It is difficult to make our material condition better by the best law, but it is easy enough to ruin it by bad laws.
Those who oppose all reform will do well to remember that ruin in its worst form is inevitable if our national life brings us nothing better than swollen fortunes for the few and the triumph in both politics and business of a sordid and selfish materialism.
The one absolute certain way to bring this nation to ruin ... would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.
Ruin looks us in the face if we judge a man by his position instead of judging him by his conduct in that position.