The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1940-06-06
Sacred Memories Topic
OF Memorial Address
Continued from Page One)


umphs, and have the courage t
follow the principles of the Primo
of Peace, and learn to dwell to
gether in the spirit of fellowship
Every memorial day brings bacl
memories of the touch of a van
ished hand, and the sound of {
voice that is still. And it has beef
determined by kindly hearts anc
faithful souls that they shall b
held in everlasting remembrance
This week noble comrades, wht
can never forget, will lay flora
tributes on the graves of America:
heroic children, who have been sac
rificed to the god of war. The
flowers of today will fade away
but loving memory lives on fol
ever.
But I submit this thounght tc
you this morning that the only
intelligent way in which we can
honour those who have made the
supreme sacrifice, is not to glorify
war, but to make war impossible
Now that another war Is raging
across the seas in Europe, let us
not be subject of another wal
hysteria. let us not make the mis-
take of committing ourselves and
entangling our nation again in
causes for which we are not res
ponsible.
The heroes we honour this morn
ing died to make democracy safe
for the future. We shall not pre-
serve our democracy by entering
another war, we shall preserve it if
we take care of our own problems
here at home.
We have no moral right as a
nation to send our money, our
talents and our genius to Europe
when we have our own citizens by
the thousands suffering privations
from lack of work and proper
care. 1t will be more honorable
for us to preserve and care for
our own citizenry because that is
our first obligation. Therefose, I
say, let us set our own house in
order before we become entangled
abroad. In this way, and in this
way alone can we preserve the de-
mocracy for which the men and
women of the past suffered and
died.
Let me remind you also, that
the supreme sacrifice made by
those whom we honour today is
a constant reminder of the true
spirit of patriotism in its deepest
sense. There are various meanings
given to this word patriotism.
To some it means the clash of
arms, to others loud shouting and
war hysteria. But to thinking
people it means revering and hon
oring certain definite principles
and ideals, and to do all that we
can to keep our nation from enter
ing into entangling alliances lead
ing to barbaric and silly wars.
In one of his famous speeches
to the peoples of Athens, Pericles,
a great statesmen of ancient
Greece, gave the world a noble
ideal and the true meaning of
patriotism. This is what he said
I would have you day by day
fix your eyes on the greatness of
Athens, until you become filled
with the love of her; and when
you are impressed by this spec
tacle of her glory, reflect that this
empire has been acquired by men
who knew their duty and had the
courage to do it; who, in the hour
of conflict, had the fear of dis
honour always with them, and
freely gave their lives to her as
the fairest offering they could
present at her feet.
With Pericles, 1 would say to
you this morning-fix your eyes
on the greatness, the ideals, the
principles of this American de-
mocracy, that you too may real
Use, with hearts full of love, and
souls impressed by her national
character. that the whole structure
of this country has been built by
men and women conscious Of a
scared duty and inspired by an
indomitable courage.
Let this remind us of our duty
to carry on and maintain the trad
ition of a worthy people, and the
ideals and principles of a great
nation.
These thoughts need to be en-
phasised and impressed upon us
these days. Because this is an
hour in the history of the world
when all men and women who
value the blessings of democracy,
such as this nation offers, and who
enjoy the privileges of citizenahip
here, must learn to he loyal to
the spirit and the principles of the
Constitution of the United States.
And in this connection, let me
emphasize this too! There Is no
room in this nation for sympath-
izers of Facism, Communism or
Nazism. If any one of these sys-
TENS ever took control here, there
would be no such blessings as per-
sonal liberty for all to enjoy. The
American Bill of Rights would be
discarded and no man could call
his life his own.
Our Bill of Rights protects the
liberties of the individual. There
l. M .,,nk c,,o ~, p,,ccia