The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1899-04-11
TEDDY ROOSEVELT
Idol of the Rough Riders, Talks
About the War.

| 0nlCaRo. April lu.-Seluom, IT ever II
Chicago. has a more enthusiastic body o
men met around banquet table thar
the one which met tonight under the aus
pices OF the Hamilton club. to celehrat.
Appotmattox day and To- greet Governor
Theodore Roosevelt OF New YORK. VIII,
had come from Albany ass the Eucsb o
lhonor OF the club. The enthusiasm wa.
ctNtonded in a generous measure To- IN,
speakers of the evening but the greater
part OF 1t was. given To- the governor whcr
he rose to make his address ON siren.
Gus Life" The hail was a. mass of way.
ing hadkerchiefs and napkins and the
cheers that greeted him as he rose pre-
vented the speaker for many minutes
from beginning his speech II was a
| greeting such That one man does not re-
ceive more than once or twice in life
time. The boxes Of the Auditorium In
v Inch the banquet was held as wen as
IN, seats in the hall back OF the parquet
fCo" vas filled with a large throng who
had come TO hook on an dto listen TO the
speeches, and these as well as the mem
bers Of the Hamilton club and their in
vited guests Joined I'm the welcome that
for a few minutes seemed TO- oVerpower
the governor
Fully 600 were around the banquet ta-
bles when President Cc.iy of the club.
who presided. raped for order and In
short but feicitous address introduced
the guest OF the evening. As soon as
Governor Roosevelt was given chance
To talk ne spoke as follows
Governor Roosevelt said: "In speaking
to YOU men Of the greatest city OF the
west, men OF the state which gave to the
country. Lincoln and Grant men who
pre-eminently and distinctly embody all
that Is most American I'm the American
character. ! wish to preach, not the doc
trlne of ignoble ease, but the doctrine
OF the strenuous life; the life of toll and
effort: OF labor and strife; 10 preach that
highest form Of success whicL comes,
not to the man who desirea more easy
peace, but to the man who does not
shrink from danger, from hapishps or
from bitter toll and who ont OF these
wins the splendid ultimate of triumph.
A life Of ignoble ease, lie OF that
peace, which springs rarely from lack
either OF desire or OF power TO strive af-
ter great things, Is as little worthy OF
a nation as Of an individual l ask only
that what every self-respecting Ameri-
can citizen demands OF himself, and from
his sons, shall be demanded by the AM
erican nation as a whole Who among
you would teach your boys tina, ease |
that peace Is TO be the first consideration |
In their eyes-to be the ultimate goal ar
ter which they strive. You men OF chi
cago. have made this city great you |
men Of Illinois have done your share, |
and more than your share, in making |
America great, because you neither |
preach nor practice such doctrine. You |
work yourselves and you bring up your
sons to work IL you are rich ana are |
worth your salt, you will teach your |
sons, that though they may have leisure |
II Is not to be spent I'm idleness; for wise |
y used leisure merely means that those |
who possess IT, being rrne from the ne
cessity of working for their livelihood, |
are all the more bound to carry on some |
Kind of non-remunsrative work In science |
work OF the type we most need in this |
the successful carrying out OF |
which reflects most honor upon the ma
ton, We do not admire the man OF tim
i'd peace. We admire the man who en-
bodies victorious efforts, the man who
never wrongs his neighbors who Is also
those vlrile qualities necessary to win
the Stern strife OF actual life. II Is hard
TO fail: but Il Is worse never TO hlve
tried to succeed In this life, we get moth
ing save by effort. Freedom from the |
effort in the present merely means thar |
there has been stored UP effort IN the |
past. A man can be freed from the neces-
by OF work only by the fact that he or
li5 fathers before him have worked to
good purpose. II the freedom thus pur-
chased IS used Alright, and tho man stin |
does actual work. though of a differen.
kind. whether as a writer or as a gen |
eral, whether In the field Of politics or in
the field of exploration and adventure
he shows he deserves his good fortune
But II ne treats this period Of freedom
from the need Of actual labor, o. per-
iod not Of preparation, but OF mere en-
joyment, even though perhaps, not OF
vicious enjoyment, he shows that he is
simply n cumberer on earth's surface.
and he surely UNITS himself to hold his
own with his fellows, II the need 10 do 90
should again arise. A mere life OF ease.
Is not in the end a very satisfactory life
ana above all it is a life which ultimate
ly units those who follow It for serious
work In the world.
so THE NATION.
As II Is vita the individual so It Is
with the nation. II Is a base nutruth to
say that happy 10 the nation that mas
no history. Thrice happy IS she nation
who has a glorious history. Far better Is
Il to dare mir.ity things 20 win glorious
triumphs, even th3lEh checkered by fail
ure. than to take raak with those poor
spirits who neither enjoy much nor fuf-
fer much, because taey live in the gray
twilight that knows neither victory mar
defeat. II In 1861 the men who loved tho
UElon had believe ma. peace was ne
end of all things. ana war ana strife "A
worst OF all ,hings. and had scted u2 %
their belief we should have saved hun
dreds Of thousands OF lives; we shoui
have saved hundreds Of millions OF dol
lars. Moreover, besides saving all the
blood and treasure we then lavished, we
woa,d have prevented the heart break OF
many women; the dissolution Of many
homeo. and We would have spared the
country those months % gloom and OF
shame, when it seemed az " our armies
marched only to defeat. We could have
avoided all this suffering simply by our
shrinking from strife. And II we had thus
avoided II, we would have shown that
we were weaklings. and that we were
unfit 10 stand among the great nations
Of the earth. Thank God for the iron In