jo Presidential Addresses 



and that is character. It is a good thing to have 

 a sound body, and a better thing to have a sound 

 mind; and better still to have that aggregate of 

 virile and decent qualities which we group together 

 under the name of character. I said both decent 

 and virile qualities it is not enough to have one 

 or the other alone. If a man is strong in mind and 

 body and misuses his strength then he becomes 

 simply a foe to the body politic, to be hunted down 

 by all decent men; and if, on the other hand, he 

 has thoroughly decent impulses but lacks strength 

 he is a nice man, but does not count. You can do 

 but little with him. 



In the unending strife for civic betterment, small 

 is the use of these people who mean well, but who 

 mean well feebly. The man who counts is the man 

 who is decent and who makes himself felt as a force 

 for decency, for cleanliness, for civic righteousness. 

 He must have several qualities; first and foremost, 

 of course, he must be honest, he must have the root 

 of right thinking in him. That is not enough. 

 In the next place he must have courage; the timid 

 good man counts but little in the rough business 

 of trying to do well the world's work. And finally, 

 in addition to being honest and brave he must have 

 common-sense. If he does not have it, no matter 

 what other qualities he may have he will find him 

 self at the mercy of those who, without possessing 

 his desire to do right, know only too well how to 

 make the wrong effective. 



To you, the men of Columbia here, the men of 



