National prosperity

“ All the pursuits of industry, everything which promotes the material or intellectual well-being of the race, every ear of corn or boll of cotton which grows, is national in the same sense, for each one of these things goes to swell the aggregate of national prosperity and happiness of the United States ”

“ In the United States we welcome the investment of the money, the intelligence, and the industry of foreigners, and recognize them as assets added to the prosperity of the country. Because we have pursued that policy we stand to-day without a peer in national prosperity, wealth, and credit. ”

“ The statesmen of the eighteenth century supposed that their business was the art of national prosperity. Their procedure was to form ideals of political greatness and civil prosperity on the one hand, and to evolve out of their own consciousness grand dogmas of human happiness and social welfare on the other hand. ”

“ It was for philosophy also to discover the connection between good government and the national prosperity, and that a community will have the most industry, skill and thrift, where property is best protected—where every one can freely exercise his talents or his capital, and securely enjoy the fruits they have yielded. ”

“ Surely, surely there is ample field for the exercise of your energies at home, in encouraging industry, the arts and sciences, in promoting the civilization of your people, and in enacting equitable laws for the security of persons and property—on which bases the national prosperity of all countries must rest. ”

“ Today we count among our national blessing a time of unprecedented prosperity, with expanding economy, low rates of poverty and unemployment among our people, limitless opportunities for our children and the future. ”

“ What other nation can boast of such an outlet for its increasing population, such bountiful means of promoting their prosperity, and securing their independence?
To the public lands of the United States, and especially to the existing system by which they are distributed with so much regularity and equity, are we indebted for these signal benefits in our national condition. ”

“ Nothing can be soberly added to it on behalf of American national achievement, but neither should it be diminished by any important idea and phrase. The American economic, political, and social organization has given to its citizens the benefits of material prosperity, political liberty, and a wholesome natural equality; and this achievement is a gain, not only to Americans, but to the world and to civilization. ”

“ The commercial spirit is the spirit of profit, not patriotism; of credit, not honor; of individual gain, not national prosperity; of trade and dickering, not principle. ”

“ We have also a population of good national character, especially as regards the economic and industrial virtues. The sciences and arts are highly cultivated among us, and our institutions are the best for the development of economic strength. As compared with old nations we are prosperous. Now comes the protectionist statesman and says: “The things which you have enumerated are not the causes of our comparative prosperity. Those things are all vain. Our prosperity is not due to them. I made it with my taxes.” ”

“ Why we should maintain that balance between the two great branches of national industry, involves political considerations—social considerations, affecting the happiness, prosperity, and morality of the people, as well as the stability of the State. ”

“ The coverlet has been thrown back upon the realization that the State has claims upon each citizen which transcend his individual fortunes—that individual prosperity, in fact, is entirely dependent upon the prosperity of the national whole. ”

“ To provide all things conducive to the prosperity of the country, to the advancement and happiness of the Provinces, and to the increase of enlightenment, decreeing plans for general and university instruction, promoting industry, immigration, the construction of railways, and navigable canals, the peopling of the National lands, the introduction and establishment of new industries, the importation of foreign capital and the exploration of the interior rivers, by protection laws to these ends, and by temporary concessions and stimulating recompenses. ”

“ All of us must advance together. One-fifth of our families now have average annual incomes of less than $850. We must see that our gains in national income are made more largely available to those with low incomes, whose need is greatest. This will benefit us all through providing a stable foundation of buying power to maintain prosperity.
Business, labor, agriculture, and Government, working together, must develop the policies which will make possible the realization of the full benefits of our economic system. ”

“ A really great people, proud and high-spirited, would face all the disasters of war rather than purchase that base [Pg 250] prosperity which is bought at the price of national honor. ”

“ They look to the national government to “haste the return of better times, to inspire confidence, and bring cheer and comfort to the homes of millions of citizens who now seek work and wages in vain.” ”

“ Suppose, sir, that all the sales that have been effected had been made by the state, and that the proceeds had gone into the state treasury, to be returned back to the people in some of the various shapes in which a beneficient local government exerts its powers for the improvement of the conditions of the citizens. Who can say how much of wealth and prosperity, how much of improvement in science and arts, how much of individual and social happiness, whould have been diffused throughout the land! ”

“ When the people are secure and their rights properly respected, then the four main pillars of prosperity—viz., agriculture, manufactures, navigation, and commerce, need the fostering care of government ”

“ All the noble aspirations of my lamented predecessor which found expression in his life, the measures devised and suggested during his brief administration to correct abuses and enforce economy, to advance prosperity and promote the general welfare, to insure domestic security and maintain friendly and honorable relations with the nations of the earth, will be garnered in the hearts of the people, and it will be my earnest endeavor to profit, and to see that the Nation shall profit, by his example and experience. ”

“ The resources of the country are abundant, the enterprise and activity of our people proverbial, and we may well hope that wise legislation and prudent administration by the respective governments, each acting within its own sphere, will restore former prosperity. ”

“ I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists, in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness—between duty and advantage—between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity ”

