The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-24
Roosevelt Rode the Con-
VentiOn.
Continued from Page Five.)

tlon, paroxysm of tossing flags, then
silence, and Mr. Black commenced his
speech in behalf of President Roose-
VET. Hessaid, among other things:
Ioday common purpose and de-
sire nave engaged us all, and from ev-
cry nook and corner of the country
rises but a single choice to fill the
most exalted office in the world. He
rs no stranger waiting in the shade
20 De called suddenly into public light
me American people have seen him
Tor many years and always where the
fight was thickest and the greatest
need was felt. He has been alike con-
SpIcuous In the pursuits of peace and
In the arduous stress of war. No man
now living will forget the spring of
80, when the American mind was so
inflamed and American patriotism so
aroused; when among all the eager
cltlzeps Surgfng to the front as SOL
dierS, the man whom this convention
mas already in its heart was among
the frst to hear the call and answer
10 his name. Preferring peace but
not AFRAID of war; faithful to every
private obligation yet first to volunteer
a. the sign of national peril; a leader
fu civil life and yet so quick to COM
prehend the arts of war that he grew
almost in day to meet the high ex-
actions of command. There is moth
ing which so tests a man as great and
unexpected danger. He may pass his
life amid ordinary scenes and what he
rs or does but few will ever know.
But when the crash comes or the
flames break out, a moments time
will single out the hero in the crowd.
"A flash of lightning in the night will
reveal what years of daylight have
not discovered to the eye. And so the
fash of the Spanish War revealed that
lofty courage and devotion which the
American heart SO loves and which
you have met again to decorate and
recognize. His qualities do not need
to be retOld, for no man in that ex-
allied place since Lincoln has been bet
ter known in every household in the
land. He is not conservative, if con-
servatism means waiting till it is too
late. He is not WISE if wisdom is to
count a think hundred times when
once will do. There Is no regret so
Keen, in man or country. as that which
Follows an opportunity unembraced.
Fortune scars with high and rapid
wing, and whoever brings it down
must shoot with accuracy and speed.
Only the man with steady eye and
nerve and the courage to pull the
trigger brings the largest opportuni-
ties to the ground. He does not al
ways listen while all the sages speak,
but every day at nightfall beholdS
some record which if not complete has
been at least pursued with conscience
and intrepid resolution. He is no slen-
der flower swaying in the wind, but
that heroic fibre which is best nur-
tured by the mountains and the snow.
He spends little time in review, for
that he knows can be done by the
schools. A statesman graphing with
the living problems of the hour he
grOpeS but little in the past. He be-
1ieves in going ahead. He believes
that in shaping the destinies of this
great Republic, hope is higher inn
pulse than regret. He believes that
preparation for future triumphs is a
more important duty than an invento-
sy of past mistakes. Ii profound stu
dent of history, he is today the great
est history maker in the world. With
the instincts of the Scholar he is yet
forced from the scholars pursuits by
those superb qualities which fit him
TO the last degree for those great
world currents now rushing past with
larger volume and more portentious
aspect than for many years before.
The fate of nations is still decided by
their wars.
And in the man whom you will
choose. the highest sense of every ma
ton in the world behoIds man who
typifies as no other living American
does, the spirit and the purposes of
the twentieth century. He does not
claim to be the Solomon of his time.
There are many things he may not
know, but this is sure that above all
things else he stands for progress,
courage and fair play, which are the
synonyms of the American name.
There are times when great fitness
is hardly less than destiny, when the
elements so come together that they
select the agent they will use. Events
sometimes select the strongest man,
as lightning goes down the highest
rod. And so it is with those events
which for many months with unerring
sight have led you to a single name
which L am chosen only to pronounce:
Gentlemen. / nominate for President
of the United States the highest liv-
ing type of the youth. the vigor and
the promise of a great country and a
great age, Theodore Roosevelt, of
New York.
Like Crash of Thunder.
Governor Black was frequently in
terrupted by applause-
Governor Black pronounced the
nominating words at just 11:06
o'clock. AS he did so he retired
quickly from the platform. But the
words Theodore Roosevelt had not
left his lips when there was a shout.
a.e convention was on it's feet, like
the crash of thunder that follows the
lightning, the enthusiasm began.
Flags were in the air. hats were
thrown up. men jumped on to their
chairs. women stood and shouted. The
air was rent with one continuous pro-
longed shout from thousands of
throats So mighty was the volume
of sound that nothing definite in the
way of articulate sound was distin-
guishable.
At this point the band struck up.
It's strains, however, were only faint
ly audible in the mighty din. Then
Chairman Cannon took hand. I'M
furling tattered silk flag, he adj
vanced to the extreme edge Of the
platform and began to wave it. The
flag is the property of the Lincoln
Mckinley Association of Missouri. and
made its first appearance at "a Re-
publican National convention in 1860,
when Lincoln was nominated. 1t
was then carried by the Missouri dele
cation and was waved over the plat
form on that occasion as in this: 1t
was fuel to the flame of enthusiasm
and the volume of sound increased.