Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1905-03-11
OUR DUTIES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT.
CAUSE FOR THANKFULNESS
He Says We Have Obligations Both
to Ourselves and to the World
and Can Shirk Neither.

to Ourselves and to the World
and Can Shirk Neither.
Washington, March 4.-The following
is the text of President Roosevelts in
augural address:
My Fellow Citizens: No people Oh
earth have more cause to be tha ankful
In no spirit OF boastfulness in our own
strength but with gratitude to the Giver
OF Good Who has blessed us with the
conditions which have enabled us to
achieve so large measure of well being
and of happiness. To us as a people 1t
has been granted to lay the foundation
of our national life in new continent.
We are the heirs Of the ages, and yet
we have had to pay few of the penalties
which in old countries are eXacted by
the dead hand Of bygone civilization.
We have not been obliged 10 fight for
our existence against any alien race;
and yet our life has called for the yigor
and effort without which the manlier
and harder virtues wither away. I'm
der such conditions it would be our own
fault if we failed, and the success which
we have had in the past, the success
which we confidently believe the future
will bring, should cause in us no feel
ing of vain glory, but rather deep and
abiding realization of all which life has
offered us; full acknowledgement Of
the responsibility which is ours; and
fixed determination to show that under
free government mighty people can
thrive best, alike as regards the things
of the body and the things of the soul.
Much has been given to us, and much
will rightfully be expected from u.s. We
have duties to others and duties to our
selves; and we can shirk neither. We
have become great nation, forced by
the fact OF its greatness into relations
with the other nations of the earth;
and we must behave as beseems peo-
pie with such responsibilities. Toward
all other nations, large and small, our
attitude must be one of cordial and sin
cere friendship. We must show not only
in our words, but in our deeds that we
are earnestly desirous of securing their
good will by acting toward them in a
spirit of just and generous recognition
of all their rights. But justice and gen
erosity in nation, as in an individual,
count most when shown not by the
weak, but by the strong. While ever
careful to refrain from wronging others,
we must be no less insistent that we are
not wronged ourselves. We wish peace;
but we wish the peace of justice, the
peace of righteousness. We wish 1t be-
cause we are afraid No weak nation
that acts manfully and justly should
ever have cause to fear us, and no strong
power should ever he able to single lis
out as a subject for insolent aggression.
Our relations with the other powers
of the world are important, but still
more important are our relations among
ourselves. Such growth in wealth, in
population ~ 7 IN powers as this nation
has seen - .IAg The century and quar-
ter of its national life is inevitably ac-
companied by like growth in the prob
lens which are ever before every ma
tion that rises to greatness. Power in
variably means both responsibility and
danger. Our forefathers faced certain
perils which we have outgrown. We
now face other perils the very existence
of which it was impossible that they
should foresee Modern life is both com
plex and intense, and the tremendous
changes wrought by the extraordinary
industrial development of the last half
century are felt in every fiber of our
social and political being.
The conditions which have told for
our marvellous material well-being,
which have developed to very high de-
gree our energy, sef-reliance and indi-
vidual initiative, have also brought the
care and anxiety inseparable from the
accumulation of great wealth in indus
trial centers. Upon the success of our
experiment much depends; not only as
regards our own welfare, but as regards
the welfare of mankind. If we fail, the
cause of free government through
out the world will rock to its founda-
tions; and therefore, our responsibility
Is heavy, to ourselves, to the world as it
is to-day, and to the generations yet
unborn.
Yet, after all, though the problems are
new, though the tasks set before us differ
from the tasks set before our fathers
who founded and preserved this repub
lie. the spirit in which these tasks must
be undertaken and these problems faced,
if our duty is to be well done, remains
essentially unchanged. We know that
government is difficult. We know
that no people needs such high traits
of character as that people which seeks
to govern its affairs Alright through the
freely expressed will Of the free men who
compose it. But we have faith that we
shall not prove false to the memories
of the men of the mighty past, They did
their work, they left us the splendid
heritage we now enjoy.