The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1905-03-08
ROOSEVELT SPEAKS,
Inaugural Address as Delivered
BY the President.
NATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Is the Theme of the Rrief, But Patri-
otto Speech Made by the Nations
Chief.
My Fellow Citizens: No people on
earth have more cause to be thankful than
ours, and this is said..reverently. 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 we'll being and of happiness.
To US as people it has been granted to
lay the foundations of our national life in
a new continent. We are the heirs of the
ages, and yet we have had to pay few of
the penalties which in the old countries
are exacted by the dead band of a bygone
civilization. We have not sbeen obliged
to fight for our existence against any alien
race: and yet cur life has called for the
vigor and effort without which the man
lier and harder virtues wither away.
Under such conditions it would be our
own fault if we failed: and the success
which we haye had in the past. the sue
cess which we confidently believe the
future will bring should cause in us no
feeling of vainglory, but rather deep
realization of all which life has offered US;
a full acknowledgment of responsibility
which is ours; and fixed determination
to show that under free government a
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 be rightfully expected from US. We
have duties to others and duty to our
selves, and we can shirk neither. We
have become great nation, forced by the
fact of its greatness into relations with
other nations of the earth; and we must
behave as beseems people with such re-
sponsibilities. Toward all other nations.
large and small. our attitude must be one
of cordial and sincere friendship. We must
show not only in our words but in our
deeds that we are earnestly DESTROYS of
securing their good will by acting toward
them in spirit of just and generous
recognition of all their rights. But justice
and generosity in nation as in an in
dividual, 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 it be-
cause we think it is right and not because
we are afraid. No weak nation that acts
manfully and justly should ever have
cause to fear US, and no strong power
should ever be able to single us out as a
ubject for insolent aggression.
Our relations with the other powers OF
the world are important; but still more
important are cur relations among our.
selves Such growth in wealth, in popu
lation and in power as this nation has seer
during thescentury and quarter of it:
national life is inevitably accompanied by
a like growth in the problems which are
ever before every nation that rises tt
greatness. Power invariably means botf
responsibility and danger. Our forefath.
ers faced certain perils which we have out
grown. We now face other perils tht
very existence of which it was impossible
that they should foresee. Modern life il
both complex and tense, .and the tire
mendous changes wre lght by the extraor
binary industrial development of the las
half century are felt in every fiber of GU
social and political being. Never befor.
have men tried so vast and formidable ar
experiment as that of administering tn,
affairs of a continent under the forms o
democratic republic: The conditions
which have told for our marvellous mater
ial we'll being, which have developed to ;
very high degree our energy, self reliance
and individuality. have also brought thu
care and anxiety inseparable from the &C
cumulation of great wealth in industrial
centers. Upon the success of our expert
ment much depends; not only as gard
our own welfare, but as regards the vel
fare of mankind. If we fail, the cause o.
free self government throughout the
world will rock to its foundations; ane
therefore. our responsibility is heavy-te
ourselves. to the world as it is today, ane
to the generations yet unborn. There il
no good reason why we should fear the
future, but there is every reason why W.
should face it seriously, neither hiding
from ourselves the gravity of tn.
problems before US nor fearing II
approach these problems with the VI
Dencing, unhinching purpose II
solve them Alright.
Yet, afte- all, though the problems ar,
new, though the tasks set before us diffe
from the task set before onr fathers VIII,