Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-04-23
Up 10 Average Man.

streets and acclaimed the former
president.
Up 10 Average Man..
In part, Roosevelt 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 oc-
7 casiOnal crises which call for the he
rOic virtues. The average citizen must
be a good citizen if our republics are
. to succeed. The stream will not per
manenuy rise higher than the main
source; and the main source of ma
tional power and national greatness
is found in the average citizenship or
the nation.
Leaders Must show Way.
Therefore it behoove5 US to do our
best to see that the standard of the
average citizen is kept high; and the
average cannot be kept high unless
the standard of the leaders is very
much higher
1T is well if a large proportion Of
the leaders in any republic, in any
democracy. are. as a matter of course,
drawn from the classes represented in
this audience today; but only provided
that those classes possess the gifts
Of sympathy with plain people and of
devotion to great Ideals. You and
those like you have received special
advantages; you have all of you had
no
many of you have had leisure: most
Of you have had a chance for the en-
joyment of life far greater than comes
to the majority OF your fellows To
you and your kind much has been
given. and from you much should be
expected.
Not Critic Who Counts.
1t 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 is
marred by dust and sweat and blood.
who strives valiantly: who errs. and
comes short again and again, because
there is no effort without error and
shortCOming; but who does actually
strive to do the deeds: who knows the
great enthusiasm. the great devOtiOns:
who spends himself in a worthy cause:
who at the best knows in the end the
triumph or high achievement. and who
at the worst. if he fails. at least fails
while daring greatly. so that his place
shall never be with those cold an,
timid souls who know neither victory
nor defeat Shame on the man of cul-
tiyated taste who permits refinement
to develop in a fastidiOusness that I'M
fits him for doing the rough work of
wOrkaday world. Among the free peo-
pies who govern themselves there is
but small field of usefulness open for
the men of clustered life who shrink
from contact with their fellows.
This for CartooDIsts9
still less room is there for those
who deride 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. If only the conditions
of life were not what they actually are.
Il pay all homage to intellect, and
to elaborate and specialized training
of the intellect; and yet I know I shall
have the assent of all of you present
when l add that more important still
are the commonplace, everyday quail
ties and virtues.
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 a few
people in every country so born that
they can lead lives of leisure. These
I'LL a useful function if they make it
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 occupies con-
temptible position if he does not do
so: that he is not an object of envy