The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-02-10
ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL
WAS GREAT OCCASION

was Ut Ills lpeSI- EVEN lbs UfLto1 Sot ~
! litical opponants recognized the sin:
certify Of the purpose of those princi
pies as they explosively left his Lips.
The third and last time met Theodore
! Roosevelt was enroute from the Pana-
ma-Pacific exposition.
"A few days before he had delivered
! a great address ON the inevitable con-
! flict with Germany The day before,
William Jennings Bryan had from the
same platform made a plea for a
! shameful peace peace at any price.
] Mr.. Roosevelt the next day spoke be-
fore an audience, hundreds of whom
must have heard the Bryan address,
the two speeches in direct contradict
ion. Returning to his home in the east
!, Mr.. Roosevelt spoke at every station
Oh any considerable size on the same
! theme Of the inevitable conflict be-
tween America and Germany.
Roosevelt Interprets America.
1--WE are now come together to do
him honor and to attempt to voice our
appreciation OF his Incompatible ser
| vice to America and to the world. II
! seems to the speaker that the best way
to interpret Roosevelt is to attempt to
say what America meant to him Or TO
study the significance of America
! First Mr. Roosevelt pleaded that
these states hold the solution Of the
most complex problem of human so
ciety. Irrespection Of party or creed.
/ I believe he voiced the sentiment of us
ell. Roosevelt believed that America
! is the answer to all the social, political
/ religious and industrial problems of
the race
| ''Iis definition of America did not
near simply vast resources, intermin-
able prafries, shouldering mountain
ranges, rich valleys, and MAJESTIC riy-
to him great cities, or net work of r-adl-
/ ers and lakes nor did America mean
+, ways and commercial supremacy.
"The man whose memory we delight
!, to honor today Thought Of America In
terms Of faith and fortitude.
"Was he not right? America Is not
resources and geographical bounda-
ries, but 1t is spirit, life and hope.
! America is q morality. an ethical d.
rection taken by great people IN the
time OF great crisis.
III Roosevelt's definition Of AnIerd-
ca was right then follows that wher-
/, ever there is group Of men, who
/ stand for the largest possible liberty,
fraternity and equality; wherever life
holds opportunity for all, and wher-
! ever Life Is held to be more sacred than
| things. there you will find America;
and America Is nowhere else. not even
! In Iowa IL those things be lacking in
cur social strength and organized In
/ tereSt."
| Roosevelt In Other Eras.
/ Roosevelt has often said, America
- o.. ,,y,tt1 iC c a
for all men," and that mo man poses
| ses liberty until all men possess hoer-
ty"
I'm the formative period of our his
tory in 177C. or In 1851, can you doubt.
Tut that Roosevelt would have stood
/ with Washington in the one and with
Lincoln in the othter. Can you imagine
Theodore Roosevelt limiting the doc
trines OF human rights to particular
class or color.
.The sigHers Of the Declaration OF
4 Independence were not without their
Inconsistencies. They declared that
all men were created free and equal
and themselves were slave holders"
"This was the fatally wrong inter
,nretation of one OF the greatest doctl-
rnents Of man. From what we know OF
Theodore Roosevelt we know, that had
he lived IN that native period, ne
woaIld have declared, no matter II he
stood alone, that the nation which del
egated human rights to white men on
". Is the nation that must face the In.
evftable consequences growing out OF
such limitation.
"The nation three quarters OF a CEN
tury later did come face to face with
that problem, for prt1narially the civil
war grew out of the limitation OF hu.
man rights to white men only. what
ever meaning you may give to that
struggle between the states, 1t hanks
hack with deadly logic to those slave
holding colonfsts north and south.
/; Here Is a striking example OF one gen
/ Grafton pushing over it's problem to
! another generation.
He Had Lived In Linco!n's Time.
"If Theodore Roosevelt had stood in
the place of Abraham Lincoln when
the doctrines Of the rights of men
was being tested out, we know he
would have measured up to the full
standard OF the great commoner of IL
linods.
"a great crisis always means the
utterance of great truths One Of the
greatest truths ever uttered by human
lips was the maxim spoken by Lin.
coin when he said that there is no Linn