The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-11-01
PRESIDENT TAXES
 PART OF STOKER ShoveIs Coal Into West Vir-
 ginia's Boilers ClCAKC Il IlC OAu OpO
SPEAKS TO THE SAILORS
lmpresses Upon Them the Importance of the Part They Play in Guarding the Nations
 Interests.


 as a most enjoyable and profitable ex- perienee. Particularly did he enjoy the sea voyage and the President expressed himself in the most enthusiastic terms regarding the ships, officers and men of the squadron.
 While at sea Sunday the President made a speech to the officers and men of the West Virginia. He had just com pleted an inspection of the entire ship. In the boiler room a profusely decorated shovel was put into his hand and he was asked to throw a shovel of coal into particular boiler. He threw in two and the boiler was immediately christened the Roosevelt" boiler. The shovel was passed around that every stoker might shovel coal with it. It was then speed fly demolished into bits, each bit being retained as a souvenir.
 At the conclusion of the speech, the President was given three rousing cheers by the officers and men. His speech fol- lows.
 Tt is privilege for any President to come on board squadron of American warships such as this, not alone to see the ships, but to see the men who handle them From the admiral down to the entire ships company, every American should be proud of what l have seen aboard this ship; the discipline the ready subordination of each man whether off, cer or enlisted man to duty the care taken of the men, and In return, the eager. intelligent zeal of each man In do- ing his work What must impress espe- cally any observer is how essential It IS that every individual on a ship like this should do his whole duty, and in any crisis, more than his duty The result as l see it in this ship is a triumph not only of organization and discipline, but of the ready zeal with which each indi- vidual performs his allotted task. At any time some emergency may arise in which the safety of the entire ship Will de- pend upon the vigilance, intelligence and cool courage of some one man among you, perhaps an officer perhaps an en- listed man. Any man in the whole ships company who does his full duty, can claim as his own honor and repute of the ship, and has right to feel personal pride in all she does.
 You and your fellows in the navy and in its sister. the army, occupy position different from that of any other set or men in our country Going through the ship yesterday, in the engine room, store
  that impressed me most was the all-im- portance of each man in his place; the all-importance of that man both knowing his work and feeling 1t a matter Of Keen perso.al pride to do 1t as well as 1t could possibly be done. All through the ship have seen the same purpose, the purpose to learn exactly what the duty to be done was, and then to do 1t; and the power to do presupposes the possession by each of you of intelligence, courage and nhvsical address I believe that this at titude of yours Is typical Of the atttuoe of the men of our navy generally ana or the army also. Now, on the one hand' they should make our country feel tow ard Uncle Sam in our army and in our navy a sense of obligation and gratitude such as they feel toward no others; and on the other hand 1t should make you feel that on no other Americans rest so great an obligation to do their duty well: for in your hand lies the creait' the honor and the interest of the entire nation.
 .Now a special word to the officers. Cant Arnold as a boy you witnessed great fight of the Merrlmac when she came out of Hampton Roads. sunk the Congress and the Cumberland, ana the next day met her match In the Monitor. That was a fight fought with great honor for our people, The Cumberland sank with her flags flying and her guns nrlns while her decks were awash. and as the water was shallow, her flag still fioated from the mast above them after she had gone down. The captain of the Congress met his death in the fight winning an enitaph which deserves to be remembered forever in the American navy. His name was Joe Smith. and his father, an old naval officer was In Wasnington' When word was brought to him that his sons ship had surrendered, he said sim ply Then Joe's dead. To have earned the right to his death assumed as matter or course in such conditions IS or 1tseH enough to crown any life, ana every American officer should keep ever be- fore him what Is implied therein. Let each of you officers remember m the event of war, that while a surrender may sometimes be justihable. yet surrender must always be explained, while It is never necessary to explain the fact that YOU don't surrender. no matter what the conditions may be.
 What I have said so far applies to the whole navy. Now word especially to this squadron. and to this ship. No other nation can boast of a better squadron. a squadron composed of more formidable vessels. In the matter of the officers and men we have no cause to shrink from comparison with any other nation So far the Colorado has been the one ship that has had the chance to show what could be done in gunnery practice, and her record has been so 'astonishingly good that the other ships of the squadron will have to do their level best if they expect even to equal 1t. l need not tell you to remember that battles are decided by gunfire and that the only shots that count are the shots that hit. s
 Men I am glad to have seen you. and don't think that anywhere under our flag there could be found better set, of clean-cut, vigorous ,self-respecting American citizens of the very type that makes one proudest to be an American
 Came Ashore Before Noon.
 President Roosevelt came ashore from the Dolphin at the Washington navy yard at Il :55 o'clock this forenoon and five minutes later he had left.the yard for the white house in a carriage with Mrs Roosevelt. and the trip was at an end which rounded out his tour of the en- tire United States during his presidency The President vii go to the executive of flee after luncheon
 The incidents of the arrival and land ing were according to arrangements. Two hours before the Dolphin reached her moorings people began to gather at the navy yard wharf. For an hour an escort of marines. headed by the marine band were in line facing the wharf. Mrs. Roosevelt arrived in her landau at II 80 and had time for drive around the yard the points of interests of which were pointed out by a naval officer.
 When the Dolphin showed herself around Arsenal Point and left the Potomac for the eastern branch, the firing squad man.