The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1910-04-29
Speech at SOrbonne One of Most Important
EUents of Distinguished Americans Visit to
France--His Subject Was Citizenship in
Republic ---AH Cabinet Members and
Many Students in Audience--Success
or Failure Due to the Way Duty
Is Performed By Each Citizen
BY Associated Press

by Associated Press.
Paris, April 23-Theodore Roose-
welt, ex,president of the United States,
delivered his eagerly expected lecture
on Citizenship in a Republic" in the
sorbonne this afternoon. The vast
audience was composed of all mem
bers Of the French cabinet, students
from the university of Paris, and many
distinguished guests. by whom the
occasion was regarded as the most Inn
portant feature of the distinguished
Americans visit to France.
Col Roosevelt spoke on individual
citizenship in the republics Of France
and the United States. In part he
said.
with you here. and with us in
my own home, in the long run, sue
cess or failure will be conditioned
upon the way in which the average
man, the average woman, does his
or her duty, first in the ordinary, every
day affairs of life, and next in those
great occasional crises which call for
the heroic virtues. The average citi-
zen must be a good citizen il our
republics are TO succeed The
stream will not permanently rise
higher than the main source; and the
main source of national power and
national greatness is found in the ay-
erage citizenship Of the nation. There
fore It behooyes us to do our best to
see that the standard of the average
citizen is kept high; and the aver.
age cannot be kept high unless the
standard of the leaders is very much
higher
1T is we'll If large proportion of
the leaders in any republic, in any
democracy, as a matter of course,
drawn from the classes represented in
this audience today; but only pro
vided that those classes possess the
gifts of sympathy with plain people
and of devotion to great ideals. You
and those like you have received spe-
eial advantages; you have all Of you
had the opportunity for mental train.
ing; many of you have had leisure;
most of you have had a chance for
the enjoyment of life far greater than
comes TO the majority of your fel
lows. To You and your kind much
has been given, and from you much
should be expected.
1T is not the critic who counts
not the man who points out how the
strong man stumbles. or where the
doer of deeds could have done them
better The credit belongs to the
man who is actually in the arena
whose face is marred by dust and
sweat and blood who strives yaliantly
who errs, and comes short again and
again, because there is no effort with
Iout error and shortcomlng; but who
does actually strive to do the deeds
who knows the great enthusiasm, the
Igreat deyotions; who spends himself
in a worthy cause; who at the best
knows IN the end the triumph of high
achievement, and who at the worst
Iif he fails, at least fails while daring
greatly. so that this place shall never
be with those cold and timid souls
who know neither victory nor defeat
Shame on the man OF cultivated taste
who permits refinement TO develop IN
"a fastidiousness that units him for
doing the rough work of a workaday
world. Among the free peoples who
govern themselves there Is but a
small field of usefulness open for the
men Of clolstered life who shrink
from contact with their fellows. Still
less room Is there for those who de
ride or slight what is done by those
who actually bear the brunt Of the
day; nor yet for those others who al
ways profess that they would like Ia
take action. II only the conditions
OF life were not what they actually
are
'I pay all homage to intellect. and
10 elaborate and specialized training
of the intellect; and yet know
shall have the assent Of all of you
present when | add that more I'm
portant still are the commonplace,
everyday qualities and virtues
"sueh ordinary, everyday qualities
include the will and the power ID
work, to fight at need. and to have
plenty Of healthy children. There are
a few people in every country so born
that they can lead lives OF leisure
These fill a useful function II they
make It evident that leisure does not
mean idleness But the average man