Evening star., 1946-05-30
Memorial Day, 1916

A"SAIIy -oCNCu years ago To-Day
President Woodrow Wilson stood in
Suresnes Cemetery near Paris in!
France and spoke words which per-
haps are more meaningful now than
they were then. The men whose
graves he looked upon, he said, were
"of a unique breed" Not since the
Crusades had their like appeared.
Never before have men crossed the
seas to foreign land to fight for
cause of humanity which they did
not pretend was particularly their
own, but knew was the cause of
humanity and of mankind" True.
they found armies of liberty already
in the field" Joining with those
seasoned Allies, "the men of Amer
lea gave that greatest of all gifts,
the gift of life and the gift of spirit"
But was the gift effective, worth
while, not given in vain? Mr..
Wilson, with the clear eyes of a
prophet, saw more clearly than the
generality OF his contemporaries
the danger that the whole tremen-
dous struggle to which he was re-
ferring might prove to have been
useless. 1T would be no profit to
us to eulogize these illustrious dead,
ii we did not take to heart the lesson
which they have taught u.s." he
declared. They have done their
utmost to show their devotion to a
great cause, and they have left us to
see to it that that cause shall not
be betrayed, whether in war or
peace"
Mr.. Wilson explained to the little
company gathered in the cemetery
to hear his speech: These men did
not come across the sea merely to
defeat Germany. They came
to defeat forever the things for
which the Central Powers stood, the
sort of power they meant to assert
in the world, the arrogant, selfish
domination which they meant to
establish: And they came, moreover,
to see to it that there should never
be war like this again." It was the
duty of civilized people, he insisted,
ito use our proper weapons of
counsel and agreement" to the end
that there should be no betrayal of
the human race
I Looking back to Suresnes on May
80, 1919, the surviving members of
Mr.. Wilson's generation realize
that what he said there and at that
time has been repeated by numbers
OF earnest, sincere, devoted leaders
In many different lands at intervals
ever since. His ideas and ideals were
not new when he put them forth.
Thousands of people had yearned
for a world federation that should
bring peace, security and prosperity
to all countries. Their hope has
been echoed by millions in more re-
cent years. Why is it never fulfilled?
What fault is it in human character
that keeps humanity back from the
goal OF justice, mutuality and fell
lowship which it so long, so ardently,
so desperately has sought?
Such is the challenge which
Memorial Day in 1916 brings to men
and women of every allegiance,
every condition. World War II is
not won until these questions are
answered constructively, creatively,
triumphantly. The dead cannot
sleep serenely while the strife and
the suffering continue. Chaos, vio-
lence, the rampant threat of a still
more frightful conflict mock their
sacrifice. The last syllables of Pres
ident Wilson's address at Suresnes
were distinctively his own, but they
should be repeated in personal
application by every American in
this present moment: Here stand I,
consecrated in the spirit of the men
who were once my comrades, and
who are now gone, and who left me
under eternal bonds of fidelity"