WIST Quotations

Lincoln, Abraham -- (Spurious)

Dave — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 22:18:37 +0000

We may congratulate ourselves that this cruel war, which has cost a vast treasure of blood and money, is almost over. But I see in the future a crisis approaching which fills me with anxiety. As a result of the war, corporations have become enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow. The money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its rule by preying upon the prejudice of the people, until all wealth is concentrated in a few hands, and the Republic destroyed. I feel at this time more anxiety for the future of my country than at any time in the past, even in the midst of war.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
(Spurious)

Variants:

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country [...] corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of the rebellion.

The money power preys upon the nation in times of peace, and it conspires against it in times of adversity. It’s more despotic than monarchy. It’s more insolent than autocracy. It’s more selfish than bureaucracy. [...] Corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the republic is destroyed.

This is most often cited as being from a letter (1864-11-21) to Colonel William F. Elkins, a personal friend of Lincoln's. Other attributions included a message from Lincoln to Congress, or from other speeches, or in one case to a message from Lincoln from beyond the grave during a seance. It may be traceable to a pamphlet by the Caldwell Remedy Company (1888-05-10). It came to wide prominence during the 1896 presidential election, when the powers of corporations, trusts, and robber barons were under wide populist attack.

The quotation was researched and rejected by Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln's personal secretaries, as well as by his son, Robert Todd Lincoln. Further, Lincoln worked as a corporate lawyer on a number of occasions, and never seemed particularly concerned about corporations or their concentration of wealth. Nevertheless, the spurious quotation and variants regularly pop up in essays, speeches, and opinion pieces even today.

For more information about this quotation and its background (including much of the information above), see:

Thomas F Schwartz, "Lincoln Never Said That," For the People (newsletter of the Abraham Lincoln Association), Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1999).
Did Abraham Lincoln Warn of the Tyranny of Capitalism? | Snopes.com.
Essay (1939-11-06), "Sources of Traditional Quotations," Lincoln Lore," No. 552 (Bulletin of the Lincoln National Life Foundation).
Getting Wrong with Lincoln | Origins.

Rickover, Hyman -- Speech (1982-01-28), Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, 97th Congress, 2nd Session

Dave — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:09:43 +0000

A preoccupation with the so-called bottom line of profit and loss statements, coupled with a lust for expansion, is creating an environment in which fewer businessmen honor traditional values; where responsibility is increasingly disassociated from the exercise of power; where skill in financial manipulation is valued more than actual knowledge and experience in the business; where attention and effort is directed mostly to short-term considerations, regardless of longer range consequences.

Hyman Rickover (1900-1986) Polish-American naval engineer, admiral [b. Chaim Gdala Rykower]
Speech (1982-01-28), Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, 97th Congress, 2nd Session
(Source)

Berry, Wendell -- Essay (2000), “The Total Economy,” Citizenship Papers (2003)

Dave — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 17:27:12 +0000

The folly at the root of this foolish economy began with the idea that a corporation should be regarded, legally, as “a person.” But the limitless destructiveness of this economy comes about precisely because a corporation is not a person. A corporation, essentially, is a pile of money to which a number of persons have sold their moral allegiance. Unlike a person, a corporation does not age. It does not arrive, as most persons finally do, at a realization of the shortness and smallness of human lives; it does not come to see the future as the lifetime of the children and grandchildren of anybody in particular.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (2000), “The Total Economy,” Citizenship Papers (2003)
(Source)

Conrad, Joseph -- Nostromo, Part 3 “The Lighthouse,” ch. 10 (1904)

Dave — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 21:16:58 +0000

“No,” interrupted the doctor. “There is no peace and no rest in the development of material interests. They have their law, and their justice. But it is founded on expediency, and is inhuman; it is without rectitude, without the continuity and the force that can be found only in moral principle.”

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) Polish-English novelist [b. Teodor Josef Konrad Korzeniowski]
Nostromo, Part 3 “The Lighthouse,” ch. 10 (1904)
(Source)

Bierce, Ambrose -- “Incorporation,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1885-10-03)

Dave — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 22:26:19 +0000

INCORPORATION, n. The act of uniting several persons into one fiction called a corporation, in order that they may be no longer responsible for its actions. A, B and C are a corporation. A robs, B steals and C (it is necessary that there be one gentleman in the concern) cheats. It is a plundering, thieving, swindling corporation. But A, B and C, who have jointly determined and severally executed every crime of the corporation, are blameless. It is wrong to mention them by name when censuring their acts as a corporation, but right when praising.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Incorporation,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1885-10-03)
(Source)

Not collected in later books.

