Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-12
PRAISE FOR THE ARMY
President 4 Addresses Cadet
Corps at West Point.
WORTH IS THE FACTOR
SECRETARY ROOT, GEN. MILES
AND GEN. PORTER.
All Make Speeches at Banquet, as Do
Other Distinguished Men Of
Country.

President Roosevelt, late yesterday after
| noon. made an address to the cadet corps at
the exercises attending the centennial ceie-
/ bration at the West Point Military Acade-
my. Colonel Mills. superintendent of the
| academy, introduced the President, who
said:
President Roosevelt's Address.
"Col. Mills. the graduates Of West Point.
and you men and women who are drawn
to them by ties of citizenship, or by the
simple fact that you are Americans and,
| therefore, of necessity drawn to them zap
| plause), I am glad to have the chance OF
| saying a word to you today. There is little
| need for me to say how well your perform
| ance has compared with prophetic promise
made on your behalf by the greatest OF
Americans. Washington. applause, rms
| institution has completed its first hundred
years of life. During that century no other
| educational institution in the land has con-
| tributed as many names as West Point
| nations citizens. (Applause)
| Col. Mills, / claim to be historian
| and l speak simply as reciter OF facts,
when I say what 1 have said: and more
| than that not merely has West Point con-
| tributed a greater number Of the men who
stand highest on the nations honor roll,
but think beyond question that, taken as
| a whole, the average graduate OF west
Point during this hundred years mas gwen
| a greater amount of service to the country
through his life than has the average grad
| uate of any other institution on this broad
land. (Appiause).
Democracy at West Point.
| Now. gentlemen, that is not surprising.
| That Is what we have right to expect
from this military university founded by
| the nation. That is what we had right
to expect (applause). But 1 am glad that
| the expectation has been made good zap
| plause), and of all the institutions in this
| country none is more absolutely American,
| none more, in the proper sense of the
| word, absolutely democratic than this.
| Here we care nothing for the boys birth
place. for the boys grade, for his social
| standing; here We care nothing save for
| his worth if he is able to show 1t zap
| plause). Here you represent with almost
mathematical eAaetness the country geo
| graphically. You are drawn from every
| walk of life by, a, method Of chance. meant
| to insure, and which in a great majority
| of cases does insure, nothing but active
youth. Here YOU come together as repre-
| sentatiyes of America in the higher and
| more peculiar sense than can possibly be
true of any other Institution in the land
| save your sister college that makes similar
| preparations for, the service of the country
| on the seas (applausf)
This morning haYe shaken hands with
| many of you, and / have met the men who
stand as representatives of every great
struggle, every great move this great ma
4 ton has made for the last ffty-five or sixty
| years There some still left among the
| older of you whotoek part in the Mexican
4 war a struggle, which added to this coun-
| try a territory vaster than has changed
| hands in Europe as the result Of all the
| wars of the last twos centuries l meet al
| ways. when I see any of the older among
1 you, men who took part in the great civil
war when this nation was tried as in
| furnace the men who were called upon to
| do tho thing which had n he 1ppp 3nr
| penalty of ma king the memory of Wash
| inGton himself worthless, because if you
| bad failed then failure would have been
| written across the record of his works.
| Recalls the Cuban Campaign.
FINALLY, / see the younger men, as well
as the older ones the men whom l have
seen myself take part in a little war, a war
that was the merest skirmish compared to
the struggle in which you fought from 1861
| to 1860 and yet a war that had almost as
| far-reaching effects not merely for the des-
| tiny of this nation, but therefore upon The
destiny of the world. the with Spain;
| and 1t was my good fortune to see in the
| campaign in Cuba how the graduates of
West Point handle themselves and to en-
deavOr to profit by their example and it
| has become my pleasure to come here to-
day, because was at that time intima tely
| associated with many of your graduates
| On the day before the San Juan fight
| when We were marched up into position
| We lost communica ton with our baggage
| and food and for supper that night I rad
| what Colonel Mills gave me daughter and
| applause), and it tasted very good, and the
| next morning Col. Mills was with another
West Pointer-Shipp from North Carolina
The next morning we had breakfast to-
gether and / remember well congratulate
| ing myself that my regiment-we were all
volunteer regiments-could have as an ex-
ample men like Mills and Shipp. whose very
| presence made the men cool and made them
| feel collected and at ease. Mills and Ship
| went down with our regiment to the action
/ Shortly after it was begun Shipp was killed
and Mills received a wound from which no
one of us at the time thought that he would
| recover. 1 had at that time in my regi-
! ment as acting second lieutenant a gradu-
ate OF West Point, who was having his hol
| with us. and just before the assault he was
| shot. the bullet going, think in his stom-
| ach. and as he fell he said: Goodbye, colo
| mel: am going to get WELL But I did not
/ think he He is here, all right now
and his name is Haskell. Applause.)
Do Well in War and Peace.
| And there was never a moment by day
or night that was not an eyewitness of
| some performance of duty being done by
| a West Pointer, and 1 never saw West
| Pointer failing In his duty. I want to be
| frank gentlemen. You cannot get a body
Of men Of absolutely uniform good con-
! duct but 1 am able to say 1t was my
| ScOQ IOTluHe ~ seq tle role OE uuty per-
formed in a way that made man proud
| to be an American and felloW-citizen of.
such people. yrsab
Your business hess at West Point has
| been to teach mepi to do well in war but
it is a noteworthy afact that you have
| also taught themata, do we'll in peace. The
| highest political Rositiens In the land have
been held. not Exceptionally but again
and again by West. Peinters. Col Mills. 1
| make the answer that any man who is
! asked the question mHst make them when
say that. while aHes would have the right
to expect that West Point would do wen.
| We could not haya expected that she would