408 Presidential Addresses 



dered. For as President Wheeler said to-day, it is 

 true now as it ever has been true that the greatest 

 good fortune, the greatest honor, that can befall 

 any man is that he shall serve; that he shall serve the 

 Nation, serve his people, serve mankind ; and looking 

 back in history the names that come up before us, 

 the names to which we turn, the names of the men of 

 our own people which stand as shining honor marks 

 in our annals, the names of those men typifying quali- 

 ties which rightly we should hold in reverence, are 

 the names of the statesmen, of the soldiers, of the 

 poets and after them, not abreast of them, the 

 names of the architects of our material prosperity 

 also. 



Of recent years I have been thrown in contact 

 with a number of college graduates doing good 

 service to the country, and as I wish to make it per- 

 fectly evident what I mean by the kind of service 

 which I should hope to have from you and which it 

 seems to me worth while to render, I want to say 

 just a word about two college graduates who have 

 during the last five years rendered and are now ren- 

 dering such services : Governor Taft in the Phil- 

 ippines, and Brigadier-General Leonard Wood, late- 

 ly Governor of Cuba. When we acquired the Phil- 

 ippines and took possession for the time being of 

 Cuba to train its people in citizenship, we assumed 

 heavy responsibilities; so heavy that some very ex- 

 cellent persons thought we ought to shirk them. I 

 hold that a great and masterful people forfeits its 

 title to greatness if it shirks any work because that 



