Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-09-22
Text Of Wendell Wilkes San Francisco Speech Foreign Policy

SIN FRANCISCO, Sept. 81 (R).
The Tert OF Wendell L. Will
kies address in Civic Auditorium
tonight tollo,ps:'
At all times foreign policy Is
Of the utmost concern to the
people. But in the present crit
ical situation We must guard it
more closely than ever. Those err
rors and hasty actions in foreign
affairs, which would not be Sc
rious in ordinary times, might to-
day have results fatal to our
welfare and safety. Foreign pol
icy today requires a cool head,
clear thinking and courageous
action.
may say that one of the first
conclusions I reached after my
nomination in Philadelphia was
that certain aspects Of our for
eign policy should not be dragged
into the campaign. And I went
the limit in keeping them out.
1t was my view, and it still is,
that these are matters in which
we Americans must show a united
front to the world. 1t would be
unforgivable to play politics with
an international crisis.
Used Hitler's Name
To Get Democratic Votes.
I was shocked therefore when
the candidate for Vice President
OF the Democratic party proceeded
to do that very thing. The can
didate for Vice President began
travelling up and down the State
OF Illinois using the name of
Adolf Hitler to get votes for the
Democratic party. He did this by
making absolutely unWarranted
charges against the Republicans
without any basis of fact. He
sought to identify the Repub-
lican party with the word "ap-
peasement'-a word inherited
from the Munich conference of
1898, which Mr.. Roosevelt him.
self had done so much to. bring
about.
I would rather not be elected
to office than play politics with
your safety and perhaps your
lives. That is the kind of cam
paigning I wanted to exclude,
And so far as I am concerned
1t is still excluded.
Any one who is willing to study
the evidence must agree that the
New Deal has been a failure in
domestic affairs. Some think it
has been a colossal failure, others
think that it might have been
worse. My own view is that while
the New Deal has achieved a
number of reforms that were
badly needed. its domestic policy
has pushed us to the threshold
of bankruptcy and unconstitu-
tional government.
The New Deal has spent 500
000.0O0,000. Yet as of August, 1910,
there were more unemployed
than there were in 1886. There is
less opportunity and there is less
real security. The national in
come has failed to break through
the level of 1926. and has for the
most part been close to the level
of 1920 In eight years We will
have doubled our national debt.
And vet We are not producing
enough to supply our own people.
and We are not growing enough
to keep up with our own birth
rate.
Roosevelt Set Up
As Defender of Democracy.
But the New Dealers, knowing
that they cannot possibly justify
the New Deal in domestic affairs
came forward this year with the
astounding theory that the New
Deal party under Mr.. Roosevelt
has been great success in
foreign affairs. They have set up
Mr.. Roosevelt as the defender of
democracy, the man of wisdom
in whom lies the hope Of the
democratic world.
What is there to justify this
amazing theory? 1t is as wild
and untenable as any theory that
ever popped out of Mr.. Roose-
velt's hat.
Go back for a moment to the
year 1893. That was fateful
year. The leading democracies
OF Europe, with France tagging
behind, we're just beginning to
recover from the world wide de-
preston that had shaken them
to their foundations. Perhaps
the greatest obstacle to world
recovery was the instability of
foreign exchange, and through
the efforts of Mr.. Hoover in 1882,
followed up by Mr.. Roosevelt in
April. 1888. conference had
been arranged to meet in London
to solve this and other problems.
Certainly you people here in
San Francisco understand the
Importance of stability in inter-
national monetary standards.
Here in this great center of ship
ping and trade, the gateway to the
Orient, you know that when ex-
porters and importers cannot &C
curately predict the value of
currencies in other lands. foreign
trade becomes almost impossible.
Basis of Free Enterprise
Is Trade in Open Markets.
You know also that the very
basis Of our system Of free enter
prise is trade-trade in open
markets, where the goods of the