Evening star., 1932-09-24
Text of Gov. Roosevelt's Address
else Economic Control Only When Initiative of Private
Busines Has Broken Down..
BY the Associated Press.

SAN FRANCISCO. Calf, September
24-The text Of Gov. Franklin D.
Roosevelt's address before the Common
wealth Club of San Francisco yesterday
was as follows:
II count it privilege to be invited
to address the Commonwealth Club.
1t has stood in the life of this city and
State and, it is perhaps accurate to
add, the Nation as group of citizen
leaders interested in fundamental prob
lens of government, and chiefly con-
cerned with achievement of progress in
means. The privilege of addressing
you, therefore. in the heat of politi-
cal campaign is great. I want to re-
Spond to your courtesy in terms con-
sistent with your policy.
Il want to speak not Of politics, but
OF government. I want to speak not
of parties, but of universal principles.
They are not political, except in that
large sense in which a great American
once expressed definition of politics
that nothing in all of human life Is
foreign to the science of politics.
Il do want to give you, however. a
recollection of long life spent for the
large part in public Office Some of my
conclusions and observations have been
deeply accentuated in these past few
weeks. I have travelled far-from AL
bany to the Golden Gate. I have seen
and today, when in sense my journey
has reached the halfway mark, am
glad of the opportunity to discuss with
you what it all means to me.
Sometimes, my friends, particularly
in years such as these, the hand Of
encouragement falls upon us. It seems
that things are in rut, fixed, settled:
that the world has grown old and tired
and very much out of joint. This is
the mood of depression, of dire and
weary depression
But then we look around us in Amer
lea and everything tells us that we are
wrong. America is new. 1t is in the
process of change and development. 1t
has the great potentialities of youth,
and particularly is this true Of the
great West and of this coast and of
California.
No New Community.
Il would not have you feel that I
regard this as in any sense new COM
munity. I have Travelled in many parts
of the world, but never have felt more
the arresting thought of the change
and development than here, where the
old, mystic East would seem to be near
to us. where the currents Of life and
thought and commerce of the whole
world meet us. This factor alone is
sufficient to cause a man to stop and
think of the deeper meaning of things
when he stands in this community.
But more than that, I appreciate
that the membership of this club con-
CJS CT nj in
terms of the beyond immediate
present, beyond their own indi-
vidual interest. 1 want to invite you,
therefore, to consider with me in the
large some of the relationships of gov
eminent and economic life that go deep
into our daily lives, our happiness, our
future and our security.
The issue of government has always
been whether individual men and
women will have to serve some system
OF government or economics, or
whether system of government and
economics exists to serve individual
men and women. This question has
persistently dominated the discussions
of government for many generations
On questions relating to these things
men have differed, and for time i'm
memorial it is probable that honest men
will continue to differ.
THE final word belongs to no man:
yet we can still believe in change and
in progress. Democracy. as a dear old
friend of mine in Indiana, Meredith
Nicholson. has called it, is quest a
never-ending seeking for better things,
and in the seeking for these things and
the striving for them, there are many
roads to follow. But if We map the
course of these roads we find that there
are only two general directions.
When we look about us We are likely
to forget how hard people have worked
to win the privilege of government.
THE growth of the national govern
mentS of Europe was a struggle for
the development of a centralized force
in the nation, strong enough to impose
peace upon ruling barons. In many
instances the victory of the central
government, the creation of strong
central government, was a haven of
refuge to the individual. The people
preferred the master far away to the
exploitation and cruelty of the smaller
master near at hand.
But the creators of national govern
ment were perfofce ruthless men. They
were often cruel in their methods, but
they did strive steadily toward some
thing that society needed and very
much wanted, strong central state.
able to ke ep the peace, to stamp out
civil war, to put the unruly nobleman
in his place, and to permit the bulk CT
individuals to live safely
The man of ruthless force had his
place in developing pioneer country,
just as he did in fixing the power OF
the central government in the develop
ment of the nations. Society paid him
well for his services and its develop
ment. When the development among
the nations of Europe. however, had
been completed, ambition and ruth
lessness having served its term, tended
to overstep its mark.
There came a growing feeling that
government was conducted for the
benefit of few who thrived unduly
at the expense of all. The people
sought a balancing-a limiting force.
There came gradually, through town
councils, trade guilds, national parlia-
ments. by constitution and by popular
participation and control, limitations
on arbitrary power.
Another factor that tended to limit
the power of those who ruled was the
rise of the ethical conception that a
ruler bore responsibility for the well
fare of his subjects.
Our Colonies So Born.
"The American colonies were born
in this struggle. The American revolu-
tion was a turning point in it, After
the revolution the struggle continued
and shaped itself in the public life of
the country. There were those who