New Britain herald., 1917-08-13

and fastened a rope to the unoccupied trenches, thereby enabling the cross ing of the river and the driving of the enemy from his fortified position"
 On May 6, 1900, Private William P. Maclay, 43rd U. s. Volunteer Infan- try Charged an occupied bastion, saving the life of an officer in a hand to-hand combat and destroying the enemy"
 In all these cases medals of honor were granted The incidents, how ever, are typical of the army. Thou sands of similar stories might be told They represent the spirit that will in- spire the National Army when the time comes to show the stuff of which it Is made.
 Tales of heroic courage can be found in the annals of all armies and of all nations. But the American Army has its own special tradition, which these incidents illustrate. It is the tradition of intelligence, self reliance, and individual daring on the part of men serving in the ranks. The Individual Soldier Counts Other things being equal, an army
 made up of self-reliant, thinking men 1 has a great advantage over a merely
 machine-like army, and this is espe- cially true in present day warfare. Major Gen. Hugh L.. Scott, chief of i staff, U. S. A. remarks on this point:
 '"The conditions under which mod ern wars are fought are ever mak- ing increasing demands on the indi-
 vidual soldier! The individual soldier must know how to interpret accurately orders and signals for the enemy's fire may often so isolate him from his leader and comrades, per haps only a step away, that he may be thrown on his own initiative in making his actions conform to those of the whole line; he may have to use his own judgment in opening fire, in l advancing, in intrenching."
 Fair Play. A second tradition of the American l Army, which need only be mentioned, is that of fighting fairly and treating even the enemy with as much human ity as his own conduct will permit. AS for slaughtering or enslaving the civilian population of captured terri 1 tory, attacking prisoners or assault ing women, American soldiers would as little commit such crimes in time i of war as in time of peace. In this 1 respect IIlOSL OI Iuo C1VlllZcu IldLlOu6 of the world think alike.
 Fighting for Rights and Principles. There is a third splendid tradition ] of the American Army which you will l help to carry forward. It has fought always and everywhere in defense of | principles and rights-never merely for territory and for power. Even the Civil War resulted from the clash of opposing prtnciples-the principle ,f an indivisib1e union upheld by the North and that of freedom to with 1 draw from the union upheld by the l South.
 To protect the rights of citizens, the
 American people have several times
 opposed tyrann1cal governments-the | English government in 1776 and 1912,
 the French government for a short
 period in 1798, the Mexican govern
 ment in 1S48, the Spanish government
 in 1898. The final effect in each case 1 has been to advance the cause of lib-
 erty and democracy throughout the
 world even in the countries against
 which we fought. Our weapons have
 not willingly been turned against any l peoples, but only against the rulers
 who misgoverned and misled them. In fighting for our own rights, the Amer l ican Army has fought also. in Presi-
 dent Wilson's phrase, for the rights i of mankind" .-.
 For like high purpose. the Amer ! ican people have entered into the
 present war against the German gov- 1 ernment-a government which in our i belief misrepresents and nisleads the | German people. Only by so doing
 can we make America and the world , safe for democracy" But one end i ing can be thought of-an ending that will guarantee the continuance of all those principles and rights which the American Army has in the past so nobly fought to establish. Never lose sight, even for an instant of the fact that all your training, your efforts, and your sacri- fees have this one great object in view, the attainment of which Is worth anything 1t may cost