The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-09-18
Tribute to Lawton and other Gallant
Soldiers Who No Longer walk
About in Idleness."
FIRST FLOOD OF EL0QUENCE
THE GOVERNOR HAS LET LOOSE ON
HIS WESTERN TRIP.
Montana Citizen Who Asked "a Ques-
tiOn mt Big Timber and Was
Promptly Answered.

HELENA, Mont Sept. 17.-Governor
Roosevelt addressed two meetings here to-
night. one at the Auditorium and the sec
ond at the opera house. He was listened
to by large crowds. At the Auditorium
Senator Carter presided. Governor Roose-
Welt said:
I'm recent speech at Chicago Mr.. Bryan
is reported TO have spoken as follows: can
100000 soldiers in a country like this take
charge and change the form of govern
ment? No But the fact that people like
ours permits this bodies no good to Ameri-
can institutions. If 100000 soldiers are per-
mitted to walk about in idleness where one
soldier would do, what are we coming to-?
This extract contains such an extraordi-
nary variety of misconceptions that 1T
seems difficult to believe ii can be a correct
report If correct, however, ii is interest
ing, in the first place, TO see that Mr..
Bryan has abandoned the Kansas City plat
form and his own message of acceptance,
i'm so far as ii defines the kind of danger
arising from our militarism. The absurdi-
ty of speaking of an army or 1OO,0OO men as
threat TO the country when one-thlrd OF
them are volunteers and the rest regulars,
provided for only two years by Congress,
is so palpable that the mere statement OF
the case is sufficient for the refutation. But
1t is no more absurd than the extraordinary
positions actually taken in the above quo
tation.
What is it that bodies no good to Ameri-
can Institutions? Is il the sixty odd thou
sand regulars. for the most part in the
Philippines? Mr. Bryan ought to know by
this time that inasmuch as Thomas Jeffer-
son handed over to his successor an army
which he had increased until it represented
IA OF soldier for every thousand or pop
ulation, and as no damage to our institu-
tions followed, there is scant room for ap-
prehension on the part OF the most timid
soul from the existence now of an army of
eight-tenths for every thousand of pop
ulation. Under President Mckinley, while
there is war in the Philippines. our regular
army has shrunk to little more than half
the size II had attained at the end of Pres
ident Jefferson's administration, during a
period of profound peace.
Even more extraordinary is the state
ment that the hundred thousand soldiers
are permitted to walk about in idleness
where one soldier would do. If ii were not
for Mr.. Bryans other utterapces on the
subject it would seem absolutely impossible
that this statement could have been cor
rectly reported. A hundred thousand SOL
diers I'm idlenessl Think of these words
being spoken by candidate for the high
est office in the gift of the American peo-
ple of the men who have passed year of
such grinding toll and desperate fighting
in the Philippines that here can form
no conception of all that they have dared
and risked and endured. They have been
worn down month in and month out,
marching from dawn until darkness
through the mud of the tropical swamps,
sleeping when and how they could, eating
what they could get going without, fac
ing death by bullet at every step from a
foe ten times as numerous as themselves
and, If wounded, left behind, facing what
was infinitely worse than death-the most
dreadful torture. What patient. uncom-
planning, unfiincning, never weary courage
they have to have done all this, and have
made not only America, but all mankind
their debtors; and their reward is that the
chosen representative of one of the two
great parties sneers at them as walking
about in idleness. Some of them no longer
walk about in idleness. Lawton no longer
walks about in idleness; Liscum no longer
walks about in idleness. Reilly no longer
walks about in idenesS. Many an Of
| ficer. many soldier rests forever in peace
peace because his life of toll and effort
| for his country has come to an end-to the
kind of end which should at least secure
| freedom from slight and slander, both for
| the valiant dead and for the no less valiant
| living One soldier does the work of these
men.
'Are our memories so short as already
| to forget the hurry with whicn we drew
| troops from America and the Philippines
when the blood of our people called from
China and the awful danger of the women
| and children in Peking stirred to its inner
| most soul the manhood of Christendom
| Small indeed Is the chance for idleness
| for our soldiers in the Philippines long
| as the insurgents are aided and abetted
| by one of the great parties in this country
Every American who holds high the honor
| of his country should have craven on his
| heart the solemn prophecy of Lawton.
| that speed the bullets OF our country s
| enemy. Idleness, Was Leonard Wood idle
| when, the first time I'm 800 years, he
| cleaned a Spanish city; was he idle when
| he fed and clothed and Schooled the child
| of the reconcentrado; was he idle when
| he lifted into active labor the man sunk
into shiftless apathy by centuries of Span
| ish ty-lnny? Was he idle when he started
| him with long strides on the path of self
| government? Were Generals Macarthur,
| Wheaton and Young idle when they drove
| plunderer anu murderer before them that
under the shadow of our flag the SCARED
wilderness might again become a fruitful
| land? Was Chaffee idle when eagerly obey
| ing the Presidents command he led the
march towards the Forbidden City? Was
| the boy Titus idle when, springing lightly
| from the ranks he planted on the walls
| of an immemorial despotism the flag which
stood for rescue and for freedom? Idle
ness, Such idlenesS Is of the kind that
plain men call heroism and thrice happy
| is the country that can command it,
AT Livingston, Governor Roosevelt was
escorted to a stand near the station. where
| he spoke briefly During the day short
stops were made at Bozeman. Manhattan.
Logan. Townsend and Winston. at most
| of which flve-minute talks were made by
Governor Roosevelt or some of the party.
| Roosevelt Replies to n Question.
| COLUMBUS. Mon. Sept. H.-Governor
Roosevelt spoke briefly from the rear plat
| form of the car, in this city. this after
| noon. He said in part: when Dewey
sailed into Manila bay and destroyed the
/ Spanish fleet. who cared whether he came
| from Vermont or any other State? When
Hobson faced almost certain death In San
tiago bay, who cared that he came from
Alabama? Who cares If Funston comes
| from Kansas. or Haze from Colorado? The
| only point is that they have acted like
| Americans. You have sent your sons and
brothers out to the Philippines and they