The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-04-25

might sec fit for me to command, sub 1ect to his whims and cRprices
 But promises will not put food in empty stomachs or cover shivering backs with flanneis. nor will inactiou now gain for us future battles. Your security now does not mean the eternal protection of your grandchildren. nor 10 years from now, should we be forced into an honorable war, will those he roic dead to whose memory we do honor on Monday next who sleep be- heath towering shafts of marble or re- pose under headstones marked "Un- known" while they for four long years showed of what stuff southern man hood Is composed, return to help us light our battles. God grant that they might live again and in the virility of their young and heroic manhood cast raoulds for future generationsl But they sleep and may their rest be even and peaceful with no ,rosr of distant cannon again welcoming them into the jaws of death, with no clattering of ,ayalry horses or clanking of sabres or sputtering of infantry fire to re- mind them that men have lost their reason and are on destruction bent. No; they have proudly earned their long nights repose and have left us fertile lands and glorious record or achievement, which heritage 1t is our duty to sacredly preserve. My great grandfather. my grandfather and my father were soldiers, and so perhaps were some, as many or more of your ancestors, and I submit it to you that there Is a growing disrespect to the flag and to the uniform and a stead fly increasing idea that dollars and cents are worth more than honor or that training which insures the pro- tection of our honor. It Is a terrible shame and in the south a most hor- rible condition of affars and the folly still continues. Young men are taught to think .more of soda founts type writers, accounting books and store counters than of the flag and of q training fitting them to possibly some day shield it from dishonor or insult and maybe death.
 And, young man. you who stand idly on the street corners with a cigarette in your mouth--you who frequent the slums of the city where vice and dis case reign suDreme-you who regu- larly saturate your system with liquors and other foul poisons. Are you very proud of the record you are making or very careful to what your pos terity will be? Do you understand the meaning of the word citizenship? I heard one of these fellows remark one Light that The wouldn't join a miii- tary company and have someone or 6ering him around" He had better rest assured of one thing-that very prob ably he would not be accepted into our ranks and of another thing I am cer- tain-with his all important idea of himself he probably will follow his bent, however badly bent it Is. the rest of his life. Young man, you who Gecry military service and talk about Tot subjecting yourself to proper dis cipline, do you think you would get ,f-4 T...-t You had better come into the mill tary, adapt yourself to it's require ments and from their lessons some day you may succeed in being at the head of some big enterprise where regular habits, clean living and right think ing, with the proper and methodical at tention to your business. will enable you to hold your position and will indelibly impress upon your brain the qualities by subJecting yourself to dis cip1ine and learning it's real value. W e are afraid you do not think very far ahead. "A1l Is not gold that glitters , and the shine on the tinsel of your affection your habits of life. may soon wear of. As a matter of fact, it ap- peals only 10 you and to those wi,o can make a fool of you.
 I appeal to the best that Is in you, to the cherished love you have for your homo and your fireside, that you respect that glorious banner and the uniform; l appeal to your innate sense of right and wrong that you serve at least three years in the military that you may get the proper training to serve your country in time of dire peril. God pity him who thinks the military training school for murder CTS or that we crave to see men die. And, should you enlist, come unre- servedly committed to the sense aud honor of the act; try to learn well your part. I also wish to warn you that in some manner of late an idea pervades certain companies that man to be soldier must swagger and swear drink and curse, disobey orders or do anything else of a foolish nature, end I submit for your sensible con clusion the error involved. As Lieut. John Crowell of the Mont gomery True Blues recently said In an article on discipline: Even a child knows that a soldier should obey orders" Are you going to be less than child? As to the success of gentlemen in the mill itary. I have only to mention the names of Gen. Robert D. Lee, Gen. Stonewall Jackson, Capt Richmond P. Hobson. hero of the Merrimac, and could go on endIessly naming such types; but, suf- flee it to say, braggarts usually get 6eVereiy called uOWn soon or Iater anu what man says like his clothes, Is no indication of his ability. Too, "a barking dog seldom bites" Brains these days, not brawn, win the battles, and the whole piece of military machinery may be ruined by some loud talking braggadoccio sort of a smart alex. Clean living and right thinking made q Willard; dissipation and dissolute- ness unmade a Johnson. Take your choice. There is too much loud talk ing and bluff in this country. Let's all get down to work.