National Duties 239 



we must remember that our first duty is to our 

 own people, and yet that we can best get justice by 

 doing justice. We must continue the policy that has 

 been so brilliantly successful in the past, and so shape 

 our economic system as to give every advantage to 

 the skill, energy, and intelligence of our farmers, 

 merchants, manufacturers, and wage-workers; and 

 yet we must also remember, in dealing with other na 

 tions, that benefits must be given where benefits are 

 sought. It is not possible to dogmatize as to the 

 exact way of attaining this end, for the exact condi 

 tions can not be foretold. In the long run, one of 

 our prime needs is stability and continuity of eco 

 nomic policy; and yet, through treaty or by direct 

 legislation, it may, at least in certain cases, become 

 advantageous to supplement our present policy by a 

 system of reciprocal benefit and obligation. 



Throughout a large part of our national career 

 our history has been one of expansion, the expan 

 sion being of different kinds at different times. This 

 expansion is not a matter of regret, but of pride. It 

 is vain to tell a people as masterful as ours that the 

 spirit of enterprise is not safe. The true American 

 has ttever feared to run risks when the prize to be 

 won was of sufficient value. No nation capable of 

 self-government, and of developing by its own efforts 

 a sane and orderly civilization, no matter how small 

 it may be, has anything to fear from us. Our deal- 



