The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-04-30
Roosevelt Makes Stirring Patri-
otto Address in Chicago.
Wakes Up America in Speech at
StOckyards Pavilion.
AT WAR! NOW LET US FIGHT!
Would Apply Both Volunteer
and Draft Plans.
snake 1t Actual War; Not a
Dollar War Alone"

Chicago. April 3O.-"Put the Amer
lean flag on the firing line in France,
Flanders or the Balkan peninsula at
the earliest possible moment and keep
IN there as long as the war continues
over a constantly growing hghtlng
force until the war brings victory
was the appeal delivered here Satur-
day night by Theodore Roosevelt to
the people of the west in a speech
auspices of the National Security
league.
Put the Flag on the Firing Line"
RooseveIts address follows:
| come here tonight to appeal to the
people of the great west, the people OF
the Mississippi valley, the people VINO
are the spiritual heirs OF the men VINO
stood behind Lincoln and Grant You
men and women, who live beside the
Great Lakes and on the lands drained
by the Ohio. the Mississippi and the
Missouri. have always Represented
what is most intensely American IN our
national life When once walked up
to actual conditions, you have always
stood with unfaltering courage anu
iron endurance for the national honor
and the national interest. | appeal TO
the sons and daughters of tn men ana
women of the Civil war, to the grand
sons and granddaughters of the plo-
neers; 1 appeal to the women as much
as the men, for our nation has risen
level to every great crisis only pecau
in every such crisis the courage OF us
women famed as high as the courage
of the men. -
I appeal to you to take the lead IN
making good the presidents message
of the aecond of this month, IN Whlch
he set forth the reasons why II was our
unacceptable duty to make war uPE Ia
Germany. 1t rests with us-Wlth the
American people-to make that mes
sage one of the great state documents
of our history. Let US accept ne -es-
sons it teaches. Let us grasp what Il
saws as to the frightfLl wrongs Ger
many has committed upon us ana
upon the weaker nations of mankind
and the damage she has wrought 10
the whole fabric of civilization ana OIL
international good faith and morality;
Then let us steel our hearts ana slIu
oi1r loins to show that we are ut 10
stand among the free people whose
freedom is buttressed Jy their self-re-
liant strength. Let us snow py our
deeds that we are fit to be the heirs
of the men who founded the RepublIc
and of the men who saved the Re-
nublic: of the Continentals who follow
ed Washington, and of the men VINO
wore the blue under Grant and the
gray under Lee.
But, mind you, the message the
sDeech will amo INT to nothing unless
u
GOOD only by the high valor or our
lighting men, and by the resourcetul
and laborious energy of the men ana
women who with deeds, not merely
words back up the fighting men. we
read the Declaration of independence
every Fourth of July because. and
only becaus-, the soldiers of Washing
ton made that message good by their
blood during the weary years of war
that followed. If, after writing the
Declaration of Independence, the men
of Seventy-Six had failed with their
bodies to make it good, it would be
read now only with contempt and de-
rision. Our children still learn how
Patrick Henry spoke for the heart of
the American people when he said,
"Give me liberty or give me death :;
but this generation is thrilled by his
words only because the Americans of
those days showed in very fact that
they were ready to accept death rath-
er than lose liberty. In Lincoln
deathless Gettysburg speech and sec
ond inaugural he solemnly pledged the
honor of the American people to the
hard and perilous task of preserving
the Union and freeing the slaves. The
pledge was kept The American peo-
pie fought to o finish the war which
saved the Union and freed the slave.
IL Lincoln and the men and women
behind him had wavered, if they had
grown faint-hearted and had shrunk
from the fight. or had merely paid
others to fight for them. they would
have earned for themselves and for us
the scorn of the nations of mankind.
The words of Lincoln will live for
ever only because they were made
good by the deeds of the fighting men.
Making the Message Good.
So it is now. We can make the
presidents message of April 3 stand
among the great state papers in our
history; but we can do so only if we
make the message good; and we can
make it good only if we fight with all
our strength now, at once; if at the
earliest possible moment, we put the
flag on the firing line, and keep it
there. over a constantly growing army,