The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-05-11


| won honor in the last war; and he'll
| win honor in this
Col. Elliott of Coffeyville, captain of
| the company recruited in Montgomery
| county, passed a few minutes later.
| There's another old fighter" said
| Gov. Leedy, land I'll guarantee he'll
| stand another racket"
| They're just the men to lead the
| young boys" said Maj. Hudson.
! The entire parade passed the review
| ing stand. and then the volunteers
maneuvered on Harrison street and
| marched through the state house
| grounds to position directly in front
| of the south steps. There they remain
4 ed until the exercises concluded.
When the hundreds of soldier boys
were massed in solid lines in front of
| the crowd congregated on the steps,
| Director NJ. c. Holman of the Modoc
club, climbed upon table and an
nounced that America" would be sung.
1--WE want everybody to join u.s." said
he, and then waving his baton, he
| struck up the patriotic air.
The Modoc members at once took it
steps behind them. The singing grad
ually grew louder as the air was taken
up by the people on the lower steps, and
finally it reached the ranks of voIun-
was reached, thousands of voices had
joined in the song, and the inspiring
words were ringing out in one grand
melody.
AS the patriotic sound died away,
Maj. Hudson introduced Gov Leedy,
who delivered an address to the SOL
diers. He said:
Soldiers of Kansas: The people of
this state have assembled here today to
do you honor and to bid you godspeed.
You are going forth to do battle in a
righteous cause. The United States, by
tradition and by preference, do not
NEEDLE with the affairs of foreign ma
tons. and for that reason they have not
1nterfered for the last three years IN
+ I,,
with horror and witnessed the atrocities
of the Spanish who have outdone the
savage even in their crimes. (CheerS)
The savages will torture. a man, but
they will not stand by and see his tor
ture; but when the Spanish govern
ment connived at the blowing up of one
of our ships that was visiting there as
a, vessel of friendly nation, they
struck US a blow that could not be
avenged in any other way but by war.
(Cheers.) We have taken up arms to
avenge a wrong that could not be con-
doned.
Il do not today intend to speak to
you at length upon that question. The
crowd is too large. I could not make
you hear; but 1 want to speak to you
briefly about another side of this ques-
ton, that so far as 1 know, has not
been touched upon. As I have said we
have gone in to the war, not to aggran-
die our honorable glory, not for mill
tary pride; but we have gone to war to
avenge our wrongs; but now that we
have been forced into this position, it
becomes us to look upon all sides of this
question. We are going to incur
tiona1 military expense that must be
borne by our people, and a great many
citizens have hesitated, have stood
back because of this matter. / want to
say to you that while nothing perhaps
can repay us for the precious blood of
our citizens that will be shed, yet, so
far as money is concerned, so far as dol
lars and cents go, 1 want to say to you
that feel that this will be a great ma
tional benefit. I want to call your at
tentiOn to a fact, one that / think pub
lie people ought to consider. While we
have to bear the expense of this war,
while we have to contemplate the loss
of life, we want to look and see what
we can find on tn other side that
might go some way towards cOunterbal-
ancing this. On the south of US, in
this Spanish country, are so, 900 900 of
people, who, by our trade relations and
by our lack of information and by our
not having knowledge of their language,
have been exactly as if they lived upon
the other part of the globe. We have
no commercial relations with them, but
1 believe that the army of the United
States, going into that country and
learning the language and learning the
habits of the people, will bring about a
revolution in the commercial relations
of the United States. At the present
time these so 900, 900 of people have no
manufactures of their own They ship |
their coffee sugar, rubber and tropical
fruits TO Europe ana Jnen TOT
manufactured goods; and then we, the |
people of the United States of America, |
turn around and buy from Europe and |
pay in gold for these very things while |
our manufactures stand idle and our |
laborers ask for work. L feel that the |
outcome of this war shall be that we |
shall have new commercial relations. 1 /
believe that the whole trade of South |
America Central America and Mexico |
will be turned toward the United |
States.
81 believe that when this war is over |
the men who have gone down there and |
learned the customs of the people, will |
take advantage and will turn around in |
the United States, or rather they Will
bring to US $4,000, 900 of customers. They |
will put US in a. battle where we ca.7 ]
recoup ourselves ten times over for the |
many losses that this war will cause |
US; therefore, while it is well enough |
to look at the dark side of the picture
and to count the cost in blood yet so far
as money is concerned, I believe that
we will come out even.
This crowd is too large to attempt |
to speak at length. L only want to say |
to you that every loyal heart in Kan
sas goes out to battle with you. 1 want
to say to you that there is not a doubt
in the hearts of anyone of it's citizens
that you will be cravens when the day
of battle comes L want to say to you
that every citizen of this state will go
to bed tonight with not one doubt in his
heart that when you come back here,
you will come with victory perched up
on your banners. 1 want to say to you,
as the governor of this state, and
speaking for its citizens. that no effort
will be abated that L can put forth for |
your comfort and your benefit want
to say to you, that every citizen of this
state wants you cared for in the best
possible manner. I want to say to you,
that you go forth with the blessings OF
every loyal citizen of the state. I want
to say to you, that your wives. and
vour mothers and your sweethearts