Semi-weekly herald., 1916-06-05
ROOSEVELT BOOM.

blocks away. He made one chief
address to great multitude and
several short addresses to those who
were unable to get within hearing
distance at the time of his chief adj
dress.
The Oyster Bay statesman seemed
to be at his best and did not in any
way deviate from his previous address
ses on the subjects of preparedness
and Americanism. His chief address
was on Americanism and he was en-
phatic from the beginning to the
close.
He spoke as follows:
Here in st. Louis | wish to speak
briefly on the subject of American
ism.
Americanism is not a matter of
creed, birthplace or national descent,
but of the soul and of the spirit.
If an American has the right stuff
in him, | care nat snap of my fin
gers whether he is jew or Gentle,
Catholic or Protestant. | care not
t snap of my finger whether his
ancestors came over in the May
flower, or whether he was born, or
his parents were born in Germany,
Ireland, France, England, Scandina-
via, Russia or Italy or any other
country.
We in this country form a new
nation, akin to, but different from
each of the nations of Europe. As
Alexander Hamilton put it, "Let us
be neither Greeks nor Trojans. but
Americans" We are false to this
country if we rank ourselves as Ger
man-Americans or English-America as
or Irish-Amerisans or French .Ameri-
cans. Our duty is to the United
States.
If any of our people born here go
back to the land from which their
fathers came, they find themselves
inevitably looked upon as foreigners.
The American of English descent who
goes to England finds himself looked
upon and treated, as he ought to be,
as an outsider Yankee. His ways
of thought are different from the
ways of thought of the people of the
land. An American of German de-
scent who goes to Germany is not
looked upon as German. He is look
ed upon and treated as foreigner,
as an American.
When our nation was formed in the
stress of the revolution it was under
the lead of men of many different
race strains; English, Dutch, German,
Irish, French. But they were all
Americans and nothing else. Their
loyalty to this country was whole
hearted and undivided, and they
sought to serve only the United States
and not any of the countries from
which their ancestors had come.
The same rule applies today. Thru
out my life my closest personal and
political friends have included men
who were themselves born in or
whose ancestors were born in Ger
many, Ireland or Scandinavia, just
as they included men who were of old
Colonial American stock. The nan
who. for the ten years when l was
governor, wise president and presi-
dent was closest to me, was a man
whose father and mother were born
in Gefnany-and his father served
in the Civil war, by the way. He
and looked at all problems, nation
al and international, from the stand
point and only from the standpoint
of our common Americanism. The
man who, when | was police commits
sioner in New York, was closest to
me was born in Denmark. He is
dead now. His name was Jacob Riis
He was one of the best Americans !
have ever known. Again and again
/ have held up his career as u model
for our American boys to follow. One
of the best Americans know, q
man who has done better work for
the navy than any one else during
the last two years, is by birth a
Swede. During my scientific work
in Africa and South America, at the
head of American scientific expedi-
tons, the American members of my
party included the man with whom
| have been most closely associated
in geological work, and who was joint
author with me of the geological book
of which / am most proud. His par
ents were born in Germany his kim
folk fought in the Union army. An
other of my American companions,
an Iowa man, was born of an Irish
father who fought in the Civil war
Another's father was born in Bo-
hernia, being Czech, and also fought
in the Civil war. Yet another, an
Indiana hov bad a Ca,,,,ap $otbar