Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1914-05-15
Wilson Leads All Nation Mourning
Vera Cruz Dead.

Honor to the seventeen American blue
jackets and marines who died for their
country at Vera Graz was paid in New
York on Monday last. With the President
OF the United States in the role of chief
mourner and every possible circumstance
oil military pomp investing the memorial
service, more than million citizens Joined
in a testimonial to their dead
Highest tribute was paid by President
wilson in remarkable address, in which
he expressed envy for the heroes who died
IN the performance of their duty,
In opening his address, the President
said:
Il know that the feelings which charac-
terize 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 singular mix
ture OF feeling. The feeling that is upper
most is one of profound grief that these
lads should have had to 60 to their DEATH
and yet there is mixed with that grief
profound pride that they should have gone
as they did. and if ! may say it out of my
heart, touch of envy of those who were
permitted quietly-so nobly-to do their
duty Have you thought of it, men2 Here
is the roster Of the navy. the list of men,
officers. enlisted men and marines, and sud-
denly there swim 10 stars out of the list
men who have suddenly gone into firma-
ment Of memory, where we shall always
see their names shine not because they
called upon us to admire them. but because
they served us without asking any ques-
tons and in the performance of duty
which is laid upon us as well as upon
them.
Duty is not an uncommon thing, gen.
tlemen. Men are performing it in the ordi-
nary walks of life all around us all the
time, and they are making great sacrifice
to perform it. What gives men like these
peculiar distinction is not merely that they
did their duty. but that their duty has
nothing to do with them or their own per-
sonal interests. They did not give up their
lives for themselves. They gave their lives
for US. because we called upon them as a
nation to perform an unexpected duty.
That is the way in which men grow dis
tineuished and that is the only way-by
serving some one else than themselves.
And what greater thing could you serve
than nation such as this we love and are
proud off
Are you sorry for these ladsS Are you
sorry for the way they will be remembered
Does it not quicken your pulses to think of
the list Of them? | hope to God none Of you
may join the list, but if you do, you will
join an immortal company.
so, while we are profoundly sorrowful
and while there goes out of our hearts a
very deep and affectionate sympathy for
the friends and relatives of these lads who,
for the rest Of their lives shall mourn them
though with touch Of pride. we know why
we do not 60 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 will 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 Mexicans if we can, be-
cause 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 it is a proud thing to die
but war Of service is a thing in which it is
a proud thing to die.
Notice that these men were of our blood
| mean 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 compounded nation
which consists Of all the sturdy element
and Of all the best element Of the whole
globe.
Il listened again to the list with pro-
found interest in the mixture of the names,
for the names bear the mark of several
national stocks from which these men
come. But they are not Irishmen, or Ger
man. or Frenchmen. or Hebrews any more.
They were not when they went to Vera
Cruz; they were Americans. everyone of
them. and with no difference in their Ameri-
canism because Of the stock from which
they came.
Therefore. they were in peculiar sense
Of our blood and they proved ii by showing
that they were Of our spirit-that no matter
what their derivation. no matter where
their people came from. they thought and
wished and did things that were American.
and the flag under which they served was
flag in which all the blood Of mankind is
united TO make free nation"
Many State Jobs Soon To Be Filled.
n. lae he. t.