The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-10-18
PRESIDENT ROOSEVEL1'S
SPEECH AT RICHMOND
The Chief Executive Pays High Compliment To The
Mother OF Presidents And Great statesmen.-rhe
Trip South Was Begun This Mornin g. n
PRESIDENT GREETED BY THOUSANDS

n
successfully against the conditions
with which the people of the South
found themselves face to face at the
end of the civil war. There had been
utter destruction and disaster, and
wholly new business and social prob
lens had to be faced with the scanti-
est means. The economic and politi-i
cal fabric had to be readjusted in the
midst of dire want, of grinding power
W. The future OF the broken, war.
swept South seemed beyond hope, and
II her CONS and daughters had been of
weaker fiber there would in very
truth have been no hope. But the,
men AMI the sons of the men who had
faced with unfaltering front every al
formation of god and evil fortune from
Manassas to Appomattox, and the wo-
men, their wives and mothers, whose
courage and endurance had reached
an even higher heroic Ievel-these
men and these women set themselves
undauntedly to the great task before
them. For twenty years the struggle
was hard and at times douhtful
Then the splendid qualities of your
manhood and womanhood told az
they were bound to tell and the
wealth of your extraordinary re.
sources began to be shown. Now the
teeming riches of mine and field and
factory attest the prosperity of those
who are all the stronger because of
the trials and struggles through which
this prosperity has come. You stand
| Loyalty to your traditions and mem.
cries you also stand loyalty for our
great common country of to-day and
for cur common flag, which symbol
ICES all that is brightest and most
| hopeful for the future of mankind;
you face the new age in the spirit of
the age. Alike in your material and
in your spiritual intellectual develop
ment you stand abreast of the fore
most in the worlds progress.
And now, my fellow-citizens NV fol.
low.Americans. exactly az nil of nc
whether we live in the East or The
West, In the North or the South have
the right merely as Americans tn feel
pride in every great deed done nv anv
American in the past. and exoct,v as
we are knit together bv this common
heritage of memories. So we are knit
together by the bond OF our common
f,,t
great problems lie before us. If we
treat the mighty memories of the past
merely as excuses for sitting lazily
down III the present, or for standing
aside from the rough work of the
world. then these memories win prove
a curse instead of blessing. But II
we treat them as I believe we shall
treat them, not as excuses for inaction,
but as incentives to make us show that
we are worthy of our fathers and O:
our fathers fathers. then in truth the
deeds Of the past will not have been
wasted for they shall bring forth fruit
hundred fold in the present genera.
ton. We of this nation, we the citizens
Of this mighty and wonderful Repub
lie, stretching across continent be-
tween the two greatest oceans. enjoy
extraordinary privileges, and as our
opportunity is great. therefore our re-
sponsibility is great. We have duties
to perform beth abroad and at home.
and we can not shirk either set of du-
ties and fully retain our self.respect.
IN so-e;sn stt,,rs wa n,st mako -,
nr minds that whe,,er wo w,sh u
ar NOT we arc !. ,reat neon,e az, r,st
| " - = 49, \ -