Berry, Wendell -- Essay (1970-01-01), “Compromise, Hell!” Orion Magazine

Dave — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:55:44 +0000

We Americans are not usually thought to be a submissive people, but of course we are. Why else would we allow our country to be destroyed? Why else would we be rewarding its destroyers? Why else would we all — by proxies we have given to greedy corporations and corrupt politicians — be participating in its destruction? Most of us are still too sane to piss in our own cistern, but we allow others to do so and we reward them for it. We reward them so well, in fact, that those who piss in our cistern are wealthier than the rest of us.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1970-01-01), “Compromise, Hell!” Orion Magazine
(Source)

Commager, Henry Steele -- Interview (1970-02) by John A. Garraty, “American Nationalism,” Interpreting American History: Conversations with Historians, Part 1, ch. 4 (1970)

Dave — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 19:32:53 +0000

Many of us have beliefs that aren’t really genuine; we just think they’re genuine. We think individualism is genuine. We think laissez faire is genuine. We don’t really want it. Big business bemoans government interference. It would be horrified if the government, for example, did away with patent laws.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Interview (1970-02) by John A. Garraty, “American Nationalism,” Interpreting American History: Conversations with Historians, Part 1, ch. 4 (1970)
(Source)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Message (1938-04-29) to Congress, On Curbing Monopolies

Dave — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 20:24:14 +0000

No people, least of all a democratic people, will be content to go without work or to accept some standard of living which obviously and woefully falls short of their capacity to produce. No people, least of all a people with our traditions of personal liberty, will endure the slow erosion of opportunity for the common man, the oppressive sense of helplessness under the domination of a few, which are overshadowing our whole economic life.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Message (1938-04-29) to Congress, On Curbing Monopolies
(Source)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Message (1908-01-31) to Congress, on Workers Compensation

Dave — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 23:06:40 +0000

[…] [P]redatory wealth — of the wealth accumulated on a giant scale by all forms of iniquity, ranging from the oppression of wageworkers to unfair and unwholesome methods of crushing out competition, and to defrauding the public by stock jobbing and the manipulation of securities.
Certain wealthy men of this stamp, whose conduct should be abhorrent to every man of ordinarily decent conscience, and who commit the hideous wrong of teaching our young men that phenomenal business success must ordinarily be based on dishonesty, have during the last few months made it apparent that they have banded together to work for a reaction. Their endeavor is to overthrow and discredit all who honestly administer the law, to prevent any additional legislation which would check and restrain them, and to secure if possible a freedom from all restraint which will permit every unscrupulous wrongdoer to do what he wishes unchecked provided he has enough money.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Message (1908-01-31) to Congress, on Workers Compensation
(Source)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas

Dave — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 17:11:55 +0000

The true friend of property, the true conservative, is he who insists that property shall be the servant and not the master of the commonwealth; who insists that the creature of man’s making shall be the servant and not the master of the man who made it. The citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty commercial forces which they have called into being. There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas
(Source)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Message (1938-04-29) to Congress, On Curbing Monopolies

Dave — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 21:07:09 +0000

Among us today a concentration of private power without equal in history is growing. This concentration is seriously impairing the economic effectiveness of private enterprise as a way of providing employment for labor and capital and as a way of assuring a more equitable distribution of income and earnings among the people of the nation as a whole.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Message (1938-04-29) to Congress, On Curbing Monopolies
(Source)

Banksy -- Wall and Piece, “Art,” “Brandalism” (2005)

Dave — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:33:06 +0000

You owe the companies nothing. You especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.

Banksy (b. 1974?) England-based pseudonymous street artist, political activist, film director
Wall and Piece, “Art,” “Brandalism” (2005)
(Source)

Rogers, Will -- Column (1933-09-25), “Daily Telegram”

Dave — Fri, 30 May 2025 16:11:48 +0000

Talk of opening seven thousand closed banks. That will put over a half-million bank vice-presidents back on the payroll.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1933-09-25), “Daily Telegram”
(Source)

Collected.

