Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1902 — WILL NOT RETREAT [ARTICLE]

WILL NOT RETREAT

Indiana Representative Pays Eloquent Tribute to the American Soldier. REPUBLIC’S BENEFICENT MISSION At Home the Prosperity and Happiness of the People, Abroad the Bestowal of the Blessings of Law, Order and Civilization. Representative Charles B. Landis of Indiana on June 24th made eloquent reply to those Democratic leaders who have persistently sought to discredit not only the American soldier, but the sincerity of the government in its efforts for the betterment of conditions in the island possessions which came to ue as the fortune of war. This speech was one of the notable events of the last session of congress, and groused great enthusiasm on the floor of the house. A few extracts from this speech follow:

The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kern), in an address delivered on the floor of this house a few days ago, used these words: “I have not met a soldier who has returned from the Philippine Islands who was not looking for a government job or some other sort of government favor, who had one word of commendation or approval for our policy in the Philippine Islands.” Mr. Chairman, I have met such a soldier. I met him, and I attended his funeral in the little city in which I live the latter part of last October. It seemed to those who had known him and had seen him grow from childhood that he was but a boy, and such in truth and fact he was. But he was a “regular.” He served with the Fourth cavalry. His father was a Michigan soldier, and from him the son inherited the divine spark. He ran away from school to enlist, left his books to go to war. It was the same old story in which is written so much of our nation’s” glory. He was with Schwan, with Lawton and with Young all through the Luzon. He came back with his regiment to be mustered out the following spring. His health was so poor he was furloughed from Jefferson Barracks, Mo., in order that he might return to his home in Delphi, Ind. I was at the train when he arrived. I saw him drag his poor, emaciated body from the car, and, half supported by his old friends and neighbors, stagger across the platform and fall into the arms of his mother. He lived just one month and then he died. It was a beautiful day when we laid him away in the cemetery overlooking the valley. Thousands of people attended his funeral. Hundreds of them stood under the trees, beautiful In their au-

tumnal foliage, while the sad and sol- 1 emn service progressed. His former schoolmates were his pallbearers, and his casket was draped In a beautiful American flag. In the evening, just j as the sun left ue to give light to those people for whom he gave his life, we< burled his poor remains from the sight of men forever. What One Soldier Said. Mr. Chairman, Oliver Cockrane did not come home expecting to receive a government job. Oliver Cockrane did not come home expecting to receive any sort of governmental favor. Oliver Cockrane did indorse the policy of his country tn the Philippine Islands. I talked with him a score of times during that month and he told me he indorsed tt. He said If there was one objection he would make to that policy it was that his country was too humane, too gentle and It was that it did not visit to a greater degree upon those people the heavy hand of its authority. A few days before this soldier died,' as I was sitting in his room, he turned hie face toward me, and, with his great eyes Illumined with patriotic fire, he ‘teaid: "We soldiers who have served in the Philippine Islands do not want to have it said in years to comp that we followed a retreating flag,” ' “We soldiers who served in the Philippine Islands do not want to have it said in years to come that we followed a retreating flag.” There is more eloquence, there is more patriotism, there is more philosophy In that single sentence than in all the utterances of the antl-imperlallsts since the first shot was fired In Manila Bay, May 1, 1898.

Not a Flag of Retreat. And they will not have it said In years to come that they followed a retreating flag. We have heard it said on this floor that the American flag has retreated; that it retreated from Tripoli. I deny It. It performed Its mission In Tripoli and then passed on. And murder and rapine and piracy along the Mediterranean became a reminiscence. We have heard it said that it retreated from Mexico. I deny it. It performed its mission in Mexico and passed on. That triumphant march from the Rio Grande to the City of Mexico was the timely chastisement that dignity and decency gave to arrogance and Impudence, and It has been ever since an inspiration to that people. We have been told that our flag retreated from Cube. I deny that. It performed its mission In Cuba and passed on, and the image of that flag is today worn in the heart of every grateful Cuban, its meaning Is written In every line of their constitution, and that flag is over Cuba today, an inspiration and a protection. This same flag has a mission to perform in the Philippine Islands. It will perform that mission and may pass on, but It will never retreat. • ♦ * • • Criticism of the Soldier. Our friends on the other side have criticised and have been particularly severe on the American soldier. They say they have not had anything against the American soldier, but they are against the policy auopted by this administration in the Philippine Islands. The soldiers, however, represent their sons, and their neighbors’ sons, people from their own states, people from the districts which many of them represent, and It would seem that common sympathy would dictate that they give some sort of kindly consideration to them.

