The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-01-07
DEATH RECALLS
PERES TRIBUTE
Toast Delivered at Masonic
Banquet Lauded
Roosevelt.

The speech which follows was de-
livered in 1904 by Chancellor Israel
Peres at the Maundy Thursday banquet
of the Scottish Rite Masons. held in the
old temple When Roosevelt was presi-
dent. 1t was in response to the toast,
The President Of the United States"
Judge Percs said:
1t is conceded that when one rises
IN a body of Scottish Rite Masons on
the beautiful Rose CroiX anniversary
to the toast, The President of the
United States, one is met with a deep
~ responsive sylnpathy-the earnest of
our patriotism and of our loyalty to
the office and to the man,
we stand for what is just, right,
and true, We stand for constitutional
liberty, public honesty, and private in
tegrity, We stand for a square deal.
Yes, We stand for a square deal even
for the man who is too weak to he
square with himself, too faltering to
be square with Tennessee Consistory
No. !, or too paltry to be square with
anybody.
we believe, with our distinguished
eX-President, Mr.. Cleveland, that Hub-
lie office is a public trust-one to be
administered according to the rules OF
the highest civic personal virtue,
When we rCcall these articles of our
faith, there is instantly brought to our
minds eye the strong, good face, the
manly form, II wonderfully powerful
personality of Theodore Roosevelt, the
president of the United States-of the
whole United ~States-auo every man
woman and child in our broad and beau'
tiful country.
I'VE believe in Theodore Roosevelt
We believe in him thoroughly, and i'm
pliCitly trust him, because he is tht
straightest man of his age, because W.
know he believes In us and desires al
Of us in our respective spheres and sta
tons of life to make good Like thu
lovable Lincoln, whose worthy success
sor he is, he trusts in INC body OF tn,
people, wherein his Opinion-there h
more thau enough honesty, common de
cency, common sense, and Vigorou'
manhood to see our country safely
through the present patent eCOnoml,
struggles to a higher industrial plan,
and nobler standards Of conduct,
The press teens with stories O.
graft, ranging all the way from thu
petty pilfering of a deputy sheriffS ant
Constable's raid on some negro Graz
game to the sale of the property ans
rights of the people by pretended rep
resentatives of the people to the com
bined and lustful money power of the
age. This is no new phase in tht
worlds existence. 'TiS the divine vii
liam who limns the purse-fat times
when Virtue did perforCe of Vice, bot
| leave anu IdNOG u tb Ebbb, 4N'l G' WV
our president, He has never begget
anybody's leave to do good. 1t Is h'
who has made the fight for a square
deal. He has awakened The public con
science, His powerful step has led tn.
way toward integrity, He has mad'
it fashionable to do the right thing
for he has sense enoug to know tina
there are some people who would III
willing to do the right thing if it wer'
fashionable, and they would quit steal
ing-if that were fashionable! Amid al
the evidences Of public and private cor
ruption, theft, and moral fifth, he ha
babe us be patient, so we may lear
and know that the Worid Is not hal
so black as it is painted, and that til
people are growing better and noble
and stronger, in spite OF the obtrudinI
of some pusillanimous eXcrescenceS Of
the body polite. 1t is he, who, to us
the phrase and thought of a w~ell-belove'
friend, Is the apotheosls of honesty q
the twentieth century.
'His character Is as fresh and un
stained as the bloom on the brow O
innocent maidehhood. Ills conduct j
as wholesome and unerring as II
coming and going of the seasons. HI
example as a father ana mead OF nj
family is a delight and pride to Amer
can manhood. Born to the purple, h
laid aside it's protecting rolds, and wit
an honorable and laudabIe ambition
spur him on, he unfuried his banne
to the breezc-with It's motto n
blesse oblige.'
"Among all the wild temptations G
a f"iercely tempting time and environ
ment, he stands untouched and unsuI
lied, head and shoulders above the hes
His cup of happiness n a~chlevemel
Is justly overlooking, and his heart ca
desire only the continued respect an
affection of his fellow citizens Thes
,,tlI LI bip I,,Apa unI mara and dpRnt