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Show s ;H wrY:YY to : v v f ix fnx s r I ! o, ;i ? i r v r i . . -N . : .. . ' -x.. v , . N '.. J i rr: i By ELMO SCOTT WATSON T11K statos of Al:ittunn. i. "IT floorsla. K!iri,!u ninl Mis- B SiSsl'U CoIlfoUiTUte MtMlHV , rial Jay Is o!servl on April r;t Ci'v. In North Carolina uiul if South Carolina It Is May 10 ; irt ii aIu I-ou,s':ln;l 'l 's J''1"1 V Clw ';1-T w'''c'' was pri "' Inatly the Ftnloral' Memorial day. has hoooine a national tamaJ hoiiih'.y aiul. In so far as It r- honors the memory of hoth ' the men who nore the lllue mul those T: who wore the Cray, as well us their .:: khaki-tlad sons mul cran.lsons who y foticht In nil of our wars since Til-'iVi. . It is observed In nil states. As these . -. dates are apiin approaching it Is In-.: In-.: teresting to r.ote that there is now a : project under way which, in the words ": of its spor.sor. is dcsi::r.ed "to ol.iit erjte t!e last remnant of III feelinp t t between the sections of the North and the seitimis of the South as we once 1 ; knew t!.e:n." That project Is the proposal for a - Joint rem. ion of L"nio:i and Confeil erate surviiors In Washiirtoti this year and a bill already has been Introduced Intro-duced into rorrress by I'.epreseiita'ive Kd-'ar Howard of Nebraska ns the . first step toward hrinirins It nbout. Tiie bill provides for the appointment of a commission consis;in2 of the fen ' r end in command of the United Slates ' army, the governors of the states and such other members r.s the President may be pleased tp name, to have general gen-eral jhar'e of the reunion uud for the authorization of at) appropriation of sufficient money from the United Stares treasury to pay the expenses of the reunion. I'ress comment on the '4 proposal. e-peeia!!y by Southern pas' pa-s' pers. indicates that the Idea has made r- a pood impresMon and the chances -J for the passage of the bill are roll i-' sidered crood. In introducing the bill Congressman S" Howard ac!;nowleded his Indehted-; Indehted-; ' ness for the Idea to two veterans of the War Between the States. .Tih1kp Morley Cain and L. D. Ichanls of Fremont. Neb., a former commander of the Grand Army of the Flepublic. ',' and In his speech advocatlne the bill ', , he said: ' feel I have a perfect right to propose this legislation because of the fact that I am about as far re-moved re-moved from sectional feeling as any man might be. I recall. In recitation by my elders, that in the days of strife i about one-third of -the men of the blood of my kinsmen were In the Union army, about one-third In the Confederate army and about one-third one-third (being Quakers) were ministering minister-ing to the si'V; r"'l v-ot;::ih'd on both 8i('es." in answering a question of another fl member of congress, during Hie course i of his speech, in regard to the mini-& mini-& her of old soldiers on either side who j 1 are still living. .Mr. Howard said: 3 w. According to the report of the com- miHsioner of pensions, who has better knnwIerjKe on this score, perhaps, than f! ony other, I am Informed that on the Jb' last dny of November of this year there ( were still living 84.478 men who served H;- In the Union army Now. I take It for Kranterl that a pproxtmately the same number survive with reference to the .4 Confederate side. How many would be A able to attend euch a reunion? 1 have ,J talked Wth many of the oh soldiers or both sides, and the general estimate Is Confederate b.ittla flarjs captured In the Civil war were returned to the Dixie 6tntes of Virginia, North Carolina Caro-lina and Texas with Impressive ccre- monies at the capitol on December 16, , 1927. The above photograph shows I Gov. Ralph Brewster of Maine (left). . President Coolldge (center), and Gen. W. B. Freeman of Richmond (right), 1 honorary commander of the United Confederate Veterans, with some of f the flags returned. thnt the number would be less thnn 10.-0C0. 10.-0C0. How do I pnther that, or, rntner, how do they reach thnt estlmnte? They reach It by taklnK the flpures of the rension commissioner, which show thnt In round numbers 50.000 of the 80.000 living Union seldlers are now physically physical-ly Incapacitated, requiring the constant nld and attention of some other person to care for them because of Infirmity; and of the remainder, the estimate Is made by those who have taken account of the attendance nt the annual reunions re-unions of the Grand Army of the Republic Re-public nnd of the United Confederate Veterans. He then referred to the scene, shown In the picture above, as follows fol-lows : Out here this mornlnK on the steps of the capitol we witnessed the return of some captured Confederate HaKs by rhe people of the Northern state of Maine to the people of North Carolina. Those people up there In Maine, whom the southe-ners used to call the coldblooded cold-blooded Yankees, are now warm, and they come down here bearing their captured cap-tured flacs to the North Carolinians, and I understand that If North Carolina Caro-lina did capture flas from the Maine replmenls she has already or Is to return re-turn them to the state of Maine. 