Evening star., 1930-05-02
Text of Hoover's Speech
Tells Chamber of Commerce Gathering Nation Has
Wedthered Economic Storm and ''Wih Continued
Unity of Effort We Shall Rapidly Recover"

there has always come a long train of
destructive forces. A vast number of
innocent people are directly involved in
losses. Optimism swings to deepest
pessimism; fear of the future chokes
initiative and enterprise; monetary
stringencieS, security and commodity
panics in our exchanges, bankruptcies
and other losses all contribute to stihe
consumption, decrease production, and
finally express themselves in unemploy-
ment, decreased wages, strikes, lock-
outs. and o long period of stagnation.
Many have looked upon all this rise
and fall as a disease which must run
Its course and for which nothing could
be done either In prevention, or to
speed recovery, or to relieve the hard
ship which wreaks itself especially upon
workers, farmers, and smaller business
people. I do not accept the fatalistic
view that the discovery of the means
to restrain destructive speculation is
beyond the genius Of the American
people.
Our immediate problem, however, has
been the necessity to mitigate the effect
OF the recent crash, and to get back
onto the road of prosperity as quickly
as possible. This is the first time an
effort has been made by the united
community to this end. The success Of
this effort Is of paramount Importance,
not only for our immediate needs but
the possibilities 1t opens for the future.
The intensity of the speculative boom
on this occasion was, IN my view, as
great as or greater than any of our
major manias before. The intensity of
the slump has been greatly diminished
by the efforts that have been made.
We-and as we speak of many men
and many institutionS-have followed
several major lines of action. Our pro-
gram was one Of deliberate purpose to
DO everything possible to uphold gen.
eral confidence which lies at the root
OF maintained initiative and enterprise;
70 check monetary, security and COM
modify panics in our exchanges; to
assure an abundance of capital at de-
creasing rates Of interest so as to enable
the resumption of business; to accel-
crate construction work so as to absorb
as many employees as possible from in
dustries hit by decreased demand; to
hold up the level of wages by voluntary
agreement and thus maintain the living
standards Of the vast majority who re-
main in employment; to avoid acceler-
ating the depression by the hardship
and disarrangement of strikes and
lockouts, and by upholding consuming
power OF the wage earners to in turn
suPPoEt ABIlCulture.
Confidence and Courage.
We may well inquire into our progress
thus far. We have succeeded in main
tanning confidence and courage. We
have avoided monetary panic and credit
stringency. Those dangers are behind
US. From the moment of the crash,
interest rates have steadily decreased
and capital has become steadily more
abundant. Our investment markets
have absorbed over two billions of new
securities since the crash. There has
been no significant bank or industrial
failure. That danger, too, Is safely be-
hind US.
The acceleration Of construction pro-
grams has been successful beyond our
hopes. The great utilities. tkk railways
and the large nnanufacturersAhave re-
sponded courageously. The Federal
Government has not only expedited it's
current works but Congress has au-
thorized ftlrkhas expenditure. The