The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-09-17
to make GOOD use of it.

unable to make good use of it.
1t now rests with us in civil life to
make good by our deeds the deeds which
you who wore the blue did in the great
years from 81 to '65. The patriotism.
the courage, the unfiinching resolution
and steadfast endurance of the soldiers
whose triumph was crowned at Apo
mattoX must be supplemented on our
part by civic courage, civic honesty, cool
sanity, and steadfaSt adherence to the
immutable laws of righteousness. You
left us reunited country; reunited in
fact as well as in name. You left us the
right of brotherhood with your gallant
foes who wore the gray; the right to feel
pride i'll their courage and their high
fealty to an ideal. even though they
warred against the tsars in their
courses. You left us also the most
splendid example of what brotherhood
really means; for in your careers you
showed in practical fashion that the
only safety in our American life lies in
spurning the accidental distinctions
which sunder one man from another,
and in paying homage to each man only
because of what he essentially is; in
stripping off the huslSs of occupation, of
position. of accident. until the soul
stands forth revealed. and we know the
man only because of his worth as
man.
There was no patent device for secur-
ing victory by force of arms forty years
ago; and there is no patent device for
securing victory for the forces of right
eousness in civil life now. In each case
the all-important factor was and Is the
character of the individual man. Good
laws in the state, like a good Organlzn-
ton in an army, are the expressions of
national character Leaders will De Ge-
veloped in military and in civil life
alike; and weapons and tactics cnange
from generation to generation, as meth
DDS of achieving good government
change in civic affairs; but the funda-
mental qualities which make for good
citizenship do not change any more than
the fundamental qualities which make
good soldiers. In the long run in. the
civil war the thing that counted for
more than aught else was the fact that
the average American had the fighting
edge: had within him the spirit which
spurred him on through toll and danger,
fatigue and hardship, to the goal OF the
splendid ultimate triumph. So in
mental factor must be the character of
the average citizen; that average citl-
zens power of hatred for what is mean
and base and unlovely; his fearless
scorn of cowardice and his determine
ton to war unyieldingly against the
dark and sordid forces of evil.
The continental troops who followed
Washington were clad in blue and BUN,
and were armed with clumsy, hintlock
muskets You who followed Grant, wore
the famous old blue uniform, and your
weapons had changed as had your uni
form. and now the men OF the American
army who uphold the honor of the flag
in the far tropic lands are yet differently
armed and differently clad and differently
trained: but the spirit that has driven you
ali to victory has. remained forever I'M
changed. So it is in civil life As you
did not win in a month or a year, but
only after long years of hard and danger
Gus work. so the fight for. governmental
honesty and efficiency can be won only by
the display of similar patience and similar