The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-11
President Roosevelt Talks Be-
 fore Mothers Congress
ILL HONOR TO THE MOTHER
Reception Is Given To Women at the White House, When Mir. Roosevelt Tells Guests Exactly How
 To Raise Children. a

Washington March 10-The White House was the scene today of the formal | opening of the first international con gress on the welfare of the child. which
 is being held under the auspices of the National Mothers congress. The POO dele. gates representing all the states and ter ritories and dozen or more of the eal-
 ing countries of the world were received at the White House at 9:30 o'clock this afternoon, when Pres,ce-t Roosevelt oe.
 livered an address 10 hem, in whch he declared he placed the society ahead of 1 the civil war veterans because, he said | In the final analysis 1t is the mother only | who is a better citizen than the soldier 1 who fights for his country.
 | The President said in part:
 The successful mother, the mother who l does her part in rearing and training l alright the boys and girls who are to | be the men of the next generation, is of | greater use to the community, and occu- 1 pies, if she only would realize it, more honorable. as well as a more important, l position than any successful man in it. Nothing in this life that is really worth having comes save at the cost of l effort No life of self-indulgence, of mere vapid pleasure, possibly even in the one l point of pleasure itself. yields so ample
 reward as comes to the mother at the 1 cost of self-denfal of effort, of suffering
 childbirth; of the long, slow. patient, try l ing work of bringing up the children | ..&~-t.4 hT..
 city attitude can be, right unless 1t is 1 based fundamentally upon the recogni-
 ton of seeing that the girl is trained to
 understand the supreme dignity, the su- | preme usefulness of motherhood. Unless l the average woman is good wife and l good mother, unless she bears a sufficient l number of children so that the race shall l increase, and not decrease, unless she
 brings up these children sound in soul and 1 mind and body-unless this is true of the
 average woman, no brliancy of genius,
 no material prosperity, no triumphs of
 science and industry will avail to save the l race from ruin and death. The mother
 is the one supreme asset of national life;
 she is more important by far than the | successful statesman or business man, l artist or scientist
 Brutal Man Condemned.
 | q abhor and condemn the man who Is | brutal thoughtless, careless. selfish with | women, and especially with the women Of l his own household. The birth bangs mahe | all men the debtors of all women. I ab- hor and condemn the man who fails to | recognize all his obligations to the womeE who do their duty But the woman who l shirks her duty as wife and mother is just as heartily to be condemned. We de- | spise her as we despise and condemn the soldier who finches in battle.
 "Because we so admire the good wom- an. the unselfsh woman, the far-sighted | woman we have scant patience with her | unworthy sister who fears to do her duty: 1 exactly as for the very reason that we l respect a man who does his duty honestly 1 and fairly.
 | "All honor to the man or woman who 1 does duty who renders services; and we can only honor him or her If the weight of our condemnation Is felt py | those who finch from their duty.
 q want to ask your assistance for two or three matters that are immediately connected with the life in the family it. self, but that are of vital consequence l to the cnllQTen. III tut DiSt PioNS' i' | the school see that the school work IS made as practical as possible. For the | boys I want to see training provided that | shall train them toward and not away 1 from their lifework; that will tram them | toward the farm. the shop-not away l from it. With the girl, see that II IS not made matter of mirth that lhe girl who goes to college comes out un- prepared to do any of the ordinary duties of womanhood. Play at School. "As regards our public schools especial ly I want to put in special word m behalf of the right kind of playgrounds. No school is good school if 1t has not good playground. Help the children to play; remember that you can often help them most by leaving them entire ly alone You cannot have good citizens of the next generation, if the boys and girls are worked in factories to the stuntinG of their moral. metal and physical growth. Wherever the national government can
 reach. it should do away with the evils of child labor. and it must be done. but much must be done by the actions of the several state legislatures and do. each of you, in your several states, all that you can to secure the enactment, and then the enforcement of laws that shall put a stop to the employment of children of tender age in doing only what grown people should do. Love the Basis. Do not forget that love is what the family is based on; but don't do children. don't do grown people, the dreadful in iustice-through love that Is merely one form of weakness-of failing to make lhe child, or I might add, the man, be- hehave itself or himself. marriage, ronrl he 2 rartrership where each of the two parties has his or her rights, where each should be most careful to do 1 his or her duty then to exact duty from | the other partner; but where each must. | in justice to the other partner no less --~~----->--------->- -->----->~---~--------~---- fC0NTINIEn ON PAGE m