The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-04-23
ROOSEVELT ON
THE. INDIVIDUAL
CITIZENSHIP
Lecture at the sorbonne Was
Strong Presentation Of Citi-
zen's Responsibility

II IS NOT THE CRITIC WHO
COUNTS N THE STRUGGLE
He Merely Points Out Where the
Strong Man Stumbles or Where tho
Door Of Deeds Could Have Done
Better.
Paris. April 23.-In his lecture to-
day at the Sorbonne, Col. Theodore
Roosevelt spoke on individual city ;.
ship In the republic Of France any u
United States. In part he said:
With you here. and with us in my
own home. in the long run, success
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, everyday
AFFAIRS OF life, and next in those great
occasional crises which call for the
heroic virtues. The average citizen
must be good citizen IL our repub-
lies are to succeed. The stream will
not permanently rise higher than the
main source; and the main source of
national power and national greatness
b found In the average citizenship Of
the nation. Therefore it behooves US
to do our best to see that the stand
ard OF the average citizen is kept
high; and the average cannot be kept
high unless the standard Of the lead
ers 10 very much higher.
1T II we'll IL large proportion of
the leaders in any republic, in any
democracy, are, as a matter of course,
drawn from tho classes represented In
this audience today; but only provid-
Cd that those classes possess the
gifts Of sympathy with plain people
and Of devotion to great ideals. You
and those like you have 1eceived
special advantages; you have all OF
you had tho opportunity for mental
Training; many Of you have had leis-
ure: most of you have had q chance
for the enjoyment Of life far greater
than comes to the majority Of your
fellows. To you and your kind much
has been giyel. and from you much
should be expected.
Critic Does Not Count
cit, 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 10 marred by dust and sweat and
blood; who strives valiently; who.
srrs. and comes short again and
again. because there is no effort with
out error and shortcoming; but who
does actually strive to do the deeds;
who knows the great enthusiasm, the
great devotions; who spends himself
in worthy cause: who at the best
knows in, the end the triumph Of high
achievement. and who at the worst, II
he fails, at least fails while daring
greatly, SO that his 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 into
fastidiousness that units HIM for
doing the rough work of a workaday
world. Among the free peoples who
govern themselves there is but small
field Of usefulness open for the men
Of cloistered life who shrink from
contact with their fellows. Still less
room is there for those who desire
or slight what is done by those who
actually bear the brunt Of the day;
nor yet for those others who always
profess that they would like to take
action, IL only the conditions Of life
were not what they actually are.
II pay all homage to intellect. and
to elaborate and specialized training
Of the intellect; and yet know I
shall have the assent Of all of you
present when I add that more i'm
portant still are the commonplace,
everyday qualities and virtues.
Many Children
"Such ordinary. everyday qualities
include the will and the power to
work, to fight at need, and to have
plenty Of healthy children. There are
Q few people In every country SO born
that they can lead lives Of leisure.
These I'LL useful function If they
make 1t evident that leisure does not
mean idleness. But the average man
must earn his own livelihood. He
should be trained to do so, and he
should be trained to feel that he oc-
cupies a contemplate position If he
does not do SO; that he Is not an
object of envy II he is idle. at which,
ever end Of the social scale he stands,
but an object Of contempt, an object
of derision.
I'm the next place, the good man
should be both strong and brave
man; that Is, he should be able to
fisht. he should be able to serve his
country as soldier II the need arises.
There are well-meaning philosophers
who declaim against the unrighteous-
ness of war. They are right only II
they lay all their emphasis upon the
unrighteousness. War is q dreadful
thing, and unjust war is crime
against humanity. But 1t is such a
crime because 1t is unjust. not be-
cause it is war. The choice must
ever be in favor of righteousness, and