Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-18
FIGHTERS At BANQUET
Army and Navy Men Guests
of the Y. N. c. A.
PRESIDENT MAKES SPEECH
Gives Up a Cabinet Dinner to Meet
Enlisted Men.
ALL WORE THEIR UNIFORMS
Good Thing to Mix in Sturdy
Christian Society, Mr.. Roose-
welt Tells Them.
LII WORE THEIR UNIFORMS

welt Tells Them.
| Headed by the Commander-in-Chief Of
| the army and navy-the President of the
| United States-the chief of staff of the
army and the commandant of the Marine
| Corps representatives of all branches of
the army, navy and Marine Corps to the
number of about 100 were entertained at
dinner at the Y. NJ. G. A. building last
evening. The army and navy branch Of
| the Washington Young Mems Christian
| Association was the host, represented by
| the president and vice president of the as
ISOLATION and the chairman Of the branch.
incidentally, President Roosevelt paid his
| first visit to the building of the Y. M. C.. A.
| at 1885 G street, completed about three
years ago. He has been a member Of the
association for year or more, but has
never visited its home. When he stepped
| into the lobby last evening he was met by
| s. w. Woodward, president Of the asso-
citation. and John B. Sleman, jr., member
| OF the board of directors and was es-
corted to several of the rooms on the first
| floor. At everything he saw he seemed to
| be greatly pleased.
Il had no idea the building was so fine"
he remarked to President Woodward.
After chatting with the association Of
| hcers few minutes in the directors
| room he stepped into the elevator and was
taken to the banquet room, on the third
floor.
AS he stepped into the room every one
rose to his feet and gave his command
er-in-chief rousing welcome. And not
one took his seat until the commander
gave the order The President was inn
| mediately called upon for speech.
ttEor fha En1jcfad M, -
II have a great many invitations" the
President began. land when they started
| to give me an invitation to come around
here tonight I said: L have a cabinet
| dinner and I cannot CO. Then they said:
Now. hold on, this is for the enlisted
men Of the army and navy and 1 said:
sympathy for the Y. M. c. A. work. l
sympathize with the many different
branches of that work But for none of
them have greater sympathy than L
have for the work done among the en-
| listed men Of the army and navy. 1 feel
that you who wear the uniform of the
United States a1oat or ashore have on
you burden of responsibility for the
honor and interest of the country which
on the one hand imposes upon yops a
standard OF conduct which we demand
from no other class of citizens; but, on
the other hand, entities you to a meas
ure of respect and regard such as we
have for no other class of our citizens.
AT Santiago had the honor of serving
| beside the regulars, and we used to say
| that II every general officer died the SER
geants would take the men into Santiago.
ITO my own men-when I started the
resiment-1 said, We want you to I'M
derstand that you are here to be judged
| by the regular standard; If you don't
come up to it will ''cinch' YOU You see,
Capt Davis. like you. was a cowboy once
and the phraseology of the plains comes
naturally to me.
Why He Likes the Y. n. G. A.
| Zone of the reasons why have so
strong feeling for the Y NJ. c. A. gen.
orally is because of my firm belief that
the proper way to keep anybody out of
mischief is to give him, when he won't
work, something that Is not mischief to
do. To ask person to do good and at
the same time provide him nothing ex-
cept the means with which to be bad Is
apt to be a wasting Of good advice.
| The Y. NJ. c. A. and kindred institu-
| tons oner to the young men of the coun-
try the chance. while living decent lives
to have health and amusement and bene-
| mt themselves In mind and in body, and
to enjoy the pleasures that add to. instead
Of taking from. their good character. The
| men of the army and navy have a
peculiarly difficult as we'll as a peculiarly
| responsible task. The average citizen has
got to take care of himself only, and he
finds that difficult enough. You have
got to take care of yourselves and the
nation, too. If you fall short in your
duty you are not to be excused, because
you cast discredit not only upon the
uniform, but upon the whole country. If
you perform your duty well, a double
need of honor attaches to you, a need
| of honor that can never be obtained by
! the citizen in private life, because in the
fullest and most emphatic sense you
who do your duty deserve we'll of the
entire republic
President Roosevelts remarks were
greeted with enthusiasm. AS he with
drew from the room, amid the applause
| Of the enlisted men, he shouted back:
| Good luck" The news that the chief
| executive was a guest spread rapidly
through the building, and many members
| OF educational and Bible classes crowded
| into the dinner room to hear him. An
other large group which the banquet hall
would not hold gathered in the lobby
| and gave the President a rousing cheer
as he walked through the door. He re-
sponded with repeated Good luck"
Diners Wore Their Uniforms.
| The dinner at which so many distin-
guished guests were entertained was COM
plimentary to picked number of repre-
/