The Detroit times., 1910-06-07
POLITICAL ABUSES
MUST GIVE WAY
To PROGRESS
Col. ROOSEVELT.
Former President Delivers Forceful
Lecture at Famous Oxford Uni
versity on Biological Analogies
In History"
Denounces Socialism, Repeats His
Warning Against Race Suicide and
Urges Preparation for War.
Col. ROOsEvELr.

1ound defense Tor BRUSH and Amer
lean Imperialism In the Biological
Analogies In History" on which he
spoke at oxford university today.
The all-important factor In national
greatness is national character" was
his final analysis.
He described the chief dangers
threatening England and the United
States as the growth In luxury, In
love OF ease. In taste for vapid and
frivolous excitement" and In the
diminution OF the birthrate. a diminu-
ton so great that II 1t continues for
the next century all the more highly
civilized people will be stationary"
He closed discussion OF modern
social problems, In which he attacked
socialism, with the statement that
though hardness of heart Is an evil.
II Is no greater than softness or
head"
THE ethnic makeup Of our people Is
slowly changing. so that constantly
the race tends to become more and
more akin to that OF those Americans
who. like myself. are OF the old stock
but not mainly OF English stock. Yet
| think that as time goes by. mutual
respect, understanding and sympathy
among the English speaking peoples
grow greater and not less. Common
heirship In the things OF the spirit
makes a closer bond than common
heirship in the things Of the body.
Luxury Source Of Danger.
I'VE must realize that the growth
Of soft luxury after 1t has reached a
certain point becomes a natioal danger
patent to all. Again II needs but little
Cf the vision of seer to foretell what
must happen In any community IL the
average woman ceases to become the
mother of a family OF healthy chill
dren, II the average man loses the
will and the power TO work up TO old
rye and to fight whenever the need
arises. II the homely, commonplace
virtues die out. then the nation has
lost what no material prosperity will
Offset
But there are plenty OF other phe-
nomena wholly or partially inexplica-
BILE. II Is easy TO see why Rome trend
ed downward when great slave-tilled
farms spread over what had once been
q countryside OF peasant proprietors,
when greed and sensuality ate like
acids into the fiber OF the upper
barbarians Is quite sufficiently ex-
planned by the mere fact that the aver
nge citizen had lost the fighting edge
an essential even under a despotism
and therefore far more essential In
fee self.governing communities such
rs the English-speaking peoples OF to-
day.
Every modern civilized nation has
many terrible problems TO solve which
arise from the self-consciousness OF
both poverty and riches. IL Is revolt
ing 10 every principle OF justice 20
give TO the lazy, the vicious, or even
the feeble and dull witted, reward
which is really the robbery Of what
Drawer, wiser ADLER men have earned.
The only effective way to help a man
is to help him to help himself; and
the worst lesson to teach him Is that
he can be permanently helped at the
expense of some one else. True lib
erty shows itself to best advantage IN
protecting the rights OF others. ana
especially OF minorities. Privilege
should not be tolerated because 1t IL
TO the advantage of a minority, nor
yet because II Is to the advantage OF
a majority. No doctrinaire theories
OF vested rights or freedom OF con-
tract can stand I'm the way OF our
cutting out abuses from the body
polite. Just as little can we afford
TO follow the doctrinaries of an i'm
possible--and incidentally Of highly
undesirable--social revolution which,
I'm destroying individual rights, includ-
ing property rights and the family,
would destroy the two chief agents In
the advance OF mankind, and the two
chief reasons why either the advance
or the preservation OF mankind IL
worth while.
I'm dealing with all these social
problems. with the intimate relations
of the family. with wealth in private
and business use. with labor. with
poverty, the one prime necessity Is
to remember that, though hardness Of
heart is a great evil. it Is no greater
an evil than softness OF head.
Must Be Ready.
"The other type OF duty Is inter-
national. the duty owed by one nation
10 another. | hold that the laws Of
morality which should govern In
dividuals are Just as binding concern
ing nations The application must be
different because the individual can
depend for his rights upon the courts,
backed by the police power OF the
state. while the nation can depend
upon nothing OF the kind. Therefore,
as things are now. IL is the highest
duty OF the most advanced and freest
peoples to keep themselves in a state
of readiness. IL would be foolish in
deed to pay heed to the unwise per-
sons who desire disarmament to be
begun by the very peoples who. of all
others, should not be left helpless be-
fore any possible foe. But we must
reprobate quite as strongly aggres-
sion and iniquity at the expense OF
the weak. We should tolerate law