The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-07-16

of the nation and the permanent improvements and benefits that have resulted from its operation.
 Every single community in America has been prospered and benefited by this program and the expenditure of the Federal funds required to effectuate 1t These are. not fugitive and evanescent benefits, but are tam gible and enduring for future generations who will praise our foresight in establishing them. {,
 This Administration conceived and set up for. all time humane and necessary program for the softening of the hardships of the aged and infirm of the rigors of illness and despair of unemploy- ment and for the support of widows and dependent children and the blind.
 We established financed and set up on firm and enduring foun- dation the great Tennessee Valley Authority which, for all time, will furnish a great vehicle for the de- velopment and conservation of the commerce and resources of that great geographical area which it served, which will be a potential factor in flood control and navi- gation and which offers now ready assistance in our preparedness program for the manufacture of many of the essential ingredients of national defense.
 Charges Reduced
 AS yardstick for the control of excessive power and light rates, 1t has been largely Instrumental in forcing the reduction of charges to consumers in the United States of $500,000, 900. We have taken the position that the waters in our rivers afe the God-given heritage of the people and that private utility companies have no vested right to have a monopoly on their exploitation.
 We have guaranteed for the first time in our history by law the basic principle of giving to labor in this country the right to organ ize and bargain with employers for the betterment of their wages and working conditions and; through the Wage and Hour Law, have as- sured to. every man and woman who tolls in the industries of the country a decent wage scale and fair hours of labor, and I predict here and now that the great masses of labor in this country, organized and unorganized, will, when they go to the polls next Mo- vember, not forget that the Demo- cratic party has been its friend and not its oppressor.
 Upon that partial record of so- cial and economic legislative ac- ton, we propose to wage the com- ing battle without any spirit of time serving or apology, but, upon the contrary, with an aggressive justification of the record of this Democratic administration.
 We have now had opportunity to examine the Republican plat form adopted at Philadelphia, which is supposed to represent the deliberate judgment of the best minds in the Republican party, if such there be. If that be the case, 1t reminds me of an incident that occurred in a south- hAxaSnx etotn IsYNiSae fhA 1Q0R presidential campaign, when, as you remember, the vital issue was free silver versus the gold stan- dard. ' Money Question
 A certain shrewd old politician was running for reelection. He was to make speech in com- munity where he was very doubt full as to the sentiment of the people on that issue. During the course of his speech, he was pressed many times by a be- whiskered spectator in the crowd to define his views on the money question, and finally, seeing that he was driven to make an answer, he replied:
 My friend has asked me to state my position on the money question and will do 1t with entire frank ness and without equivocation and here 1t it. I believe in the gold standard. believe in the free and unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. I believe in large circulation of greenback money and right smart little sprinkling of counterfeit"
 The Frank Committee and their Platform Committee were in labor long. long. time and they finally brought forth weasel.
 It is a document filled with equivocation and political subter- fuge, but the most remarkable significance of that platform is the fact that despite their clamor- ous and bitted denunciation of the legislative program of this ad- ministration. they did not have the confidence or courage to demand the repeal or abolition of any single one of the major laws we have passed for liberal govern ment and c better state of life for the masses of the American people.
 No greater compliment could be pald to the wisdom and soundness of the legislative md executive program of this Administration. How can the Republican party % before the electorate in November ilrnInR tha removal from nQHar of