Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1902-06-07
DEFENDS THE ARMY
President Roosevelt's Address to
Veterans at Arlington.
PHILIPPINE WARFARE HUMANE
He Deplored crueItles and Said the
Nations Defenders Have Their De.
tanners Today As They Had In the
Civil War,

civil War.
Washington, May 91.-The address
OF President Roosevelt at the memorial
exercises in Arlington yesterday was
the most important deliverance of the
kind in many years. The patriotic
spirit OF the occasion furnished him a
timely text for the expression of his
sentiments towards the country's de-
tenders of today as well as those Of a
generation ago.
The address was almost wholly de-
voted to a vigorous defense of the
United States army in the Philippines,
and partook of the nature OF a presi-
Dental message to the people on a sub
1ect now engrossing their attention aud
provoking acrimonious discussion in
the halls of congress. The president
said:
ut is a good custom for our country
to have certain solemn holidays In
commemoration Of our greatest men
and of the greatest crisises in our his.
tory. There should be but few such
holidays. To increase their number
is to cheaper them. Washington and
Lincoln-the man who did most to
found the Union, and the man who did
most to preserve it-stand head and
shoulders above all other public men,
and have by common consent won the
right to this pre-eminence.
You whom 1 address today and your
comrades who wore the blue beside
you in the perilous years during which
strong, sad, patient Lincoln bore the
crushing load of national leadership.
performed the one feat the failure to
perform which would have meant de-
struction 10 everything which makes
the name America a symbol of hope
among the nations OF mankind. You
left us reunited country.
The army of the United States to-
day is carrying to completion a small.
but trying and difficult war, in which
Is involved not only the honor OF the
flag. but the triumph of civilization
over the black chaos OF sayagery and
barbarism.
The rules Of warfare which have
been promulgated By the war depart
ment and accepted az the basis of
conduct by our troops In the field are
the rules laid down by Abraham Lin
coin when you. my hearers, were fight
Ing for the Union. These rules pro-
vide. OF course. for the Just severity
necessary in war. But all cruel.
ty is forbidden. and all harshness be-
yond what is called for by need. Our
enemies in the Philippines have not
merely violated every rule OF war. but
have made of these violations their
only method of carrying on the war
We would have been justified by Abra-
ham Lincoln's rules OF war In Infinitely
greater severity than has been shown
The fact really IL that our warfare in
the Philippines has bsen carried on
with singular humanity. For every act
Of cruelty by our men there have been
innumerable acts OF forbearance. mag
nanimity and generous Kindness. These
are the qualities which have character
lied the war as whole. The oruelties
have been wholly exceptional on our
part. The guilty are TO be punished:
but In Furnishing them, let those who
sit at ease at home. who walk deli.
cately and live in the soft places of
the earth. remember also to do them
common justice. Let not the erfortIess
and the untempted rail oVermuch at
strong men who with blood and sweat
face years OF toll and days and nights
OF agony, and at need lay down their
lives in remote tropic jungles to bring
the light Of civilization into the worlds
dark places. The warfare that has ex.
tended the boundaries of civilization
at the expense OF barbarism and say.
assry has been for centuries ono OF tho
most potent factors in the progress Of
humanity
1t behooves us to keep a Vigtlant
watch TO prevent these abuses and IN
punish those who commit them. bpt
II because OF them we finch from fin. |
ishing the task on which we have on.
tered, we show ourselves cravens and
weaklings. unworthy OF the sires from |
whose loins We sprang. There were
abuses and TO spare in the Civil War
Your false friends then called Grant
a butcher and spoke of you who are
listening TO me as mercenaries az
'Lincoln's hirelings.' Abraham LincoIn
was singled out for especial ATTACK bo-
cause of his spirit of barbarous fo- |
rocity Verify, these men who time
foully slandered you have their heirs |
today in those who traduce our arr,io. |
in the Philippines, who fix their eves |
on individual deeds of wrong so keen
ly that at last they become blind 10 tha |
great work Of peace and freedom that |
has already been accomplished
This should no more be a party
question than the war for the Union
should have been party question. Ar |
this moment the man in highest Office
in the Philippine Islands is the vice |
governor, General Luke Wright, or
Tennessee. who calamity wore the
gray in the Civil War, and who is now
working hand-in-hand with the head
OF our army in the Philippines. Adna
Chaffee, who in the Civil War gallant
ly wore the blue. These two. and tho