Evening star., 1936-07-04
81 the Associated Press.

MONTICELLO. Va, July 4.-Tf
text of President Roosevelts 1nde
pendence day address today at III
home of Thomas Jefferson follows;
1t was symbolic that Thomas
jefferson should live on this noun
tain-top of Monticello. On a
mountain-top all paths unite. and
Jefferson was q meeting point OF
all the vital forces of his day.
There are periods Of history
when one man seems great because
those who stand beside him are
small. Jefferson was great in the
presence of many great and free
men. When We read of the pa
triots of l776 and the Fathers Of
the Constitution. We are taken into
the presence Of men who caught
the fire OF greatness from one an
other and all became elevated
above the common run of man
kind.
The source of their greatness was
the stirring of q new sense Of
freedom. They were tasting the
first fruits of self-government and
freedom of conscience. They had
broken away from a system of
peasantry, from indentured servi-
tude. They could build for them
selves a new economic independ-
ence. Theirs were not the gods
of things as they were. but the
gods of things as they ought to be.
They used new means and new
models to build new structures.
knowledge and Ideals
Were Fuel for Fertile Mind.
OF all these builders of the Re.
public. it is perhaps generally con-
ceded that Benjamin Franklin and
Thomas Jefferson possessed what
may be roughly described as the
most fertile minds. Franklin was
stranger to no science, to no theory
Of philosophy. to no avenue of in
vention. Jefferson had these
qualities in equal part; and with
greater opportunity in the days Of
peace which followed the revolu-
ton, Jefferson was enabled more
fully to carry theory into practice.
Farmer. lawyer, mechanic, scien-
tist. architect, philosopher, states
man, he encompassed the full
scope of the knowledge of his time
and his life was one Of rich di-
versity. To him knowledge and
ideals were fuel to be used to feed
the fires Of his own mind, not just
wood to be left neatly piled In the
wood box.
More than any historic home In
America. Monticello appeals to me
as an expression Of the personality
Of its builder. In the design, not
alone of the whole, but Of every
room and every part thereof, in
the very furnishings which JET
ferson devised on his own drawing
board and made in his own shop.
there speaks ready capacity for de-
tail and, above all, creative genius.
He was q great gentleman. He
was . great commoner. The two
are not Incompatible.
Passion for Liberty
Led Him 70 Aid Mankind.
He applied the culture OF the past
to the needs and life Of the America
OF his day. His knowledge of history
spurred him to inquire into the rea.
son and justice of laws, habits and
institutions. His passion for liberty
led him to interpret and adapt them
In order to better the lot of man
kind.
Shortly before taking Office as
President of the United States ne
wrote to Z friend, II have sworn on
the altar of God eternal hostility
against every form Of tyranny over
the mind of man" His life served
that conservation. Constantly ne
labored to enlarge the freedom OF
the human mind and to destroy the
bondage imposed on 1t by ignorance,
poverty and political and religious
intolerance.
On one day In his long life ne
gave to the world 4 declaration OF
Independence on behalf Of political
freedom for himself and his fellow
Americana. But his declaration OF
independence toe Ne human NINA