c^ 2- E 757 .C17 Copy 2 /•^ /I Memorial Exercises Commemorating the Sixty- Fourth Anniversary of the birth of Theodore Roosevelt held at the Cambridge City Hall Friday, October 27, 1922 Memorial Address BY T. Harrison Cummings also LIST OF BOOKS in the CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY By and About Roosevelt ^H^ Committee ,C/7 Appointed by His Honor the Mayor to Conduct Appropriate Exercises JOHN D. CROWLEY, Chairman (Commander, Cambridge Post, American Legion) MRS. HUGH McGlNNESS, Secretary (President Cambridge Auxiliary, U. S. W. V.) EBEN C. PIKE (Representing Cambridge Posts, G. A. R.) LOUIS C. BOWE (Commander, Hunting Camp, U. S. W. V. ELLIOTT E. McDowell (Commander, Hoyt Post, V. F. W.) GEORGE D. COLGAN (Exalted Ruler, Cambridge Lodge, B. P. O. Elks) MRS. MARGARET AVERY (President Cambridge Unit, American Legion Auxiliary) MRS. AUSTIN C. WELLINGTON (Daughters of Massachusetts) MRS. LUCIA B. OSBORN (Daughters of American Revolution) Essay Prizes Contributed by Cambridge Lodge, No. 839, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks Programme Selection WISTARIA TRIO Invocation REV. JOHN A. BUTLER Opening Address HON. E. W. QUINN. Mayor Flag Exercises GIRL SCOUTS OF AMERICA "Personal Recollections of Roosevelt— The Soldier" COMRADE HUGH McGINNESS, U. S. W. V. Piano Selection MR. FRANK O'BRIEN "Theodore Roosevelt, the America.n Citizen" PRIZE WINNING ESSAY (RINDGE SCHOOL) Vocal Selection MISS HELEN MAHLER "Theodore Roosevelt, the American Citizen" PRIZE WINNING ESSAY (GRAMMAR SCHOOL) Violin Selection MISS MAE MURRAY Oration MR. T. HARRISON CUMMINGS. Librarian Selection WISTARIA TRIO Presentation of Prizes to Essay Contest Win.ners GEORGE D. COLGAN, E. R. Finale — "The Star Spangled Banner" WISTARIA TRIO. SOLOISTS. AND ENSEMBLE Ushers Veterans of Civil, Spanish and World's Wars Unci,.rw...,ii & lTn,i,.|w..oii Stuilios. New York THE EARNEST "PREACHER" IX ACTION From "Roosevelt's Reliprion" CopyriKht, 1922, by Christian F. Relsnei- — The Abingdon Press Birth of Flag in 1775 at Cambridge (as visualized in the Cambridfe Public Library Roosevelt Memorial Commemorative exercises on the sixty-fourth anniversary of the hirth of Theodore Roosevelt were held Friday, October 27, 1922, in the city council chamber, under the auspices of the mayor's com- mittee. Included on the progrannne were prize winning essays on Roose- velt by students from the public schools. The oration of the day was given by Librarian T. Harrison Cummings. Address Of the 29 presidents of the United States, from 1789 to 1922, some, not all, were great men. Some were great men whom mankind has always been delighted to honor, by raising statues to their memory in the world's Pantheon of great men ; others were less great perhaps, but were privileged men, men who rendered distimguished services to their country ; and America has crowned them with a wreath of im- mortelles, because they added something in what they did for their country to the sum of human knowledge and they strengthened faith and trust in democracy and popular government. All of our Presidents were great patriots. For history shows that whatever their failings were in private life their public services were prompted by motives that were always pure and essentially patriotic. And here in America everything is forgiven the patriot. America loves those who love America and the flag. Our flag is a sacred symbol of all our ideals of government — a government, as Lincoln said, "of the people, for the people, and by the people." In its ample folds today are enshrined the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the farewell address of Washington, and the words of Lincoln at Gettysburg. Its red and white stripes — lines of red blood and white purit}' of purpose visualize the sacrifices made by the gen- erations who have preceded us. And today that flaig, resplendent with forty-eight stars, embodies all the hopes and all the aspirations of the freedom-loving people of the earth. We believe that the hand of God himself through all our history, from Washington to Harding, is shaping the destiny of mankind. And even he who now serves this chosen people, let us hope, will be numbered among the illustrious great men. And time will never dim the lustre and fame of this our present Chief Magistrate, Warren G. Harding, the twenty-ninth President of the United States. So immor- tal is the magic power of American patriotism. Sometime in the future, my friends, when the world's Pantheon shall be erected to the great men of the earth, the inhabitants of America, whether north or south, east or west, in the northern or southern hemisphere, will instinctively look for two statutes — two monuments — Washington, first in war. first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. And side by side with him the great man in the second epoch of the nation's history — Abraham Lincoln. Their joint names will be linked together, as the two great types of chivalry in American