Evening star., 1935-08-25
. t.xt of the Presidents addres,

hAJ oAa AAASAat sSS&A
ator Ryan Duffy. tc Milwaukee to
be with you, as had planned, TO-
night. But the closing days Of a
far-reaching and memorable ses-
sion of the Congress of the United
States keeps me here in WASH
ington.
You doubtless know everything
that I am going to say to YOU
because starting as early as last
Monday certain special writer's OF
a few papers have given you a
complete outline of my remarks.
I have been interested and some
what amused by these clairvoyants
who put on the front page many
days ago this speech, which, be-
cause Of pressure Of time, could
only think out and dictate this
very morning.
Whatever his party Affiliations
may be, the President Of the United
States, in addressing the youth of
the country-even when speaking
to the younger citizens of his own
party-should speak as President
of the whole people. 1t is true that
the presidency carries with it, for
the time being, the leadership Of
a political party as well. But the
presidency carries with it far
higher obligation than this-the
duty of analyzing and setting
forth national needs and ideals
which transcend and cut across
all lines of party afiliation. There
fore, what I am about to say to
you. members of the Young Demo-
cratic Clubs, Is precisely-word for
word-what I would say were
addressing a convention Of the
youth Of the Republican party.
Speeches Different Years Ago.
A man of my generation comes
to the councils of the younger war
:'iors in a very different spirit from
that in which the older men ad-
dressed the youth of my time.
Party or professional leaders who
talked to us 25 or 80 years ago al
most inevitably spoke in a mood
of achievement and of exultation.
They addressed us with the air Of
those who had won the secret of
success for themselves and of per-
manence of achievement for their
&C try for all generations to come.
They assumed that there was
guarantee of final accomplishment
for the people of this country and
that the grim specter of insecurity
and want among the great masses
would never haunt this land Of
plenty as it had widely visited
other portions of the world. And
so the elders of that day used to
tell us, in effect, that the job of
youth was merely to copy them
and thereby to preserve the great
things they had won for us.
I have no desire to underesti-
mate the achievements of the past.
We have no right to speak slight
ingly of the heritage, spiritual and
material. that comes down to us.
There are lessons that it teaches
that we abandon only at our own
peril. Hold fast to that which is
permanently true" Is still a counsel
of wisdom.
While my elders were talking to
me about the perfection Of Amer
lea I did not know then of the
lack Of opportunity, the lack of
education, the lack of many Of the
essential needs Of civilization: that
all these existed among millions of
our people who lived not alone in
the slums Of the great cities and
in the forgotten corners of rural
America-existed even under the
very noses of those who had the
advantages and the power Of Gov
ernment in those days.
Old Generation at Fault.
I say from my heart that no man
of my generation has any business
to address youth unless he comes
to that task not in spirit Of
exultation, but in spirit Of hu-
mility. I cannot expect you of
newer generation to believe me, Of
an older generation, If I do not
frankly acknowledge that had the
generation that brought you into
the world been wiser and more
provident and more unselfish. you
would have been saved from need
less difficult problems and needless
pain and suffering. We may not
have failed you in good intentions,
but we have certainly not been
adequate in results. Your task,
therefore, is not only to maintain
the best in your heritage, but to
labor to lift from the shoulders Of
the American people some of the
burdens that the mistakes Of a
past generation have placed there.
There was a time when the
formula for success was the simple
admonition to have a stout heart
and willing hands. A great, new
country lay open. When life be-
came hard in one place it was
necessary only to move on to an
other. But circumstances have
changed all that. Today we can
no longer escape into virgin terri
tory; we must master our environ
ment. The youth of this genera
ton finds that the old frontier Is
occupied, but that science and in
vention and economic evolution
have opened up a new frontier
one not based on geography, but
on the resourcefulness of men and
women applied to the old frontier.
The cruel suffering of the recent
depression has taught us mfor-
gettable lessons. We have been
compelled by stark necessity to un-
learn the too comfortable super
stition that the American soil
was mystfcally blessed with every
kind of immunity to grave economic
Embellishments, and that the
American spirit of individualism-
all alone and unhelped by the CO.
operative efforts Of Government
could withstand and repel every
form of economic disarrangement
or crisis. The severity Of the re-
cent depression, toward which we
had been heading for whole gen.
Grafton. has taught us that no eco
nomic or social class in the commu.
nifty is so richly endowed and so