Evening star., 1937-01-06
Text Of the Presidents MESSAGE

ton and distribution. One Of these
wastes Is speculation. In securi.
ties or commodities, the larger the
volume Of speculation the wider be-
come the upward and downward
swings and the more certain the
result that in the long run there
will be more losses than gains In
the underlying wealth Of the COM
munity.
And, as Is now well known to all
Of us, the same net loss to society
comes from reckless overproduction
and monopolistic interpretation
Of natural and manufactured COM
modities.
Overproduction, underproduction
and speculation are three evil sis
tiers who distill the troubles Of un-
sound imitation and disastrous de-
fiation. It is to the interest of the
Nation to have Government help
private enterprise to gain sound
general price levels and to protect
those levels from wide perilous
fluctuations. We know now that if
early in 1881 Government had
taken the steps which were taken
two ana three years later, the de-
preston would never have reached
the depths Of the beginning Of
1888.
N. r. A. Tried
To Do Too Much.
Sober second thought confirms
most Of US in the belief that the
broad objectives of the national
recovery act were sound. We know
now that its difficulties arose
from the fact that it tried to do
too much. For example, it was
unwise to expect the same agency
to regulate the length OF working
hours, minimum wages, child labor
and collective bargaining on the
one hand and the complicated
questions of unfair trade practices
and business controls on the other.
The statute Of N. r. A. has been
outlawed. The problems have not.
They are still with us.
That decent conditions and ade.
quate pay for labor and just re-
turn for agriculture can be secured
through parallel and simultaneous
action by 48 States Is q proven
1mpossibility. It Is equally impos.
sible to obtain curbs on monopoly,
unfair trade practices and specula-
tion by State action alone. There
are those who, sincerely or insin-
cerely, still cling to State action As
theoretical hope. But experience
with actualities makes it clear that
Federal laws supplementing State
laws are needed to help solve the
problems which result from mod
ern invention applied in an indus
trialized nation which conducts its
business with scant regard to State
lines.
During the last year there has
been q growing belief that there Is
little fault to be found with the
Constitution Of the United States
as it stands today. The vital need
is not an alteration of our funda-
mental law, but an increasingly
enlightened view with reference to
it. Difficulties have grown out Of
its Interpretation; but rightly con-
sidered, 1t can be used as an in
strument Of progress and not IS .
device for prevention Of action.
1t Is worth our while to read and
re-read the preamble Of the Con-
stitution and Article thereof
which confers the legislative
powers upon the Congress Of the
United States. It is also worth our
while to read again the debates in
the Constitutional Convention Of
one hundred and fifty years ago.
From such reading I obtain the
very definite thought that the
members Of that convention were
fully aware that civilization would
raise problems for the proposed
new Federal Government, which
they themselves could not even
surmise, and that it was their
definite intent and expectation
that . liberal Interpretation in the
years to come would give to the
Congress the same relative powers
over new national problems as they
themselves gave to the Congress
over the national problems Of their
day.
In presenting to the convention
the first basic draft of the Con-
stitution, Edmund Randolph ex-
planned that it was the purpose
ito insert essential principles only,
lest the operation Of Government
should be clogged by rendering
those provisions permanent and
unalterable which ought to be ac-
commodated to times and events"
Must Adapt Forms
to Progressive Needs.
With Q better understanding Of
our purposes, and q more intelli-
gent recognition Of our needs as q
Nation, it is not to be assumed
that there will be prolonged failure
to bring legislative and judicial
action into closer harmony. Means
must be found to adapt our legal
forms and our judicial interpreta-
tion to the actual present national
needs of the largest progressive
democracy in the modern world.
That thought leads to consid-
Grafton of world problems. To 60
no further back than the beginning
of this century, men and women
everywhere were seeking conditions
of life very different from those
which were customary before mod
ern invention and modern industry
and modern communications had
come into being. The World War,
for all of its tragedy, encouraged
these demands and stimulated ac-
ton to fulfill these new desires.
Many national governments
seemed unable adequately to re-
spond, and, often with the improv.
ident assent of the masses Of the
people themselves, new forms of
government were set up, with
oligarchy taking the place Of de-