Morgan County democrat. (Versailles, Mo.) 1900-1906, 1905-03-10
OUR DUTIES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT.
CAUSE FOR THANKFULNESS
He Says We Have Obligations Both
to Ourselves and to the World
and Can Shirk Neither.

augural address:
My Fellow Citizens: No people OF
earth have more cause to be thankful
than ours, and this is said r%evsrently.
in no spirit of boastfulness in Jul W
strength, but with gratitude to the Giver
of Good Who has blessed us with the
conditions which have enabled US TO
achieve so large a measure of well being
and of happiness. To Us az u people II
has been granted to lay the foundation
OF our national life In a new continent.
we have had to pay few Of the penalties
which in old countries are eXacted by
the dead hand of q bygone civilization.
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 manlieT
harder virtues wither away. Tn.
der such conditions it would be our "
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 nc feel
Ing Of vain glory, but rather a deep and
abiding realization of all which lie has
offered US; a full acknowledgement OF
the responsibility which is ours; and q
fixed determination to show hat under
q free government Il 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 rightfully be expected from US. We
nave duties to others and duties to our
selves; and we can shirk neither. We
nave become q great nation, forced by
the fact of It's greatness into relations
with the other nations of the earth:
and we must behave as bcseems a peo-
pie with such responsibilities. Toward
all other nations, large and small, our
attitude must be one of cordial and sim
ccre friendship. We must show not only
in our words, but in our deeds hat We
are earnestly DESTROYS of securing their
good will by acting toward them In q
spirit Of just and generous recognition
Of all their rights. But justice and gen
crosby 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 wronging others,
we must be no less insistent that we are
not wrongcd ourselves. We wish peace;
but we wish the peace of justice, the
peace of Righteousness. We wish it be-
cause we think 1t is right, and not be-
cause we are afraid. No weak nation
that acts Inanfully and justly should
ever have cause to fear US, and no strong
power should ever be able to single US
out as a subject for insolcnt aggression.
Our relations with the other powers
OF the world are important; but still
more important are our relations among
ourselves. Such growth In wealth, in
population and in powers as this nation
has seen during the century and a quar-
ter Of its national life Is inevitably nc.
c%ompanied by a like growth in the prob
lens which are ever before every ma
ton that rises to greatness. Power in
varlably means both responsibility and
danger. Our iorciathcrs faced certain
pcrilB which we have outgrown. We
now face other pcrils the very existence
OF which ii was impossible that they
should f~orcsce, Modern life Is both COM
pick and intense, and the tremendous
changes wrought by the extraordinary
Industrial development of the last half
century are felt In every fiber Of our
social and political being.
The conditions which have told for
our marvellous material wcll-being,
which have developed TO "a very high de-
gree our energy, self reliance and indi-
vidual initiative, have also brought the
care and anxiety inseparable from the
accumulation Of great wealth in indus
trial centcrs. Upon the success OF our
experiment much depends: not only as
regards our own welfare, but as regards
the welfare OF mankind. II We fail, the
cause Of free self government through
out the world will rock TO It's founda-
tons; and therefore, our responsibility
IL heavy, to ourselves, to the world as 1t
IL to-day. and to the generations yet
unborn.
Yet, after all. though the problems are
new though the tasks set before us differ
from the tasks set before our fathers
who founded ana preserved this repub-
lie, the spirit In which these tasks must
be undertaken and these problems faced,
II our duty IL to be well done, remains
essentially unchanged. We know that
self-goyernment Is difficult. We know
that no people needs such high traits
Of character az that people which seeks
| To govern It's affairs Alright through the
freely expressed viii Of he free men who
| compose 1t. But W. have faith that We