Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-08
DAVIS DECLARES
j. s. RECOVERING
Business Depression Rapidly
/ Passing, Says Secretary
xo In Radio Forum.

Declaring that the Nation is recover
ing rapidly from the business depres-
sion, Secretary of Labor Davis, in a
radio address last night, declared that
1t was President Hoover who saved
this country from hitting bottom" after
the crash of last Fall Speaking in the
National Radio Forum. arranged by The
Washington Star and broadcast over
the cost-to-coast network of the Co.
lumbia Broadcasting System, Secretary
Davis declared that he had lived
through a number of depressions and
that all had behaved the same way. He
cited the new tariff act and measures
passed by Congress to provide for pub
lie works as contributing factors in the
rehabilitating process.
This is the first depression I re-
member he said, when it was the
popular impulse to get busy and do
something to shake the depression"
Mr.. Davis. who will campaign for the
United States Senate in Pennsylvania
this Fall as the Republican nominee,
declared that:
Credit TO President.
when the country is on its feet
again it will owe its recovery largely to,
the wise, cautious, deliberate planning
and initiative of President Hoover. And
those who are carping now will have
every reason to be ashamed OF them
selves
THE Presidents achievements would
stand out" he asserted, even If they
had been performd in time when
every condition was favorable. Instead,
President Hoover has had to accomplish
= n,IxT
circumstance. No man has faced down
more discouraging circumstances than
those confronting the President. In the
long run the very difficulties he has
had to face win him the sympathy of
the country. And when in spite of
these difficulties the great work he has
accomplished is visible at last, he will
stand higher in popular approval than
ever before"
Secretary Davis speech follows in
full:
Conditions Are Recalled.
I have been Secretary of Labor in the
cabinets of three Presidents. In the
course of that time it has been given
me to witness a good deal of recent
economic history. When I came into
office we had 5,735.oo0 people of the
pay rolls. The country realized that
the time had come for tariff revision,
and we had the same period of discus
sion that We have just lately repeated.
Business was slack. The whole country
yearned for business recovery, but no
body could predict when it would come.
Yet once the tariff bill was passed re-
covery did come, just as it will come
now that this new law has been enacted.
In the course of my life I have lived
through number of these depressions,
oil hah
way. This one can be trusted to fol-
low the same course.
We have all been through a trying
time. 1t has fallen in some measure
on all of us. The employer has felt it
in his profits, and the worker in re-
duced employment Under such condi-
tions it is natural to fall into state
of gloom. But as have seen these
periods of gloom come and go in the
past, so will this onP.
For one thing. during these depres-
sions in the past, oslr tendency was to
sit back and let things work out for
themselves. This is the first depression
remember when 1t was the popular
impulse to get busy and do something
to shake the depression. Here are some
of the things We have done that make
me believe the depression will ulti-
mately pass.
The contracts let for public works i
and betterments by National State and
local governments during the first six
months of 1880 exceeded by more than
5000, 900 900 the figures for the first
six months of 1929
You will get the real meaning of
this when add that many State Legis-
latures did not meet this year. There
Is the further fact that as a rule pub
lie works show a marked decline fol-
Gf IL .aNIyaA
that of last Autumn.
Phipps-DOweII Bill.
Take these construction works in
detail. The Phipps-Dowell bill, passed
by Congress and signed by the Presi-
dent on April 4, increased the Federal
contribution to State highway prof.
ects from $4,000, 900 to SIPS 900 900.
And this will go on for the fiscal years
Of 1881. 1882 and 1893.
The Rogers bill was passed by Con-
greSs and signed by the President on
December %, 1929. It authorized an
appropriation of S15.950 900 for hos
pitai facilities for the World War Vet
Grams. This building of hospitals got
under way Immediately after the bill
was signed.
The Keyes- Elliott bill was passed by
Congress and signed by the President
on May 81. 1t increased by $3.50, 600. 900
the program for post offices and other
structures in cities and towns through
out the United States.
The rivers and harbors bill was passed
by Congress and signed by the Presi-
dent on July 3. It authorizes the ex-
penditure of $4,000, 900 for the de-
veOpment Of our waterways, etc.
Contracts let for post Offices for the
first six months show an increase of
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