The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-05-31

officer can get it out of him. because it
is not there to get out. So in civil life,
if all our leaders were Washingtons and
Lincolns they could, nevertheless, make
no permanent Improvement in our citi-
zenship unless the average citizen had in
him the capacity for such Improvement.
In the last analysis 1t 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 cannot too highly honor the mem
DRY of the leaders in the civil war-of
Grant and Lee of Sherman and john
ston, of Stonewall 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
1t through. He had the courage to stand
without flinching the pickering of the
skirmishes and the hammering of the
great fights; he had the steadfast endur-
ance to bear with accomplishing resolu-
ton the hunger and the heat and the
cold. the scorchlng days and the freezing
nights. the grinding, heartbreaking IA
tigue of the marches. the wearisome mo-
notony of the camps and the slow suf-
fering of the field hospitals So In the
army and the navy today, in the last
dndlySlS We must depend upon having tHt
right stuff in the enlisted man and then
upon having that stuff put into proper
shape. So again in our republic as
whole 1t is just as true in peace now as
it was forty-ive years ago in war that II
Is the character of the average man that
must be the determining factor in achiev-
ing national success or going down to
national disaster. Leadership is neces
sary in order that We may get really
oNA III IF fpb n xraT 90 of
individual character; but without the high
character in the average individual the
leadership by itself can avail but little,
Sure, Sign of Weakness.
Now 1t Is easy to say this in words
which shall imply merely fattery of the
average voter or of the average enlisted
man. l certainly do not intend my words
to be so taken. 1t is a sure sign of weak
ness in any man if he is always wanting
to be hattered, and especially If he let's
his head be turned by fiattery. The av-
erage 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 responsibility is his.
He can not cast off on anyone else the
responsibility for our governmental short
comings. Nothing is cheaper than to say
that the people are all right but that
the politicians are all wrong As matter
of fact politics, and therefore politicians,
will In the long run represent faithfully
either the wishes or the indifference of
the people; and il the people are indif-
ferent the results are just about bad as
II they deliberately choose to go wrong.
So ii is with the enlisted man. When l
call attention to the high place he holds,
and must ever hold in the esteem of every
sensible man, | do 1t less with the in
tention of emphasizing the respect due
him ~ ci6prc tbap with 10 int RptiOn
of making him realize the burden of non
orable obligation resting upon his shout
ders. BY unweared effort he must learn TO
do his duty, whether that duty lies afoat
or ashore, whether it lies in the cav
airy or the infantry, in the gun turret or
In the engine room. He must be able to
handle himself and to handle the formid-
able and delicate mechanism intrusted to
his care in such manner that If ever it
becomes his fortune to take part in bat
tie for the flag another page shall be add
ed to the many which go to make up the
long honor roll of American history.
Duties Other Than in War.
in closing / ask your attention to the
fact that our soldiers and sailors are. able
to do their duties in great emergencies
even other than those of war. Recently
the most appalling disaster that has ever
befallen any city in our country, the
most dDpdlHllR ulSdSlti lildl lltiS pcldiicH
any city of the same size for a century
past befel 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 awful calamity which had
befallen them. We had yet another source
of pride in the fact that the first Ameri-
cans outside the city who were able to
extend relief and help were the officers
and enlisted men of the garrison and the
ships in the immediate neghborhood of
San Francisco. The alertness, the instant
response TO the demand made upon them,
the mixture of self-reliant initiative with
orderly obedience and conference of action,
the high personal valor and the steady en-
durance and strength shown by the SOL
diers and sailors of the regular army and
navy in coping with this disaster, were
as great as If shown in time of battle.
Such record should make every true
American proud of the army and the
navy and should make every true Ameri-
can resolute to see that through our
national authorities at Washington we
make such provision by law for the main
tenance, the support and the training of
the army and the navy that they shall
ever stand in the forefront of their re-
spective professions"