The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-23

ed by the guard of honor of Cohfed crate veterans who have taken me up
 and guarded me. (Applause.) And, oh,
 my friends and fellow countrymen, oh,
 citizens of the Volunteer State, oitizens
 of the American republic, think what
 great good fortune 1t is ours as a na-
 tion that now, a little over 40 years
 after the close of the civil war, where brother fought brother each as his con science bade him, each doing his duty
 valiantly and striving to live up to the light as it was given him to see the light.
 "Oh, how fortunate we are that now
 all the memories of all the valiant
 deeds done In that war alike by the men who wore the blue and who wore
 the gray from one heritage of honor
 for all Americans, in whatever portion
 of this nation they live Oh. my friends, think how much it means to all our history, think how much it means to
 our people of today that we should
 have this Hermitage as place Of na- tional pilgrimage for all citizens who wish to learn. to study, who wish to
 quicken their patriotism in the present by being here in~the abode, in the liv
 ing place of one of the great patriots of the nations past
 Thanks to the Ladies. "On behalf of the nation. I wish to thank the Ladies' Hermitage associa-
 ton who have taken hold of this prop
 erty and who have preserved it, but I do not think it just or fair that the
 burden which should be supported by the nation hould be a drain sRpon pri- vate purses. It is greatly to your credit that you have done this work which the nation ought to have done, but shall do all I can to see that the na- tion relieves you, not of the manage ment, but of the expense of the man. agement, and I shall count the hearty support of all the senators and congressman from Tennessee and from every other state. l want to say that Andrew Jackson was a Tennessean, but Andrew Jackson was an American and 1 there is not state in this nation that cannot claim him, that has not the right to claim him a national hero. "The Hermitage should be cared for by the nation in the same spirit that we now care for Mt Vernon. Of course Mt. Vernon stands absolutely unique
 among all places, but the Hermitage
 represents the home of one of the three or four greatest presidents this nation has ever had, of one of the three four greatest public men that any na
 ton has developed in the same length of time. Andrew Jackson was great national figure. His career will stand ever more and more IS source of in- spiration for boy and mdn in this re- public. soldier, a statesman, pa- triot, devoted with a single mind to the | welfare of his whole country. Let this whole country make it their object,
 acting through the national govern
 ment. to see that hereafter there is no question of keeping up the Hermitage and all It's surroundings.
 Change of Issues.
 Du1 fro time. One generation has to meet and solve a given set of problems, the next generation has to meet and solve another set of problems, but the spirit in which these problems must be met, if they are
 to be successfully solved, cannot change.
 The man who has the stuff in him to
 make him good citizen in one generation
 would be a good citizen in any other generation. That is true of civic life ex- actly it is true of military life. At New Orleans. General Jackson's troops
 fought with the long, heavy pea rife, the old flint lock, the weapon that the first
 hunters carried when they came over the
 mountains into Tennessee and Kentucky. Weapons change, tactics change, but the
 spirit of the soldier who wins victories
 remains unchanged from generation to generation. And 4 believe that at need the American people would do well now in war because believe we have among us men who would be borne up by tho same spirit to which Andrew Jackson
 was able successfully to appeal on that
 misty January morning when the fog, lifting, showed the scarlet ranks of the
 gallant British regulars advancing, to die
 in the assault on the breastworks at New Orleans. So it was true of you men of the great war (speaking to the old Con- federates standing in front of the stand) you fought with the muzzle loader. Some of them were flint locks, I guess.
 Now we have the hgh-power small cali bre rife. Rifles that were new in your day or unknown in your day are anti quated now. The tactics change They
 wear khaki instead of either blue or gray, but if ever the crisis comes our men can
 only win if they show that they have now the same spirit that sent on battle the men in blue and the men. in gray in the dark years from '6l to '65.
 The Spirit Counts.
 'The spirit does not change, and it is
 the spirit of the man that counts as the ultimate and decisive factor in battle We
 need organization, we heed generalship. but organization and generalship cannot avail unless the private soldier in the ranks unless the average man with musket has got the right stuff in him, for if he has not got the right stun in him you cannot get it out of him. 1 should not say that Old Hickory was faultless, but Andrew Jackson was as upright pa triot. as honest man. as fearless a gen. tleman as ever any nation had in public or private life. His memory will remain forever a precious national heritage, and his public career should be studied and assimulated by~every public man who desires to be in good faith the servant of the whole people of the United States" Chancellor Allen, MT. President,