The President Before a Delegation of Bankers from the West

I have only a very few simple words of sincerely warm welcome to utter, and I want to express my personal gratification that you should have come and allowed us to get into real contact and communication with you personally. Because my feeling has been that the government has, perhaps, in past years been in contact with the business of the country–– I mean in direct personal contact––only at a few points. It is distinctly to our advantage, as I hope it will be to yours, that we will be brought into connection with the men representing a great many parts of the country; so that we may know how to serve them. And I think it is evident upon the surface what the Secretary of the Treasury is doing just at this moment is intended for the general service of the country. It has no other or ulterior object. I am, therefore, the more pleased to welcome you here, because it makes us feel that we will be understood and that our cooperation will receive in turn your cooperation, in doing the best thing that can be contrived amongst us for the business of the country.