history. Washington, the eighteenth century cavalier and aristocrat. Lincoln, the nineteenth century statesman, martyr, and saviour of his country. The one. the flower of the age of privilege and class distinction ; the other the blossoming of the age of democ- racy and universal brotherhood. And now we come to the third epoch in the history of our nation. I do not forget that there have been other great men, great patriots and great leaders among our national heroes, in the presidency. In- deed, it is hard to believe that any other nation ever produced a line of men so noble, so generous, and so patriotic as those we are talking about here tonight. But ideas and ideals are the most powerful and permanent forces in the world. When the Great War, through which we have just passed, ended with the complete collapse of the German army at Chateau Thierry and Belleau Woods, the most powerful and perfectly organized military machine that the world has ever seen, it taught us a great lesson — namely : that the spirit of truth and lib- erty in the hearts of a free people is incomparably stronger than any organized despotism, and mightier than the sword of any military hero. The old order has changed and the new order, the American idea of a real people's democracy has tumbled down the throne of kmgs and wrecked the autocracy and divine rights of kaisers and dic- tators everywhere, and has set the people free. Free government is only possible when self-control and mutual benefits constitute the guiding spirit of its citizens and when these are planted deep in the hearts and lives of the people. The public mind must be educated today to new ideals ; and we must learn to respect organized authority before we can have a safe government "of the people, for the people, and by the people." .\merica today stands for liberty under the law because liberty is protected and made safe by law. And Americans know that only through obedience to the law can liberty exist. May I not give you a truer idea of American liberty by recalling the fact that in the Declaration of Independence, that immortal docu- ment, the word liberty occurs but once while the word law occurs nc less than eight times. In the Constitution of the United States, our bill of rights, and our charter of our liberty, there are fifty laws, which signifies plainly that liberty in America is only possible to a law abiding people. Our freedom rests on obedience to the law, the law of the land, and our flag today is the symbol of liberty and justice to all. For instance, in our Civil war, we fought out this ideal over fifty years ago — that all men are created free and equal, and we lib- erated a race of people, whom we had oppressed and enslaved. When Abraham Lincoln, dipping his pen in the sunlight, wrote those immor- tal words in his Emancipation Proclamation, "henceforth and forever free," he made a distinct contribution to the organized freedom of mankind, and today .Americanization means making everybody under- stand not only the privileges but the duties which belong to every American citizen, no matter where he was born. Here, in America, there is no distinction, class, or creed. All are Americans together. Men. women, and children share these privileges alike. It is this that makes us a united democracy, working together, shoulder to shoulder, in mutual helpfulness, and this alone is true Americanism. And the man who stands as the personification of this new era of Americanism and democracy, the chief leader in the present civic renaissance of the American people and the one great apostle of the ideals and lottv i)rinciples of American democracy was the late Theodore RooscveU, the twenty-sixth President of the United States. Tonight we are gathered here to pay our tribute of reverence and respect and gratitude to the majestic name and memory of one of the greatest citizens of the American republic. All our voices should be sounding his praises, regardless of what our political affili- ations may be, because of the rich heritage of Americanism and Amer- ican history that we now hold in trust from him as a sacred legacy. This will be the subject of my discourse. Passing briefly over his ancestry, childhood, and youth, we can hastily summarize in a few words his entrance into political life, in New \'ork, being elected to the Legislature in 1881, the youngest man in the House; he was nominated for speaker in 1883, by the Repub- licans, who then abandoned him because he was fighting the bosses. This was his first real lesson in politics. In 1884, the legislative Roose- velt Committee was investigating New York City and that same year he headed the New York delegation, as chairman to the famous national convention, in which he opposed the nomination of James G. Blaine. Though he did not leave the Republican party, he defeated Mr. Blaine, with the famous "Rum. Romanism, and Rebellion" cry of Dr. Buchard. In 1888, he went on the stump for General Harrison and was given a place on the