Evening journal., 1907-04-26
ROOSEVELT AT
JAMESTOWN
Presidents Address Touches
Upon Historical and ECOnO-
mic Topics

'liS A"leisu governments here present
They have come to assist us IN celebrating
what was in very truth the birthday of
this nation, for it was here that the
colonists first settled whose incoming.
whose growth from their own loins ana
by the addition of newcomers from
abroad, was to make the people which
one hundred and slxty-nino years later
assumed the solemn responsibilities and
weighty duties Of complete Independence.
In welcoming all Of you / must say a
special word, first to the representative
Of the people of Great Britain and Ire
land. The fact that so many Of our peo-
pie of whom as it happens 1 myself am
one, have but a very small portion of
English blood in our veins. in no way
alters the other fact that this nation was
founded by Englishmen, by the Cavalier
and the Puritan. Their tongue law, liter
ature, the fund of their common thought.
made an inheritance which all of us
share, and marked deep the lines along
which we have developed. It was the men
of English stock who did most ln casting
the mold into which our national char
acter was run.
Let me Furthermore greet all OF you,
the representatives of the people Of con-
tnental Europe. From almost every ma
tion of Europe we have drawn some part
OF our blood, some part of our traits.
This mixture Of blood has gone on from
the beginning, and with il has gone on
a kind of development unexampled among
peoples Of the stocks from which we
spring; and hence to-day we differ sharp
I w fr.
damentally akin to, all of the nations Of
Europe.
Again. let me bid you welcome, rep
resentatives Of our sister Republics Of
this continent. In the larger aspect. your
/ interests and ours are Identical Your
problems and ours are in large part the
same; and as we strive to settle them.
/ pledge you herewith on the part OF this
nation the heartiest friendship and good
will.
Finally, let me say a special word of
greeting to those representatives Of the
Asatic nations who make up that newest
East which is yet the most ancient East,
the East of time immemoriaL In par
ticular. let me express word Of hearty
welcome TO the representative Of the
mighty island empire Of Japan; that
empire. which. in learning from the West.
has shown that It had 50 much, so very
much, to teach the West in return.
To all Of you here gathered 1 express
my thanks for your coming, and I extend
to you my earnest wishes for the welfare
OF your several nations. The world has
moved so far that it is no longer neces-
sary to believe that one nation can rise
only by thrustng another down. All far
sighted statesmen. all true patriots now
earnestly wish that the leading nations
of mankind as in their several ways they
/ struggle constantly toward a higher civil
lization, a higher humanity. may advance
hand in hand. united only I'm n generous
rivalry TO see which can best do it's al
lotted work in the world I believe that
there Is a rising tide I'm human thought
which tends for righteous International
peace; a tide which 1t behooves us to
guide through rational channels TO sane
conclusions; and all Of us here present
can well afford to take to heart st. Paurs
counsel; IF it be possible, as much as
lioth in you, live peaceably with an
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 th,
first beginning Of what has since become
this mighty Republic Three hundred
years ago a handful Of English adyen-
turers, who had crossed the ocean in
what we should now call coclSle-boats,
as clumsy as they We're frail. landed il
the great wooded wilderness, the Indian
haunted waste which then stretched
down to the waters edge along tho en-
tire Atlantic coast. They We're not the
first men of European race to settle in
what IS now the United States. for there
were already Spanish settlements IN
Florida and on the headwaters of the
Rio Grande; and the French, who at
almost the same time were struggling up
the st. Lawrence, were likewise destined
to form permanent settlements on the
Great lakes and in the valley Of the
mighty Mississippi before the people Of
Aleghenies. Moreover both the Dutch
and the swedos were shortly to found
colonies between the two sets of English
colonies those that grew up around th
Potomac and those that grew up on wha
is now the New England coast. Never
theless. this landing at jamestown pos
sosses for us Of the United States an alto
gether peculiar significance, and this with
out regard TO our several origins. The
men who landed at jamestown and those
!. who. thirteen years later landed at Ply
mouth. an of English stock, and thoh
fellow-setters who duringl the next fcv
decades stroamod IN after them. wei'
those who took the lead i'm shaping The
life history Of this people in tho colonial
and revolutionary days II was they who
bent into definite shape our nation while
it was still young enough most easily
most readily. to take on the characters
tics which were to become part Of its
permanent life habit.
Differentiated People.
Yet let ms remember that while this
carly English colonial stock has left
deeper than all others upon our natond
life the mark of it's strong twin ndi
vidualitios. the mark of the Cavalier am,
of the uritan-nevertheless, this stocl
not only from its environment but ais
from the presence with it of other stocks
almost from the beginning began n be
differentiated strongly from any Euro
pcan people. As I have already said
about the time the first English settler
landed here. the Frenchman and this
Spaniard. the Swodc and the Dutchman
also came hither as PERMANENT dwellers
who left their seed behind them TO hell