Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-12
PRESIDENTS TRIBUTE
EuIogizes Memory of Capt.
John UnderhiII.
PATRIOT OF PEQU0T WAR
Address at dwelling of Monument
on Long Island.
NOTABLE CAREER EXPLOITED
Tells Hearers of Example of Duty
Set by Ancestors-The Equal
ity of Service.
PATRIOT OF PEQUoT WAR
NOTABLE CAREER EXPLOITED

o1SIER BAY, n. Y, July 1l-To the
memory of Capt. John Underhill, who
became prominent during the govern
ment OF the colonies and as a soldier
achieved a high reputation in the
Pequot Indian war a beautiful monu-
men was dedicated today before the
several hundred of his descendants at
Matinecock. Long Island President
Roosevelt was at the unwilling of the
monument and made an address.
Situated on the crest of beautiful
knoll overlooking Long Island sound in
the Cnderhill burying ground, the monu-
ment is shaft of granite surmounted
by bronze ball, on which is perched
an eagle with winds extended At its
base is the grave of Capt Underhill
which for go years had remained UNI
marked.
Patroit's Noted Career.
Capt. Underhill died at Matinecock in
1897 at the age Of seventy-five wears.
and as a mark Of respect and esteem
the Underhiu Society Of America erected
this monument after eight years of
work Four bronze tablets adorn the
sides. one dedicatory, another the coat
of,arms Of the underhill family and the
third and fourth depicting war and
peace. and having Puritans and Indians
portrayed on them.
Capt. Underhill was third on the
earliest minute-book of Boston. was
governor Of Exeter and Dover, New
Hampshire: was one of the eight men
in the first governors council of New
Amsterdam and was prominent in the
legislatures of Boston, New Haven and
Hampstead.
After he brought the Peauot war to a
successful close he settled on Long
Island.
The Presidents Address.
President Roosevelt said. in part:
lit gives me great pleasure to accept
this invitation, because 1 thought it a
good thing that the founder of what has
become Of the distinctive Long Island
families should have a monument erected
to him here. The founder of the family
here was a good soldier and a good citi-
zen. and then the Underhills of today
have furnished their full quota of good
soldiers and good citizens in their time
If they have not. l would not have been
here; have no use whatever for the man
with nothing but pedigree. the man the
best part of whom is under ground. 1
believe in the pride of ancestry. but only
If 1t takes the part to make the, man or
woman carry themselves WELL as makes
the duty of today.
eff at the time of the civil war you, Mr..
Chairman, had felt that the fact that the
original Capt. Underhill was a fighter. ex-
cused you from fighting, l should have
thought mighty little of you. The thing
to do is to feel (and I guess you. COM
rade, over there-I mean the man with the
Grand Army button-you will agree with
mel that If you had ancestors who did
their duty, it is doubly incumbent upon
you that you do your duty.
The Lesson of Today.
Now. if there is one lesson that we
here in America have continually to keep
before us. it is our substantial oneness:
our substantial unity as a people. and
one of the best ways to exemplify that is
by just such a family gathering as this.
If the family has been long enough in the
land. why. you will find it's representatives
in every walk of life: you will find them
nillng all kinds of occupations: you will
find them capitalists and wage work
ers. farmers. mechanics. professional
men. everything: and the essential point
to remember is that each one is entitled
to the fullest and heartest respect If he
does his duty well in the position in life in
which he happens to find himself
THAT is sound American doctrine.
should not much care to attend an Under
hill gathering that is limited to Capitalist
Underhill, nor yet one limited to Under
hill wage workers. but | am glad to at
tend one where every one comes in on the
basis of decent American citizenship each
standing ruggedly his own feet as a
man should. The same thing that applies
to you Underhills here applies to the rest
of us who are not Underhills in the coun-
try at large. We have made this coun-
try what 1t is. partly We have measurably
succeeded in securing in the past equality
of opportunity. That is very different
from equality of reward.
The Exercise of Law
Il believe emphatically in doing every
thing that can be done by law or other
wise to keep the avenues of occupation
of employment of work, of interest, SO
open that there shall be. so far as it is
humanely possible to achieve it, meas
urable quality of opportunity, equality of
opportunity for each man to show the
stuff that is in him. But when it comes
to reward. let him get what by his en-
ergy. foresight. intelligence. thrift and
courage he Is able to get If the oppor-
tunity opens. / don't believe in coddling
any one: / would more permit the
strong to Cypress the weak than tell a
weak man or a vicious man that he ought
by rights to have the reward due only to
the man who actually earns it. Very
properly we in this country set our faces
against privilege.
There can be no grosser example of
privilege than that set before us as an
ideal by certain SOcialistic writers-the
ideal that every man shall put into the
common fund what he can, which would
mean what he chose. and should take out
whatever he wanted-in other words this
| theory is that the man who is vicious,
| foolish a drag on the whole community,
who contributes less than his share to
the common good. should take out what
is not his what he has not earned: that
| he shall rob his neighbor of what that
neghbor has earned. This particular So
| cia listic ideal would be to enthrone privi-
| lege in one of it's grossest. crudest. most
dishonest, most harmful and most unjust
forms.
Equality. of Opportunity.
Equality of opportunity to render serv-
| ice-yes, / will do everything l can to
| bring it about. Equality of reward-no,
| unless there is also equality Of service;
| but let/the reward depend on the service,
and~mankind being composed it is,
there will he inequality of service for u
| long time to come. no matter how great
| the equality of opportunity may be, and
just so long as there is inequality of
! service ii is eminently desirable that there
should be inequality of reward
But in securing immeasureable equal
| ity of opportunity. let US no more be led
astray by the dOctrinaire acts of "A lawless
| and destructive individualism than by the
| doctrinaire advocates of a deadening So
cialism. AS society progresses and grows
| more complex, ii becomes desirable to do
| many things for the common good by
| common effort No empirical line can he