The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-10-20
PRESIDENT IN RICHMOND
Continued from First Page.l

II yshould feel joy and pride III 1t, for
any great deed done, or any fine quail
tiles shown. by II group of Ameri-
cans, of necessity reflects credit upon
all Americans. Only a heroic people
could have battled successfully against
the conditions with which the people
of the south found themselves face to
face al the end of the civil war. There
had been utter destruction and disas-
ter, and wholly new business and
social problems had to be faced with
the scanJiest means. The economic
and political fabric had to be readjust-
ed in the midst of dire want, of grind
ing poverty. The future of the broken,
war-swept south seemed beyond hope,
and if her sons and daughters had been
of weaker fiber there would in very
truth have been no hope. But the men
and the sons of men who had faced
with unfaltering front every alterna-
ton Of good and evil fortune from
Manassas TO A~ppomattox, and the
women, their wives and mothers.
whose courage and endurance had
reached an even higher heroic level
these men and these women set them
selves undauntedly to the great task
before them. For twenty years the
struggle was hard and at times doubt
full. Then the splendid qualities of
YOU manhood and womanhood told, as
they were bound to tell, and the wealth
of your extraordinary natural resources
began to be shown. Now the teeming
riches of mine and field and factory
attest the prosperity of those who are
all the stronger because of the trials
and struggles through which this pros.
perity has some. You stand Loyalty
to your traditions and memories; You
also stand Loyalty for our great com
mon country of today and for our COM
mon flag, which symbolizes all that Is
brightest and most hopeful for the fu-
ture Of mankind: you face the new
age in the spirit of the age. Alike
in your material and in your spiritual
and intellectual development you stand
abreast of the foremost in the worlds
progress.
GREAT PROBLEMS MUST BE
SOLVED.
And now. my fellow-citiZenS, my
fellow-Americans, exactly as Ill Of Us,
whether we live in tie East Or the
West. in the North or the South, have
the right merely as Americans to feel
pride in every great deed done by any
American in the past, and exactly as
we are knit together by this common
heritage OF memories, so we are knit
tOCther by the bond of our common
duties in the present, u common III
terests in the future. Many n great
problems lie before us. If we treat
the mighty memories of the past mere
" as excuse for sitting laZily down
in the present, or for standing aside
from the rough work CT the world.
then these memories will prove a curse
instead of a blessing. But if we treat
them as | believe we shall treat them,
not as excuses for inactiO1, but as in
centives to make us show that we are
worthy of our fathers and Of u faith
ers' fathers, then in truth the deeds OF
the past will not have been wasted.
for they shall bring forth fruit a hun
dred fold in the present generation.
We of this nation, we the citizens of
this mighty and wonderful republic,
stretching across a continent between
the two greatest oceans, enjoy extra
ordinary privileges, and as u Oppor-
tunity is great, therefore Jul response
Dl1lly Is SICdj. We AdNS tSiN ~
perform both abroad and at home, and
we can not shirk either set of duties
and fully retain III self-respect.
Or'H i.E>SrN TO THE WORLD
In foreign affairs we must make I'LL
our minds that whether we wish ii or
not, We are a great people n must
play a great part in the world. 1t IS
not Open to us to choose whether we
will play that great part or not. We
have to play; all we can decide is
whether we shall play it we'll or i'll.
And | have to much confidence in my
countrymen to doubt what the i Il
sion will be. Our mission in the world
should be one of peace, but. not the
peace of %cravens, the peace grained
contemptuously to those who purchase
it by ~surrendering the right. No! Our
voice must be effective for peace be-
cause it is raised for righteousness
first and for peace only as b hand
maiden of righteousness. We musl be
s%crupulous in respecting the rights OF
the weak, and no less careful to make
it evident that we do not act through
fear of the strong. We must be scrup-
ulous in doing justice to others and
scrupulous in exacting justice Tor
ourselves. We must beware equal
" of t hat sinister and cyaic
teaching which would persuade us to
disregard ethical standards in inter
national relations, and of the no less
hurtful folly which would stop the
whole work of civilization by a we'll
meant but silly persistency in trying
to apply to peoples untitled for them
those theories of government and Of
national action which are only suited
for most advanced races. In particular
we must remember that in under+ak-
ing to build the Panama canal we have
necessarily undertaken to police The
seas at either end Of it; and this
means that We have a peculiar in;er-
est in the preservation of order in the
coasts and islands Of the Caribbean. /
firmly believe that by a little wise and
generous aid we can help ever rhe
most backward peoples in these
coasts and islands forward along the
path of orderly liberty so that they
can stand alone. IL we decline { give