Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7) — John Shaqi
Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)Roosevelt, Theodore
History
Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)
Roosevelt, Theodore
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919; United States -- Politics and government -- 1901-1909
We have the right to ask every decent American citizen to rally to the
support of the law if it is ever broken against the interest of the
rich man; and we have the same right to ask that rich man cheerfully
and gladly to acquiesce in the enforcement against his seeming
interest of the law, if it is the law. Incidentally, whether he
acquiesces or not, the law will be enforced, and this whoever he may
be, great or small, and at whichever end of the social scale he may be.
I ask that we see to it in our country that the line of division in
the deeper matters of our citizenship be drawn, never between section
and section, never between creed and creed, never, thrice never,
between class and class; but that the line be drawn on the line of
conduct, cutting through sections, cutting through creeds, cutting
through classes; the line that divides the honest from the dishonest,
the line that divides good citizenship from bad citizenship, the line
that declares a man a good citizen only if, and always if, he acts in
accordance with the immutable law of righteousness, which has been
the same from the beginning of history to the present moment, and
which will be the same from now until the end of recorded time.
FROM ADDRESS AT COLUMBIA GARDENS, BUTTE, MONT., MAY 27, 1903
_Mr. Chairman, and you, my Fellow-Citizens_:
It would have been a great pleasure to come to Butte in any event;
it is a double pleasure to come here at the invitation of the
representatives of the wage-workers of Butte. I do not say merely
workingmen, because I hold that every good American who does his duty
must be a workingman. There are many different kinds of work to do;
but so long as the work is honorable, is necessary, and is well done
the man who does it well is entitled to the respect of his fellows.
I have come here to this meeting especially as the invited guest of
the wage-workers, and I am happy to be able to say that the kind of
speech I will make to you, I would make just in exactly the same
language to any group of employers or any set of our citizens in any
corner of this Republic. I do not think so far as I know that I have
ever promised beforehand anything I did not make a strong effort to
make good afterward. It is sometimes very attractive and very pleasant
to make any kind of a promise without thinking whether or not you can
fulfil it; but in the after event it is always unpleasant when the
time for fulfilling comes; for in the long run the most disagreeable
truth is a safer companion than the most pleasant falsehood.
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