The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-01-28


sentative and the exponent of those
ideals which, if we live UP to them,
will make, as they have largely made,
who strive to do right and to live their
lives simply and we'll as light is given
them. The nation was stunned. and
the people mourned with a sense of
bitter bereavement because they had
lost a man whose heart beat for them
as the heart Of Lincoln once had beat
en-. We did right to mourn; for the
loss was ours, not his. He died in the
golden fullness of his triumph. He
died victorious in that highest of all
kinds of strife-the strife for an am
pier, juster, and more generous ma
tional life. For him the laurel; but
woe for those whom he left behind;
woe to the nation that lost him; and
woe to mankind that there should ex-
list creatures so foul that one among
them should strike at so noble a life.
We are gathered together tonight
to recall his memory, to pay our tri-
butte Of respect to the great chief and
leader who fell in the harness, who
was stricken down while his eyes were
bright with the light that tells of
triumph tasted" We can honor him
best by the way we show in actual
deed that we have taken to heart the
lessons of his life. We must strive to
achieve, each in the measure that he
can, something of the qualities which
made President Mckinley a leader Of
men, a mighty power for good-his
strength, his courage, his courtesy and
dignity, his sense of justice, his ever
present kindness and regard for the
rights of others. He won greatness by
meeting and solving the issues as they
arose-nOt by Sinking them-meeting
them with wisdom, with the exercise
of the most skillfu and cautious judg-
ment, but with fearless resolution
when the time of crisis came. He met
each crisis on it's own merits; he never
sought excuse for Sinking a task in
the fact that it was different from the
one he had expected to face. The long
public career, which opened when as
boy he carried a musket in the ranks
and closed when as man in the prime
of his intellectual strength he stood
among the worlds chief statesmen,
came to what II was because he treat
ed each triumph as opening the road TO
fresh effort, not as an excuse for ceas-
ing from effort. He undertook mighty
tasks. Some of them he finished COM
pletely; others we must finish; and
there remain yet others which he did
not have to face, but which if we are
worthy to be the inheritors of his prin-
ciples we will in our turn face with
the same resolution, the same sanity,
the same unfaltering belief in the
greatness of this country, and unfal-
tering championship of the rights of
each and all of our people, which
marked his high and splendid career.
In thanking the President for his
speech, Judge Day said that by it "a
classic has been added to the litera-
ture of eulogy."
Secretary of War Root responded to
the toast 1.-THE ARMY
Gen. Luke Wright, in responding to
the taost, THE Future of the Philip
pines" said:
For the American people now to
withdraw from the government of the
islands would, to my mind, be a
shameful abdication of the highest
moral duty, because it would result in
disorder, bloodshed and chaos, threat
ening the life. liberty and property of
foreigners and Filipino alike. The fu-
ture of Filipino independence will be
easy to Observation-Disclosures, blood
shed, destruction of property and then
Intervention of some stronger power"
Gen. Wright said the need of the
Filipinos to-day is not an independent
government of their own. so much as
a wise and beneficent administration,
protecting them in all their natural
rights, which will at the same time
give tHeI1 an opportunity Dy experience
to acquire a knowledge of what true
self-government really is, and it's
value.
Charles r. Smith was the last speak
er, responding to the toast, "Our
Country"
At the conclusion of the banquet the
President and party were driven to
the station shortly after / o'clock and
the special train started for Washing
ton.