The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-06-15
NO SWASHBUCKLER EVER
A HERO, SAYS PRESIDENT
Wilson's Flag Day Speech Construed as Counselline
Confidence in War Situation-Some Hearers
See Slap at Bryan.

because there was no buster in II. They
were men who thought along the lines
OF duty, not along the lines Of self.
aggrandfzement 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 lie
with the great multitude OF unknown
men. They lie with those men whose
names are never In the head lines OF
newspapers. those men h know the
heat and pain and desperate loss of
hope that sometimes come in the great
struggle of daily life not the men who
stand on the side and comment. not the
men who try to interpret the great
struggle. but the men who are engaged
In the struggle.
They constitute the body OF the ma
ton.
This nag IL the essence OF their daily
e~ndeavors. This flag does not express
any more thar what they are and what
they desire to be and as I think of
the life OF this great nation 4, 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 individual opinions /;
we look where partisans are expressing
passion instead of trying to attune our
ears to that voiceless 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 communities to which they belong.
These are the breath OF the nations nos
trils these are the sinew OF its might.
so how ran any man presume to in
terpret the emblem OF the United States,
the emblem OF what we would fain be
among the family of nations. and ind IL
upon us to be in the daily
round OF routine duty This is Flag
Day, but that only means that II is a
day when we are to recall the things
which we should do every day of our
lives.
There arc no days of special patriot
ism. There are no days when YOU
should be more patriotic thar on other
days. You celebrate the Fourth OF July
merely because the great enterprise OF
liberty was ther. begun in America. II
Is illustrated by the blood of thausa nds
of martyrs that went before the great
experiment on this side OF the water.
That merely marks the day when we
consecrated ourselves as a nation TO
this high thing which we pretend TO
serve and the benefit Of n 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 in the hours OF
daily work.
w should remind ourselves OF those
things that are greater than We are. of
those principles by which we believe
our hearts TO be elevated. OF the more
difficult things that W. must undertake
n these days of perplexity when a mans
judgment !s safest only when IL follows
the line OF principle.
81 am solemnized in the presence Of
such a day. ! would not undertake to
speak your thoughts. You must In
terpret them for me. But I do feel that
back not only OF every public official but
Of every man and woman Of the United
States there marches that great hos.
which has brought us TO the present day /:
the host that has never forgotten the
vision which II saw at the birth Of the
nation the host which always responds
TO the dictates OF humanity and Of
liberty the host that will always con-
stitute the strength and the great body
Of friends of every man who does his
duty to the United States.
"1 am sorry that you do not wear n
little flag of the Union every day in
stead OF some days and | can only ask
you, II you love the physical emblem. TO
be sure that you wear IL in your heart.
and the heart OF America shall interpret
the heart Of the world"