Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of modern industrialism, and the effort to destroy them would be futile unless accomplished in ways that would work the utmost mischief to the entire body politic. We can do nothing of good in the way of regulating and supervising these corporations until we fix clearly in our minds that we are not attacking the corporations, but endeavoring to do away with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Roosevelt states that large corporations are inevitable and should be regulated to serve the public good rather than destroyed.
- In plain terms
- Big companies are here to stay, so we should focus on stopping their bad actions instead of trying to eliminate them.
- What can you take from it?
- Regulate corporate misconduct to protect the public good rather than dismantling business structures.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Who decides what counts as corporate misconduct?
- Is wealth inherently bad or just the misuse of it?
Another view
Defining 'misconduct' can be subjective and lead to inconsistent enforcement.
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