We cannot read the story of Lafayette without feeling that in his generous youth he gave us the best he had, his love and devotion, his courage and perseverance, his dauntless spirit that would not be denied its purpose to fight for liberty. All this Lafayette gave us because he saw in us the hope of the world. And now our precious opportunity has come to repay that great debt. It is for us to give the land of Lafayette all that he brought to us, and we do it for the same reason, because we see in France and her allies the present hope of the world.

It is for youth to fight, for age to counsel and help youth in the combat. Glorious is the opportunity that lies before the youth of our country now; as glorious as was the opportunity that called to the boy of seventeen in the days of Louis XVI. We may not all accomplish as much as he did, but we can all thrill to the same generous impulses, see the same great vision, resolve that we will do all that lies within our power to win the crusade of freedom against tyrants. Every boy and man in America should learn the lesson of Lafayette’s life and then go into the struggle with the feeling that he is following in the footsteps of that great idealist, that great patriot whose country was not limited to his own nation but to all men who yearned for liberty. The greatest gift of patriots is not the material things they may build, but the devotion to ideals they show to other men. We may each be Lafayettes in our own way.

“And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock.” So is liberty built; founded upon a rock; as unconquerable as the soul of man. Liberty must win after floods and storms; its beacon-light must in the time to come illumine the whole world. Its enemies are strong and well-prepared; they call to their aid all the powers and devices of darkness; but as truth is greater than falsehood so is liberty greater than all the oppressors of man can bring against it.

America answers France and her answer is clear and dauntless. It is as ringing as the Declaration of Independence, the rock upon which America built her house. The power of Prussia, the power of the Hun, the power of tyrants, must be utterly crushed before the world can be free. Germany sought this war in all wickedness and greed; to satisfy her ambition she has pulled down all the piers that support the house of civilization that men have been building for ages; she would destroy the world in her purpose to dominate it. And America intends that Germany shall have war until all the devils are driven out of her.

America can do it. America came to this conflict with clean hands and a clean soul; no selfishness was in her; she fights for no ends of her own save the highest end to make the world safe for democracy. And as she has truth and justice on her side she fights with a spirit unknown to the servile bondsmen of autocracy. She is young and immensely strong, she is still the land of freedom. And when she rises in full, relentless might, thrice armed in that she has a just cause, she will destroy the serpent and cast him from the earth. The greatest page in our history is being written; we shall write it so that the better world to come shall call us blessed.

“We are coming, Lafayette!” What a call to victory is that! We have already come. We have joined with the descendants of that youth of France who came to us in our hour of need. The spirit of Washington must glory in that fact. The great Father of our country loved the Frenchman as his son. To what nobler end could Washington’s children dedicate themselves than to help their brethren? And the spirit of Lafayette must rejoice to see his dreams fulfilled, his dreams of the great republic and of the dawn of the brotherhood of men!

Lover of liberty and justice, we salute you! The time has come for us to show that what you hoped of us we now are, and to show it to the end that liberty shall not perish from the earth, that all men be free, and that in truth man was endowed by his Creator with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Transcriber’s Notes