First Fireside Chat "The Banking Crisis"Franklin Delano Roosevelt: First
Fireside Chat "The Banking Crisis"delivered 12 March 1933
My friends:
I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking -- to talkwith the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking, but moreparticularly with the overwhelming majority of you who use banks for the making of貯金

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deposits and the drawing of checks.
I want to tell you what has been done in the last few days, and why it was done, and what
州議会

the next steps are going to be. I recognize that the many proclamations from State capitols
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言い表す

and from Washington, the legislation, the Treasury regulations, and so forth, couched forthe most part in banking and legal terms, ought to be explained for the benefit of the
不屈の精神

落ち着き

average citizen. I owe this, in particular, because of the fortitude and the good temper
休業with which everybody has accepted the inconvenience and hardships of the banking holiday.
And I know that when you understand what we in Washington have been about, I shallcontinue to have your cooperation as fully as I have had your sympathy and your help
during the past week.
First of all, let me state the simple fact that when you deposit money in a bank, the bank
金庫室

does not put the money into a safe deposit vault . It invests your money in many different
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抵当

forms of credit -- in bonds, in commercial paper, in mortgages and in many other kindsof loans. In other words, the bank puts your money to work to keep the wheels of industry
and of agriculture turning around. A comparatively small part of the money that you put
通貨into the bank is kept in currency -- an amount which in normal times is wholly sufficient
to cover the cash needs of the average citizen. In other words, the total amount of all thecurrency in the country is only a comparatively small proportion of the total deposits in all
the banks of the country.
What, then, happened during the last few days of February and the first few days of March?
蝕まれたBecause of undermined confidence on the part of the public, there was a general rush by alarge portion of our population to turn bank deposits into currency or gold -- a rush so greatI

First Fireside Chat "The Banking Crisis"
健全なthat the soundest banks couldn't get enough currency to meet the demand. The reason for
突然

this was that on the spur of the moment it was, of course, impossible to sell perfectly
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sound assets of a bank and convert them into cash, except at panic prices far below their
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real value. By the afternoon of March third, a week ago last Friday; scarcely a bank in thecountry was open to do business. Proclamations closing them, in whole or in part had been
issued by the Governors in almost all the states. It was then that I issued the proclamation
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providing for the national bank holiday, and this was the first step in the Government’s
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reconstruction of our financial and economic fabric.
挙国一致のThe second step, last Thursday, was the legislation promptly and patriotically passed by
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the Congress confirming my proclamation and broadening my powers so that it became～を考慮して解除する

possible in viewof the requirement of time to extend the holiday and lift

the ban ofthat holiday gradually in the days to come. This law also gave authority to develop a
program of rehabilitation of our banking facilities. And I want to tell our citizens in every
part of the Nation that the national Congress -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- showed理

解by this action a devotion to public welfare and a realization of the emergency and thenecessity for speed that it is difficult to match in all our history.
The third stage has been the series of regulations permitting the banks to continue their
管理する

functions to take careof the distribution of food and household necessities and the従業員

payment of payrolls.
This bank holiday, while resulting in many cases in great inconvenience, is affording us theopportunity to supply the currency necessary to meet the situation. Remember that no
困窮している

sound bank is a dollar worse off than it was when it closed its doors last week. Neither isany bank which may turn out not to be in a position for immediate opening. The new law
連邦準備銀行

allows the twelve Federal Reserve Banks to issue additional currency on good assets andthus the banks that reopen will be able to meet every legitimate call. The new currency is造幣局

being sent out by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in large volume to every part of thecountry. It is sound currency because it is backed by actual, good assets.
Another question you will ask is this: Why are all the banks not to be reopened at the sametime? The answer is simple and I know you will understand it: Your Government does notintend that the history of the past few years shall be repeated. We do not want and will not
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破綻

have another epidemic of bank failures.

