The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1919-10-25
Sayings of
Theodore Roosevelt
CITIZENSHIP

CITIZENSHIP
Character, in the long run, is the
decisive factor in the life of an in
dividual and of Nations alike"
mo nation can achieve real great
ness if its people are not both es-
sentially moral and essentially manly;
both sets of qualities are necessary"
O
american citizens must under
stand that they cannot advocate or
~acquiesce in an evil course of action
and then escape responsibility for
the results"
ANY man who tries to excite
class hatred, sectional hate, hate of
creed, any kind of hatred in our COM
munity, though he may affect to do
it in the interest of the class he is
addressing, is In the long run with
absolute certainty that class own
worst enemy. In the long run, and
as a whole, we are going to go up
or go down together"
mo republic "a permanently en-
dure when it's politics are corrupt
and base; and the spoils system. the
application in political life of the
degrading doctrine that to the victor
belong the spoils, produces corrup-
tion and degradation. The man who
is in politics for the offices might
just as well be in politics for the
money he a get for his vote. so far
as the general good is concerned"
"If you elect a man because you
think he will be honest towards your
class-capitalists. farmers, laborers-
and If you are Indifferent as to
whether he is honest towards other
people. you can make up your minds
absolutely that he will betray you
If he gets the chance. You cannot
afford to have a man who is not hon
est all the way through. because IL he
is not, you do not know quite where
the breaking down will come"
mot once in a thousand times is
Ii possible to achieve anything worth
achieving except by labor. by effort.
by serious purpose and by the will
ingness to run risk. The persons
who seek to persuade our people that
by doing nothing. by passing reso-
lutions that cost nothing. and by
writing eloquent messages and arti-
cles that mean nothing, some service
is thereby rendered to humanity. are
not only rendering no such service,
but are weakening the spirit of IA
tional character"
"The first requisite of good citizen
ship Is that the man shall do the
homely, everyday, humdrum duties
well. A man is not a good citizen
| do not care how lofty his thoughts
are about citizenship IN the abstract.
II in the concrete his actions do
not bear them out: and 1t does not
make much difference how high his
aspirations for mankind at large may
be, If he does not behave we'll in his
family those aspirations do not bear
visible fruit. He must be a good
breadwinner. he must take care OF
his wife and his children, he must
be a neighbor whom his n~eighbors
can trust, he must act ~squarely In his
business RELATIONSHIP must do all
these everyday ordinary duties first.
or he is not a good citizen"
THE leader, for the time being,
whoever he may be, is but an instru-
ment, to be used until broken and
then to be cast aside; and II he is
worth his salt be will care no more
when he is broken than a soldier
cares when he is SEN where his life
Is forfeit in order that the victory
may be won. In the long fight for
righteousness the watchword for all
Of us Is spend and be spent. II Is
of little matter whether any one man
fails or succeeds; but the cause shall
not fail. for 1t is the cause of man.
kind. We, here in America, hold
in our hands the hope of the world.
the fate of the coming years; and
shame and disgrace will be ours If
in u eyes the light OF high resolve
is dimmed. If we trail in the dust the
golden hopes Of men"