The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-09-17

steadfast endurance Of the soldiers whose
triumph was crowned at Appomattox 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 a reunited
country; reunited in fact as well as in
name. You left US the right Of brother
hood with your gallant foes who wore the
gray; the right to feel pride in their
courage and their high fealty to an ideal,
even tho they warred against the stars 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 III spurn-
ing the accidental distinctions which
sunder one man from another, and in pay
ing homage to each man only because of
what he essentially is; in stripping off the
husks Of occupation, of position, of acct
dent, until the soul stands forth revealed,
and we know the man only because Of his
worth as a man.
Character The Chief Factor.
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 organiZa ton
in an army, are the impressions of nation
al character. Leaders will be developed in
military and in civil life alike; and wea-
pons and tactics will change from gener-
alton to generation, methods of achiev-
ing good government change in civil af-
fairs; but the fundamental 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 count
ed for more than aught else was the fact
that the average American had the fight
ing edge; had within him the spirit which
spurred him on thru toll and danger,
fatigue and hardship, to the goal of the
splendid ultimate triumph. So in achiev-
ing good government the fundamental
factor must be the character of the
average citizen; that average citizens
power of hatred for what is mean and
base and unlovely; his fearless scorn Of
cowardice and his determination to war
unyeldingly against the dark and sord1d
forces of evil.
The Continental troops who followed
washington were clad in blue and buff,
and were armed with clumsy, fintlock
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 differ
emily trained; but the spirit that has
driven you all to victory has remained
forever unchanged. So it Is in civil life.
AS you did not win in a month or
year, but only after long years of hard
and dangerous work, SO the fight for
governmental honesty and efficiency can
be won only by the display Of similar
patience and similar resolution and power
of endurance. We need the same type
of character now that was needed by the
men who with Washington first inaug
urated the system Of free popular gov
eminent, the system of combined lib
erty and order here on this continent;
that was needed by the men who, under
Lincoln, perpetuated the government
which had thus been inaugurated in the
days Of Washington. The qualities es-
sential to good citizenship and to good
public service now are In all their es-
sentials exactly the same as in the days
when the first congresses met to pro-
vide for the establishment Of the union;
as in the days, seventy years later, when
the congresses met which had to provide
| for it's salvation.
| There are many qualities which we
need alike in private citizen and in pub
! lie man, but three above all-three for
| the lack Of which no brilliancy and no
genius can atone-and those three are
| courage, honesty and common sense.
| The benediction was pronounced by Rev.
William H. Mccormick Of New Jersey,
veteran chaplain
While President Roosevelt was speak
ing, rain began to fall in torrents. The
stand had a canvas cover, but the water
went thru it as il it were sieve. When
bystander offered to hold over him an
umbrella. the president waved 1t aside,
remarking:
81 don't care for it. II the crowd can
stand it, l cam
Turning to the crowd he said, laugh
ingly:
II don't feel sorry for you old veterans
You will not melt I do feel sorry for the
ladies'
When he had nearly concluded his adj
dress. the president, who expressed con-
Germ at the drenching his audience was
getting, said:
I'll not keep you long now
4 20, go ont" cried voice; keep it up
until tomorrow.
4 After the benediction had been pro-
nounced, the president held an informal
reception in the train, shaking hands
with several hundred ex-soldiers. A drive
over parts OF the battlefield on account
Fof the storm had to be abandoned.