The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1905-03-14
TALKS TO MOTHERS
President Roosevelt's Address
at National Congress.
PLAIN WORDS on RACE SUICIDE
Advice to Wives and Matrons nv 10
the Rearing of Their Children by
Head of the state, who Said
Childlossness Is "a Crime.

htnu VI tht "hO SHtu
ChildIossness In Crime.
WASHINGTON, March IA. - Before
the National Congress of Mothers, In
session here, President Roosevelt de-
livered notable address upon the
duty of the woman to the state, in
which he denounced race suicide
with his accustomed vigor. The presi.
dent said in part:
The welfare of the state depends alb
solutely upon whether or not the average
family, the average man and woman and
their children. represent the kind OF citi-
zenshp fit for the foundation of a great
nation, and IL we fail to appreciate this
we fail To appreciate the root morality
upon, which all healthy civilization is
based
Just as the happiest and most honor
able and most useful task that can be
set any man is to earn enough for the
support Of his wife and family, for the
bringing up and starting In life OF his
children. so the most important, the most
honorable and desirable task which can
be set any woman is to be good and
wise mother in a home marked by self
respect and mutual forbearance, by Will
ingness to perform duty and by refusal
to sink into self indulgence or avoid that
which entails effort and self sacrifice.
do not in the least believe in the pa
tient Griseda type OF woman, In the
woman who submits TO gross and long
continued III treatment, any more than
| believe in man who tamey submits
TO wrongful aggression. No wrongdoing
is so abhorYent as wrongdoing by man
toward the wife and the children who
should arouse every. tender feeling in his
nature. Selflshness toward them, lack of
tenderness toward them lack of consd-
GRAFTON for them-aboVe all. brutality In
any form toward them-should arouse the
UN..a
upright soul.
/ believe In the woman keeping her
self respect just as | believe In the man
doing So | believe In her rights just as
much as | believe In the mans and. in
! deed, little more and regard marriage
| as partnership In which each partner Is
In honor bound TO think of the rights
| of the other as we'll as OF his or her own.
| But | think that the duties are even more
| important than the rights and In the
| long run ] think that the reward is
| ampler and greater for duty well done
than for the insistence upon individual
rights necessary though this, too. must
| often be. Your duty Is hard, your re-
| sponsibiity great. but greatest of all Is
! your reward. | do not pity you In the
! least On the contrary. | feel respect and
| admiration for you.
Into the womans keeping Is committed
| the destiny of the generations to come
after us In bringing up your children
| you mothers must remember that while II
| Is essential to be loving and tender II Is
| no less essential to be wise and firm.
| Foolishness and affection must not be
| treated as Interchangeable terms and be-
sides training your sons and daughters
| in the softer and milder virtues you must
seek TO give them those stern and hardy
| qualities which in after life they will
| surely need. Some children will go wrong
| In spite of the best training. and some
| will go right even when their surround
| ings are most unfortunate: nevertheless
an immense amount depends upon the
| family training.
II you mothers through weakness bring
| up your sons to be selfish and to think
only of themselves you will be respon-
| sible for much sadness among the women
who are 10 be their wives in the future
| If-you let your daughters grow up idle
perhaps under the mistaken impression
| that as you yourselves have had TO work
| hard they shall know only enjoyment
| you are preparing them TO be useless to
| others and burdens to themselves Teach
| boys and girls alike that they are not to
look forward to lives spent in avoiding
difficulties but to lives spent in overcom-
ing difficulties.
Teach them that work for themselves
and also for others is not a curse, but a
| blessing: seek to make them happy, to
make them enjoy life. but seek also to
make them face life with the steadfast
resolution TO wrest success from labor
and adversely and to do their whole duty
before God and to man. Surely she who
can thus train her sons and her daugh-
ters Is thrice fortunate among women.
| There are many good people who are
denied the supreme blessing of children.
and for these we have the respect and
! sympathy always due to those who from
: go "a Il of their own, are denied any OF
| Il other great blessings OF life But the
| man or woman who deliberately foregOes
these blessings whether from vicious
ness GOODNESS, shallow heartedness, self
| Indulgence or mere failure TO appreciate
Alright the difference between the all i'm
portant and the unimportant-why. such
a creature merits contempt as hearty as
any visited upon the soldier who runs
away in battle or upon the man who re-
| fuses to work for the support OF those de-
pendent upon him and who, though able-
bodied Is yet content to eat in idleness
the bread which others provide.
| actually read not long ago In certain
paper an article in which a clergyman
was quoted. seemingly with approval as
expressing the general American attitude
when he said that the ambition of any
save a very rich man should be to rear
two children only. so as TO give his chill
dren an opportunity Ito taste few OF
the good things of life
| This man, whose profession and calling
should have made him "A moral teacher
| actually set before others the ideal not
of training children TO do their duty. no,
Il of sending them forth with stout hearts
| and ready minds to win triumphs for
| themselves and their country. not Of al
lowing them the opportunity and giving
them the privilege of making their OWL
place In the world but, forsooth. of keep
ing the number Of children so limited that
they might taste few good thingsG