Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.
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| we are fearless of soul, cool of head, and kindly of heart; if, without betraying the weakness that cringes before wrongdoing, we yet show by deeds and words our knowledge that in such a government as ours each of us must be in very truth his brother’s keeper. |
| “At a time when the growing complexity of our social and industrial life has rendered inevitable the intrusion of the state into spheres of work wherein it formerly took no part, and when there is also a growing tendency to demand the illegitimate and unwise transfer to the government of much of the work that should be done by private persons, singly or associated together, it is a pleasure to address a body whose members possess to an eminent degre the traditional American self-reliance of spirit which makes them scorn to ask from the government, whether of state or nation, anything but a fair field and no favor—who confide not in being helped by others, but in their own skill, energy, and business capacity to achieve success. |
| “The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight; that he shall not be |