Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-06-06

can accomplish very much unless he
has the right kind of men to lead. I'm
less the enlisted man has the right
stuff in him it stands to reason that
no officer can get it out Of him, be-
cause it is not there to get out. So
/ III civil life, if all our leaders were
Washingtons and Lincolns they could,
nevertheless. make no permanent i'm
proyement in our citizenship unless
The average citizen had in him the ca
paetty for such improvement In the
last analysis it is the man behind
the ballot who counts most in civil
life, just as it is the man behind the
| gun who counts most in military life. |
I'VE can not too highly honor the
memory of the leaders in the civil
war-of Grant and Lee, of Sherman
and Johnston, of Stonewau Jackson
and Sheridan, of Farragut and of the |
captains who fought under and
against him. But after all the man
upon whom the chief credit must
rest was the plain man in the ranks.
the man in blue or in gray who went
| in to see the war through. and who
did see it through. He had the cour-
age to stand without flinching the
pickering of the skirmishes and the
hammering of the great fights; he had
the steadfast endurance to bear with
accomplishing resolution the hunger
and the heat and the cold. the scorch-
ing days and the freezing nights, the
grinding, heartbreaking fatigue Of
the marches, the wearisome monotony
Of the camps, and the slow suffering
of the field hospitals So in the
army and the navy today. in the
last analysis we must depend upon
having the right stuff in the enlisted
man and then upon having that stuff
put into proper shape. So again
in our Republic as a whole it is just
as true in peace now as it was forty
five years ago in war that it is the
character of the average man that
must be the determining factor in
achieving national success or going
down to national disaster. Leader
ship is necessary in order that we
may get really good results out of
high average of individual character;
but without the high character in the
average individual the leadership by
itself can avail but little.
Now it ia easy to say this in words
which shall im9ly merely fattery Of
the average voter or of the average
enlisted man. certainly do not in
tend my words to be so taken 1t is a
sure sign of weakness in any man if
he is always wanting to be Aattered,
and especially if he lets his head be
turned by aattery. The average
voter needs to learn and to keep
steadily in mind the fact that if in
the last resort the real power is his,
so in the last resort the real respon-
sibility is his. He can not cast OFF on
anyone else the responsibility for our
governmental shortcomings. Nothing
| is cheaper than to say that the people
are all right but that the politicians
are all wrong AS a matter of fact
politics, and therefore politicians, will
| in the long run represent faithfully
either the wishes or the indifference
of the people: and if the people are
| Indifferent the results are just about
as bad as If they deliberately choose
to go wrong. So it is with the en-
listed man. When | call attention to
the high place he holds, and must
ever hold in the esteem of every sen
sible man. do it less with the inten-
ton OF emphasizing the respect due
him by outsiders than with the inten-
| ton of making him realize the bur
/ Gen of honorable obligation resting
upon his shoulders. BY unwearied
effort he must learn to DO his duty,
whether that duty lies afloat or
ashore. whether it lies in the cavalry
or the infantry, in the gun turret or
! in the engine room He must be able
to handle himself and to handle the
! formidable and delicate mechanism
intrusted to his care in such manner
that II ever it becomes his fortune to
take part In battle for the flag an.
other page shall be added to the many
which go to make up the long honor
roll of American history.
In closing he asked attention to the
/ luGL IAAhL ONA GptulNi1 anu SAilbI6 Ait
able to do their duty in great emery
encies even other than those of war,
Recently the most appalling disaster
that has ever befallen any city in
our country, the most appalling dis
aster that has befallen any city Of the
same size for a century past, befell
the great and beautiful city of San
Francisco In the midst OF their
horror and pity and sympathy the rest
of our people were rendered proud
and glad by the courage, the self
reliance, the self-command shown by
the men and women of San Francisco
themselves under the sudden and aw-
| full calamity which had befallen
them. We had yet another source
Of pride in the fact that the first
Americans outside the city who were
able TO extend relief and help were
IL.