Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-11
ADDRESS TO MOTHERS
President Roosevelt Receives
Delegates at White House.
WELFARE OF THE CHILDREN
Extols Motherhood and Condemns
Disregard of Duty.
LABOR OF YOUNG CHILDREN
Mr.. Roosevelt Says It Should, as Far
as Possible, Be Prohibited
by Law.
WELFARE OF THE CHILDREN
LABOR OF YOUNG CHILDREN

dS Z OSSAO1O, DC AoAASASSu
by Law.
The White House was the scene yester-
| day afternoon Of the formal opening of
| the first International congress on the
welfare of the child. which is being held
under the auspices of the National
| Mothers Congress. The 300 delegates.
representing all the states and territories
| and dozen or more of the leading
! countries of the world, were received at
| the White House at 2:30 o'clock. when
President Roosevelt delivered an address
| in which he declared that he placed the
| society ahead of the civil war veterans.
| because he said, in the final analysis 1t
| is the mother only who is a better citizen
| than the veteran who fights for his
country. The President said in part:
II receive many societies here in the
| White House. many organizations of good
J men and women. striving to do all that in
! them lies for the betterment of our social
and civic condition, but there is no other
| society which | am quite as glad to re-
| ceive as this. This is the one body that l
put even ahead of the veterans OF the
civil war. because when all Is SAID II Is
|
| better citizen even than the soldier VINO
| fights for his country.
THE successful mother, the mother
| who does her part in rearing and training
Alright the boys and girls who are TO be
| the men and women of the next genera
| ton, is of greater use to the community
| and occupies. If she only would realize It.,
| more honorable. as well as a more i'm
portant position than any successful man
| in it.
Mission of the Mothers.
Nothing in this life that is really worth
having comes save at the cost of effort
No life of self-indulgence, of mere vapid
pleasure, can possibly, even in the one
point of pleasure itself. yield so ample a
reward as comes to the mother at the
cost of self-denial, OF effort, of suffering
childbirth of the long. slow, patience try
ing work of bringing up the children
Alright. No scheme of education, no social
attitude. can be right unless 1t is based
fundamentally upon the recognition Of see
ing that the girl is trained to understand
the supreme dignity, the supreme useful
ness, of motherhood. Unless the average
woman is good wife and good mother,
unless she bears a sufficient number of
children. so that the race shall increase
and not decrease, unless she brings up
these children sound i'll soul and mind
and body-unless this is true of the aver
age woman, no brilliancy O.. genius, no
material prosperity, no triumphs of
science and industry will avail to save the
race from ruin and death. The mother is
the one supreme asset of national life: she
Is more important by far than the sue
cessful statesman or business man or art
list or scientist
II abhor and condemn the nah who is
brutal, thoughtless, careless. selfish, with
women. especially with the women of his
own household. The birth pangs make
all men the debtors of all women. The
man is poor creature who does not
realize the infinite difficulty of the wom-
ems task. who does not realize what is
done by her who bears and rears the
children; she who cannot even be sure
until the children are we'll grown that any
night will come when she can have it
entirely to herself to sleep I'm.
Man Who Neglects Duty.
Il ahhor and condemn the man who
| fails to recognize all his obligations to
the woman who does her duty. But the
woman who shrks her duty wife and
| mother is just as heartily to be con-
deE:ned. We despise her as we despise
! and condemn the soldier who flinches in
battle. A good woman. who does full
duty, is sacred in our eyes; exactly as
the brave and patriotic soldier is to be
| honored above all other men. But the
woman who, whether from cowardice,
from selfishness. from having false
and vacuous ideal. shirks her duty as
wife and mother, earns the right to
our conte mpt just does the man who.
from any motive. fears to do his duty in
battle when the country calls him.
Because we so admire the good woman,
the unselfish woman. the far-sighted
woman. we have scant patience with her
duty: exactly as, for the very reason that
we respect a man who does his duty
honestly and fairly in politics; who works
hard at his business: who in time of ma
tioEal need does his duty as a soldier
we scorn his brother who idles when he
should work: who is a bad husband, a
bad father; who does his duty i'll i'm the
ia mily or toward the state who fears to
do the work of a soldier if the time comes
when a soldiers work is needed. All
hcnSr to the man or woman who does
duty, who renders service; and we can
only honor him or her if the weight Of
our condemnation is felt by those who
finch from their duty.
Speech Designated as Sermon.
You see. my guests. you have let
yourselves in for sermon. l have now
almost come to the end. Before l do,
however, / want to ask your assistance
for two or three matters that are not i'm
mediately connected with the life in the
family itself. but that are of vital conse-
quence to the children.
I'm the first place. in the schools. see
that the school work is made as practical
as possible. For the boys / want to see
training provided that shall train them to-
ward. and not away from. their life
work; that will train them toward farm
| or the shop. not away from it. With the
girl see that it is not made a matter OF
mirth that the girl who goes to college
comes out unprepared to do any of the
ordinary duties OF womanhood. See. in
other words, that with the higher educa-
ton which she should have. for she
| should have a right to just as much edu-
cation, to just as high an education. as
any man-see that with that goes the edu-
cation that will fit her to do her tunda-
mental work in the world.
LAS regards our public schools es-
pecially l want to put in a special word
| in behalf of the right kind Of Fairgrounds
No school Is good school if it has not a
good playground. Help the children to
play. and remember that you can often
help them most by leaving them entirely