Evening star., 1938-11-05
ESLDENT ROOSEVELTS ADDRESS ON EVE OF ELECTION

employers and employees to sit
around a table and thus got an
agreement, avoided bloodshed, and
earned the praise of both sides of
a controversy that had frightened a
whole Nation. y.
With such an approach, the New
Deal, keeping its feet on the ground,
is working out hundreds of current
problems from day to day as neces-
stiles arise and with whatever ma
terials are at hand. We are doing
this without attempting to commit
the Nation to any ism or ideology
except democracy, humanity and
the civil liberties which form their
foundations.
Our economic and social system
cannot deny the paramount right
OF the millions who toll and the mil
lions who wish to toll, to have it
function smoothly and efficiently.
After all. any such system must
provide efficiently for distributing
national resources and serving the
welfare and happiness Of all who
live under it.
Conveyer Belt Of Democracy
Must BE Kept Moving.
The modern interdependent in
dustrial and agricultural society is
like a large factory. Each member
OF the organization has his own
Job to perform on the assembly line,
but II the conveyer belt breaks or
gets tangled up, no one in the fac
tory, no matter how hard he tries,
can do his own particular job.
Each of us-farmer, businessman or
Worker-suf1ers when anything goes
wrong with the conveyer belt. If
our democracy is TO survive it must
give the average man reasonable
assurance that the belts will be
kept moving.
Dictators have recognized the
problem They keep the conveyer
belts moving-but at a terrible price
to the individual and to his civil
liberty.
The New Dael has been trying
to keep those belts moving without
paying such price. 1t does not
wish TO run or manage any part of
our economic machine which private
enterprise can run and keep run
ming. That should be left to indi-
Vlduals. to corporations, to any other
form OF private management, with
proht for those who manage we'll
But When an abuse interferes with
the ability of private enterprise to
keep the national conveyer belt NOV
ing. government has a responsibility
to eliminate that abuse.
We do not assume for a minute
that all we have done is right or
all that we have done has been s,lc- |
cessful, but our economic and social
program OF the past five and a half |
years has definitely given to the
United States a more stable and less
artlf1clal prosperity than any other
nation in the world has enjoyed.
The very fact that the business
slump beginning last fall and run
ming into last summer, did not be-
come a major economic disaster like
the slump that ran from 1929 to 1888.
is tne peSt Klnd OF proof that fun
damentally we have found the right
track.
Gain in October
Nearly 312 Per Cent.
You have just heard the news
about the automobile factories and
many other industries that are OPEN
ing up for full employment again.
And during the month of October |
alone overall employment has risen
nearly 3l2 per cent.
l have been very happy in the
last six months to see how swiftly a
large majority of business men have
oeen coming around to accept the |
ooJectlves Of more stable economy
and OF certain necessary supervision
OF private activities in order to pre-