The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-05-21
PRESIDENT WILSON'S TRIBUTE
TO THE COUNTRY'S DEAD.

PRESIDENT WILSON'S TRIBUTE
TO THE COUNTRY'S DEAD.
To the men of the navy who died
at the occupation of Vera Cruz, the
nation paid a remarkable tribute In
a great outpouring of its citizens al
the pageant and ceremonies attend
ing the funeral at the Brooklyn navy
yard, May IL, 1914.
Secretary of the Navy Daniels re-
cited the names of the nineteen men
in whose honor the services were
held, This number included two who
died at Vera Cruz since the ship
bearing the nations dead had sailed.
The secretary concluded: Il hand
YOU, sir, the names of the heroes re-
corded high on the national roll call
of honor, that they may be preserved
in the archives of, our republic Re-
plying, the president said:
"Mr. Secretary, / know that the
feelings which characterize all who
stand about me and the whole nation
at this hour are not feelings which
can be suitably expressed in terms
of attempted oratory or eloquence.
They are things too deep for ordinary
speech. For my own part, have a
singular mixture of feelings. The
feeling that is uppermost is one OF
profound grief that these lads should
have had to go to their death. And
yet there is mixed with that grief a
profound pride that they should have
gone as they did, and if l may say
it, out of my heart, touch OF envy
of those who were permitted so quiet
ly, so nobly, to do their duty.
Have you thought of it men, here
is the roster of the navy, the list OF
the men, officers and enlisted men,
and marines, and suddenly these
nineteen stars go out of the list. Men
who have suddenly gone into the fir
mament of memory, where we shall
always see their names shine; not be-
cause they called on us to admire
them, but because they served us
without asking any questions, and
in the performance of duty which
is laid on us as well as on them.
DUTY is not an uncommon thing,
gentlemen. Men are performing it
in the ordinary walks of life all
around us, all the time, and they are
making great sacrifices to perform
it. What gives men like this pecul-
lar distinction is not merely that
they did their duty, but that their
duty had nothing to do with them
or with their own personal and pc
culiar interests. They did not give
their lives for themselves; they gave
their lives for us because we called
nv ~ Al
unexpected duty. That is the way in
that is the only way-by serving
somebody else than themselves. And
what greater thing could you serve
than nation such as this we love
and are proud Of?
''Are you sorry for these lads?
Are you sorry for the way they will
be remembered? Does it not quicken
your pulse to think of the list of
them? l hope to God none of you
may join the list, but if you do, you
join an immortal company.
$50 while you are profoundly sOr
rowful and while there goes out of
our hearts very deep and affection
ate sympathy for the friends and
relatives of these lads-who for the
rest of their lives shall mourn them,
though with a touch of pride-we
know why we do not go away from
this occasion cast down, but with our
heads lifted and our eyes on the flu
ture of this country, with absolute
confidence of how it will be worked
out; not only the more vague future
of this country, but the immediate
future.
eve have gone down to Mexico to
serve mankind, if we can find out the
way. We do not want to fight the
we want to serve the
Mexicans if we can, because we know
how we would like to be freed and
how we would like to be served if
there were friends standing by ready
to serve us.
"A war of aggression is not war
but a war of service is a thing in
which it is a proud thing to die. No
tice that these men were of our blood
men of our american blood, which
is not drawn from any one country;
which is not drawn from any one
stock; which is not drawn from any
one language of the modern world;
but free men everywhere have sent
their sons and their brothers and
their daughters to this country in
order to make that great compound
ed nation which consists of all the
sturdy elements and of all the best
elements of the whole globe.
Il listened again to this list with
a profound interest at the mixture
Of the names, for the names bear the
marks of the several national stocks
from which these men came. But
they are not 1rishmen, or Germans,
or Frenchmen or Hebrews any more.
They were not when they went to
Vera Cruz; they are Americans ev-
cry one of them and were no differ
ent in the Americanism because of
the stock from which they came.
Therefore they were in peculiar
sense our blood, and they proved it
BY showing they were of our spirit;
that no matter their derivation, no
matter where their people came from
they thought and wished and did the
things that were American and the
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