Rogers, Will -- Column (1932-01-22), “Daily Telegram: Will Rogers Offers His View of the Federal Relief Bill” [No. 1715]

Dave — Fri, 23 May 2025 20:16:05 +0000

See where Congress passed a two billion dollar bill to relieve bankers’ mistakes and loan to new industries. You can always count on us helping those who have lost part of their fortune, but our whole history records nary a case where the loan was for the man who had absolutely nothing.
Our theory is to help those along who can get along even if they don’t get it.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1932-01-22), “Daily Telegram: Will Rogers Offers His View of the Federal Relief Bill” [No. 1715]
(Source)

Sent from London. Collected in Donald Day, ed., The Autobiography of Will Rogers, ch. 17 (1949)

Rogers, Will -- Column (1927-02-06), “Weekly Article”

Dave — Fri, 16 May 2025 17:09:28 +0000

If a bank fails in China, they behead the man at the top of it that was responsible. If one fails over here, we write the men up in the magazines as how: They started poor, worked hard, took advantage of their opportunities (and Depositors) and today they are rated as “up in the millions.” If we beheaded all of ours that were responsible for bank failures, we wouldn’t have enough people left to bury the heads.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
Column (1927-02-06), “Weekly Article”
(Source)

The idea that in China the leadership of banks that fail is executed pre-dates Rogers, e.g., 1893, 1908, 1922.

Nin, Anais -- Diary (1957, Spring)

Dave — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 22:27:02 +0000

Big Business and Politics are twins, they are the monsters who kill everything, corrupt everything.

Anaïs Nin (1903-1977) Catalan-Cuban-French author, diarist
Diary (1957, Spring)
(Source)

Hand, Learned -- United States v. Aluminum Co. of America, 148 F.2d 416, 427 (1945)

Dave — Thu, 02 May 2024 18:37:33 +0000

Many people believe that possession of unchallenged economic power deadens initiative, discourages thrift and depresses energy; that immunity from competition is a narcotic, and rivalry is a stimulant, to industrial progress; that the spur of constant stress is necessary to counteract an inevitable disposition to let well enough alone. Such people believe that competitors, versed in the craft as no consumer can be, will be quick to detect opportunities for saving and new shifts in production, and be eager to profit by them. […] True, it might have been thought adequate to condemn only those monopolies which could not show that they had exercised the highest possible ingenuity, had adopted every possible economy, had anticipated every conceivable improvement, stimulated every possible demand. No doubt, that would be one way of dealing with the matter, although it would imply constant scrutiny and constant supervision, such as courts are unable to provide. Be that as it may, that was not the way that Congress chose; it did not condone “good trusts” and condemn “bad” ones; it forbad all.

Learned Hand (1872-1961) American jurist
United States v. Aluminum Co. of America, 148 F.2d 416, 427 (1945)
(Source)

Commager, Henry Steele -- Essay (1947-09), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 1, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168

Dave — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 20:54:58 +0000

What is the new loyalty? It is, above all, conformity. It is the uncritical and unquestioning acceptance of America as it is — the political institutions, the social relationships, the economic practices. It rejects inquiry into the race question or socialized medicine, or public housing, or into the wisdom or validity of our foreign policy. It regards as particularly heinous any challenge to what is called “the system of private enterprise,” identifying that system with Americanism. It abandons evolution, repudiates the once popular concept of progress, and regards America as a finished product, perfect and complete.

Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998) American historian, writer, activist
Essay (1947-09), “Who Is Loyal to America?” sec. 1, Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 195, No. 1168
(Source)

Reprinted in Freedom, Loyalty, Dissent (1954).

Mills, C. Wright -- The Power Elite, ch. 6 (1956)

Dave — Thu, 13 May 2021 22:15:22 +0000

These executives, who have risen to the top, have come to be responsible trustees, impartial umpires, and expert brokers for a plurality of economic interests, including those of all the millions of small property holders who hold stock in the great American enterprises, but also the wage workers and the consumers who benefit from the great flow of goods and services. These executives, it is held, are responsible for the refrigerator in the kitchen and the automobile in the garage — as well as all the planes and bombs that now guard Americans from instant peril. […] Full of the know-how that made America great; efficient, straightforward, honest, the chief executives, it is often said, ought really to be allowed to run the government, for if only such men were in charge there would be no waste, no corruption, no infiltration.

C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) American sociologist, academic, author [Charles Wright Mills]
The Power Elite, ch. 6 (1956)
(Source)

Guthrie, Woody -- “Pretty Boy Floyd the Outlaw” (1961)

Dave — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 21:49:18 +0000

Some men rob you with a six-gun,
Some with a fountain pen.

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (1912-1967) American singer-songwriter and musician
“Pretty Boy Floyd the Outlaw” (1961)

Tawney, R. H. -- Secondary Education For All (1922)

Dave — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 00:14:45 +0000

In England it is not ungentlemanly to steal halfpennies from children, and industrial interests, it may be assumed, will oppose any reform which interferes with the supply of cheap juvenile labour.

