I fail to see how any good American can be other than a better American when he comes here to Annapolis and sees the Academy as it is and as it soon will be, thanks to the wise munificence of Congress; and I am not surprised that you who graduate from this institution should make the kind of men that as a rule you do make afterward; should show the qualities of courage, of lofty fidelity to duty, of devotion to the flag, and of farsighted preparedness to meet possible future emergencies; should show the traits which I think, Captain Brownson, I can say without flattery, characterize the service to which you belong. I am not surprised that you should show those traits, for I should be heartily ashamed of you if you did not. More than any other people in this country, with the sole exception of those in the sister service who have had your advantages, you owe a peculiar fealty to the Nation which has trained you, which has given you a career in after life, a career in which, if you do your duty, you are sure to lead honorable lives, and to deserve well of the Republic; and a career in which there is always the chance that you may spring into one of those few places to be occupied by the men of the Nation who win deathless fame for themselves by the way in which they serve the Nation in the hour of the Nation’s need. On the one hand we have the right to expect a peculiar measure of self-sacrificing service from you. On the other hand we have the right to expect from the representatives of the people a peculiar care for your interests. It is well that every public man should feel under a particular obligation to see to the welfare of the Army and the Navy. Governor Warfield, if you will pardon the personal allusion, I want to thank you for the way in which you have made evident your feeling toward this institution, for the reception you gave just the other night to these very men about to graduate. It is well that they should understand that because of the position they hold the Governor of the great State in which the institution is situated recognizes their possibilities of usefulness to the country, the obligations due them, and the obligations we have a right to feel that they will recognize to the whole Nation in return.