PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT

Evening Star, Issue 22541, 8 January 1937, Page 9

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT

MESSAGE TO THE NATION FAITH IN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright WASHINGTON, January 6. President Roosevelt read- a message at a joint session of the Senate of the House asking for immediate action in the direction of an alteration of the Neutrality Act to cover specific points raised as a result of the civil war in Spain and the deficiency of the Appropriation Bill. Referring to foreign affairs, the President said that the World War, for all its tragedy, encouraged the demands of the people everywhere for a fuller and more modern life. Many national Governments seemed to have been unable in the past few years to respond adequately to those demands, and new forms of government had been

established. Oligarchy was replacing democracy. In the oligarchies militarism had leaped forward, while in the nations which had retained democracy militarism had waned. “ I recently visited three sister republics in South America,” he continued. “My observation is that the people of all the Americas are convinced that the democratic form of government can succeed, and do not wish to substitute any other form. The inter-American conference did much to assure peace in this hemisphere. Here was an example which must have a wholesome effect on the rest of the world. The conference at Buenos Aires sent forth a message on behalf of all the democracies m the world that it was _ high time for democracy to assert itself.” President Roosevelt, speaking in regard to prosperity, said; “We have gone a long way, but even with our present recovery we are far from the goal, and there is a deeper purpose to make it permanent. Far-reaching problems are still with us. For that reason democracy must find solutions if it to consider itself successful. _ Many millions of Americans still live in habitations that fail to provide the physicalbenefits of modern civilisation, and breed disease and impair the health of future generations. ‘ This menace exists in large cities and in small cities and on tens of thousands of farms. Another example is the prevalence of an un-American type of tenant farming. 1 do not suggest that every farm family has the capacity to earn a satisfactory living on its own farm, but many thousands of tenant farmers, some by financial assistance and some by advice and training, can be made self-supporting on land that will eventually belong to them. Another national problem is the intelligent development of the social security system. The broadening of services renders practical impi’ovements in its operation. In many nations in which such laws have effect success has come through frequent amendment of the original statute. “ The most far-reaching and most Inclusive problem of all is unemployment and the lack of economic balance, of which unemployment is at once the result and a symptonij” the President added. “ The immediate question of adequate relief for the needy I shall discuss with Congress later. The broader task of preventing unemployment requires a long-range, evolutionary policy. Fluctuations in employment are tied to all other wasteful fluctuations in our mechanism of production and distribution. One of these wastes is speculation in securities and commodities. The larger the volume of speculation the wider become the upward and downward swings, and the more certain the result in the long run of more losses than gains. The same net loss to society comes from reckless over-production and monopolistic under-production of natural and manufactured products. Over-production, under-production,, and speculation are the three evils we must overcome.” With regard to the N.R.A., President Roosevelt said: “The statute has been outlawed, but the problems it was intended to solve have not. They are with us still. During the year there has been a growing belief that little fault can be found with the Constitu-tion-as it now; stands. The vital need is not an alteration in the fundamental law, but an increasingly enlightened view in reference to it. . It is rightly considered that it can he used as an instrument of progress, not as a device for the prevention of action. Means must be found to adapt our legal forms to the actual present needs of the largest progressive democracy in the world.”