The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-10-20
Friday, October 20, 1905
MIR. ROOSEVEUT'S SPEECH.

gun. AS will he seen from the press
dispatches on another page of this
paper, he visited Richmond yesterday
and made a speech there.
During this trip the president will
make about half a dozen set speeches
talks. He has devoted much care to
the preparation of the speeches, and
their delivery and publication by the
press are anxiously awaited by the
people of all parts of the country. Ii
statements sent out from Washington
be true these speeches will be Of in.
terest to many people other than D
of the localities il which they are de-
livered; for they are to touch upon
leading topics now attracting public
attention and t. outline the policy Of
the administration, or rather of the
president upon several subjects on
which the leaders of his party are di-
vided. Chief among these are tariff
revision and federal supervision of rail-
way rates.
In his speech yesterday Mr.. Roose-
Welt made less allusion to politics
than we expected. A careful reading
of that speech will give one the idea
that the speakers chief purpose was
to flatter his hearers and to win them
over to himself or to his party. There
was much of the politician in it, though
little of politics
In making a speech in Richmond Of
course the president alluded to Viz
ginia's position on the honor-roll Of
states-"the state than which no other
has contributed a larger proportion
to the leadership of the nation 1t
was expected, also, that he would al
lude to the war between the states, to
the valor of the southern soldiers, to
the heroic efforts made after the war
was oVer by those soldiers who, on
return to their homes had to build lip
their devastated and impoverished
country, and to the reunited country
and the blending of the blue and the
gray. All this, we say was expected,
and it was done, The president devot-
ed much of his speech to the sub
ject and paid an eloquent tribute to
the men of the south (placing them
alongside those of the north), whose
proud sacrifice, the resolute and dar-
ing courage, the high and steadfast
devotion to the right-as each mar
saw it, whether northerner or south
erner-these qualities render all
Americans forever the debtors of those
who in the dark days from '61 to IS
proved their truth by their e%ndeavor.
Mr.. Roosevelt thinks that "grear
though the mead of praise is which
is due the south for the soldierly vator
her sons displayed during the -four
years of war that even greater praise
is due to her for what her people have
accomplished in the forty years of
peace which followed" He recognizes
the fact that for twenty years the
struggle was hard and at times doubt
full" and that then the splendid quail
tiles of your manhood and womanhood
told, as they were bound to tell"
Nearly half of the speech is devoted
to this subject. At times the praise of
the south and of her sons and daugh-
tiers was fulsome and it strikes rs
there was too much of it to be in good
taste.
Then the president turned to The
many great problems which lie be-
fore us, and, we must say, this par5
OF his speech is more to our liking;
for instance, when he said that Gin for
eign affairs we must make up our
minds that whether we wish it or not,
we are a great people and must play
a great part in the world. 1t is not
open to us TO choose whether we will
play that great part or not" and
when he said, we must be scrupulous
in respecting the rights of the weak
and no less careful to make It eviden,
that we do not act through fear of the
strong"
When Mr.. Roosevelt comes to the
problems that face us at home" which
he says are more important even than
the others, he singles out the relation
ship of capital and labor and devotes
the balance of his speech to the<prin-
cipie that o u aim must be to deal
justice to each man, no more and ncI
less The substance of his remarks
on this subject is an appeal for al
square deal for each and every man
wbeii.s~ re lie capt. ,list or lab,-er
and a plea that each man should stand