204
YALH ALUMNI WHE KLY
ADVANCED ONLY ON MERIT.
And in that regiment I can assure
you that no outside recommendation
went. Each man won his place on his
merits. ‘Jack’? Greenway went in as a
trooper and was promoted to a non-
commissioned officer, second lieutenant,
and then first lieutenant, because he had
won each promotion by showing what
he could do in the camp, on the march
and in battle. As long as he showed
himself worthy, nobody could take
these .titles from him, and if he had
not shown himself worthy he might
have had the pull of the President and
every senator behind him and he would
never have gone up. (Applause.)
I have tried a good many experi-
ments with “Jack.” I did not know how
long he could go without sleep, but I
know that he can stand three days and
three nights without it. As was right
and proper, he immediately struck up
an especial acquaintance and friend-
ship with a Harvard man, ‘Dave”
Goodrich. I can conscientiously say I
did everything in my power to wear
both of those men out, and if they were
not worn out, it was not my fault.
After the San Juan fight, fighting all
day, they were kept up all night dig-
ging trenches and doing guard duty.
After fighting all the next day they
were kept up the next night on the
same work. At 12 o’clock the third
day there was a truce and then I was
perfectly willing that they should go to
sleep. There was no groaning of
grumbling from them, and I am not
exaggerating to you when I say that
during all that terrible toil and excite-
ment the only sleep they had was
twenty minutes or so snatched when
there did not seem to be a demand for
more than usual activity. Of course,
I would say to them that I hoped that
they would do their work faithfully and
stick to it like men, and then I would
go to the rear and sleep. But they did
not get any sleep.
Later in the campaign they both got
the fever and I was much touched by
the great desire they showed, each to
‘ommiserate the other. It was not
xactly a desire to show sympathy, but
ither a desire to explain to each other
ie regret that each one felt that he
was not quite so strong as he should
be. “Jack” went down first and “Dave”
came over to his tent to explain how
sorry he was that poor ‘‘Jack’s” con-
stitution had not been able to stand the
wear and tear. Next day “Dave” went
down and ‘‘Jack,” long before he should
have done so, staggered to his feet,
braced himself up and went over to
“Dave’s” tent to say how sorry he was
that “Dave” had such an ephemeral
frame that the fatigue of two days had
eee vanquished him. (Laugh-
Ler,
Now, gentlemen, I speak necessarily
largely of those men whom saw.
But there are many others of whom I
have heard and many others still must
have done equally well of those whom
I have not heard. Only the other day
a man from Porto Rico was talking to
me and I asked him about the volunteer
officers. He mentioned three as having
shown themselves singularly efficient.
These three men he singled out as equal
to the regulars. One was a Yale man,
young Polk, the son of Dr. Polk. An-
other was Metcalf Bass, an end man on
the Yale football team for two or three
years. I am glad to say that the third
was a Harvard man, “Gussie” Gardiner.
THEO. MILLER’S GREAT KINDNESS.
All honor to the men of Yale, who
went out to win glory and to come
home to feel all their lives that they
had added to the honor, not only of
their own names but to that of their
university no less than to all the nation.
And even higher meed of honor to
those who went out and did not come
back. And even higher meed of honor
to those who volunteered life and love
and youth for the great prize of death
in battle. On the day of San Juan I
met young Theodore Miller. I had
reason to notice him especially because
of an act of great kindness. Weakened
himself by the exhausting work, he had
gone back to the post and tried to get
- good
something for a sick soldier, I remem-
ber nodding and saying something as
we formed and marched to the San
Juan River. I never saw him again.
At the foot of Kettle hill he was mortally
wounded and died and I had no chance
to see him. But I had a chance the
following morning, when I was lying
under a little tree on the grass of the
hillside, to see a shrapnel shell burst
and mortally wound Stanley Hollis-
ter, one of the Harvard crew of the
year before. Ives of Yale, and Hazard
of Harvard, gave their lives, too, when
lives have their most to offer, when the
future looks the brightest, purely be-
cause of the spirit within them, partly
because of the training that spirit had
received in the halls from which they
came.
