Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-03-14
" FARMING
SELFISHNESS
ROOSEVELT ADJUREs AUDIENCE
IN WASHINGTON NOT TO
BE SELFISH. 4--
THE WEIGHToF WEALTH,

A Large Fortune, Tho Speaker saysF
Carries With It Great ResponsIblL
lntles-QuaIItIes That Counted 1000
Years Ago Count Now the same--ln
dorses Immigrant Work, A
Washington, Dec. March 1s,-Presls
dent Roosevelt, in an address Sunday
before the local meeting Of the Amer,
lean Tract society. opposed the idea ofl
permitting mere material we'll being tai
become the only ideal Of the nation. Hdl
said that If the people Of the republio'
were permitted to set this up as the,
one and only standard, they were lay-
Ing I'D for themselves and the nation
not merely trouble. but ruin.
The President said wealth brought
its responsibilities, and the man who
accumulated great fortune and did
not use 1t well should be an object Of
pity and condemnation.
II believe that more and more we
shall accustom ourselves to looking at
the great fortunes accumulated by
certain men as being nothing in them
selves" he said, "either to admire, to
envy, or to deplore, save as they are
used well or i'll.
IF the great fortune is used we'll. if
the man who has accumulated II has
the strength necessary to resist the
temptations either to use 1t wrong.
fully, or, what Is nearly as bad, not to
use 1t right-for negation may be al.
most as harmful rs positive wrong.
dcing-he is entitled to the praise due
| to whoever employees great powers for
the common good.
Object Of Envy or Pity.
IF the man who accumulates that
great fortune uses 1t i'll or does not
use 1T we'll, then 80 far from being an
object of envy, still less an object of
admiration, he should take his place
| among those whom we condemn and
pity-for usually il we have the root
of the matter in us, we will pity those
we condemn. If he uses 1T Alright, then
| he Is entitled to our admiration, our
respect, exactly as every man is en-.
titled to it If he has special talents and
uses those special talents for the vel.
fare of the people as q whole, for the
uplifting of mankind
Wonderful changes have come in
the last half century. 1t may we'll be
as Mr.. Justice Brewer has said, that
we tremble on the verge of still greater
changes in the future. The railway,
the telegraph, the telephone, steam,
| electricity, all the marvellous mechan.
ical inventions Of these last five de.
cades, have changed much In the gu.
perf1cial aspect Of the world and have,
| therefore, produced certain great
changes in the world itself.
Eternal Qualities Count.
"But, after all, in glorying over and
wondering at this extraordinary devel.
i opment, think that we sometimes for.
4 get that, compared to the deeper
j things, it is indeed only superficial in
its effect. The qualities that count
most in man and in woman now are
| the qualities that counted most 1000
] years ago; and as a nation we shall
achieve success or merit failure accord.
ingly as we do or do not display those
qualities.
Indorses Immigrant Work.
At the outset of his address the
President referred to the good work
accomplished by the tract society and
Endorsed the view that all should be
"doers of the word and not hearers
|only" He said just tribute was due
to the society for its work at Ellis
Island in helping the thousands Of im-
migrants. He continued:
"The immigrant comes here almost
unprotected; he does not as a rule
know our language; he is wholly un-
familiar with our institutions, our GUS
toms, our habits of life, and ways Of
thought; and there are, / am sorry to
say great numbers of evil and wicked
4 people who hope to make their liveli-
hood by preying on him and unless
a some one Is on hand to help him he
literally has no idea where to turn No
greater work can be done by philan-
thropic or religious society than to
4 stretch out the helping hand to the
man and woman who come here to this
county to become citizens and the pafs
ents of citizens. II we do not take
care of them. If we do not try to up
lift them, then as sure as fate our own
children will pay the penalty. Either
they will rise or we shall sink.
The level of well being in this
country will be level for all of us.
We cannot keep that level down for a
part and not have 1t sink more or less
. for the whole. If we raise 1t for part
we shall raise it to certain extent
! for the whole. Therefore, it means
much that representatives Of religious
and philanthropic societies should try
to care for the immigrants body. and
above all, to try to care for the immi.
4 prant,S sO1II - B5s