Mr. Randall and gentlemen:
I shall not try to make you any speech. I wish simply to say what a very real pleasure it is to see you, and also to say this that I am glad to see the meetings of the big business interests take place sometimes in Washington. Nothing can be better both for the business interests and for legislation than to have as close a touch as possible between the elective representatives here and the men whose welfare is so interwoven with what is done in the halls of Congress. It is a very great help to all of us to have you come here. I thank you for coming.
Theodore Roosevelt, Remarks to a Reception of a Delegation from the National Board of Trade Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/343403