272 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



Captain Williams was the inspector-general for Gen- 

 eral Benjamin Harrison's brigade, and when he made his 

 first report of the monthly inspection of the various reg- 

 iments, under the general's command, he said that "The 

 One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois was the best regiment 

 in the whole command, and that all the others were just 

 as good." And we, too, want Iowa to be the best state 

 in the Union, and also hope that every other state will 

 be just as good. 



This day should be taken as a day of warning as well 

 as a day of hope. I prefer the bright side, but we must 

 look at all sides of the picture. Individuals sometimes 

 escape punishment, but nations never do. But I would 

 not dwell gloomily in a cave of mutterings. There are 

 periods when much cannot be expected. 



Sieyes, the French statesman, was asked what he did 

 during the Reign of Terror. He said, ' ' I lived. ' ' That 

 was enough for a period like that, and was much more 

 than many of his friends did. 



But more is expected of us in this day and generation 

 than mere existence. We must advance or recede. We 

 cannot stand still. We cannot escape history. If the 

 sun did not shine there would be no spots upon it. We 

 should not devote our time hunting for spots but still we 

 must not fail to recognize their existence. 



Our very prosperity confronts us with a new danger. 

 Foreign immigration comes to share with us the benefit 

 of this land. Much, though not all, of this addition is 

 desirable, and the proper methods of eliminating the 

 bad from the good is one of the problems of our day. 



We have successfully turned back the Asiatic tide from 

 our western shores, but the means of preventing the in- 

 flux of the criminal and pauper classes from Europe is a 

 more difficult and serious question. We gather encour- 

 agement, though, when we see that the Anglo-Saxon 



