Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-10-22

" a reunited country, but country
intellectually greater because of its
rich heritage in the deeds which thus
left it 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 and the loyalty toward what
tltev regarded as right of the men in
gray. for this war, thrice fortunate
above all other recent wars in its out
come left to all of US the right OF
brotherhood alike with valiant victor
and valiant vanquished. Moreover,
our homage must not only find express
sion on our lips; it must also show it
Golf forth in our deeds. 1t is a great
and glorious things for a nation to
he 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
il only to empty boastings, to a pride
that does not shrink from present
abasement. to that dissatisfaction
which accepts the high resolve and
lunbending effort of the father as an
excuse for effortless ease or wrongly
directed effort 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 were; the spirit which
, produced leaders such as Sherman;
the spirit which gave to the average
soldier the grim tenacity and resource
ness 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 and 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 ma
ton
I'VE can not afford to lose the
virtues which made the men of 81 to
IS great in war. No man is war
ranted in feeling 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
building, and of keeping at the high
est point of efficiency, a navy suited
| to the part of the United States must
hereafter play in the world, and of
making and keeping our small regu-
lar army, which in the event of a
great war can never be anything but
the nucleus around which our volun-
teer armies must form themselves,
the best army of its size to be found
among the nations. The nation is
nothing but the aggregate of the fami-
lies within it's border; and if the
average man is not hardworking, just,
and fearless in his dealings with those
about him, then our average of pub
lie life will in the end be low. We need
to remember that a peculiar re-
sponsibility rests upon the man in
public life. 1t is well for us in this
place, and at this time, to remember
that exactly as there are certain
homely qualities the lack of which
will prevent the most brilliant man
alive from being a useful Soldier to
his country, so there are certain home
ly qualities for the lack of which in
the public servant no shrewdness or
ability can atone
The most successful governments
are those in which the average pub
Tic servant possesses that variant of
loyalty which We call patriotism. to-
gether with common sense and hon
esty We can as little afford to toll
crate a dishonest man in the public
service as a coward in the army. The
murderer takes a single life; the cor
ruptionist in public life, whether he
be bride taker, strikes at the heart of
the commonwealth. In every public
service, as in every army, there will
De wrongdoers, there will occur mis-
deeds. This can not be avoided; but
Vigilant watch must be kept, and as
soon as discoveed the wrongdoing
must be stopped and the wrongdoers
punished.
In the long run, it depends upon
us ourselves, upon US the people as a
whole, whether this government is or
Is not to stand in the futuer as it has
stood in the past; and my faith that
1t will show no falling off is based up
on my faith in the character of our
average citizenship. The one SUI
preme duty is to try to keep this av-
erage high"