Weekly Arizona journal-miner. [volume] (Prescott, Ariz.) 1903-1908, 1905-03-01
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT TALKS TO
STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY At
Philadelphia on Washngton's Birthday=Ad-
dress Breathes Pure and Lofty Thoughts
of Patriotism and True Americanisrn.
BY Associated Press.


today to the ludents of the university
of Pennsylvania. The degree of Doc
tor of Laws WIS afterwards conferred
on the president by the faculty of the
university. The presidents address:
to the students follows:
As nation we have had our full
share of great men, but the two mer
of preeminent greatness who, as the
centuries 60 on, will surely loom
above all others are Washington and
Lincoln; and it is peculiarly fitting
that their birthdays should be cele-
brated every year and the meaning OF
their lives brought home close to US.
No other city in the country is SO
closely identified with Washington s
career as Philadelphia. He served
here in 1775 in the Continental con-
gress. He was here as commander of
the army at the time of the battles OF
Brandywine and Germantown; and it
was near here that with that army he
faced the desolate winter at Valley
Forge, the winter which marked the
turning point of the Revolutionary
war. Here he came again as president
of the convention which framed the
constitution, and then as president of
the United States, and finally as lieu
tenant general of the army after he
had retired from the presidency.
One hundred and eight years ago,
just before he left the presidency, he
issued his farewell address, and in it
he laid down certain principles which
he believed should guide the citizens
of this republic for all time to come,
his own words being, (which appear
to me all-important to the perma-
nency of your felicity as a people. "
Washington, though in some ways
an even greater man than Lincoln,
did not have Lincoln's wonderful gift
of expression-that gift which makes
certain speeches of the rail splitter
from Illinois read like the inspired
utterances of the great Hebrew seers
and prophets. But he had all of Lin
coins sound common sense, r-sight-
edness, and devotion to lofty ideal.
Like Lincoln he sought after the no
blest objects, and like Lincoln he
sought after them by thoroughly prac-
teal methods. These two greatest
Americans can fairly be called the
best among the great men of the
world, and greatest among the good
men of the world. Each showed in
actual practice his capacity to secure
under our system the priceless union
of individual liberty with government
tai strength. Each was as free from
the vices of the Lyrant as from the
vices of the demagogue. To each the
empty futility of the mere doctrinaire
was as alien as the baseness of the
merely self seeking politician. Each
was incapable alike of the wickedness
which seeks by force of arms to wrong
Ol1ClS anu VI IAlC hO lCSS
weakness which fails to provide effect
lively against being wronged by others.
Among Washington maxims which
be bequeathed to his countrymen we're
the two following: "Observe good
faith aud justice toward all nations"
and ''To be prepared for war is the
n 70
peace" These two principles taken
together should form the basis of our
whole foreign policy. Neither is suffi-
cient taken by itself. 1t is not merely
an idle dream, but most mischievous
dream, to believe that mere refraining
from wrong doing will insure US
against being wronged. Yet, on the
other hand, a nation prepared for war
is a menace to mankind unless the
national purpose is to treat other ma
tions with good faith and justice. In
any community it is neither the CON
scientious man who is a craven at
heart, rot yer the bold and strong
man without the moral sense, who is
of real use to the community; it j.
tine man who to strength and courage
adds a realizing sense of the moral OBJ
legation resting upon him, the man
who has rot only the desire but the
power to do his full duty by his
and by the state. So in the
world at large, the nation which is nf
use in the progress of mankind is that
nation which combines strength of
character, force of character, and in
sistence upon its own rights, with a
full acknowledgment of his own duties
toward others. Just at present the best
way in which we ran show that our
loyalty to the teachings of Washing
ton is loyalty of the heart and not
of the lips only is TO see to it that the
work of building up our navy goes
steadily on, and that at the same time
our stand for international righteous
ness is clear and emphatic.