The Strenuous Life: The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, Volume 12 (of 14)Roosevelt, Theodore
General
The Strenuous Life: The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, Volume 12 (of 14)
Roosevelt, Theodore
United States -- Colonial question; United States -- Politics and government
On the other hand, it is equally true that the prosperity of any of
us can best be attained by measures that will promote the prosperity
of all. The poorest motto upon which an American can act is the motto
of “Some men down,” and the safest to follow is that of “All men up.”
A good deal can and ought to be done by law. For instance, the State
and, if necessary, the nation should by law assume ample power of
supervising and regulating the acts of any corporation (which can be
but its creature), and generally of those immense business enterprises
which exist only because of the safety and protection to property
guaranteed by our system of government. Yet it is equally true that,
while this power should exist, it should be used sparingly and with
self-restraint. Modern industrial competition is very keen between
nation and nation, and now that our country is striding forward with
the pace of a giant to take the leading position in the international
industrial world, we should beware how we fetter our limbs, how
we cramp our Titan strength. While striving to prevent industrial
injustice at home, we must not bring upon ourselves industrial weakness
abroad. This is a task for which we need the finest abilities of the
statesman, the student, the patriot, and the far-seeing lover of
mankind. It is a task in which we shall fail with absolute certainty
if we approach it after having surrendered ourselves to the guidance
of the demagogue, or to the doctrinaire, of the well-meaning man
who thinks feebly, or of the cunning self-seeker who endeavors to
rise by committing that worst of crimes against our people—the
crime of inflaming brother against brother, one American against his
fellow-Americans.
My fellow-countrymen, bad laws are evil things, good laws are
necessary; and a clean, fearless, common-sense administration of the
laws is even more necessary; but what we need most of all is to look
to our own selves to see that our consciences as individuals, that our
collective national conscience, may respond instantly to every appeal
for high action, for lofty and generous endeavor. There must and shall
be no falling off in the national traits of hardihood and manliness;
and we must keep ever bright the love of justice, the spirit of strong
brotherly friendship for one’s fellows, which we hope and believe will
hereafter stand as typical of the men who make up this, the mightiest
Republic upon which the sun has ever shone.
MANHOOD AND STATEHOOD
ADDRESS AT THE QUARTER-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF STATEHOOD IN COLORADO,
AT COLORADO SPRINGS, AUGUST 2, 1901
This anniversary, which marks the completion by Colorado of her first
quarter-century of Statehood, is of interest not only to her sisters,
the States of the Rocky Mountain region, but to our whole country.
With the exception of the admission to Statehood of California, no
other event emphasized in such dramatic fashion the full meaning of the
growth of our country as did the incoming of Colorado.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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