The Commoner
,V0Ii.: 14, NO. 6
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The Commoner
ISSUIOI) MONTHLY
Entered nt tho PoHtofllco at Lincoln, Ncbraflkn,
aH BCCond-claHH matter. .
WlM.IAM .1. IlllVAM CHAin l'.S W. IJllYAM
Killter nnil l'roprlfilor Affoc nip Killtor nml PiibllMior
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THE COMMONER, Lincoln, Neb.
CONGRESSIONAL- ELECTIONS
Tho time has arrived when the educational
and organization work necessary to the election
of a democratic congress should be begun. The
legislation promised in the democratic platform
adopted at Baltimore has only partly been ful
filled. Jt will require the active cooperation of
a democratic congress during the next two years
to assist President Wilson in fulfilling the other
platform pledges. The activity as manifested by
tho special interests both in anil out of congress
should be a warning to progressive democrats
who think that thore will be no aggressive op
position to democratic congressional candidates
this fall. Tho importance of electing a congress
that will be in sympathy with President Wilson's
administration can not be overestimated. If
your district is not represented in congress by
a progressive democrat, is it not possible to in
duce a progressive democrat to file for the
nomination? If your district is represented by
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gressive democrats to renominate and elect him.
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of the country will be served by the carrying
out of all tho platform pledges made at Balti
more. The Commoner intends to do its part in
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Sectionalism Is Dead
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Juno 4th may well be regarded in history as
the day when the animosities aroused by the
wnr worn finallv buried and the complete
reunion of the once estranged sections form
ally proclaimed, for there was unveiled on
that day at the Arlington national cemetery a
beautiful monument, erected by the Daughters of
tho Confederacy to the southern soldiers who
died for the confederate cause. The monument
is of solid bronze, some thirty feet in height.
The figure of the south, the plow-stock and
sickle and a verse from the Scriptures consti
tute the synthesis of the whole work peace to
the living and peace to the dead. The monument
is worthy of the dead, and is a splendid example
of the work of the sculptor, Sir Moses Ezekiel,
who entered the confederate service when a
student at the Virginia military academy.
The ceremonies of the unveiling were impres
sive and beautiful. General Young, commander-in-chief
of the United States Confederate veter
ans, opened the exercises with an address full of
sentiment and rich in information. He was fol
lowed by General" Washington Gardner, commander-in-chief
of the Grand Army of the Re
public, who, in an address, most appropriate and
full of feeling, brought the greetings of the boys
in blue. The audience then listened with rapt
attention to the eloquent speech delivered by
Colonel Robert E. Lee, a grandson of the great
General Lee. which closed with a thrilling re
cital of tho lines:
Your flag and my flag and how it flies today,
O'er your land andmy land and half the world
away,
Rose red and blood red its stripes forever gleam;
Snow white and soul white, the good forefathers'
dream;
Sky bluo and.truo blue, with stars that beam
aright,
A glorious guidon by the day, a shelter for the
night.
Your flag and my flag, and oh! how much it
holds,
Your land and my land secure within its folds,
Your heart and my heart beat quicker at its
sight;
Sun-kissed and wind-tossed, the red, the blue,
the white;
The one flag, the great flag, the flag for me and
you,
Glorified all else beside, the red, the white, the
blue.
Colonel Hilary A. Herbert, who was secretary
of the navy during the Cleveland administration,
described the seven years' work of the Arlington
Confederate Monument association leading up
to tho completion of the memorial. President
McKinley and President Taft were mentioned
with expressions of appreciation for their part in
the consummation of the pi .n. General Herbert,
as chairman of the committee, gave the monul
ment into the custody ot Mrs. Daisy McLaurin
Stevens president general of the United Daugh
ters of the Confederacy, who , in an address re
plete with beautiful sentiments and elegantly ex-
VJfZf' ? lhis sacred syml of southern
affection into the keeping of the United States
Pres dent Wilson, by birth a son of the south
and by choice of his countrymen chief execut ve
at this happy period, accepted the monument o?
