The new era., 1910-05-05
DU7!ES OF c!T!ZEN
Colonel Roosevelt Lectures on
This Subject in Paris.
BIG AUDIENCE IN soRBoNNE

eavants, Professors and Students
Hear the Ex-PresIdent's Views on
the Responsibilities Of the lndlvId-
ual-HIts at Race Suicide In France.
Paris, April 23-Savants, professors
and students of the University OF
Paris crowded the assembly hall Of the
Sorbonne this afternoon to hear Col.
Theodore Roosevelt lecture on "Citi-
zenship in Republic" 1t was an ap-
preciative audience and the lecturer
was frequently applauded. Mr..
Roosevelt said:
Foundations Of Our Republic.
This was the most famous univer-
city OF medieval Europe at time
when no one dreamed that there was
a new world to discover. Its services
to the cause of human knowledge al
ready stretched far back into the
remote past at the time when my fore
fathers, three centuries ago, when
among the sparse bands of traders.
plowmen, wood choppers and fisher
folk. who. in hard struggle with the
iron unfriendliness of the Indian
haunted land, were laying the founda-
tions of what has now become the
giant republic Of the west. To con-
quer 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 therein. and which are still in
the hands Of their brethren who dwell
in the old land. To conquer the
wilderness means to wrest victory
from the same hostile forces with
which mankind struggled in the i'm
memorial infancy of our race. The
primeval conditions must be met by
primeval qualities which are incom-
patible with the retention of much
that has been painfully acquired by
humanity as through the ages 1t has
striven upward toward civilization
In conditions SO primitive there can
be but primitive culture.
Building the Higher Life.
AS the country grows. its people, who
have won success in so many lines,
turn back to try to recover the pos
sessions of the mind and the spirit
which perforce their fathers threw
aside in order better to wager the first
rough battles for the continent their
children inherit. The leaders of
thought and Of action grope their way
forward to new life, realizing some
times dimly. sometimes clear-sighted-
ly. that the life of material gain.
H1yh ot hny. fNr. IN lt,,l<1
is Of value only as foundation, only
as there is added to it the uplift that
comes from devotion to loftier ideals.
The new life thus sought can in part
be developed afresh from what is
round about In the new world; but
It can be developed in full only by
freely drawing upon the treasure
houses of the old world. upon the
treasures stored in the ancient abodes
of wisdom and learning. such as this
where l speak today.
1t is mistake for any nation merely
to copy another; but 1t is an even
greater mistake, it Is proof of weak
ness in any nation, not to be anxious
to learn from another, and willing and
able to adapt that learning to the new
national conditionst and make 1t fruit
full and productive therein. 1t is for
us Of the new world to sit at the feet
Of the Gamaliel of the old; then if we
have the right stuff in us, we can show
that Paul. in his turn, can become a
teacher as we'll as scholar
Today. l shall speak to you on the
subject Of Individual citizenship, the
one subject of vital Importance to you,
my hearers. and to me and my coun
trymen, because you and we are citi-
zens Of great democratic republics. A
democratic republic such as each of
ours-an effort to realize in its full
sense government by. of. and for the
of all possible social experiments. the
one fraught with greatest possibilities
alike for good and for evil
Great Lesson Of France.
France has taught many lessons to
other nations; surely one of the most
important is the lesson her whole his
tory teaches, that high artistic and
literary development is compatible
with notable leadership in arms and
statescraft. The brilliant gallantry of
the French soldier has for many cen
turtles been proverbial. and during
these same centuries at every court in
Europe the free masons of fashion"
have treated the French tongue as
heir common speech; while every art
list and man of letters, and every man
Of science able to appreciate that mar
Felous instrument of precision. French
prose, has turned towards France for
lid and inspiration. How long the lead
srship in arms and letters has lasted
Is curiously illustrated by the fact that
he earliest masterpiece in modern
tongue is the splendid French epic