Malden High School - Maldonian Yearbook (Malden, MA)

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CLASS BOOK OF 1920A MALDEN HIGH SCHOOL language; one loyalty, loyalty to the American people.” Let me close with a tribute paid him by his intimate friend, Jacob Riis: “Roosevelt was a Soldier, Statesman, Scientist, Student of Nature, Scholar, Writer on many subjects, Patriot and Christian Gentleman; a man whose watch¬ word was Duty, and whose guiding stars were Truth and Humanity, whose life was one of Service for the Right, for Country, and for God. Happy we who had such a friend ! Happy the American Republic which bore such a son!” tA.Yi. AW Page Twelve

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CLASS BOOK OF I 92 0 A MALDEN HIGH SCHOOL boldness and with that clearness of vision that marked him, he reorganized the department, weeding out the bad from the good, thus creating the best body of police New York has ever had. Not only did he have courage to demand the right but persistency in holding to it in face of opposition. He had been in the New York Assembly a short time when one day he brought charges against a certain Judge Westbrook and demanded his impeachment on the ground that he had prostituted his high judicial office to serve the purpose of unscrupulous stock gamblers. Roosevelt was voted down; but day after day he repeated his demand. Finally, on the eighth day, a vote was taken to decide whether a committee should be appointed to investigate the judge. Roosevelt, by his persistency, won his point by a vote of 104 to 6. He was too straightforward to be a mere politician. “Honor goes before profit,” one of his mottoes, was hardly one for a politician. “Better be right, than be President” was another. Circumstances - fortunate for our country—forced him into the President’s chair. Here, too, difficulties were met with the same honesty, courage and wisdom. Difficult situations that might have involved us with European countries were tactfully and decisively handled. German attempts at encroachment were nipped in the bud. Such was the effort to gain a foothold in Venezuela for an attempt to dominate the Panama Canal. Better under¬ standing with both England and France was attained during his Presidency. Subserviency had no place in Roosevelt’s nature. Just before a State Banquet, the German Ambassador suggested to President Roosevelt that Prince Henry of Prussia, who was visiting the United States, should, as a Hohenzollern, and representative of the almightiest Kaiser, precede Roosevelt to the Banquet hall. The President replied curtly, “No person living precedes the President of the United States in the White House.” Roosevelt was the typical citizen of America, a man who possessed the spirit of youth and pioneering, who was a friend of all honest men and women, and who lived up to his convictions in his private and public life with courage and everlasting faith in humanity. He was a patriot. “To him love of country was as a living fire, as the very heart’s blood of his being.” In one of his speeches he said, “Every true patriot, every man of statesmanlike habits should look forward to the time when not a single European power shall hold a foot of American soil.” His motto was: “One flag, the American flag; one language, the English Page Eleven

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ORATION WAR IN MEXICO AND ITS OUTCOME JACOB PHILIP RUDIN There is an old rhyme, handed down through the ages, that follows this trend of thought: The good old way, the ancient plan, That he shall take who hath the might, And he shall keep who can. The spirit embodied in this rhyme seems to be that of some people in reference to America’s attitude toward Mexico. “Make war upon Mexico,” they say, “we have sufficient cause and superior strength which will give us victory in a very short while. A war with Mexico would be of a character so peculiar as to draw the attention of the whole world. It would be a war between such unequal combatants that its causes would be carefully scrutinized by other nations. Thus, the first effect of such a war would be upon our moral standing with the rest of the world. A war will convince no one that Mexico is a menace to our national safety—in fact, such a statement will place us in the same class with Germany when she alleged that Belgium was in league with France and England to conquer her. We may contend that official reports show that two hundred and nineteen Americans have been killed in Mexico during the past nine years, but what shall we answer when investigation shows that five hundred and forty-four Americans have been lynched here in the United States during the same length of time? Of course this comparison does not exonerate the Mexicans, yet it clearly shows the futility of making lawlessness the basis of war. American financial interests have probably been impaired in Mexico, They were in the recent constitutional changes in reference to oil mining. These new regulations make it necessary for a man to get a permit each time he wishes to bore a new well. They also, to some extent, increased the taxes on the wells. We ourselves, however, have not always considered foreign interests. What Page Thirteen