America had her choice. Under all the power and wealth that her hundred years and more had brought her she had kept her vision; she too knew that liberty is priceless, immeasurably above all things else in the world. And this is the America that we all love. For unless we would go the way of the great nations of the old world, the nations that have perished in their blindness, we must have ever in mind the sacred duty to set and keep all men free. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. And lasting peace comes only with liberty to men and nations. 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.