The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-10-19

MT Roosevelt's plea was indirect.
 He did not mention the bonus. But
 he bluntly told an audience assem- | bled here for the dedication of a
 veterans hospital that the former soldiers were comparatively well off
 as things are.
 | He reiterated the administrators pledge to care for disabled former I soldiers. But the president said the able bodied World war veteran is better off today than the average of any other major group.
 The big job, MT Roosevelt said, is to eliminate the causes of de- pression and their drag on pros perity.
 "You have heard some kind Of people say" he continued, that the country is distinctly better off from a material point of view than it was last year. | am inclined to agree with them." But he said he was appalled, by the magnitude of the task as ad-. ministration surveys increasingly reveal who the forgotten people are and where they live-in almost every county of every state. OE 1A 1lALSAA
 Washington, Oct 19.-UP)- The text of President Roosevelt's speech dedicating the new Roanoke. Va, veterans hospital:
 In coming to Roanoke to take part in the dedication of the latest addition to our chain of veterans hospitals, I do not seek to enumer- ate or to catalogue the many steps which have been taken by your federal government to care for its veterans of many wars.
 Most of you in this great audi ence are from this neighborhood and in the years to come the men who will occupy this hospital will be your friends and your neigh bors. I commend them to your care. s
 You see before you today a monument which is representative of the national policy. of your gov ernment that its disabled and sick veterans shall be accorded the best treatment which medical and sur gical science can supply.
 Symbol of Broad Policy In larger sense these build ings are a symbol of the broader policy that the government is seek ing to give aid not only to veter- ans but also to hundreds of thou sands of other citizens-men, and women and children who, handi- capped by environment or by cir l'cumstances, lack today what rea- sonable people call the essentials of modern civilization.
 For many years we have seen a constantly growing realization of the fact that any large or small group which lacks the elementary necessities of proper food of de- cent housing, of adequate medi- cal attention, of essential educa- ton, drags down the level of the country as a whole and retards its progress. ..-s
 In one sense these men and wo- men and children are not forgot ten people for the very good req son that we have known of their existence and appreciated their plight for many years. In another sense, however, they have been forgotten for 1t is only In recent years that government has under taken to help them on nationa, scale. - -t
 Magnitude of Task The further we go in our survey to find out who these people are and where they live, the more ap- pailed I am by the magnitude of our task. Most of us know in gen. eral terms of the slum conditions which exist in many of our cities. Most of us know, from hearsay at least, of people who have lived for generations. in back eddies remote from the active stream of life. But we have failed to realize the exist ence of the under-privileged who are present and largely forgotten in practically every one of the more than three-thousand counties of the forty-eight states of the un- ion.
 The improvement of their hard lot is a definite obligation on all of our citizens and am confident that the veterans of our American wars will be among the first to recognize this fact.
 The improvement of their hard lot compels our immediate exer- tions, not only because of the indi- viduai human beings who suffer to- day. but even more important to the future of America. because fu- ture generations of American citi- gems will become the descendants of those who are now in need. In this thought also tho veterans of our wars will 20 aiong.
 Have Had No Care
 Let it be well remembered that the hundreds Of thousands of mon and women and children to whom l have referred. scattered through. out our nation, have no splendid hoapltais for their care. have no medical attention. such as we will provide here, have no good food and decent raimont such as will be provided in this voterAnD' home; have no opportunities for adequate sducatinn, and con bui suiter the