US Presidency
1930

I started with the premise that this question of stability was much more than a problem in academic economics -it is a great human problem, for it involves the happiness of millions of homes. A continued unity of effort, both in our present situation and in establishing safeguards for the future, is the need of today. No one can contribute more than our banking community. It appears from the press that someone suggested in your discussion that our American standards of living should be lowered. To that I emphatically disagree. I do not believe it represents the views of this association. Not only do I not accept such a theory, but on the contrary, the whole purpose and ideal of this economic system which is distinctive of our country, is to increase the standard of living by the adoption and the constantly widening diffusion of invention and discovery amongst the whole of our people.