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Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924

"President Wilson's Addresses"

A city cannot grow on the face of a great state like
a mushroom on that one spot. Its roots are throughout the state, and
unless the state it is in, or the region it draws from, can itself
thrive and pulse with life as a whole, the city can have no healthy
growth. You forget the wide rootages of everything when you boost some
particular region. There are dangers which probably you all understand
in the mere practice of advertisement. When a man begins to advertise
himself there are certain points that are somewhat exaggerated, and I
have noticed that men who exaggerate most, most quickly lose any proper
conception of what their own proportions are. Therefore, these local
centers of enthusiasm may be local centers of mistake if they are not
very wisely guided and if they do not themselves realize their relations
to the other centers of enthusiasm and of advancement.
The advantage about a Chamber of Commerce of the United States is that
there is only one way to boost the United States, and that is by seeing
to it that the conditions under which business is done throughout the
whole country are the best possible conditions.


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