The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1904-11-19

| like the great Elector, who were
| among the most famous princes OF
| their time, founded the royal house OF
Prussia two centuries ago, and at last
in our own day established the might y
German Empire as among the fore
most of the world powers. We sre-
ceive this gift now at the hands of
the present Emperor, himself a man
who has markedly added to the luster
of his great house and his great ma
ton, man who has devoted his life
to the welfare of his people, and who
while keeping ever ready to defend
the rights of that people, has also
that he and they desire peace and
friendship with other nations of the
earth.
Born Leader Of Men.
1t is not my purpose here to dis
cuss at length the career of the
whose statue we have Just received.
In all history no other greater COM
mander save only Hannibal fought
so long against such terrible odds,
and while Hannibal finally failed,
Friedrich triumphed. In almost every
and he almost always won the vic
tory. When defeated he rose to an
even greater altitude than when vic
torious. The memory of the Seven
Years war will last as long as there
lives in mankind the love of heroism.
the minutest detail as long as the
world sees a soldier worthy of the
name. 1t is difficult to know whether
to admire most the victories of
Leuthen and Prague, Rossbach and
Zorndorf, or the heart breaking cam
paigns after Kunersdorf, when the
great King, after having been beaten
to the ground by. the banded might
of Europe, yet rose again and by an
exhibition Of skill, tenacity, energy,
and daring such as had never before
been seen united in one person, finally
wrested triumph from defeat. Not
only must the military scholar always
turn to the career of friedrich the
Great for lessons in strategy and tao
tics: not only must the military ad-
ministrators always turn to his career
for lessons in organizing successes;
not only will the lover of heroism
read the tales Of his mighty feats
as long as mankind cares for heroic
deeds; but even those who are not
attracted by the valor of the soldier
must yet for the sake of the great
ness of the man, ponder and admire
the lessons taught by his undaunted
resolution, his in1exible tenacity of
purpose, his farsighted grasp of lofty
possibilities, and unflinching, unyield-
ing determination in following the
path he had marked out. 1t is en-
inently fitting that the statue of this
iron soldier, this born leader of men,
should find a place in the War Col
lege; for when soldierly genius and
soldierly heroism reach the highest
point Of achievement the man in
whom they are displayed grows to
belong not merely to the nation from
which he sprang, but to all nations
capable of showing, and therefore
capable of approaching, the virile
and masterful virtues which alone
makes victors in those dread strug-
giles where resort is at last had to
the arbitrament of arms.
Friendship and Good Will.
But, Mr.. AMBASSADOR, in accepting
the statue given us today through
you from the German Emperor,
accept it not merely because it Is
the statue of mighty and terrible
soldier. but I accept it as a SYNOD
of the ties of friendship and good will
which ! trust as the years go on will
bind ever closer together the Ameri-
can and the German peoples. There
is kinship of blood between the two
nations. We of the United States
are of mixed stock. In our veins
runs the blood of almost all the
peoples of middle, northern and west
tory of which we feel that we have
the right to be legitimately proud
and yet our nationality is still in
the formative period. Nearly three
centuries have elapsed since the land
ing of the English at Jamestown
marked the beginning of what has
since grown into the United States.
German Americans.
During these three centuries
streams of newcomers from different
countries abroad have in each gen.
Grafton contributed to swell the in
crease of our people. Soon after
the English settled in Virginia and
New England, the Hollanders settled
at the mouth of the Hudson and the