The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12
THE MEN WHO DO THE FIGHTING.

\ VICTORIES in are associated with the names l N of commanders The great admiral is the sea tighter who can handle his ships and fight them to the best advantage and with the least confusion The great general is the man who handle the most in battle and so fight them that he gets the best out of every in his formations. But neither admiral general win without fidelity and cour- age and pride in the men whom he moves as parts of machine
 It is error of civilians to believe that Tn the ranks fight from motives of revenge It is civilians and historians who laud such balecres Remember the Alamo" and Remember the Maine" The fighting sailor and soldier has in mind the honor of his corps, his command, his country England expects every to do his duty" thrill ing call to Tommy Atkins than any appeal to preju- dice revenge. Don't give up the ship" uttered by the dying Lawrence, is the sentiment that inspires every -of-war' s-man under Dewey, Sampson and Schley. These unnamed heroes, unknown to their countrymen by except when they fall fighting, are the dependence of their country. We know them only when
 Their hearts feel no
 The rapture of the fight"
 They are the men who held back their shots when the Spanish admiral Montijo, driven from his own ship she roasted in the flames, carried his flag to another deck in open boat within range Of their guns He brother fighter, made of their stu and in admiration of his courage, common with theirs they refused the advantage and gave him his life They of the same stuff as Cervera who in circumstances illustrating common heroism took aboard Hobson and his after the sinking of the Merrimac to his undoing and sent out of the hot battle in which they had corked him to their commander his compliments upon their courage in executing feat that will gid the story of devotion to the end of time.
 Theca in he in and the of national character the expression of its fighting quality, its admiration of courage, its chivalry to the enemy and its seadast resolve that their flag must win, its arms must triumph Among them revenge has little place Their motives are not rooted in passion. They fight, not like the beasts that perish but for principle for country for the homes they have left and the flag that leads them on In their exaltation of spirit they do daring things Life precious to them only because it is theirs to give up that their country may not die Their i'm mortality is its permanence, and their blood ce- the of its foundation that it may never fail nor fall
 Perhaps but few of them could tell as philosophers might that all government rests finally upon force and that force in the fearless eye and tire less of fighting But they know instinctivey that lacking such men, government its orders and its institutions, be in the world So they are the patient of it all They make possible the free dom of person and the rights of property which are the prizes has gained through civilization Their measured march and the music of their guns shake the earth and make whrlwnds in the air to proclaim the permanence of government and the perpetuaton of civilization.
 When read of victories won and the principles they establish let not forget the men in the ranks by whose vaor these things come