Evening star., 1932-10-05

1OugnL the DdGJle 10 DdlhlCt tlc puoece.
We have defended the country from
being forced of the gold standard with
its crushing effect upon all who are IN
debt. We have battled to provide a
supply of credits to merchants and
farmers and industries. We have
fought to retard falling prices. We have
struggled to save homes and farms
from. foreclosure OF mortgages, battled
to save millions of depositors and bor-
rowers from the ruin caused by the
failure of banks, fought to assure the
safety of millions of policy holders
from failure of their insurance COM
panieS and fought to save commerce
and employment from the failure OF
railways
We have fought to secure disarma-
ment and maintain the peace OF the
world fought for stability of other
countries whose failure would in
evitably injure us. And above all, we
have fought to preserve the safety, the
principles and ideals of American life.
We have builded the foundations OF
recovery.
Have Had Single Purpose.
All these battles, related and un-
related, have had single strategy
and a single purpose. That was to
protect your living, your comfort. and
the safety of your flreside. They have
been waged and have succeeded in pro-
tecting you from infinitely greater
harm which would have come to you.
Thousands of our people in their
bitter distress and losses today are
saying that things could not be
worse No person who has any re-
mote understanding Of the forces
which confronted this country during
these last l8 months ever utters that
remark. Had it not been for the i'm
mediate and unprecedented actions OF
our Government, things would be in
finitely worse today.
Instead of moving forward We would
be degenerating for years to come. even
If we had not gone clear over the
precipice with the total destruction of
everything we hold dear.
Let no man tell you that it could not
be worse 1t could be SO much worse
that these days now, distressing as
they are, would look like veritable pros
perity.
In all these great efforts there has
been the constant difficulty OF trans
lating the daily action into terms of
public understanding. The forces IN
motion have been SO gigantic, SO COM
plex in their character, the instru-
mentalitieS and actions we must under
take to deal with them are so in
volved, the figures we must use are SO
astronomical as to seem to have but
little relation to the family in the
apartment. the cottage, or on the farm.
Many of these battles have had to
be fought in silence without the cheers
of the limelight or the encouragement
of public support, because the very
disclosure Of the forces opposed to
us would have undermined the cour-
age of the weak and induced panic in
the tinlid, which would have destroyed
the very basis Of success
HideouS Misrepresentation and un-
justified complaint had to be accepted
in silence It was as If a great battle
in war should be fought without pub
lie knowledge of any incident except
the stream Of dead and wounded from
the front. There has been much of
tragedy, but there has been but little
public evidence of the dangers and
enormous risks from which great
national victory has been achieved.
Discloses One Battle"
I have every confidence that the
whole American people know in their
hearts that there has been but one
test in my mind, one supreme object
in the measures and policies We have
forged to win in this war against de-
pression-that test was the interest OF
the people in the homes and at the
firesides of our country. I have had
before me but one vision: that is, the
vision of the millions of homes of the
type which knew as a boy in this
State
1 wish to describe one OF the battles
We have fought to save this Nation
from a defeat that would have dragged
farmers and city dWellerS alike down
to a common ruin This battle was
fought parallel with other battles on
other fronts. Much Of what I will tell
you has been hitherto undiScloSed. 1t
had to be fought in silence, for it will
be evident to you that had the whole
of the forces in motion been made
public at the time there would have
been no hope of victory because of
the panic through fear and destruc-
ton of confidence that the very dis
closure would have brought
Happily we have won this battle
There is no longer any danger from
disclosure.
Our own speculative boom had
weakened our own economic structure,
but the critical assaults and dangers
swept upon us from foreign countries
We were therefore plunged into bat
tie against invading forces of destruc-
ton from abroad to preserve the
financial integrity Of our Government,
to counteract the terrific forces Of de-
fation aligned against us; to protect
the debtor class who were being stran-
gled by the contraction Of credit and
the demands for payment of debt; to
prevent our being pushed off the gold
standard, which in our country would
have meant disaster to every person
who owed money; and finally to pre-
serve the savings of the American peO-
pie We were fighting to hold the
Gibraltar of world stability, because
only by holding this last fortress could
we be saved from a crashing world
with a decade of misery and the very
destruction Of our form of govern
ment and our ideals of national life
When 18 months ago the financial
systems of Europe were no longer able
to stand the strain of their war in
heritances and of their after-war eco
nomic and political policies, an earth
quake ran through 40 nations; financial
panics; governments unable to meet
their obligations; banks unable to pay
their depositors: citizens, fearing in
fiation Of currency. seeking to export
their savings to foreign countries for
safety; citizens Of other nations de-
manding payment Of their loans;
financial and monetary systems either
in collapse or remaining only in ap-
pearance. The shocks Of this earth
quake ran from Vienna to Berlin. from
Berlin to London. from London to Asia
and South America From all those
countries they came to this country
to every city and farm in the United
States.
Brought About Moratorium.
First one and then another Of these
40 nations either abandoned payment
in gold of their Obligations to other
countries, or restricted payments by
their citizens to foreign countries, SO
as practically to amount to at least
temporary or partial reputation of
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