The Washington times., 1902-06-12

save for his worth as he Is able t.
show it,
This morning l have shaken hand
with many of you and / have met tn.
men who stand as representatives o
every great struggle, every great forward
movement that this nation has made fo1
the last fifty-fve or sixty years. Amoni
you there are some left still who tool
part in the Mexican war.
Tried in a Furnace.
Il meet, when | see any OF thc Die
men among you, men who took part il
the great Civil War when this nation
was tried as in a furnace; the men who
were called upon to do the one deef
which had to be done under penalty c.
making the memory of Washington bilr-
self unworthy, because II you had tailed
then failure would also have been writ
ten across the record of his wo.k. Fl
the elder ones; the men whom ! have
seen myself taking part in a little war
war that was the merest skirmish
compared with the struggle in which you
fought from 81 to '65. and yet wal
that has had most far-reaching effects
not merely upon the destiny of this ma
ton. but upon the destiny of the world.
the war with Spain.
And 1t was my good fortune to see
in the campaign in Cuba how the grad
yates of West Point handled them
selves; to see and to endeavcr to profit
by their example. l remember well con-
graduating myself that my regiment. n
raw. volunteer regiment, could have to
set 1t an example from men like Mills
and Ship, whose very presence made
the men cool; made them feel collected
and at ease. Mills and Ship went down
with our regiment when 1t arose to go
into action. Shortly after 1t began
Ship was killed and Colonel Mills re-
ceived a wound from which no one of
us at the time dreamed that he would
recover.
II had at that time in my regiment as
acting second lieutenant a cadet from
West Point. He was having his holiday.
He took his holiday going down with us.
Just before the assault he was shot.
the bullet going In, / think. into the
stomach and going out the other side.
and IS he fell over and as we came W. l
leaned over him AID he said: 'Good-by.
and CHI. no. am going to get we'll l
did not thirk he was. But. l said: All
right. am sure ~ou will And he did:
he is all right now.
Men Fitted for War.
Your duty here at West Point has
been to fit men 20 do well in war. But
1t is a noteworthy fact that you also
have fitted them to do singularly well in
peace. the highest positions in the land
have been held. not exceptionally. but
aFain and again by West Pointers. that
West Pointers have risen to the nrst
rank in all occupations of civil life.
I'm closing l want to say one word TO
those who are graduating here and to
the younger graduates, as well. ! was
II realty struck the other day by an ar
ticle of one of your instructors here,
himself West Pointer. in which he
dwelt upon the changed conditions Of
warfare and the absolute need that the
man who was to be a good officer
should meet those changed conditions
/ think it is going to be great deal
harder to be a first-class officer In the
future than it has been in the past.
Il think that in addition to the cour-
age aud steadfastness which have al
ways been the prime requirements IN
soldier you have got to show far
greater fertility of resource and far
greater power of individual initiative
thar has ever been necessary before
II you are going to come UP to the
highest level of oficer-like performance
of duty.
.'In a battle hereafter each man is 60
ing to be to considerable extent alone.
The man will have to act largely alone.
and If he shows a tendency to huddle up
1Ir &c soft,
pretty nearly at an end. He has got
to draw on his own courage and re-
to fit the emergencies as
they come up.
II noticed in all of the sixty days that
we were in Cuba that the orders given
and executed were of the simplest kind.
and that there was very little manuev-
ering, particularly none of the manuev-
ering of the parade ground. Now, l
want YOU to weigh what l say, for II
you take only half of it you will invert
what l say.
Best Men Regulars.
Il found out very soon in my regi-
ment that the best man was the man
who had been in the regular army In
actual service out in the West cam
paigning on the plains; that II he had
been a good man in the regular army
on the plains he was the best man l
could get hold off; and II on the other
hand he had served in time OF peace
couple of years in an Eastern garrison
where he did practically nothing outside
of parade grounds and barracks, or if
he had been in an ordinary National