Woodrow Wilson - 1919

“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A
 great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit. We are
no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by
conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion
and duress of a small group of dominant men.” - Woodrow Wilson, 1919

Did Woodrow Wilson say that, and if he did, what did he mean by it?

 

According to Liberty Quotes, it is questionable.

 

He didn't actually say that, so I guess he meant that he didn't agree with it, or he would have said it....

 

I believe I've heard, he said that as he signed the 16th A into law. What has always remained in question, the number of representatives required to pass the amendment was never met, the vote, supposedly, was held on December 24th, 1916 and signed into law immediately by Wilson. He knew that it was wrong for the government to tax wages. Back then, wages were not considered "profit" and a person did not have to pay federal income tax. However, businesses that showed profit had to pay. Oh , yeah...........federal elected politicians were required to file and pay since they made their living off the taxpayers, they were responsible for maintaining their own trough.
He realized the potential for tyranny to prosper under taxation. He was leveraged into it by the big bankers.
Under this amendment, Congress could still not "levy" a tax unless there was a declared "war"......War on Drugs, War on Poverty, War on Crime.....lots o' wars going on...............
best I could do on such a short notice.............

 

woodrow wilson didn't say he was unhappy about the federal reserve or that he had ruined his country

he did say:

"A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit."

he said it during his campaign, for the 1912 election, which was published in 1913, in the form of a book:

'THE NEW FREEDOM: A CALL FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF THE GENEROUS ENERGIES OF A PEOPLE'

BY WOODROW WILSON

here's the book online, just wordsearch "system of credit" to see the line in question:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14811/14811-h/14811-h.htm

when seen in context, you'll find that wilson was talking about the 'money trust'

they were a group of bankers, including jp morgan that dominated the country's credit market

"However it has come about, it is more important still that the control of credit also has become dangerously centralized. It is the mere truth to say that the financial resources of the country are not at the command of those who do not submit to the direction and domination of small groups of capitalists who wish to keep the economic development of the country under their own eye and guidance. The great monopoly in this country is the monopoly of big credits. So long as that exists, our old variety and freedom and individual energy of development are out of the question. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is privately concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men who, even if their action be honest and intended for the public interest, are necessarily concentrated upon the great undertakings in which their own money is involved and who necessarily, by very reason of their own limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine economic freedom. This is the greatest question of all, and to this statesmen must address themselves with an earnest determination to serve the long future and the true liberties of men."

wilson wanted to take control away from the money trust and put in the hands of what would later become the federal reserve, so that credit could be made accessible in a more democratic way

which is what happened with the passage of the federal reserve act in december 1913

here's the other part of the fabricated quote, in context:

Shall we try to get the grip of monopoly away from our lives, or shall we not? Shall we withhold our hand and say monopoly is inevitable, that all that we can do is to regulate it? Shall we say that all that we can do is to put government in competition with monopoly and try its strength against it? Shall we admit that the creature of our own hands is stronger than we are? We have been dreading all along the time when the combined power of high finance would be greater than the power of the government. Have we come to a time when the President of the United States or any man who wishes to be the President must doff his cap in the presence of this high finance, and say, "You are our inevitable master, but we will see how we can make the best of it?"

We are at the parting of the ways. We have, not one or two or three, but many, established and formidable monopolies in the United States. We have, not one or two, but many, fields of endeavor into which it is difficult, if not impossible, for the independent man to enter. We have restricted credit, we have restricted opportunity, we have controlled development, and we have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated, governments in the civilized world—no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and the duress of small groups of dominant men.


so, obviously the quote you posted is bogus

here's a link to an article that discusses the fabricated quote in more detail:

http://www.salon.com/2007/12/21/woodrow_wilson_federal_reserve/

 

The quote was taken from his campaign speeches in the 1912 presidential campaign and he assumed an anti-establishment stance and called for less government like today's tea parties. President Wilson enacted the Clayton Antitrust Act to break up powerful monopolies and the issue of antitrust modification was a hot topic at the time when America was governed by a small clique of wealthy families.

 

show me your source for that

 

If the American people’s choice in 1896 was between an activist and passive view of government’s role, the 1912 would present the American people with two competing notions of activist government. Theodore Roosevelt’s New Nationalism and Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom would lay out their vision of progressive government in America. While the two would share some commonalities where they diverged was the central question of what was to be done with America’s increasingly powerful business trusts. Should they, as Roosevelt suggested, be regulated by a strong central government or should they, as Wilson argued, be weakened in order to ensure greater competition in the economy. Wilson summed up succinctly the central difference between the two candidates, “Ours is a program of liberty, and theirs is program of regulation.” In these two speeches we see the intellectual arguments that underpinned this seminal debate. In the end, Wilson would win in November but ended up enacting many of Roosevelt’s proposals. But the debate over the proper role of government in regulating America’s economic behemoths would continue to rage on the campaign trail for many years to come.

http://livefromthetrail.com/about-the-book/speeches/chapter-2

 

you just showed that your tea party comparison was completely mistaken

in the passage above, it's saying that wilson wanted to weaken increasingly powerful business trusts

just because wilson said liberty, doesn't make him like a tea party moron

 

Dubya Dubya was nothing if not a great orator and this "quote" rings of that, a campaign speech and not fiscal policy.

I suspect it is take seriously out of context in this regards and, as little as I know about Wilson I seriously doubt he ever said "I have ruined my nation."

I could be wrong but wasn't he a really BIG fan of the presidential veto?