Evening star., 1936-10-12
Roosevelt Denver Speech
Spirit of Columbus and american Pioneers VIM
ming Prosperity and Corner Turned,
He Enrs.
He Says.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
DENVER, October l2.-Here Is the
text Of President Roosevelt's speech
.oday on the Capitol grounds:
America pauses today to honor
Christopher Columbus great
Italian, whose vision, leadership
and courage pointed the way to
this new world. Once launched
upon his great voyage, he did not
turn back. There were those who
thought that the price they were
paying was too great But the
valiant admiral, firm to his purpose.
sailed on. And all America pays
him tribute today.
The spirit that animated those
vayagers four centuries ago is not
alien to these Western plains and
mountains. You are scarcely re-
moved one generation from men
and women who, cast in the same
mold. sought to conquer nature for
the benefit Of the Nation.
1t is from the rich diversity OF
climate. soil and people that this
country has always derived its
strength. The lives Of you men and
women in the mountains and plains
are tied up with those on the farms
and in the cities.
In our unified national economic
life, we now know that industry Is
not immune If agriculture or mining
languishes.
The great but uneven prosperity
Of the l920s made us neglect for
too long q period the growing signs
that things were not going right
with the farmer and miner.
Surely we have learned that
lesson. Surely you remember the
idleness Of your gold and silver.
copper and coal and lead and zinc
mines. your oil fields, your rail-
roads. your farms and ranches
all of them had suffered together
in the collapse Of prices and income.
And when that stream of busi-
ness had dried on the farms and
plains and in the hills, the streams
of business through the Nation also
dried.
Stagnation and
Famous Corner.
In the complete stagnation of
business, of mines and Of farms.
there was only one agency capable
of starting things going again
Government-notl local government,
not 48 State governments. because
they had reached the limit Of their
resources. but the Federal Govern
ment itself. And yet. up to March
4, 1888, the Federal Government
held back, doing nothing except to
lend dollars to people at the top
with the vain hope that some of it
would trickle down. and except to
fold their arms, stand still and
wait for q famous corner to come
to them.
When this administration came
in, its first act was to discover where
the corner was and then to turn it.
The turning involved action. and
the action was based on two obvious
and simple methods Of locomotion.
First, by spending money to put
people to work, and, secondly, by
lending money to stop people from
going broke.
It meant doing those two things
in the industrial East, in the South,
In the Middle West, on the plains,
in the Rockies and out on the Coast.
we knew that the only practical way
to turn the corner was to start the
whole country turning it at the
same time.
One of the first jobs we UNDER
took was the assistance to the
miners and farmers in the West.
Those Of you who now see busi-
ness moving again in your local
shops and stores and factories
know that your merchants goods
began to move on his shelves for
the first time-that the wheels Of
your factories and mills began to
turn for the first time-only after
the Government had begun to
spend money and had provided en-
ployment for millions Of people on
all kinds Of projects.
OF course, we spent money. 1t
went to put needy men and women
without jobs to work, and to buy
materials the processing of which
put other men and women to work.
You on the plains and throughout
the great mountain area can Judge
for yourselves whether the work
was worth doing.
Washington did not originate the
projects. You did. You told us
where reclamation projects were
needed. You told US where water
should be conserved. You told US
where floods should be controlled.
You told US where new. homesteads
should be located. You told US how
Denver wanted to get It's new water
supply. You told US where roads
needed to be improve6 You told
us, in short, In every State and
city and county throughput this
great region and indeed through
out the United States the most
practical way Of giving work and
at the same time erecting public
improvements Of permanent use.
ful character. And ii the over
whelming majority Of cases yeur
advice was good.
Today II b . pitiful spectacle 10
- Hspubtean bsdsrs call this