Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-10-24
THE SOUTH.
CONTINUED from Page One.)

! it is the section that includes the Gulf
| States. Originally l was for the Mica
raguan canal, but when Congress acted
l abided by the decision of Congress
| 1t became evident that we should
! either have no canal or the Panama
! canal, and am for canal. If we had
not acted as we have, all chance OF
| building that canal would have vanish
! ed for half century to come and as
il is we are now assured of having
that canal within a comparatively
| short time. Gentlemen,
Il want to warn you not to be misled
| by interested clamor. Every man VINO
| had 10 do with bringing about the con-
struction of the canal knows that tor
decades il was opposed and successfully
opposed by great commercial lnterests
| which did not wish to see it completed
and did not wish to see canal speedily
due throurh the Isthmus and commun-
| ication between the AtIdh'lc anu
cific speedily established.
eft seems to me evident from certain
| ,l,inc,s 7 GEO in a portion of the daily
nress that those causes are still actlFe
and that they dIt SOiAS
I'm th. issues with the hope OF putting
~, g.. IN mr. IL wears or over, the dig
cling of that canal. Their weapons
Sa,ee heen and are still misrepresenta-
tions ard gentlemen they Will fali.
W., n.ad not have the slightest alarm.
I-ncIa Sam has started to dig that canal
and il will be dug and soon. Inc peo-
ME who are largely by the circulation
NV roiSSrDtn-
won't seeking to create confusion, such
as will defer the building OF the canal
VIII he disappointed. We have as
people the right to feel genuine salts
faction with the progress that has been
made.
Let me point out something Of
which you here will appreciate the
significance, the sanitation of the 18TH
mus. Do you remember that couple
of years ago men said you could not dig
that canal because yellow fever was al
ways epidemic there. We are digging
and with a cleaner bill Of mortailty
than the isthmus has ever known pc
fore. | am happy to be able TO ten
you that from information received TINS
very day. 1 find that those who nave
just returned from the isthmus are not
only pleased, but astonished ut the eX-
cellent trim in which the PROJECT Is. ii
is going on well and it will so on even
better in the future.
"Now, of all the things said about me,
today. in the more than kind, i'll the
overland illusions to me, perhaps |
was specially pleased by what Col. Rus
sell said as to my attitude toward
70
advice about appointing men but if l
find they are crooked | do not take any
advice at all about removing them. L
cannot guarantee. and no human beinS
can, that there will not be an OCCASION
al man of an improper kind appointed
or an occasional weil-meaning man
who after being appointed goes wrong.
But | can say that everyone within the
DOW er of the government will be made
to hunt such man out of the public
service and to punish him to the full
est extent Of the law.
Here in this seaboard city. / want to
say another word and that is about the
United States navy. Again, Judge
Semmcs, in passing by the monument
of your illustrious father. | felt tn"
thrill Of pride that all Americans must
feel that the names of their combatants
III that famous ship duel are commence
rated in the names Of the kearsarge
and Alabama in the United States navy
now and that if ever they have to go
into action, they go into action side by
side, manned by Americans against
common foe"
Il know that an audience composed as
audience n who either tleN-
selves fought or whose fathers fought IN
the Civil war appreciate to the fullest inc
sound national policy Gf | may use ire
ycrnacularJ of never bluffing unless you
men to make good. We undertook to build
the canal because We said that owing TO
our position and stand we We're the only
nation that could or should DO II. ina I
means that we have got to protect 1t and
police il ourselves. W" do not ask am
body else to help us do the work We have
allotted to ourselves. We mnuSt therefor
bring up and keep up our navy TO TN
highest point of efficiency. We can afford
to have a small army although we must
insist upon it's being kept up to the high
est pitch of efficiency that. | am glad
10 say, cur regular army in its individual
unit has attained.
But in the event of war-a war which
I hope will never cOme-the American
| people IN the future as in the past mus
| on land rely mainly on its volunteer sol
dierS. But while it is COmparatiV SIM
| pie task to turn man OF tho proper
!
| good soldier, you cannot imprOViSe a bat
tlcship or the crew of a battlcship. Al
| sea the battle has to be fought with tht
| ships and the crews that have been Pre-
| pared before the war begins. And we wish
| to profit by the lessons Of our own history
| and the lessons OF other history in seeing
| that our ravy is always kept adequate t
| our needs. Il is not necessary to have il
| very large navy but it is necessary that
ship for ship it should be just 4 little thu
| most efficient navy in the world.
| In battle the shots that count are thu
| shots that hit. There are plenty Of gallant
| fcllows-we SOW them among the Span
iards-who will go down with their ships
| That is al right. If there is nothing els
to be done go down with the ships rath
or than surrender. But try to make tho
| other fellows ship 60 down first.
II want our people to feel that in as
Stunning TO dig the Isthmiln canal. in as
| Stunning the POSITION We have assumed rs
! regards this Western Hemisphere and il
| the Oriental seas. we bind ourselves t.
| keep our navy at such q point Of etficicn
| cy that there shall be no chance of hu
| initiation at the hands of any foreign
| foe
| President Roosevelt will pass the nigh
just outside the city of Montgomery, hi
train being sidctrackcd. The rain vii