Evening star., 1938-09-05
Text of Roosevelt Speech
Minority Held Trying to Divide Farm and
City Interests.

power Of farmers and fishermen
had not kept pace with the buying
power of many other kinds of work.
prs.
But conservative Mr.. A" not onlv
declined to take any lead in solving
these problems in cooperation with
his Government. He even found
fault with and opposed, openly or
secretly, almost every suggestion
that was put forward by those who
belonged to the liberal school of
thought.
Mr.. B." I said was the COM
posite OF q liberal. He not only
admitted the needs and the pyob-
lens like Mr.. A." but he put his
shoulder under The load Che gave
active study and active support to
working out methods, in co-opera-
ton with Government, for the
solving OF the problems and the
f1lling OF the needs. Mr.. B" did
not claim that the remedies were
perfect, but he knew that we had
to start with something less than
perfect in this imperfect world.
yours Is the Choice"
If we have a Government run by
the Mr.. AS" Of this life. it is
obvious that the Nation will slip
behind once more in the march
OF civilization-bump along from
one 1929 crisis to another. Yours
Is the choice.
Lord Bryce, in the last edition Of
his great work on the American
Commonwealth, said: An eminent
Journalist remarked to me in 1908
that the two great parties were like
two bottles. Each bore a label
denoting the kind of liquor it con-
tained. but each was empty. This
at any rate may be said. that the
parties may seem TO have erred
by neglecting to discover
and work out any principles capa-
Bile OF solving the problems which
now perplex the country. In 4
country so full OF change and
movement as America new oues-
tons are always coming up and
must be answered. New troubles
surround government and q way
must be found to escape from
them; new diseases attack the
nation and have to be cured. The
duty OF q great party is to face
these, to flnd answers and rene.
dies. applying to the facts of the
hour the doctrines it has lived by.
so far as they are still applicable.
and when they have ceased to be
applicable, thinking out new doc
trines comfortable to the main
principles and tendencies which it
represents
That has been my conception of
the obligations and ideals of the
Democratic Party, for the Demo-
cratic Party has always been q
party Of ideas rather than money,
and it has always failed when it
has only been one Of two empty
bottles.
The Democratic Party will live
and continue to receive the sup
port Of the majority of Americans
just 80 long as 1t remains a liberal
party. If it reverts to the situa-
ton which Lord Bryce described
more than quarter of q century
ago, it will fail.
Will Uphold Liberalism.
As the leader of that party. I
propose to try to keep it liberal. As
President Of the United States 1
conceive that course to be in the
best interests not of Democrats
alone, but also OF those millions of
American men and women who are
afiliated with other parties or with
no party at all. And I have the
right, in sincerity and honesty. to
make that statement in any State,
in any county and in any COM
munity of the United States of
America.
Increasingly during these past
six years q common understanding
Of what unity means has grown
throughout the land. People have
continued to ask their representa-
tives to be liberal, to take the
initiative, to be positive forces in
improving social and economic con-
ditions. That applies to farmers
just as much as to industrial work.
erS.
You who live. on the farm know
well how farmers were exploited by
those who controlled government
from the end of the World War to
l933-and by the monopolies they
fostered which still give us trouble
But think you realize also that
for many long years industrial
labor was exploited too. Farmers
have come to realize that unless
industrial labor is prosperous it
cannot buy the food and the ma
terials for clothing which are pro-
duced from the soil. Industrial
labor has come to understand that
unless the farmers Of the country
are prosperous they cannot buy the
product Of the factories.
Economic lesson No. / of the past
20 years Is that men and women
on farms, men and women in
cities, are partners. America can
not prosper unless both groups
prosper. That Is the keystone in
the arch Of the economic and So
cial policy Of your administration
in Washington.
May illustrate again by taking
some high-spots?
Cites Compensa ton Act.
Nearly 30 years ago people who
were injured through no fault Of