US Presidency
1930

We know that one of the prerequisites of ending a depression is an ample supply of credit at low rates of interest. This supply and these rates are now available through the cooperation of the banks and the Federal Reserve System. The income of a large part of our people is not reduced by the depression, but it is affected by unnecessary fears and pessimism, the result of which is to slacken the consumption of goods and discourage enterprise. Here the very atmosphere of your offices will affect the mental attitude and, if you please, courage, of the individuals who will depend upon you for both counsel and money. Many, perhaps all of you, have been through other periods of depression. Those of you who have had occasion to review the experience of the past will, I believe, join in the thought that there comes a time in every depression when the changed attitude of the financial agencies can help the upward movement in our economic forces.