Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-15
much oftener on matters of good citizen
ship affecting us all as good citizens.
A Typical American Gathering.

| affection and regard for the men and
| women of the great East Side of this city.
| and 1 needed no urging when l was in
| yited to come and be a guest at club OF
| the East Side this evening. President
| Braun has described how the preliminary
| invitation took place. 1t was six years ago
| that this club gave me dinner after Il
| had been elected governor. and they then
| said that they intended to elect me Presf-
dent and that then I must come and take
| dinner with them again. I told them GER
\ tainly, that II they would carry out their
part of the contract | would carry out
| mine. I am not perfectly certain that they
| anticipated that their offer would be closed
| with so soon. But you see, gentlemen. i
closed with them. and tonight l wish to
greet you most warmly and to say that
doubt If we could find a more typically
| American gathering than this.
/ Americans Not Matter Of Birth.
"Americanism is not a matter Of birth
| place. of ancestry of creed. of occupation:
Americanism is matter of the spirit that
| Is within mans soul. From the time when
! we first became an independent nation to
the present moment there has never been
| a generation in which some of the most
| distinguished and most useful men were not
! men who had been born on the other SIDE
of the Atlantic, and 1t Is peculiarly appro-
pirate, and to me peculiarly pleasant, that
| in addressing this club Of the men upon
whose efforts so much of the future welfare
|
depends l should be addressing men who
| show by their actions that they know no
difference between Jew and Gentle Cath
oiic and Protestant, native-born and Tor
eign-born; provided only the man. whatever
his creed, whatever his birthplace, strives to
live so as to do his full duty by his neigh
Dor and by the country as whole.
| And now gentlemen, l wish to say that
we cannot keep too clearly before our minds
| the facts that for the success of our civ
ilzation what is needed Is not so much
brilliant ability, not so much unusuai
| genius as the possession by the average
man of the plain, homely, work-a-day VIZ
tues that make that man a good rather, a
good husband, and good friend and neigh.
bora decent man with Whom TO zeal III I'LL
relations of life.
Good Laws and Righteous Living.
1--WE need good laws. we need honest adj
minstration of the laws. and we cannot af-
ford to be contented with less; but more
than aught else we need that the average
man shall have in him the root of righteous
living; that the average man shall have In
him the feeling that will make him ashamed
| to do wrong, to submit to wrong, and that
will make him feel his bounden duty to help
those that are weaker; to help those
especially that in any way depend
ent upon him; and while not in any way
losing his power of individual initiative. to
cultivate without ceaslng the further power
of acting in combination with his fellows
L
good government
II shall not keep you very long this even
ing. 1 have come here not to make you
set speech, but, If you will allow me to say
so, to speak as an old friend among his old
| friends. l have seen a good deal OF your
lives. 1 know the effort, the toll, the hap
| piness and the success. l have endeaVored
! when l have been brought in contact with
the East Side in the course of any work In
| which l have been engaged so to handle
myself that the East Side might be a little
better for 1t. do not know Whether sue
ceeded or not, but do know that have al
| ways been the better myself for contact
with the East Side.
Meaning of Success.
"And now, one word In closing upon sue
| cess in life upon the success that each of
us should strive for. 1t Is a great mistake
I-oh such a great mistake-to measure sue
cess merely by that which glitters from
| without. or to speak of it terms which Will
mislead those also about us. and especially
the younger people about US, as 10 what
| success really is.
"There must of course, be for success a
certain material basis. 1 should think Ill
of any man here who did not wish to leave
his children little better ana not niue
| should not feel that he was doing his duty
by them, and If he cannot do his duty by
his own children he is not going TO do MS
duty by any one else. But after that GER
tain amount of material prosperity has been
| gained. then the things that really count
most are the things of the soul rather tnan
the things of money and l am sure ir9, thas
| what it is that made him most happy, OF
| what 1t is that made him most respect his
neighbors, will agree with me-
Pride Over Individual Effort.
Look back in your own lives; see what
the things are that you are proudest of
as you look back, and you will, In almost
every case, and on every occasion, lind
that those memories of pride are asso-
ciated, not with days of ease, but with
days of effort, the day when you had to
do all that was in you for some worthy
end. and the worthiest of all worthy ends
is to make those that are closest ana
nearest to YOU, your wife and children.
and those near you, happy and not sorry
that YOU are alive. And after that mas
been DONE to be able so to handle your
self that you feel when the end comes,
on the whole your community, your fellow
men, are little better off and not little
worse off because you have lived.
| This kind of success is open to every
one of US. The great prizes come more
or less by accident and no human pelns
knows that better than any man who has
won any of them. The great prizes come
more or less by accident, but to each
to lead his life that at the end of his
days his children, his wife. those that are
dear to him. shall rise up and call him
blessed, and so that his neighbors and
those who have been brought into intimate
association may~feel that he has done his
part as a man in a world which sadly
needs that each man should play his part
well.
Work at Washington.
"Now gentlemen, 1 have to say good
night. because this has been such de-
Iightful dinner that I already find / am
staying pretty nearly as late as I can stay
and catch the train that is to take me
back to my regular work at Washington;
| and l have come, as l said, not to make a
set speech, but to thank you for your greet
ing and to assure you that not one meeting
which / have attended since L have been
President has given me greater pleasure to
| attend than this dinner here tonight
| 1t was almost impossible to hear the con-
Guiding paragraphs of the Presidents
speech. because of the activities of the Sc
cret service men. They swarmed around
the main table; and. with a wedge forma-
ton, took the President through the mar
row hallway and up the stairs to the re-
ception room. where his coat and hat had
been left. Then a police sergeant In uni
| FORM with half a dozen patromen, were
sent to keep the stairs clear Ten minutes