The Government must open these gates of trade, and open them wide; open them before it is altogether profitable to open them, or altogether reasonable to ask private capital to open them at a venture.
Woodrow Wilson
The Public Record
Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, he was born in Virginia and raised in Georgia before moving to New Jersey, where he became a prominent political figure. Wilson was a key leader of the Progressive Movement, advocating for reforms such as antitrust legislation and the establishment of the Federal Reserve System. His presidency is also noted for significant events such as the United States' involvement in World War I and his efforts to promote the League of Nations, an international organization aimed at preventing future conflicts.
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It marks a most hopeful and decided advance in international civilization.
But many human lives and many great enterprises hang upon it.
We can not use our great Alaskan domain, ships will not ply thither, if those coasts and their many hidden dangers are not thoroughly surveyed and charted.
Ships and lives have been lost in threading what were supposed to be well-known main channels.
In the appropriations we pass we are spending the money of the great people whose servants we are,-not our own.
We are trustees and responsible stewards in the spending.
I think that it is generally agreed that there should be a systematic reorganization and reassembling of its parts so as to secure greater efficiency and effect considerable savings in expense.
But my point is that the people of the United States do not wish to curtail the activities of this Government; they wish, rather, to enlarge them; and with every enlargement, with the mere growth, indeed, of the country itself, there must…
The sort of economy we ought to practice may be effected, and ought to be effected, by a careful study and assessment of the tasks to be performed; and the money spent ought to be made to yield the best possible returns in efficiency and…
And, like good stewards, we should so account for every dollar of our appropriations as to make it perfectly evident what it was spent for and in what way it was spent.
It will chide us only if we forget for whom we pay money out and whose money it is we pay.
Of course we are not ready to do that; and we shall never be in time of peace so long as we retain our present political principles and institutions.
We have always found means to do that, and shall find them whenever it is necessary without calling our people away from their necessary tasks to render compulsory military service in times of peace.
I have tried to know what America is, what her people think, what they are, what they most cherish and hold dear.
No one who speaks counsel based on fact or drawn from a just and candid interpretation of realities can say that there is reason to fear that from any quarter our independence or the integrity of our territory is threatened.
We are not jealous of rivalry in the fields of commerce or of any other peaceful achievement.
We mean to live our own lives as we will; but we mean also to let live.
We are, indeed, a true friend to all the nations of the world, because we threaten none, covet the possessions of none, desire the overthrow of none.
Our friendship can be accepted and is accepted without reservation, because it is offered in a spirit and for a purpose which no one need ever question or suspect.
We are the champions of peace and of concord.
This is the time above all others when we should wish and resolve to keep our strength by self-possession, our influence by preserving our ancient principles of action.
We never have had, and while we retain our present principles and ideals we never shall have, a large standing army.
If asked, Are you ready to defend yourselves? we reply, Most assuredly, to the utmost; and yet we shall not turn America into a military camp.
We will not ask our young men to spend the best years of their lives making soldiers of themselves.
Politicians like Woodrow Wilson
