The age-herald., 1898-12-16
v0Iunteer lnfantry frOm !he bad ot Ten-
Gen. s. E. M. Young

assigned to General Chance.
 General Young replied to the toast, "The Volunteer as Viewed by Regular in Com mand." He said in part:
 "A call was made by our president for volunteers. Unfortunately, and, my friends, l speak advisedly, unfortunately we accept ed and mustered in the United States ser vice regiments and officers in their entirety from these state guards. This was mis- take; but as l said before this pertains 10 a subject of which our worthy secretary of war will read from me an official communl- cation. In looking at the volunteers and considering them as soldiers, the fact Is lost sight of, that they have not received less than year, be educated to the point to condemn; we are slow to remember, that these patriotic men taken from every walk of life cannot within a week, month, aye, less than year, be aducated to the point where these obligations to them are para mount.
 'I dwell more particularly on the two volunteer regiments, Seventy-irst New York and Second Massachusetts, for the reason that these two regiments were the two volunteer regiments and the only VOL unteer regiments except the First volunteer cavalry Rough Riders) present with the regular forces that played any important part in the battles in and about Santiago. I have sincerely regretted that these two regiments were taken away from my brigade, and from under my command; not that they were placed under the command of General Lawton, who is a soldier worthy of the Napoleonc days, but that they were brought into action before they had attain ed that confidence in their company and regimental officers that is necessary In an engagement. Understand me distinctly that I am not critcising the action of these regiments under fire. There is no better material in these United States than could 1o.,Ac 11ft 10 lack the instruction and the training neces- sary to success in the extreme hour of trial. Without limited force in that expe- dition 1t was necessary to call upon these two regiments, but they were called upon too soon. They were not fitted for the work"
 Hon. Charles Emory Smith, postmaster general, was next introduced
 Coy. Jos. r. Johnston
 He was followed by Governor Jos. F. Johnston, of Alabama.
 Hon. Charles F. Warwick, mayor of Phil- adelphia, responded to ''What the Liberty Bell Says About It." Mayor Warwick is favorite in Atlanta, and his reception was highly gratifying.
 Congressman Evan Settle of Kentucky, who spoke for Hon. Jos. w. Bailey, and Richmond F. fi6Dson were the last speak CTS.
 Governor Joseph F. Johnston, of Ala tan a, responded to the toast "The State Governments Answer to the Call to Arms He sa'd:
 'It seems to me peculiarly appropriate that this celebration should be had here in the central state of the south, and siill more, in the home city of a man whose genius set another star in the southern Armament, and his patriotic eloquence first stilled the voice of sectional animosity.
 ''I congratulate the president on his beng n al,1a tt tllS n Atlanta with less discomfort and apprehension than one he undertook some thrty-five years ago; and I am sure he prefers the kind of hot time he will have in the old town tonight to the kind he experienced then.
 Georgia is distinguished in many ways, chiefly in the fact that she lies next to Alabama and some partisan newspapers and political prophets. Alabama, is Of course, Inc greatest of all states in the abundance and variety of her resources, but Georgia has two things weheTin she is pie-eminent, both going out into many states-one appealing to the tenderest recol- lections of predatory boyhood, and the other inspiring the most patriotic hope of he future-her watermelon and her 'Consti tution.'
 Coming to my text, I can say that the proclamation of war found all the states ready; not one in the sisterhood but had her lamp trimmed and glowing with pat riotic light; all differences as to the right fullness or expedency of the war disap peared, and once more the men of the north and of the south were ready to ce- ment the union with their co-mingling blood.
 ''The conditions were not the same in all the states; some had well organized and ef- ficient troops ready for instant service; Georgia was peculiarly happy in that the call upon her never reached such propor- tions but that it could be filled by the f acta Of thn h. out any community ever missing. or pos sibly regretting, them; Ohio had only to take a tithe of her late disappointed candi- dates for federal patronage and her quota was full, and everyone happy, especially as there was reasonable hope that none would return.
 .'New York only needed to call on the newspaper warriors, who always snuff the battle from afar off. Immunes, many of whom were acquainted with men who had had the yellow fever and of whom not few actually had the croupe and survived the elementary bangs of unripe fruit, rushed to the front.
 "Democrats and republicans, goid-bugs and silver looms and even the populists came from their political graves, and all forgot party, currency, section and an mosl- ties, and stood for the country Even the women God bless them, volunteered, and were then, as now the mainstay and hope of the infantry.
 "One thing, MT. Chairman, was thorn in the flesh of the state governments, that was the physical examination the volun- teers were subjected to. Nothing but per lection was adm ssible. A man short of an eve even if it were not the shooting eye, or with a missing finger, or too much or too little circumference was not in it. The only way Shafter and Wheeler could have gotten into the ranks would have been to have themselves mixed up and made over into two respectable men. Fftz Lee could never have larded the lean earth as private, and Napoleon Bonaparte would have been turned down.
 "Fortunately no test was had as to oIans, | and consequently large number ol oneers | of high rank were able to get in "Experience obtained from our late fam | ily disturbance has taught us that the men | who win the battles carry the muskets So we were extremely particular about the | privates and quite indifferent as to the offi- | cers. The consequence was that we had 1 the best privates ever assembled in an | army and some of the fattest generals.