Show II Full Text of Roosevelt Speech II ISLAND New York Harbor Oct 23 28 8 INS INS Follow Follow Follow- lag ing fe Is the toe text of the address President Roosevelt delivered this afternoon in connection with ceremonies marking the fiftieth anniversary of the statue of ot Liberty Fifty years ago our old neighbor neighbor neighbor neigh neigh- bor and friend from arrow across the sea gave us this monument to stand at the principal pal e eastern stem gateway to the new world Grover Cleveland president of the United States Stat accepted this gift Ut with the pledge that we will wUl not forget that Ubert liberty has hero here made her home npr shall haU her chosen altar be neglected II During those thOle SO ro years ears that covenant between ourselves and our most mOlt cherished convictions has hal not been broken Four hundred years eara ago aco In Europe as well as In lit Asia Alia there was little hope of ot liberty for the average men of ot courage and good goodwill goodwill will The Tho ambitions of ot a ruling class cau and the times alike conspired conspired conspired con con- against liberty of conscience conscience con con- science liberty of ot speech liberty of the person liberty of economic opportunity Wars dynastic and religious had exhausted both the substance and the tho tolerance of ot the old world There was neither I economic nor political liberty lIberty- nor any hope for either Irony of ot History Then came one of ot the great reat ironies of history Rulers needed to find gold to pay their their- armies and Increase their power over the common men The seamen they sent lent to find that gold found Instead the way of escape for the common man from those rulers What they found over the western western west west- ern em horizon was not the silk and jewels of ot Cathay but mankind's mankind second ond chance chance chance-a a chance to create cre cre- create ate a new world after he ho had almost al almost al- al most spoiled spelled an old one And the Almighty seems purposefully purposefully purposefully pur pur- to have withheld that second cond i chance until the time when men would most need and appreciate liberty the time when men would be enlightened enough to establish it on foundations sound enough to maintain it ft For over three centuries a steady stream tream of men women and children followed the beacon of ot liberty which this light sym sym- They brought to us strength and moral fibre developed de developed de de- In a civilization centuries old but fired anew by the tho dream of ot a better life We In America They brought to one new country the cultures of ot a hundred old ones Had Courage It has not been sufficiently emphasized emphasized em em- in the teaching of ot our history that the overwhelming majority of those thOle who came carne from the nations of ot the old world to our American shores were not the laggards not the timorous not the failures They were men mert and women who had the supreme courage to strike out for themselves themselves them them- selves to abandon language and relatives relatives to to start at the the- bottom without Influence without money and without knowledge of life lIfo In Ina Ina Ina a very young youn civilization We Ve can say aay for all aU America what the Californians say of the Forty Forty- niner The cowa cowards never started and the weak died by bT the way Perhaps providence did prepare preparo pre pre- pare paro this American continent tobe to tobe tobe be a place of the second chance Certainly millions of men and women have made It that They adopted this homeland because Inthis in inthis this thI land they found a home In which the thugs things they most de desired desired desired de- de sired could be theirs theirs freedom freedom of ot opportunity freedom of ot thought freedom to worship God Cod Here they found life ure because here bere there was freedom to live It n Is the memory of all these u eager er seeking ekin millions t that hat makes this one of ot Americas America's places place of ot great creat romance Looking down this great reat harbor I 1 like to think of ot the countless number of or inbound vessels that have made this port I like liko to think of ot the themen themen themen men and women who with who with the break of dawn off Sandy Hook Hook- have havo strained their eyes to the west for a first glimpse of the new world lopes Hopes Justified They TheT came to most us-most us most of 1 th I t n. n III th I t. t n e o otheir a ey 1 their humble quarters saw aw things In these strange horizons which were denied to the tho eyes of those few who traveled in greater luxury They came to Us sae speaking many tongues tongues but but a single ingle language the universal language of human aspiration How well their hopes were justified jus jus- I is proved by the record of I what they achieved They not only found freedom in the new world but by bT their effort and devotion they made the new worlds world's freedom safer sater richer more far reaching more capable of ot growth Within this present generation that stream from abroad has largely stopped We have within our shores today the materials out of which we shall continue to build an even better home for liberty We take satisfaction in the thought that those who have left lett their native land to join us us may still tIU retain here their affection for some ome things left leet behind old behind old customs old language o 0 old I 1 d friends Looking to the future they wisely choose that their children shall shaU live In the new language and In the new customs of ot this new people And those children more and more realize their common destiny In America That Is true whether their forbears forbears for for- bears beara came past this place eight generations ago or only one The realization that we are all bound together by hope of ot a common future rather than by reverence for a common put post has hu helped us UJ to build bullet upon this continent continent continent con con- a unity in any similar area arM or population inthe In Inthe Inthe the whole world For all our millions of ot square aquaro miles mlle for all an allour allour our millions of people there is a unity In language and speech Inlaw Inlaw in inlaw law and in fn economics in education education education tion and In general purpose e. e which nowhere finds its lu match It was the hope of ot those thoo who gave us this statue and the hope of ot the American people In receiving ing tog It that the Goddess of Liberty and the Goddess of ot Peace were the same The grandfather of my old friend the French ambassador and those who helped him make this gift possible were citizens of a great sister Ister republic established established on the principle of the democratic form of ot government Citizens of ot all aU democracies unite In their desire for peace Grover Crover Cleveland recognized this unity on this spot pot CO 60 O years yeara ago He suggested that liberty enlightening enlightening en en- en- en lightening the world would ex ex- extend extend extend tend her rays from these shores to every other nation Today the symbolism should hould be broadened To the message menage of ot liberty which America sends to all the world must be added her message of peace Better Civilization Even In times as aJ troubled and uncertain as these I still hold to the faith that a better cIvilization civilization tion than any we have known is in store for America and by our example perhaps for the world Here destiny seems to have taken takena I Ia a long look Into this continental I reservoir there has been poured untold and untapped wealth of human resources Out of that r reservoir out reservoir out of the tho melting pot the tho the rich promise which the new world held out to those who came cameto cameto cameto to It from many lands is finding fulfillment The richness of ot the promise has not run out If we keep the faith for our day as those who came before us kept the faith for theirs then you and I can smile with confidence into the future It is b fitting tilting therefore that this should be a service of ot rededication rededication tion to the liberty and the peace which this statue symbolizes Liberty and peace are living things In each generation it If they are to be maintained they maintained they must be bo guarded and vitalized anew We do only a small part of ot our duty to America when we glory In the great past Patriotism that stops with that Is b a too too easy easy patriotism a a patriotism out of step with the patriots For each generation the more patriotic part partis is to carry forward American freedom and American peace by making them living facts in a living present To that we can we do do rededicate rededicate rededicate re- re re- re dedicate ourselves |