The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1910-08-27
MARIN RECEPTION GIVEN
ROOSEVELT IN CHEYENNE
tcOnunued From Page onsJ

kOOuUQueQ from rage OLe.l
tues include the power Of self-help, to-
gether with the power Of joining with
Others for mutual help and, what is es-
pecially importapt the feeling Of com
radeship. Of social good-fellowship. Any
man who had the good fortune to live
|among the old frontier conditions must.
in looking back. realize how vital was
this feeling of general comradeship and
social fellowship. There were good men
and bad men in the new communities
Just as in the old communities, and the
conditions on the frontier were such
that the qualities of the good and the
bad alike were rather more strikingly
manifested than in older communities;
but among the men who tried to lead
Woodworking, decent lives, there was
a feeling OF genuine democracy, which
an approach to the Ameri-
can ideal which we certainly should do
everything in our power to preserve.
We did not try to say that men were
equal when they were not equal, hut
we did our best to secure something
like an equality of opportunity and an
equality Of reward for good service;
and, moreover, each man expected to
be received, and, on the whole. was re-
ceived, wherever he went, on the foot
ing that his merits warranted.
Now, so far as possible these quail
tiles and the conditions that bring
about these qualities should be kept in
the great states which are growing out
of the old frontier communities We
need to strive for the general social
betterment of the people as whole,
and yet to encourage individual liberty
and set high reward on individual in
litiative up to the point where they be-
come detrimental to the general well
fare In continually and earnestly
striving for this betterment of social
and economic conditions in our com
plex industrial civilization we should
work in the old frontier spirit of rug
ged strength and courage, and yet with
the old frontier spirit of brotherly
comradeship and good will. l do not
mean that we should refrain from hat
ing wrong; on the contrary, l would
preach fiery wrath against wrong. but
l would not preach such wrath against
the wrong-doer, save in those cases
where his wrong-doing really is due
to evil moral attributes on his part.
and not to a wrong or false system,
of which is is almost as much the vic
tim as the beneficiary. Sometimes a
wrong represents the deliberate wick
edness of the wrong-doer. in which
case the remedy is to punish him; but
sometimes it represents the effects of
false social system, in which case the
right course is to alter what is false
in the system. Both principles need to
be kept in view as guides to our con-
duct, and it is necessary sometimes to
work in accordance vita one and some
times in accordance with the other.
Before ending, wish to say a
word on something which / believe
should especially interest all men who
live in the open country. and especially
all men who during the past thirty
years have lived and worked on
ranches, or have done their life work
in the wilder parts OF our land; on the
great plains and among the mountains.
The phase of our national life in which
the stockman, the mining prospector.
the frontier farmer and their associates
were the chief characters, was not only
very important but also a very pic
lturesque phase. Often such phase
passes without any great artist arising
10 commemorate it. The old-time back
woodsmea, for instance. the man of
the back country, who lived in the
Eastern forests through which the
waters ran eastward to the Atlantic
and westward to the Mississippi. pass
ed away without any painter or sculp-
tor arising who possessed at once both
the keenness OF vision to see what a
vital and picturesque figure the back
woodsman was, and the genius ade-
quately to present that figure. The ar
fists who saw the picturesqueness of
the backwoodsman lacked the genius
to adequately commemorate it; while
the artists OF real ability unfortunately
had their eyes toward Europe, and
lacked the robust originality-which
the novelist Cooper showed-to see
where their chance lay to do great
work. But In our generation. for our
good fortune a great artist arose who
was capable Of seeing and of recording
the infinite pict9resqueness Of the life
of the plains and the Rockies. OF
course / speak OF Frederick Remington.
He was one of those Americans who by
y