The Wilmington morning star., 1940-10-14

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13.- Up -
The following is the text of Presl-
dent Rooseve1t's radio address to-
night on behalf of the 1910 Mobili-
cation for Human Needs: Chair.
man Adams, community chest
workers, friends of human needs:
The Mobilization for Human
Needs this year is more than ever
an expression of national com
munity spirit. 1t is, is it always
has been, a good cause, participat
ed in by good Americans who re
present all sections of our country,
all walks of life, all shades OF
political opinion, all races and
creeds.
But in this critical moment O
our history, we must be more thar
ever conscious of the true mean
ing the the community spirit
which it expresses. It is a spiri
which comes from our communit,
of interests. our community O
faith in the democratic ideal, gu,
community of devotion to God.
America
Wherever men and women O
good will gather together to serve
their community, there is America
It was true in the first little tow
meetings In the Massachusetts Ba.
colony when the good folk as
sembled to decide measures Of de
Tense against the Indians, and hoy
to build their first school, and hoy
to care for their aged and sick
It is still true in this great ma
tional drive, all the way across
our continent, for the communit.
chest funds.
Even in tne early days whel
our society centered in the village
community, and when every neigh
Dor know all the neighbors, the
care of the poor was in som'
measure a public undertaking. II
colonial America money raiset
through taxation was often dis.
tributed by the churches among the
poor. Later the county government
and the city council assumed
part of these duties. Then the stat
itself began taking care of SOM
of the sick. And finally in oul
own day, the national government
was obliged to assume a definite
responsibility in giving work t.
able-bodied needy unemployed.
At one stage in our national his
tory, the baskets of bread and
meat carried by housewives to tn
houses down below the RAILROAD
tracks were adequate to tempe
the suffering of the victims of in
dustrial depression. In those day
a group of town business men
gathered on the sidewalk at tn
chief corner of main street, coul
devise some method SO that 10
Smith and Tom Jones would b
able to buy shoes for their chi
dren.
When, however, American indu:
try went on a mass productio
basis, it became increasingly di
ficult for men to find employmer
on the assembly line; it create
a problem in the unemployment
of elderly men and middle-aged
men too great to be solved b
the good will of Individual bus
ness men on a street corner.
Great Problem
When the World war caused tn
great plains to be plowed up fe
wheat, and the wheat fields turne
into dust storms that drove 200
900 members of the Joad famil
to California, there was a problel
OF unemployment and suf:erir
that, could no longer be handle
by baskets of bread and meat.
Through the industrial era thel
were created problems of old ag
of mass unemployment, of occ1
pational diseases, of Industrial a
cidents, of child labor and swea
shops-too great to be solved b
the individual or the family, {
by friends or private charity.
These were problems whit
could be handled only by the joi
and common endeavors of the 60
eminent of the United States, Il
governments of our states, GU
counties, our towns, and of Il
organized charities and social ser
ice agencies run by private m
thods. Government authoriti
have always required the cooper
ton of men and women band
together in organizations such
those you represent, to bring t
kindly touch of human sympatl
to the tragedies of dislocate
broken families.
1t is necessary for us to remer
Der the very intimate and hums
i ciIo Nf fhnco a~oL1--~ ALL -