The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1905-07-13
ROOSEVELT TALKS
TO THE TEACHERS
Delivers Address Before National
Association at Asbury Park.
PRAISE FOR THE EDUCATORS

Asbury Park, N. j., July 8-A crowd
OF 10000 persons which turned out to
welcome President Roosevelt made
Friday, the closing day of the Nation
al Educational Association convention,
the most impressive of all the great
educational meetings.
The duties of the rich was the sub
1ect matter Of the speech which the
president delievered to the educators
After delivering his own address the
president stayed in the auditorium to
hear the responses by John r. Kirk
and Miss Katherine D. Blake. The
president spoke as follows:
am glad to have the chance of greet
ing the National Educational Association;
Tor in all this democratic land there is
no more genuinely democratic associa-
tlcn than this. 1t is truly democratic
because here each member meets every
other member as his peer without regard
10 whether he is the president Of one
OF tic great universities or the newest
Recruit to that high and honorable profess
sion which has in its charge the upbrinp-
1nf, and training of those boys and girls
who IN a few short years will themselves
be settling the destinies of this nation.
You teachers make the whole world
your debtor. If you did not do your work
well this republic would not endure be
yond the span OF the generation. More
over - an incident to your aVOwed work
you render some we'll nigh unbclievea Bile
services to the country. For instance, you
render to the republic the prime, the vital
services Of anrtI&zlnatins into one homo
2rnOUS body the children alike of those
who art born here ard Of those who come
here from 50 many different lands abroad.
You furnish common training and COM
mon ideals tor the children ut all the
mixed peoples who are here being fused
into one nationality. 1t is in no small de
gree due to you and your efforts that We
are one people instead of d group of jar
ring peoples.
Moreover, where altogether too mucn
prominence is given to the mere posses
sion of wealth, the country is under heavy
obligations to such body this, which
substitutes for the ideal of accommodating
money the infinitely loftier. non-materiai
istic ideal of devotion to work worth doing
simply for that works sake. In do not in
the least underestimate the need of haV-
ing material prosperity as the basis of our
civilization. but | most earnestly insist
that if our civilization does not build a
lofty superstruCture on this basis we can
never rank among the really great peoples.
To furnish in your lives such a realized
high ideal is to do Il great service to the
country. The chief harm done by the men
of swollen fortune to the community Is
not the harm that the demagogue is apt
to depict Springing from their actions,
but the fact that their success sets up a
false standard. and SO serves as a bad ex-
ample for the rest of US. If we did not
ourselves attach an exaggerated import
ance to the rich man who is dlstin gulShCd
only by his riches, this rich man would
have Il most insignificant influence over
he
does damage to us, for he damages rs
chiefly by arOuSing our envy or by rem
dering Us sour and discontented. In his
actual business relations he is much more
apt to benefit than to harm the rest OF
US; and though it is eminently right 20
take whatever steps are necessary In Or
der to prevent the exceptional members
| of his class from doing harm, it is wicked
| folly to let ourselves be drawn into any
| attack uron the man of wealth merely
| as such.
Nenomous envy of wealth is simply
| another form of the spirit, which in one
| of its manifestations takes the shape OF
| crirging sexvilty toward wealth, and in
another shape of brutal arrogance on the
| part OF certain men of wealth. Each one
of these states of mind, whether 1t 5e
| hatred. servility. or arrogance. is in real
| ity closely akin to the other two; for
| each Of them springs from fantastically
| rOitInce of wealth as compared to other
things The ciamor of the demaSoRUe
| against wealth. the snobbery of the social
columns of the newspapers which deal
| with the doings of the wealthy, ana TIE
| misconduct of those men of wealth who
| act with brutal disregard Of the rights
| of C;Icrs, seem superticially to have nc
| fundamental relation: yet in reality they
| spring from shortcomings which are 1'in-
| darlCnttlly the same; and one OF thesc
| SHORTCOMINGS is the failure to have proper
| Ideals.
| This failure must be remedied in Large
| plrt uf the action Of you and your fcl'
| iow-teI,hers YOUR fellow educators
| th.orcl cut this land. BY your lives, nc
| less than by your teachings, you show
| that While you regard wealth as gooc
| tning. yor regard other things as Still
better. 1t is absolutely necessary to carr
q certain amount of money; 1t Is man
| first duty to those dependent upon hin
to earn money enough for their support