Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-15

t1IneSS OF monuments.
There IS a peculiar fitness in commence
rating the great deeds of the soldiers who
preserved this nation, by suitable monu-
ments at the national capital. l trust we
shall soon have proper statue Of Abra-
| ham Lincoln, to whom more than to any
| other one this nation owes its saliva
| ton. Meanwhile, on behalf Of the people
] of the nation. l wish to congratulate all of
you who have been instrumental in secur-
ing the erection OF this statue to General
Sherman.
the memory of the great dead by the way
in which they take to heart and act upon
the lessons taught by the lives which made
these dead men great. Our homage to-
day to the memory of Sherman comes from
the depths of our being. We would be
unworthy citizens did We not feel profound
gratitude toward him, and those like him
and under him, who. when the country
called in her dire need, sprang forward
with such gallant eagerness TO answer that
| cal. Their blood and their toll their en-
duranCe and patriotism have made US and
all who come after US forever their debt
orS They left us not merely a reunited
country, but a country intellectually greater
because of its rich heritage in the deeds
which thus left 1t reunited. AS nation
we are the greater, not only for the valor
and devotion to duty displayed by The men
in blue, who won in the great struggle for
the Union, but also for the valor end the
loyalty toward what they regarded as right
of the men In gray; for this war, thrice
fortunate above all other recent wars in
IT'S outcome, left to all OF us the right of
brotherhood alike with valiant victor and
valiant vancuished.
Moreover, our homage must not only
find expression our lips; it must also
show itself forth in our deeds. 1t is
great and glorious thing for a nation to
he stirred to present triumph by the splen-
did memories of triumphs in the past.
Dat CHI ...Trr 1fp7tr fnr
| # these memories stir it only to empty
| bCastings. to a pride that does not shrink
from present ahaSement, to that self-satis-
faction which accepts the high resolve and
unbenGjnG effort Of the father as an eX-
cuse for effortIcss ease or wrongly directed
effort in Tho son. We Or the present, If we
are true to th1 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 were; the spirit which pro-
dUCed leaders such as Sherman; the spirit
which gave to the average soldier the
| grim tenaCity and reSOuTCefulnesS that
made the armies of Grant and Sherman as
| formidable lighting machines this world
| has ever seen. We need their ruggedness
of body. their keen and vigorous minds
| and. above all, their dominant quality of
| fOrCefUl character. Their lives teach us in
| our own lives 10 strive after not the thing
| which is merely pleasant, but the thing
1
! duty. not the life of mere ease or mere
| pleasure-that is the kind of life which
| makes the great man IS it makes the great
| ration.
Virtues of 81 to 'G5.
We can not afford to lose the virtues
which made the men of 81 to 60 great in
war No man is warranted in feeling pride
in the deeds of the army and navy of the
PAST If he does not back up the army
sighted in our patriotism, there will be no
let-up in the work of building. and of keep
ing 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 a great war
can never be anything but the nucleus
around which our volunteer armies must
form themselves, the best army of it's size
to be found among the nations.
So much for our duties in keeping I'M
stained the honor roll our fathers made in
war. 1t is of even more instant 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
bus occasional; and with a nation as with
a man. the worthiness of life depends upon
the way in which the everyday duties are
I done. The home duties are the vital duties.
The nation is nothing but the aggregate
of the families within it's border; and if
the average man is not Woodworking just
end 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 its source. But in
addition we need to remember that a pc
Culiar responsibility rests upon the man in
public life. We meet in the capital of
the ration, in the city which owes it's eX-
istence to the fact that it is the seat of
the national government. 1t is we'll for
US In this place and at this time, to re-
| member that exactly as there are certain
| f1tq1 hn ocly
prevent the most brilliant man alive from
being 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 great
| est leaders. whether in war or In peace,
must of course show a peculiar quality of
genius; but the most redoubtable armies
| that have ever existed have been redoubt-
| able because the average soldier the aver
| age officer possessed to a 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
| together with common sense and honesty
Cannot Tolerate a Dishonest Public
Man.
| We can as little AFFORD to tolerate a dis
honest man IN the public service as a
COW ard in the army The muir derer takes
single life; the corruptionisr in public
| life. whether he be bride giver or bride
talier. strikes at the heart of the common
wealth. In every public service as in every
army, there wiz be wrongdoers there will
occur misieeds. This can not be avoided;
but vigilant watch must be kept, and as
soon as discovered the wrongdong must
be stopped and the wrongdoers 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
| lar of justice must be diligent in it's dis
charge; yet in the last resort the success