They have nothing against the soldiers, they say, and yet, when there was brought into this house the other day a bill providing an appropriation of $500,000 for the proper shelter of the officers and enlisted men of the army of hte United States, lawfully on duty in the Philippine Islands, to be expended at the discretion of the president, every Democrat except seven voted against it, and every Republican on the floor of this house voted in favor of it. “Not another soldier nor another dollar for this unholy war.” That is the same cry we heard in this republic one-third of a century ago when the life of the nation was at stake. They said it to Abraham Lincoln when he was struggling in anguish and in prayer to preserve the life of the nation. “Not another dollar nor another soldier for this unholy war,” and they said the war was a failure. But the soldiers marched on, and the republic was saved and the flag floats over all the states just as it did in 1860. This slander and this abuse of the army is having its effect. It caused the death the other day of one of the brave fellows who survived the massacre of Balangiga. He was killed, or fatally wounded, in the state of Tennessee. Some one in his presence charged that “two-thirds of the American soldiers who went to the Philippines were hoodlums and the other third were cowards and bullies,” and, brave man that he was, he resented it. He survived Balangiga to be killed in Tennessee while defending the honor of his- comrades. Who sowed that

seed m Tennessee? Head the Congressional Record and you will get an answer to that question. • • • • The Republic's High Destiny. There Is just' enough of the oldfashioned doctrine of predestination in me to lead me to have faith in the ultimate glorious destiny of this republic and the final world-wide triumph and domination of the AngloSaxon race. As has been said by a gifted writer, this Anglo-Saxon civilization has been on the march for nearly 2,000 years. At times that march has been slow and sometimes it has seemed as though the last camp had been reached. The fires of the bivouac once or twice went out, apparently never again to be lighted, but suddenly the flame again flashed forth and the march went on. No territory passed by this AngloSaxon tread has ever been lost to enlightenment, to liberty and to law. Britain recognized the banner, and twelve centuries later the Anglo-Saxon colors went up at Jamestown. It required a century and a quarter for them to cross to the valley beyond these mountains. About that time the older branch of this race planted the flag in Canada and In India, while the younger branch went to the Mississippi. The Spaniard threw the great Louisiana territory into the lap of France as a bulwark against the advance, but the clear vision of Napoleon Bonaparte saw a destined republic, extending from ocean to ocean, and with the single stroke of a pen he annulled the alliance which the heirs of Isabella had attempted to make against fate. Three generations after the ink dried on that parchment happy children were playing in American homes along the Platte, the Columbia and the Sacramento.

The American Spirit. It was not Thomas Jefferson that gained the territory west of the Mississippi for this republic; neither was it due to the political complications among European nations. This determined the time and offered the opportunity for the acquisition. It was the sublime might and destiny of the American people, the heirs of the traditions and fortunes of a world-master-ing race, which won Louisiana for the United States; and It is this same spirit of liberty and this same passion for law, still springing from the breasts of heroes, that will nourish the libraries planted at Manila and make effective the mission upon which we start the law for civil government which we are now framing, and upon it all we can, without Pharisaical pretense or hypocrisy, ask the favor and blessing of Almighty God. I believe this republic has a mission both at home and abroad; its mission at home, the happiness and prosperity of its own people—lts mission abroad, the bestowal of the blessings of law and order and civilization upon other people, even upon tnose who live in th* uttermost parts of the earth.