The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-03-14
PRESIDENT ADDRESSES
 CONGRESS OF MOTHERS
THE IMPORTANCE OF HEAuaaY
 HOME LIFE TO NATION.

Duties of HGsband and wife-The
 Greatest Duty of womanhood-a
 Good Wife and Mother Must be Ab,c
 and Willing to Bear and Bring Up
 Children Numerous Enough So That
 Race Shall Increase and Not De-
 crease.
 Washington. March 1S.--An address by President Roosevelt was the feature of the evening session of the National congress of mothers. now holding it's triennial convention at the Metropoli-
 tan M. D. church. Anticipating the presidents appearance there was an immense crcwdsat the church composed largely of women, and when Mir. Roose-
 welt, accompanied by Secretary Loeb.
 arrived about quarter past o'clock
 he received a cordial reception. The | president was formally Introduced to the audience by Mrs. Frederic Sohoff of Philadelphia the president of the congress. The president said: Tn our modern industrial civilization there are many and grave dangers to
 counterbalance the splendors and the triumphs. It is not a good thing to see cities grow at disproportionate speed
 relatively to the country; for the small
 land owners, the men who own their It. tie homes, and therefore to very large extent the men who till farms, the men of the soil have hitherto made the
 foundation becomes either too weak or
 too marrow, the superstructure, no
 matter how attractive, is in imminent
 danger of falling.
 But far more important than. the question of the occupation Of our citi-
 zens is the question of how their fanli~ ly life is conducted. No matter what that occupation may be, as tong as
 there is real home and as long as
 those who make up that home do their i duty tosone another, to their neighbors
 and to the state, it is of minor conse-
 quence whether the mans trade is piled
 in the country or the city, whether it
 calls for the work of the hands or for
 the work of the head.
 But the nation is Tn bad way if
 there is no real home. if the family is
 not of the right kind; if the man is
 not good husband and father, if he
 is brutal and cowardly or selfish, if
 the woman has lost her sense of duty, < if she is sunk in vapid self indulgence I or has let her nature be twisted so 1 that she prefers a sterile pseudo o-irltel- | lectuality to that great and beautiful development of character which comes only to those whose lives know the 1 fullness of duty done, of effort made
 and self-sacrifice undergone.
 1 In the last analysis the welfare of the state depends absolutely upon whether or not the average family, the average
 man and woman and their children,
 represent the kind of citizenship fit for the foundation of great nation; and
 if we fail to appreciate this we fail to appreciate the root morality upon which all healthy civilization is based. l No piled up wealth, no splendor of material growth, no brilliance of artis- I tic development, will permanently
 avail any people unless it's home life is
 healthy, unless the average man pos { sesses honesty, courage common sense
 and decency, unless he works hard and
 is willing at need to fight hard; and l unless the average woman is a good ], wife, a good mother, able and willing l to perform the first and greatest duty of wonanhood, able and willing to
 bear, and to bring up as they should 1 be brought up, healthy children, sound l in body and mind and character an numerous enough so that the race shall I increase and not decrease.
 | .4rsv. -TI
 will be true as long as this world en-
 dures, and which no amount of pro-
 gress can alter. One of these is the 1 truth that the primary duty of the hus- band is to be the home maker, the l bread winner for his wife and children, ! and that the primary duty of the wo-
 man is to be the helpmeet, the house. wife and mother The woman should
 have ample educational advantages; l but save in exceptional cases the man must be, and she need not be- and gen. ] erally ought not to be, trained for a, 1 lifelong career as the family bread 1 winner; and, therefore, after certain point the training of the two must nor
 mally be different because the duties of l the two are normally different. This l. uOGS IluC Iliedll 1H6qudllty OL AuLCtioiis but it does mean that normally there must be dissimilarity of function. On the whole, think the duty of the woman the more important, the mora difficult, and the more honorable of the two; on the whole respect the woman who does her duty even more than | respect the man who does his
 No ordinary work done by a man IS either as hard or as responsible as the work of woman who is bringing up
 family of small children; for upon her time and strength demands are made ,, not only every hour of the day but of- ] ten every hour of the night. She may have to get up night after night to take
 care of a sick child, and yet must by day continue to do all her household
 duties as we'll; and if the family means
 are scant she must usually enjoy her
 rare holidays taking her whole brood of children with her. The birth bangs make all men the debtors of all women. Above all our sympathy and regard are due to the struggling wives among those whom Abraham Lincoln called the