Evening star., 1939-01-04
Congress
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ever, that nothing he said meant
that the American Republics should
disassociate themselves from the
other misunderstanding the Americas
against the rest of the world.
Building up to his final argument
that probability of attack is might
lily decreased by assurance of an
ever-ready defense" Mr.. Roosevelt
said, I'VE have learned that sur
vival cannot be guaranteed by arm
ing after the attack begins-for
there is new range and speed to
offense."
In another place the President
said:
In our foreign relations we have
learned from the past what not to
do. From new ware we have learned
what we must do. We have learned
that effective timing of defense
and the distant points from which
attacks may be launched are COM
pletely different from what they
were 20 years ago"
Cannot Let Lawlessness Pass.
Asserting that the democracies of
the world cannot be safely indiffer-
ent to international lawlessness
anywhere, the President said they
cannot forever let pass. without ef-
fective protest, acts of aggression.
These acts, he said, automatically
undermine all of U.S."
Mr.. Roosevelt said there were
methods short of war which this
Nation could adopt; that war is not
the only means of commanding a
decent respect for the opinions of
mankind. The most effective of
these, he said, is the aggregate
sentiments Of our own people" He
warned of any action or lack of
action which would encourage an
aggressor.
The President gave a hint of pos
sible attempt to amend the present
Neutrality Act when he said:
I'VE have learned that when we
deliberately try to legislate neu-
trality our neutrality laws may op-
crate unevenly or unfairly-may
actually give aid to an aggressor and
deny it to the victim. The instinct
of self-preservation should warn us
that we ought not to let that happen
any more"
Adequate defense under modern
conditions, the President said, is
divided into three elements: First,
armed forces and defenses strong
enough to ward off sudden attacks;
second, organization and location of
key facilities so they may be imme-
diately utilized and expanded; third.
an underlying strength of citizen
ship, self f-confidence, "the ability, the
imagination and the devotion that
give the staying power to see things
through"
1t was in this part of his speech
that the President turned to the ac-
complishments of his administration
in the matter of building up "the
underlying strength of citizenship
He said that for the first time I'VE
have moved when deep-seated prob
lens affected our national strength
and have forged national instru-
ments adequate to meet them"
The seemingly piecemeal struggles
OF the six years of New Deal admin
lstration, Mr.. Roosevelt continued
add up to realistic national pre-
paredness. He mentioned steps
taken to conserve natural resources
to provide necessary food and shell
ter for the people, to put agriculture
on a sounder basis, to solve labor
difficulties, to clean up the credit
system and to give youth new op-
portunities for work and education
He said the morale of all the
population had been sustained bv
the dignified recognition of our
obligations to the aged, the HELPLESS
and the needy"
The President. admitting that the
United States still has its difficulties
added:
But we are a wiser and a tougher
Nation than we were in 1929 or
in 1882"
Done Without Dictatorship.
The President said all the progress
made In the last six years for "in-
ternal preparedness had been done
without any dictator's power and
without the conscription of labor or
confscation of capital" He said the
tools OF government in the days of
1888 are now outmoded; that new
tools had been forged with a new
role of government in democracy.
Here Mr.. Roosevelt gave a hint
that he may agree to- amendments
of some of the New Deal laws, for
he said:
Some of these tools had to be
roughly shaped and still need some
machining down."
He added that the Nation looks
to Congress to improve the new ma
chinery which we permanently in
stalled, provided that in the process
the social usefulness of the ma
chinery is not destroyed or impaired.
All of us agree that we should
simplify and improve laws If ex-
perience and operation clearly
demonstrate the need"
The President listed q number
of things which should be done,
including better provision for our
older people, better care for the
needy. better ways to end
factional labor strife and employer
employe disputes and amelioration