Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1905-03-16
90
RACE SUICIDE.

RACE SUICIDE. .1 ~
Unlike some previous mothers con-
-<resees +h"+ hn~c how held the va
cent Washington gathering was not
composed of childless women and old
maids. 1t was a gathering of high
minded women who seek by example
and teaching to make the world bet
ter and the home brighter. The feat
IRE of the congress proceedings was
the address of President Roosevelt
on "Race Suicide" in which he
severely arraigned those who are
childless from choice. His remarks
have been given and are entitled to
the widest publicity. The president
believes in the American home and
has some good, old fashioned ideas
about the tendency in modern times
to divest the home of all that makes
home worthy of the name. In part
President Roosevelt said:
In our modern industrial civiliza-
tion there are many and grave dam
gers to counterbalance the splendors
and the triumphs. 1t is not a good
thing to see cities grow at dispropor-
tionate speed relatively to the coun-
try; for the small land owners. the
men who own their little homes, and
therefore to very large extent the
men who till farms, the men of the
soil, have hitherto made the founda-
ton OF lasting national life In every
state; and, If the foundation becomes
either too weak or too narrow, the
superstructure, no matter how attrac-
tive, Is in imminent danger of falling.
<sBut far more important than the
question of the occupation of our
citizens is the question Of how their
family life is conducted. No matter
what that occupation may be, as long
as there is real home and as long
as those who make up that home dc
their duty to one another, to their
neighbors and to the state, 1t is OF
minor consequence whether the mans
trade is piled in the country or the
city, whether it calls for the work Of
the hands or for the work Of the
head.
But the nation is in bad way Il
there is no real home, II the family
is not of the right kind; if the man
is not good husband and father. II
he is brutal or cowardly or selfish, II
the woman has lost her sense of duty
{ II she is sunk in vapidl self-indulgence
or has let her nature be twisted sc
that she prefers sterile pseudo-intel
lectuality to that great and beautiful
3 development of character which
comes only to those whose lives know
the fullness of duty done, of effort
made and sef-sacrifice undergone.
In the last analysis the welfare Of
the state depends absolutely upor
whether or not the average family
the average man and woman and theil
children, represent the kind of citi
zenship fit for the foundation of 1
great nation; and If we fail to appre
ciate this we fail to appreciate The
root morality upon which all healthy
civilization Is based. \. &.
No piledup wealth, no splendor Of
material growth, no brilliance Of
artistic development, will permanent
" avail any people unless its home
life is healthy, unless the average
man possesses honesty. courage. com
mon sense and decency, unless he
4 works hard and Is willing at need to
light hard; and unless the average
woman Is good wife, good mother
4 able and willing to perform the frsl
and greatest duty OF womanhood, able
and willing to bear, and to bring UP
as they should be brought up, healthy
children, sound In body, mind and
character, and numerous enough 81
that the race shall Increase and no,
4 decrease.
There are certain old truths which
will be true as long as the world
endures, and which no amount Of
progress can alter. One Of these il
the truth that the primary duty Of the
husband Is to be the homemaker, the
bread Winner for his wife and chill
dren. and that the primary duty d
the woman u to be the helpmeet. the
housewife, and mother. Is
The woman should have ample
edncational advantages, but gave m
exceptional cases the man must be,