New-York tribune., 1921-05-31

w tAtNhh WtaA AEN0N R0 b&k6s uQb We
can come, for them and for ourselves.
on this national commcmoration day
to attest cur veneration and undying
love. They rendered service
greater than they knew, for they
saved our nation TO the cause of
human freedom and paved the way
TO that power and influence which
enahled it to play its part In be-
half of all mankind in the time OF
supreme crisis of the world, We
viii not overappraise their sacrifice
if we say that, had they failed, their
failure would have so weakened the
forces of liberty and enlightenment
that these woald have been doomed,
in the more recent world trial, TO
failure and defeat. A divided Amer
ica would have been incapable of
the effort that was demanded 70 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 gener-
ation will not perform q part worthy
sf its heritage if we do less than
our very utmost to preserve that
which they made possible for us to
possess. Nay, more, we shall not
be our most and best at home If we
do not resolve for all time that the
differences which brought us TO civil
conflict were due to antiquities in
cur union and the disputes between
two schools of political thought, and
when we made union indiSsoiuble and
the nation supreme, we left our peo-
pie one flag, one purpose one pride
and one destiny.
First Duty to Our Own
'In such a view, we must see that
our opportunity to be useful to man.
kind at large depends first on being
loyai to ourselves. No ideal of gem
erosity to all men can Justify ne
elect 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 realms,
but if 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 struggle
which saved the Union and rededicat-
ed it forever to liberty. / counsel no
selfshness, no little Americanism, no
mere parochialism, when urge that
cur first duty is to our own, and
that in the measure of its perform
anee we will find the true gauge of
our capacity to be helpful to others.
at is a good thing to come to this
consecrated 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 we're lay
ing the foundations. Yet their in
stinct rightly led them to the judg-
ment that their first duty was to pre-
serve the institution of popular rule,
of national solidarity. They did not
enter upon the war among the states
stitution of human slavery. Worthy
spiration was higher. They sought
it power for the advancement Of
America and humanity, confident that
If they won all other rightful
They were right then--in the end
oAoNS1s LC(SAhSd 1tS QSCICC O1 VAN
iehment from this continent, 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 seces-
sion, 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 supreme effort, even all
of life itself. In making that effort
and thlt sacrifice they did far more
than save what had already been
galned--they made possible for slav-
cry to be ended forever.
Were Not Crusaders
Ut was the same in the more re-
cent war of the free peoples against
the .autocracies of the world. In it's
beginnings, men fought to protect
that which they already had. Their
countries lives were at stake; their
rights as free men were menaced;
and for these they went forth to
battle. There was no thought of
crusading for the freedom of world,
OF emancipating distant peoples, of
@SHhSA Ah5 q AOD40 SCINiE6 10 LuG en-
eny who had attacked them. They
had no time and small disposition to
indulge altruisms.
"Yet, as In the case of our civil
war, they won far more than thew
had sought in the beginning. They
won for themselves their homes,
their countries; and in doing SO they
destroyed weli-nigh the last intrench-
ments of the mistaken doctrine Of
divine right to rule. They gained the
victory for their own grateful coun-
triess and with it they won, for those
whom they defeated, the opportunity
OF establishing free institutions, Of
planting democracies where absolut-
ism had held sway, of making the
people supreme. True, they were
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 institu-
J. tions would be permanent even If
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
maintain the freedom to which the
door has been opened. We do know,
and we take pride, that our sons
and brothers afforded them the op-
portunity.
Lesson to All Peoples
"Thns we see thai whether In our