Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-07-19
America First Must Be
Translated Into Things
Done. Asserts President

10
as anybody else, and the principle OF
the life of America is that she draWs
her vitality not from small bodies OF
men who may wish to assume the re-
sponsibility of guiding the controlling
her, but from the body of thinking n
toiling and planning men from whom
she draws ner energy and vitality as q
nation.
Spirit of Democracy.
II believe this is the reason l I'M a
democrat, not merely with a big ID but
with a little ID am all kinds of a
democrat so far as l can discover
but the root of the whole business is
this, that l believe in the patriotism
and energy and initiative of the aver
age man. Some men say they believe
that they do not. They show that h
think the only advice that it is Safe to
| AXE is their advice.
II was not referring to any indivld-
ual, but l could give you an interesting
and a very short list of a group of in
namely, that it is not safe for us to
escape from their control. l feel per-
fectfy safe in the hands of the aver
s body of my fellow citizens. You
are bound to feel safe in their hands.
If they do not believe in you you cam
i ~ vi StAy AAAAiS - SASS - ~
lieve in you, you cannot conduct your
business. our vitality comes from
them to you. 1t does not go from you
to them. The theory of government
which decline to subscribe to is that
the vitality of the nation comes out of
closeted councils where a few men de-
ermin the policy of the Ountry
80, gentlemen, l feel at home in this
company, not because l advertise, but
because l have got principles that l am
the public view and because l want to
express my sympathy with not only,
but my admiration for, a body of men
who think it worth while to get to-
gether in order to tell the truth. The
only thing that ever set any man
free, the only thing that ever set any
nation free, is the truth. A man that
is afraid of the truth is afraid of the
law Of man. A man that does not love
he truth is in the way of decay and
of failure, and l believe hat if you will
just let the vitality that is in you
beyond the confines Of the businesses
that you may be interested in you will
presently feel that infinite reward, as
If the red blood Of a whole nation had
run back into your veins.
Can you imagine, my fellow coun-
to belong to a free nation and make
your way among men every one of
whom has the right and the opportun-
ity to say what he thinks? Criticism
does not hurt as much I heard an old
politician say to his son once, John,
don't bother your head about lies and
ISLANDERS. they will take care Of them
selves; but If you ever hear me deny
Ing anything O may make up your
mind that it is so.' And when you see
a man wincing under criticism you may
know that something hit him that was
II CnY And fh1r~fOnO -yI~~ ILL.,. 49,
saying the things that are not true
there is credit in keeping your head
and not minding it. 1 have such an in
v%eterate confidence in the ultimate tri-
umph OF truth that 1 feel with old DR..
Oliver Wendell Holmes that the truth
roughly l handle her. She has got a
splendid foundation, and she will sur
vive every trial and every labor.
Il have come, therefore, as I have
abundantly shown you, not to make q
formal speech-if I could show you
some of the things 1 have been obliged
to do before 1 came here. you would
know that / could not possibly make a
speech up = but merely to show my
profound interest in a body of men
who are not only devoted to business
but devoted to ideals. Business is ali
RICH SO so long as it is not sordid,
and it cannot be sordid if it is shot
. through with ideals. A man, no mat
ter how humble his business, can hold
. his head up among the princes Of the
world. if, as they ought to do, he thinks
Of himself as the servant of the people
: and not as their master, as one who
would serve, and not who would gov
i, ern.
II congratulate you, my fellow citi.
: zens, upon the ideals of a profession
which "a lower or exalt business as
I you choose and which you nave chosen
e to employ for its exaltation. l cam
v away from Washington to look int
n your faces and get some of the enthusi
|. assn which 1 always get when 1 com,
away from officialdom and touch han
t to hand with great bodies of the fire,
American people,"