The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1928-11-15

ial and the address there by President
Coolidge.
"The President contributed one of
the most graceful and scholarly of his
state papers," says the Newark Even
ing News, which adds that "his tribute
to the men of Virginian birth, from
Washington to Wilson, and to their
deeds and work stints nothing in fair
treatment. Mr.. Coolidge accords her
full merit" continues the News, "to
the Mother of Presidents and all for
which she stands, nor leaves out even
the concession that those who fought
in gray upon the fields he was dedi-
eating as a national park were as
right, as it was given them to see the
right, as those who opposed them in
blue"
Congress last year was awakened"
recalls the Buffalo Evening News, ''to
a very proper appreciation of the fact
that an extraordinary amount of
national history is concentrated in
Spottsylvania county, Va. Here were
scenes of both Revolutionary and Civil
war activities of the most important
character. An appropriation was
granted to create national park
in which these historic sites might
be preserved and duly marked, and
to build memorial at the Fredericks-
burg gateway. The fact that the
dedication dates came at the height
of a presidential campaign was Incl
dental. Mr.. Coolidge made the same
kind of speech which he would have
delivered if there had not been an
election in sight within four years."
"The presidents speech was time
ly reminder, suggests the lndlanap-
oils News, chat the country had not
forgotten its great debt to the men
who fought in the Civil war, and
that it can, without boasting, stand
in the presence of their graves with a
feeling of having done its best to live
up to their hopes" The News also
comments "The United States now
stands foremost for peace, not by sac
ricfice of position, but with due regard
for the men who fell on the four bat
tlefelds which the park will include,
by maintaining the defense system on
a firm basis, while at the same time
cultivating the principle that was is
a wasteful method Of settling inter
national differences"
Though the president touched but
lightly on the Civil war struggle in
that historic section of northern Vir-
ginia" according to the New York
Herald Tribune, that paper is remind
ed that "there Lee fought four great
defensive battles in which his mill
tary genius was most strikingly dis
played"
The Herald Tribune continues:
"The Civil war belongs to the past.
President Coolidge chose to speak of
the later triumphs of peace, in which
both North and South have shared.
The South has recovered from its
losses and has entered upon brilliant
era of prosperity and progress, x x
In the presidents view we are a
united, tranquil, prosperous and pro-
gressive people, with future which
no one can measure. We are also a
people welded and nationalized in a
sense practically beyond the concep-
ton of the hundreds of thousands who
fought on these northern Virginia
battlefelds in 1868 and 1864"
"Where 100000 Americans on both
sides stained the earth with Their
blood" says the Portland Oregon
Journal, "the era has been consecrated
as hallowed ground. Memorials will
be erected by congress. Virginia will
raise monuments to the heroic dead.
Where the bitter battles were, the
children of America will find recrea-
ton. There is something so fitting and
lust about this Civil war memorial
park that it wakes an echo in every
heart. 1t is something that should
have been done, for it conserves for
peace the deeply learned lessons of
strife"
Referring to a group of Americans
each of which had contributed share
to the growth of the country and was
eulogized by the president, the Cleve-
land Plain Dealer adds: "Here are
nine Virginians responsible for prac-
tically the entire area of the CONT
mental United States. By war, by
statecraft and by exploration they
were the greatest territory builders
And this means a great deal. With
out her immense area the American
republic could not be today the
greatest and most powerful nation OF
the world. y 1t was highly ap-
propriate that on such an occasion at
tention was called to Virginia's ire
mendous contribution to American ex'
pansion. North and South, uniting
to commemorate the terrible battles
which brought the Civil war to close
were appropriately reminded OF Vlr'