But all this should not cause us to withhold the praise that is due our
own Army and Navy, or to overlook the fact that our people have met
every call that patriotism has made. The soldiers and sailors who fight
under the Stars and Stripes are the most magnificent body of men that
ever took up arms for defence of a great cause. Man for man they surpass
any other troops on earth.

We must not forget these things. We must not neglect to record them for
the information of generations to come. The names and records of boards
and commissions, relief societies, of all who have engaged in financing
the cause of government and charity, and other patriotic work, should be
preserved in the Library of the Commonwealth, and with these, our
military achievements. These will show how American soldiers met and
defeated the Prussian Guard. They will show also that in all the war no
single accomplishment, on a like scale, excelled the battle of St.
Mihiel, carried out by American troops, with our own Massachusetts boys
among them, and that the first regiment to be decorated as a regiment
for conspicuous service and gallantry in our Army in France was the
104th, formerly of the old Massachusetts National Guard. Such is our
record and it cannot be forgotten.

In reaching the great decision to enter the war, in preparing the answer
which speaks with so much authority, in the only language that despotism
can understand, America has arisen to a new life. We have taken a new
place among the nations. The Revolution made us a nation; the Spanish
War made us a world power, the present war has given us recognition as a
world power. We shall not again be considered provincial. Whether we
desired it or not this position has come to us with its duties and its
responsibilities.