The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-03-17
President RooseveIt's Address.
President Roosevelt said in part:

President Eooseveits Address.
President Roosevelt said in part:
Into the woman's keeping g committed
the destiny of the generations to come
after us. In bringing up your children you
mother must remember that while Ii is
essential to be loving and tender it is no
less essential to be wise and firm Fool
ishness and affection must not be created
as interchangeable terms; aud besides
training YOUR sons and daughters in the
softer and milder virtues you must seek
to give them those stern and hardy quail
tiles which in after life they will surely
need. Some children WILL go wrong In
spite OF the best training: and some will
go right even-when their surroundings are
most unfortunate; nevertheless an mn
menSe amount depends upon the family
trimming. II you mothers through weak
ness bring up your sons to he selfish and
TO think only Of themselves, you Will be
women who are TO be their wives n the
future, II you let your daughters grow
up idle. perhaps under the mistaken i'm,
to work hard they shall know only en-
joymcnt. you. are preparing them TO be
useless to Others and burdens to them
selves. Teach boys and girls alike THAI
they are not to look forward to lives spent
IN avoiding difficulties, but to lives spent
In overcoming difficulties. Teach them
Others. is not a curse but a blessing seek
to make them heppy. to make them enjoy
ltie; but seek also to make them race ll.e
success from labor and adversely, and to
do their whole duty before God and to
man. Surely she VINO can thus train her
SONS and her daughters Is thrice fortunate
among women.
There are many good people who are de-
MED the supreme blessing of children. and
for these we have the respect and sym
pathy always due to those who. from no
fault of their own. are denied any OF the
other great blessings Of life. But the
man or woman who deliberately forgoes
these blessings. whether from viciousness,
coldness. shallow-heartedness. self-tndul-
o-n ~ Nnr IN 4 La ra q - n n ~ 70 n RIG 4
the difference between the all-important
and the unimportant-why, such a Great
ure merits contempt as hearty as any Wis
tied upon the soldier who runs away In
battle. or upo the man who refuses to
work for the support of those, dependent
upon him, and who though able-bodied .s
yet content to eat in idleness the bread
which others provide
The existence of women of this type
forms one of the most unpleasant and
nnwholesome features Of modern life:. Ii
any one Is SO dim Il vision as to fall to
see what a thoroughly unlovely creature
such d woman is I wish they would read
Judge Robert Grants novel. .'unleavened
Bread" ponder seriously the character OF
Selma. and think of the fate that would
surely overcome any nation which de-
along such lines. Unfortunately it would
be untrue to say that this type exists
exists In American life Is made unpieas-
antly evident by the statistics as to the
d%windi.ng families In some Localities; y
ia made evident in equally sinister fashion
by the census statistics as to divorce
which are fairly. appalling; for easy oil
vorce la now as 1t ever has been, a BAN
to any nation, a curse to society. a menace
to the home, an Indictment to married un
happiness and to immortality, an evil thint
for men and a stu more hideous eYil 10
our American life are made evident b.
articles such as those which | actuall.
where a Clergyman was quoted. seemingl:
with approval, as expressing the genera
American attitude when he said that TIL
should be to rear two children only, SO a
taste a few OF the good things of life"
.h rs1s m haRc T msde Ri@ a moral ana te aasha
actually set before others the ideal, not c
training children to do their duty. not 9
ready minds to win triumphs for their
selves and their country. not of allowin
them the oppors9nity; ana CIV giving n7, them m II 4
world. but. forsooth, Of keeping the nun
Der Of children so limited that they migi
taste ss > a cb feS 4 g9 sair t Chance in ih life T Is nc
to bring it up In luxury. but to see ths
It has the kin Nd, Of y training Et thar s will, gi fro,
ss.sn yital Of ou SaaIaa'e If national aaen ap iife. 'r aa
the children themselves. happiness In tt
true sense : IS g 2 hpn msmber N more = b ept
family of healthy-minded children, we
brought up, we'll educated, but taugl
that they must shift for themselves. mu
win their own way. and by their ow
exertions make their own positions OF us
fulness. than 1t is apt to come to tho
whose parents themselves have acted {
and have trained their children to act o
the selfish and sordld theory that II
whole end of life is Ito taste a few go'
The intelligence Of the remark Is on
mar with its morality. for the most RUG
Inentary mental process would have shop
the speaker that ii the average family
ewh.ch there are children contained b
two children the nation as a whole won
decrease in population so rapidly that
awo or three generations 1t would We
deservediy be on the point of extinctic
SO that the people who had acted on II
base and selfish doctrine would be givi
place to others with Drawer and mo
robust ideals. Nor would such a resi-
be in any way regrettable: for a race tn
practiced such doctrine-that is, a ra
that practiced race su~icide-would there
,conclusively show that 1t was unfit
exist. and that 1t had better give place
people who had not forgotten the p
mary laws of their being.
To sum up. then. the whole matter
simple enough. If either a race or
Individual prefers the pleasures of me
effortless ease, of self-lndulgence. to