The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1901-09-12
COL. ROOSEVELT TO VETERANS.
Address Delivered by the vios-PresidsIt II
Minneapolis,

address Delivered by the vioe-PresidsIt In
Minneapolis.
Yice-Presidsnt Roosevelt while IN Min
nsapolis, on Tuesday Of last week, de-
livered q half-hour's address before q
large assemblags Of veterans at the
Fourth Ward WigwarD. The meeting
was under the auspices of the Union Vet
eran League. A large number CT repre-
sentative G. A. r. men were present, and
the hall was packed with veterans of the
civil and Spanish wars and their friends.
Comrads w. G. Curtis. President OF the
League, introduced the speaker.
1T affords me great satisfaction" said
Col. Roosevelt, sc have the opportunity
of meeting you, ladies and gentlemen, and
above ALL am sure you will pardon the
preference-it plehses me to meet and talk
to the men in this gathering whom In
sense l feel entitled to call comrades.
ITO be sure, our affair in Cuba was
work you did in the civil war, but 1t gave
US an opportunity to realize to a fuller
advantage than ever before what the
work was that you soldiers OF the Grand
Army accomplished in those dark days Of
the country's history.
'"That / am gratified at this opportuni-
ty Of meeting the people of Minnesota you
may understand from the fact that years
ago / lived and worked among you-far-
Their West, to be sure, but tho people Of
this country are happily much the same
wherever one may find them.
you men of the Grand Army are men
IL al, NEaN in
you by your works. OF course, it is the
merest truism to say that we in this coun-
try owe everything to vur soldiers. 1t IS
but the utterance of Il generally realized
fact to sar that but for your work, you
soldiers of the Grand Army, the works
of Washington and his fellows would have
been undone When the Nations need
was, you rose equal to that need.
But some things are SO true that in
the repetition they become trite. We know
so well what the Grand Army did that
sometimes we forget to realize it, but
am going to say to you that so long as
America lasts Americans will have gold
en- heritage from your labors, your deeds
of heroism in the train OF Grant and
Sherman, and by sea of Farragut and
Porter.
Il met yesterday several veterans OF
the LIST Mimi, the regiment which sus-
tanned the greatest loss in one battle oc-
curing during the war. Gentlemen, we
have read in song and story of the heroic
charge of Balaclava-of the charge quo
men made on the Russian army. In the
Gettysburg charge the LIST MINI. lost
of the Light Brigade, and, moreover,
mark this-they kept tho ground they
fought for, as we'll as their flags. 1t is
in times like those you men experienced
that the character of a Nation is shown
ii its soldiers. You were recruited from
all walks Of life, and you fought shoulder
to shoulder under the flag on equal foot
ing, men among men.
The same rule must be observed to
get the best out of civil life. 1t makes no
difference where q man comes from, what
his occupation or how he worshipS, so long
rs he does his duty by his fellowman and
his country squarely and honestly. There |
are rogues in all the walks of life, from
the highest to the lowest, but the men |
who are helping to make this Nation great |
and will place it beyond dreams OF great |
ness eventually are the honest. square-toed |
men in all social conditions.
In battle, as you move forward, it mat |
ters very little to you whether the sol |
lier on your right or left is in civil life |
4 banker or a bricklayer, so long as when |
the move comes he moves in the right |
direction. So in everyday affairs of life. |
So long as our neighbor moves in the |
right direction we feel sure of him.
One of the best things about the Span
sh war was, in my opinion, that it brought
INTO touch the young men of the North
md those of the South, whose fathers had
fought in opposing ranks and who now
we're banded together, fighting shoulder to
shoulder and back to back for the honor
If their common flag.
81 have always been glad that | served |
Inder old Joe Wheeler in the cavalry. l |
lad in my command hundreds of young |
fellows from the East and the West, |
cared under different conditions. Some
If them were the sons of wealthy men
II the East; others were without anything |
Use than the clothes they stood up in and |
heir splendid Americanism. 1t was an
American regiment, recruited from every |
where. | take pride in saying that the |
sons of the rich and the sons of the poor |
ought and suffered together, no man ask
ng or receiving further favor than that |
he be allowed to move up front and show
he stuff that was in him.
Il think the discipline Of military and |