Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
The most vital problem with which this country, and for that matter the
whole civilized world, has to deal, is the problem which has for one
side the betterment of social conditions, moral and physical, in large
cities, and for another side the effort to deal with that tangle of
far-reaching questions which we group together when we speak of
"labor." The chief factor in the success of each man--wage-worker,
farmer, and capitalist alike--must ever be the sum total of his own
individual qualities and abilities. Second only to this comes the power
of acting in combination or association with others. Very great good
has been and will be accomplished by associations or unions of
wage-workers, when managed with forethought, and when they combine
insistence upon their own rights with law-abiding respect for the
rights of others. The display of these qualities in such bodies is a
duty to the nation no less than to the associations themselves.
Finally, there must also in many cases be action by the Government in
order to safeguard the rights and interests of all. Under our
Constitution there is much more scope for such action by the State and
the municipality than by the nation. But on points such as those
touched on above the National Government can act.
When all is said and done, the rule of brotherhood remains as the
indispensable prerequisite to success in the kind of national life for
which we strive. Each man must work for himself, and unless he so works
no outside help can avail him; but each man must remember also that he
is indeed his brother's keeper, and that while no man who refuses to
walk can be carried with advantage to himself or anyone else, yet that
each at times stumbles or halts, that each at times needs to have the
helping hand outstretched to him. To be permanently effective, aid must
always take the form of helping a man to help himself; and we can all
best help ourselves by joining together in the work that is of common
interest to all.
Our present immigration laws are unsatisfactory. We need every honest
and efficient immigrant fitted to become an American citizen, every
immigrant who comes here to stay, who brings here a strong body, a
stout heart, a good head, and a resolute purpose to do his duty well in
every way and to bring up his children as law-abiding and God-fearing
members of the community. But there should be a comprehensive law
enacted with the object of working a threefold improvement over our
present system. First, we should aim to exclude absolutely not only all
persons who are known to be believers in anarchistic principles or
members of anarchistic societies, but also all persons who are of a low
moral tendency or of unsavory reputation. This means that we should
require a more thorough system of inspection abroad and a more rigid
system of examination at our immigration ports, the former being
especially necessary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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