Evening star., 1932-10-05
REVIEWS PROGRAM
Of ADMINISTRATION
Chief Executive Tells Iowa
Audience of Difficulties
Affecting Country.

DES MONIES, October 5.-Following
Is the text of President Hoover's speech
at the Iowa State capital:
I am glad, son of the soil OF this
State, to come back to where I was
born and where I spent the first 10
years of my boyhood. My parents
and grandparents came to Iowa in the
covered wagon-pioneers in this COM
munity. They lie buried in your soil.
They broke the prairie into homes OF
independent living. They Worshiped
God, they did their duty to their
neighbors. They toiled to bring to
their children greater comfort, bet
ter education, and to open to them
q wider opportunity than theirs.
It was my destiny in the Sollci-
tude for an orphaned family to be
taken by the old emigrant railway
train westward to the Pacific Coast
and ultimately to fix my home and
hopes in California. My sons fly these
long journeys in span OF daylight.
These contrasts of a half century
are a vivid picture Of the change and
progress of American life.
Recalls Garfield Campaign.
My experiences Of later years have
In no way diminished my memories
and my gratitude to my native Safe.
1t was here that the doors of oppor
tlrnity were first opened to me. 1t
was here that / was given that tender
care of mind and body, those first
steps in education. that knowledge OF
poverty and struggle for family bet
terment which contribute to under
standing of American life.
And with 1t all, even In those days
q boy had his first contact with the
wider life Of our Nation. Not that
childhood grasps or understands these
questions, vet great forces then, as
now, touched every farm in our
country.
AS a boy I walked alongside the
torchlght procession in the Garfield
campaign: I was aWed by the Whis
pered anxiety when the President was
shot by an assassin, and by the genu-
inc grief of every person in that vii
lage when the flag was placed at half
mast on his passing.
l have been accorded the greatest
honor which my country can bestow-
that is to lead it amongst the nations
of the world in the paths of peace and
to serve in the stern duty Of the bat
tie against the invisible forces of
great world calamity.
1t was in this community that I
came in contact with my first economic
depression I was born in the midst
of the terrible times Of the seventies,
with their poverty and their difficult
ties. And only in that period has our
Nation had to meet a situation in any
degree comparable to that with which
we now contend That was the eco
ipI, ,xl,a lo
aftermath of the Civil War conceded
with the wars In Europe. But in those
days agriculture and industry were
less dependent upon each other. there
was far less interdependence among
the nations of the world, and thus the
violence Of the storm in human suf-
fering and loss was infinitely less dis
astrouS
Not that I would suggest that at
that age I knew what an economic de-
preston was or that I had ever heard
the words, but I viyidly recollect a
Christmas upon the farm when the
sole resources of joy we're popcorn
balls, sorghum and hickory nuts, when
for flock of disappointed children
there were no store toys, no store
clothes, when it was carefully eX-
planned that because of the hard times
everything must be saved for the
mortgage. The word mortgage" be-
came for me dreaded and haunting
fear from that day to this.
Terrific Eruption"
know now from reading history that
that Christmas was also time when
the country was coming out Of that
great depression. The Democratic
party was still coquetting with the
great panacea Of that time, green
backs" I did not then know what
greenbacks were. but l do know that
the family frightened its belt and, with
confidence, voted for James A. Gar
field, Republican President.
My purpose tonight is to deal with
some Of the problems of the day. Sell
dom in our history have we gone
difficulties before the Nation been Of
such gravity They attain this gravity
not only because of the unprecedented
dislocation in our domestic life, but
because our problems are worldwide.
Aside from the value of truth the
causes and origins of this unparalleled
storm are Of importance only as they
indicate the policies, we must pursue
for our safety I say to you that a
storm which embraces the whole world,
which ramified to every village in
China, every sheep ranch in Patagonia,
every factory in Germany, every mine
in Australia. every counting house IN
England, every farm in the State Of
Iowa, is the result of a terrific erup-
ton in civilization itself Something
infinitely deeper and Of greater por-
tent has happened to the world than
any reaction from our own reckless
speculation and exploitation. We are
Contending today with forces at home
and abroad which still threaten the
safety of civilization.
I know 1t seems a far cry to the
village home Of America from the ef-
feet of 100000 people killed. starved
and MANNED in the great war, with all
its loss in skill and character. 1t seems
a far cry from the increase in debt Of
governments from $4,000 600, 900 to
100000 900 900, an amount two-thirds
United States. 1t seems I'm cry from
the effect of an increase IN the peace
armies of the world in 20 years from
1000 900 to 100000 men with the
hate and suspicion they excite. 1t
seems a far cry from the last II years
OF frantic political and financial poll
cies Of foreign nations, with the ultl-
mate collapse of governments, of revo-
lutions and dictatorshfps.
Recounts Wars Effects.
You can test the part which the
great war played in the difficulties in
YOUR home and their relation to the
gravity Of the situation today right at
your own doors.
You will recollect that the values OF
YOUR land doubled and trebled under
the transitory demands Of the great
war. You will recollect the expansion
of mortgages, the collapse in values i'm
mediately thereafter, the doubling OF
taxation, the aftermaths of all which
are still a part of your problems. You
know the sitting of your markets from
the collapse of other nations under the
calamities they have inherited from
the war.
We have fought an unending war
against the effect of these calamities