The New York herald., 1922-05-30
One Decoration Day for All.

On this Decoration Day the minds
of thoughtful Americans are turned
toward the ceremonies at Washing.
ton and what they represent. The
Lincoln Memorial, built beside the
Potomac to stand for ages, is dedi-
Gated by grateful nation to that
ommander-in-chief who in life Kept
the nation from breaking and who,
dying for his country, brought its
people closer together than they had
been for more than generation.
What LINCOLN tried to do in life has
been completed by the healing years.
In the rites to-day there is no sec
tionalism. The patriotism of them is
as pure as the white marble of the
great temple itself.
When a nation is so united in
spirit why should it not be COM
pletely united in the form OF observ-
ing Decoration Day? 1t is true that
the day originated in desire to
honor only the men who fell for the
Union, but we have gone far beyond
that. The Spanish war ended what
little sectional feeling remained. The
great war made more graves upon
which the wreath of gratitude must
fall. We cannot set the civil war
apart from the wars before it or after
1t when 1t comes to doing honor to
the dead. Sentiment knows no tech
nicalities.
What this nation should do, in the
very spirit of the man whose monu-
ment is dedicated to-day, is to make
one day for our soldier dead. Let
it be called Decoration Day or Memo
rial Day-the name matters little.
And let there be no lines of time or
section. Let the nation, through
Congress or the action of the States.
establish a day in each year for the
commemoration of all Americans
who died in war. Only one possible
difficulty appears and that, we think.
is unreal. Some of the States OF
the Confederacy observe their Memo
rial Day at times different from the
majority of the Union. Several
choose April 26; South Carolina
takes May 10; Tennessee June 8.
Let the men who fought on both
sides of the civil war agree on one
day for both Gray and Blue.
The Yankees killed at Lexington
and the Southerners who fell at the
Cowpens; the men Of Lundy's Lane
and the men of New Orleans; the
heroes from every State who fol-
lowed SooTT from Vera Cruz to Mex
ico city: the soldiers of GRANT and
of LEE: the Vermonter who di2d at
San Juan and the Virginian who
found his fate in the Philippines;
the New Yorker who went west at
the Hindenburg line and the Ten
nesseean who perished to win Ar
gonne Forest--these men are not to
be separated in the gratitude of
their peoples. Why should not their
nation be united in the formal CON-
memoration of their courage?
In way, Of course, this day is the
day of the Union veterans. They did
not originate the decoration OF
graves, for the women OF Richmond
in 1866 strewed, flowers upon the last
resting places of soldiers of both
sides. But General LOGAN instituted
the. formal ceremonies, setting them
upon the date when, in 1865, the last
OF the Northern troops was mustered
out. Faithfully the veterans have
kept the day for more than genera
tion. But time and circumstance
have made Il something larger and
finer and broader than even they
designed it. The men of that war
are looking into the sunset. 1t was
sixty years ago to-day that HALLEcK
marched on Corinth; sixty years ago
tomorrow that the fighting began at
Fair Oaks. The men who were there
and stir nve are nearly fourscore
years. We think that they would not
begrudge their Decoration Day to the
nation, but would give 1t as freely as
they offered themselves; as freely as
LINCOLN. whom America honors to-
day, gave his life, his death and the
priceless heritage OF his example.