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Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924

"President Wilson's Addresses"

It would not be Christian to exclude them from
your organization, but merely use them to pad the roll. If you can find
older men who will lead you acceptably and keep you in countenance, I am
bound as an older man to advise you to follow them. But suit yourselves.
Do not follow people that stand still. Just remind them that this is not
a statical proposition; it is a movement, and if they cannot get a move
on them they are not serviceable.
Life, gentlemen--the life of society, the life of the world--has
constantly to be fed from the bottom. It has to be fed by those great
sources of strength which are constantly rising in new generations. Red
blood has to be pumped into it. New fiber has to be supplied. That is
the reason I have always said that I believed in popular institutions.
If you can guess beforehand whom your rulers are going to be, you can
guess with a very great certainty that most of them will not be fit to
rule. The beauty of popular institutions is that you do not know where
the man is going to come from, and you do not care so he is the right
man. You do not know whether he will come from the avenue or from the
alley.


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