world was never
so coerced by its dead as it is to-
day. These are the strongest in
fluences alive. They are saying to
US. Garry on They appeal to US
with unanimous voice in protest
against war recognizing the value
Of army life discipline and all its
effects, nevertheless these dead
give their testimony against war.
Let us read some of the letters
found on them, letters that were
never mailed; taking some Of their
sentences, the last they had writ
ten, and let these command US to-
day. A French artist writes, ex-
pressing his agony: Never will
there be enough glory to cover all
this blood and mud. You cannot
conceive, my precious mother, what
man can do to man Thomas Ket-
tie, on the eve of his last battle,
spoke for millions: If l live l mean
to spend the rest of my life work
ing for perpetual peace. l have
seen war and | know what an out
rage it is on simple manhood. I'm
less you hate war, as such you can
not really hate Prussia. If you ad-
NIT war as an essential part OF
civilization then what you are hat
ing is merely Prussia efficiency.
So that if we would pay a tribute
to our dead today who lie In Elan
ders Fields in the watery deep,
and in almost every cemetery IN
the land then we shall put an end
tc war, all war, forever. 1t was
rot simply Germany, but war itself
that these men were fighting. We
want a permanent peace. We want
the world bound together in broth
erhood by sympathetic intelligent
and constructive good will. We
must build on our likenesSes, not
on our differences. We must en-
courage common interests and de-
preciate everything that divides.
We must ask the newspapers Of
every land to be careful. not I'M
dnly to infiame a merely blind ma
tionalism. We must ask every
teacher and thinker TO think inter
nationally. An American soldier
wrote these words which it would
be well for many politicians to