The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-24
resnl.r .rmy. n t. Indivlaual unit, ha.
Praise of the Volunteer.

regular army. Tn Its individual unit, has attained.
 Prsise ef the volunteer.
 "But in the event of war-a war American people in the future as in the past must on land rely mainly upon It's volunteer soldiers. upon such men as those who have been my escort to- day. and want to say had the very strongest fellow-feeling as saw you. for felt as if my own regiment was along. But while it is a comparatively simple task to turn man of the proper character. physique and training into good soldier, you cannot improvise either a battleship or the crew of a bat tleshtQ. At sea the battle has to be fought with the ships and the crews that have been prepared before the war begins
 And we wish to profit by the lessons of our history and the lessons of other history in seeing that our navy is always kept equal to our needs. It is not necessary to have a large navy, but it is necessary that, ship for ship, it should be just a little the most ef- ficient navy in the world. In battle the shots that count are the shots that hit. There are plenty of gallant fell lows-we saw it among the Spanish war-who will go down with the ships. That is all right if there is nothing else to be done, go down with the ships rather than surrender. But try to make the other fellows ship go down first.
 T want our people to feel that in assuming to dig the Panama Canal, in assuming the position we have assumed as regards this western hemisphere and in oriental seas, we bind ourselves to keep our navy at such point of ef- ficiency that there shall be no chance of humiliation at the hands of any foreign foe.
 Outpouring of People Appreciated.
 q appreciate immensely this mighty outpouring of the people. The mayor In his most gratifying and touching speech to me spoke of the fact of our agreement on the fundamental ques- ton without regard to our differences on what are really matters only of poli- tical detail. The things that count are the things upon which we are all agreed and must be all agreed in our civic life whether President, Governor, Mayor, Congressman or State Legisla- tor. There are certain basic principles to which we must prove true. Let us see that, this country rises level in the future to the standard set by the men of her glorious past We can perfectly afford to differ about the currency of the tariff but we cannot afford to diff fer about the question of honesty in public life. decency and clean lines in private business. Those qualities and others like them go to the root of the whole question of citizenship. I be- live in the future of this country.
 q believe that this great self-gov- erning republic will rise to a height and that in the immediate future, in this country never even dreamed of by any other nation, because l believe that the average American citizen, North or South. East or West has the right stun In him; that the average American citizen has the three fundamental virtues of honesty, courage and com mon sense."
 The President concluded his speech by referring to his pleasure at seeing the children, the future citizens of this country. "rhe fathers and mothers must see to it that the children are properly trained in order to keep up the standard of our country.
 At the conclusion of the Presidents speech those on the platform nearest to him crowded around and grasped his hand, but he did not tarryA long and only a small number secured the pleas ure of a hand grasp with Americas foremost citizen.
 Entering his carriage, with military escort and citizens following the Pres ident was driven to his special train. where he arrived about twenty-five minutes ahead of the time set for his departure, at 6:30 p. m. Entering the train with his party the President held a levee for the remaining twenty-five minutes of his stay in Mobile and hum dreds of people passed through and shook his hand.
 President Roosevelt expressed him self in most enthusiastic terms con- corning the pleasure afforded him by the warmth and whole-heartedness of his reception in Mobile.