New-York tribune., 1907-10-04
PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.
Makes Pleas for Strong Nary and
Federal Control of Roads.

i Cairo, Ill, Oct. 3-President RooseVelts ad-
dress here to-day was as follows:
Men of Illinois, and you men of Kentucky and
Missouri. / am glad TO have the chance TO speak
10 You to-day. This is the heart of what may
lie called the Old West, which we now call the
Middle West. using the term TO denote that
great group Of rich ard powerful states wHlch
literally forms the heart Of the country. Ii IS
a region whose people are disuDctiVely Amer
ican in all their thoughts, III all their ways or
looking at life: and in it's past and It's present
alike II is typical of our country. Ihe oldesI
men present can still remember the pioneer
DAYS, the DAYS of the white tilted OK wagon, OF
the emigrant and of the log cabin in which that
emgTant first lived when he settled to his TASK
as a uioneer farmer They were rough days
DAYS Of hard work and the people who did that
work seemed themselves uncouth and torbddlhg
to visitors who could not look below the surface
II is curious and amusing TO think that even as
genuine lover of his kind. man normally so
free from national prejudices as Charles DICK
ems, should have selected the region Where we
now standing as the seat or MS Iorlorn
Eden IN Martin ChuZzlewit" The country he
so bitterly assailed is now one OF the most Ter
tile and productive portions of of the most
fertile and productive agricultural territories in
all the world. and the dwellers in this territory
represent a higher average of comfort, tntell-
gence and sturdy capacity for self-government
than the people in any tract OF IKE extent III IN
any other continent. The land teens with
beauty and fertility, and but a score OF years
afIs- Dickens wrote II was SHOWN 10 pe d nur-
sery and breeding ground Of heroes, OF soldiers
and statesmen of the highest rank while the
rugged worth Of the rank and file of the citizen
ship rendered possible the deeds of the mighty
men who led in council and in battle This was
the region that brought forth mighty Abraham
Lincoln, the incarnation Of all that is best in
democratic life; and from the loinS Of the same
people, living only little further south. sprang
another of greatest Presidents, Andrew
Jackson "Old Hickory'-a man who made mis-
takes like most strong men. but a man of iron
will and incorruptible integrity. fearless up
right devoted 10 the welfare of his country
men, bone Of our bone and flesh of our flesh,
typical American IL ever there was one.
ADVICE TO PEssIMISTS.
7 conmend,a a careful reading of Martin Chuz-
zlewit''- the pessimists of to-day. to the men
who, instead of fighting hard TO do away with
abuses while at the same time losing JOt Of
their buoyant hopefulness for the country, in
sst that all our people. socially and industriay,
IN their private lives less than as politicians,
newspaper men and business men, are at
lower ebb than ever before. If ever any one of
you feels little downcast over the peculiarly
gloomy view of the present taken by some well
meaning pesSlmist OF to-day. you VIII flnd II
real comfort 10 read Martin ChuzZeWit," to see
what Well-meaning pessmst Of the past
thought OF our people siXty-fye years ago; and
then think of the extraordinary achievement,
THE extraordinary gain. morally no less than
materially, of those siXty-five years. Dickens
can be read by US now with profit; Elijah Pog
ram, Hannibal Chollop, Jefferson Brick and
sScadder have their representatives to-day,
plenty OF them: and the wise thing for us TO do
IS TO recognize that these still types of evil
IN politics, journalism, business and private
life and to war against them with all our hearts
But il is RANK folly TO regard these the only
or the chlef, types IN our national life. It was
not Of much consequence whether Dickens made
such an error or not, but it would be of great
consequence II we ourselves did, for a foolish
pessimism is an greater foe of healthy
national growth than foolish optimism. II
was not that Dickens invented characters or
scenes that had no basis in fact; on the con-
trary, what he said was true as far as II went
the trouble that out Of many such half
truths he made picture which as a whole was
absurd; for often half truth is the most dam
gerous fasehOod. 1t would be simply silly to
he angry over Martin Chudzlewit' on the con-
trar9, read il. be amused by It, profit by it. and
don't be misled by il. Keep a lively watch
against the present day Pograms and Bricks:
but above all distrust the man who would per
suade you TO feel downhearted about the colIn-
Try because OF these same Pograms and Bricks
past or present II would be foolish to ignore
their existence, the existence Of anything.
else that Is bad in national life; but il would
be even more foolish TO ignore the vaster forces
every reason why should fight whatever is
eNil IN the present But there is also every rea-
son why We should feel sturdy and confident
hope for the future There are many wrongs
70 right; there are many and powerful wrong
ooers against whom to war and IL would he
base TO shrink from the contest or TO fan +o
wage II with high, a resolute viii But I am
sure that we shall win in the contest becausa
] know that the heart Of our people is sound
our average men and women are good men and
wonderland this is true in all sections of our
country and among all classes of our country
men There Is no other nation on earth with
such vast natural resources, or with such high
standard OF living and Of industrial efficiency
among ats workers. We have nation an
era OF unexampled prosperity ahead of us. We
shall enjoy il, and our children will enjoy n
efteT Us The trend of well being I'm this conn
Try is upward, not downward. and this is the
trend in the things of the soul as well as in the
Things Of the body