The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-09
President Roosevelt in
 Chattanooga.
COMPLIMENTS MIR. SARGENT
Executive Uph0lds 0rganiza-
 tiOnS of W0rkingmen.
In Extended Speech MT. Roosevelt Praises Valor of the Men Who Fought on the Field
 of Chickamauga.

Chattanooga. Tenn, Sept. s.--President Roosevelt today was elected honorary member of the Brotherhood of Locomo- tive Bremen. He attended the executive session of the order in the morning. walk ing from the hotel to the Auditorium, a distance of a few blocks, escorted by Grand Master Sargent. a committee of the Brotherhood and a detachment of Troop B, State Guard.
 The Brotherhood first held an execu- ed Acting Grand Master Hannahan welcomed the President. stating that his attendance at the convention would do a great good to organized labor. not only in this country, but in Canada and other countries as we'll
 The President returned his thanks for the welcome, and said he was glad to be with the Brotherhood. He said the fire men were the result which naturally re- suits from the application of the princi- pie of common sense to their work. He said that organized labor never had made an unreasonable request of him, and that II IL ndu ne WOufa nave ucihcu It, III speaking of the appointment of Grand Master Sargent of the Brotherhood. to be commissioners general of immigration, the President said 1t was one of the most sat isfaotory appointments to him and to the public he had ever made; that MT. Saf- gent had a hard body and not a soft head.
 John F. McNorree of Columbus. O., one of the grand officers and Democrat ic member of the Legislature, moved that the degree of grand honorary member ship be conferred upon President Roose- welt. The motion was referred to the Committee on Constitution and Bylaws whose recommendation was unanimous that the motion be adopted. The report of the committee was adopted by a ris, ing vote amid great cheers.
 The President thanked the convention for the compliment paid him, and Grand Master Sargent then gave him a pass which admits him to all meetings of the Brotherhood.
 At this point the Brotherhood adjourn ed until g o'clock tomorrow morning. and the public was admitted to the Audito- rum to hear the Presidents address. While the audience was being seated the rising.
 MT. Roosevelt said:
 MT. Grandmaster, Governor McMillin MT. Mayor. My Brothers. and all of you men and women of Tennessee, my fellow citizens. my fellow Americans: I am glad to be here today. I am glad to come as the guest of the Brotherhood Let me join with you, the members of the broth erhood of this country. in extending a most cordial welcome to our fellows from Canada and Mexico. (Applause). The fact that we are good Americans only makes US all the better men, all the more desirous of seeing good fortune to all mankind. I needed no pressing influence to accept the invitation tended through you, MT. Hannahan, ad through MT. Ar mold. to come to this meeting I have always admired greatly the railroad men of the country; and do not see how any one who believes in what I regard as the fundamental virtues of citizenship can fail to do. 1 want to see the average American a game man, an honest man and a man who can handle himself and does handle himself, well under difficult ties. .Applause).
 "The last time | ever saw General Sherman I dined at his house and we got to talking over the capacity of diff fereat types of soldiers. and the General happened to say that if ever there were
 
 mand, he should endeavor to get as many railroad men as possible under him. I asked him why and he said that on &C., count of their profession they have de- veloped certain qualities which are es- sential in a soldier.
 Risks of Railroaders.
 "In the first place, they are accustomed to taking risks There are great many men who are naturally brave. but who being entirely unaccustcmed to risks, are at first appalled, by them. They are accustomed to enduring hardship; they are accustomed to irregular hours; they are accustomed to act on their own re- sponsibility. on their own initiative. and yet they are accustomed to obeying or ders quick. There is not anything more soul narrowing for a man in time of war, or for a man engaged in a difficult job in time Of peace than to give an order and have the gentleman addressed say: .What?'
 "The railroad man has got to learn that when an order is issued there may be a fraction of a second in which to obey it. He has got to learn that orders that there will come plenty of crises in which there will be no orders to be ob- tained and he will have to act for him. self.
 Now those are all qualities that go to the very essence of good soldiership, and I am not surprised at what General Sher- man said: I am not surprised that you would make good soldiers-I would be ashamed of you If you did not.
 ''In raising my own regiment, which was raised mainly in the Southwest. partly in the territory on which Mir. Sar- gent himself served as a soldier at one time, in Arizona, I got number of rail- road men, Of course, the first requisite was that a man should know how to shoot and how to ride. We were rais- ing the regiment in a hurry and we did not have time to teach him. either. He had to know how to handle a horse and how to handle a rifle. to start with; but given the possession of those two quail ties. found that there was no group of our citizens from whom better men could be drawn to do a soldiers work in a tight place and at all times than the railroad men.
 Brave Men in Place.
 But. gentlemen. the period of war is but a fractional part of the life of our