Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-10-16

great and glorious thing for a nation To
be stirred to present triumph by the
splendid memories of triumphs in the
past. But it is shameful thing for A
nation, if these memories stir If only
to empty boastings, to a nride that
does not shrink from present abase-
ment, to that dissatisfaction which
accepts the high resolve and unbending
effort of the father as an excuse for
efiortless ease or wrongly directed eff
fort in the son. We of the present. if
we are true to the past, must show by
our lives that we have learned Alright
the lessons taught by the men who did
the mighty DEEDS OF the past. We
must have in us the spirit which made
the men of the Civil War what they
We're; the spirit which produced lead
ers such as Sherman; the spirit which
gave to the average soldier the grim
| tenacity and resourcefulness that made
the armies of Grant and Sherman as
| formidable fighting machines as this
world has ever seen. We need their
ruggedness of body. their keen ana
vigorous minds, and above all their
dominant quality of forceful character.
Their lives teach us in our own lives
to strive after not the thing which is
merely pleasant, but the thing which
| it is our duty to do. The life of duty,
| not the life of mere ease or mere
pleasure-that is the kind of life which
makes the great man as it makes the
great nation.
| We cansnot afford to lose the virtues
| which made the men of 81 to '65 great
In, No 10 tod in 20 al
| ing pride in the deeds of the Army
and Navy of the past if he does not
| back up the Army and the Navy of the
present. If we are farsighted in our
patriotism, there will be no let up in
the work of building and of keeping at
the highest point of efficiency, navy
suited to the part the United States
| must hereafter play in the world, and
of making and keeping our small
regular army, which in the event of q
great war can never be anything but
the nucleus around which our volun-
teer armies must form themselves, the
best army of it's size to be found
among the nations.
50 much for our duties in keeping
unstained the honor roll our fathers
| made in war. 1t is of even more in
stalit need that we should show their
spirit of patriotism in the affairs of
| peace. The duties of peace are with us
| always; those of war are but occa-
| sional: and with a nation as with a
man. the worthiness of life depends
upon the way in which the everyday
duties are done. The home duties are
the vital duties. The nation is moth
| ing but the aggregate of the families
within its border; and if the average
man is not working, just, and
fearless in his dealings with those
about him, then our average of public
life will in the end be low; for the
| stream can rise no higher than it's
source. But in addition we need to re-
member that peculiar responsibility
rests upon the man in public life. We
meet in the capital of the nation in the
city which owes it's existence to the
| fact that it is the seat of the national
| government. 1t is well for us in this
place, and at this time, to remember
| that exactly as there are certain home
ly qualities the lack of which will pre-
vent the most brilliant man alive from
being a useful soldier to his country,
so there are certain homely qualities
for the lack of which in the public
| servant no shrewdness or ability can
atone. The greatest leaders, whether
| IN war or in peace, must of course
show peculiar quality of genius; but
the most redoubtable armies that have
| ever existed have been redoubtabe be-
cause the average soldier, the average
| officer, possessed to n high degree such
| comparatively simple qualities as
| loyalty. courage, and hardihood. And
! so the most successful governments are
( those in which the average public
servant possesses that variant of
loyalty which we call patriotism, to-
gether with common sense and hon
esty We can as little afford to toler-
ate dishonest man in the public
service ASA coward in the army. The
| murderer takes a single life: the cor
ruptionist iii public life, whether he be
bride siver Or bride taker, strikes at
| the heart of the commonwealth. In
, every public service, as in every army,
| there will be wrongdoers, there will oc-
cur misdeeds. This can not be avoid
ed; but vigilant watch must be kept.
and as soon as discovered the wrong
doing must be stopped and the wrong
doors punished. Remember that in
popular government we must rely on
the people themselves, alike for the
punishment and the reformation.
Those upon whom our institutions cast
the initial duty of bringing malefactors
to the bar of justice must be diligent in
its discharge; vet in the last resort the
success Of their efforts to purge the
public service Of corruption must de-
pend upon the attitude of the courts
and of the jurics drawn from the peo-
pic. Leadership is Of avail only so far
as there is wise and resolute public
sentiment behind it.
In the long run, then, it depends upon
US ourselves, upon us the people as
whole. whether this government is or is
not to stand in the future as it has
stood in the past: and my faith that it
will show no falling off is based upon
my faith in the character of our aver
age citizenship. The one supreme duty
is to try to keep this average high. To
this end it is we'll to keep alive the
memory of those men who are fit to