Civil Service Commission at Washington, which he accepted. After six years of service, he resigned and in May, 1895, was appointed Police Commissioner in New York. This made him a national figure because he was fighting "rum and rebel- lion" on the side of Romanism. In this connection I am reminded of an incident that happened in Boston, which shows how he was re- garded not only in New York but in Boston as well. At a K. of C. banquet given in Music Hall, Boston, on October 23, 1895, His Emi- nence, William Cardinal O'Connell, then a simple curate at Saint Jos- eph's Church in Boston, was one of the speakers. Responding to the toast, "the Church," he spoke as follows: "The truths of the Catholic church, the doctrines and dogmas, we are not free to chanjge because they are God's: but, in all else, in everything that goes to make good government, purity in morals, temperance, and charity, we take the hand of any man, be he Catholic, or Protestant." ".Apropos of this — last night this platform was occupied by a man from New York, Theodore Roosevelt, a man who in public life stands for everything that is honest and high-minded. He delivered a speech from that platform that is a lesson in breadth and liberalitv to all Boston and to all New England. At the end of his speech. I had the great pleasure to meet him. As he came forward, he took my hand, held it firmly and cordially, and said spontaneously, 'Father, permit me to say that in all my work with people of all nationalities— Protes- tant, Jew, and Catholic, the men who have been closest to me and upon whom I depend most are the Catholic priests of New York City.' "That sentiment from that man." said the Cardinal, "needs no comment, but stands for what it means: for Theodore Roosevelt is a man who says only what he- means." In April, 1897, he was appointed Assistant Secretarv of the Navy, the bosses reliictantly allowing him to have the office where he could be shelved politically and do no harm. But no office, however obscure, could ever bury a man of his restless spirit. President McKinley and his cabinet invited the Assistant Secretary of the Navy to a cabi- net meeting. Mr. Roosevelt advised the President to sav to Spain that if she sent a fleet of warships across the Atlantic, this govern- ment would regard it as an act of war. Air. McKinlev laughingly told his cabinet about it, saying that Roosevelt has the' whole pro- gramme of the war mapped out. The cabinet liked the joke so well that the President was urged to invite the Assistant Secretarv to a inoctiii^. Mr. Roosevelt went l)eforc them l)o!(lly and niiatraid and gave his views in no uncertain terms. When he retired they all la.gncU, thmkiuK the joke was on Roosevelt. But it turned out later that if the sailing of the Spanish navy had been averted, the Spanish- American war might have been averted — which put the joke on the cabinet. His war record was very creditable and his bravery was unques- tioned. He led the Rough Riders, at the famous battle of San Juan Hill, and at the close of the war his Rough Riders were welcomed home as the heroes of the war, and their leader became a popular idol in the eyes of the people. He was nominated and elected governor of the Knipire state in 1899, and the following year. November. 190l), w.-ts elected X'ice-President of the United States, with President McKinley as his superior ofificer. His enemies believed now that this would end him politically — as the Vice-Presidency had always been a politi- cal tomb from which no occupant had emerged in more than sixty years. But they counted without their host. The hand of fate that so relentlessly rules us all intervened and before six months had passed, on September 6, 1901, an .'\merican President for the third time fell before the assassin's bullet. President McKinley, who was holding a public reception in Buffalo. New York, at the Pan-American Exposi- tion, was cruelly shot down by a young man of his own state of Ohio. One week later, on September 14, he passed away, while the people, from whom he had sprung, and the American nation he had so nobly served, mingled their tears in the kinship of a common sorrow. Twelve hours later. Vice-President Roosevelt had arrived in Buf- falo and took the simple but solenm oath that all the Presidents from Washington to Harding have taken. "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Consti- tution of the United States." — Theodore Roosevelt. That oath made him the twenty-sixth President of the United States. He was then but forty-two years old, the youngest President that ever sat in the chair of Washington. Fate had been kind to him; for, within the space of three years' time, he had risen from the ranks of a soldier in the Spanish-.