The Wilmington morning star., 1940-09-03
Text Of Roosevelt's Address
At National Park Dedication

own land, we shall go to destruc-
ton.
Vital Task
1t is good and right that we
should conserve these mountain
heights of the old frontier for the
Benefit of the American people. But
in this hour we have to safeguard
a greater thing: the right of ths
people of this country to live as
free men. Our vital task of CON
servation is to preserve the free.
dom which our f%orefathers won In
this land, and the liberties which
YER proclaimed in our declara'
tion of independence and embodied
in our constitution.
In these centuries of American
civilization, greatly blessed by the
bounties Of nature, we succeeded
In attaining liberty in government,
and liberty Of the person. In the
process, in the light of past his.
tory, we realize now that we com.
mited excuses which we are to-
|day seeking to atone for.
We used up or destroyed much
Of u natural heritage just be-
cause that heritage was so boun
teous. We dashed our forests, we
used our soils, we encouraged
floods, we over.concentrated oul
wealth, we disregarded our unem-
ployed-all Of this SO greatly that
We were brought rather suddenly
to face the fact that unless We
gave thought to the lives of oul
children and grandchildren, they
would nc longer be able to live and
to improve on our American way
Of life.
And so in these later years, we
have tried sincerely and honestly
to look ahead to the future years.
We r at last definitely engaged
in the task of conserving the boun.
ties Of nature, thinking in term,
of the whole of nature. We are try.
ing at least to attain employment,
for all who would work and car
work, and to provide a greater as.
surance of security throughout life
for the family.
Long Process
From hard experience we know
that the process is a long one, but
most of us realize that If we car
continue u effort without serious
setbacks, the ideals Of the Ameri'
can way Of life can and will b.
attained by working everlastingly
for the good of the whole and not
for any n privileged group.
So, from within our W Dor.
ders, liberty through democracy
can. I believe, be preserved in fu
ture years-if we want to pre-
serve it.
But there is a second danger-s
danger from without. I hope, fol
example, that one hundred years
from now the Great Smoky Ma
tional Park will still belong in prac.
tice, as well as in theory, to the
people Of a free nation. I hope
it will not belong to them ir
theory alone and that. in practice
the ownership of this park will moi
be In the hands of some strange
kind of government puppet subject
to an overseas overload. I hope
the use of it will not be confined
to people coming hither on O
eminent specified days and on gov.
eminent directed tours. I hope thu
trees will not be slaughtered by
the x in order that a government
may conduct wars of aggression
against other nations. I hope tina,
roads and paths and trails will
still be built in the cause of the
liberty of recreation, and not con
fined to the Interior purposes OF
a war machine controlled by an
individual or an o%ligarchy.
Danger Recognized
That there is a danger from
without is at last recognized b,
most of us Americans. That such
a danger cannot longer be mel
with pitchforks and squirrel rifle.
o. even with the training or the
weapons of the war of 1917 an6
1913 is equally clear to most of u.
Americans.
1t is not a change from the
American way Of life to advocate
or legislate a greater and a speed.
Ter preparedness. It is a positive
protection to the American wav OF
life. We know that in the process
of preparing against danger we
snail not have to. abandon and we
Will not abandon the great social
improvements that have come to
the American people in these later
years. We need not swap the gain
OF better living for the gain of
better defenses. I propose to re.
tain the n and gain the other.
But to conserve our liberties will
not be easy. The task will require
the united efforts of us all. It will
require sacrifices from us all.
The pioneers showed by fightinp
their w fight and by standing
fornk1or