Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 October 1902 — OUR BOYS IN BLUE [ARTICLE]

OUR BOYS IN BLUE

•tew Never Faltered In Devotion to the Nation’s Cause. SHALL THEY 60 UNPROTECTED? 'Representative Watson Makes Eloquent Reply to a Democratic Leader Who la Afraid of the “Mailed Hand” of the American Soldier—The Flag is the Bymbd of Liberty Wherever Unfurled. One of the most eloquent members of congress Is Representative James E. Watson, representing the Bixth district of Indiana. His speech on the Philippine question during the last session attracted the admiring attention not only of his auditors in the house of representatives, but of the entire country. He answered In masterly fashion the complaints of the minority against the policy of the administration. Some of hla most eloquent sentences were Inspired by a text taken from the speech of Representative Deamond of Missouri, wherein the Missouri representative said: “Do ws lack the power to take the mailed hand from the throats of men who are crying out for liberty and independent national existence?” Replying to this question, Mr. Watson said: Whose is the mailed hand that is held at the throat of the Filipino? Manifestly the boys’ In blue, fighting under the rippling folds of our beautiful banner over the Pacific, across the ocean, 7,000 miles away. Is this a mailed hand? Shall we sit patiently by while the soldier boys of the republic, gallantly contending for the honor of the country and the glory of the flag, are assaulted and aspersed on the floor of this house? Sir, no more singular devotion to the flag has been known than theirs. They left their country’s shores, they climbed over the ridge of the westerfi sea, to plant their country’s banner in a strange land and under new skies. Clad in their uniform of blue and beneath the emblem of their nation’s power, they have never faltered In their devotion to their country’s cause. They are today struggling for the supremacy of republican principles and the equality of all men. (Applause.) In the desert sands, in the mountain fastness, in the tangled forest, in the treacherous swamp, they have not ceased to contend, not for power, for conquest, for territory, for spoils, but for the eternal principles represented by their flag. (Applause.) No Mailed Hand There. Is their’s a mailed hand? Can it be withdrawn at this time and in justice? No; it cannot be. And it is not a mailed hand. It is the helping hand that rolls back the clouds, that disperses the mists, that brings the sunshine of hope and liberty into the human heart. (Applause on the Republican side.)

And shall these boys go unprotected? Will the Democracy vote against the proposition here involved? Will they refuse shelter to and withhold protection frota the defenders of their country’s flag? Are they subject to the unjust censure of the gentleman from Missouri? They who rushed to arms “when the judgment drums beat to quarter In 1898,” and who have since borne steadily aloft the sacred banner of the free? Men of the north, your sons are there. When you came back from Appomattox you brought an unsullied banner. Every star was shining on the spangled flag, and there was neither master nor slave beneath its folds. Who the Soldiers Are. While they were yet children you placed it in their keeping, under your watchful care, and they are guarding it with a Jealousy worthy of the sacred trust. They are your sons, and they can no more help being what they are than the sunset can help being glorious; than the rose can help being fragrant; than the bird song can help being sweet; than the rainbow can help leaping from the Jeweled raindrop. They were bred in an heroic mold. They are the sons of the men who went singing up the steeps of Mission Ridge; who rolled up their sieves and calmly lighted their pipes before they rushed into the leaden storm at Fredericksburg; who shouted the national air as they swung into battle at Chancellorville. Men of the south, your sons are there too, for, thank God, today there is but one uniform and one flag. (Loud applause.) Sons of the men who wore the confederate gray; sons of the men who rushed into the leaden hell of battle as to a banquet; sons of the men who followed Lee and Jackson, and Johnston and Hood and Bragg, upon a hundred gory fields of strife! They are heroes to the manner born, J*nd are entitled by right of birth to a place among the bravest and the best. These boys are true to their immortal heritage. Catching the spirit of universal freedom,they are contending for the enfranchisement of a race beyond the sea. Amid thick dangers anil hidden perils they have been true to their country's cause. They have conquered, they have overcome. And behold! The flag of the western land is today unfurled in everlasting triumph above those distant islands of the sea, uplifting in its rise a race from bondage and a nation to triumphant hope. (Loud applause.) Faith In the Future. Can the sun refuse to shine? No more could we confine the spirit of liberty which gave us a nation to our