Woodrow Wilson: “I am very grateful; I may say in parentheses, that I did not have to make that choice.”

A recommendation at this time that suitable legislative action should be taken may appear somewhat premature, but in view of the approaching termination of my administration I have brought this matter to your attention, hoping that…

It waits with acquiescence, in the first place, for laws which will effectively prohibit and prevent such interlocking of the personnel of the directorates of great corporations—banks and railroads, industrial, commercial and public…

I think, therefore, that the bill should not become law and that the tract should be made a Federal bird reservation for the protection of the birds which now frequent the lands.

I am not convinced that the method proposed is wise, that the benefits, if any, would offset the evils which would result, or that the same or larger advantages cannot be secured without resort to Government intervention.