Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1910-04-23
COL. ROOSEVELTS
ADDRESS TOFRENCH

Continued from Page ons)
driven. sinewy folk who thrust FOR,
ward the frontier IN the teeth Of
savage man and savage nature; and
many years elapse before any OF
these schools can develop into seats
Of higher learning and broader cul.
ture.
The pioneer days pass; the stump
dotted clearings expand into vast
stretches OF fertile farm land; the
stoekaded clusters Of log cabins into
towns; the hunters Of game, the fell
Iers Of trees, the rude frontier trad
ers and tillers Of the soil. the men
who wander ali their lives long
through the wilderness as the heralds
and harbingers Of an oncoming civil
likatlon, themselves vanish before
the civilization for which they have
prepared the way. The children OF
their successors and supplanters. and
then their children and chIldren's
children, change and develop with ex-
traordinary rapidly. The conditions
aceentnate vices and virtues, energy
and ruthlessness, ell the good quail
tles and All the defects OF an Intense
individuailsm. self-relLant. sel6-cen-
tered. far more conscious Of it's
rights than Or It's duties, and blind to
its own shortcomings, To the hard
materialism OF the frontier days sue
ceeds The hard materialism OF an In
dustriallsm even more intense and
absorbing than that OF the older
nationsi although these themselves
have likewise already entered on the
age Of complex and predomlnantly
Industrial civilization.
Individual Citizenship.
Today ! shall speak to you on the
subject OF individual citizenship, the
one subject Of vital Importance to
you, my hearers. and to me ana my
countrymen, because you and we are
citizens Of great democratic republics.
A democratic republic such as each
Of oursan EFFORT to realize In Its fun
sense government by, OF. and for the
people represents the most gigantic
OF al possible social experiments. the
one fraught with greatest possible
ties alike for good and for evil. The
success Of republics like yours and
like ours means the glory, and our
failure the despair, OF mankind; and
for You and for ns the question on the
quality Of the Individual citizen Il SUI
pFeme. Under other forms OF gov
eminent. under the rule OF one man
or Of q very few men, the quality OF
the rulers II all.important. If, under
snch governments. the quality OF the
rulers Is high enough. then the ma
tion may for generations lead a bril-.
liant career, and add substantially 10
the sum OF world achievement. no
matter how low the quality OF the av-
crage citizen; because the average
citizen II an almost negligible guam
tity IN working out che anal results
q that type o. national greatness.
But with you and with us the case
4 different. With YOU here. and with
us II ny own home. Ia the long run.
success o. failure viii be conditioned
upon the way in which the average
man. the average woman. does his or
her duty, flrst IN the ordinary, every
day Affairs Of life. and next In those
great occasional crises which call
fsr the heroic virtues. The average
citizen must be a good citizen II our
republics are 10 succeed. The stream
will not permanently rise higher than
the main source; and the main source
Of national power aud national great
ness Is found IN the average citizen
ship Of the nation. Therefore Il be.
hooyes rs to do our best to see that
the standard OF the average citizen
Is kept high; and the average cannot |
b. kept high unless the standard of (
the leaders Is very much higher.
Let the man OF learning. the man
Of iettered leisure. beware OF that
Qaeer and cheap temptation to pose
% himself aud to others as the cynic. /
- the man who has outgrown emo /
lions and beliefs. the man to whom |
good and syii are as one, The poor.
est way to face life Is to face II with /
= sheer.
France Teaches Lessons.
France has taught many lessons to
other nations. surely one OF the most