The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-11-20

ways turn to his career for lessons in
organizing success, not only will the
! lover of heroism read the tales Of his
| mighty feastS 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 or
| the greatness of the man, ponder ana
| admire the lessons taught by his UNI
! daunted resolution, mis- InlleXlllle tena-
! city of purpose, his farsighted grasp
z lofty possibilities, and his unfiinch-
| ing unvieIding determination in fol-
| lowing the path he had marked out.
1t is eminently fitting that the statue
| of this iron soldier this born leader
| of men, should find a place in this
war college; for when soldierly gem
:us 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 write ana
masterful virtues which a!one raake
victors in those dread struggles where
resort is at last had to the arbitra-
ment of farms.
But, Mr. Ambassador, in accepting
the statue given us today through
you from the German Emperor, l ac-
cept it not merely because it is the
statue of a mighty and terrible SOL
dier, but l accept it as symbol OF
the ties of friendship and good VIII
which | trust as the years so on VIII
bind ever closer together the Amerl-
can and the German peoples. Ihere
is kinshiu of blood between the ma
lions. We Of the United States are
of mixed stock In our veins runs
the blood of almost all the peoples
/ of middle, northern and western Eu-
rome. We already have a history 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 landing of the
| English at jamestown marked the be-
| ginning of what has since grown into
| the United States.
During these three centuries streams
| of newcomers from many different
| countries abroad have in each gem
| Grafton contributed to swell the in
| crease of our people. soon after the
| English settled in Virginia and New
England, the Hollander settled at the
| mouth of the Hudson and the SWede
at the mouth of the Delaware. Even
! in colonial days the German element
/ mad become parts of this country; the
| Irish element was predominant IN the
foothills of the Alleghenies; French
| HuguenotS were numerous by the
| time of the Declaration of lndepend-
| ence that process of fusion which mas
! gone on ever since was wei! under
way. From the beginning OF our ma
| tional history men of German origin
| or German parentage played a dlS-
| tinguiShed part in the affairs both of
| peace and of war. In the Revolu-
! tionary war one of the leading gen
erals was Muhlenberg, an American
| of German descent just as among the
| soldiers from abroad who came to
| aid us one of the most prominent was
| the German, Steuben. Muhlenberg
| was the first Speaker of the House or
| Representatives and the battle which
| in the Revolution saved the valley OF
! the Mohawk to the American cause
was fought under the lead of the Ger
man. Herkmer. AS all the different
races here tend rapidly to fuse to-
| gether, it is rarely possible after one
or two generations to draw sharp
line between the various elements; but
there is no student of our national
conditions who has failed to appre-
ciate what an invaluable element in
our composite stock the German is.
Here on this platform. Mr.. Ambassa-
dor. among those present today are
many men partly or wholly of German
blood and among the officers of the
army and navy who have listened to
you ana who now join with me in
greeting you there are many whose
fathers or grandfathers were born in
Germany, and not q few who them
selves first saw the light there.
Each nation has it's allotted tasks to
do: each nation has its peculiar diff
culties to encounter; and as the peo-
pies of the world tend to become more
closely knit together alike for good
and for evil. it becomes ever more
important to all that each should
prosper; for the prosperity of one is
normally not a sign of menace but a
sign of hope for the rest. Here on
this continent where it is absolutely
essential that the different peoples
coming to our shores should not re-
main separate, but should fuse into
one. our unceasing effort is to strive
TO keep and profit by the good that
each race brings to our shores and
at the same time to do away with all
racial and religious animositieS among
the various stocks. In both efforts
we have met with an astonishing
measure of success. AS the years go
by it becomes not harder, but easier
to live in peace and good Will among
ourselves: and [ firmly believe that
it will also become not harder, but
easier to dwell in peace and friendship
with the Otnef ndIlOllS OIL the ear ILL.,
A young people, people of compo-
site stock, we have kinship with many
different nations, but we are identical
With none of them. and are develop
ing a seperate national stock as we
have already developed separate ma
tional life. We have i'll our veins
the blood of the Englishman and the
1rishman. the German and the French
man, the Scotchman, the Dutchman,
the Scandinavian, the Italian the
Magyar, the Finn, the Slav, so that to
each of the great powers of the Old
World We can claim Il more or less dis
tant llinship by blood; and to each
strain of blood we owe some peculiar
quality in our national life or national
character. As such is the case it is
natural that we should have d pecu-
liar feeling of nearness to each of
many peoples across the water. We
most earnestly wish not only to keep
unbroken our friendship for each but
so far as we can without giving Of
| Tense by an appearance of meddling,
| 90 seek 90 bring about a better under
standing and a broader spirit of fair
dealing and federation among all ma
| tons. IT has been my great pleasure,
| Mr.. Ambassador, in pursuance of this
| object, recently to take with you the