The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-30
ADDRESS MADE
BY ROOSEVELT
President at Dedication of Lutheran
Memorial Church.
PLEA FOR THE IMMIGRANT
DUTY OF THE CHURCH TOWARD
NEW ARRIVALS.

Washington. Jan. 29.-President
Roosevelt delivered an address today
at the dedication of the Luther Place
Memorial church, which was seriously
damaged by fire just one year ago to-
night The church has been entirely
restored
The president came in while the ser
vices preliminary TO th- sermon were
in progress and was shown to a seat
IN the pulpit. At their conclusion he
was introduced. President Roosevelt
50 id:
From the standpoint from which 1
am obliged SO continually to look at
matters there is a peculiar function to
IL played by the great Lutheran church
IN the United States of America. This
s. a church which had its rise TO power
III. and. until it emigTated to this side
of the water, had always had it's full
est development in the two great races
of northern and northern middle Eur
ope, the German and the Scandinavian.
The Lutheran church came to the terri
tory which is now the United States
very shortly afte~ the first permanent
settlements were made within our linn
its. for when the earliest settlers came
10 dwell around the mouth of the Della
ware they brought the Lutheran wor-
ship with them, and so, with the earl
icst German settlers. who came to
Pennsylvania and afterward 10 New
York and the mountainous region in the
south of it.
Plea for immigrants.
From that day to this the history
q the growth in population i'm this ma
ton has consisted largely. i'm some re-
spects mainly. of the arrival of sue
Cessive waves of new Corners to our
shores and the prime duty OF those
already i'm the land is to see that their
own progress and development are
shared by those new corners. 1t is a
serious and dangerous thing for any
man to tear loose from the soil, from
the region i'm which he and his fore
bearers have taken root and to be
1ransplanted into a new land. He
should receive all possible aid in that
IL W land; and the aid can be rendered
HIM most effectively by those who can
appeal to him on the ground Of spirit
nal kinship. Therefore the Lutheran
church can do me st in helping upward
and onward so many of the new Corners
l. our shores. and it seems to me that
fl should be. I am tempted to say well
nigh the prime duty of this church, to
see that the immigrant, especially the
emigrant of Lutheran faith from the
cid world whether he come from Scan
dinavia or Germany, or whether he be-
longed to one of the Lutheran countries
or Finland of Hungary, or Austria,
may be not suffered to drift off with
10 friendly hand extended TO him out
OF all the church communion, away
from all the influences that tend to-
ard safeguarding and uplifting him
and that we find ready to hand
those ready to bring him into fellow
ship with the existing modes.
Strength of the Lutherans.
The Lutheran church in this cOun-
try is Of great power numerically.
through the intelligent thrift of its
members, but it viii grow steadily to
even greater power 1t is destined to
1zn one Of the three. greatest and most
important national churches in the
nited States: one of the two or three
churches most distinctly American most
distinctly among the forces that are
10 tell for making this country even
greater in the future. Therefore
peculiar load of responsibility rests up
ON the members of this church. 1t is
az important thing for the people of
this nation to remember their rights.
hut it is an even more important thing
tor them TO remember their duties In
the last analysis of the work of states
men and soldiers. the work of the pub
lie man. shall go for nothing if it is not
based upon the spirit of Christianity
working in the millions of homes
throughout the country so that there
may be that social, that spiritual. that
moral foundation without which no
country can ever rise to greatness. For
material well-being, material prosper
fly. success in arts in letters, great in
duStrial triUmphS, all of them and all
90 the structure raised thereon viii be
as evanescent as a dream if it does
not rest on the righteousness that ex-
alteth "A nation
Let me congratulate you and con-
graduate all OF US that we live in land
and at time that we expect as natural
that there should be an interdenomina-
dicnal service Of thanksgiving, such a
ceremony as is to take place this after
noon i'm which pastors of other churches
join TO congratulate themselves and
YOU upon the rebuilding of this church.
one Of the constant problems of life is
10 try to cultivate breadth without shall
loWness. just as we want to try TO cuI-
tiyate depth without narrOwness"