Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-14
Representative Bede's Address.

"Our Country: May she ever be right, but,
right OF wrong, cur country was the sub
ject that was referred to j. Adam Bede
for consideration and he di0 it ample JUS
tice. Beginning with few dry, witty re-
marks, he led the way to eulogy that
brought forth tremendous applause and
gained for him the oratorical honors of the
evening.
II am not used to speaking to such a
distinguished gathering he said, for, as
you know, most of my friends are in Con-
gress or in the penitentiary. The other
day up there-I mean in the House, not
the pententiary-the chaplain asked the
Lord to look down on US. Some of us
thought that that was pretty hard, mas
much as most men had been doing it, and
We didn't see why the Lord should be asked
to add to our humiliation.
But to get at this subject, our country.
l don't care much how we got it, whether it
was the army or the navy that got it for U.S.
We've got it; that ought to be enough. And
now let US see that We keep it. 1t is per-
haps the only country on the face of the
earth whose national anthem written
on board foreign man-of-war. Let us
keep our country intact, even If for nothing
more than to save The Star Spangled Ban
ner.' That song Is worth all that the war
of 1872 cost, SO what's the use worrying
Stand by your country in spite of its blum
ders, If 1t makes any. Be true to her, right
or wrong. AS Carl Schurz said: Stand by
her, right or wrong; when right, to be kept
right; when wrong, to be set right
I'VE have to stick by the undivided coun-
try. The country does not mean state or
a city or a town or an individual, but the
whole people When a state says it will do
as it pleaseS regardless of what the others
think, there's trouble brewing and when a.
city or an individual gets stubborn, that's
anarchy. That's the way some of our
friends in the southern hemisphere act when
they get mad. l had a friend who lived
down that way and he had erected his
lin
said 1t was good place to see the revolution
go by. 1t takes more than one generation
to make anything out of a people You
can't do much with them in less than three
1t seems to me to be that way with our
friends in the Philippines. / really don't be-
leve we can ever make our kind of folks
out of those people. But we can try. and
that is exactly what we are here for
Different people have different views as
to the best method by which to get at the
question. l had some friends who wanted
to start Christian Endeavor Society out
there, but they couldn't find anything to
hang their badges on. So you see we meet
with difficulties whichever may we turn. Our
country doesn't mean four million square
miles, but an idea. You can't solve all of
the problems at once. The higher up you
go the more you can see. You never can
overtake your idea. We may pursue hap
pness, but we can never overtake it, so we
might as well try and do the best we can
and be glad we have country to do it for.
Chicago was only dot on the map. Now
they think they own the earth. They are be-
ginning to build libraries out there In a.
generation or two they'll begin to read
them. 1t is natural progression, and they
can't help it.
THE world is going to be lonesome when
you old boys who made the flag what 1t is
today are gone, and the triumphs that you
earned are only history. Yes, it is going to
be lonesome. What shame 1t was that the
flower of the young manhood of our country
had to die in such way. personally know
| that the animosities gone, and let us
| hope that they are all wiped away In d
| family living in Maryland there were six
| boys. They all went to war, three to the
| northern army and three to the southern.
| and were all six killed. The mother and
| father went to the field of Gettysburg and
brought back the bodies of two of their
| boys, one in a blue uniform and one in a
gray. But they buried them side by side,
| and that is the way the animosities of the
| war are buried. Let US hope that they are
| all wiped out and that the flag we love so
well may some day be borne triumphantly
aloft to take its place beside the sacred
| cross, an emblem of eternal liberty
| Speaks for Grand Army.
Gen. John c. Black. commander-in-chief