Evening star., 1933-07-25

rISt, LIlluk tIlot VIC Su WNutC0 IAAc
opportunity Of . little quiet thought to
examine and assimilate in . mental
picture the crowding events Of the 100
days which has been devoted to the
starting Of the wheels Of the new deal.
Secondly. I wanted = few weeks In
which to set up the new administrative
organization and to see the hrst fruits
Of our careful planning.
I think 1t will interest you II \ set
forth the fundamentals OF this plan
ming for national recovery, and this I
am very certain will make 1t abundant
ly clear to you that all Of the proposals
and all Of the legislation since the 4th
day Of March have not been just, q
collection Of haphasard schemes but
rather the orderly component parts Of
a connected and logical whole.
Preserving Credit First Step.
Long before Inauguration day be,
came convinced that individual effort
and local effort and even dBjointed
Federal effort had failed and OF neces-
sity would fail. and. therefore, that .
rounded leadership by the Federal Gov
ernment had become . necessity both
Of theory and of fact. Such leader
ship, however, had its beginning In pre-
serving and strengthening the credit Of
the United States Government, because
without that no leadership was . possi-
bility For years the Government had
not lived within its income. The i'm
mediate task was to bring our regular
expenses within our revenues. That
has been done.
1t NAV seem inconsistent for . gov
ernment to cut down its regular ex-
penses and at the same time to borrow
and to spend billions for an emergency.
But 1t is not inconsistent because q
large portion of the emergency money
has been paid out in the form Of sound
loans which will be repaid to the Treas
ury over q period Of years, and to cover
the rest of the emergency money We
have imposed taxes to pay the interest
and the installments on that part OF
the debt.
So you will see that we have kept
our credit good We have built q gran
ite foundation in q period Of confusion.
That foundation OF the Federal credit
stands there broad and sure. It Is the
base of the whole recovery plan.
Then came the part of the problem
that concerned the credit Of the indi-
vidual citizens themselves. You and /
know Of the banking crisis and Of the
great danger to the savings OF our
people On March every national
bank was closed. One month later 80
per cent of the deposits in the national
banks had been made available to the
depositors. Today only about S per
cent of the deposits in national banks
are still tied up.
Frosen Deposits Reduced.
The condition relating to State banks.
while not quite 50 good on q percentage
basis, Is showing . steady reduction In
the total Of frozen deposits-a result
much better than we had expected
three months ago.
The problem Of the credit Of the indi-
vidual was made more difncult because
OF another fact The dollar was . Diff
ferent dollar from the one with which
the average debt had been incurred.
For this reason large numbers Of peo-
pie were actually losing possession OF
and title to their farms and homes.
All of you know the financial steps
which have been taken to correct this
inequality. In addition, the home loan
act, the farm loan act and the bank
ruptcy act were passed.
It was q vital necessity to restore
purchasing power by reducing the debt
and interest charges upon our people.
but. while We were helping people to
save their credit 1t was ut the same
time absolutely essential to do some
thing about the physical needs Of hun
dreds Of Thousands who were IN dire
straits at that very moment.
Municipal and State aid were being
stretched to the limit. We appropriated
half billion dollars to supplement their
efforts and in addition. as you know,
we have put 100000 young men into
practical and useful work in our for
ests and to prevent flood and soil
erosion. The wages they earn are
going IN greater part to the support
Of the nearly 1000 900 people who con-
stitute their families.
Public Works Program.
In this same classification we can
properly place the great public works
program running to . total Of over
So, ,OOQ, ,OOO, ,000-to be used for high
ways and ships and flood prevention
and inland navigation and thousands
of self-sustaining State and municipal
improvements.
Two points should be made clear in
the allotting and administration Of these
projectS-first, we are using the utmost
care to choose labor creating quick
acting. useful projects, avoiding the
smell Of the pork barrel; and secondly.
we are hoping that at least half Of
the money will come back to the Gov
ernment from projects which will pay
for themselves over q period OF years.
Thus far I have spoken primarily OF
the foundation StoneS-the measures
that were necessary to re-estabfsh
credit and to head people in the op-
posite direction by preventing distress
and providing as much work as possible
through governmental agencies. Now
l come to the links which will build
US more lasting prosperity.
1 have said that we cannot attain
that in a Nation half boom and half
broke II all of our people have work
and fair wages and fair profits, they
can buy the products Of their neigh
bors and business is good. But II you
take away the wages and the profits Of
half of them, business Is only half as
good. It doesn't help much II the for
tunate half is very prosperouS-the best
way is for everybody TO be reasonably
prosperous.
Purchasing Power Cut.
For many years the two great bar
riers to a normal prosperity have been
low farm prices and the creeping
paralysis OF unemployuaenI: Aheoe ioS
tors have cut the purchasing power OF
the country In half. promised action
Congress did its part when it passed
the farm and the industrial recovery
acts. Today we are putting these two
acts to work and they will work IT
people understand their plain objectives.
First, the farm act: 1t is based on
the fact that the purchasing power OF
nearly half our population depends on
adequate prices for farm products. We
have been producing more Of some
crops than we consume or can sell
in depressed world market. The
cure is not to produce SO much.
without our help the farmers cannot