The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-06-06
President Speaks in the Suresnes
Cemetery Near Paris.
LEAGUE FRUIT OF SACRIFICE
Asserts II Is the Duty OF the Nations
to Prevent Mothers Going
Through the Suffering Of
War Again.

"Mr. Ambassador, Ladies' and Gen
tlemen, Fellow Countrymen:
mo one with u heart in his breast
no American. no lover Of humanity
can stand in the presence Of these
graves without the most profound emo
ton. These men who lie here are
men of a unique breed. Their like
has not been seen since the days OF
crusades.
"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 their own,
but knew was the cause Of humanity
and Of mankind. And when they came
they found comrades for their courage
and their devotion. They found arm
les Of liberty already in the field
men who, though they had gone
through three years Of fiery trial.
seemed only to be just discovering. not
for a moment losing, the high temper
OF the great affair; men seasoned In
the bloody service Of liberty. Joining
hands with these, the men Of America
gave the greatest OF all gifts-the gift
Of life and the gift of spirit.
Praises %Unfinching Courage.
at will always be a treasured mem
DRY IN 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 unfiinching cour-
age, their ardOr to the point Of au-
dacity, 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 spir-
1t as well as a physical might. and
lea know that they were discovering
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 she was so represented.
"And 1t Is the more delightful to en-
terrain these thoughts because we
know that these men. though buried In
a foreign land, are not buried In an
allen soil. They are at home. Sleep
ing with the spirits Of those who
thought the same thoughts and enter
tanned the same aspirations. The no
BILE women of Suresnes have given EVIL
dence of the loving sense with which
they received these dead as their own.
for they have cared for their graves,
they have made 1t their interest, their
loving interest, to see that there was
no hour Of neglect and that constant
ly 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.
"You have just heard In the beauti-
full letter from Nj. Clemenceau what I
believe to be the real message Of
France to us on a day like this, a mes
sage Of genuine comradeship, a message
of genuine sympathy. and / have no
doubt that If our British comrades
were here they would speak in the
same spirit and In the same language.
For the beauty of this war Is that 1t
has brought a new partnership and q
new cOmradeship and a new under
standing into the field of the effort of
the nation.
Lesson Taught by Sacrifices.
"But 1t would be no profit to us to
eulogize these illustrious dead IL we
did not take to heart the lesson which
they have taught us. They are dead /;
they have done their utmost to show
their devotion to q great cause, and
they have left us to see to 1t that
that cause shall not be betrayed,
whether in war or peace. 1t iSour priv
ilege and u high duty to ~consecrate
ourselves afresh on a day like this to
the objects for which they fought.
1T Is not necessary that l should re
hearse to you what these objects were
These men did not come across the sea
merely to defeat Germany and her as
ISOLATED powers In the war. They
came to defeat forever the things fol
which the central powers stood, the
sort of power they meant to assert II
the world.
$50 Ii Is our duty to take and main
tain the safeguards which will see Il
It that the mothers Of America ant
the mothers Of France and England
and Italy and Belgium and all othel
suffering nations should never b,
called upon for this sacrifice again
This a be done. 1t must be done
And 1t will be done. The things tina
these men left US. though they did no
In their counsels conceive 1t, Is tn,
great instrument which we have Jus
erected In the league Of nations.
"The league Of nations Is the cove
Iant Of government that these mel
shall not have died In vain. / lik,
to think that the dust Of those sons o
America who we're privileged to b