Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-05-31
NATION LOYAL TO
ITSELF, BUT HELPFUL,
PRESIDENTS IDEAL
Continued From Page ~

civilization secure. The heroic dead
! for whom the day was originated
| preserved the ark of the covenant O.
union and nationality, and in tina
service they made possible the ex
allied place so recently won for oul
not perform part worthy of 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 anC
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 our IN
ion and the disputes between tive
schools of political thought. and
when we made union indissoluble and
the nation supreme, we left our peo-
pie one flag, one purpose, one pride
and one destiny.
I'm 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
crosby to all men can justify neg
lect first to make ourselves strong
firm. securefi in behalf of our own
people.
I'VE cannot hope to discharge the
wider responsibilities if We have not
hrst 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 rededi-
Gated forever to liberty. l counsel no
seltishness, no little Americanism.
no mere parochialism, when urge
that our first duty is to our own
and that in the measure of it's per-
Torrance we will find the true gauge
of our capacity to be helpful to
others.
1T 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
things they were laying the founda-
tions. Yet their instinct led them to
the judgment that their first duty
was to preserve the Institution of
popular rule, of national solidarity
They did not enter the war among
the states with primary purpose to
end the institution Of human 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 humanity. confident
that if they won all other rightful
things in due time would be
the end. slavery received its decree
of Punishment from this continent,
and at last from the world.
To Save Unity
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
They believed that the institu-
tions of this country, were good
that they deserved to be preserved
that they were worth supreme eff
fort, even all of life itself. In max
ing that effort and that sacrifice
they did far more than save. what
had already been gained; they made
possible for slavery to be ended for
ever.
ut 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 menaced
and for these they went forth tC
battle. There was no thought OF
crusading for the freedom Of
world, of emancipating distant peo-
the enemy who had attacked them
They had not time and small dispo'
Sition to indulge altruismS.
yet, as in the case of our Civil
war, they won far more than they
had sought in the beginning. They
their countries; and in doing so they
destroyed we'll night the last IN
trenchments of the mistaken doc
trine of divine right to rule. They
gained the victory for their owr
grateful countries, and with it they
won, for those whom they defeated
the opportunity of establishing free
cies where absolutism had helt
| sway of making the people supreme
True, they weer able only to afford
opportunity for the great advance
They could not force free institu
tions upon the crushed and broker
those institutions would be perma
| nent, even if eXperimentally adopt
ed. Freedom is not to be crowded
upon those who will not have 1t
but the privilege of adopting, ant
having, and enjoying, it-that priv
ilege was opened wide to the van
quished communities which hat
sought to take it from others. W.
| do not yet know certainly whethe
| the defeated and unwilling benefi
| Charles will be able to grasp thi
boon. We cannot tell whether the!
| will pay the price required to main
! tain the freedom to which the doc
! has been opened. We do know ant
| we take pride that our sons ant
| brothers afforded them the oppor
I, tunity.
Thus we see that, whether in GU
! civil struggle or in the world wal
| the triumph of the right inevitabl,
| applies gains that sweep far beyon
the immediate issue. Those heroe
of the Civil war who sleep about u
here wrote that lesson in symbol
of blood and fire, where all me-
might read. And they did yet more
They taught the lesson Of grea
| community making it's fight TO
| freedom an exclusive business o
the whole people. Never before ma
| there been an example, on such
scale, of the entire human and In
dustrial power of a people being cas-
| into the common cause. Wars ha
largely been professional affairs, l
the hands of trained people, wage
by conscripts whose knowledge o
concern for the cause they serve
was of necessity limited and doub:
full Here was found a nation Whis
for four years gave it's very all O
! human resource, of industrial poweI
of faith in it's mission and it's fl
ture in order that it might main
tain an ideal. 1t accomplished tina
which experts and economists de
| cried aS the imDOSSible. 1t defie