Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7) — John Shaqi
Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)Roosevelt, Theodore
History
Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 2 (of 7)
Roosevelt, Theodore
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919; United States -- Politics and government -- 1901-1909
In other words, legislation to be permanently good for any class must
also be good for the Nation as a whole, and legislation which does
injustice to any class is certain to work harm to the Nation. Take
our currency system for example. This Nation is on a gold basis. The
treasury of the public is in excellent condition. Never before has the
per capita of circulation been as large as it is this day; and this
circulation, moreover, is of money every dollar of which is at par
with gold. Now, our having this sound currency system is of benefit to
banks, of course, but it is of infinitely more benefit to the people
as a whole, because of the healthy effect on business conditions.
In the same way, whatever is advisable in the way of remedial or
corrective currency legislation—and nothing revolutionary is advisable
under present conditions—must be undertaken only from the standpoint
of the business community as a whole, that is, of the American body
politic as a whole. Whatever is done, we can not afford to take any
step backward or to cast any doubt upon the certain redemption in
standard coin of every circulating note.
Among ourselves we differ in many qualities of body, head and heart;
we are unequally developed, mentally as well as physically. But each
of us has the right to ask that he shall be protected from wrongdoing
as he does his work and carries his burden through life. No man needs
sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far
and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard
at work worth doing; and this is a prize open to every man, for there
can be no work better worth doing than that done to keep in health and
comfort and with reasonable advantages those immediately dependent
upon the husband, the father, or the son.
There is no room in our healthy American life for the mere idler, for
the man or the woman whose object it is throughout life to shirk the
duties which life ought to bring. Life can mean nothing worth meaning,
unless its prime aim is the doing of duty, the achievement of results
worth achieving. A recent writer has finely said: “After all, the
saddest thing that can happen to a man is to carry no burdens. To be
bent under too great a load is bad; to be crushed by it is lamentable;
but even in that there are possibilities that are glorious. But to
carry no load at all—there is nothing in that. No one seems to arrive
at any goal really worth reaching in this world who does not come to
it heavy laden.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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