Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-05-31

Portsmouth, Va, May 30.-President
Roosevelt Joined the people Of Virginia
today in a beautiful and impressive
tribute to the nations dead. Under
the auspices OF the Army and Navy
union, an organization of officers and
enlisted men of the United States
army and navy the President delivered
the memorial day address here to an
audience number 'ng thousands.
Immediately afl Sr delivering the ora
tion the President unveiled the monu-
rnent erected In the naval cemetery
by the Army and Navy union to the
memory of it's dead comrades. The
exercises took place in the great
woods Of the Naval hospital grounds.
President Roosevelt was introduced by
Col J. Edwin, Brown, national COM
mander OF the Army and Navy union.
s& At 2 O'Clock the President left on
the Maytiower for Hampton, where he
will deliver g. brief address to the
students OF Hampton institute.
Presidents Address.
President Roosevelt in his Memo
rial day address before the Army and
Navy Union said:
"This day is hallowed and sacred in
,ur history, for on this day throughout
he land we meet to pay homage to
ne memory Of the valiant dead who
eli in the great civil war. No other
nen deserve so well Of this country as
those to whom we owe it that we now
have country. Moreover, the men to
whose valor we owe it that the union
was preserved have left us country
reunited in fact as we'll as in name.
They have left US the memory Of the
reat deeds and the self-devotion alike
the men who wore the blue and Of
e men who wore the gray in the con-
st where brother fought brother with
ual courage, with equal sincerity Of
onviction, with, equal fidelity to a
gh ideal; as 1t was given to each to
e that ideal.
The Army and Navy.
Moreover, it is a peculiar pleasure
speak today under the auspices of
le Army and Navy union, of the un-
on which is meant to include the off,
ers and enlisted men Of the regular
orces of the United States Exactly
as there Is no other body of men to
whom in the past we have owed so
much as to the veterans of the civil
,ar, so there is no other body of men
mong all Of our citizens of today who
S whole deserve quite as well of
ne country as the officers and enlisted
len Of the army and the navy of the
{nited States. Every man who has
rved well and faithfully, afoat or
hore, in the service of the United
States, has shown that he possesses
certain qualities which entitle him in
a peculiar degree to the respect of all
his fellow-citizens, while every man
who is now in the service can not but
eel himself uplifted by the thought
hat in any time of future crisis it may
oe that the honor of the whole nation
will depend upon his bearing. There
rests upon each of you a tremendous
burden Of responsibility, and therefore
to you belongs the proud privilege OF
bearing that load of responsibility
well.
A Volunteer Army.
"This audience is composed largely
# veterans of the civil war, largely OF
ing in the army and the navy of the
United States. They are concerned
not only with the duties of the soldier
and the sailor, but with the duties OF
the civilian, with all matters affecting
the plain, everyday citizen as he does
his everyday duties. For we must al
ways remember that in our country
our army and navy are an army and
navy made up of volunteers; all our
forces are volunteers; our regulars
af1oat and ashore, are merely our fel
low-citizens who of their own free
will have taken up this particular
task. The task once through they re.
turn to the body of our citizenship;
and exactly as the efficiency of our mil
itary service depends chiefly upon the
efficiency of the average enlisted man
so the efficiency Of the nation as a
whole depends chiefly upon the way in
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