This means that all in any way connected with them not merely retain but increase their self-respect.

Any man who takes part in the work of such an organization is benefited to some extent and benefits the community to some extent—of course, always with the proviso that the organization is well managed and is run on a business basis, as…

I doubt if it is possible to overestimate the good done by the mere fact of association with a common interest and for a common end, and when the common interest is high and the common end peculiarly worthy, the good done is of course many…

Besides developing this sense of brotherhood, the feeling which breeds respect both for one’s self and for others, your Associations have a peculiar value in showing what can be done by acting in combination without aid from the State.

This is particularly true of efforts for that most important of all forms of betterment, moral betterment—the moral betterment which usually brings material betterment in its train.

It is only in this way, by all of us working together in a spirit of brotherhood, by each doing his part for the betterment of himself and of others, that it is possible for us to solve the tremendous problems with which as a nation we are…

There are, of course, a thousand different ways in which the work can be done, and each man must choose as his tastes and his powers bid him, if he is to do the best of which he is capable.

All the work must be attempted as on the whole this Young Men’s Christian Association work has been done, that is, in a spirit of good will toward all and not of hatred toward some; in a spirit in which to broad charity for mankind there…

It ought not to be necessary for me to warn you against mere sentimentality, against the philanthropy and charity which are not merely insufficient but harmful.

In the words of Lowell, it is far safer to adopt “All men up” than “Some men down” for a motto.

To break the Tenth Commandment is no more moral now than it has been for the past thirty centuries.

What we need in our leaders and teachers is help in suppressing such feelings, help in arousing and directing the feelings that are their extreme opposites.

Every ounce of effort for good in your Associations is part of the ceaseless war against the traits which produce such men.

We ask that these Associations, and the men and women who take part in them, practice the Christian doctrines which are preached from every true pulpit.

Fear the Lord and walk in his ways” and “Love thy neighbor as thyself”—when we practice these two precepts, the reign of social and civic righteousness will be close at hand.

We can not live up to these teachings as we should; for in the presence of infinite might and infinite wisdom, the strength of the strongest man is but weakness, and the keenest of mortal eyes see but dimly.

We to-day dedicate this monument because those who went before us had the wisdom to make ready for the victory.

If we wish our children to have the chance of dedicating monuments of this kind in the event of war we must see that the navy is made ready in advance.

To dedicate the monument would be an empty and foolish thing if we accompanied it by an abandonment of our national policy of building up the navy.

And good though it is to erect this monument, it is better still to go on with the building up of the navy which gave the monument to us, and which, if we ever give it a fair chance, can be relied upon to rise level to our needs.

The personnel contained as fine material as there was to be found in the world but the ships and the guns were antiquated, and it would have been a wicked absurdity to have sent them against the ships of any good power.

We come here as patriots remembering that our party lines stop at the water’s edge.

We could not have begun to fight that battle if we had not been for so many years making ready the navy.

The best ships and the best guns do not count unless they are handled aright and aimed aright, and the best men can not thus handle the one nor aim the other if they do not have ample practice.

Besides applauding now see to it that the navy is so built up that the men of the next generation will have something to applaud also.