The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1921-05-26
MUST NOT OCCUR
AGAIN HARDING
President Speaks Amid 5000
War Dead at Hoboken.
ASKS FOR POWERFUL NATION
Lays Wreath on Coffin of First u. S,
Soldier to Die on German Soil, Pri-
Vate Joseph Guyton of
Michigan.


New York, May 24.--"It must not be
again"
With these solemn words President
Harding laid wreath on the coffin
of the first American soldier to die
on German soil at funeral ceremony
for 5000 war dead at the army piers
in Hoboken, following his arrival here
on the yacht Mayflower.
His voice husky and his eyes brim-
med with tears; the president gaZed
at the rows upon rows of collins.
Then he said;
"One hundred thousand sorrows are
touching my heart. 1t must not be
again. God grant that it will not be.
81 do not pretend that the millen-
NAL days have come and that there
will be no more war. l woald wish
nation so powerful that none will dare
to provoke its wrath"
Draws Mrs. Harding's Tears.
Then in the great army shed on the
shores Of the Hudson, with it's stark,
whitewashed walls, there fell silence
profound and deep. Mrs. Harding
could be seen weeping softly as she
looked upon Thu tlag-draped collins Of
those who had Siven their all for their
country.
The president continued:
There gr0wSA on me the realization
of the unusual character of this oc-
casion. Our republic has been at war
before; it has asked and received the
supreme sacrifices of its sons and
daughters, and faith in America has
been justified. Many sons and daugh-
tiers made the sublime offering and
went to hallOwed graves as the ma
TONS defenders. But we never be-
fore sent so many to battle under the
flag in foreign lands, never before was
there the impressive spectacle Of thou
sands of dead returned to find eternal
resting place in the beloved homeland
The incident is without any parallel
I'm history that l know.
"TAese dead know nothing Of our
ceremony today. They sense nothing
of the sentiment or the tenderness
which brings their wasted bodies to
the homeland for burial, close to kin
and friends and cherished associa-
lions. These poor bodies are but the
clay tenements once possessed Of
souls which flaped in patriotic devo-
tion lighted new hopes on the battle
grounds of civilization and in their
sacrifices sped on to accuse autocracy
before the court of eternal Justice
Heroic Achievements Speak.
eve are not met for them, though
we love and honor and speak CRATE
full tribute. It would be futile to
speak to those who do not hear, or
to sorrow for those who cannot sense
it, or to eXalt those who cannot know.
But we can speak for country, we can
reach those who sorrOwed and sacri-
feed through their service, who suf-
fered through their giving, who glory
with the republic through their heroic
achievements, who rejoice in the civ
illzation their heroism preserved.
every funeral, every memorial,
every tribute is for the living ones, an
offenng in compensation of sorrows.
When the light of life goes out there
IS a new radiance in eternity, and
somehow the glow of it relieves the
darkness which is left behind.
"Never a death but somewhere a
new life, never a sacrifice but some
where an atonement never a service
but somewhere and somehow an
achievement"
Michigan Soldier Is Named.
In placing the wreath on the casket,
the President said:
"In the name of the republic / be-
stow this tribute on tire casket of the
first soldier who persisted on the soil
of the enemy, This opportunity is
not chosen to express the suggestion
of hatred in the American heart, for
there is no hatred In the American
heart, but l have chosen it because |
am offering the tribute to one re-
turned whose death on enemy soil
marked the day when our civilization
went face forward and when assault
on our present-day civilization knew
1t had failed. May a, 1918, is the
date on which this soldier was killed
and the name Is that of Joseph w.
Clayton, Company l, of the One Hun
dred and Twenty-sixth infantry a
resident patriot and hero Of the state
of Michlgans of the United States of
America"
After the ceremony President Hard
ing, accompanied by Mrs. Harding,
several senators and their wives and
army officials Of high rank, returned to
Manhattan to address the Academy of
Political Science at its luncheon in the
Hotel Astor before reviewing the old
1O6th United States infantry in Brook
Ign.