The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-05-04
Suggests Barry as Leader.

IL 20 as SECOND Lieutenant,
said Roosevelt, in a depression from
his prepared remarks. II commanded
a regiment during the fighting in Gu
ba; | headed a brigade before we left
the island and l have even been the
recipient of honors from citizens of
the United States, but Pm willing to
go in the train of any competent off
Ger who may be selected. To get the
division there is the thing"
! Maj Gen. Thomas H. Barry, COM
manding the Central Department, U.
5. A, was among those at the speak
er's table. Roosevelt referred to Gen.
Barry as being of the type of man
who might well lead such division.
Roosevelt's stockyard speech, in
part, follows:
"Put the American flag on the fir
ing line in France, Flanders or the
! Balkan peninsula at the earliest pos
sible moment and keep it there as long
as the war continues over a constant
ly growing fighting force until the
war brings victory.
81 come here to appeal to the peo-
| pie of the great West, the people of
the Mississippi Valley, the people who
are the spiritual heirs of the men
who stood behind Lincoln and Grant.
"When one walked up to actual con-
ditions you have always stood with
unfaltering courage and iron endur-
ance for the national honor and the
national interest. appeal to the wo-
men as much as to the men, for our
nation has risen level to every great
crisis only because of every such cri-
sis the courage of its women famed
as high as the courage of the men.
II appeal to you to take the lead in
making good the Presidents message
of April 2, in which he set forth the
reasons why it was our unacceptable
duty to make war upon Germany. We
Americans are at war. Now let us
fight. Let us make it a real war, not
dollar war. Let US show that we
have the manhood to pay with our own
bodies, and not merely to hire other
men to pay with their bodies.
eve owe our safety at this moment
to the British fleet and the French and
British armies. /, for one, am not con-
tent to rest under that kind of obliga-
ton, and l do not believe that my fell
low countrymen are content to rest I'M
der it.
IL have asked leave to be allowed to
raise a division to take to the front
in the first expeditionary force under
the commander of that force; divi-
sion which, after two or three months
preliminary training here, can be tax
en- for intensive training to France
and then put into the trenches at the
earliest possible moment that the AL
lied Generals deem it fit to render
service.
II ask that / and those dearest to
me and closest to me by blood shall
be given the chance to prove the truth
of our endeavor and be sent at the
earliest possible moment under the
flag to the firing line.
II do not ask for men in the classes
which would be taken under the adj
ministration's plan for an army raised
under the obligatory system. / ask |
for men who would not otherwise be |
allowed to go.
"The force propose to raise would
represent an absolute addition to the
nations military strength, an addi-
tion which could be used at once,
which would serve to put the flag and
keep the flag on the firing line during
the time that the great army was it.
self being raised, and while our flag
would otherwise not be on the firing
line.
"The favor I ask is the great favor
of being allowed to render q service
which believe that my record en-
titles me to say that l am able to
render"