US Presidency
1925

We have made great contributions to the settlementof contentious differences in both Europe and Asia. But there is a verydefinite point beyond which we can not go. We can only help those who helpthemselves. Mindful of these limitations, the one great duty that standsout requires us to use our enormous powers to trim the balance of the world. While we can look with a great deal of pleasure upon what we have doneabroad, we must remember that our continued success in that direction dependsupon what we do at home. Since its very outset, it has been found necessaryto conduct our Government by means of political parties. That system wouldnot have survived from generation to generation if it had not been fundamentallysound and provided the best instrumentalities for the most complete expressionof the popular will. It is not necessary to claim that it has always workedperfectly. It is enough to know that nothing better has been devised. Noone would deny that there should be full and free expression and an opportunityfor independence of action within the party.