Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1910-04-29
ROOSEVELT GIVES
S0RB0NNE TALK
First Of His Formal Addresses
in Europe Delivered.
SPEAKS READILY IN FRENCH
American Ex-President is Heard by a
.Throng of Savants and Students
-"citizenship in Repub.
lie" His Theme.

Paris, yrance-The literary and
scientific world of Paris paid its trib-
ute April 90 to Theodore Roosevelt,
ex-president of the United States. The
distinguished American delivered his
lecture in the Sorbonne, which is as
Sollows:
Strange and impressive asso-
Citations rise in the mind of
man in the world who speaks be-
fore this august body in this ancient
institution of learning. Before his
eyes pass the shadows of mighty
kings and warlike mobiles, Of great
masters of law, the theology; through
the shining dust of the dead centuries
he sees crowded figures that tell of
the power and learning and splendor
of times gone by; and he sees also
the innumerable post of humble stu
dents to whom clerkship meant eman-
'cipation, to whom 1t was we'll nigh
the only outlet in the dark thraldom
of the middle ages.
This was the most famous univer-
sity of medieval Europe at time
when no one dreamed that there was
a new world to discover. It's services
to the cause of human knowledge al
ready stretched far back into the re-
mote past at the time when my fore
Gathers, three centuries ago, were
among the sparse bands OF traders,
plowmen, wood choppers and fisher
folk who in hard struggle with the
iron unfriendliness of the Indian,
1o
tions of what has now become the
giant republic of the west To con-
Quer a continent, to tame the shaggy
roughness of wild nature means grim
warfare; and the generations engaged
in 1t cannot keep, still less add to the
stores of garnered wisdom which
were theirs, and which are still in the
hands of their brethren who dwell in
the old land. To conquer the wilder
mess means to wrest victory from the
same hostile forces with which man.
kind struggled in the immemorial in
fancy of our race. The primeval con.
ditions must be met by primeval
qualities which are incompatible with
the retention of much that has been
painfully acquired by humanity as
Through the ages 1t has striven up
ward toward civilization. In condi
tion so primitive there can be but q
primitive culture. At first only the
rudest schools can be established, for
mo others would meet the needs of the
hard driven, sinewy folk who thrust
Forward the frontier on the teeth OF
the savage nature; and many years
elapse before any of these schools can
develop into seats of higher learning
and broader culture.
Devotion to Lofty Ideals.
"As the country grows. it's people
who have won success in so many
lines, turn back to try to recover the
possessions of the mind and the spirit
which perforce their fathers threw
aside in order better to wage the frs
rough battles for the continent theil
children inherit. The leaders o.
thought and of action grope their way
forward to new life, realizing, some
times dimiy, sometimes clear sighted
7y, that the life of material gain
whether for a nation or an individual
Is of value only as a foundation. onl,
dS IH6Te 10 duQtu W luS tud
comes from devotion to loftier ideals
The new life thus sought can in par
be developed afresh from what Il
round about in the new world; but
can be developed in full only by free
1y drawing upon the treasure house,
of the old world, upon the treasure
stored in the ancient abodes of wis
dom and learning, such as this where
of speak today. 1t is a mistake TO
any nation merely to copy another
but it is an even greater mistake,
is proof of weakness in any nation
not to be anxious to learn from an
other, and willing and able to adap
that learning to the new national cor
ditions and make 1t fruitful and pre-
ductive therein.
Individual Citizenship.
To-day l shall speak to you on tn
subject of individual citizenship, tn
one subject of vital Importance I
you, my hearers, and to me and m
countrymen. because you and we ar
citizens of great democratic republics
A democratic republic such "a each G
ours-an effort to realize In It's fu
sense government by. Of. and for tn
people-represents the most giganti
of all possible serial experiments, tn
one fraught with the greatest poss
bilities alike for good and for evi
The success Of republics like your
and like ours means the glory. an
our failure the despair. of mankind
and for you and for us the questio
of the quality of the individual cit
zen is supreme.
France has taught many lessons [
other nations; surely one of the mo.
important is the lesson her whol
history teaches. that high artist
and literary development is compat
ble with notable leadership in arm
and statecraft. The brilliant ga
la.a4... a. In.a..aI, uallia. L.. q