Evening star., 1915-06-14
LAUDS AMERICANS
Who MADE THE FLAG
President Declares Their Lives
Are Written in Its
Folds.
PAYS LOVING TRIBUTE
TO UNKNOWN HOSTS
Asserts They Are the Ones That
Make History-Not the
Noisy Ones.


States are not written in state papers,
but by the people of the United States.
who have written their lives into the
flag. He urged Americans to remem-
Der their patriotism on other days than
national holidays, and to carry the flag
of the country ever in their hearts.
The President made no direct refer
ence to the European war or to inter-
national questions. but he was applaud
ed whenever he made any reference TO
the patriotism OF the people OF the
United States.
The exercises were held on the south
steps of the Treasury building. When
the President arrived large audience
stood and cheered until he waved his
hands for silence.
Introducing the President, Secretary
McAdoo said the meeting was to pay
homage to the flag "of our country at
a time when it has a deeper significance
than ever before in the worlds history
when it is the hope of civilization
Ire Presidents Address.
The President said:
Mr.. Secretary, friends and felow-citi
zens:
Il know of nothing more difficult than
to render. an adequate tribute to the en-
blem of our nation. For those of us who
have lived its life and felt the best of its
pulse it must be considered a matter OF
impossibility to express the great things
which that emblem embodies. l venture
to say that great many things are said
about the flag which very few people stop
to analyze For me the flag does not ex-
press a mere body of vague sentiments.
The flag of the UniteG States has not
been created by rhetorical sentences in
declarations of independence and in bills
of rights; it has been created by the expert
ence of great people, and nothing is
written upon 1t that has not been written
upon it by their life 1t Is embodied. not
of a sentiment. but of history. and no
man can rightly serve under that flag who
has not caught some Of the meaning Of
that history.
made by men and women. Experience
Is the product Of those who do the liv-
ing under that flag. 1t is their living
that has created its significance. You
do not create the meaning of national
life by any literary exposition of it,
but by the actual daily endeavors of a
great people to do the tasks Of the day
and live up to the ideals of honesty and
righteousness and just conduct And
as we think of these things. our tribute
is to those men who have created this
experience. Many Of them are known
by name to all the world-statesmen.
soldiers. merchants, masters Of indus
try. men Of letters and of thought,
3.
OF these men we feel that they have
shown US the way. They have not been
afraid to go before. They have known
that they were speaking the thoughts
of great people when they led that
great people along the paths of
achievement.
No Swashbuck1ers.
There was not single swashbuck-
ler among them. They were men of
sober, quiet thought. the more effective
because there was no bluster in it.
They were men who thought along the
lines of duty. not along the lines of
self f-aggrandizement. They were men,
in short. who thought of the people
whom they served and not of them
selves.
But while we think of them and do
honor to them as those who have
shown us the way let us not forget
that the real experience and life of a
nation lies with the great multitude of
unknown men. 1t lies with those men
whose names are never in the head
lines of newspapers. those men who
know the heat and pain and desperate
loss of hope that sometimes comes in
the great struggle of daily life; not
the men who stand on the side and
comment, not the men who try to in
terpret the great struggle. but the men
who are engaged in the struggle. They
| constitute the body of the nation
This flag is the essence of their daily
endeavors. This flag does not express
any more than what they are and what
they desire to be; and as ! think of
the life of this great nation 1t seems
to me that we sometimes look to the
wrong places for its sources. We look
to the noisy places, where men are
talking in the market place we look
to where men are expressing their in
dividual opinions: we look where parti-
1
trying to attune our ears to that voice
| less mass Of men who merely go about
their daily tasks. try to be honorable
try to serve the people they love, try
to live worthy Of the great communi-
ties to which they belong. These are
the breath of the nations nostriIs; :;
| these ae the sinew of its might
Cannot Interpret Flag.
$50 how can any man presume to in
| terpret the emblem of the United
States. the emblem Of what we von,d
i fain be among the family of nations and
! find 1t incumbent upon us to be n the
daily round of routine dutya This ia
Flag day. but that only means that 81 ia
| a day when we are to recall the things
| which we should do every day of on,
| lives There are no days Of spec,s, ma :
triotism. There are no days when You
| . r
days. You celebrate the Fourth OF
July merely because the great enter
prise of liberty was started on the
4th Of July in America, but the
great enterprise OF liberty was not
begun in America. 1t is ilIustratad
by the blood OF thousands of ma r.
tyrs that went before the great AZ
pertinent on this side Of the water
That merely marks the day when We
consecrated ourselves as a nation n
this high thing which we pretend tc
serve. and the benefit of a day like
this is merely the turning away from
| the things that distract us. turning
away from the things that touch us
personally and absorb our interest ir
the hours of daily work. We should re
mind ourselves Of those things tha,
| are greater than we are, Of those prin
ciples by which we believe our hearts
to be elevated. Of the more difficult
things that we must undertake In these
days Of perplexity when a mans judg.
/