The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1905-03-11
inaugural Address OF President
Roosevelt

my Fellow Citizens. No people on earth
have more cause to be- thankful than ours,
and this IS said revrreniIy ia no spirit 81
boastiulness in our o~n strength. hut Nth
gratitude TO the Giver Of Good who has blessed
us wi,h the conditions which have enabled as
TO achieve so large a measure u sell being
and Of happiness. To rs as = people il has
been granted TO lay the foundations Of our ua
tional life in n neW continent We ARE the
heirs OF The sges, and yet We have had to pay
few Of the penalties which in old countries are
exAcied by the dead band Of hygoue ciyih
Ealion. We have Hal been Obliged to dgh,
for our existence against any alien race, aud
yet our life has called for the vigor sad effort
Si'ho1i which the msnlier and hsrdles virtues
wiiher away.
Under such conditions Il Eoaid be oar oSu
fault II ne failed; sna the success which ne
have had 10 the past. The saccsss which us
consdenily believe The fgtafs vii bring,
should eAase in US no feeling Of vainglofy. but
rather deep and abiding realization Of all
which life has offered as; fall acknowledge
mens Of the responsibility which : ours. and
hxed determination to she's that under a
free govrrumens mighty people can thrive
best, alike as regards the thiaEs Of the body
and the things Of the soal.
Mach has been givea 10 as, aad Ruch ~ill
righifully BE- expected from We have du.
sies 10 others and dutlVs 10 ourselves, aud sc
can shirk neither. We have becoaas q great
nation. forced BY the fact of is grrAtaess iaio
relations with the other nations Of the earth,
aud We must behave ~ beseems = people uiih
such responsibilities Toward ali other IA
tons, large aud small, osr attitude must BE-
one Of cordial and Sincere Friendship We
must show not only in cur words. but 10 our
deeds. that pc are earnestly DESTROYS q secur
ing their good viii by acting toward them 70 =
spirit Of Just and geaeroas recognition Of All
their rights
'4But justice and generosity 10 nation. a.
in an individual. ooang moss shsn sho~n not
By the weAk, bsl By The ssroeg. While ever
careful 10 refrain frem wroaxiag Others, Sc
rnEzt be not less insistent thai arr not
wrouged Ourselves. We wiSh psaec; but ~
wish the peace Of jnssice. the peace 0f night.
eoasnesS We wish Il becauze sc thtuk Is y
right and not because We are afrNid- No
weak nation that acts m2atally and lasgiy
should ever have easse 10 fear Us. znd 40
strong Power should ever be able 20 single IA
out as = sahiecf fer iasalsns aggression.
.'0ur relations NTH the other Powers Of the
world are important, has still mere important
are our relations amoag ourselves. Sach
growth in wealth, in population and in power
As this nation has seen during the eentary aud
a qaaraer Of its national life IS inevitably &C
eompanied BY a like growth ia the problems
which are ever before every nation that rises
70 greatness. Power invariably means both
responsibility aud danger. Our foTrfaihers
faced certain penis which se have ouigFown-
We nov face other perks the very existence
Of which il was impossible that they shOaid
forsee.
Modern life is both complex and intense,
and the tremendous changes Sroughl BY the
extraordinary industrial development OF the
last half century are felt in every fibre Of our
social aud political being. Never before have
men tried so vas, and formidable an experi.
ment Is that Of administering the affairs Of a
continent under the forms Of democratic
republic. The conditions which have told for
our marvellous material well being, which have
developed to q very high degree our energy,
self reliance and individual initiative, have
also brought the care aud anxiety insepSrAble
from the accumulation Of great wealth ia IN
daxirial centres. Upon the success Of our
experiment much depends, not oalF as re
CARDS our own welfare, but as regards the vel.
fare Of mankind. III we fail, the cause of free
sell. government throughout the world vii
rock 10 lis foundations; and therefore our re
sponsibility is heavy, TO ourselves, Ia the
world as il is today, and 10 the generations
yet unborn.
There il no good reason why we should
fear the future, bat there is every reason why
we should face is seriously, neither hiding
from ourselves the gravity of the problems be
fore US nor fearing to approach these problems
with the unloading. Hntiinehing purpose Ia
solve them Alright.
"Yet. after all. though the problems are
| new, though the tasks set before US differ from
the tasks set before our fathers who founded
and preserved this Republic. the spirit in
which these tasks must be undertaken and
these problems faced, if our duty IS 10 be well
done, remains essentially unchanged.
ave know that self government is difficult.
We know that no people need such high traits
of character as that people that seeks to gov
ern its affairs Alright through the freely ex'
pressed will of the freemen who compose it.
| But we have faith that we shall not prove false
| TO the memories of the men of the mighty past
| They did their work; they left us the splendid
| heritage we-now enjoy. We in our turn have
an assured confidence that we shall be able to
leave this heritage unwasted and enlarged to
| our children and our children's children. To
| do SO we must show, not merely in great crises,
but in the everyday affairs of life, the qualities
of practical intelligence, of courage, of hardi-
| hood 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 Washington, which made great the
men who preserved this Republic in the days
of Abraham Lincoln