Montana labor news., 1939-06-29

has taken time from that tremendous
job to come here and greet and
address this congress.
The lady l now introduce is a lady
who has won by her own right, by
her own wisdom, her generosity and
her broad social vision, the title of
First Lady of Our Land"-Mrs.
Eleanor Roosevelt.
l think I should begin by saying
that the job of receiving the King
and Queen is not such a heavy job
for me. It is the people who have
to do the work, not me So it isn't
very extraordinary that I could get
away for a half an hour and I have
come here really with no prepared
speech. I asked what you would
like me to talk about and l was
told that you would like me to say
a few words about the youth prob
lem, and then I would like to give
you a chance to ask me one or two
questions so that l would feel sure
that at least some things that you
wanted me to try to answer had
been touched on.
Now, you know that I happen to
feel that the young people have a
very difficult problem and r our
very deep concern today. It is one
thing to be out of a job when you
have had a job; but it is even harder
never to be able to get a job, and I
have been very much interested in
talking to people who have been
travelling around the country and
looking into the various youth or
CARNATIONS and what they r doing,
to find that one of the things that
strikes them most is not that young
people are so concerned about their
position or that they are becoming
radicals and bitter and one thing
and another. It is that so many
people seem to settle into hopeless
ness and just feel that there is no
use in trying to overcome their diff
culties. Now that is much more
serious. That is really something
that we have to think about.
I feel, of course, that the future
of democracy is in the hands of
young people, and I cannot imagine
that any form of government, I don't
care what it was, if it did not pro
vide you with two fundamental
things, would forever hold your
allegiance. One fundamental thing
that democracy gives us is freedom.
decide ourselves, through our
ballot, what we want to have as
policies of government. Now I know
that that is only a very large state
ment. l know that there are places
where we do not decide ourselves;
but by and large in this country
more people are able to register what
they want, and as we work to be
good citizens that group will grow.
One great trouble has been that
many of us have not realized what
the kind of freedom which means
self-government meant, so when we
had the other things we have not
always done our duty as citizens. A
lot of people who a vote do not
vote, and that is something we
should think about. 1t is not just
using your ballot either. 1t is using
your ballot intelligently that counts.
1t is knowing what the questions
mean that are before you.
Now, that is something that our
young people ought to learn now,
whether they are employed or I'M
employed. We should be making
them feel that there are civic things
where they can be useful in every
community. Every youngster should
have the feeling that there are
things which he can do which make
him a real contributor to the life
of the community. l wish that
everywhere we would try to work
out things that have to do with liv-
ing better in communities, and that
does not always mean having more
money. You can live better some
times on the money that you have
at the present time. 1t is a question,
very often, of more education, more
knowledge and more, well, perhaps,
more education as to opportunities
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