[7] The gold medal which formed
part of the prize I shall always keep, and I shall hand it on to my
children as a precious heirloom. The sum of money provided as part of
the prize by the wise generosity of the illustrious founder of this
world-famous prize system I did not, under the peculiar circumstances
of the case, feel at liberty to keep. I think it eminently just and
proper that in most cases the recipient of the prize should keep for
his own use the prize in its entirety. But in this case, while I did
not act officially as President of the United States, it was
nevertheless only because I was President that I was enabled to act at
all; and I felt that the money must be considered as having been given
me in trust for the United States. I therefore used it as a nucleus
for a foundation to forward the cause of industrial peace, as being
well within the general purpose of your Committee; for in our complex
industrial civilization of to-day the peace of righteousness and
justice, the only kind of peace worth having, is at least as necessary
in the industrial world as it is among nations. There is at least as
much need to curb the cruel greed and arrogance of part of the world
of capital, to curb the cruel greed and violence of part of the world
of labor, as to check a cruel and unhealthy militarism in
international relationships.
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