and to the needs of the islands.  There is no higher body of men in our public service than we have in the Philippine Islands under Governor Wright and his associates.  So far as possible these men should be given a free hand, and their suggestions should receive the hearty backing both of the Executive and of the Congress.  There is need of a vigilant and disinterested support of our public servants in the Philippines by good citizens here in the United States.  Unfortunately hitherto those of our people here at home who have specially claimed to be the champions of the Filipinos have in reality been their worst enemies.  This will continue to be the case as long as they strive to make the Filipinos independent, and stop all industrial development of the islands by crying out against the laws which would bring it on the ground that capitalists must not “exploit” the islands.  Such proceedings are not only unwise, but are most harmful to the Filipinos, who do not need independence at all, but who do need good laws, good public servants, and the industrial development that can only come if the investment, of American and foreign capital in the islands is favored in all legitimate ways.

Every measure taken concerning the islands should be taken primarily with a view to their advantage.  We should certainly give them lower tariff rates on their exports to the United States; if this is not done it will be a wrong to extend our shipping laws to them.  I earnestly hope for the immediate enactment into law of the legislation now pending to encourage American capital to seek investment in the islands in railroads, in factories, in plantations, and in lumbering and mining.

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State of the Union Address
Theodore Roosevelt
December 5, 1905

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

The people of this country continue to enjoy great prosperity.  Undoubtedly there will be ebb and flow in such prosperity, and this ebb and flow will be felt more or less by all members of the community, both by the deserving and the undeserving.  Against the wrath of the Lord the wisdom of man cannot avail; in time of flood or drought human ingenuity can but partially repair the disaster.  A general failure of crops would hurt all of us.  Again, if the folly of man mars the general well-being, then those who are innocent of the folly will have to pay part of the penalty incurred by those who are guilty of the folly.  A panic brought on by the speculative folly of part of the business community would hurt the whole business community.  But such stoppage of welfare, though it might be severe, would not be lasting.  In the long run the one vital factor in the permanent prosperity of the country is the high individual character of the average American worker, the average American citizen, no matter whether his work be mental or manual, whether he be farmer or wage-worker, business man or professional man.