Omaha daily bee., 1903-01-18
HAY EULOCIZES ROOSEVELT
secretary Of State Praise3 Presidents Genius
and Versatility.
PROGRESSES GREAT DEEDS IN SIX YEARS
Says Chief Executive Aided by strong
Nation VIII Accomplish Fine
Things While He RE-
mains in Power.

OnlO sOClety banquet tonight secretary Hay
endorsed the old adage, Some men are
born great, others are born in Ohio"
Proceeding he enumerated a few of the
great men in American history who sprung
from that state and passed on to pay a bril-
liant tribute to President Roosevelt.
E~ulOEiEes President Roosevelt.
In this connection he said:
am glad to be called on to say in his
absence what few men would be hardy
enough to say to his f~ace-for, like all men
OF high courage and maniiness, he is in
nospitaoie to %fattery: In the great roll IF
OF lotty, character and ideals, not one
among them smirched by the slightest
stain of, personal corruption or wrong
clean hands and high aims-he holds now,
ne VIII hold forever a distinguished place.
a great German has said, A talent q
formed in the solitudes, a character In the
torrent of the world" Our president has
had the advantage of both these environ
ments. From the cloistered life of Amer
lean college boys, sheltered from the ruder
currents of the world by the ramparts Of
wealth and gentle nurture, he passed, still
young, to the wild and free existence Of the
plains and the hills. In the silence of those
vast solitudes men grow to fun stature,
when the original stuff is good. He came
PACK to the east, bringing with him, as
throw the world"
His career since then has been singularly
varied. He has gone rapidly forward and
upward because that was the law of his
being. He does not disdain the garlands
of fame, bat he finds his highest enjoy
ment In slasping the tools that fit his hand.
he has the high ideal of public work set
forth by the greatest teacher and ruler
that ever lived, "WhosoeYer will be chief
among you, let him be your servant"
1t does not distinguish an American presi-
dent to be honest, or to be brave, or to be
Intelligent, or to be patriotic. They have
all been all of these; these qualities are
postulates Of the position. But the nation
Is to be congratulated when all these de-
slrable attributes are heightened and tinged
with that ineffable light which, for want
or a more descriptive term, we call genius.
II is this which makes honesty a scorching
flame against fraud or corruption; which
makes courage and inspiration to others in
battle or in council; which raises intelli-
gence to the quick flash OF intuition and
Grafton. And II is this which makes Theo-
dore Roosevelt the man and the president
he is.
And. finally, l, whose memories are of a
generation of which few survivors remain,
feel like congratulating you who are young,
In the words of the dying Noltaire, on the
eve Of the splendors and the marVels of
the French revolution, which he was not
to witness, You young men are going to
see fine things"
In the six years which remain of Presi-
dent Roosevelt's term-lf my arithmetic is
wrong l am open to cor~rection-you will see
what a stout heart, an active mind, a vital
Intelligence, a wide range Of experience, a
passion for justice and truth, and a de-
voted patriotism, can accomplish at the
head of a nation which unites the strength
of a mighty youth to the political sense
which is the inheritance of centuries of
free government.