26 Presidential Addresses 



This is an era of great combinations both of labor 

 and of capital. In many ways these combinations 

 have worked for good; but they must work under 

 the law, and the laws concerning them must be 

 just and wise, or they will inevitably do evil; and 

 this applies as much to the richest corporation as 

 to the most powerful labor union. Our laws must 

 be wise, sane, healthy, conceived in the spirit of 

 those who scorn the mere agitator, the mere inciter 

 of class or sectional hatred; who wish justice for 

 all men; who recognize' the need of adhering so far 

 as possible to the old American doctrine of giving 

 the widest possible scope for the free exercise of 

 individual initiative, and yet who recognize also 

 that after combinations have reached a certain stage 

 it is indispensable to the general welfare that the 

 Nation should exercise over them, cautiously and 

 with self-restraint, but firmly, the power of super 

 vision and regulation. 



Above all, the administration of the government, 

 the enforcement of the laws, must be fair and honest. 

 The laws are not to be administered either in the 

 interest of the poor man or the interest of the rich 

 man. They are simply to be administered justly; 

 in the interest of justice to each man be he rich or 

 be he poor giving immunity to no violator, what 

 ever form the violation may assume. Such is the 

 obligation which every public servant takes, and to 

 it he must be true under penalty of forfeiting the 

 respect both of himself and of his fellows. 



And now, my fellow-countrymen, in closing I am 



