The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-10-02

the Sidewalks of New York" is
still no excuSe-although, &C
Cording to the newspapers,
throughout the progress of the
convention at Philadelphia, word
came from a member of the
steering committee to the band
master that he should not play
The Sidewalks Of New York"
any more.
NeU Deal Has OLUn
That is a Democratic song.
That is the song that recog-
nized the existence of Mamie
O'Rourke. and in its place was
substituted the New Deal an
them. Happy Days Are Here
Again"
Another one of the powerful
arguments that was made in de-
Tense of the New Deals position
against my washington speech
was my business associates.
Well. just let me deal with that
for about half a minute. In the
true sense of the word, have
no business associates, and by
that l mean that 1 am not en-
gagged with anybody in any
business where any of it comes
to me. I am a Salaried man. l
have never been anything else.
l am working for a salary, and
there isn't any difference be-
tween me and any other sal
aried employee.
Let's see how that comes.
After I left Albany the first
time, I came down here to New
York. I had no means. l had to
go to work. I left Albany on the
first of January, and I was
working on the second. l had no
money to start a business. l had
no profession because I didn't
have enough early education to
equip me for any profession.
I didn't have a rich aunt or q
rich uncle to take care of me.
I certainly didn't know any
thing about farming, and even
if I did, I didn't have the farm.
But let me say this for the
benefit of the New Deal project.
Every decision I ever had to
make in my executive capacity
has been made in the interests
of the men that were working
under me. OF course. make
no apology for being in bust
ness.
There is nothing dishonorable
about business, whether it be
a large or a small business. and
there is nothing diShonorable
in being a business man, because
in the last analysis, we have to
look to the business men of
this country if we are going to
have a permanent solution 70
the employment question or a
return to anything that looks
like permanent prosperity.
Within Constitution
But in the meantime, the
American business man is GER
tainly having a swell time of it
getting kicked around all over
the lot.
While the President was speak
ing at the State convention III
Syracuse, he spoke about the
record at Albany. He is right.
1 battled as hard as a man pos
sibly could for the factory laws,
for Workmen's compensation, for
the child welfare bill.
I went all over the State OF
New York gathering as large an
audience that l could bring
within the range of my voice
and fought for the passage of
these laws. But by contrast
with the New Deal platforms,
let it be said that every one of
these laws passed within the
four walls of the State Consti.
tuition, except one, and that was
the workmen'S compensation act.
The first act was declared
void under our Constitution by
the Court of Appeals, but when
the Court of Appeals rendered
that decision, the governor and
the Legislative leaders did not
go into a huddle and find fault
with the court. What did they
do?
They proposed an amendment
to the Constitution and they sub
mitted it to the people of the
State and the people of the
State ratified it and the work
mems compensation act was
thereafter enacted in accordance
with the Constitution.
Of course we had an entirely
different system in Albany.
The President didn't speak
about that.
Here is the way we handled it.
When the Democrats won in
Albany, the counsel to the gov
ernor and the legislative leaders
sat down around table and we
prepared the bill that would
carry out the platform promises.
Different NOIU
But, down in Washington,
there was an entirely different
procedure. The bills were drawn
by the Brain Trust in the White
Hous and they were sent down
to Congress and with them the
command:
This must gO!"