The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1909-06-04
TAFT AT GETTYSBURG.


to the memory of the officers and
enlisted men of the regular army
who gave up their liyes for their
country in the three days battle. 1t
is but a tardy recognition OF the
nations debt to its brave defenders
whose allegiance was purely to the
nation, without local color or
strengthening of state or municipal
pride.
The danger of a standing army,
entertained by our ancestors is seen
in the constitutional restrictions and
the complaints registered In the
Declaration of Independence. 1t
has always been easy to awaken
prejudice against the posslbis ag-
eresslons of regular army and a
professional soldiery, and CORES
pondingly difficult to create among
the people that love and pride in the
array which we knd today and fre'
quently in the history of the country
aroused on behalf of the navy.
This has led to a varied ana
cbangeable policy in respect to the
regular army. At times 1t has been
reduced to almost nothing.
In the war of 1872, had we had a
regular army of 10, 900 men. trained
as such an army would have been,
we would have been spared the
humiliation of the numerous levles
of unframed troops and the enorm-
ous expense of raising an army on
paper of 400, oso or 500, 900 men,
because with an effective force ef
20, 600 men we might have promptly
captured Canada and ended the
war.
To the little aomy of $4,000 men
that survived the civil war, we owe
the opening up of the entire western
country. The hardships and the
trials of frontier Indian campaigns,
which made poss lethe construction
of the Pacific railroads have never
been fully recognized by our people,
aAd the bravery and courage and
economy of force compared with
the task performed by our regular
troops have meyer been adequately
commemorated by congress.
Today as a result of the Spanish
war. the added responsibilities of
our new dependencies In the Philip
pines, Porto Rico and for some time
in Cuba, together with q sense of the
importance of our position as
world power, have led to the in
crease in our regular army to larger
force than ever before, but moi
larger in proportion TO the Increased
populstIcn and wealth than in the
early years of the republic. Il
sbou1d nOt he reduced
Time does not permit me to
mention the names of the heroes OF
the regular army whose blood stained
this heroic field, and whose sacrifice
made the Union victory possible.
With my intimate knowledge OF the
regular army their high standard OF
duty, their efficiency as soldiers,
their high character as men, L have
seized this opportunity to come here
to satisfy the pride which the nation
should have in its regular army, and
tn dedicate this monument to the
predecessors of the present regular
army, on field no which they won
undying glory and perpetual graft
tude from the nation which they
served. They had not the local
association, they had not the knowl'
edge that their deeds of valor were
properly recorded and the value OF
their services suitably noted in the
official records by legislative and
congressional action and they have
new to depend upon the truth OF
history and in the cold, calm, retro
spect of the war as it was to secure
from congress this suitable memorial
af the work in the saving of the