24 quotes
There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains.
The New Nationalism (1910)
We grudge no man a fortune which represents his own power and sagacity, when exercised with entire regard to the welfare of his fellows.
The New Nationalism (1910)
Nothing is more true than that excess of every kind is followed by reaction; a fact which should be pondered by reformer and reactionary alike.
The New Nationalism (1910)
Second, equality of opportunity means that the commonwealth will get from every citizen the highest service of which he is capable.
The New Nationalism (1910)
We cannot afford weakly to blind ourselves to the actual conflict which faces us today. The issue is joined, and we must fight or fail.
The New Nationalism (1910)
I believe that the officers, and, especially, the directors, of corporations should be held personally responsible when any corporation breaks the law.
The New Nationalism (1910)
No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned. Every dollar received should represent a dollar's worth of service rendered — not gambling in stocks, but service rendered.
The New Nationalism (1910)
I am far from underestimating the importance of dividends; but I rank dividends below human character.
The New Nationalism (1910)
The fundamental thing to do for every man is to give him a chance to reach a place in which he will make the greatest possible contribution to the public welfare.
The New Nationalism (1910)
No man can be a good citizen unless he has a wage more than sufficient to cover the bare cost of living, and hours of labor short enough so after his day's work is done he will have time and energy to bear his share in the management of the community, to help in carrying the general load.
The New Nationalism (1910)
We are all Americans. Our common interests are as broad as the continent.
The New Nationalism (1910)
The national government belongs to the whole American people, and where the whole American people are interested, that interest can be guarded effectively only by the national government.
The New Nationalism (1910)
The object of government is the welfare of the people. The material progress and prosperity of a nation are desirable chiefly so long as they lead to the moral and material welfare of all good citizens.
The New Nationalism (1910)
It is particularly important that all moneys received or expended for campaign purposes should be publicly accounted for, not only after election, but before election as well.
The New Nationalism (1910)
It is of little use for us to pay lip-loyalty to the mighty men of the past unless we sincerely endeavor to apply to the problems of the present precisely the qualities which in other crises enabled the men of that day to meet those crises.
The New Nationalism (1910)
No matter how honest and decent we are in our private lives, if we do not have the right kind of law and the right kind of administration of the law, we cannot go forward as a nation.
The New Nationalism (1910)
Give him a chance, not push him up if he will not be pushed. Help any man who stumbles; if he lies down, it is a poor job to try to carry him; but if he is a worthy man, try your best to see that he gets a chance to show the worth that is in him.
The New Nationalism (1910)
Our country—this great republic—means nothing unless it means the triumph of a real democracy, the triumph of popular government, and, in the long run, of an economic system under which each man shall be guaranteed the opportunity to show the best that there is in him.
The New Nationalism (1910)
There must remain no neutral ground to serve as a refuge for lawbreakers, and especially for lawbreakers of great wealth, who can hire the vulpine legal cunning which will teach them how to avoid both jurisdictions.
The New Nationalism (1910)
Those who oppose reform will do well to remember that ruin in its worst form is inevitable if our national life brings us nothing better than swollen fortunes for the few and the triumph in both politics and business of a sordid and selfish materialism.
The New Nationalism (1910)