R. H. Tawney (1880-1962) English writer, economist, historian, social critic [Richard Henry Tawney]
Secondary Education For All (1922)

Eisenhower, Dwight David -- “Farewell Address” (17 Jan 1961)

Dave — Tue, 10 May 2016 13:28:56 +0000

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) American general, US President (1953-61)
“Farewell Address” (17 Jan 1961)
(Source)

Marx, Karl -- Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production (1873)

Dave — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 13:56:05 +0000

Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist
Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production (1873)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech, Ohio Constitutional Convention (1 Feb 1912)

Dave — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 15:24:53 +0000

I hold it to be our duty to see that the wage worker, the small producer, the ordinary consumer, shall get their fair share of the benefit of business prosperity. But it either is or ought to be evident to everyone that business has to prosper before anybody can get any benefit from it.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech, Ohio Constitutional Convention (1 Feb 1912)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech (1936-10-14), Presidential Campaign, Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois

Dave — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 15:23:43 +0000

I believe in individualism. I believe in it in the arts, the sciences and professions. I believe in it in business. I believe in individualism in all of these things — up to the point where the individualist starts to operate at the expense of society.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Speech (1936-10-14), Presidential Campaign, Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois
(Source)

An audio recording can be found at this site (Download).

Debs, Eugene V. -- “The Issue,” Speech, Girard, Kansas (23 May 1908)

Dave — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 13:42:36 +0000

It is a basic economic proposition that as long as a relatively few men own the railroads, the telegraph, the telephone, own the oil fields and the gas fields and the steel mills and the sugar refineries and the leather tanneries — own, in short, the sources and means of life — they will corrupt our politics, they will enslave the working class, they will impoverish and debase society, they will do all things that are needful to perpetuate their power as the economic masters and the political rulers of the people.

Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926) American union leader, activist, socialist, politician
“The Issue,” Speech, Girard, Kansas (23 May 1908)
(Source)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1912-09-14), San Francisco

Dave — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 13:56:46 +0000

There once was a time in history when the limitation of governmental power meant increasing liberty for the people. In the present day the limitation of governmental power, of governmental action, means the enslavement of the people by the great corporations who can only be held in check through the extension of governmental power.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech (1912-09-14), San Francisco
(Source)

Brandeis, Louis -- Liggett Co. v. Lee, 288 U.S. 517 (1933) [dissent]

Dave — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 12:55:42 +0000

The prevalence of the corporation in America has led men of this generation to act, at times, as if the privilege of doing business in corporate form were inherent in the citizen; and has led them to accept the evils attendant upon the free and unrestricted use of the corporate mechanism as if these evils were the inescapable price of civilized life, and, hence to be borne with resignation.

Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) American lawyer, activist, Supreme Court Justice (1916-39)
Liggett Co. v. Lee, 288 U.S. 517 (1933) [dissent]

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech, San Francisco (14 Sep 1912)

Dave — Thu, 13 Nov 2014 14:19:41 +0000

The only way in which our people can increase their power over the big corporation that does wrong, the only way in which they can protect the working man in his conditions of work and life, the only way in which the people can prevent children working in industry or secure women an eight-hour day in industry, or secure compensation for men killed or crippled in industry, is by extending, instead of limiting, the powers of government.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech, San Francisco (14 Sep 1912)
(Source)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1912-09-14), San Francisco

Dave — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 13:28:04 +0000

So long as governmental power existed exclusively for the king and not at all for the people, then the history of liberty was a history of the limitation of governmental power. But now the governmental power rests in the people, and the kings who enjoy privilege are the kings of the financial and industrial world; and what they clamor for is the limitation of governmental power, and what the people sorely need is the extension of governmental power.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech (1912-09-14), San Francisco
(Source)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas

Dave — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:25:35 +0000

There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done. We must have complete and effective publicity of corporate affairs, so that people may know beyond peradventure whether the corporations obey the law and whether their management entitles them to the confidence of the public. It is necessary that laws should be passed to prohibit the use of corporate funds directly or indirectly for political purposes; it is still more necessary that such laws should be thoroughly enforced. Corporate expenditures for political purposes, and especially such expenditures by public-service corporations, have supplied one of the principal sources of corruption in our political affairs.

