Evening star., 1940-07-19
Text Of Presidents Address Acceptno Third Term No

essentials Of Life or hope for an
American standard Of living.
Some have labeled 1t 4 wider
and more equitable distribution
Of wealth in our land. It has In
cluded among its aims, to LIBERAL
ize and broaden the control Of
vast tndustries-lodged today in
the hands Of q relatively small
group Of individuals Of very great
financial power.
AL Of these definitions and
labels are essentially the express
sion OF one consistent thought.
They represent a constantly
growing sense Of human decercy
throughout our Nation.
This sense OF human decency Is
happily confined to no group or
class. You find It in the hum
blest home. You ind 1t among
those who toll, and among
the shopkeepers and the farmers
OF the Nation. You flnd 1t, to q
growing degree. even among
those who are listed in that top
group which has 50 much control
over the industrial and financial
structure Of the Nation. There
fore, this urge Of humanity can
by no means be labeled a war Of
class against class. It Is rather
a war against poverty and suffer-
ing and ill-health and Insecurity,
in which all classes are joining
in the interest Of a sound and
enduring democracy.
Much More Remains
To Be Accomplished.
I do not believe for a moment
that we have fully answered all
OF the needs Of human security.
But we have covered much of the
road. need not catalogue the
milestones of seven years. For
every individual and every family
in the whole land knows that
the average of their personal lives
has been made safer and sounder
and happier than it has ever
been before. I do not think they
want the gains in these directions
to be repealed or even to be
placed in charge of those who
would give them mere lip-service
with no heart-service.
Very much more remains to be
done, and I think the voters want
the task intrusted to those who
believe that the words human
betterment" apply to poor and
rich alike.
And I have q sneaking sus-
picion, too, that voters will smile
at charges of inefficiency against
a government which has boldly
met the enormous problems of
banking, finance and industry
which the great efficient bankers
and industrialists of the Repub-
lican party left in such hopeless
chaos in 1888.
But we all know that our prog
ress at home and in the other
American nations toward this
realization of a better human
decency-progress along ' free
lines-is gravely endangered by
what is happening to other con-
tinents. In Europe, many ma
tions, through relationships or
invasions, have been compelled
to adopt forms of government
which some call new and ef-
ficient."
They are not new; they are
only a relapse-a relapse into
ancient history. The omnipotent
rulers Of the greater part of
modern Europe have guaranteed
efficiency, and work, and q type
OF security.
Slaves Of Egypt Also -o,- %
Had That Type OF Security.
But the slaves who built the
Pyramids for the glory of the
pharaohs Of Egypt had that kind
of security, that kind of efficiency,
that kind of cooperative state.
So did the inhabitants of that
world which extended from Brit
ain to Persia under the undis-
puted rule of the proconsuls sent
from Rome.
So did the henchmen, the
tradesmen. the mercenaries and
the slaves of the feudal system
which dominated Europe a
thousand years ago.
So did the people OF those ma
tions of Europe who received
their kings and their govern
ment at the whim Of the con-
quering Napoleon.
Whatever its new trappings
and new slogans, tyranny is the
oldest and most discredited rule
known to history. And When
ever tyranny has replaced a more
human form Of government it
has been due more to internal
causes than external. Democ-