io8 Presidential Addresses 



to secure to each individual the chance to show un 

 der as favorable conditions as possible the stuff that 

 there is in him. 



AT SYMPHONY HALL, BOSTON, AUGUST 25, 1902 



Governor Crane, Mayor Collins, men and women of 

 Boston: 



I want to take up this evening the general ques 

 tion of our economic and social relations, with 

 specific reference to that problem with which I think 

 our people are now greatly concerning themselves 

 the problem of our complex social condition as in 

 tensified by the existence of the great corporations 

 which we rather loosely designate as trusts. I have 

 not come here to say that I have discovered a patent 

 cure-all for any evils. When people's minds are 

 greatly agitated on any subject, and especially when 

 they feel deeply but rather vaguely that conditions 

 are not right, it is far pleasanter in addressing 

 them to be indifferent as to what you promise; but 

 it is much less pleasant afterward when you come 

 to try to carry out what has been promised. Of 

 course the worth of a promise consists purely in 

 the way in which the performance squares with it. 

 That has two sides. In the first place, if a man 

 is an honest man he will try just as hard to keep a 

 promise made on the stump as one made off the 

 stump. In the second place, if the people keep 

 their heads they won't wish promises to be made 

 which are impossible of performance. You see, 