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas

Dave — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 13:13:02 +0000

Also, friends, in the interest of the working man himself we need to set our faces like flint against mob-violence just as against corporate greed; against violence and injustice and lawlessness by wage-workers just as much as against lawless cunning and greed and selfish arrogance of employers. If I could ask but one thing of my fellow countrymen, my request would be that, whenever they go in for reform, they remember the two sides, and that they always exact justice from one side as much as from the other. I have small use for the public servant who can always see and denounce the corruption of the capitalist, but who cannot persuade himself, especially before elections, to say a word about lawless mob-violence. And I have equally small use for the man, be he a judge on the bench, or editor of a great paper, or wealthy and influential private citizen, who can see clearly enough and denounce the lawlessness of mob-violence, but whose eyes are closed so that he is blind when the question is one of corruption in business on a gigantic scale.

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas

Dave — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:03:41 +0000

I believe that the officers, and, especially, the directors, of corporations should be held personally responsible when any corporation breaks the law.

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas

Dave — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 13:39:46 +0000

Now, this means that our government, national and State, must be freed from the sinister influence or control of special interests. Exactly as the special interests of cotton and slavery threatened our political integrity before the Civil War, so now the great special business interests too often control and corrupt the men and methods of government for their own profit. We must drive the special interests out of politics.

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas

Dave — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:55:46 +0000

For every special interest is entitled to justice, but not one is entitled to a vote in Congress, to a voice on the bench, or to representation in any public office. The Constitution guarantees protections to property, and we must make that promise good. But it does not give the right of suffrage to any corporation.

Berry, Wendell -- Speech (1994-09-29), “Conserving Forest Communities,” Kentucky Forest Summit, Louisville

Dave — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:44:10 +0000

That this economic system persists and grows larger and stronger in spite of its evident failure has nothing to do with rationality or, for that matter, with evidence. It persists because, embodied now in multinational corporations, it has discovered a terrifying truth: If you can control a people’s economy, you don’t need to worry about its politics; its politics have become irrelevant. If you control people’s choices as to whether or not they will work, and where they will work, and what they will do, and how well they will do it, and what they will eat and wear, and the genetic makeup of their crops and animals, and what they will do for amusement, then why should you worry about freedom of speech? In a totalitarian economy, any “political liberties” that the people might retain would simply cease to matter. If, as is often the case already, nobody can be elected who is not wealthy, and if nobody can be wealthy without dependence on the corporate economy, then what is your vote worth? The citizen thus becomes an economic subject.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Speech (1994-09-29), “Conserving Forest Communities,” Kentucky Forest Summit, Louisville
(Source)

Collected in Another Turn of the Crank (1995).

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech, Providence, Rhode Island (23 Aug 1902)

Dave — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:24:23 +0000

Probably the greatest harm done by vast wealth is the harm that we of moderate means do ourselves when we let the vices of envy and hatred enter deep into our own natures. But there is another harm; and it is evident that we should try to do away with that. The great corporations which we have grown to speak of rather loosely as trusts are the creatures of the State, and the State not only has the right to control them, but it is duty bound to control them wherever the need of such control is shown.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech, Providence, Rhode Island (23 Aug 1902)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech (1936-10-31), Madison Square Garden, New York City

Dave — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:32:25 +0000

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace — business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Speech (1936-10-31), Madison Square Garden, New York City
(Source)

Document images.

Truman, Harry S -- Speech, Butte, Montana (1950-05-12)

Dave — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:28:31 +0000

All of you, I am sure, have heard many cries about Government interference with business and about “creeping socialism.” I should like to remind the gentlemen who make these complaints that if events had been allowed to continue as they were going prior to March 4, 1933, most of them would have no businesses left for the Government or for anyone else to interfere with — and almost surely we would have socialism in this country, real socialism, not the kind they define.

Harry S Truman (1884-1972) US President (1945-1953)
Speech, Butte, Montana (1950-05-12)
(Source)

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Letter (1899, Spring) to Senator Thomas Platt (R-NY)

Dave — Tue, 15 Jun 2004 13:23:46 +0000

We […] hold the just balance and set ourselves as resolutely against improper corporate influence on the one hand as against demagogy and mob rule on the other. I understand perfectly that such an attitude of moderation is apt to be misunderstood when passions are greatly excited and when victory is apt to rest with the extremists on one side or the other; yet I think it is in the long run the only wise attitude.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Letter (1899, Spring) to Senator Thomas Platt (R-NY)
(Source)

Quoted in Roosevelt's Autobiography, ch. 8 "The New York Governorship" (1913). Platt, the top Republican in New York, had sent a letter to the new Governor of New York, questioning whether Roosevelt's "altruism" in business/labor affairs meant he was potentially a Populist or Socialist.