The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1908-11-13
THANKSGIVING DAY NOV. Is.

la fTtslEeu tsStlfi tnt ioiiOW-
ing thanksg ring proclamation on
October 3lsi
Once again the season is at hand
when, according 10 the ancient Gus
tom Of or PEOPLE it becomes he
duty OF the president to appoint a
day Of prayer and u thanksgiving
to God.
Year by year this nation grows
in strength and worldly power.
During the century and a quarter
that has elapsed since our entry into
the circle of independent peoples
we have known and prospered in
material things to a degree never
known before, and not now known
in any other country. The thirteen
colonies which struggled along the
sea coast Of the Atlantic and were
hemmed in but a few miles west of
the tide water by the Indian haunt
ed wilderness, have been transform
ed into the mighsiest republic which
the world has ever seen. Its
domains stretch across the continent
from one to the other Of the two
great oceans and it exercises dom
lnlon alike in the arctic and tropic
realms. The growth in wealth and
population has surpassed even the
growth in territory. Nowhere in
the world is the average Of indiyi-
dual comfort and material we'll being
as high as in our fortunate land.
For very reason that in material
we'll being we have thus abounnua55tii,
we owe it to the Almighty to show
equal progress in moral and spiritu-
al things. With a nation, as with
the individuals who make up a ma
ton, material well.being is an in
dispensable foundation. But the
foundation avails nothing by itself.
That life is wasted, and worse than
wasted, which is spent in piling,
heap upon, those things which
minister merely to the pleasure Of
the body and to the power that rests
only on wealth.
Upon material we'll being as a
foundation must be raised the struc-
ture of the lofty life of the spirit, if
this nation is properly to fulfill its
great mission and to accomplish all
that we 80 urgently hope and desire.
The things of the body are good;
the things of the intellect better,
but best Of all are the things of our
soul; for, in the nation as in the in
diyidual, in the long run it is char
acter that counts. Let us, therefore,
as a people, sci our faces resolutely
against evil and with broad charity,
with kindness and good will to-
ward all men, but with unhinching
determination to smite down wrong,
with all the strength that is
given us for righteousness in public
and in private life.
Now, therefore, I, Theodore
president of the United
do set apart Thursday, the
.wenty-sixth day of November, next,
IS a day Of general thanksgiving
md prayer, and on that day | rec
'mmend that the people shall cease
rom their daily work, and, in their
ZONES or in their churches, most
levoutly to thank the Almighty for
he many and great blessings they
received in the past, and to
ray that they may be given strength
o to order their lives as to deserve
continuation of these blessings in
he future.
I'm witness whereof, | have here.
nto set my hand and caused the
eal of the United States to be
Done at the city of Washington,
lis t~hirty-first day of October, in
year of our Lord, one thousand,
hundred and eight and of the
dependence of the United States,
lie one hundred and thirty-third."
"TUEODORE ROOSEVELT -