Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1919-03-18
AS IF ROOSEVELT SPOKE TO Us FROM
GRAVE, DECLARES JUDGE REID

president OF the United States. This
latter honor he did not seek or de-
sire. The vice-presidential office has
been used as a convenient shelf on
which to lay aside a public man. In
deed, it was said that his political
foes, jealous of his rising popularity
thought thus to hide his light under
a bushel. If such was their purpose
| it could not be carried out. He was
not of the kind to lay on any shelf,
and no bushel was quite large enough
to cover his light.
1.-THE act of the assassin which, re-
moved our much beloved President
Mckinley in 1901, made Colonel
Roosevelt, as he has ever been af-
fectionately called, President of the
United States,-not having yet reached
the age of 43, the youngest man to
attain to that great Office.
For seven and half years he was
in truth, as well as in name, the head
of our nation and during this period,
in a time of peace, he accomplished
achievements which historians will
rank high in the international and in
dustrial progress of the country He
was the friend and leader of the
masses, but he advocated no one-sided
justice. While he condemned the
malefactors of great wealth he
never failed to honor and do JUS
tice to the honorable successful bus
mess men nor failed to publicly con-
denim such men as leaders of the
1. W. w. as undesirable citizens"
and while he lent sympathetic voice
and a helping hand to everybody of
humble mien honestly and justly ap-
pealing for better things at the hands
of our social economic system, he was
never sparing in his condemnation
of every demagogic appeal to preju-
dice and every lawless outbreak.
"As if he were preparing for his de-
parture he left last message which
speaks to the whole people. Unable
to attend an All-American conference
given under the auspices of the AM
erican Defense Society, of which he
was the honorary president, he sent
the society this message, which was
read at the Concert after his death
Il cannot be with you and so all
can do is to wish you goodspeed.
''There must be no sagging back
in the fight for Americanism merely
because the war is over.
''There are plenty of persons who
have already made the assertion that
they believe the American people
have a short memory and that they
intend to revive all the foreign assO.
Citations which most directly inter-
fere with the complete AmericaniZa-
ton Of our people. Our principle i'm
this matter should be absolutely SIM
pie.
I'm the first place, we should in
sist that if the immigrant who comes
here does in good faith become an
American and assimilates himself to
us, he shall be treated on an exact
equality with everyone else, for it is
an outrage to discriminate against
any such man because of creed birth
place or origin. But this predicated
upon the mans becoming in very fact
an American and nothing but an
American
eff he tries to keep segregated
with men of his own origin and sep
arated from the rest of America, then
he isn't doing his part as an Ameri-
can. There can be no divided ALI
ance at all.
I'VE have room for but one flag,
the American flag, and this excludes
the red flag, which symbolizes all
wars against liberty and civilization,
just as much as it excludes any for
eign flag of a nation to which we are
hostile. We have room for but one
language here and that is the Eng
fish language, for we intend to see
that the crucible turns our people
out as Americans, and American ma
tionality, and not as jewellers in a
polyglot boarding house; and we
have room for but one soul loyalty,
and that is loyalty to the American
people"
''Thus he. speaks to us, as it were,
from the grave, and thus he will con-
time to speak to us and influence
our nation i'm its progress by his pre-
cepts and example for many years.
1t is too early yet to fix Roose-
velt's place in history The shock of
his early and unexpected death still
is with us. The conflicts of his posi-
tive life are fresh in mind. We who
have had our feelings ruffied at
times, are not yet ready for calm
judgment. But it is certain that he
will be written down as the most Wig
OrOus and versatile American states
man of his time, and probably will
rank well with the greatest states
men we have ever had"