Evening star., 1922-05-31
Veterans of Blue and
Gray in Concourse
at Shrine.
ENJOYS OF MANY
LANDS PAY HOMAGE
Chief Justice Taft Makes
Gift Amid Stately, Inn
! pressive Setting.

In the name of more than a hundred
and ten million Americans, President
Harding accepted the great Lincoln
Memorial at the dedication ceremonies
held yesterday afternoon at the foot
of 23d street in the presence of 10000
people.
The magnificent temple. in which a
great statue of Lincoln is enshrined.
was formally delivered to the nation
by Chief Justice William Howard
Taft, as chairman of the Lincoln Me
mortal commission, in the simple and
occasion.
While the Washington Monument
looked down upon the great white
temple. President Harding declared
that Washington. the founder. and
Lincoln the savior. Offered outstand-
ing proof that a representative pop
ular government. consttutlonally
founded. can find its own way to sal
walton and accomplishment
Amba aSSadors from many lands,
members of the Presidents cabinet
members of the Senate and House and
other special guests occupied the
platform where the exercises were
held, while many thousands of per
ing the rejecting pool. BY means of
loud speakers every word Of the
ceremony was distinctly heard by all.
silk Flag Dedicated.
A silk American flag was dedicated
by men of the Grand Army of the
Republic. who had come from their
annual exercises at Arlington ma
exercises. Robert Lincoln. son of
Abraham Lincoln. was given an ova-
tion when he reached the platform.
Rev. DIR. Wallace Radcliffe of the
New York Avenue Presbyterian
Church. where Lincoln worshiped.
pronounced the Invocation. With
special thanksgiving and awesome
praise we dedicate this memorial to
that man whom Thou didst ordain
that through his leadership and mar
tyrdom there might be the union of
the people and the emancipation of
race" he prayed.
Thou didst cause the little one to
become a thousand and the small one
= strong nation. We thank Thee for
this man of clear eye and high heart,
who. in the fear of God. girded on the
sword of power and confirmed so
GloriCusly the nations trust and hope. /
We rejoice in the simplicity of his
life. in the nobility of his aims. in
the fervor of his devotion, in the
persistence of his patience, in the
rectitude of his motives. in his love
Of liberty. Of man. of God. Make US
faithful to the inheritance of his
character and work
Help us like him increasingly to
recognize Thy presence and purpose.
to bring counsel and plan to the light
of Thy word to bow in prayer and
trust for the voice of Thy sovereign
wisdom that out of all flames of fu-
ture struggle -sand martyrdom our
people may emerge purified as by
fire and born anew into a higher
life
One of the features of the dedica-
tion, and not upon the program, was
the two groups of soldiers of the
civil war. one group in blue. and the
other in gray. both standing proudly
at salute as the star-spangled banner
blew in the gentle breeze that waited
across the park, and glinted in the
rays of the bright sun.
Two Groups. United.
President Harding referred to the
Two groups. pointing out that the
sight would comfort his great soul"
and referring to the fact that men of
north and south have since Lincoln's
day fought side by side in two wars
DR. Robert Motion of Tuskegee In
stitution spoke on behalf of colored
America. Il speak for the colored
race" he said. Upon us. perhaps.
more than upon any other group of
the nation rests the immediate obli-
CATION to justify SO dear a price for
our emancipation" 'Lincoln's death"
he declared. was the last and cost
lest sacrifice upon the altar of free
DOM"
DIR. Motion said that mo one is
more sensible than the negro him
self of his incongruous position in
the great American republic But
be it recorded to his everlasting
credit that no failure to reap the
full reward of his sacrifice has ever
in the least degree qualified his 10y
atty or cooled his patriotic fervor."
The speaker told of the educational
and economic progress of the negro
in the last half-century.. and declared
that the negro has gone far to JUS
tify his emancipation. and the ma
ton where such achievement is pos
sible is fully worthy of heroic sac
rifice."
1"OOO.O0O Negroes Rejoice.
Twelve millio' n black Americans
share in the rejoicing of this day."
DIR. Motion said. LAS yet. no other
name so warns the heart or stirs
the depths of their gratitude as that
of Abraham Lincoln To him above
all others We owe the privilege of
sharing as fellow citizens in the
conservation of this spot and the
nsms nsGsafsn of Of hs 1sFHs In paes sns
Americans pledge to the nation their
continued loyalty and their unre-
served cooperation in every effort
to realize in deeds the lofty princi-
In turning the memorial over to
President Harding, Chief Justice
Taft. former President of the United
States, characterized the temple as
"a magnificent gen. 1t is set he
said, "n a lovely valley between
the hills. commanding them by it's
isolation and it's enhancing beauty,
the elimination of the highest art !
of which America is capable Here
on the banks of the Potomac, the
boundary between the two sections
whose conflict made the burden. the
passion and the triumph of his life,
it is peculiarly appropriate that it
should stand"
Presentation by Mr.. Taft.
Chief Justice William Howard Taft
presented the memorial to President
Harding for the American people 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 repose."
The fifty-seven years during which |
the American people have waited for
national memorial for "the nations /
savior and it's greatest leader were |
for, in the intervening time, not only
have "the figures of his contempo-
raries faded, leaving him grandly |
alone" but it permitted a generation |
instinct with the growing and deep
ening perception of the real Lincoln |
to develop an art adequate to the ex-
preston of his greatness.
Still Wields influence.