The Press., 1922-06-01
Memorial Day

an appropriate Memorial Day sermon
 was delivered by Rev. L. Rees. There
 was special music by the quartet
 More impressive than usual was the
 tribute paid Tuesday in remembrance
 of deeds and sacrifice made by the
 American, ,soldiery in the past for the
 cause of justice and liberty. The pro-
 cession started at a. m. from the
 G. A. R. hall and led by the Phoenix
 Liberty band they made their first
 stop at St. Edwards cemetery. From the gate to the center of the cemetery
 the soldiers marched by slow music, Veterans and members of the Ameri- can Legion conducted a memorial ser vice and decorated the graves of each soldier. A noticeable part of the cere- monies was the firing squad that awoke the silent hills with their echoes which was immediately follow ed by the impressive and solemn sounding of taps. Prayer was offered by E. K Taft, chaplain of the Sons of Veterans. The next stop was at West | Stafford where the school children | joined in the exercises and Rev. J. w. Ballantine gave a brief address. Sandy Knoll cemetery in Stafford Hollow was next to e visited. Here Rev. F. w. Tholen offered the prayer. Owing to | the lateness of the arrival of the sol diers an. address to be given by Rev. | c. H. Puffer was postponed and the next stop was at StaffOrdville where Rev. VOnDeck gave a trief address and the school children joined in the exercises with patriotic songs. After the ceremonies doughnuts and coffee were served. Then they went to Staff ford Street where an address was given by Dr. Batchelder. On the re- | turn a stop was made at the Johnson Memorial hospital where two patriotic melodies were rendered by the band. i Then the veterans, followed by the | Sons of Veterans, marched to the starting place, where welcome din ner was served by the members of the | w. R. c. In the afternoon at o'clock | they marched to the Springs cemetery. | After the band came the veterans of | the late war, who were followed by the Sons of Veterans. In R. w. Smiths car were the veterans of the | Civil war, eight in number, M. P. J. | Walker, John COnklin, Frank Patten, Charles Kellogg, E. Holmes, J. Stan
 his, George Moore and MT. Hathaway. 1 At the cemetery prayer was given by Rev. John Wilkins. The day assumed
 new significance by the fresh markers
 that have been placed since last Me morial day. Rev. E. A. Legg was the speaker of the day.
 | After paying a fitting tribute to the soldier dead of the Civil war and of the late war and telling us of "Ameri
 ca's Answer to the Historic challenge" MT. Legg went on to say: It is the challenge of injustice to justice; the
 challenge that oppression throws to freedom, the challenge that tyranny
 hurls at liberty, the challenge of the spirit of monarchy to the growing spirit of democracy.
 Within the limits of one hundred | and fifty years Americas response to this challenge has been clear, definite and world reforming significance.
 When George III thought to support ten thousand British troops in his quarrel with France by taxing the American colonies without their con sent, or as Brulse put it in parliament, turning the American cOlonists into pack horses, it was challenge thrown across the sea to a liberty loving and self respecting people, which chal- lenge was answered by a Declaration of Independence and backed up by Bunker Hill, Lexington, Saratoga and Yorktown. This was the beginning of modern democracy, a curiosity at first sneezed at, then tolerated, at last respected and now feared-feared, not as the power of some princely despOt has been feared, not as a monarchy of this size a hundred years ago would Ee feared, but because it is the high est and finest expression of a new world spirit, a spirit that recognizes the royalty of folks rather than that of counts and barOns, a spirit that is tOppling thrones and scrapping crowns and making kingship the least desirable occupation in all the world.
 Again, when the British naval policy directed the kidnapping of American sailors on the high seas, it was the challenge of injustice to a people who believed in fair play and a square deal. The answer to this challenge was not
  pondence but was delivered by Captain Isaac Hull of the Constitution and Commodore Perry on Lake Erie, an answer vehement enough to convince the world that the young republic in that year of 1872 had grown out of it's swaddling clothes and was sufic- iently strong to cOmpell the respect of the world for the rights of small nations. It was a lesson, however that was soon forgotten to the great sorrow of these modern days.
 But the great challenge of the last century came to us as an heritage of another century, but demanding an an- swer of our fathers and mothers when the southern part of this country ex- alted the doctrine of state sovereign ty above that of national unity and at tempted to divide the country into two parts that should be forever separated. The generations of the eos seized the gage of battle thus thrown down and said "It must not be-" But why should a nation be thrown into deadly civil strife over such a claim? Has not man the right to leave the com pany he has been keeping if he finds it to his advantage to do so? Has not a state the right to seceed if it finds it's internal policies at variance with those of it's neighbors? But this was not the fundamental question in vOlved in the challenge. This doc Urine of state sovereignty was bolster ed up by belief in a tragically mistak- en economic system, a system that made the prosperity of the south de- pendent upon enforced and unrequited labor. But more fundamental that this was the social conception that part of the human race was fit only to be the slaves of another part. A conception and policy that is thus morally wrong cannot be made economically right. The challenge then was not that of individual liberty to collective unity, not that of states rights to national sovereignty. It was the challenge of injustice, the challenge of oppression, the challenge of slavery to our fath-