Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-09-05

and Bunker Hill, at Cooch's Bridge
and Brandywine, ut Long Island and
Fort Washington, indisputahle defeats,
as at Saratoga and Yorktown, brilliant
victories. The bath OF blood which
our flag received in defeat on this spos
helped to carry it to glorious triumph
upon the fields Of old Virginia, FIVE
years later.
| 1t has been the English speaking race
all over the world that has won in peace
far mere than in war, but In peace as
in war, its success has been due, not to
bombast or to boom, but to the habit
we have of hanging on. The world is
coming to he ours simply because we
have the best staying qualities OF all
| the races.
The great Washington was not at his
greatest in the hour of victory. 1t was
in the hour of dire defeat, when hearts
were broken and other mems courage
gave way, that his great soul was
stirred to its depths and his masterful
leadership showed OF its best.
To my mind, Washington appears at
his greatest on that dark and direful
| night when he silently and Htealthily
took his defeated and demoralized army
across the East River from Brooklyn to
New York and saved thu American
cause. A Gntes could win at Saratoga,
for he had 1000 men against 1000; an
Anthony Wayne could take Stony
Point; Harry Lee could swoop down
in success at Corlear's Hook; another
commander might perhaps have won at
Trenton and at Princeton, and Wash
ington shares the honors of Yorktown
with Rochambeau and De Grasse, but
on that night at Fulton Ferry he stood
alone and all the hope that was left for
| the American cause was based on the
| uncomfortable spirit of the man who
| suffered more defeats perhaps than any
other commander In history, but never
gave up.
We do we'll to honor, then, the men
| who fought at Cooch' q Bridge and
Brandywine, as we'll rs the men who
fought at Saratoga and Yorktown, the
men who bathed the flag in their LIES
blood here in defeat, as well as the men
who carried it in other places to
glorious victory.
In Prospect Park in the borough OF
Brooklyn-the most beautiful OF all
beautiful parks of our great city OF New
ork-there stands a shaft reared by
the Maryland Society OF the Sons OF
the American Revolution in memory of
that Mary land regiment who threw
themselves in the face OF the victorious
British army and lost 256 of their 400
men, but gained an hour for the Ameri-
eau cause and saved the American
army. Somebody has described the
hour they gained as the most Important
hour in history. l would add that the
men who gained it are the noblest AGO
that the world ever produced.
Another 400 Ward MoAllister has
made somewhat famous. They play
polo by summer day at Newport and
trip the fantastic Zoe by winter night
in New York, but how does ihair life
OF utter vanity and nothingness com
pare with the Importance of the achieve
nent and the heroism of the conduct of
our 400 who went down to certain death
that the seeds of a great and fres nation
might be fertilized with their blood.
Ours is the real and true 400, worthy Of
all the honor that grateful and pa
triotic people can do them. New \ ork is
rrouder OF nothing that it has than of
the monument that the Maryland Sons
have erected in Prospect Park. The
noble State of Delaware has nothing of
which it may be more proud than the
monument which is today unveiled
here at Coooh's Bridge.
But we have been speaking of the
issue that is East. l linger on the sub
ieot because | am proud OF my race
when | think of the heroism and the
patriotism of the men who bsthed that
flag in their life's blood while yet the
thread that sewed it together was fresh
from Betsy Ross spinning wheel.
am not content, however, to rest
upon the achievements Of the past.
| am not content to rap at the door of
heaven with only the record OF my
ancestors 10 let me In. / am proud to
be son of the American Revolution,
but am not content to be only that. /
am more proud in the hope and ex-
pectation Of being the father Of patriots
than am in the knowledge that / am
son of patriots. would rather that
my descendants would boast Of what 1
had done for my country than to boast
myself OF what my great grandfather
did. The Iaison d'etre of our Society
Of the Sons of the American Revolu.
tion is not to honor the fathers so
much as to inspire the SONS not to
celebrate the deeds of olden times SO
much as to inoits to deeds today.
ON not one Of those who holieve
that the need of patriotism and patri-
otto action and endeavor has passed. [
believe we have greater problems con
fronting the men and the women of
this generation than our ancestors had
confronting them. | believe we hayo
more need of patriots today than we
have had at any time since the Stars
and Stripes were first unfurled here at
Oooch's Bidge Our fathers fought a
political warfare for political liberty.
They fought for the right to govern
themselves and to work out their own
destiny. We, the sous, today are en-
gagged In a warfare for industrial lib
erty. We are fighting fol the right Of
each man to earn his daily bread and
to carry home every night the earn
ings OF his days labor. They fought
with gun and sword; we are-wheu we
are wise-tighting with other weapons,
with speech and argument, with pen
and tongue, but we ars fighting just
the same. Sometimes we foolishly |
throw aside the softer but more effect |
i've weapons, and then mob law rules.
Today two hundred thousand steel |
workers are array I'd against the United |
States Steel Corporation. This is but |
one of the multitude of strikes that |
are going on all over the land, as part
Of the contest OF labor against capital,
of men against money, the contest for |
the control of the industries OF the |
land and the right to participate in the |
blessings of modern civilization.
The questions that we have to settle |
now are industrial and social ques-
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