The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-09-28

The thoughts of the people of this great
country are turned toward New York to-
day because Admiral Dewey is there.
Throngs representing every town and village
in the land are there to greet him and to
gaze upon him with admiring eyes. A year
ago last April few among these millions
knew that such a man existed. The navy
as an institution had not interested them,
and it's officers were unknown quantities.
Then suddenly, on the 1st of May, the naval
victory at Manila was won and they had a
hero. That morning Dewey had sailed into
Manila bay with his ships and destroyed
the Spanish fleet. Not stopped by fear of
mines in the harbor, not intimidated by the
guns of the forts. he boldly entered the bay
and calmly carried out the orders of his
government. losing neither man nor gun in
the undertaking. 1t was a deed that in
stantly appealed to the imaginations of his
fellow-Americans; its courage, its GOODNESS,
its completeness excited them to widest
enthusiasm. The man who accomplished IL
was set apart at once as one worthy their
highest approval and praise. He realized
to them an ideal of bravery, of daring, of
loyal service. and the thought of him was a
delight. They like to know that such men
live and are in places of trust and response
bility. The knowledge gave them a better
opinion of the age in which they live and
of themselves. For, in these days when
mems fiercest struggles are in the fields of
m and the chief aim in life for the
multitude is material gain, 1t sometimes
seems that the nobler and more unselfish
attributes of humanity are being lost dur
ing the eager quest after a wealth that is
measured by dollars and not by ideas. In
dividuals even doubt their W possibilities
of rising above the level of the dull COM
monplace. But an event like Dewey's VIC
tory lifts the most stolid and unimaginative
out of themselves. They see in it an achieve
ment far beyond anything possible in their
own lives; they suddenly realize that no
greater privilege could befall a man than
the opportunity for such a deed; they would
have been glad, each one of them, to be in
Dewey's place, but are glad that he lives
to have accomplished what he did. And
they set him on a pedestal and are the bet
ter for so doing.
Carlyle says society is founded on hero
worship. ~ HicdHS, uOuDlicSs, ludt THE
hero. the man who does the act which ex-
cites admiration, serves as an inspiration to
his fellow-creatures and so lifts them up.
1t has been well for the American people
that they have admired, even "worshiped,"
Admiral Dewey. Into the prose and the
commonplace monotony of their daily lives
he brought the element of heroism in it's
highest form-that of a high duty nobly
done-and no influence could be better.
Other men might have done as well had
they been in his place, but the fact remains
that the deed was his. The man vino
achieves Is the man to whom plaudits he
long. In doing him honor we are honoring
ourselves. Foreign critics call our mani
festations in his behalf hysterical; perhaps
they are so to an extent. but genuine adj
miration and pleasure inspire every express
sion Of welcome. In time the exuberance of
enthusiasm will wear away or be excited by
a later hero, but Dewey's name VIII always
have high place in the affections Of his coun-
trymen, and the service he does them is not
TO be measured by the sinking of a fleet.
All honor to Dewey, to-day, and always