I do not think so far as I know that I have ever promised beforehand anything I did not make a strong effort to make good afterward.

It is sometimes very attractive and very pleasant to make any kind of a promise without thinking whether or not you can fulfil it; but in the after event it is always unpleasant when the time for fulfilling comes; for in the long run the…

He is entitled to the protection of the law, and in return he is to be required himself to obey the law.

The law is to be administered neither for the rich man as such, nor for the poor man as such.

The soldiers who fought in the great Civil War fought for liberty under, by, and through the law; and they fought to put a stop once for all to any effort to sunder this country on the lines of sectional hatred; therefore their memory…

We need to keep ever in mind that he is the worst enemy of this country who would strive to separate its people along the lines of section against section, of creed against creed, or of class against class.

My friends, it is sometimes easier to preach a doctrine under which the millennium will be promised off-hand if you have a particular kind of law, or follow a particular kind of conduct—it is easier, but it is not better.

Meanwhile there must be a good deal of work and struggle, a good deal of injustice; we shall often see the tower of Siloam fall on the just as well as the unjust.

Above all, remember this: that the most unsafe adviser to follow is the man who would advise us to do wrong in order that we may benefit by it.

That man is never a safe man to follow; he is always the most dangerous of guides.

The man who seeks to persuade any of us that our advantage comes in wronging or oppressing others can be depended upon, if the opportunity comes, to do wrong to us in his own interest, just as he has endeavored to make us in our supposed…

You came in, as the Governor has said, as home-makers, to make homes for yourselves and those who should come after you; and that is the only way in which a State can be built up, in which the Nation can be built up.

The effort to make a big showing in dividends is not always healthy for the future.

So far from agriculture properly exhausting the land, it is always the sign of a vicious system of agriculture if the land is rendered poorer by it.

The old system of grazing the ranges so closely as to injure the whole crop of grass was a serious detriment to the development of the West, a serious detriment to the development of our people.

The wise man, the wise industry, the wise nation, maintains such capital unimpaired and tries to increase it; and more and more the range lands will be used in conjunction with the small irrigable areas which they include; so that the…

Our aim must be steadily to help develop the settler, the man who lives in the land and in growing up with it and raising his children to own it after him.

More and more hereafter the stock owners will have the necessity forced upon them of providing green summer pasturage within the limits of their own ranges; and so the question of irrigation is wellnigh as important to the stockmen as to…

In some way there will have to be formed such regulation as shall without undue restriction prevent the needless over-grazing, while keeping the public lands open to settlement through homestead entry.

The first great object of the forest reserves is, of course, the first great object of the whole land policy of the United States,—the creation of homes, the favoring of the home-maker.

That is why we wish to provide for the home-makers of the present and the future the steady and continuous supply of timber, grass, and above all, of water.

That is the object of the forest reserves, and that is why I bespeak your cordial co-operation in their preservation.

Remember you must realize, what I thoroughly realize, that however wise a policy may be it can be enforced only if the people of the States believe in it.

We can enforce the provisions of the forest reserve law or of any other law only so far as the best sentiment of the community or the State will permit that enforcement.

Therefore it lies primarily not with the people at Washington, but with you, yourselves, to see that such policies are supported as will redound to the benefit of the home makers and therefore the sure and steady building up of the State…