Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 May 1904 — Outraging Memorial Day. [ARTICLE]

Outraging Memorial Day.

The veterans and those who appreciate what they did from 1861 to 1865 arc indignant over the way Memorial Day has come to be regarded by a large element of the American people. Instead of being looked upon as an occasion for paying respect to the departed American soldier who has served honorably in the field it is turned into a holiday to be passed frivolously and without the slightest regard for the sacred nature of an anniversary dedicated to high aims and lofty patriotism. Each succeeding anniversary is more and more a joyous occasion and less and less an object lesson of gratitude to those who so nobly served the nation in the hour of trial. When first instituted there was no thought of levity in connection with its observance. The parade moved through streets to the strains of the funeral march, the beating of the muffled drum, the shrouding of the flag with crape, the soldiers with arms reversed. The respectful attentiouof the multitude corresponded to the somber processional. In the cemeteries crowds assembled for the exercises and to see the floral tributes on the mounds of the heroes who had answered the final roll call. In the churches congregations listened to addresses in keeping with the solemnity of the day. That was a generation ago. A great change has come over those who have come upon the stage of action since. The present generation does not appreciate the sacrifices the soldiers made in the long drawn out war of the GO’s, such as their forbears well knew, or they would never allow the day to degenerate into a season of merrymaking, with contests on land and water by day, and dances at night, upsetting completely the meaning of the anniversary. The desecration has come to such a pass that unless a change comes over the public mind it will be necessary to abolish Memorial Day. Of course this will be a hardship to those who now make it a festival for it will mean one less holiday struck from the calendar, and on that account solely it will be deplored. The flowers can be strewn just as well without ceremonial and Interruption to business and have equal honor and equal meaning for our sleeping heroes as if a day were set apart for this distinction. In this way the mockery and heartlessness which now discredit Memorial Day will cease to disgrace it before the world. —Utica Globe.