The Colorado statesman., 1910-05-07
ROOSEVELT SPEAKS BEFORE
NOBEL PRIZE COMMITTEE
Lecture on international Peace" Is Delivered
in Christiania---Way in Which the
Cause May Be Advanced Are
Set Forth.

was the fitting topic selected by Col.
| Theodore Roosevelt for his lecture be-
fore the Nobel prize committee. which
was delivered here Thursday. A large
and distinguished audience listened to
| the man to whom was awarded the
Nobel peace prize for bringing about
peace between Japan and Russia Mr..
Roosevelt said:
Need Of Industrial Peace.
It is with peculiar pleasure that
stand here today to express the deep
appreciation / feel of the high honor
conferred upon me by the presenta-
ton of the Nobel peace prize. The
gold medal which formed part of the
prize | shall always keep, and l shall
hand 1t on to my children as precious
heirloom. The sum of money provided
as part of the prize by the wise gem
erosity of the illustrious founder of
this world-famous prize system, ! did
not, under the peculiar circumstances
of the case, feel at liberty to keep. l
think It eminently just and proper
that in most cases the recipient of the
prize should keep for his own use the
prize in its entirety. But in this
case, while | did not act officially as
president of the United States, 1t was
nevertheless only because / was pres
| ident that | was enabled to act at all;
and l felt that the money must be
considered as having been given me
in trust for the United States. | there
fore used 1t as nucleus for founda-
tion to forward the cause of indus
| trial peace, as being well within the
| general purpose of your committee;
| for in our complex industrial civiliza-
tion of today the peace of righteous
ness and justice, the only kind of
peace worth having. is at least as
necessary in the industrial world as
| 1t is among nations. There is at
least as much need to curb the cruel
greed and arrogance of part of the
world of capital, to curb the cruel
greed and violence of part of the
world of labor, as to check cruel
and unhealthy militarism in interna-
tional relationships.
When Peace May Be Evil.
We must ever bear in mind that the
great end in view is Righteousness,
justice as between man and man, ma
tion and nation, the chance to lead
our lives on somewhat higher level,
with a broader spirit of brotherly good
will one for another. Peace is gen.
orally good in itself. but it is nevN
the highest good unless it comes as
the handmade of righteousness; and 1t
becomes a very evil thing If it serves
merely as a mask for cowardice and
sloth, or as an instrument to further
the ends of despotism or anarchy.
We despise and abhor the bully, the
brawler the oppressor, whether in
private or public life; but we despise
no less the coward and the voluptu-
ary. No man is worth calling a man
who will not fight rather than submit
to infamy or see those that are dear
to him suffer wrong. No nation de-
serves to exist if it permits itself to
lose the stern and virile virtues; and
this without regard to whether the
loss is due to the growth of heart
less and all-absorbing commercialism,
to prolonged Indulgence in luxury and
soft effortless ease, or to the deifica-
tion of a warped and twisted senti-
mentality.
Moreover. and above all, let us re-
member that words count only when
they give expression to deeds or are
to be translated into them. The lead
ers of the Red Terror prattled of
peace while they stepped their hands
in the blood of the innocent; and
many a tyrant has called it peace
when he has scourged honest protest
into silence. Our words must be
judged by our deeds; and in striving
for a lofty ideal we must use prac-
tical methods; and If we cannot at
tain all at one leap, we must advance
towards it step by step, reasonably
content so long as we do actually
make some progress in the right di-
rection.
Now, having freely admitted the
limitations to our work. and the quail
ifications to be borne in mind, l feel
that l have the right to have my
words taken seriously when l point
out where, in my judgment, great ad-
vance can be made in the cause of in
ternational peace. i speak as a prac-
tical man, and whatever l now advo-
cate | actually tried to do when | was
for the time being the head of great
nation, and keenly jealous of its hon
or and interest. l ask other nations
to do only what / should be glad to
see my own nation do.
| Treaties of Arbitration.
The advance can be made along
several lines. First of all there can
be treaties of arbitration. There are.
of course, states so backward that a
civilized community ought not to en-
ter into an arbitration treaty with
them, at least until we have gone
much farther than at present in Sc
curing some kind of international po-
| lice action But all ranllv ciuilizad