The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-04-27
GOV. ROOSEVELT
BRINGS CROWDS.

0AbS - - ~
CONTINUED from First Page)
II the Union. which so many men fought
to restore, were not now a union in fact,
then the precious blood would have been
wasted. But it was not wasted. for the
work Of peace has made good the work
or war, and north and south, east ana
west, We are one people in fact as well
as in name; one in purpose. in fellow-feel-
ing and III higher resolve, as We stand 10
greet the new century. and. high Of heart,
to face the mighty tasks which the COM
GRANTS HERITAGE.
Grant and MS fellow soldiers VINO
fought through the war. and his fellow
statesmen. who completed the work part
" done by the soldiers, not only left US
the heritage of reunited country and of,
tshed, but left US what was quite as inn
portant. the great memory of their great
deeds, to serve forever as an example
and an inspiration. to spur US on so that
We may not fail below the level reach
ca py our IaIners- me rough strong
poet OF democracy has sung of Grant as
the man of mighty days. and equal to
the days The days are less mighty row;
ana tnaJ IS ali the more reason why We
should show ourselves equal TO them We
meet here to pay glad homage to the
memory OF our ilustriOus dead: and let
US keep ever clear before our minds the
fact that mere lip loyalty is no loyalty
at ALL and that the only homage that
counts Is the homage of deeds. not words
It is but an idle waste of time to cele-
brate the memory of the dead unless we
ourselves not unworthy of them. If the
careers Of Washington and Grant are not
are merely part of the stored past. and
stir as TO no eager emulation in the cease
less, endless war for right against wrong.
then the root of right thinking IS not in
US; and where we do not think right, we
can not act right
1T is not my purpose on this address
to sketch in even the briefest manner the
life and deeds Of General Grant. It is
points where Grants influence has told so
tremendously in the making OF our his
tory. 1t is part of the mans greatness
that now we can use his career purely for
illustration. We can take for granted the
fact that each American who knows the
history of the country must know the his
tory of this man, at least in its broad out
line; and that we no more need to explain
Ntcksburg and AppomattoX than we need
TO explain Yorktown. 1 shall ask atten-
ton. not to Grants life, but to the les
sons taught by that life as We Of today
should learn them.
Foremost of all the lesson of tenaeity
Of stubborn fixity of purpose. In the
mon armies there were generals as bril-
liant as Grant, but none with his iron
determination- This quality he showed
az president no less than as general He
was no more to be influenced by a hostile
majority in congress into abandoning his
attitude in favor Of a sound and stable
currency. than he was to be Influenced by
cneck or repulse into releasing his grip
on beleaguered Richmond. 1t Is this eIe-
ment of uushakable strength to which we
are apt especially to allude when we praise
a man In the most effective wav bv T,rais-
ing MIN as a man 1t is the one quality
which we can least afford to lose It is
the only quality. the lack of which is as
1t is the antithesis of levity. fckieness.
volatility of undue eXultation. of undue
depression. Of hysteria and neurOtician in
all their mild forms. The lesson of UNI
yielding, unninching. unfaltering uerse-
NeIaneS upon the course upon which the
llauOh mas entered, is one very necessary
LOT a generation whose preachers some
times dwell oEermuch on the policies of
the moment There are not a few public
men. not a few men who try to mould
opinion within congress and without on
the stump and In the daily press. who
seem to aim at instability. who pander 10
and thereby increase the thirst for over
statement OF each situation as it arises
whose EFFORT is accordinglv. to make +he
a straight line we ali saw ttfs
very men who at one time branded as
traitors everybody who said there was
anything wrong in the army. and at an.
other time branded as traitors every BODY
who said there was anything right OF
course such an attitude IS as unhealthy
on one side as on the other. and it Is
equally destructive of any effort to dc
CHIEF ELEMENT OF GREATNESS.
mysteries of this kind may have all tbs
results OF extreme tiInidity. A nation tbs
has not the power of endurance the DOW.
er OF logged insistance on a determined
policy, come veal or woe has lost one
chief element of. great ress The r1aor,ie
who wish to abandon the Philippines be.
cause we have had heavy skirmfshfugr on
there. or who think that our r1liA 7fs J
sporadic upgr0wth of evil would do vel
10 remember the two long wears ~ ais.
aster this nation suffered before the JulS
morning when the news was flashed II
the waiting millions that Nicks burg had
fallen in the west and that in the cas-
the splendid soldiery Of Lee had recofIes
al last from the low hills of Gettysburg
Even after this. nearly two years more
were to pass before the end came at Ap
pOmattoX. Throughout this time theor,
II the prophets OF disaster never ceased
The peace at any price men never wear
led Of declaiming against the war. or de
scr1bing the evils Of conquest and subfu
cation as worse than any possible bene
fits that could result therefrOm. The hys
terical minority passed alternately from
unreasOning confidence to unreasOning de
spair- and al times they even infected 70
the moment many of their sober. stead
cOuntrymen- Eighteen months after tn
war began the state and congressional
elections went heavily against the Va
party and two years later the opposition
party actually Waged the presidential
campaign on the issue that the war wa
failure Meanwhile there was plenty O
laundering at the front plenty Of mis-
takes at Washington. The country wa
saved by the fact that our people as
whole were steadfast and mistaken
Both at Washington and at the front tn
leaders were men OF undaunted resoIu
ton. who would not abandon the polio,
60 which the nation was definitely com
aaittedi who regarded disaster as merel,