The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-09-07

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Tended as spending for the fu-
ture."
Says Recovery Aided
Federal spending Of huge work
relief programs, with their con-
sequent revival Of industry, he de-
Tended as responsible for better
times. He said:
spending like this (ameliO-
rative drought meaSures) is not
waSte-it would spell future
waste if we did not spend for
such things now.
Government spending was
in large part responsible for
keeping industry going and put
ting it in q position to make
unemployment possible. Gov
eminent orders were the back
log Of heavy industry; Govern
ment wages turned over and
over again to make consumer
purchasing power and to Sus-
tain every merchant In the
community"
Just as Government spending is
saving thousands of farm families
in the West, he contended, so has
Government spending saved indus
try, and made possible the gains
in unemployment that have been
made.
Denies Glass Distinction
Instead of endeavoring to create
class consciousness and class feel
ing in this country-as some Of
his sharpest critics have accused
him-Mr. Roosevelt interpreted La
Dor Day, in the American pattern,
as meaning the elimination of class
distinctions. He said:
at has always been a national
holiday. In other countries the
relationship Of employer and en-
plOye has been more or less &C
cepted as a class relationship.
"In this country we insist that
the employer-emplOye relation
ship should be one between free
men and equals. We refuse to
regard those who work with hand
and brain as different from or
inferior to those who live from
their property. We insist that
labor is entitled to as mu III re-
spect as property. But our work
ers deserve more than respect
for their labor. They deserve
practical protection in the OPP
pOrtunity to use their labor at
a return adequate to support
them ut q decent and constantly
rising standard of living, and to
accumulate q margin of security
against the inevitable vicissitudes
Of life.
"There are those who fail to
read both the signs of the times
and American history. They
would try to refuse the worker
any effective power to bargain
collectively, to earn q decent
livelihood and to acquire Sc
curity.
at is these shOrt-sighted ones,
not labor, who threaten this
country with that class dissen-
sion which in other countries has
led to dictatorship"
Mr.. Roosevelt ranked Labor Day,
In it's significance, along with the
Fourth Of July as a national holi-
day. The Fourth, he said, COM
memorates our political freedom;
Labor Day, our economic freedom.
On his Western "Trip, the Presi-
dent praised some Of the public
works projects he inspected as
"fine examples Of cooperative
boon-doggling" between the Fed
eral and State governments.
Returning to this defense in
his radio speech, he said he had
heard no complaint against the
character of a single works relief
project" This, he said, notwitn-
standing that he talked with nu-
merous governors and State Off
Gals, among whom, incidentally,
was Governor Alfred M. Landon,
his Republican rival. Mr.. Roose-
welt said:
Every governor with whom I
talked is in full accord with the
program of providing work for
these farm drought relief
families"