Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1899-05-04

Detroit, May 3.-rhe banquet OF the
Sons OF the Rebellion last night was
made notable by the presence Of Sec
Rotary Alger. Senator Chauncey NJ
Depew, Maj. Gen, Joseph Wheeler
Mai. Gen. Wesley X. Merritt, Gen Ho-
ratio G. King, Inspector General D. 4,
breckenridge and many others, VINO
rendered their services IN the Spanish
and civil wars. When ex-senator
Thomas w. Palmer, president OF the
Michigan society, mentioned the name
of Secretary Alger the banqueters rose
and chccrcd enthusiastically. the
sneakers chose their own subjects
there being no set responses To set top
les Gen. King in his address paid
n glowing tribute to Secretary AIgcr
aud concluded his speech by saying;
"Acl together now and VI needs be you
must you can talk afterwards. me
government must and shall be suS-
tanned and the watchword of the hour
TO every true American should be
my country, may she always be right,
but right or wrong my country.
Secretary AIger said IN part: I'm
der the American flag battles have
been fought and won against every
force that sought to check It's onward
progress towards the setting sun, Il
flag that has never yet been unfurlcd
against an enemy but to prevail. Here
has been founded the cradle Of free
dom; here erected the arch ofindepend-
ence; here the child Of liberty has
waxed into n mighty republic. Every
sign present and past assures us that
this government Is destined to be per
manently I'm the lead; that this coun-
try Is to be, If 1t is not already, the
center Of civilization and OF power, II
power which rests In all the people,
which has no sovereign save the peo-
pie" After aIuding to the heroism
and success Of the American troops In
the late war, Alger said: Surprising
they had little beef spoiled, what of
it9 II they HAD had no beef ut all they
would have had more than Gen, Joe
Wheeler and | had in that other war.
The people Of the United States are
not selfish people; they have meyer
sought territorial accession except to
the benefit of the peoples who came
with It.. The flag of this nation has
been holstod over Cuba, Porto Rico and
the Philippines -inlands whose people
have for centuries been oppressed by
Spanish misrule. Whatever else may
be, we can be assured rs 1t has been
raised In Porto Rico ana the Philip
pines, there 1t will remain One OF
these islands we hold In trust, the
others are ours, Every great achieve
ment IL made at Il sacrifice. Nations
have been built up rs n result of war;
and may we hope as n result of the
conquest of the past II months that
civilization, education, chritanity and
n God- fearing people shall bless the
United States, so long rs 1t eudurcs. for
her sacrifice that has been made for
her men and freedom -
Gen. Merritt was the next speaker
and said In part: THE army In the
east, as | testified before the invcstl-
eating commission, had everything the
war department could furnish, This
most outrngeously abused administra-
tion has done more for the army than
any other administration that ever
existed. If there were any canned
speeches here tonight they are better
than some of the refrigerated speeches
that we have read II had n canned
speech to develop ON this subject, |
assure YOU that 1t would not smell. ="
Gen. Merritt referred to the present
secretary of war as the best secretary
Of war the world has ever seen. He
added; mo secretary was ever more
abused, Secretary Stanton stood
through his abuse as the most fearless
secretary that ever lived. We have
now another secretary who has made
fewer mistakes and been more abused
than any Of his predecessors, He had
the confidence of all except few NAL
contents, Through him has been at
tackled the president of the United
States, He Ia almost sick at heart at
the weight OF unjust uhlouuy that has
been hcaprd upon him. hut with no
promises to make or platitudcs to in
dulgc in, he Is conducting an honest
administration, | talk Ms soldier,
don't commit myself to any complica-
tons that may lead to trouble with
Germany, but | hug myself for being
an American citizen"
Other speakers were Gen, Joe Wheel
er, Senator nepow ana Con, Rrcckiu-
ridge,
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