Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-03-07
INAUGURAL CEREMONIES CRANDEST
IN THE HISTORY OF THE NATION

with the conditions which have en-
abled us to achieve so large measure
of we'll being and of happiness. To us
as a people it has been granted to lay
the foundations of our national life in
a new continent. We are the heirs OF
the ages, and yet we have had to pay
! few of the penalties which in the old
countries are exacted by the dead
hand of 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 manlier
and harder virtues wither away. I'm.
der such conditions it would be our
own fault if we failed; and the sue
cess which we have had in the past,
the success which we confidently be-
| lieve the future will bring, should
cause in us no feeling of vain glory
but rather a deep and abiding realiza-
| ton of all which life has offered us;
full acknowledgment of responsibility
which is ours; and fixed determine
ton to show that under free govern
ment mighty people can thrive best,
alike as regards the things of the body
and the things of the soul.
Much Has Been Given to U.s.,
Much has been given to us, and
much will: rightfully be expected from
us. We have duties to others, and
duties to ourselves; and we can shirk
neither. We have become great ma
ton, forced by the fact of its great
ness into relations with the other ma.
lions of the earth; and we must be-
have as beseems people with such
responsibilities. Toward all other ma.
tons, large and small our attitude
must be one Of cordial and sincere
friendship.
We must show not only in our words
but in our deeds that we are earnestly
DESTROYS of securing their good will by
acting toward them in spirit of just
and generous recognition of all their
rights But justice and generosity 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
wronged ourselves. We wish peace;
but we wish the peace of justice, the
peace Of righteousness. We wish it
because we think it is right and not
because we are afraid. No weak ma
ton that acts manfully and justly
should ever be able to single us out as
a subject for insolent aggression.
Powers Mean Responsibility.
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 power as
, this nation has seen during the cen.
fury and quarter of its national life
is inevitably accompanied by like
: growth in the problems which are ever
!, before every nation that rises to great
i ness. Power invariably means both
J, responsibility and danger. Our fore
/ fathers faced certain perils which we
: have outgrown.
= We now face other perils the very
: existence of which it was impossible
/. that they should foresee. Modern life
= is both complex and intense, and the
/ tremendous changes wrought by the
J. extraordinary industrial development
! of the last half century are felt in ev
s cry fibre of our social and politica
r being Never before have men tried
n so vast and formidable an experiment
n as that Of administering the affairs o.
J. continent under the forms of dem
q ocratic republic. The conditiona:
which have told for our marvellous ma
f terial we'll being, which have developed
S to very high degree our energy, self
/ reliance and Individual initiative, have
e also brought the care and anxiety in
g separable from the accumulation O
e great wealth in industrial centers
:. Upon the success of our experiment
) much depends; not only as regards on
/ own welfare, but as regards the wei
e fare of mankind. If we fail, the caus,
f of free self government Throughout
d the world will.rock to it's foundations
and therefore our responsibility i
heavy, to ourselves, to the world as
h is today and to the generations yet ur
$ born. There is no good reason VIII
s we should fear the future, but there i
h every reason why we should face
a seriously, neither hiding from oul
a selves the gravity of the problems be
e fore us nor fearing to approach thes
" problems with the unbending. unfiinct
h ing purpose to solve them Alright.
If seIf-Government Is Difficult.
a Yet, after all, though the problem
o. are new though the tasks set befor
n us differ from the tasks set before on
h fathers who founded and preserve
ID this republic, the spirit in which thes
,s tasks must be undertaken and thes
m problems faced. if our duty is to b
II well done, remains essentially Ill
i. changed. We know that self govern
e ment is difficult. We know that n
h people needs such high traits of cha
n acter as that people which seeks
- govern it's affairs Alright through tn
70 freely expressed will Of the freeme
# who compose It, But we have fait
a that we shall not prove false to til
# memories of the men Of the might
% past. They did their work, they le
Is. us the splendid heritage we now e.
JOY. We, in Dur turn have an a
ar sured confidence that we shall be abb
n. to leave this heritage unwasted an
70 ~, nd oh