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page 6 THE FUTURE CITIZEN A Tribute to The Enlisted Men of The Navy i By RICHMOND P. HOBSON _ | hurling the crew into the sea. EPRE SEN 1 A-j 'There was but little chance ot tive Richmond P. (j allnc j 1 j n g a b oa t a nd Hobson, " naval who as a naval officer sank the Merri- mac at Santiago harbor, becoming by thinmeans one of the heroes ol the Span i sth-A- merican war, in a tribute to the en listed men U. S. navy on the floor of the House. He spoke with so sympathetic a voice that there were women in the galleries who touched their eves and men on the floor of the House who were noticably af- fected. This splendid speech fol lows and is worth reading: Mr. Speaker, I desire simply to add my work ol tribute to the mem ory of the men, the plain privates who fell in Mexico—the first blood shed in this trouble. I had the honor of serving with the plain privates for 18 years. 1 remember well how I was first im pressed as to the character and spirit of the plain private, lc was on a ( cruise. A gale had been blowing for 48 hours and the sea was run ning high. The midshipmen on deck were sent over the masthead. They were all seasick, and it was thought that it would help them out of the trouble to give them a little exercise, so the officer of the deck ordered them over the mast head. He did not think to warn them not to come on the lee side, which you should never do in a gale of wind. You should go up on the weather side and come down on the weather side. Hut the order was given for the midship men to go over the masthead. They promptly did so and half of them had gotten over the cross trees was but little chance of a boat living in such a sea. But the second life boat was called away. 1 shall never forget the promptness, the agility, and even the lighthearted way in which the second boat with crew comrades knowing full well how meager were their own chances of ever get ting back, started. I have seen seaman jump over board to save a comrade, so m mv of them that the officer of the deck had to order that no more go over board—a superfluity exposing their own lives to try to save a comrade That was my rntoduclion to the spirit of this plain private. And remember, gentleman, they are really nothing but boys. The aver age age in the fleet off Mexico to day is 21 years. Perhaps 1 ought to give another personal tribute to this plain pri vate. A matter came up—a lit tit incident : a little expidition—in my day. Being a naval constructor, knowing how to build ships. I naturally knew how to sink ships. The question of sinking a ship ca ne up, and naturally I wanted to be associated with it. Several men were wanted, and Admiral Samp son issued a call for seven men. The call was issued by a signal from the flagship and more than a thou sand responded. The main trouble I had from that time to the time we started in was refusing the appeals of men—some of them had been my old shipmates — pleading with me on persona' ground- ; others on oilier grounds, all begging me to let them go in. Yes, young Poinsett and his com rades, who so gladly gave up their young lives yesterday, made me when, as the ship lurched, one ot I think of those seven men as they them—a nephew of Admiral Schley a classmate of mine—lost his hold and fell. He struck the top s til and went overboard. A very heavy sea was running. Promptly the life boats were called away. The crews responded. They were scarcely half lowered when the sea which was running very heavy threw the boat keel up and down lay with me on the deck as the ship was slowly sinking. Only two torpedoes went off. We had ten, but the wiring and the batteries connected with the others had been broken and cut away and crushed before the time came to fire them. Only two went oft’. So we went down slowly right under the muz zles of their cannon. The original plan was that afrer firing the tor pedoes we would quickly get away from the ship in the lifeboat and thus try to escape; but the lifeboat was shot away, and I changed my plan entirely, but did not explain it to them. Well do I remember those seven men there. Shell followed shell, tearing everything to pieces above us, below us, on both sides of us. My men, would say. ‘‘Nowcan we be off?” I would say, “No, no man move until further orders.” When the boiler went they said, “Can we go?’ I said, “No man will move un til further orders.” At last the ship gave a lurch, just before she was going down, and heaved as though she would turn over on us, and we heard the gurgling and the rushing sound of the whirlpool approaching and they said, “Can we get off now?” And I said, “No, stay with me.” And »hey staved with me, gentlemen, every last one of them, and went down with me, no man knowing whether he would ev er come up again. Now, J have another little mem ory, an aftermath though: tint comes up. By 11 o’clock that day we were in the Morro. All the men were in one dark cell—seven men in one dark cell. I knew it was a question of their health, and I called upon the commander to let one of ’hem come to me.for instruc tions about taking care of their health, They sent Charette, After he got his instructions about taking care of their health he put his heels together and saluted and said, ‘Sir, the men asked me to bring you a message.” It looked as though they were getting ready to execute us. Everything looked that way. There was that one chance to send me a message. What do you sup pose the message was? I will not describe how we had stayed in the water after we came up, climbing to the edges of an old raft with our bodies submerged, hiding as the Spaniards in launches closed around us. My men knew they would kill us if they discover ed us. For hours we remained. Again and again, the men wanted (Continued,011 page seven) Fault is a thin^ anybody can find, but some quicker than others on account of intimate fam liarity