Evening journal., 1904-11-23
1.-THE SIMPLE LIFE"
President Pays Glowing Tribute to
Rev. Wagner, the Author.
ADVISES ALL TO READ BOOK

Terms Il a Tract, and Says Thas II
breaches to Rich and Poor Alike
and Shows the Arrogance and Ha-
tired of Both.
Washington. Nov. 2S. - President
Roosevelt introduced Rev. Charles
Wagner, the author, 10 a large au-
dience at the Lafayette Opera house.
where, under the auspices of the Young
Mems Christian Association. he de-
livered a lecture on "The Simple
Life" The president. who is a great
admirer OF Mr.. Wagner. was given a
cordial reception. He was introduced
by District Commissioner Henry B.
Macfarland. and in turn presented Mr.
Wagner to the audience in the follow
ing words:
This is the first and will be the
only time during my presidency that
shall ever introduce a speaker to an
audience: and am more than glad to
do 1t in this instance. because II there
Is one book which l should like TO
have read as a tract. and also, what is
not invariably true Of tracts, as an in
teresting tract, by all our people; it is
The Simple Life, written by Mr.. Wag-
ner. / like the book because II does
not merely preach to the rich, and
does not merely preach TO the poor. It
is a very easy thing TO address a sec
tion OF the community in reprobation
Of the forms Of vice to which it is not
prone. What we need to have i'm
pressed upon us is that It is not usually
the root principle of the vice that
varies with variations in social condi-
tions but that 1t is the manifestation
of the vice that varies; and Mr.. Wag-
ner has well brought out the great
fundamental truth that the brutal ar
rogance of a rich man who looks down
upon a poor man because he is poor.
and the brutal envy and hatred felt by
a poor man towards rich man merely
because he is rich, are at bottom twin
manifestations of the same vice. They
are simply different sides of the same
shield. The arrogance that looks down
in the one case. the envy that hates
in the other. are really exhibitions %
the same mean, base and unlovely
spirit which happens in one case TO be
! in different surroundings from what II
is In the other case. The kind Of man
who would be arrogant in one case is
precisely the kind of man who would
be envious and filled with hatred in
the other. The ideal should be the
just, the generous, the broad-minded
man who is as incapable of arrogance
II rich as he is of malignant envy and
hatred II poor. (Applause)
mo republic can permanently exist
when IL becomes a republic of classes
where the man feels not the interest
of the whole people, but the interest
of the particular class to which he be-
) longs, OF fancies that he belongs. al
being of prime Importance. In anti
guilty republic failed as they did be
cause they tended to become either
republic of the few who exploited tn
many. OF a republic of the many VIII
plundered the few. and in either cas-
the end of the republic was inevitable
Just as much so in one case as in tn
: other, and no more so in one case thar
, in the other. We can keep this repub
lie true TO the principles of those WHIT
founded. and of those who afterwardi
preserved it; we can keep It republic
at all only by remembering that WI
must live up to the theory Of IL
founders, to the theory of treating
each man on his worth as a man
neither holding 1t for or against hin
that he occupies any particular station
in life so long as he does his dut
= fairly and well by his fellows and b,
the nation as a whole" (Applause.)