A SILENT TOAST TO THE DEAD.
I am now, Mr. Chairman, if you will
allow me, I am now going to propose
one toast to be drunk standing and in
silence. I know I shall have your
sympathy when I offer this toast, not
limited simply to Yale, not limited to
any wumiversities, when I ask you to
drink the toast of the men of Yale and
Harvard, the men of all the universities
and the men who had no _ university
training whatever, the men, all Amert-
cans, who in battle or in camp, during
the last war, met their death when they
had gone out at their country’s call to
do their country’s bidding.
A silence that was the more marked
because of the tremendous cheering that
had preceded it, followed. The diners
rose to their feet and, lifting their
glasses in salute to the Governor, waited
for him to drink. The toast concluded,
the guests resumed their seats and the
Governor finished his speech, saying:
And now I have little to add to what
I have said. The men of Yale, the men
of the universities, all, who, when the
country called, went to give their lives,
did more than reflect honor upon the
universities from which they came.
They did that which could not have
been done so well in any other way.
They showed that’ when the time of
danger comes, all Americans, whatever
their social standing, whatever the train-
ing they have received, no matter from
what section of the country they have
come, stand together as men, as Ameri-
cans, and are content to face the same
fate and do the same duties because
fundamentally they all alike have the
common purpose to serve the glorious
flag of their common country.
PRINCETON’S RESPONSE.
Mr. James W. Alexander, who fol-
lowed Gov. Roosevelt, spoke for Prince-
ton. He said in part: :
“Vou have a great problem before
you in your attempt to get the right
man for his successor. Like Dewey
and Merritt and Sampson and Hobson
and Roosevelt, your own Gen. Wood-
ford was a man in the right place;
and this ‘right man in the right place’
is the man whom you have to elect
as your next president. What we can’t
_ understand, however, is why you should
confine your choice to your own gradu-
ates. The first three presidents of
Princeton were Yale men. Why
shouldn’t you give us a chance? There
are plenty of us willing. Another thing,
why don’t you give your president a
salary? The leading college
presidents of the United States are more
poorly paid than the leading mechanics.
It seems to me that one of the best
things you could do for your Bi-cen-
tennial would be to raise a presidential
fund that would enable you to pay your
president a large enough salary to give
him the excuse for throwing up any
good thing he might have.”
Mr. Alexander’s speech was followed
by the singing of the Star-Spangled
Banner, after which Gen. Woodford
was introduced. He spoke to the toast,
“The College Diplomat,” the sentiment.
on the program quoted from Shakes-
peare being: “He was wont to speak
plain and to the purpose, like an honest
man and a soldier.”” He spoke in part
as follows:
General Woodford’s Response.
Mr. Chairman and half-brothers of
Yale: I greet you thus because it was
my good fortune to spend most of my
Sophomore and Junior years at \Yale,
and only when the Yale mother was
unkind did Columbia take me up and
graduate me. In all frankness, memory
goes back to the old days at Yale with
a tenderness and a complete college
feeling such as I never succeeded in
getting at Columbia. And the reason
was simple;—at Yale we had the dormi-
tory system and we lived with one
another, and we sat upon the College
Fence and we sang the College songs,
and the boy-life and the student-life of
Yale went into our heart; and I am
guilty of no disloyalty to Columbia
when I frankly say that the old boy-life
and the student-life wakened a pulse in
my heart that no other college days
have done. * * *
For your kind welcome, I thank you
very heartily. For the undeserved and
generous words that my friend Mr.
Alexander spoke, I thank him. It was
a privilege and a pleasure when at Mad-
rid, where our great American life in-
surance companies had such large in-
vestments and covered such large in-
terests, to be permitted in some small
way to take the preliminary steps which
have since been honored by the good
faith and the loyalty of the Spanish
government and which preserved to the
policy holders in Spain and to these
great corporations on this side of the
sea every dollar of their property with-
out loss and with equal honor to the
company and to the Spanish govern-
ment. * * *
AMERICAN DIPLOMACY.
