372 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



ADDEESS OF PEESIDENT EOOSEVELT BEFOEE THE 

 NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 



I AM peculiarly pleased to have the chance of addressing this asso- 

 ciation, for in all this democratic land there is no more genuinely 

 democratic association than this. It is truly democratic, because here 

 each member meets every other member as his peer without regard to 

 whether he is the president of one of the great universities or the newest 

 recruit to that high and honorable profession which has in its charge 

 the upbringing and training of those boys and girls who in a few short 

 years will themselves be settling the destinies of this nation. 



It is not too much to say that the most characteristic work of the 

 republic is that done by the educators, by the teachers, for whatever 

 our shortcomings as a nation may be — and we have certain shortcom- 

 ings—we have at least firmly grasped the fact that we can not do our 

 part in the difficult and all-important work of self-government, that 

 we can not rule and govern ourselves unless we approach the task with 

 developed minds, and with what counts for more even — with trained 

 characters. You teachers make the whole world your debtors. 



Of your profession this can be said with more truth than of any 

 other profession, barring only that of the minister of the Gospel him- 

 self. If you — you teachers — did not do your work well this republic 

 would not endure beyond the span of the generation. 



Moreover, as an incident to your avowed work, you render some well- 

 nigh unbelievable services to the country. For instance, you render to 

 the republic the prime, the vital service of amalgamating into one homo- 

 geneous body the children alike of those who are born here and of those 

 who come here from so many different lands lands abroad. You fur- 

 nish a common training and common ideals for the children of all the 

 mixed peoples who are being fused into one nationality. It is in no 

 small degree due to you and to your efforts that we of this great Amer- 

 ican republic form one people instead of a group of jarring peoples. 

 The pupils, no matter where they or their parents were born, who are 

 being educated in our public schools will be sure to become imbued with 

 that mutual sympathy, that mutual respect and understanding, which 

 is absolutely indispensable for the working out of the problems we as 

 people have before us. 



And one service you render which I regard as wholly indispensable. 

 In our country, where altogether too much prominence is given to the 

 mere possession of wealth, we are under heavy obligations to such a body 



