Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-05-02

dent Tucker of the exposition and Presi- |
dent Roosevelt. The latter. upon the con- |
cluson of his address, pressed the gold
button which marked the opening OF the
commemorative enterprise. Then followed
an informal luncheon to the President ana
10 other guests in the auditorium or adj
ministration building. The repast ended
the President returned to the grandstand
from which he reviewed a parade of Uni
ted States soldiers and sailors. Seamen
from the visiting fleets were expected to
take part in the parade but the difficulty
of landing them on the uncompleted
grounds prevented their participation.
Inc parade was quickly over and re-
cepton by the President in the auditorium
| brought the days events at the fair
| grounds to n close. Admission to the re-
| cepton was by card. but after the Presi-
| dent had shaken hands with the invited
guests the doors were thrown open for
q time to the general public. The President
stood in line for more than an hour. This
| feature of the programme, scheduled for
FIVE o'clock was held at a much earlier
hour and these who were late in reaching
the administration building were disap
| pointed to find the President gone. lie re-
| turned to the MaYfower shortly after
| four o'clock and after dressing for din
| ner was transferred to the smaller yacht
sylph and brought to Norfolk. where
he and Mrs. Roosevelt were guests of
honor at a dinner given by President
| Tucker at the home of Barton Myers.
President Roosevelts speech reviewed
the early history OF the country and the
influence OF the different peoples in the
development After this he said In part:
,,rr,, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. cuI-uSCtu
To oil Of you here gathered / express
my thanks for your coming, and l extend
| to you my earnest wishes for the welfare
! of your several nations. The world has
moved so far that it is no longer necessary
TO believe that one nation can rise only by
thrusting another down. All farsighted
| statesmen. all true patriots, now earnest
ly wish that the leading nations of man
kind. as in their several ways they strug-
gle constantly toward a higher civiliza-
ton higher humanity, many advance
hand in hand, united only in generous
| rivalry to which can best do its allott-
| ed work in the world. believe that there
is rising tide In human thought which
tends for righteous International peace; a
tide which il behooves us to guide through
rational channels to sane conclusions
uHu all u US mere pieStilt Ndll NcIl dllplb
to take to heart st. Pauls counsel: If 1t
| be possible. as much as licth in you, live
peaceably with all men,"
! We have met to-day to celebrate the
opening OF the exposition which itself
commentaries the first permanent settle
ment of men of our stock in Virginia, the
first beginning of what has since become
this mighty republic. Three hundred years
ago n handful of English Adventures,
who had crossed the ocean in what we
should now call cookie boats, as clumsy
az they were fral, landed in the great
wooded wilderness, the Indan-haunted
waste. which then stretched down to the
waters edge along the entire Atlantic
coast.
This landing at jamestown possesses for
US OF the United States an altogether pc
culiar significance, and this without re-
gard to our several origins. The men who
landed nj jamestown and those who,
thirteen years later, landed at Plymouth.
, all OF English stock, and their fellow set
tiers who during the next few decades
streained in after them We're those who
took the lead in shaping the life history
: OF this people in the colonial and revolu-
tionary days. 1t was they who bent into
definite shape our nation while Il was still
: young enough most easily. most readily,
: to take on the chara cteristics which were
to become part OF its permanent life habit
The pioneers of our people who first
) landed on these shores on that eventful
day three centuries ago had before them
I task which during the early years was
} of heartbreakng danger and difficulty
! The conquest of rev continent Is iron
, work, People who dwell in old civiliza
tons and find that therein 50 much OF
l humanity lot is hard, are apt to com
plain against the conditions as being solely
e due to man and to speak as if life could
he made easy and simple if there were but
2 a virgin continent in which to work 1t is
i true mat the pioneer life was simpler. hut
=. II was certainly not easier. As matter OF
d fact the first work of the pioneers in tax.
g ing possession OF a lonely wilderness is
so rough, 50 hard, so dangerous that al
but the strongest spirits fail. The earl,
iron days of such a conquest search ou
n alike the weak in body and the weak ir
soul. In the warfare against the rugged
: sternness of primeval nature. only thos,
= can conquer who are themselves uncon
n querable. 1t is not until the first bttei
u years have passed that the life become.
u easy enough TO invite mass Of new
corners. and so great are the risk hard
: ship, and toll of the early years that ther
: always exists n threat of lapsing bacl
~ from civilization.
i For half century after we become
separate nation there was comparativel,
~ little immi grafton to this country Thei
70 the tide once again set hithcr. and ha
flowed in ever-increasing size until In eacl
or the last three years a greater numbe
u of people came to these shores than ha,
landed on them during the entire colonia
period. Generation by generation thes
people have been absorbed into the ma
tional life. Generally their sons. almos
- always their grandsons are indistnguish
able from one another and from thei
- fellow Americans descended from the colo
4 nial stock, For all alike the problems O
/ our existence are Fundamentally the SAME
= and for all alike these problems chang
/ from generation to generation.
n Hitherto each generation among us ha
: had its allotted task. now heavier, no,
A lighter. In the Revolutionary War tn
II business was to achieve independence,
a Immediately afterwards there was a
even more momentous task: that
achieve the national unity and the capa
city for orderly development witho,
. which our liberty, our independence