Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1905-03-10
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
President Roosevelt on Conditions that
Confront the United States.

Roosevelts Inauguration address:
my fellow citizens: No people on
earth have more cause to be thankful
than ours, and this is said reverently, ID
no spirit of boastfulness in our own
strength, but with gratitude to the GiVer
of good who has blessed us with the con-
ditions which have enabled us to achieve
so large a measure of weIlbeing and or
happiness. To US as a 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 old countries are exacted by
the dead hand of a bygOne civilization.
1--WE have not been obliged to fight for
our existence against any alien race; and
yet our life has called for the vigor and
effort without which the manlier and
harder virtues wither away. Under
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 feeling
OF vainglOry, but rather a deep and abld-
ing realization of all which life has Of
fered us: a full acknowledgment OF re-
sponsibility which is ours, and fixed
determination to show that under a free
government a mighty people can thrive
best, alike as regards the tAlngs OF
the body and the things of the soul.
Duties to Others and Ourselves.
Much has been given to us and much
| will rightfully be expected from us. We
| have duties to others and duties to our
selves; and we can shirk neither. We
oti
the fact Of it's greatness into relations
with the other nations of the earth,
and we must behave as becomes a people
| with such responsibilities. Toward all
other nations, large and small, our at
titude 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 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 a nation,
| as in an individual, count most when
shown not by the weak but by the strong
| While ever careful to refrain from wrong
| ing Others we must be no less tnsistent
| that we are not wronged ourselves. We
| wish peace; but wish the peace OF JUS
| tice the peace of righteousness. We wish
| it because we think it is right and not be
| cause we are afraid: No weak nation mat
| acts manfully and justly should ever nave
cause to fear US, and no strong power
| should ever be able to single us out as
| subject for insolent aggression.
| Internal Relations Important.
| "Our relations with the other powers of
| the world are important, but still more I'M
| pOrtant are our relations among ourselves.
| Such growth in wealth, In population and
| In power as this nation has seen during
| the century and quarter Of its national
| life is inevitably accompanied by like
| growth in the problems which are ever be-
| fore every nation that rises to greatness.
| Power invariably means both responsibility
| and danger. We now face other perils the
| very existence of which it was impossible
that they should foresee. Modern life is
| both complex and intense and the tremen-
| dous changes wrought by the extraordinary
| industrial development of the last half cen
| fury are felt In every fiber of our social
and political being Never before have men
| ment as that Of administering the affairs
| Of d continent under the forms Of demo
| cratic republic.
Care and Anxiety Wealth Brings.
| 1.-The conditions which have told for our
| marvellous material wellbeing, which have
| developed to a very high degree our energy,
| selfreliance and individual Initiative, have
arabic from the accumulation of great
| wealth in industrial centers. Upon the sue
cess Of our experiment much depends; not
| only as regards our own welfare, but as re-
|
| IF we fail the cause of free self-gov-
| eminent throughout the world will rock to
| It's foundations, and therefore our RESPONSE
| bility is heavy, to ourselves, to the world
| as 1t is to-day and to the generation yet
| unborn There is no good reason why we
| should fear the future, but there is every
| reason why we should face it seriously,
neither hiding from ourselves the gravity
| Of the problems before nor fearing to
| approach these problems with the unbend-
| Ing, untlinching purpose to solve them
| Alright.
| Must Face New Tasks in Old Spirit.
Yet, after all. though the problems are
| new, though the tasks set before us differ
| from the tasks set before fathers who
| founded and preserved this republic, the
| spirit in which these tasks must be under
| taken and these problems faced, If our duty
| is to be well done, remains essentially
| changed. We know that self-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 to the memories of the men of the
| mighty past. They did their work, they
| left US the splendid heritage
| joy. We, in turn, have assured
| this heritage unwasted and enlarged to our
| children and our chidren's children.
| ITO do so we must show, not merely in
| great crises, bat in the everyday affairs of
| life, the qualities of practical intelligence,
| Of courage, of hardihood and endurance,
| and above all, the power of devotion to
| lofty ideal, which made great the men who
| founded this republic In the days Of Wash
| tngton, which made great the men who pre-
served this republic in the days Of Abraham
| Lincoln"