US Presidency
1932

And the protective tariff is more in danger at this moment than at any time in recent history; first because our opponents propose to reduce this tariff to the basis of competitive tariff for revenue which means competition in the American market by the lower paid labor, lowered standards of living, and the cheapest lands in any part of the world. But beyond this the collapse of 30 nations unable to stand the accumulated strains growing out of the World War has brought about a depreciation of their currencies all the way from 10 to 50 percent. The result has been a further decrease in their wages, their prices and standards of living as compared to ours. Breaches are being made daily in your farm tariff walls. I wished to make a public survey into the actual purchasing power as a consequence of wages in a number of countries to determine from their wages the amount of bread and butter which could be purchased at retail with a week's wages.