Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1903-09-10
THE PRESIDENTS
LABOR DAY SPEECH
Mr.. Roosevelt Addresses an
Audience at Syracuse.
N. ". Today
THE BEST CITIZENSHIP
It is Defined as That Which Recos-
nizes No Glass or Caste. but Re-
wards Each Man as His Own
Worth Deserves.

Syracuse N. Y, Sept. 9.-The pres
dents special train arrived in the city
at $3.50 this morning. The president
was escorted by the First regiment, 4
separate company, and a reception
committee, to Hanover Square, where
he reviewed the labor parade.
The address of the day was made by
Mi. Roosevelt, who was greeted by a
great audience, and With much enthus-
lasrn.
Inc president began by suggesting that
there CAN be no real prosperity of the ma
tion which Is based ON the prosperity OF
any class classes. Real prosperity will
be had when all classes are getting Its
benefits. This condition, ON the whole.
has prevailed from the beginning of the
American nation. He continued, saying
in part:
a Measure of Merit.
We can keep our government on a sane
and healthy basis our social system what
1T should he, only on condition OF Judging
1acn man on his worth AS man. 1T rs
-Tamous to apply amy test save that OF
personal worth, OF to draw between two
sets Of men any save the distinction OF
from those who do i'll. The failure In pub
lie and In private life to treat each man on
his own merits, the recognition of this
government as being either for the poor
republic. A republican government must
rest upon individuals, not upon classes.
As soon as 1t becomes government by
class 1T departs from the American ideal.
1t is merest truism that free institutions
are of avail only to people who possess
the high characteristics needed TO take
advantage OF such institutions. The CEN
many instances In which people have
seized a government free in form or have
lad it bestowed upon them, and YET have
permitted IL under the forms of liberty to
become despotism or anarchy. Under such
circumstances the seeming liberty may he
sutpianted by tyranny or despotism. Peo-
pie show themselves unfit for liberty,
whether they submit to anarchy or TO
tyranny.
Muny qualities are needed by a people
which would preserve the power of self
government in fact as well as in name.
among these qualities are forethought,
shrewdness, sef-restrsint the courage
which refuses to abandon ones own
rights, and the disinterested and kindly
ticc to the rights OF others.
The line of cleavage between good and
bad citizenship separates the rich man
who does we'll from the rich man who does
III. the poor man of good conduct from the
poor man OF bad conduct. This line of
cleavage lies at right angles to amy such
arbitrary line Of division as that separat-
Ing one class from another, one locality
from another, or men with certain de-
gree of property from those of u less de-
gree OF property
The Good Citizen.
The good citizen is the man who, what
ever his wealth or his poverty, strives
manfully to do his duty to hinself, to his
family, 10 his neighbor, to the state; who
is incapable of the baseness which mani
tests itself either in arrogance or In envy.
but who while demanding justice for him
self is no less scrupuious to do Justice to
Others. 1t is because the average Ameri-
can citizen, rich or poor, is of just this
faith in the future of the republic.
Let the watchwords of all our people
be the old familiar watchwords of honesty,
decency fair dealing and common sense.
The qualities denoted by these words are
essential to all of us. as we deal with the
complex Industrial problems of today the
-lation but even more the wise distribution
oil wealth. We ask no mans permission
when we require him to obey the law;
neither the permission of the poor man
the man of great wealth afford to break
tn. law, even for his own financial add
vantage; for the law il his prop and sup
port and it is both foolish and profoundly
unpatriotlc for him to fail in giving hearty
support to those who show that there Is
In very fact one law, and one law only,
alike for the rich and the poor for the
great and the small.
Men sincerely interested in the due pro-
ection of property, and men sincerely
Interested in seeing that the just rights Of
Der not only that in the long run neither
the capitalist nor the wage-worker can be
helped in healthy fashion save by helping
the otter; but also that to require either
side TO obey the law and do Its full duty
toward the community is emphatically to
That sides real interest.
Friends of the Mob.
There Is no worse enemy of the wage
worker than the man who condones mob
violence in. any shape or who breaches
h.I1r fha l;,,1,N
qnantance with our Industrial history
should teach even the most short sigh cd
that the times, of most suffering for our
people as whole, the times when bust
ness is stagnant and capital suffers from
shrinkage and gets no return from its in
y yes. mt, are exactly the times Of hard
the poor. If all the existing instrument
talitle, of wealth could be abolished the
frst and severest suffering would come
among those Of us who are least we'll off
only when the rest of the country is we'll
Oft; and he can best contribute to this gen
sral well-being by showing sanity and a
firm purpose to do justice to others.
Among ourselves We differ in manv n,,1-
tiles. OF body, head and heart; we ale UNI
equally developed, mentally as well as
physisaii " But each Of us has the right
wrongdoing as he does his work and car
rcs his burden through life No man
needs sympathy because he has to work,
and away the best prize that life offers is
the chance to work hard at work worth
doing; and this is prize open to every
man, for there can be no work better
worth doing than that done to keen in
health and comfort and with reasonable
advantages those Immediately dependent
upon the husband, the father, or the son.
No ldlers Wanted.
There is no room in our healthy Ameri-
FAN life for the mere idler, for the man or
the woman whose object it is throughout
life to shirk the duties which life ouwht 70
bring. Life can mean nothing WORT
meaning, unless Its prime aim is the do
Ing of duty. the achievement of results
finely said: After all, the saddest thing
that can happen to man is to carry no
burdens. To be bent under too great n
load is bad; to be crushed by it is lament
able; but even In that there are possibili-
ties that :, are , glorious. But to carry no
load at all-there is nothing in that No
one seems to arrive at any goal really
worth reaching in this world who does
not come to it heavy laden
Surely from our own experience each
one of us knows that this is true. From
and usefulness are largely found in the
same soul, and the joy of life is won in its
deepest and truest sense only by those
who have not shrked life's burdens. The
men me, whom we most delight to honor in all
this land n, are those who, in the iron years
lhe burden of saving the union.
AS 1t Is with the soldier, so it is with
me civilian. To win success in the bust
ness world, to become first class me-
SkyIarks in Oregon.
Portland Oregonian: The vexed ques-