IIFirst Fireside Chat "The Banking Crisis"
As a result, we start tomorrow, Monday, with the opening of banks in the twelve Federal
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Reserve Bank cities -- those banks, which on first examination by the Treasury, have回復

already been found to be all right. That will be followed on Tuesday by the resumption of
all other functions by banks already found to be sound in cities where there are recognized
悪条件を排除する

clearing houses . That means about two hundred and fifty cities of the United States. In
other words, we are moving as fast as the mechanics of the situation will allow us.
On Wednesday and succeeding days, banks in smaller places all through the country will
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～に従って物理的なresume business, subject, of course, to the Government's physical ability to complete its
延長する

survey. It is necessary that the reopening of banks be extended over a period in order topermit the banks to make applications for the necessary loans, to obtain currency needed to検査meet their requirements, and to enable the Government to make common sense checkups.
Please let me make it clear to you that if your bank does not open the first day you are by nomeans justified in believing that it will not open. A bank that opens on one of theその後のsubsequent days is in exactly the same status as the bank that opens tomorrow.
州立銀行

I know that many people are worrying about State banks that are not members of the
連邦準備制度Federal Reserve System. There is no occasion for that worry. These banks can and will
復興金融公社

receive assistance from member banks and from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.
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管理当局

And, of course, they are under the immediate control of the State banking authorities .
These State banks are following the same course as the National banks except that they get
their licenses to resume business from the State authorities, and these authorities have長官

been asked by the Secretary of the Treasury to permit their good banks to open up on the州銀行部

same schedule as the national banks. And so I am confident that the State Banking
Departments will be as careful as the national Government in the policy relating to the
opening of banks and will follow the same broad theory.
It is possible that when the banks resume a very few people who have not recovered from
預金の引き出しtheir fear may again begin withdrawals. Let me make it clear to you that the banks will take
貯め込む人

care of all needs, except, of course, the hysterical demands of hoarders, and it is my belief
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流行遅れの娯楽that hoarding during the past week has become an exceedingly unfashionable pastime in
預言者every part of our nation. It needs no prophet to tell you that when the people find that theycan get their money -- that they can get it when they want it for all legitimate purposes -現れる

the phantom of fear will soon be laid. People will again be glad to have their money where it
will be safely taken care of and where they can use it conveniently at any time. I can assureIIIFirst Fireside Chat "The Banking Crisis"
you, my friends, that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than it is to keep it
under the mattress.
The success of our whole national program depends, of course, on the cooperation of thepublic -- on its intelligent support and its use of a reliable system.
成果

Remember that the essential accomplishment of the new legislation is that it makes it
possible for banks more readily to convert their assets into cash than was the case before.
規定

More liberal provision has been made for banks to borrow on these assets at the Reserve
Banks and more liberal provision has also been made for issuing currency on the security of不換紙幣

these good assets. This currency is not fiat currency. It is issued only on adequate security,
恵まれているand every good bank has an abundance of such security.
One more point before I close. There will be, of course, some banks unable to reopen
without being reorganized. The new law allows the Government to assist in making these
出資する

reorganizations quickly and effectively and even allows the Government to subscribe to at資本

least a part of any new capital that may be required.
説明I hope you can see, my friends, from this essential recital of what your Government isdoing that there is nothing complex, nothing radical in the process.
We have had a bad banking situation. Some of our bankers had shown themselves either
無能な

不正直な

incompetent or dishonest in their handling of the people’s funds. They had used the
信託された投機

money entrusted to them in speculations and unwise loans. This was, of course, not true
たくさんのin the vast majority of our banks, but it was true in enough of them to shock the people of
the United States, for a time, into a sense of insecurity and to put them into a frame of mind
五里霧中

where they did not differentiate, but seemed to assume that the acts of a comparative few
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had tainted them all. And so it became the Government’s job to straighten out thissituation and do it as quickly as possible. And that job is being performed.
I do not promise you that every bank will be reopened or that individual losses will not besuffered, but there will be no losses that possibly could be avoided; and there would have
成り行き

been more and greater losses had we continuedto任せにする

drift . I can even promise you

salvation for some, at least, of the [people] sorely press [es] banks. We shall be engaged not
merely in reopening sound banks but in the creation of more sound banks throughreorganization.

IVFirst Fireside Chat "The Banking Crisis"
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It has been wonderful to me to catch the note of confidence from all over the country. I cannever be sufficiently grateful to the people for the loyal support that they have given me in
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their acceptance of the judgment that has dictatedour course, even though all ourprocesses may not have seemed clear to them.
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After all, there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important
than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people
themselves. Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan.
暴走するYou people must have faith; you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us
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unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system,
and it is up to you to support and make it work.
It is your problem, my friends, your problem no less than it is mine.

Together we cannot fail.

NOTE: The part of Italics isn’t taped.

V