346 Presidential Addresses 



traordinary artistic, literary, and philosophical de 

 velopment which has made all mankind its debtors 

 for the ages, was yet wholly unable to withstand 

 a formidable foreign foe, save spasmodically. As 

 soon as powerful, permanent empires arose on its 

 outskirts, the Greek states in the neighborhood of 

 such empires fell under their sway. National power 

 and greatness were completely sacrificed to local 

 liberty. 



With Rome the exact opposite occurred. The 

 imperial city rose to absolute dominion over all the 

 peoples of Italy and then expanded her rule over 

 the entire civilized world by a process which kept 

 the nation strong and united, but gave no room 

 whatever for local liberty and self-government. All 

 other cities and countries were subject to Rome. 

 In consequence this great and masterful race of 

 warriors, rulers, road-builders, and administrators 

 stamped their indelible impress upon all the after 

 life of our race, and yet let an over-centralization 

 eat out the vitals of their empire until it became 

 an empty shell; so that when the barbarians came 

 they destroyed only what had already become worth 

 less to the world. 



The underlying viciousness of each type of expan 

 sion was plain enough and the remedy now seems 

 simple enough. But when the fathers of the Re 

 public first formulated the Constitution under which 

 we live this remedy was untried and no one could 

 foretell how it would work. They themselves began 

 the experiment almost immediately by adding new 



