The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-06-01
PRESIDENT Taft
SOUNDS PRAISES
OF THE REGULAR.
Quiet, Unassuming, Efficient
And Ever Ready Members
OF Standing Army Get Long
Delayed Honor. :.
GETTYSBURG SHAFT
DEDICATED TO THEM
Chief Executive Goes on Rec
ord Against Reduction of
Army and Says More Inter-
est Is Deserved.

Gettysburg, Pa. June 1.-Yesterday
was the day of tardy honor to the reg
ular" at Gettysburg. An imposing
shaft OF granite erected by congress to
the memory OF the regularly enlisted
forces who fell in the three days fight
Ing about the Round Tops and the
Bloody Angle was unveiled by the pres
ident's daughter, Miss Helen H. Taft,
while President Taft himself paid trib-
ute to officers and men Of the United
States army past and present.
The president put himself squarely
on record as opposed to any reduc-
ton in the present standing army. He
told OF the prejudice which often has
arisen against the possible aggressions
OF regular army and professional
soldiery and Of the corresponding diff
ficulty in arousing that love and pride
of the army which expressed Itself
yesterday and has frequently express
ed itself in the past in behalf of the
navy. The president asserted that
the services of the regular army have
never been adequately commemorated
by congress or the nation.
Honorable Profession.
''The profession of arms has always
been an honorable one,' he declared
The present army he described as the
largest in the history of the country,
but not larger in proportion to the in
crease in population and wealth than
In the early years of the republic.
Cali honor" exclaimed Mr.. Taft, Ito
the regular army of the United States.
Never in it's history has it had stain
upon its escutcheon."
Four regiments of the regular army
were here to escort the president and
to participate in the program OF the
day. There also was a personal es-
cort to the president made up of veter-
ans of the regular army who fought
in the Gettysburg campaign.
The day was ideal in all but the in
tense heat of the early afternoon. The
president arrived shortly before 10
O'Clock and was taken at once for a
drive over the battle fields. At sew
eral points he alighted and stood on
the prominences overlooking the beau
tiful valley and the hazy mountains in
the far distance.
Presidents Taft's Address.
President Taft. in opening his ad-
dress. declared it was tardy, but
highly deserved tribute that the nation
was paying the men who did battle for
their country. He called attention to
the danger OF large standing army.
citing attention to the restrictions I'M
der this head in the constitution. He
then went on to show the small armies
with which each war found the coun-
try possessed.
The increase in the army today over
former periods he showed was necessa-
ry to meet new responsibilities, partic-
ularly those growing out of the Span
ish war. the new dependencies in the
Philippines. Porto Rico and Cuba The
growth Of the United States in import
ance as world nation also required
that greater attention be paid to the
army. and the president emphatically
declared that it should not be re-
duced.
1.-THE general purpose Of congress
and the American people, if one can
say there is a plan or purpose" said
the president, lis to have such nu-
cleus as a regular army that it may
furnish skeleton for rapid enlarge
ment in times of war to a force ten or
twenty times its size, and at the same
time be an appropriate instrument for
accomplishing the purpose of the gov
eminent in crises likely to arise other
than war.
AT Westpoint we have been able
to prepare a body of professional sol
diers. we'll trained to officer an army.
and numerous enough at the opening
OF the civil war to give able comman.
| ders to both sides Of that internecino
strife
He directed attention to the fact tina.
the profession of arms has always
been an honorable one and under con-
ditions of modern warfare it has be-
come highly technical. and requires
years of experience and study to adapt
the officers and men to its require
ments.
Praise to Regular Army.
| As high praise was paid those who
went forth to war never to return
Coming down to the living. in closing
the president heaped praise upon the
regular army, speaking as follows:
| All honor to the regular army of the
United States. Never In its history
has 1t had stain upon its escutcheon
With no one to blow It's trumpets. with
no local feeling or pride to bring forth
its merits, quietly and as BELTS a force
organized to maintain civil institutions
and subject always to the civil control
It has gone on doing the duty which II
was its to do, accepting. without q
murmur the dangers Of war. whether
upon the trackiess stretches Of on,
Western frontier. exposed to arrows
and the bullets Of the Indian. or In the
/ jungles and the rice paddles Of the
Philippines, on the hills and In the val
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