^merican war, to the governorship of New York; then to the Vice-Presidency, and now he had become President of the United States, the highest office in the gift of the American people. The task that awaited him was indeed a stupendous one. He met his daily tasks with a lion's courage and astonished the country by his capacity for leadership and hard work. "We Americans," he said, "can only do our allotted task well if we face it steadily and bravely, seeing but not fearing the dangers. Above all we must stand shoulder to shoulder, not asking as to the ancestry, or creed of our comrades, but only demanding that they he in truth Americans, and that we all work together, heart, hand, and head, for the honor and the greatness of our common countrj'." Sound .American doctrine to the core. He travelled fifty thousand miles in four years, delivered three hundred and fifty speeches, explained his policies in every state and territory of the Union. His efficiency no less than his fairness and independence won the admiration of all parties alike. They saw that he was a man of indomitable energy, who knew how to get things done right — and they applauded him, irrespective of party allegiance. He served out the unexpired term of President McKinley, three and one-half years, and on June 23. 1904. was unanimously nominated for President by the Republican party, at Chicago. His consummate skill in manipulating iniblic opinion was so overwhelming that he was tri- umphantly elected with one of the largest pluralties in history. On March 4. 1905, he was inaugurated again for a second terra- of four years. On delivering his inaugural address on this occasion he spoke as follows : "No people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no spirit of boastfulness in our strcncrth. but with gratitude to the Giver of Good, who has blessed us with the conditions which have enabled us to achieve so large a measure of well-being and of happiness. "To us as a people it has been granted to lay the_ foundations of our national life in a new continent. We are the heirs oi the ages, and yet we have had to pay few of the penalties which in old coun- tries are exacted by the dead hand of a bygone civilization. We have not been obliged to fight for our existence against any alien race; and yet our life called for the vigor and effort without which the manlier and hardier virtues wither away. "Under such conditions it would be our own fault if we failed; and the success which we have had in the past, the success which we confidently believe the future will brinig,_ should cause_ in us no feeling of vainglory, but rather a deep and abiding realization of all which life has offered us; a full acknowledgment of the responsibility which is ours ; and a fixed determination to show that under a free govern- ment a mighty people can thrive best, alike as regards the things of the body and the things of the soul." It is well to read and ponder what has been written or spoken on Inauguration day, by one to whom the people had entrusted their Presidency. Here we have the real man revealed to us at last; we may question his partv politics as being wise or unwise— but no one can read the sentences of this message without believing that the author is not only a patriot but intensively American. He is trying to make the world better in seeking the triumph of good over evil and so far as he can, is striving to have righteousness prevail on the earth. Later on he said, "The labor unions shall have the 'square deal' and the corporations shall have 'square deaP and in addition all private citizens shall have a 'square deal.' This government shall never be a plutocracy." And true to his word he brought the railways and trusts into court. He got after the meat packers by having Con- gress enact a pure food law, — he brought the coal barons to terms by wielding the power of public opinion and forcing the settlement of the coal strike. His maxim was. as he expressed it, "to speak softly and carry a big stick." Directness, courtesy and diplomacy made him an ideal peacemaker, so that everywhere President Roosevelt was pictured and even caricatured as the apostle of the "square deal and the big stick." "The strenuous life" was another phrase that he coined and ex- emplified before the world on all occasions. "I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life — the life of toil and efifort. of labor and strife ; to preach the highest form of success which comes not to the man who desires easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardships, or from bitter toil, and who out of these, wins the splendid ultimate triumph." The man was a physical marvel both in his wonderful capacity for work or plav. He radiated energy just as the sun radiates heat and light. The White House atmosphere when he was at home fairly gleamed and sparkled with electric energy. Everybody and every- thing kept moving. Yet with all his activities, few students or scholars read more than he did. It is said of him that he always rested with a book in his hand. He loafed with Dante and Plutarch, Herodotus and Thucydides. Indeed a list of only part of his reading for two years in the presidency is bewildering in the number of titles an