Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-14
Survivors of Second Army
Corps at the Shoreham.
SPEAKER CANNONTALKS
PRAISES JAPS AND AMERICANS
FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY.
John M. Thurston, w. S. Shallenberger
and Others Make Addresses
Those at the Table.

Sixty members of the Second Army
Corps and their guests sat down to the
fourteenth annual banquet of that organi-
zation in the Shoreham last night. The
frosty heads of the veterans of the civil
war were not so thickly crowded as at
last years feast, time having done much
to thin the ranks of those who fought for
their countrys good and carried their ban
ners to victory on many a CORY field. Yet
there was a goodly number Of the old
boys OF 81. and they made merry in feast
and story until the clock told of the birth
of another day.
The hall wherein the banquet was held
was handsomely decorated in the flag of the
country and with the banners of the bril-
gades making up the Second Army Corps.
1t was a truly kaleidoscope scene that
greeted the diners as they sat down, palms,
flowers and glittering crystal and silver
vying with the colors to make an harmo-
NOUS ensemble During the course of the
dinner an orchestra played series of ap,
propriate selections The menu was elab-
crate.
The prominent guests of the occasion
were the Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives. who responded to the toast,
our Country, in place of the Secretary
or war, who was absent because of ill
ness, and former Senator John M. Thurs
ton of Nebraska Senator ThurSton re-
sponded to "A Look Forward" William
s. Shallenberger, second assistant postmas-
ter general, a member of the corps asso-
citation. spoke to Our Corps" Another in
teresting speaker was Eki FIioki first sec
rotary of the Japanese legation, whose re-
marks were entirely impromptu, and who
received the sincere and hearty applause of
the diners for his eloquent tribute to the
soldiery of the world.
Toast to the President.
Charles Lyman, president of the associa-
tlon, held the chair and acted as toast
master. introducing the speakers The first
toast was drunk to the President. He also
read several letters from members who
were unable to be present. Speaker Can
non began by saying that he presumed that
there was no similar number of men banded
together in association who had gone
through more or greater perfs than the
members OF the Second Army Corps, and
that he was happy and fortunate to be one
of them. if only to help them cherish thu
memory of the acts of their living and
DEAD comrades in arms His most signifi-
cant remark. however was a reference to
Japan. Speaking directly to the Japanese
secretary, who sat near him. he said:
Ihere Is another people who, I believe
deserve a country, and l believe they are
which is now struggling with heroic vaIor
on the fields of Asia. Their forms are diff
ferent from ours, but they occupy the |
position our ancestors did when they threw
of the yoke of monarchy and made them
selves freemen among the nations of the |
earth. These people have demonstrated by |
their actions that they love their country
that they deserve to live and have A conn
try. and, by deserving it, it would seem
that they are going to live and have that |
country.
Il may be pardoned and INDUCED if I
say that 1 do not believe there is another
people the face of the u,bo
of country is so great as ours We have
made 1t what it is and we are in the period |
when it shall be exactly what we make it.
Our country begins at the bottom and |
works up, not at the top to go downward |
| do not declaim against the mother coun- |
try. We have her laws her civilization |
her language. and believe. We have i'm |
proved on them all. We now extend from |
Plymouth Rock to the Golden Gate and
from the borders of the north to the tropics |
and beyond. but our country was actually
iauhched IN lie3 when that matchless doc
ument. the Constitution was adopted and
became part of our civilization From
that moment the wheels have been going
round and round and the progress has never
Tor a moment known recession From the
Atlantic to the Pacific we feel as a peonIa
that we stand first among the nations 1t
Is the men and the women who make I'D a
nation They made the settlements and
made the progress which We are here to-
night to applaud They demonstrated their
ability and their worthiness of a country
and in the fullness of time our sons and
our daughters will journey southwark and
carry our laws and our civilization into the
great continent beyond the sea-
The speaker was rewarded with a great
ovation as he concluded.
Work of Second Coros.
Mr.. Shallenberger detailed the work of
the Second Corps and said that some of
It's great work had been done with it's ar
tillery, but he did not believe that the
members had ever listened to its roar with
more delight than they had felt at the
sound of its kind in the person of the
Speaker of the House. The sally was an
preciated by the guests and Mr.. Cannon
L believe the history of the Second Corns
has been the history of the army" he said
Tor IL served throughout the war un-
broken. There were twenty-five corns or
ganlzed during the war. and only one of
them served throughout the entire struo
gle unbroken. One hundred thousand mon
were members of that corps and they fell
IKE the leaves of the autumn yet during
the Tune they fought some of the brightest
records OF all military history were made
AS General Grant said Hancock was
one OF the most heroic figures in all history;
sumner was another, and there was also
that Watchles5 hero. Couch. These names
I'VE in history as they live in our hearts.
yet they are not the only ones who go to
make country. 1t is the fathers and the
mothers whose devotion to duty makes our
country what 1t is. They serve their coun-
try and accept part of the responsibility"
he paid an eloquent tribute to the citizen
soidiery of the country and said that ii
was not West Point which had always sent
the best men to the front when the country
called for defenders
There Is one man at least" he. said
whose name is deathless, who never saw
West Point. and yet who by a marvellous
series of promotions rose to be a Ieuten-
ant general of the United States l name
Nelson A. Miles No. we do not depend
upon military schools for our soldiers: we
look to the farm and the factory, and we