It has been the privilege of the United
- States within the last thirty years to
break down the old traditions of finesse
and deceit and of courteous misrepre-
sentation, and to put in their place the
effective American idea of diplomacy,
which is courtesy combined with frank-
ness, and the entire and open statement
between nations of what we want on the
one side and of what we think they
should give upon the other. That was
all that there was in the diplomacy be-
tween the United States and Spain from
the hour that William McKinley be-
came President down to the hour that
war was declared. The simple truth
was always bidden by the President to
be spoken at Madrid, and your minis-
ter endeavored to the best of his poor
ability to carry out that instruction of
his President. Out of that war have
come conditions that none of us antici-
pated; but if there shall be burned into
the American conscience and forever
engrafted upon the American policy
these two ideas, the war will be worth
all that it cost us and civilization will
be the better that it has been fought:—
If this Nation shall keep to the pledge
on which it went into the struggle, that
when we use our tremendous power
outside our borders, that power shall
be used for humanity and for justice,
and if this Nation, in the vanguard of
the races of the world, shall forever
hereafter be frank, open and _ direct,
using its power, not for aggrandizement,
but for humanity and for justice, the
war with Spain will bring large results
of good to the entire world.
THE LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR’S RESPONSE.
Lieutenant-Governor Timothy Wood-
ruff, who followed Gen. Woodford,
spoke of his early days when he at-
tended the Hopkins Grammar School
with his friend “Nod’ Osborn and
dwelt upon the value of the college
training to a commercial career.
“. Next: to. character,” said “he, “a
man’s best asset is education, and the
better and broader and more practical
it is, the more surely will he escape the
perils which in these days of sophistry
and dangerous theories beset him in all
walks’ of life, especially in those of
politics. The value of a trained intel-
lect, whether its engines of energy are
to be directed to legal and philosophical
tasks, or to the exacting duties of pub-
lic life, is beyond the power of com-
putation.” ,
ambiguous.
said Mr. Greenway, “it must have some
reference to our chief article of diet, and
so I had better leave it alone.”
Shirts
IN COLORS.
The sooner one chooses his colored
shirts for the season, the better
pleased he will be. We have
just received seven hundred and
fifty different designs in Madras,
Cheviot, Oxford and the com-
bination Silk-and-Linen. We
will have the pure silk ones in
a few days.
Many graduates send to us from
all over the country. We can
send you samples and make
you shirts wherever you are.
CHASE *& CO,
New Haven House Block.
FRANK A. CORBIN,
TATLOR
TO THE
ne 5 wins) oat, Vi bee Os gm gs 1S
AND TO THE
GRADUATES
in. all parts of the country
Address:
1000 Chapel Street,
New Haven. Conn.
GREENWAYS RESPONSE.
The last speaker was Lieut. John C.
Greenway, whose subject was, ‘“The
Touchdown at San Juan,’ the’ quota-
tion from Christina Rossetti: “Does the
road wind upward all the way? Yes, to
the very end,” being very appropriate.
He referred to the toast as somewhat
“If it means the pig-skin,”
He then described how he was in
sympathy with the war and enlisted
with the Rough Riders because he was
anxious to see real service. He de-
scribed his experience and paid a high
tribute to Col. Roosevelt and the Har-
vard men. “There were twelve of
them,” he said, “and as fine a looking
group as you could wish to find. They
were six feet tall, and every one of them
a man—there were no better at the
front.” He then passed on to describe
the trip to Tampa, the embarkation, the
voyage and the landing at Santiago.
He referred to a scene at El Paso to il-
lustrate the personal heroism of Col.
Roosevelt.
COL. ROOSEVELT’S BRAVERY.
“Near Kettle Hill,” said Lieut. Green-
way, “Col. Roosevelt led his men to
break through the barb wire entangle-
ment, in the face of the constant fire of
the Spaniards. He was in advance of
his men, a mark for every ball. He led
the way, cutting down the entangle-
ment, the Spaniards meanwhile holding
their ground very well. It was only
when we broke through and _ Col.
Roosevelt arrived at the hacienda that
the enemy fell back to San Juan. How
[Continued on 205th page.]
KNOX Spring Hats are Out.
