356 Presidential Addresses 



ashamed not to be able to pull his own weight, 

 not to be able to do for himself as well as for others 

 without being beholden to any one for what he is 

 doing. No man is happy if he does not work. Of 

 all miserable creatures the idler, in whatever rank 

 of society, is in the long run the most miserable. 

 If a man does not work, if he has not in him not 

 merely the capacity for work but the desire for 

 work, then nothing can be done with him. He is 

 out of place in our community. We have in our 

 scheme of government no room for the man who 

 does not wish to pay his way through life by what 

 he does for himself and for the community. If 

 he has leisure which makes it unnecessary for him 

 to devote his time to earning his daily bread, then 

 all the more he is bound to work just as hard in 

 some way that will make the community the better 

 off for his existence. If he fails in that, he fails 

 to justify his existence. Work, the capacity for 

 work, is absolutely necessary; and no man's life 

 is full, no man can be said to live in the true sense 

 of the word, if he does not work. This is neces 

 sary, and yet it is not enough. If a man is utterly 

 selfish, if utterly disregardful of the rights of others, 

 if he has no ideals, if he works simply for the sake 

 of ministering to his own base passions, if he works 

 simply to gratify himself, small is his good in the 

 community. I think even then he is probably better 

 off than if he is an idler, but he is of no real use 

 unless together with the quality which enables him 

 to work he has the quality which enables him to 



