“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. 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 duress of a small group of dominant men.” - Woodrow Wilson Damning, except that Wilson never said that. Most of that quote comes from a passage in one of Wilson's books, "The New Freedom: A Call for the Emancipation of the Generous". The passage from that actually reads, "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 duress of a small group of dominant men." Link
And he wasn't talking about the Federal Reserve because that book was published early in 1913 while the Federal Reserve Act wasn't passed until December.
I spent a little time looking around the internet and found the latter part of the quote,
"A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. 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 duress of a small group of dominant men.”
in a document,
"National Economy and the Banking System of The United States" by Robert L. Owen, Former Chairman, Committee on Banking and Currency, United States Senate, entered in the Congressional Record in 1939. Scanned document here:
Senate Doc. 23, 76th Congress, 1st Session.
The quote minus the first two sentences ("I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country.") is on page 100 and attributed to President Wilson by Senator Owen, though it doesn't cite when and where Wilson said these words so maybe the Senator was wrong and he didn't say these words but if he didn't then the "hoax" has been going on for 77 years now and has found its way into the Congressional Record.
I have not been able to find any pre-internet references to the first two sentences being said by President Wilson so will have to doubt their veracity. Thank you for the correction.