The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1905-03-10
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
President Spoke Very Briefly of On
National Duty.

'''S NJ
President Spoke Very Briefly of Gu.
National Duty.
The president in his brief inaugural
address said: My Fellow citizens
No people on Garth have cause 10 he
more thankful than ours. and this is said
re. rentiy and in no spirit of boastfulness
In our own strength. but with gratitude
10 the GlNcr of Good who has blessed us
with the conditions which have enabled
us to achieve so large a measure of we'll
beng and of happiness. To us as a people
II has been granted 10 lay the foundations
of our national life in q new continent. We
are the heirs of the ages, and Vet we have
had TO pay few OF thc penalties which in
old countries are enacted by the dead hand
OF Il bNgone civilization. We have not
been Obliged TO light for our existence
against n alien race; and yet our life
has called for the visor and effort without
which the manlior and harder virtues
"lther away. Cndor such conditions ii
would he our own fault If we failed; and
the success which we have had in the
past, the success which we confidently be-
ieNe the future viii bring. should cause
IN us no feeling of Nalft glory, but rather
a deep and allidin. realization of all which
life has offered us: a fun acknowledges
m"nt OF responsibility which is ours: ana
a fixed determination 10 show that under
a free government a mighty people can
thrive best, alike as regards the things
of The body and the things of the soul.
Large Opportunities. Large Duties.
Much mas been given 10 US. and much
viii rishtfully be expected from us. We
have duties to others, and duties to our
selves, and We can sNirk 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 IS bcseems a people With such
responsibilities, 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 i'm a spirit of Just and gem
erous recognition of all their rights. But
justice and generosity in a nation, as in
AN individual. count most when shown not
by the week hut by the strong. While
ever careful to refrain from wronging 9TH
ers We must he no less insistent that we
are not Wronaed ourselves. We wish
peace, but We wish the peace of justice;
the peace of righteousness. We wish it
because we think it is right and not he
cause We are afraid. No weak nation that
acts manfully and justly should ever have
l''' ''H sAA' nv 'bioIiS
should ever he able 10 single us out as
a subject for insolent aggression.
Our Foreign Relations.
"onr relations with the other powers of
the world are important; but still more
important are our relations among our
selves. Such growth IN wealth. IN popula-
ton. and in power as his nation has
seen during the century and a quarter of
its national life is inevitably accompanied
M N 1tl-1 ,r ga ,I-., N,.l - ~
are ever before every nation that rises TO
greatness. Power invariably means both
responsibility and danger. Our forefath-
ers faced certain i%,erils which we have
QUIT rown. We now face other pcrils, the
existence of which il was impossible
that they should foresce. Modern life is
complex and intense. and the ire
changes wrought by the extra
ordinary industrial development of tho
last half century are felt III every fibre
of our social and political being. Never
before have men tried so vast and forrnid-
able an experiment. as shat of administer
ing III" affairs of a continent under The
'"rms of a democratic republic.
Prosperity Has Its Problems.
The conditions which have Old for our
marvellous material ~wcll-beins. which
have developed TO a very high degree our
mercy, self-reliance and Individual mi
''' WV 1iie anu
tnNi"tN insoparable from The accumula-
Iion of are.t wealth in industrial ccntrrs.
I pom the success of our experiment much
MOI only as regards our own well
are. bui as regards the welfare OF man
kind. lf We fail, the cause of free self
throughout the world will
'ock TO its foundations and therefore our
responsibility is heavy, To ourselves. 10 the
world as II is today and To the generations
'", unborn. There is no good rcason why
We should fear the future. but there
$ every reason why we should
acc 1T seriously, neither hiding
rom ourselves the gravity Of the prob
ems before us nor fearing to approach
hcsc problems with the unbending. I'M
llncilins purpose to solve them ar,yht.
Yet. after all. though the problems are
lew, though the tasks set before us diff
err from the tasks set before our fathers
Who founded and preserved this republic
he spirit in which these tasks must be un-
'ertaken and these problems faced, il our
.utN Is to be well done. remains essentially
Unchanged. We know that self govern
nent is difficult. We know that no people
leeds such high traits of character as
hat people which seeks to govern its af-
arignt through the freely expressed
'ili of the freemen who compose 1t.
But Faith Is Firm.
But we nave faith that we Shall NOT
rove false TO the memories of the men of
he mighty past. They did their work.
hey left us the splendid heritage we now
n.oy. We in our turn have an assured
o.f1dencc that we shall be able TO leave
his heritage unwastcd and enlarged TO
ur rhi-dron and our chi.dren's children
o do so We must show. not merely in
reat crisis, but in the everyday affairs
+ life. the qualities of practical in,eui-
ence, OF courage, of hardihood ard en-
and above all the power OF de-
otion to a lefty ideal, which made great
ne men who founded this republic In the
avs OF Washington. which made great tho
zen who preserved This republic ia I'M
OF Abraham Lincoln"