The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-12-18

work Is without precedent. You are doing
the biggest thing of the kind that has
ever been done, and | wanted to see now
you were doing it. l am profoundly
thankful that l shall be able to take back
to the United States the message that
tire nations picked sons are carrying
| themselves so well here that [ can abso-
lutely guarantee the success of the mighty
work which they are doing. 1t is not
an easy work Mighty few things that
are worth doing are easy. Sometimes it
is rough ON the men and just a little
rousher on the women. 1t has pleased
/ me particularly to see, as | have met the
wives Who have come down here with
their husbands, the way in which they
have turned in to make the best of every
thing and TO help the men do their work
we'll
1 want to say this word to you men,
right thru. to all of you. who are en-
gagged in the work of digging this canal,
whether you are here as superintendent,
foreman. chief clerk, machlnist. conduc-
tor engineer, steam-shovel man-and he
is the American who is setting the mark
for the rest of you TO live up to, by tho
way-whoever you are, IL you are doing
your duty you are putting your country
under an obligation to you Just as a sol
der who does his work well in a great
war puts the country under an obligation
to him. As | have seen you at work.
seen what you have done and are doing
noted the spirit with which you are APP
preaching the task yet to be DONE | have
felt just exactly as I should feel if l saw
the picked men of my country engaged in
some great war. | am weighing my words
when I say that you here who do your
work well in bringing to completion this
great enterprise will stand exactly as SOL
diers of a few and only few, of the
most famous armies of all the nations
stand in history. This is one of the great
works of the world it is a greater work
than you yourselves at the moment re-
alize Some of you, a good many of you,
are sons or men who fought in the civil
war. When your fathers were in the
fighting. they thought a good deal of the
fact that the blanket was too heavy by
noon and not quite heavy enough by
night, that the pork was not as good as
| it might be, and the bareback was some
times insufficient in amount, and that
they were not always satisfied with the
way in which the regiments were led.
Those were the things they talked about
a good deal of the time. But when the
war was ,done-when they came home,
when they lookt at what had been ac-
complished, all those things sank into in
significance and the great fact remained
that they had played their part like men
selves SO that when people asked what
, they had done of WORTH in those great
years all they had to say was that they
had served decently and faithfully in the
great armies. So you men here, in the
| future, each man of you will have the
| right to feel, If he has done his duty and
q little more than his duty right up to
the handle in the work here on the 18TH
| mus, that he has made his country his
debtor; that he has done more than his
full share in adding renown to the nation
under whose flag this canal is being built.
ca voice in the audience: How about
Mr.. Bigelow?'D
Why, gentlemen, there never was
great feat done yet that there were not
some men evil enough, small enough. or
foolish enough to wish to try to interfere
with It and to sneer at those who are
actually doing the work. From time to
time little men will come along to find
fault with what you have done, to say
that something could have been done bet
ter that there has been some mistake,
some shortcoming, that things are not
| really managed in the best of all possible
manners, in the best of all possible
worlds They will have their say, and
they will go down stream like bubbles,
they will vanish; but the work you have
done will remain for the ages. 1t is the
man who does the job who counts, not
the little scolding critic who thinks how
it ought to have been done.
go haci, a better American. a prouder
An,er,oon becouse of what I have seen
+1,a ,,inl@ ~ American nnanhood doing here
~, 49, istbnors you ,vil1 have hard times
, 1rsot Of ,,o,, will sometimes think that
10 ie ,,isnnderstood Inv Some one above
hin, Tta+ &c a common experience Of all
or nc eon+Ionoan Now and then Won WI!
fool &C n the neonIe at home were indif-
c.,t 80 ala ,,ot rao1i1o what vou were
d,ing DO not make mistake. they do
,'oaIi5a n ord thev will realize If more
80 49, a1aar,,, &c tho 1ears AGO nv. I
aa,,,,a+ o,,aretate the Intensity of the
soaii,a 7 hove (and therein 7 merely typi-
g.. tba continent of the average man of
- no,,,,t,,,1 &c 70 tho vital inheritance of
~, tasl1 tfa+ ,,or are doing. and to each
20 80, n,bo dos his share n that task
tI,o,o nil, oor,o in tbe end the proud as
s,,.a,,oa 90 ,,ito1 duty we'll done. This
49, ,,,.o, NO oo,, come IN but a limited num-
&c 40, IL, eacb oeneration. and YOU
ara 70 he conqrat1llated that you are
arc 10 ., p 49, ,,,,,,,Iar do NOT nitv
60, iooa,,sa ,,o,, have before Won a hard
80 80 ,,'aS,,d fool aebamed of Won If I
t .,tsM 49, ,,.5,,+ad nitv admire Won.
''its,. nnd af NV bovs was old
VS. vs., =. 800 ,a,t in the work. I feel
49, - a.oI, ~ ro, has come an oppor-
1T, z,,at, DC i ,,o,cbsafed to hut few
T.. ooot aanora lion shall see if IT
.; 80 ,ossibie to nrovide for some little
- $50 ,,,a,,lg eoroe badpe which
LII oIt,,a,,s distinouish the man who for
" 80 s,a,a ~ tI,oe has done his work
:, 81 ~, +his tsthrous iusf as the button
se ~ cra,'d Arn,v distinpuishes the man
NJ, ~, o.,, ,,,ou II, the civil war