Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-05-30
Harding AUOlDs u. 8.
Won't Fail Humanity


Gou|mUeu Erom fnge Vne
failed. their failure would have SO
weakened the forces Of liberty and
enlightenment that these would have
been doomed, in the more recent
world trial, to failure and defeat.
divided America would have been in
capable Of the effort that was de-
manded to hold our present-day
civilization secure.
& The heroic dead. for whom the day
was originated, preserved the ark of
the covenant Of union and NATIONAL
ity, and In that service they made
possible the exalted place so recently
won for our country. Our own gem
GRAFTON will not pcrforma part worthy
of It's heritage IL we do less than uor
very utmost to preserve that when
they made possible for us to possess.
Nav, more, we shall not be our
most and best at home II we do not
resolve for all time that the differences
which brought US to civil conflict were
due to antiquities in our Union ana
the disputes between tYo schools OF
political thought. and when we made
union indissoluble and the nation SUI
preme. we left our people one nag,
one purpose, one PRIDE ana one
destiny.
Loyalty TO Self First
In such a view. we must see that
our opportunity to be useful to man
kind at large depends first on being
loyal to ourselves. No ideal of gen
erosity to all men can justify neg
lect first to make ourselves strong.
firm. secure. in behalf of our own
people. We cannot hope to discharge
the wider responsibilities If we have
not first proved our capacity to meet
the narrower ones. 1t is our wish
to be useful in the greater rea ms
but il we are to do so, we must have
no question of our devotion to the
great principles for which these gave
their lives in the htruggle which saved
the Union and rededicated it forever
TO liberty.
l counsel no selfislmess. no little
Americanism, no mere parOchiaitsm,
when l urge that our first duty Is
to our own. and that in the measure
of its performance we will find the
true gauge of our capacity to be hope
ful to others.
1t is good thing to come to this
consecratcd place and renew the
pledges Of our loyalty TO those whose
patriotism gave us our strength and
opportunity. They did not know,
they could not know. for what greater
things they were laying the founda-
tions. Yet their instinct rightly led
them to the Judgment that their first
duty was to preserve the institution
of popular rule, of national sOlidar
ity. They did not enter upon the
war among the States with primary
purpose to end the institution of hu-
man slavery. Worthy as that might
have been, their inspiration was
higher.
They sought first to maintain the
union, to keep it a power for the
advancement of America and hu-
manity, confident that if they won
all other rightful things in due time
would be achieved. They were right
then: in the end slavery received its
decree of banishment from this con-
tinent and at last from the world.
But let me repeat. that great
achievement for humanity was not
the aim with which they entered upon
our internecine struggle. They were
called to prevent secession, TO save
the national unity. They believed
that the institutions of this country
were good that they deserved to be
preserved that they were worth SUI
preme effort, even all of life itself.
In making that effort and that sac
rifce, they did far more than save
what had already been gained they
made possible 70 rslavery to be ended
for ever.
Free Peoples Fought AutOcracies
1t was the same in the more re-
cent war of the free peoples against
the autocracies of the world. In its
beginnings, men fought to protect
that which they already had Their
countries lives were at stake; their
rights as free men were mcnaced
and for these they went forth To bat
tie. There was no thought of Cru--
sading for the freedom of world.
of emancipating distant peoples, of
rendering a noble service TO the en-
envy who had attacked them. They
bad no time and small disposition to
indulge altruism.
Yet, as in the case of our Civil
War. they won far more than they
had sought in the beginning. They
won for themselves. their homes,
their countries. and in doing so they
DESTROYED well-nigh the last in
trenchments of the mistaken doctrine
of divine right to rule. They gained
the victory for their own grateful
countries and with it they won, for
those whom they defeated, the oppor-
tunity of establishing free institu-
tions, of planting democracies where
absolutism had held sway, Of max
ing the people soSrcme.
True, they We're able only to afford
opportunity for this great advance.
They could not force free institutions
upon the crushed and broken enemy;
they could not insure that those in
stitutions would be permanent even
II experimentally adopted. Freedom
Is not to be crowded upon those who
will not have it but the privilege
Of adopting and having and enjoying
it-that privilege was opened wide
TO the vanquished communities which
had sought to take it from others.
We do not yet know certainly
whether the defeated and unwilling
benefciaries will be able to grasp this
boon. We cannot tell whether they
will pay the price required to main
tain the freedom IN which the door