The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1906-07-05
IN POURING RAIN,
President Undaunted by the
Storm at Oyster Bay.
IVES ACCOUNT OF STEWARDSHIP.
Roosevelt. Receiving Welcome to
summer Home, Completes Ills
speech While lie and Au-
dienco Are Drcnched.

dienco Are Drcnched.
OYSTER BAY, y. Y, July On spite
Of the inclemency of the weather the
natural amphitheater Of Locust grove
where the president delivered his indie.
pendence day speech, was early alive
with his fellow townsmen, who We're
on hand TO greet him after his winters
absence.
When the president finished both him
self and his thousand ana more holiday
clad auditors We're drenched 40 one
deserted the celebration. The rain
came suddenly, and there was no shell
ter In sight and when the president
paused while umbrellas were raised he
remarked good naturcdly, Il am sorry
for you ladies. but ashamed of You
men because you are afraid you Will
melt"
After the national anthem had been
sung Sheriff jerome B. Johnson in
lroduced Gerald Beckman. Mr., Beck
man babe the president welcome ON
behalf Of the committee and the people
of Oyster Bay. The president spoke as
follows:
Mr. Chairman. and you. my old
friends ana nelghbors. you among
whom / have lived so many years. Il
Is a great pleasure To have this chance
today 10 say a few words of greeting
10 YOU and IN sense 10 give an nc.
count Of my stewardship. | say in a
sense because the stewardship ought
really TO give an account Of itself If
o stewardship requires too much nc
counting it is pretty certain that It
should have been handled a little diff
fercntly.
III the dominies present will permit
me-. | shall take for my text u saying
Of Abraham Lincoln. made 10y him to a
group Of friends Just after his re-elec-
llon to the presidency. lie said: In
any great national trial hereafter the
men Of that day as compared with
those of This will Ice a. weak and ms
strong. rs silly and rs WISE MS bad and
rs good. Let us therefore study the
wisdom of this rs philosophy from
which 10 learn wisdom and not as
wrongs to be avenged And he added
So long as have been presiednt |
have not willingly planted a thorn in
any mans bosom
"NOw. friends. remember that Lin
oln faced the greatest crisis the ma
war. as great "A crisis as the nation can
'ver face. meaning as it did either ma
ional life or national death Yet with
m Lincoln's firm sincerity of belief
{ was yet possible for him 10 say That
ne bad no rancor toward those who
ad gone hopelessly wrong. and that.
ghile never for one moment binding
himself TO this philosophy Of the Stua-
ion. he never felt 1t as a wrong to be
venged.
lie treated the wrong as calling for
I remedy not ms calling for vengeance.
II is just in this spirit that we must
invest our problems today"
The president had been speaking
AiNful nan an lVNA anu was NIflfA 1NNAi-
ng the climax of his address when.
without any warning. rain came down
heavily. In less than five minutes
Everybody at the grove was soaked.
lcspite the protecticI Of umbrellas, and
,retty white lawn dresses hung like
imp. damp rags on the women. and
he children had sad time Of IT.
The president continued speaking
With barred head. although he was eX-
losed to the fury Of The storm, and the
water trckled down Ills face, dimming
his eyeglasses So that he could hardly
distinguish his litors He stuck it
jut for time. hut at last broke Off
suddenly and seized n rubber coat. He
aut this ON and continued. still with
jared head, until the shower ceased.
when he threw aside the coat. Mr.
Roosevelt seemed to enjoy the rain if
he women and children didn't While
t lasted its roar drowned his words 50
hat only those in his immediate neigh
orhood on the platform could hear
what was being said.
I'VE have heard great deal lately"
he president shouted above the noise
If the downpour. "of the great lnqui-
lies in business life social life ANA i'm
politics A great amount of miquity
there has been. but there is NO war
rant for us growing hysterical. Don't
let us spend nine-tenths Of our time
saying this country is the worst in the
world. Let us rather seek to remove
the causes of wrongdoing and not cult
Nate spirit of rancor. But wherever
there is wrong to fight let us fight it
ana root it out.
For number of years to come we
must seek diligently to exert control
over individuals ana corporations of
great wealth in so far as that great
wealth is dangerous We have accom-
plishcd Il great deal toward that end
because we have not tried TO do toj
much at once. A demagogue rates in
EQUITY by the condition of the purse,
not by the condition of the heart. Re
member that the whole is the sum of
is parts, and that holds as true Of n
nation as of anything else 1t is Il
good thing to think on the Fourth of
July what a glorious country we have.
1t is a very bad thing to go home and
forget the duty which as an individual
you owe to the community In which
you live.
IF we do our duty when face to face
with our Industrial and social cOndi
lions" the president continued. "our
children and children's children shall
ba hnttnr for If If VDU fail in yOur