Teddy Roosevelt

In this as in similar problems the obvious and simple rule should be followed of having those matters which no particular State can manage taken in hand by the United States; problems which in the seesaw of conflicting State legislatures…

For this there is no remedy except for the United States to control and legislate for the interstate fisheries as part of the business of interstate commerce.

This Nation can not afford to lag behind in the world-wide battle now being waged by all civilized people with the microscopic foes of mankind, nor ought we longer to ignore the reproach that this Government takes more pains to protect the…

There are numerous diseases, which are now known to be preventable, which are, nevertheless, not prevented.

The dangers to public health from food adulteration and from many other sources, such as the menace to the physical, mental and moral development of children from child labor, should be met and overcome.

The share that the National Government should take in the broad work of education has not received the attention and the care it rightly deserves.

It would seem only proper that such an experiment should be tried in order to demonstrate the practicability of the proposition, especially as the Postmaster-General estimates that the revenue derived from the operation of such a system on…

Postal savings banks are now in operation in practically all of the great civilized countries with the exception of the United States.

It is believed that in the aggregate vast sums of money would be brought into circulation through the instrumentality of the postal savings banks.

The object is to encourage thrift and economy in the wage-earner and person of moderate means.

I again renew my recommendation for postal savings hanks, for depositing savings with the security of the Government behind them.

In its present form the restriction operates only to the advantage of the criminal, of the wrongdoer.

The amendment in question was of benefit to no one excepting to these criminals, and it seriously hampers the Government in the detection of crime and the securing of justice.

If deliberately introduced for the purpose of diminishing the effectiveness of war against crime it could not have been better devised to this end.

It seems clear that its extinction had better be made final now, so that the ground can be cleared for larger constructive work on behalf of the Indians, preparatory to their induction into the full measure of responsible citizenship.

It has been my purpose from the beginning of my administration to take the Indian Service completely out of the atmosphere of political activity, and there has been steady progress toward that end.

The pure food legislation has already worked a benefit difficult to overestimate.

I am happy to say that I have been able to set aside in various parts of the country small, well-chosen tracts of ground to serve as sanctuaries and nurseries for wild creatures.

In both, all wild things should be protected and the scenery kept wholly unmarred.

This, like the Yosemite, is a great wonderland, and should be kept as a national playground.

I urge that all our National parks adjacent to National forests be placed completely under the control of the forest service of the Agricultural Department, instead of leaving them as they now are, under the Interior Department and policed…

The time for playing with our waterways is past.

We should have a new type of work and a new organization for planning and directing it.

The essential thing is that the work should go forward under the best possible plan, and with the least possible delay.

The plan which promises the best and quickest results is that of a permanent commission authorized to coordinate the work of all the Government departments relating to waterways, and to frame and supervise the execution of a comprehensive…