The Montgomery tribune., 1910-04-29
ROOSEVELT GIVES
FORMAL LECTURE
First of Series of Addresses in Europe is
Greeted With Warmest Applause.

the United States. The distinguished
American delivered his lecture in the
Sorbonne, the first of the series of
formal addresses he is to make in
European cities, and was the recipient
OF the highest honors and the warm
est applause.
Colonel Roosevelt was driven from
his hotel to the Sorbonne early In the
afternoon, and the street through
which he passed were thronged with
men, women and children who cheered
him enthusiastically He genialiy ac-
kifowledged their greetings, as he did
those of the immense crowd that led
assembled outside the Sorbonne, un-
ahle to gain admittance, but deter
nfined to see the famous visitor.
Lecture In the Sorbonne.
When the applause that greeted his
appearance had died down, the ex-
president was introduced by the rec
ytor and at once began the delivery of
his lecture. His subject was "Citizen-
ship in Republic" and his words
were addressed especially to young
French so excellent that it caused his
auditors to wonder, the lecturer set
forth vigorously and eloquently his
ideas Of the opportunities, and more
particularly the duties of citizens un-
der such governments as those df the
United States and France. At the
close Of his address the applause was
~ NJ
was warmly congratulated by a num-
ber of the distinguished men who had
heard him.
! Mr.. Roosevelt's Speech.
Mr. Roosevelt spoke as follows.
Strange and impressive associations
rise in the mind of a man in the world
who speaks before this august body in
this ancient institution of learning. Be-
fore his eyes pass the shadows of
mighty kings and warlike mobiles, of
great masters of law, and 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 innumerabe host of
humble students to whom clerkship
meant emancipation, to whom it was
we'll nigh the only outlet in the dark
thraldom Of the middle ages.
Service Stretched Far Back.
This was the most famous university
OF medieval Europe at a time when
no one dreamed that there was a new
world to discover. Its services to the
cause OF human knowledge already
stretched far back into the remote
past at the time when my forefath-
ers, three centuries ago, were among
the sparse bands Of traders, plowmen.
wood choppers and fisherfolk who, in
hard struggle with the iron unfriend-
illness of the Indian-haunted land, were
laying the foundations of what has
now become the giant republic of the
west.
Meet PrimevaI Conditions.
To conquer continent, to tame the
shaggy roughness of wild nature
means grim warfare; and the genera.
tions engaged in it cannot keep. still
less add to the stores of garnered wis
dom which were theirs, and which are
still In the hands of their brethren
who dwell in the old land. To con.
quer the wilderness means to wrest
victory from the same hostile forces
with which mankind struggled in the
tmmemorial 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 it has
striven upward toward civilization. In
condition SO primitive there can be
but primitive culture At first only
the rudest schools can be established.
Tor no others would meet the needs
OF the hard driven, sinewy folk who
thrust forward the frontier In the
teeth of the savage and savage ma
ture; and many years elapse before
any OF these schools can develop into
seats of higher learning and broader
culture.
AS the country grows, its people
who have won success In so many
lines. turn back to try to recover the
possessions of the mind and the spir-
II, which perforce their fathers threw
aside In order better to wage the
first rough battles for the continent
their children inherit. The leaders OF
thought and of action grope their way
forward to a new life, realizing, some
times dimly, sometimes clear-sighted-
iy, that the life of material gain,
whether for a nation or an individual,
is of value only as foundation, only
as there Is added to 1t 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 free
ly drawing upon the treasure houses
of the old world, upon the treasures
utn ty, M onata.,k .h.a1r - v-..-