124 Presidential Addresses 



AT AUGUSTA, MAINE, AUGUST 26, 1902 



Governor Burleigh, my fellow-citizens, men and 

 women of Maine: 



It would be difficult for any man speaking to this 

 audience and from in front of the house in which 

 Elaine once lived to fail to feel whatever of Ameri 

 canism there was in him stirred to the depths. For 

 my good fortune I knew Mr. Elaine quite well when 

 he was Secretary of State, and I have thought again 

 and again during the past few years how pleased 

 he would have been to see so many of the principles 

 for which he had stood approach fruition. 



One secret, perhaps I might say the chief secret, 

 of Mr. Elaine's extraordinary hold upon the affec 

 tions of his countrymen was his entirely genuine and 

 unaffected Americanism. When I speak of Ameri 

 canism I do not for a minute mean to say, gentle 

 men, that all the things we do are all right. I think 

 there are plenty of evils to correct and that often a 

 man shows himself all the more a good American 

 because he wants to cut out any evil of the body po 

 litic which may interfere with our approaching the 

 ideal of true Americanism. But not only admitting 

 but also emphasizing this, it yet remains true that 

 throughout our history no one has been able to ren 

 der really great service to the country if he did not 

 believe in the country. Mr. Elaine possessed to an 

 eminent degree the confident hope in the nation's 

 future which ma,de him feel that she must ever strive 

 to fit herself for a great destiny. He felt that this 



