The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1922-06-16


conquest. Every war we have been ir
was for a principle. Since the days OF
the Civil War, twice has the sword Of
America been drawn and to our honor
be it remembered, in the course od
liberty and against oppression. Twice
since the days of the Civil War have
our lighting men and the nation that
stood behind them demonstrated that
the examples of patriotism. courage
and self sacrifice which inspired the
volunteers of the Civil War was moi
forgotten. The courage that took the
boys of Bradford, and many Others
from the valleys. and hills. and noun
tains of Vermont. through the long and
bloody days of lighting in the tangled
forest of wilderness. was the same
quality which carried our raw militia
through the barbed wire and block
house fortif1cations at San Juan Hill
the same courage which led our boys
in khaki across the wheat fields swept
by machine gun fire Scissors and
directed them through terrible days in
the shell torn hills and forest of the
Argonne. The self sacrifice and devo-
ton to duty. the willingness to under
go loss. hardship and suffering in the
cause of freedom which the whole ma
| ton. North and South alike, displayed
i'm the Civil War, was again shown in
the whole people which stood behind
our troops.
| Never was a nation so welded to-
gether in one common purpose as in our
war with Germany.
Never did a people SO willingly, re-
nounce their individual aims and pur-
poses as in that war. With these
proofs before us. we may be confident
that when America is called upon
again, as she will be. to meet the test
and fiery trial of war her people will
not be found wanting. I wish I could
believe that such time of trial would
never come again. that this last great
struggle in which our loss and suffer-
ing. great as it was, was small in COM
parison to that of Europe, would be the
last war that civilized nations would
ever engage in. and that from the ashes
and wreckage of Europe the new world
would arise miraculously changed in
which all war had ceased to be, then
peace universal would reign.
The voice of reason answers that it
is not SO. SO long as the world holds
right and wrong, justice and injustice,
liberty and oppression. these forces are
bound to meet and the result will ever
be collision, struggle and war. At
Least the past gives us reason to hope
and believe that our country will al
ways be enlisted on the side of the
right. and that our people will always
meet the occasion as true Americans.
that we have need to remember the
spirit of Gettysburg. Peace also has
it's problems and conflicts which call
for the exercise of the soldiers quail
tiles; If the nation is to remain true
to it's guiding star; and the principles
of liberty which the men who wear the
Grand Army badges fought to keep un-
sullfed. are to be preserved. Not the
same heroic courage, it Is true, is re-
CURED in facing the question which are
presented to the people in times of
peace, nor can men engaged in the |
daily struggle for a livelihood be eX- |
pected to exercise the same self sscri-
flee which leads them to cheerfully |
give up business and home and family |
and life itself in tine of war. And yet |
there are other qualities which you !
men who wore the blue and khaki |
showed, other lessons which you learn
ed which must be remembered. if this
is to successfully meet the |
trials and problems which peace has |
brought with it.
And first of all, let me say that it is |
a mistake to enlarge upon the diff |
culties of our problems.
We know that today there is unrest |
in our land. What are we going to do
about it 3?
l believe in America. I believe in
American institutions. and 1 believe |
that we shall live to see better and
stronger America than we have today.
but at the same time I know that you |
business men feel that conditions in |
America are not what they ought to be.
There seems to be a feeling of uncer-
tainty, of distrust. We fully realize
that there has been a great change, |
and we are fearful for the future. We |
have had "a demonstration that was so
that we cannot deceive our
selves with the delusion that conditions
are only a mental attitude.
We know they are solid facts. Now
what are the conditions =? Perhaps |
there are a few of them, we can dis
cover. In the first place. let us look
at some figures as shown by the United
States census. There were 1057S6. 20S |
people in the United States according
to the census. If you had gone to
Canada, and had not been counted in
the census, there would have been 1867
1856, 20S people. and if you had taken
your wife with you, there would have
only been los, 786,2O8. So you see how
important you and your wife really are
to this country. In the last decade we |
only increased Is per cent. while in |
the preceding decade we increased 81 |
per cent. This decrease was due to the
stoppage of immigration. to the great
number of deaths, caused by the flu
and by the war. and to the fact. that
the high cost of living cut down the
number of marriages. and consequent
ly the number of births. Three states. |
Nevada and Vermont. ac-