The three great classes of the American community are the farmers, the wage-workers, and the business men, big and little, wholesale and retail. It is essential that all three shall prosper. It is essential that there shall be a more equitable division of prosperity than has been the case in the past. This prosperity can only be lasting if it is based on justice, and it cannot be based on justice unless the small man, the farmer, the mechanic, the wage-worker generally, the clerk on a salary, the small business man, the retail dealer, have their rights guaranteed. If these men have their rights guaranteed, then they will prosper, and the prosperity will extend to the big men.
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901-1909)
Progressive Principles, ch. 2 “A Charter of Business Prosperity” (1913)
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