The Strenuous Life 21 



public service of the islands be turned into the prey 

 of the spoils politician, we shall have begun to tread 

 the path which Spain trod to her own destruction. 

 We must send out there only good and able men, 

 chosen for their fitness, and not because of their 

 partisan service., and these men must not only ad 

 minister impartial justice to the natives and serve 

 their own government with honesty and fidelity, but 

 must show the utmost tact and firmness, remember 

 ing that, with such people as those with whom we 

 are to deal, weakness is the greatest of crimes, and 

 that next to weakness comes lack of consideration 

 for their principles and prejudices. 



I preach to you, then, my countrymen, that our 

 country calls not for the life of ease but for the life 

 of strenuous endeavor. The twentieth century looms 

 before us big with the fate of many nations. If we 

 stand idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful 

 ease and ignoble peace, if we shrink from the hard 

 contests where men must win at hazard of their lives 

 and at the risk of all they hold dear, then the bolder 

 and stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win 

 for themselves the domination of the world. Let 

 us therefore boldly face the life of strife, resolute 

 to do our duty well and manfully ; resolute to uphold 

 righteousness by deed and by word; resolute to be 

 both honest and brave, to serve high ideals, yet to 

 use practical methods. Above all, let us shrink from 



