Albuquerque evening citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1905-1907, 1907-02-23

Harvard, Mass, Feb. 23.-Presi-
dent Roosevelt today delivered to the
Harvard university students the foi-
lowing address:
In speaking here at the Harvard
Union / wish to say first a special
word as one Harvard man to his fell
low Harvard men. 1 feel that we
can none of us ever be sufficiently
grateful to Colonel Higginson for
having founded this Harvard Union,
because each loyal Harvard man
should do all he can to foster in
Harvard that spirit of real democracy
which will make Harvard men feel
the vital sense of solidarity so that
they can all join to work together
in the things that are of most con-
Germ to the college. 1t is idle to ex-
pect, nor indeed would 1t be desir-
able that there should be, in Harvard
a uniform level of taste and associa-
ton. Some men will excel In one
thing and some in another; some In
things of the body, some in things
of the mind: and where thousands
are gathered together each Will
naturally find some group of spec
tally congenial friends with whom
he will form ties of peculiar social
intimacy. These groups-athletic,
artistic, scientific, social-must In
evitably exist My plea is not for
their abolition. My plea is that they
shall be got into the right focus in
% the eyes of college men; that the
relative Importance of the different
groups shall be understood when
compared with the infinitely greater
life of the college as a whole Let
LII .sn1 tot ta1
his special interests, his special
studies and pursuits, but let him re-
member that he can not get the
full benefit of life in college If he
does nothing but specialize; and
that, what is even more important,
he can not do his full duty by the
college unless his first and greatest
interest is in the college itself, in his
associates taken as a mass, and not
in any small group. One reason why
l so thoroughly believe in the athletic
spirit at Harvard is because the
athletic spirit is essentially demo-
cratic. Our chief interest should not
lie in the great champions in sport.
On the contrary our concern should
be most of all to widen the base, the
foundation in athletic sports; to en-
courage in every way healthy riv-
airy which shall give to the largest
possible number of students the
chance to take part in vigorous out
door games. 1t is of far more i'm
portance that man shall play some
thing himself, even if he plays it
badly, than that he shall go with
hundreds of companions to see some
one else play well; and it is not
healthy for either students or ath-
letes If the terms are mutually ex-
elusive. But even having this aim
especially in view, 1t seems to me we
can best attain 1t by giving proper
announcement to the champions in
the sports and this can only be done
by encouraging intercollegiate sport
AS l emphatically disbelieve in see
ing Harvard or any other college
turn out mollycoddles instead Of
vigorous men, 1 may add that l do
not in the least object to a sport be-
cause it is rough. Rowing, baseball
la crosse, track and field games,
hockey, football are all of them good
Moreover, it is to my mind simple
nonsense, a mere confession of weak
ness, to desire to abolish a game be-
cause tendencies show themselves, or
practices grow up, which prove that
the game ought to be reformed.
Take football for instance. The pre-
paratory schools are able to keep
football clean and do develop the
right spirit in the players without
the slightest necessity ever arising to
so much as consider the question of
abolishing it. There is no excuse
whatever for colleges failing to show
the same capacity, and there is no
real need for considering the ques-
tion of the abolition of the game.
II necessary, let the college authori-
ties interfere to stop any excess or
perversion, making their interference
as little officious as possible, and yet
as rigorous as Is necessary to
achieve the end But there is no
justification for stopping a thorough
ly manly sport because 1t is some
times abused, when the experience
of every good preparatory school
shows that the abuse is in no shape
necessarily attendant upon the game.
We can not afford to turn out of
college men who shrink from ply
sical effort or from a little physical
pain In any republic courage is a
prime necessity for the average citi-
zen IL he is TO be a good citizen;
and he needs physical courage no
less than moral courage. the courage
that dares as we'll as the courage
that endures, the courage that will
fight valiantly alike against the foes
of the soul and the foes of the body.
Athletics are good, especially in
their roughest forms. because they
tend to develop such courage. They
are good also because they encourage
true democratic spirit; for in the
athletic field the man must be judged
not with reference 10 outside and
accidental attributes, but to that COM