the Un ted States and emphasized in tender and
loving language the truth that it exemplifies and
the lessons that it teaches. He said'
I assure you that I am profoundly aware of
the solemn significance of the thing thS ha
now taken place. The Daughters of tin Con
federacy have presented a memorial of the
dead to the government 6f the United States
I hope that you have noted the history of thft
conception of this idea. It was proposed by a
presulen o the United States, who had himself
been a distinguished officer in the union Z
S ua? a"thoriz by an act of congress of
United States. The cornerstone of the monu
ment was laid by a president of the United
States elevated to his position by the votes of
the party which had chiefly nrideri ?Hi? ,
sustaining tho war for the "union in "oTtt
has fallen to my lot to accept in tle name ofTh
great government which I am privileged for thS
people!0 rePre8?nt thlS emblem 0f ? wSnlSd
"I am not so much happy as nrnnrt t u ,
?hS I" Ull8i ?aPaCRy n S " oXeton-TroJi
that I should represent such a people Am I mis.
taken, ladies and gentlemen, in supposing that
nothing of this soft could -have occurred in any
thing but a democracy? The people of a de
mocracy are not related to their rulers as sub
jects are related to a government. They are
themselves the sovereign authority, and as they
are neighbors of each other, quickened by the
same passions and moved by the same motives,
they can understand each other. They are shot
through with some of the deepest and profound
est instincts of human sympathy. They choose
their governments. They consult their rulers.
They live their own life and they will not have
that life disturbed and discolored by fraternal
misunderstandings.
"This chapter in the history of the United
States is now closed and I can bid you turn with
me your faces to the future, quickened by the
memories of the past, but with nothing to do
with the contests of the past, knowing as we
have shed our blood upon opposite sides we now
face and admire one another. The generosity
of our judgment was made up soon after this
great struggle was over, when men came and
sat together again in the congress and united in
all the efforts of peace and of government; and
our solemn duty is to see that each one of us is
in hio own consciousness and in his own conduct
a replica of this great reunited people. It is our
duty and our privilege to be like the country
we represent, and, speaking no word of malice,
no word of criticism even, standing shoulder to
shoulder to lift the. burdens of mankind in the
future and show the paths of freedom to all the
world. "-
It was a day not to be forgotten marking an
old era closed and a; new era begun. Where
else in all the world, or in what former time
could such a scene be witnessed as that enacted
on June 4th! "When .in the annals of war was
ever victory so complete as that which welded to
gether the discordant elements of a distracted
union into an harmonious whole a land in
which the only rivalry is an honorable struggle
to see which section can most contribute to the
common good W. J. BRYAN.
WASHINGTON GARDNER'S SPEECH
Following is the speech of Washington Gard
ner, commander-in-chief of the G-. A. R., de
livered at unveiling of confederate monument
at Arlington the afternoon of June 4th:
It seems fitting that here in this place and on
these grounds, once the home of Robert E. Lee,
there should rest the remains of some of the
gallant men who followed that great soldier even
unto death. It is fitting here, in sight of tho
nation's capital, and. in this vast burial plot con
secrated to American valor that some of our
fellow-countrymen, the representatives of once
hostile armies whose unsurpassed bravery is
now a common heritage and pride, should rest
in undisturbed slumber, and that the place of
final sepulture should be under the supervision
and care of the national government.
The presence of the chief magistrate of the
nation, members of his cabinet, and of others
high in the councils of the government with
that of representatives from every section of the
country, participating in these dedicatory exer
cises serve to illustrate anew that the sectional
bitterness and hate long preceding and which
culminated in the great war no "longer find a
place in the hearts nor expression upon the Hps
of our countrymen.
Monuments of whatever enduring material
are the visible expression of appreciation, of
gratitude, or of affection. A monumentless peo
ple is either a people without a history or else a
people without a heart.
This memorial structure speaks the language
of peace and good will. It says to all who come
hither and read the superscription that tho
swords and bayonets that once gleamed, along
the battle's fiery front have been "beaten into
plowshares and pruning hooks." It declares
through the symbolical wreath of unfading
laurel held in outstretched hand above the
sleeping dead that the spirit of heroic devotion
and lofty self-sacrifice which they manifested is
held in grateful and affectionate memory.
There is room in the hearts of the people of
all the land for cherished recollections of tho
valorous dead, and, at the same time, for the
most unfaltering love and loyalty and devotion
to the union of all the states. Without the ex-
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