Show theodore roosevelt s plea to my fellow members of the rocky mountain club and the men alen and women of the west the action of the rocky mountain club in devoting its energies to the relief of the suffering children of belgium rang true to the western spirit as all of us who have lived in the mountains and the plains have come to know that spirit I 1 have gladly joined in the movement to do what I 1 can for a gallant little nation which has been cruelly trampled under foot for no fault of its own and now lies prostrate threatened with the loss of its spiritual as well as its physical being it is the literal truth that rarely since the days of herod has child life been so menaced as today in belgium I 1 shall not deal with the material side of this question or tell how children are compelled to go hungry and are threatened with disease and slow starvation all this is being told in the west in speeches in letters in literature in cartoons and in personal pleas suffice it to say that today stands in mortal danger of losing both its bodily life and its soul I 1 but what of us what of our soul if like the levite and the priest we pass on our business with averted eyes the nation that turns a deaf ear to the sufferings of ten million people including a million and a quarter children is committing moral suicide diseases born of want and hunger are spreading with dreadful rapidity among these children of belgium shall we look idly on while these children die other nations do not sit idle war torn england and france have given largely brave little holland has cared within her own borders for hundreds of thousands of refugees the rest of the world has spent for belgium we have contributed only nine millions Is this enough to make us think that we have done our duty we say with unctuous self satisfaction that we have been kept out of war we chuckle because in 1916 we sold five billions worth of products to europe are our souls rotted can we see only the dollar sign in the sky what of our souls if we continue deaf to the crying need of a gallant nation threatened with extinction through the loss of its first born can any man of high and generous nature having been told the facts continue to be indifferent the west has done much but it has not done enough I 1 appeal to the men of the west to follow the rocky mountain club I 1 appeal to the women of the west to take the thought of wrecked and tormented belgium to their hearts I 1 should like to see every school house in the west a collection agency for the rocky mountain club hoover fund I 1 should like to see every sunday school interested I 1 should like to know that every pulpit in the west was ringing with the story I 1 should like to see in every city and village a central agency collecting and forwarding relief to mr william B thompson the treasurer of the fund no 65 west forty fourth street new york I 1 should like to see on every cantli catt li range a rocky mountain club fund I 1 should like to know that every mining superintendent had addressed his men telling them the story and asking them to contribute each pay day a regular sum following dowil tg the example of the miners in south africa who are giving 10 per cent of their wages I 1 should like to see every newspaper open its columns to the cause I 1 should like to see every social gathering wind up with a belgian collection I 1 should like to see the west on fire over wrongs and needs I 1 cannot say more I 1 should be ashamed to say less THEODORE ROOSEVELT oyster bay N Y march 12 1916 0 |