The National tribune., 1902-02-27
INTRODUCED THE PRESIDENT,
saying:

grown stronger. You appreciate more
and more the meaning of that word com
to our distinguished guest than to present
him to you as our friend and comrads-
the President"
Every one rose to his feet and well
coined the President with louder cheers
than ever, and the demonstration lasted
several minutes.
"Mr. Chairman, Commander-in-Ch Chief,
and you, my comrades" the President be-
gan, as he turned and bowed courteously
to the aforementioned officials"
The applause was renewed with force;
napkins were waved again.
81 can say that there is nothing else of
which I am quite SO proud as of having
won, in sense. the right to claim COM
radeship." the President continued after
a pause, but at this the veterans once
more broke in upon him with cheers such
as would have inspired soldiers on the
firing rine.
OBJECT LESSON FROM THE CIVIL WAR.
Gentlemen" he resumed, as soon as
the cheering, which he seemed to appre-
ciate, had ceased, II recollect speaking
TO a friend at the time of the Spanish
war over a question as to why we went
to the front. We agreed it was because
ourselves the thought of the great object
lesson that you gave.
Il am very glad to have the chance of
seeing you this evening and of being with
you. l would be but a poor American
if I did not appreciate to the full the
debt under which our country rests to
you, not alone for the lesson in war that
you have given, but for what that lesson
teaches as to peace. Great applause.)
II meet you here and 1 see," Mr.. RoOse-
welt added. speaking slowly, that Cen
erals and the men from the ranks call
one another by the highest title either
knows, that of comrade. (ApplauseD l
see you applying the great lesson Of broth
erhood-the lesson that has got to be ap-
piled in civil life no less than n military
life if we are to work out the destinies
that Providence has assigned us.
Now the war in which l was engaged
was a mighty small war, but at any rate
it gave us an understanding of what you
had done and been through. l know pret
ty well what kind of memories you have"
(Applause.)
This kind of informal speaking, where
the President looked them straight in the
eye, without any fourishes or eloquent
gestures, talking modestly from his place
beside the Department Commander,
pleased the veterans more and more as
he progressed.
81 know something Of what you sacri-
feed and what it meant to you." he de-
clared, land in what spirit you did it.
LOVE OF LIBERTY AND UNION.
"There are two or three lessons you
taught, that hope this country will never
forget and never cease to apply. In the
first place there is the motive that spurred
you On-the love of liberty, of union, of
stable and ordered freedom for a great
people. (Applause0
you went into the war without having
any thought of your wage. 1t was 13 to
or II to p
''No! nor came the shouts from all
parts of the hall. al to l. and other
figures of explanation, which Interruptions
the President took in good part, smiling
jOvially at the chorus that rose up before
him.
well, take the largest limit" he re-
torted after a little, "and you went not
into the war for an easy time. You recol-
lect the day when at 10 o'clock in the
morning, if you were raw, and burdened
with your blanket, you left it behind you,
and that same night you wished you had
two blankets. loud applause9 You re-
member the nights in the freezing mud
of Winter and you remember the march
under the scorching Midsummer sun, the
fever, the wounds, the insufficiency of
food, the physical exhaustion. You re-
member. all that, and you did it without
any thought of the trivial monetary re-
ward. You did it because your soul
spurred you to action. (Applause0 And
to this day when any man speaks to a
body of veterans, he speaks to body of
men who respond instantly to any ap-
peal of lofty patriotism. In other words
you practiced and by practice preached
in the strongest manner the ideal of do
ing your duty and of doing duty when
duty calls without thought of what the
reward might be.
''The mighty Lincoln stood in the
White House and poured out the blood
of the bravest and the best because only
thus could the flag that had been rent
asunder be once again made without a
stain. (Applause.)
GLORY NOT so GREAT AS DUTY.
"You taught the world the meaning of
duty. Glory is a good word, but duty is
a better one. When you stood in the
ranks you cared little what the man next
ton if he was man. (Applause) You
were not concerned whether he were a
lawyer, or banker or bricklayer. What
you wanted to know" and here the Pres
ident threw his head back, smiled and
gave his voice added emphasis, was
whether he would stay put.
The veterans reveled in vigorous ap-
plause. There were cries of He's a good
fellow" and Il double round of applause
before he could proceed.
you wanted to be dead sure" he re-
sumed, that your men would not fail to
exercise just the type of Judgment the
emergency demanded. Short would have
been our shrift if we had failed to do just
what was required of us then.
IF we are to go on as we shall and
must so on i'll our National career, we
have got to apply in our life the same
high sense of duty and the same senti-
ments of patriotism that actuate the
Grand Army of the Republic. (Applausel
There are plenty of things to fight. and
We can't afford to have honest 1nen be-
trayed into hOstilities toward one another |
betrayed into actions toward one another
in a way that will permanently dete-
riorate the standard of our National char
acter. We can afford to differ widely on
questions of National policy, but we can
not afford 10 differ as TO our ideals: we
cannot afford to do less than justice to
any man. We must not fail to rebuke |
any efforts to stir up those dark and
evil forces that lurk about us and which |
ought to be kept down, not excited.
HIS TRIBUTE TO M'KINLEY.
''The Commander-in-C Chief spoke of the
death of the great and good President
Mckinley, who died for the people, exact