1 recall an incident a little while (CO when the state of New Jersey, throuch Its governor, returned some Confederate flags to a Southern state I think It was North Carolina also and here I have a little editorial from the new York Times, which says of that action: -The decision of the governor of New Jersey to re.turn to North Carolina f.aHS of that state captured by New Jersey regiments during the Civil war will be approved in the North as well I as In the South. Ever since the World war brought the sons of Northern and Southern veterans Into close contact, the last remaining vestige of regional teeling has disappeared. The North has taken Lee to heart as a great American. The South has recognized the splendor of Lincoln As one mark of the new spirit, many Confederate flags taken by Northern troops ant) Union flags taken by the Southerners have been returned. In following this custom New Jersey Is contributing her share to the obliteration of unpleasant memories." 1 do not think of any better plea that 1 might leave with you, my friends, as a last remark on this subject, sub-ject, than to quote some of the utterances utter-ances by the splendid ones who have represented us in high capacity In our government In peace and In war. I r,.f.a;i it may have been nt Appomattox, Appo-mattox, 1 do not know, but certainly soon thereafter when the greal General Gen-eral Urant uttered that immortal expression ex-pression "Let us have peace." It was only a little while after that that the wonderful Lee said, "We are all one now " It was not long after when dear old General Gordon said, "The American people will forever remain an unbroken brotherhood from sea to sea"- and It was not long after when the 'princely McKlnley said, "Let us strew Mowers alike on the graves of those who wore the Clue and those who wore the Gray, for American valor is the common heritage of the oation." Living 'here In Washington today Is a wonderful old soldier of the Confed-oiacy Confed-oiacy Ah he knew what service was and he knew what suffering was. He was in the war for four and a half years and the last part of It he spent in prison. His heart Is eo full of a desire de-sire to accomplish a final wiping away of all thought of bitterness between the two peoples that he has written a poem which has been set to music un dcr the caption "The lilcnd of the nlus and the Gray." I refer to MaJ. John Allelno To-own of Washington city. I know that many of you are personally acquainted with him. and 1 would like to lenve as my closing plea In behalf of the proposed Joint reunion the Inspiring In-spiring lines by Major Itrown: THE I1I.K.ND OP THE Bi t E AND TI1K CKAY tny J. Allelne Brown.) Oh, swell the song of kindred fame. And blow, ye bugles, blow; Nor more doth burn with heated flame The passion of the foe; The battle long hath ceased to rage. There Is no batllo line. The Nation's pride engraves the page, Its Joy Invests the shrine. The blend of blue lights up the gray, The blend of gray the blue; Together now those colors sway With Inspiration new. 'TIs patriot hands that sweep the lyre- They chant on high their lny: The blue Invokes the Nntlon's choir, "My country," sings the gray. Then chant the blended blue and gray, Though once they faced each other; Those tattered ensigns furled away Proclaim the name of brother. We've found at last the vaulted sky For us o'erspread alway; Eternally the blue on high, Llends with the morning gray. Other Incidents, similar to the return re-turn of battle (lags, which are "obliterating "oblit-erating unpleasant memories" and which are In keeping with the Idea back of the proposed reunfon of Blue nml Gray veternns, have been recorded record-ed In press dispatches recently as follows : Atlanta, Ga. Charred by sparks from campflrea and bearing holes as evidence evi-dence of Confederate marksmanship, a woolen bedspread taken from the home of the late Gov. Joseph E. Brown nt Canton, Ga., in 1864, by one of General Sherman's lieutenants has been returned re-turned to Atlanta. The spread taken from the home of Georgia's war governor when It was burned by federal troops, was returned to George M. Brown, Sr., son of the former governor, by MaJ. K. L. Slvey of Chicago, whose father "borrowed" It In the War Between the States. Richmond, V'a. Alfred L. Aiken, formerly governor of the Federal Reserve Re-serve bank of Boston, has returned to the senate of Virginia a gave that was carried orT from the senate chamber by a young officer of the Union army on April 2, 1865, the day of the evacuation of Richmond. The historic relic, with handle of walnut and head of lignum vltae, was presented at special ceremonies recently recent-ly and was accepted by Lieut. Gov. Junius E. West, presiding officer of the senate. The young officer who carried It away was Lieut. J. Lewis Spaulding, adjutant of the Twenty-ninth Connecticut Connecti-cut Infantry, which was among the first Union troeps to enter the city after af-ter Richmond fell. Ho gave It to William A. Buckingham, Bucking-ham, Mr. Alken'a grandfather, then governor of Connecticut, afterward United States senator, whose home was at Norwich. For more than sixty-two years It had remained In possession of members of the family there. The gavel was used not only by the Virginia senate, but also by the Confederate Con-federate senate, which held its sessions ses-sions in the same chamber. Washington. D. C Maj.-Gen. John L. Clem, retired, Union veteran, and Vivian Fleming, a-Confederate veteran, have been designated by Secretary Davis of the War department as members mem-bers of the Spottsylvanian county battlefield bat-tlefield memorial commission, which also al-so will Include Capt. George F. Hobson, army quartermaster corps. Both Gen. Clem and Fleming served on the preliminary pre-liminary commission and already have detailed knowledge of the fields which v lil be under their Jurisdiction. |