On the 5th of September 1901 in Buffalo, New York President McKinley made his final speech addressing how the American people, through friendly competition this nation has advanced into what it has become, and that competition cannot be lost otherwise the advancements that have been made will advance no more. "Every exposition, great or small, has helped to
some onward step. Comparison of ideas is always educational; and as such
instructs the brain and hand of man. Friendly rivalry follows, which is the
spur to industrial improvement, the inspiration to useful invention and to high
endeavor in all departments of human activity. It exacts a study of the wants,
comforts, and even the whims of the people, and recognizes the efficacy of high
quality and new prices to win their favor. The quest for trade is an incentive
to men of business to devise, invent, improve and economize in the cost of
production. Business life, whether among ourselves or with other peoples, is
ever a sharp struggle for success. It will be none the less so in the future.
Without competition we should be clinging to the clumsy and antiquated
processes of farming and manufacture and the methods of business of long ago,
and the twentieth would be no further advanced than the eighteenth century.
But though commercial competitors we are, commercial enemies we must not be." President McKinley understood the importance of competition, but sadly made no contribution to making more competition by taking down the many trusts in America because he gained his position mainly through the will of big business owners.