The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-05-11
WILSON LAUDS DEAD BOYS
President Expresses Grief at Death
Of American Marines Slain by
Mexicans in the Taking Of Vera Cruz
BY w. NJ. TAFT.
Special Correspondent of the Interna-
tonal News Service.

BY w. N. IRfI
Special Correspondent Of the Interna-
tionaI News Service.
BROOKLYN NAVY YARD, New
York, May 11.-President Wilson,
| speaking for the nation, today ex-
pressed the deepest grief over the
death of the marines and sailors who
met death at Vera Cruz. At the same
time he said he personally felt a pro-
found pride that they had died as
| they had and "a sort of envy for those
permitted to do their duty so quietly
and so we'll"
The presidential tribute was deliv-
cred in the presence of $4,000 persons
at the funeral services held here over
the bodies of the seventeen heroes
; brought to port on the funeral ship
Montana, but in his address the pres
| ident did not ONT the two other
l American lads whose bodies are to
be brought back later.
Presidents Address.
The president said:
II know that the feeling which
! characterizes all who stand here to-
/ day and the whole nation cannot pos
sibly be expressed in words, in oratory
or in eloquence.
They are too deep for solution.
For myself l may say that l have a
mixture of feelings-a profound grief
that these lads had to go to their
| death, a profound pride that those
who died as they did, and if l may
say SO, from my heart, sort of envy
/ for those who we're permitted to do
their duty so quietly and so well.
Here is the roster of all the Off
GERS and men of the navy and of the
/ marine corps; suddenly there are add
| ed nineteen stars, nineteen stars
which have gone into armament OF
honor and whose names will always
be enshrined in our hearts.
Died For Duty.
DUTY is not an uncommon thing
and men are doing their duty all the
time all around u.s. What gives these
men their distinction is that they did
not give their lives for themselves.
but they gave them for us because we
called upon them.
| Are you sorry for these lads?
! Are you sorry for the way in which
they will be honored?
Il hope to God that none of your
names may be added to this list. But
| if you do you will go to join a won
derful company.
We may have sympathy for these
| lads, but we know that we do not go
away with our heads cast down but
with our gaze on the future, the i'm
mediate future of this country. We
have gone down into Mexico to serve
mankind if We can find the way.
| We do not want to fight the Mex
leans.
I'VE want to serve them and help
them find themselves.
War of Service Excellent.
"A war of aggression is not proud
thing, a thing for which we should be
glad or proud to die. But war of
service is a proud thing and We should
all be glad to do our part therein.
! "All of these men were of our blood
and all Of them were of our stock.
They were not Irish. nor Germans,
nor Hebrews. They were not when
they went to Vera Cruz.
They were Americans They were
of our blood. They proved that they
were of our spirit.
| Il have never had to go to war. l
have never been in a battle.
But | imagine it is as hard to do
your duty when men are sneering at
you as when they are shooting at
you"
so, while we are profoundly sor-
rowful and while there goes out of our
heart very deep and affectionate SYM
pathy for the friends and relatives of
| these lads who for the rest of their
lives shall mourn them, though with
touch of pride. who know we do
not go away from this occasion cast
down. but with our heads lifted and
| our eyes on the future of this country,
with absolute confidence of how it
would be worked out, not only upon
the mere vague future of this country,
but the immediate future.
| I'VE have gone down to Mexico to
serve mankind, if We can find out the
way. We do not want to fight the
Mexicans, we want to serve the Mex
leans if we can, because we know how
we would like to be free and how we
would like to be served If there were
friends standing by ready to serve us.
A war of aggression is not a war in
which 1t i, proud thing to die, but
war of service is thing in which it
is proud thing to die.
| Notice that these men were of our
blood. l mean of our American blood.
which is not drawn from any one coun-
| try, 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 compounded nation
which consists of all the sturdy ele,
ments and of all the best elements of
the whole globe.
| -" Il listen again to this list with a pro.
found 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 Irishmen, Ger.
( mans, or Freedmen or Hebrews any
more. They were not when they went
to Vera Cruz; they we're Americans
every one of them, and with no differ
| ence in their Americanism because OF
| Y DE-