Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1910-06-10
ROOSEVELT GIVES
OXFORD LECTURE
Emphasized the Need Of Curing
Political Ills.
RECEPTION IN TOWN HALL
Receives Honorary Degree of Doctor
of Civil Law Before Natoble AS
sembIage.

sembIage.
Oxford, Eng, June S.-Former Pres
ident Roosevelt was the guest of Ok
ford He delivered the Romanes lee
ture at the University of Oxford, and
the university conferred upon him the
honorary degree of doctor of civil law.
Colonel Roosevelts subject was
biological Analogies of history" 1t
was heard by large audience OF noted
scholars, who applauded the lecturer
at many points.
Colonel Poosevelt's voice. despite
the care he has taken since his arrival
in England, failed him after time
and he was obliged to leave unread the
latter part of his lecture.
The lecture and the conferment con-
stituted the great feature of the day,
but it did not complete the program,
which was about as crowded as any
that the distinguished American has
undertaken in his European travels.
Oxford was glas to see the former
president and made the fact known.
the mayor OF the corporation at the
town hall. The auditorium was filled
to it's limits, and when the guests ap-
peared the audience joined in singing
For He's Jolly Good Fellow"
From the town hall Colonel Roose-
welt made hurried visits to the lead
ing colleges and to other places of
h t.fn t,.ta II, t1,tn nd
at luncheon by the American club,
leaving soon afterward for the famous
old Sheldonian theater for his lecture
and the ceremonies that added ID.
c. l.. to the other honorary titles that
have been bestowed upon him.
Warning to Nations.
Colonel Roosevelt emphasized in his
lecture the need of curing the politi-
cal ills of nations, and he touched
again on the British control of Egypt.
This latter subject had been looked
for eXpectantly, but his remarks had
nothing of the stirring tone that caus.
ed a sensation in the Guildhall au.
dience in London.
Drawing analogies from the biology
of prehistoric ages he touched upon
the civilizations of succeeding centur.
les, dwelling on the rise and fall of
the Roman empire and the Dutch re.
public and the gfreatness of the Brit
ish empire. Upon this historical basis
he built up warnings to the British
and American people.
nf ha
declared, are those within, not those
without. 1t was thus that Rome fell,
and it was against luxuriousness and
evil within, he said, that England and
the United States must guard.
Free people can escapG(Deing mas
tered by Others" he asserted "only
by being able to master themselves"
Again he said:
privilege should not be tolerated
because it is to the advantage of a
minority, nor yet because it is to the
advantage of a majority. No doctr
naire theories of vested rights or free
dom of contract can stand in the way
of cutting out abuses from the body
polite"
OF the Egyptian situation he said:
mo hard and fast rule can be
drawn as applying to all alien races,
because they differ from one another
far more widely than they differ from
us. But there are one or wo rules
which must not be forgotten. In the
long run there can be no justification
for one race managing or controlling
another unless the management and
control are exercised in the interest
and for the benefit of that other race.
This is what our people have in the
main done, and must continue in the
future in even greater degree to do, in
India, in Egypt and the Philippines
alike"
OF race suicide his most striking
declaration was:
"A most ominous sign is the dimi.
mutton in the birth rate now shared by
most of the civilized nations of cen.
trail and western Europe, of America
and Australia; a diminution so great
that If it continues for the next cen.
tury for the rate which has obtained
for the last twenty-five years. all the
more highly civilized peoples will be
stationary or else have begun to go
backward In population. while many
of them will have already gone very
far backward"