nce as to whether a
man is fit for the important place by scanning the work of the young men
in the lower places--better than a dozen examinations and better than
ten thousand letters of recommendation.

Under that plan we will put in the young men who come along for the
lower grades of places and bar out the lazy fellows that want to fall
back on a living they are not energetic enough to get for themselves.
And when we have seen how the young fellows work in the lower places we
will pick out the men here and there who are born consuls and put them
into the higher places.

Now, that is the law for this Administration. It is good until March 4,
1909. What will become of it then no one can tell. I should be very glad
if the public opinion of the country would say to Congress: Agree to
that in such a way that it will be permanent for all time.

Gentlemen, I thank you for your attention and again renew my expression
of satisfaction at the intelligent public service you have rendered by
leaving your homes and your occupations to come here and do the work of
self-governing American citizens.

INDIVIDUAL EFFORT IN TRADE EXPANSION

ADDRESS AT THE PAN AMERICAN COMMERCIAL CONFERENCE
WASHINGTON, D.C., FEBRUARY 17, 1911

Governments may hold doors open all over the world, but if there is no
one to go through them it is an empty form, and people get tired of
holding doors open as an empty form. The claims of a government to
consideration soon come to be regarded as pretentious unless there are
really substantial interests behind the claims. No government, and least
of all our government, least of all a democratic republic, can make
commerce to go through open doors, to avail itself of fair and equal
treatment, and to give substance and reality to the theoretical increase
of amity and friendship between nations. The people of the country must
do it themselves, and they must do it by individual enterprise; they
must do it by turning their attention toward the opportunities that are
afforded by friendly governments, by availing themselves of those
opportunities, and by carrying on their business through availing
themselves of them. But while it is a matter of individual enterprise,
while that must be the basis of all development and progress, all
advance, all extension, nevertheless, there must be something besides
the individual enterprise. The great principle of organization which is
revolutionizing the business and th