Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-24

| serious kind is determined quite as much by
| what the antagonists have done in advance
Of the outbreak as by what they do after
| ward.
| Modern conditions have brought all parts
| OF the world closer together, and while
| this nearness tells for good generally, 1t
(. may ct t.-ccs 80! &c. evil Also For all
| practical purposes our frontier Is many
| times nearer Europe on side than 1t
was in the days Of sailing ships. Moreover,
| nation which begins to play great part
In the world must count the cost and be
! willing to pay 1t, unless 1t is content to &C
| cept humiliation. AS result Of the Span
| ish war We took a world position which had
| never hitherto been ours We have now be-
fore us destiny which must be one Of
| great failure or great success. We cannot
| play small part in the world. No matter
| how much we might wish otherwise, we
| shall be obliged, willingly unwillingly, to
play large part. All that We can deter
mine is whether we will play that large
| part well or Ill.
People cannot make the crisis. What
| they have to do Is to face 1t when made.
You cannot. by fiinching from great OPP
portunty. destroy it; you won't make it
! non-existent. You merely answer 1t badly.
| In 1861 there were plenty of people who
| cried Peace. peace, when there was no
peace. In 1851 there were plenty Of people
| who spent their time in bemoaning the fact
| the catastrophe had come. But thanks to
| the governor of good. we had men who had
| iron in their blood, who instead of mourn
| sis and wrested victory from it.
GU could not help 1t in 1861. The war
| mad come You could only decide whether
| 1t was to be victory or defeat. I ask
merely that you learn Alright the lesson that
you wrought with your blood, that you
wrought with every exertion Of valor and
| courage that there was in you to make.
Great World Power Now.
1--WE are a great world power We can
not, If we would, help ourselves from be-
| Ing great world power All decide
| Is whether we will play our parts well or
| Ill. Owing to our position we do not need
large regular army. You remember how
| 1t was prophesied by certain people, not al
| together serious alarmists, that it was the
| intention of those in power continually to
increase the size Of our regular army until
| 1t should become a menace to our people
at home.
How comic the prophecy now seems. AS
| a matter Of fact, at the present time adj
| vantage has been taken of the Philippine
| peace to reduce the army to but little more
| than two-thirds of the number allowed by
| law Our army is small, but the individual
! units composing it we believe to be not
| inferior to the best of those Of any foreign
| nation. And it is our purpose, beginning
| with the present year, to institute a series
| o. maneuvers which shall offer some OPP
| portunity for training our officers to handle
| their men in masses.
1--WE were told that the large standing
army, and especially you that had come
| back from the Philippines would be Janis
sarics and menace to our liberties. But,
my dear sirs all | afraid about the
people is that they forget what you did.
| that is all.
Il do not have to say when speaking to
| audiences like this that l stand by the
| regular army and am proud of them. Every
good American is proud of them, and those
| that fought by their side the proudest.
Normally. however, in any contest we
| must expect that, in the future In the
past, the bulk of the American army will
| be composed of volunteers. 1t should be
| our object in every way to encourage the
| national guards of the state and 10 build
| them up TO the highest point of efficiency,
| to give them proper arms and teach them
| how to use these arms and how to take
| care of themselves in field service.
Modern Weapons for Militia.
1.-The kind Of training In which 1 believe
is the kind of training that counts, the
| kind of training that makes a man fit for
work when he's called out to do the work,
SO that a man who has a uniform and a
rife will know how to march; will know
| how to take care of himself in the open,
and know how to handle that rifle. We
| should give the men good weapons Cen
| tlemen we are a great and a rich people,
and I am thoroughly ashamed every time
l see national guardsman with a black
| powder musket. 1t would be q cruel shame
to send men armed with such inferior weap-
ons against foe of at all equal capacity
| armed with better weapons. We need the
| good weapons. After you have got it, re-
member it is the man that counts more
! than the weapon In the long run. A good
man with a bad weapon will be beaten by
| another good man with a good weapon.
But If you have the best rife in existence
and you have not the right stuff In you
| you will be beaten by a good man with a
| club.
| Nhon and oh h,,k
| fundamental qualities that make the SOL
| der do not change You of the Grand
Army fought the war through to triumph
ant finish and saw Appomattox come to
crown the four grim years of alternate VIC
| tory and defeat, because you had In you the
heart. the soul. the lofty things that the
| men had who followed Washington to York
| town. And So you and I, my comrades
we Of the younger generation. If ever
which l earnestly hope and believe Is i'm
| posstble-if ever we shall have to face a
serious foe, we shall fight with different
weapons from those of the men who fought
| at Shiloh. at Gettysburg, at Missionary
| Ridge and at Five Forks; we shall fight
with different tactics, obey different COM
mands, have different uniforms; but If we
shall win, it will be because the same spirit
| drives US that drove the men to victory In
| "a
when we come to the navy however,
| there Is no chance Of improvising a Volun-
| teer navy. The average American, we be-
|
of which to make soldier, a man who al
ready possesses the fighting edge and needs
only to have 1t developed, and who readily
learns how to march, to shoot, and to take
care Of himself in the open.
Different With the Navy.
But no man In a short time can learn
such highly specialized work as is that
aboard Of our great warships. One Of these
ships cannot be built in less than three
years. and the officers and enlisted men
aboard will be absolutely helpless to make
use of the formidable engines Of destruc-
ton ready for their hands unless they
| had enjoyed periods of training. ranging in
| accordance to the station Of the man, from
! a dozen months to twice as many years.
No powerful fighting vessel, and still less,
| an effective fighting crew. can be impro-
| vised after the outbreak Of war.
| THE vessels that went into Manila with
Dewey went in under the presidency of
| Mckinley, but they had been built under
| Harrison, under Cleveland. under Arthur.
| There was not a vessel in Dewey's fleet
| that had been built not merely before the
outbreak Of the war, but before the life
| OF the Congress that declared the war and
| Uho ba bod