Teddy Roosevelt

Many of the seals appear to have been skinned alive and many were found half skinned and still alive.

Nearly all the seals killed were females and the work was done with frightful barbarity.

The revolting barbarity of such a practise, as well as the wasteful destruction which it involves, needs no demonstration and is its own condemnation.

No damage whatever is done to the herd by the carefully regulated killing on land; the custom of pelagic sealing is solely responsible for all of the present evil, and is alike indefensible from the economic standpoint and from the…

In this way it is possible to exercise a powerful influence toward the substitution of considerate action in the spirit of justice for the insurrectionary or international violence which has hitherto been so great a hindrance to the…

If the Rio conference, therefore, were to take such action it would have the appearance of a meeting of debtors resolving how their creditors should act, and this would not inspire respect.

It is doubtless true that the non-payment of public debts may be accompanied by such circumstances of fraud and wrongdoing or violation of treaties as to justify the use of force.

We regret that other powers, whose opinions and sense of justice we esteem highly, have at times taken a different view and have permitted themselves, though we believe with reluctance, to collect such debts by force.

We have not considered the use of force for such a purpose consistent with that respect for the independent sovereignty of other members of the family of nations which is the most important principle of international law and the chief…

It has long been the established policy of the United States not to use its armed forces for the collection of ordinary contract debts due to its citizens by other governments.

The traditional policy of the United States (which) without accentuating superiority or seeking preponderance, condemned the oppression of the nations of this part of the world and the control of their destinies by the great Powers of…

Let us help each other to show that for all the races of men the liberty for which we have fought and labored is the twin sister of justice and peace.

Let us pledge ourselves to aid each other in the full performance of the duty to humanity which that accepted declaration implies, so that in time the weakest and most unfortunate of our Republics may come to march with equal step by the…

We neither claim nor desire any rights or privileges or powers that we do not freely concede to every American Republic.

We deem the independence and equal rights of the smallest and weakest member of the family of nations entitled to as much respect as those of the greatest empire, and we deem the observance of that respect the chief guaranty of the weak…

We wish for no victories but those of peace; for no territory except our own; for no sovereignty except the sovereignty over ourselves.

I have the utmost sympathy with, and regard for, them; but I most earnestly adjure them solemnly to weigh their responsibilities and to see that when their new government is started it shall run smoothly, and with freedom from flagrant…

The path to be trodden by those who exercise self-government is always hard, and we should have every charity and patience with the Cubans as they tread this difficult path.

The United States wishes nothing of Cuba except that it shall prosper morally and materially, and wishes nothing of the Cubans save that they shall be able to preserve order among themselves and therefore to preserve their independence.

The entire power and the whole duty to protect the offending city or the offending community lies in the hands of the United States Government.

The mob of a single city may at any time perform acts of lawless violence against some class of foreigners which would plunge us into war.

There should, however, be no particle of doubt as to the power of the National Government completely to perform and enforce its own obligations to other nations.

I therefore earnestly recommend that the criminal and civil statutes of the United States be so amended and added to as to enable the President, acting for the United States Government, which is responsible in our international relations…

They fail to give to the National Government sufficiently ample power, through United States courts and by the use of the Army and Navy, to protect aliens in the rights secured to them under solemn treaties which are the law of the land.

One of the great embarrassments attending the performance of our international obligations is the fact that the Statutes of the United States are entirely inadequate.