The Irish standard., 1905-08-26
He Was the Guest of the Catholic Total Ab-
stinence Union Which Assembled
in Wilkesbarre, Pa.
The Society is Given Much Credit for the
Work 1t Has Accomplished Among
the Working Classes.

Over 100000 persons, including
10000 mine workers, and 5000 dele
gates of the Catholic Total Abstinence
Union, assembled in Wikcsbarre. Pa,
on August 10 to do honor to President
Roosevelt and to hear what he had to
say TO them. 1t was the greatest out
pouring of labor men which ever greet
cd president of the United States,
and President Roosevelt was the first
president since Lincoln, in 1850, to
address such /; gathering of organized
laboring men.
The president had come as the
guest of the Catholic Total Abstinence
Union, which had brought about 5000
men and women from every part of the
Union, and also of the United Mine
Workers of America. In view of the
combination of hists, he spoke upon
temperance and labor. His address
was such as Il priest might make to
guage, down to the mental level of his
humblest listener. He scolded the
brawny mine workers, but he laughed
as he did SO. The men enjoyed his cas-
tigation so that they, too, laughed I'M
til he told them that he was serious
indeed. When the applause was loud
est, he said: "If any of you are ap-
plauding the sentiments of virtue and
then go home to your family in such a
way that the family will wish that
you had stayed away, ] do not think
much of such person."
There was laughter and much ap.
plause at this. "In these troubles we
call labor troubles" said he; "if you are
right l will stand by you; but want
to tell you that if you are wrong I
will not stand by YOU" Cheers greet
ed Mr.. Mitchell's speech, and more
cheers came when he introduced Pres
ident Roosevelt.
President ROosevelts voice had
greater carrying powers than that of
any of the other speakers, and he
spoke to the crowd in sections, SO that
while no one part heard more than
one-fourth of his address, all were sat
isfied by hearing some Of 1t. His refer
ences to the mine workers elected
cheer on cheer, and were taken with
an excellent spirit. All present were
deeply impressed, and what he said
had marked influence on them. The
president said:
! am particularly glad to speak to
this audience of miners and their
wives and children, and especially to
speak under the auspices Of this great
temperance society. In our country
the happiness of all the rest of our
people depends most of all upon the
welfare of the wageworker and the
welfare of the farmer. If we can Sc
cure the welfare Of these two classes
we can be reasonably certain that the
community as whole will prosper.
And we must never forget that the
chief factor in securing the welfare
alike Of wageworker and of farmer,
as Of everybody else, must be the man
himself.
The only effective way to help any
body is to help him help himself. There
are exceptional times when any one Of
us needs outside help, and then it
should be given freely; but. normally,
each one Of us must depend upon his
own exertions for his own success.
Something can be done by wise legis-
lation and by wise and honest admin
istration of the laws; that is, some
thing can be done by our action, taken
in our collective capacity through the
state and the nation.
Something more can be done by
combination and organization among
ourselves in our private capacities as
citizens, SO long as this combination
or organization is managed with wis
dom and integrity, with insistence
upon the rights of those benefited and
yet with just regard for the rights of
Others But in the last analysis the
factor most influential in determining
any mans success must ever be the