The sun., 1919-10-28


United States were called upon to grid
themselves anew and offer their for
tunes their lives their dearest affections.
in terrible war for the preservation of
our liberty II Theodore Roosevelt had
not been able to appeal to the affection
and the confidence and the trust of the
| American people for a system OF free
Institutions In which he had taught
them to believe? (Applause.) But as
it is not our affection, so 1t is not his
deeds that we are now met to honor
him. He did more than to solve the
question, of his time. He presented to
our country and to the world a great
and inspiring example to enforce his
teaching; not what he did, but what he
became. The man was the spirit he
Sermons are forgotten; men are re-
membered. Truths are told in 10000
volumes and pamphlets from thousand
pulpits and rostrums. They are for
gotten. For a moment they enter the
mind and in n moment they are dis
placed. But the perpetual lesson of a
great example, inseparably united to n
great truth, carries on the work of
lifetime through generations and ages
to come.
| Example for American boys.
| And this example is one which ap-
peals SO readily to all. Every American
boy can be Theodore Roosevelt's fol-
lower He was not different. not some
strange phenomenon unlike the rest of
us. He was like us all, only more so.
There was, as the French Ambassador
has said, radium in the clay of which he
was fashioned that carried to the nth
power every great purpose, every noble
conception, every deep truth that pos
sessed him.
Every Boy Scout may initiate him.
He was strong, powerful, but he began
weak and puny. He trained himself to
strength and power So can all Ameri-
can boys. He was born and bred under
the disadvantages of wealth and fash
ion, with the paving stones of a city
, | between him and the earth. He broke
over the barriers and became the friend
, Of every farmer, OF every anchman, OF
| every hunchman, of every laborer OF
every good and true man and woman
in this great land. No pent up city, no
: learned Institution, no social convention
= restrained his universal and mighty SYM
= | onthy. I!e trained himself with habit
, and courage. So can every American
From the habit of courage came the
: | natural reaction of truth. That is with
/ n the grasp of every American boy. He
!, was sincere and simple. not ornate and
| florid He spoke not the tongue of the
poet or the philosopher, He had not
| n Il McCauley credited to Gladstone, a
command of a kind of language, grave
nd majestic. but of vague and doubt
; full import No one ever misunderstood
1 what Theodore Roosevelt said. No one
| over doubted what Theodore Roosevelt
e | meant. No one ever doubted that what
! ne said he believed, he intended and he
J. would do. He was a man not of SEN
e | ,iment or expression but OF feeling and
7 | Of action.
: His proposals were always tied tC
action. He uttered no fine sentence
, | satisfied that that was the end. th'
u | thing accomplished. His words wer,
| always the precursors of effective action
It He cultivated promptness in action until
: | il became his natural reaction and mad'
; | him an almost perfect executive-not al
| administrator, but an executive gifted
with the power of swift and unerrint
o decision. Yet he was as free from SELF
& conceit as any man / ever knew. CAP
plause) His consciousness of strength
was in the strength of his purpose, il
e the cause he advocated, and not at al
: in his own merits,
He was as modest as girl abou
, | himself He was the most hOspitab
= \ to advice of any man l ever knew. HI
| was eager for knowledge. He thirstet
{ for knowledge, and in the performance
) | OF his public duties he sought every
2 where from all manner of men. to know
| their thought, their contribution of in
I | formation. He talked little about com
$ mon counsel, but he practised il uni
= versally and always and he did com
g to know the very heart of the American
d people yactual contact. He was NJ
r unapproachable genius unlike everyon
else.
e He did not originate great new truth
s but he drove old fundamental truths int
n the minds and the hearts of his peopl
so that they stuck and dominated. OIL
| truths you found insisted upon. enlarge
upon, repeated over and over in man
ways with quaint and interesting an
n attractive terms Of expression neve
" straining for novelty or for originality
e but always driving. driving home tn
j. deep fundamental truths of public life
n of a great self-goVerning democracy, tn
} eternal truths upon which justice an
n liberty must depend among men. Sava
E, narolla originated no truths, nor Luther
Y nor Wesley, nor any of those fiamin
d swords cut into the consciousness G
e | mankind. with. the old truths that ha
been overlooked by Indifference an
} error, wrongheartedness and wrong
lie headedness. Review the roster of tn
l. few great men of history. our own his
y tory, the history of the world, and whe
" YOU have finished the review you wi
u find that Theodore Roosevelt was III
70 greatest teacher of the essentials {
lie popular self-government the world ha
le ever known.
'l What We are here for is to perpetr
/ ate that teaching. lift it up, striking III
imagination, enlisting the interests of II
'e country and the world, by signally pei
H. petuatins the memory of our friend, th
= great teacher
"a THE future OF our country will d.
pend upon having men--real men of sir
le certify and truth. of unshaks ble convi,
"a tion, of power, of personality, with III
- spirit Of Justice and the fighting spir
- through all the generations and II
" mightiest force that can be seen to-da
10 to accomplish that for our country
,s to make il impossible that TheodoI
- Roosevelt, his teaching and his persor
~ ality shall be forgotten Oh, that W
n might have him with us now! (Grei
IS applause.l
"a "Be il our duty and our privilege, in OF
n weak and humble way, to keep him wit