New-York tribune., 1922-05-31


Sc memory it enshrines as their own.
!" Far as the eye could reach from the
high base of the memorial Americans
were spread over the lawns and clus-
tering under the trees that grace the
setting. How many may have been
there to hear the words of the speakers,
caught up and flung to far distances by
the amplifiers that studded the coping
atop the marble structure, no man
might estimate. But when the last
word had been said, when the Presi-
dent had gripped hands with Robert
Lincoln at the foot of the fathers
statue, the public broke over the bar
rlers and swept unchecked up the side
steps to see for itself the things that
have been wrought in the peoples
name.
There was little of military splendor
about the dedication services; just
flourish of trumpets to mark the COM
ing and going of President Harding
and the solemn ritual with which the
men of the Grand Army of the Re-
public dedicated the silken emblem Of
reunited country on the steps of the
memorial. The words of the formal
orders at this service were spoken in
voices shaken and thin with age, and
the hands that held the banner aloft
trembled under the weight of years,
but the high courage and resolve that
fired the veterans half century ago
are beyond the reach Of time, as is
the memory of the great leader they
honored.
Veterans us Guard of Honor
Along the front benches on lower
fn3 c1c
were gathered the veterans To the
right handful of old men had donned
again the blue that gave them front
place III the days events and stood to
act as guard of honor when the
President arrived.
Flanking these to the left bare
score of gray-clad veterans ef the
armies of Lee or ether Southern GEN
erals stood proudly to salute taS Jag
that Lincoln's vision and high courage
preserved as the fag of one people.
The sight of these bent men in gray
drew President Harding from the writ
ten text of his address. He was saying
that to Lincoln, greater than any other
reward he could have known, would
have been the knowledge that his vision
had been fulfilled--that the broad
waters Of the Potomac, flowing within
a stones throw of the memorial,
marked no boundary between two ma
tions, but that from sea to sea Ameri
cans were one people. Mr.. Harding's
voice thrilled as he paused to draw at
tention to the gray-clad veterans and
recall that twice since Lincoln died
men of the Southern States, sons Of
such men as these old warriors, had
come in their youth and strength to
fight for the flag to which their fathers
returned after tho hitter '60s
"How it would comfort his great
| SOUL" the President said, "to know
that the states of the Southland joined
sincerely in honoring him and have
twice since his day joined with all the
fervor Of his own great heart in de-
Tending the flag. How it would soften
his anguish to know that the South
long since came to realize that vain
| assassin robbed it of its most sincere
and potent friend when it was pros
trate and stricken. when Lincoln 8
sympathy and understanding would
have helped to heal the wounds and
hide the scars and speed the
restoration"
Taft Transfers Memorial
In transferring the memorial from
| the commission Co the head of the gov
ernment Chief Justice Taft told how
its first suggestion had come twenty
years ago, to lie fallow decade before
it was seized and wrought upon, with
close adherence to the broad vision of
what this second great American de-
served Of his countrymen, into tie
stately structure of to-day. 1t was per-
haps we'll, the former President said,
that half century should nave passed
before the emblem of Lincoln's great
ness should have been erected, for in
that space America had time to grow
IN the arts and appreciation that went
back to the simple, massive lines of
! Greek architecture to find fitting prece-
! dent for such a work.
ut is magnificent gen." Mr.. Taft
said of the memorial, "set in lovely
valley between the hills, commanding
them by its isolation and its entrance
ing beauty, the elimination of the high
est art of which America is capable.
Here, on the banks Of the Potomac, the
boundary between the two sections
tcoEanued page four)