The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-05-30
NATION SHOWS
GRATITUDE TO
GREAT MARTYR
President Harding Accepts
Lincoln Memorial in Behalf
of American People-Pre-
sented by Taft.
TRIBUTES TO LINCOLN
(By Associated Press)

tanned union and nationality" rather |
than emancipation" was declared to
be the supreme chapter in American
history by President Harding in an
I address today accepting the Lincoln
memorial in behalf of the American
people. Lincoln would have compro- |
missed with slavery, Mr.. Harding de
clared, while cleaving to his great pur-
pOse-the maintenance of the "inher-
itance handed down by the founding
fathers
! Declaring that the new memorial
was fittingly placed near the tower
ing spire of the Washington monu-
ment, Mr.. Harding said that Wash
ington, the founder, and Lincoln, the
saviour. Offered outstanding proof
that representative popular govern
ment. constitutionally founded, can
find its own way to salvation and ac
complishment"
Presented by Taft
The memorial was presented to
President Harding for the American
people today by Chief Justice William
Howard Taft as "a shrine at which
all can worship; an altar upon which
the supreme sacrifice was made for
liberty; a sacred religious refuge in
, which those who love country and
love God can find inspiration and re-
pose"
The fifty seven years during which
, the American people have waited for
= a national memorial for the nations
saviour and its greatest leader were
well spent, Chief Justice Taft said for
in the intervening time not only have
"the figures of his contemporaries
faded leaving him grandly alone" but
it permitted a generation instinct
with the growing and deepening per
ception of the real Lincoln to develop
an art adequate to the expression of
his greatness.
! Spread across the wide terraces, the
lawns and the circling driveways that
have been wrought to give the memo
rial building a setting were thousands
of Americans and the most distin-
! guished men in this country. From
foreign lands also came persons to
pay their homage at this new shrine
of democratic liberty.
Leaders Gathered
Close in about the rising tiers Of
. marble steps were gathered the men
who today hold in their hands the des-
TIMES of that government "of the peo-
. pie. for the people. and by the people" "
which Lincoln gave his life to main
q tain, but behind these over a mile
q wide sweep of the Mall and clear
n away to the base of the Washington
o monument a mile distant, from the
+ memorial, were the common folk from
!. whom Lincoln came and for whom he
t. toiled endlessly until he was cut down
q by an assassin's bullet
: Foremost among the men who gath
e cred a this eliminating ceremony of
i Decoration day were the aged veter-
d ans Of the Grand Army of the Repub-
g lie men who at LinCOlns call put
! aside their citizenship for a little
s while for the blue of the army uni
forms and fought out the question of
s American nationality as one people
= under one government.
5 To these old soldiers who knew him
r and obeyed him in life was given the
5. place Of honor In paving this last and
: greatest tribute to the leader under
S whom they had served. But with
e them as though to give silent evi-
It dence Of the greatness of his vision
= stood other old and feeble men in the
;, gray of the Southern Confederacv
t who also had come to pay homage at
n Lincolns feet.
I Uniforms Few.
y The uniforms of the veterans and
the military attaches and the marines
e who guarded and patrolled the path
e ways through the great throng were
h the only signs today of military life
except that officers and men of the
British flagship Raleigh, now at the
Washington navy yard, were mingled
With the thousands of Americans who
stood to hear what former President
y Taft and President Harding had tC
say.
The speakers rostrum was at the
head of the wide stairway that leads
n to the square, marble bulk of the me
Il. mortal where the statue Of Lincolr
NJ is the only occupant of the stately
ar chamber that houses II. Below
NJ stretched the great crowd. and the am
"a plifiers from the roof of the memoria
"a carried the words Of the speakers fa1
Is across to the wooded sweeps of lawT
on either hand that reach toward th'
ct monument TO Washington and towards
"a the looming bulk of the capital in tn:
" far distance beyond.
le The president spoke as follows:
s "It Is a supreme satisfaction Off
III cially to accept on behalf of the gov
,e ernment this superb monument to tn
-" saviour of the republic. No officia
I'd COOlO De more WelCOluSp uO OIIlS4d
." function more pleasing.
il This memorial edifice Is nobl
tribute, gratefully bestowed, and il
its offering is the reverent heart o
America; in its dedication is the cor
sciousness of reverence and gratitude
beautifully expressed.
" Speaks Reverently
| Somehow my emotions incline m
to speak simply as a reverent an
grateful American rather than one i
= official responsibility. l am thus IL
Is clined because the true measure c
VI Lincoln is in his place today in tn
~ heart of American citizenship thoug
~ near half a century has passed sine
a9- his colossal service and his marty,
dom.
7r' "In every moment of peril. in ever
Is hour of discouragement, whenever tn
clouds gather, there is the image {
he Lincoln to rivet our hopes and to r,
= new our faith. Whenever there is
~, E-iphtO