The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-05-16
TO METHOOlSTS.
President Roosevelt q Guest OF
the Trustees
OF the American University at
National Capital.
MAKES AN ADDRESS.
In Which He Pays Tribute to
the Church's Work.
Again Points Out Importance
Of Good Citizenship.


Washington, May 16-The trustees
Of the American university in course OF
near this city today had
as their guests President Roosevelt,
Vice President Fairbanks. and Senator
Dolliver Of Iowa, who were scheduled
to deliver speeches, and upwards Of a
thousand Methodists, attending the
general conference of the Methodist
church now in session in Baltimore.
The exercises were presided over by
Bishop Earl Cranston. Following these
exercises President Roosevelt rendered
a reception to the delegates of the gen.
eral conference in the college Of his
tory building. The president spoke as
follows:
It is a pleasure to be with you to-
day and to bid you welcome on be-
half Of the nation, here In the capital
of the nation. Important though the
Methodist church is in many lands
there is none in which it has played
so great and peculiar a part as here
in the United States. Its history Is
indissolubly interviewer with the his
tory of our country for the six score
years since the constitutional con-
ventfon made us really q nation.
Methodism in America entered on its
pSIlOQ Ol IdptQ kIOWLn JUST dDOut lllc
time of Washington's first presidency.
It's essential democracy. its fiery and
restless energy Of spirit, and tho wide
play that 1t gave to individual initia-
tive. all tended to make 1t peculiarly
congenial to a hardy and virile folk.
dividual independence above all
earthly possessions, and engaged in
the rough and stern work Of con-
quering a continent. Methodism
spread even among the old communi-
ties and the long-settled districts of
phenomenal growth was from these
regions westward. The whole country
is under a debt of gratitude to the
Methodist circuit riders. the Methodist
pioneer preachers. whose movement
westward kept peace with the move
the hardships in the life OF the
frontiersman, while at the same time
ministering to that frontiersman's
spiritual needs, and seeing that his
pressing cares and the hard and
grinding poverty. of his life did not
within his soul. Such was your work
in the past; and your work in the
present is as great: for the need and
opportunity for service widen as the
field of national interest widens. It
Is not true In this country that the
poor have grown poorer: but It is
true that In many sections. and par
ticularly in our large cities. the rich
have grown so very much richer as
to widen the gulf between the man Of
makes each days livelihood by that
days work; and those who with
sincerity. and efficiency, and deep con-
viction, band together for mutual
help. are those who can do most to
keep the gulf from becoming too
- -
organizations. through philanthropic
organizations. in all the field of
kindred endeavor. can manifest itself
as effectively in the crowded and
complex life of today as in the
pioneer yesterdays; and the souls of
hlindly toward it. as they needed it,
and stFeve toward 1t In the vanished
past.
The Work of the Lord.
1t is your task to do the work of
the Lord on the farm and in the mine.
in the counting room and the factory,
in the car shops and beside the blast
your spiritual forebears to wrestle for
the souls Of the men and women who
dwelt On the stump-dotted clearings
in the wilderness.
No nation in the world has more
right than ours to look with proud con-
else has the experiment of democratic
government, of government by the
people and for the people. of govern
ment based on the principle Of treating
each man on his innate worth as q
man, been tried on so vast a scale as
with us; and on the whole the expert
ment has been more successful than
anywhere else. Moreover. on the
whole. I think it can be said that we
have grown better and not worse; fol
If there is much evil, good also greatly
abounds. and If wrong grows. SO In
sense OF right before which wrong
must eventually yield. It would be
both unmanly and unwarranted to
become faint-hearted or despairins
about the nations future. Clear-eye6
and far-sighted men who are both
brave of heart and cool OF head. while
not for a moment refusing to see and
acknowledge the many evils around
us. must yet also feel q confident as.
surance that in the struggle we shall
win and not lose, that the century
that has just opened will see grea,
triumph for our people.
But the surest way to achieve thil
and belief in our progress, yet at the
same time to refuse to blind ourselves
| to what is evil in the complex play OF
the many forces, working through
and with, and against one another, IL
the upbuilding of our social structure
There is much that tends toward evil a!
well as much that tends toward good
and the true patriot is that man who
without losing faith in the good. does
| his best to combat the evil, to stamI
| it out where that Is possible, and a
least to minimize its results. Pros