US Presidency
1922

So many problems are calling for solution that a recital of all of them, in the face of the known limitations of a short session of Congress, would seem to lack sincerity of purpose. It is four years since the World War ended, but the inevitable readjustment of the social and economic order is not more than barely begun. There is no acceptance of pre war conditions anywhere in the world. In a very general way humanity harbors individual wishes to go on with war-time compensation for production, with pre war requirements in expenditure. In short, everyone, speaking broadly, craves readjustment for everybody except himself, while there can be no just and permanent readjustment except when all participate. The civilization which measured its strength of genius and the power of science and the resources of industries, in addition to testing the limits of man power and the endurance and heroism of men and women that same civilization is brought to its severest test in restoring a tranquil order and committing humanity to the stable ways of peace.