Arizona republican., 1903-10-15
BETTER AMERICANS
MT. Cleveland Talked at
 Chicago on Citizenship
The Country is Not What 1t Should Be But It Can Easily Be Made So.

Chicago. Oct. 14.-Forner President Grover Cleveland was the principal speaker at the banquet of the Commer- cial club in the Auditorium hotel to- night.
 The subject discussed by MT. Clege- land was American Good Citizenship and he dwelt at length upon the necessity of every citizen doing his part to make political action what it should be-
 This is the first time in eight years that MT. Cleveland has visited Chicago and he received an enthusiastic greet ing, when he appeared at the speakers table.
 His speech in part follows: MT. President and Gentlemen:
 ''I an certain that it is not necessary to assl,re you of the pleasure il affords me to meet the members of the Con- ! mercial club Of Chicago. You must know. as well as ii you were told a thousand times. that it is not in human nature to be less than delighted by t! your open handed hospitality and 1 hearty greeting. l 60 not know that my pleasure is at all diminished by the fact that l have reached you only after repeated inability to accept prior ! invitations, since I am to underSta nd in q most emphatic way that my fail ures to accept your hospitality in the 1 past have not fatigued your courtesy and friendship.
 As l understand my situation. I am under bends to keep the peace if poss i ble, by eschewing politics in the few 1 words l shall speak tonight; and l i hope l may fulfill the condition of my i bond and avoid disturbing those most suspicious of my conduct if I deal with i that old. old topic, American Good Citizenship
 There is danger that my subject is 1 so familiar and so trite as to lack in | terest. This does not necessarily re- suit from want of appreciation of the | importance of good citizenship, nor ! from a denial of the duty resting upon every American to be a good citizen There is, however, abroad in our land a self-satisfied and perfunctory notion | that we do all that is required of us in this direction when we make pro- fession of our faith in the creed of good citizenship and abstain from the commission Of palpably unpatriotic 1 sins.
 Ut seems to me that within our citizenship there are many whose dis | position and chara acteristics very much resemble those quite often found in the membership of our churches. In this membership there is a considerable proportion composed of those, who, having made profession of their faith ! oh to hi l.
 their duty done when they live honest ly, attend worship regularly and con- tribute liberally to church support. In complacent satisfaction. and certain or
 their responsibility, they do not care
 to hear sermCniZing concerning the
 sinfulness of human nature. or the
 wrath to come: and if happily they
 are sometimes reused by the truths of
 vital Christianity, they soon relapse
 again to their tranquil and easy con-
 dition of listlessness.
 There is a habitual associate of
 American civic indifference and list
 lessness, which reinforces their malign
 tendencies and adds tremendously to the dangers that threaten our body
 polite. This associate plays the roll
 of smooth. insinuating confidence operator. Clothed in the garb of inn mutabe faith in the invulnerability of our national greatness, it invites ouI ) admiring gaze to the flight of the
 American eagle, and assures us that nc tempestuous weather can ever tire his , wing. Thus many good and honest men are approached through their pa , triotic trust in our free institutions and , immense national resources, and are } nsidiously led to a condition of mind i 1-l,iI tn ha hn,
 the uncomfortable thought that any
 emission on their part can check Amer
 ican progress, or endanger our coun- t1y's continued development. Have WIG : not lived as d nation more than d cen ? tury; and have we not exhibited
 growth and achievement in every di- rection. that discredit all parallels il
 history? After Us the deluge. Why