AMERICAN PRESIDENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22743, 2 December 1935, Page 9

AMERICAN PRESIDENT

DEFENCE OF POLICIES A VIGOROUS BROADCAST ATLANTA, November 29. (Received Dec. 1, at 10 p.m.) President Roosevelt virtually opened his re-election campaign to-day when before 90,000 listeners he delivered a powerful defence of his policies and with equal vigour lashed out against his critics. A vast demonstration was arranged by Roosevelt supporters in Georgia, which State the President refers to as his “ second home,” but whose Governor, Mr Talmadge, is one of his most bitter political opponents. President Roosevelt’s arguments centred upon the Government’s fiscal and relief problems. He declared that with the return of business recovery Government expenditures would be greatly curtailed and he defended the spending of the past two and a-half years. While the public debt has apparently increased from 21,000,000,000 to 29,500,000,000 dollars the Treasury has “ a working balance and receivable assets ” of 6,000,000,000 dollars. Speaking of the condition of the nation in 1933, he declared: “We were then insolvent. To-day we are solvent.”

President Roosevelt announced that the campaign to put 3,500,000 unemployed to work on relief projects was virtually completed with over 3,100,000 enrolled. For this reason expenditures on direct unemployment relief would cease.