“ Whatever promotes communication, whatsoever extends general business, whatsoever encourages enterprise, or whatsoever advances the general wealth and prosperity of other States, must have a plain, direct, and powerful bearing on your own prosperity. In truth, there is no town in the Union, whose hopes can be more directly staked on the general prosperity of the country, than this rising city. ”

“ The greater is the amount of individual wealth in a nation, and the more equally it is distributed among the inhabitants, the less are the evils of poverty, the more independent and responsible are the citizens, the more energetically are the agricultural, mineral, manufacturing, and commercial interests developed, the more generally and intimately are the interests of the people interwoven with the fabric of the government, the greater will be the nation's prosperity, the more formidable its arms, the more peaceful its internal condition, and the more durable its prosperity. ”

“ For Wood the prosperity of a country is inferred from the composite statements of historians concerning its “finances, army, navy, commerce, agriculture, manufacture, public building, territorial changes, condition of law and order, general condition of the people as a whole, growth and decline of political liberty, and the diplomatic position of the nation, or its prestige when viewed internationally.” He does not indicate clearly whether a nation must show progress in one, most, or all of these respects to be classified as prosperous. ”

“ This country contains over thirty millions to-day, and by an estimate far below the ratio of increase established during the last seven decades, it will contain one hundred millions in fifty years, and five hundred millions in a century—and elbow-room for many more. And for the untold millions that are to inhabit it, we hold this country as a sacred trust; to them we have to transmit the foundations upon which they can build their peace, prosperity, civilization, and power. ”

“ You not only have an illustrious story behind you, but before you prospects of development in wealth and prosperity, in all that makes a great State, such as never entered into the imagination of those who laid the foundation of the commonwealth. [Cheers.] You are arousing now to a realization of the benefits of diversity of industries. ”

“ Leaders all over the world have asked how we achieve this growth and prosperity. Well, my answer is simple: less government, more freedom, and moving toward a more open and equitable international economy. ”

“ For the uninterrupted harmony of our foreign relations, for the decay of sectional animosities, for the exuberance of our harvests and the triumphs of our mining and manufacturing industries, for the prevalence of health, the spread of intelligence, and the conservation of the public credit, for the growth of the country in all the elements of national greatness—for these and countless other blessings we should rejoice and be glad. ”

“ In that day, however, let us hope that—the more communal conception of public life having prevailed and come to its own—the success of Trade, among any nation or people, will no longer mean the successful manufacture of a dominant and vulgar class, but the real prosperity and welfare of the whole nation, including all classes. ”

“ Upholding national unity and territorial integrity, maintaining the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, and taking account of its history and realities, the People's Republic of China has decided that upon China's resumption of the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will be established in accordance with the provisions of Article 31 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, and that under the principle of "one country, two systems," the socialist system and policies will not be practised in Hong Kong. ”

“ Of the condition of the domestic interests of the Union—its agriculture, mines, manufactures, navigation, and commerce—it is necessary only to say that the internal prosperity of the country, its continuous and steady advancement in wealth and population and in private as well as public well-being, attest the wisdom of our institutions and the predominant spirit of intelligence and patriotism which, notwithstanding occasional irregularities of opinion or action resulting from popular freedom, has distinguished and characterized the people of America. ”

“ Can a system be beneficent, wise, or just which creates greater anxiety for interests dependent on foreign credit than for the general prosperity of our own country and the profitable exportation of the surplus produce of our labor? ”

“ In the third place, if I have any just estimate, if an experience not now a short one in public affairs has enabled me to know any thing of what the public interest demands, the state of the country requires an essential reform in the system of revenue and finance such as shall restore the prosperity, by prompting the industry and fostering the labor of the country, in its various branches. ”

“ It is only because this great trading, manufacturing, and commercial class has amassed such enormous wealth and influence, and is able to command the Press, and social position, and votes and representation on public bodies and in both Houses of Parliament, that it succeeds in impressing the nation generally with the idea that its welfare is the welfare of the whole people, and its prosperity the advantage of every citizen. ”

“ A policy well calculated to raise the importance, and increase the happiness of the individuals themselves, who were the objects of the change, to benefit those to whom these extensive but hitherto unproductive possessions belonged, and to promote the general prosperity of the nation. ”

“ Let us continue to extend our foreign intercourse and home cultivation—let the merchant legislate in affairs of trade—the landholder in country matters; each in that in which his judgment has been formed by experience, acting always on the principle that the general prosperity of the country is the interest {133} of every class—that, like the branch and the root, their prosperity is indissolubly combined. ”

“ Doth our country flourish in wealth, in grandeur, in learning, in general prosperity? it must be imputed to industry; to the industry of its governors settling good laws, and mantaining social order, and to the industry of its people following profitable occupations. It is not by the force and success of our arms, but by persevering industry and skill, that our country has arisen to such a pitch of grcatness. ”

“ We know that these leaders have taken these steps primarily be­cause of their conviction that the socio-economic blueprint that we are energetically carrying out in order to bring about rapidly the prosperity of our people is the right course for the Nation. ”