Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-06-03
Jeff Davis Natal
Day celebration

lContinued from Page One)
was over, with the hand-clasp of re-
Cancellation, honest, full and complete,
in the words of Benjamin Harvey
Hill, the great tribune of the then
suffering South, ave are back in Our
Fathers house, and here, thanG God,
forever to remain"
If this same and indispensable basis
of fellowship is accepted, then there
should be no more, any time or any
where, line of cleavage between the
privileges as well as the beauties of
the sons Of the South and the sons OF
the North. The South should never
again be held at elbows length, away
from the heart of Uncle Gam, and no
bounty from the Treasury and no re-
cognition from the President or Con-
gresS should ever be extended to the
sons and daughters of the North which
is withheld from the sons and daugh-
tiers of the South. The only way to
nave fellowship is to have it; the only
way to do the square thing is to do
it; and the only way to convince the
loyal South that she is no longer
held in a spirit of espionage and back
yard privilege is: to see TO it that
there shall be no national discrimina-
ton against the soldiers of the South
or against the sons and daughters of
these soldiers in gray, who have
proven in a thousand ways with their
treasure and their blood, that they
are worthy of the nations fullest faith
and true to their country's every
call
And yet, and yet-no son of the
Anglo-SaXon South was heard at the
dedication of the great Lincoln Memo
rial. 1t was superbly right, for
the honored and beloved Chief Justice
of the United States to preside over
the exercises, and for an officer of the
Grand Army of the Republic to speak
the words of dedication; but if Con-
federate soldier had been standing by
his side taking part in that dedica-
ton, the great throng would have
been melted to tenderness, and the
sunshine of May made crystal with
shower Of joyous tears. 1t was right,
eminently right and proper, that
representative of the Negro race
should speak with grateful apprecia-
ton of L.ncoln's work as an emanci-
pator-the President of Tuskegee In
stitute brought message of marked
conservatism and freedom from dis
play-and of course it was grandly
fitting that the President of the
United States should speak the words
Of official as well as citizen acceptance
of the great memorial-and our Presi-
dent honored himself and his high
Office by a message of great beauty
and patriotic inspiration; but some
eloquent son of a Confederate SOL
der who, perhaps, had fought for our
common flag in Cuba and in France,
could have said things that no other
speaker said, giving tone and touch to
that great hour that would have been
unique and indispensable to the har-
mOny of a perfect day. Or, there sat
missioner of the Lincoln Memorial,
and declared by many to be the sue
cessor in eloquence Of Henry ".
Grady, who in the words of Graves,
died literally loving a nation into
peace"-Grady, who paid a tribute to
Abraham Lincoln as the typical
American. which has never been sur
passed by mortal tongue.
My fellow countrymen, | am speak
ing for my country's highest strength
and happiness when l thus call at
tention to the missing note in the
harmony of the Lincoln Memorial
exercises, and | am moved by the
same supreme purpose of contribut
ing to my country's highest hap
piness when 7 protest that the les
son of the Arlington Amph;theatre,
which was dedicated two years ago,
viii never be complete until such
names as Robert Z. Lee, Stonewall
jackson and Fighting Joe" Wheeler,
who illustrated the proudes5 glories
of American valor, are craven in liv-
ng marble before the eyes of our COM
mon country and the watching world.
It will come some day, my comrades.
Let the great pacificator of today
prove to be the fellowship seer of to-
morrow; and if the soldiers of the
South are counted worthy to battle
nd die for our common flag, let every
occasion of national comradeship ring
with the unmarried music of national
harmonies and glow with the splen-
dor of the Southern sun that is ris-
L