The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1919-05-31

The text of President Wilson's Me
norial Day address yesterday at Su
-esnes Cemetery, near Paris, follows
Mr.. Ambassador, Ladies and Cen
uemen, Fellow Countrymen:
No one with a heart in his
breast, no American, no lover of
humanity. can stand in the pres
ence of these graves without the
most, profound emotion. These
men who lie here are men of
unique breed. Their like has not
been seen since the far days of
Crusades. Never before have men
crossed the seas to a foreign land
TO fight. for q 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 armies 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 los
ing. the high temper of the great
affair, 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.
Their Courage and Ardor.
II will always be a 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 unflinching courage,
their ardor to the point of audac-
ity, 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 summons
to the fight that they had a
thought Of the spirit as well as
a phyFical might, am those Of US
who know and love America know
that they were discovering to the
whole world The true spirit and
devotion TO their motherland. 1t
was America Who came in the
person of these men and who will
forever be grateful that she was
so represented.
Sleeping with Kindred Spirits. Z
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 arc
at home, sleeping with the spirits
OF those who thought the same
thoughts and entertained 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 inter
est, 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.
You have just heard in the
beautiful letter from NJ. Clemen-
ceau what l believe to be the real
message Of France to us on day
like this, a message Of genuine
comradeship, a message Of genu-
inc sympathy. and I have no
doubt that il our British COM
rades were here they would speak
in the same spirit and in the
same language. For the beauty
OF this war is that it has brought
a new partnership and a new
comradeship. and q new under
standing into the field of the
effort OF the nation.
Lesson Taught by the Dead.
But il would be no profit to us
to eulogize these illustrious dead
if 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 a great cause, and
they have left us to see to it that
that cause shall not be betrayed,
whether in war or peace. 1t is
our privilege and our high duty
to consecrate ourselves afresh on
a day like this to the objects for
which they fought. 1t is not
necessary that I should rehearse
- you what these objects were