The Triumphant Life of Theodore Roosevelt edited by J. Martin Miller

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SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT
the engineer and the fireman, whether on a flyer or a freight train, now as there
ever was. Much can be done by the Association. A great deal can be accomplished
by working each for all and all for each; but we must not forget that the first
requisite in accomplishing that is that each man should work for others by working
for himself, by developing his own capacity.
The steady way in which a man can rise is illustrated by a little thing that
happened yesterday. I came down here over the Queen and Crescent Railroad,
and the general manager, who handled my train and who handled yours, was
Mr. Maguire. I used to know him in the old days when he was here on his
way up, and he began right at the bottom. He was a fireman at one time. He
worked his way straight up, and now he is general manager.
AN OBJECT LESSON IN CITIZENSHIP
I believe so emphatically in your organization because, while it teaches the need
of working in union, of working in association, of working with, deep in our hearts,
not merely on our lips, the sense of Brotherhood, yet of necessity it still keeps, as
your organization always must keep, to the forefront the worth of the individual
qualities of a man. I said to you that I came here in a sense not to speak to you,
but to use your experience as an object-lesson for all of us, an object-lesson in good
American citizenship. All professions, of course, do not call for the exercise to the
same degree of the qualities of which I have spoken. Your profession is one of
those which I am inclined to feel play in modern life a greater part from the stand-
point of character than we entirely realize. There is in modern life, with the
growth of civilization and luxury, a certain tendency to softening of the national
fiber. There is a certain tendency to forget, in consequence of their disuse, the
rugged virtues which lie at the back of manhood; and I feel that professions like
yours, like the profession of the railroad men of the country, have a tonic efifect
upon the whole body politic.
It is a good thing that there should be a large body of our fellow-citizens—that
there should be a profession—whose members must, year in and year out, display
these old, old qualities of courage, daring, resolution, unflinching willingness to
meet danger at need. I hope to see all our people develop the softer, gentler virtues
to an ever-increasing degree, but I hope never to see them lose the sterner virtues
that make men men.
A man is not going to be a fireman or an engineer, or serve well in any other
capacity on a railroad long if he has a "streak of yellow" in him. You are going to
find it out, and he is going to be painfully conscious of it, very soon. It is a fine
thing for oui people that we should have those qualities in evidence before us in the
life-work of a big group of our citizens.