It is a mere truism to say that every nation, whether in America or anywhere else, which desires to maintain its freedom, its independence, must ultimately realize that the right of such independence can not be separated from the responsibility of making good use of it.
Fourth Annual Message
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Each of these children represents either a potential addition to the productive capacity and the enlightened citizenship of the nation, or, if allowed to suffer from neglect, a potential addition to the destructive forces of the community.
I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, in virtue of the authority conferred upon me by the said Joint Resolution, do hereby set apart the twelfth day of February, nineteen hundred and nine, as a special legal…
The interests of the nation are involved in the welfare of this army of children no less than in our great material affairs.
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