Evening star., 1940-10-14
By the Associated Press.

6y t0e Associated fTtSS.
The tolloWino is the tert OF
President Rooseuelt's radio ad-
dress last night on behalf OF the
1910 Mobilization for Human
Needs:
Chairman Adams. Community
Chest workers, friends of human
needs:
The Mobilization for Human
Needs this year is more than ever
an expression of our national
community spirit. 1t is, as 1t al
ways has been, a good cause,
participated in by good Ameri-
cans who represent all sections
of our country, all walks of life,
all shades of political opinion,
all races and creeds.
But in this critical moment of
our history, we must be more
than ever conscious of the true
meaning of the community
spirit" which it expresses. 1t is
a spirit which comes from our
community of interests, our COM
munity of faith in the demo-
cratic ideal, our community Of
devotion to God.
Wherever men and women OF
good will gather together to serve
their community, there is Amer
lea. 1t was true in the first little
town meetings in the Massachu-
sets Bay Colony. when the good
folk assembled to decide meas
ures of defense against the In
dians, and how to build their
first school, and how to care
for their aged and sick. 1t is
still true in this great national
: drive, all the way across our
continent, for the Community
Chest funds.
Churches First Distributed
Public Relief Funds.
Even in the early days when
our society centered in the vii
lage community, and when every
neighbor knew all the neighbors,
the care of the poor was in some
measure a public undertaking.
In colonial America money
raised through taxation was often
distributed by the churches
among the poor. Later the county
government and the city council
assumed a part of these duties.
Then the State itself began TAX
ing care of some of the sick. and
finally, in our own day, the Ma
tional Government was obliged
to assume a definite responsibility
in giving work to able bodied
needy unemployed.
At one stage in our national
history, the baskets of bread and
meat carried by housewives to
the houses down below the rail-
road tracks were adequate to
temper the suffering of the vic
tins of industrial depression. In
those days a group of town busi-
ness men, gathered on the side
walk at the chief corner of Main
Street, could devise some method
so that Joe Smith and Tom Jones
would be able to buy shoes for
their children.
When, however, American in
dustry went on mass production
basis, it became increasingly
difficult for men to find employ
ment on the assembly line: it
created problem in the unem-
ployment of elderly men and
middle-aged men too great to be
solved by the good will of indi-
vidual business men on a street
corner.
When the World War caused
the Great Plains to be plowed
up for wheat, and the wheat
fields turned into dust storms
that drove 100000 members of the
Joad family to California, there
was a problem of unemployment
and suffering that could no
longer be handled by baskets of
bread and meat.
Government Agencies
Finally Take Charge.
Through the industrial era
there were created problems of
old age, of mass unemployment,
of occupational diseases, of in
dustrial accidents, of child labor
and sweatshops-too great to be
solved by the individual or the
family, or by friends or private
charity.
These were problems which
could be handled only by the
joint and common endeavors of
the Government of the United
States, the Governments of our
States, our counties, our towns,
and of the organized charities
and social service agencies run by
priavte methods. Government
authorities have always required
the cooperation of men and
women banded together in org
anizations such as those you
represent, to bring the kindly
touch of human sympathy to the
EnJrCaTIONAv