Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-10-03

SAN DIEGO, GALL, OcCODer D.
The text O: the address delivered her,
by President Roosevelt
follows:
It is 20 long years since I stood
here in company with Vice Presi-
dent Marshall when the first ex-
position was held here in San
Diego. At that time the flames Of
a World War were spreading and
two years later we ourselves were
to take part in that great catas-
trophe of mankind.
In the days that followed the
coming of peace, our Nation passed
through period Of def1ation into
a decade of self-deceiving pros
perity which we accepted unthink-
ingly in our desire for quietude,
peace and luxury. The inevitable
overlook US and during more than
three years of increasing hardship
we came to understand the ulti-
mate national need for more than
the necessities and pleasures of
life; that which is spiritual in us
came forward and taught us to
seek security Of the spirit-that
peace Of mind, that confidence in
the future, that deep contentment
which make life not only possible,
but full and complete.
A great adversely has chastened
in tho nf rrfa
have well-nigh unanimous agree
ment in requiring the elimination
of many of those evils in our ma
tional life, without which elimina-
ton true confidence cannot be
made permanent.
I see SignS-unmistakable signs
of the restoration of this sound
and genuine confidence-a conf
dence of the. masses of the people
in the integrity and fairness of
government. a confidence that in
tegrity and fairness in private
enterprise will take the place Of
many Of the evils of the past-in
other words, the only confidence on
which we can permanently build.
Exposition Held Indicative
OF Confidence in Future.
Expositions such as this can and
do well express our hope of the
future. Not only is the setting per-
feet, but the extent and the diver
sity of the products Of American
artistic and mechanical genius
gathered here speak eloquently Of
what this Nation can attain on a
broad scale.
To great extent the achieve
ments Of invention, of mechanical
and of artistic creation, must of
necessity be individual rather than
governmental. 1t is the self-re-
liant pioneer in every enterprise
who beats the path along which
American civilization has marched.
Such individual effort is the glory
of America.
The task Of Government is that
OF application. and encouragement.
A wise Government seeks to provide
the opportunity through which the
best of individual achievement can
be obtained, while at the same
time it seeks to remove such OBJ
struction, such unfairness as
springs from selfish human mo-
tives. Our common life under our
various agencies of Government,
our laws and our basic Constitu-
ton exist primarily to protect the
individual, to cherish his rights
and to make cleal his just prin-
ciples.
1t is this conception of service
to the individual with which the
Federal Government has con-
cerned itself these tv and a half
years just passed. When I took
the oath of Office there were evil
dences on all sides that the United
States did not then possess q
sound and just monetary system.
The forces of deflation had finally
resulted in the almost complete
collapse of our economic activities;
the banking system had fallen
down; prices of commodities we're
ruinously low; the burden of debt,
individual and collective, was more
than the Nation could bear. The
farmer, worker and business man
were helpless in the grip of cir
cumstance.
Feared Permanent Hurt
To National Life.
We were confronted by a choice
Of two ways Of meeting the situa-
ton. We could let nature take its
course until the process of defia-
ton was complete and then take
the long gamble of building on the
ruins. Such course was driving
us to irreparable damage to our
national life.
We chose the alternate course.
We sought in every sound and le-
Ultimate way to raise values, par
ticularly the purchasing power of
that agricultural half of the Ma
ton without which factory wheels
could not turn. We changed a
gold standard that had become
not the assurance of a sound eco
nomic life, but a straitjacket which
pressed upon and paralyzed the
nerve centers of our economic
system. Through the extension of
sound Government credit we re-