Evening star., 1941-09-01
2, the Associated Press.


dress
On this day-this American
holiday-we celebrate the rights
of free laboring men and women.
The preservation of these
rights is now vitality important
not only to us who enjoy them
to the whole future of Christian
civilization.
American labor now bears
tremendous responsibility in the
winning Of this most brutal, most
terrible of all wars.
In our factories and shops and
arsenals we are building weapons
on a scale great in its magnitude.
To all the battle fronts of the
world these weapons are being
dispatched, by day and by night,
over the seas and through the air.
And this Nation is now devising
and developing new weapons of
unprecedented power toward the
maintenance of democracy.
Why are We doing this? Why
are we determined to devote our
entire industrial effort to the
prosecution of war which has
not yet actually touched our own
shores?
We are not a warlike people.
We have never sought glory as a
Nation OF warriors. We are not
interested in aggression. We are
not interested-as the dlctatorS
are-in looting. We do not covet
one square inch of the territory of
any other nation.
Sees Threat to Rights.
Our vast effort, and the unity
of purpose which inspires that
effort, are due solely to our
recognition of the fact that our
fundamental rights - including
the rights of labor-are threat
ened by Hitlers violent attempt
to rule the world.
These rights were established
by our forefatherS on the field
Of battle. They have been de-
fended-at great cost, but with
great successor the field of bat
tie, here on our own soil, and in
foreign lands, and on all the seas
all over the world.
There has never been a mo-
ment in our history when Amer
leans were not ready to stand up
as free men and fight for their
rights.
In times of national emer-
gency, one fact is brought home
to us clearly and decisively-the
fact that all of our rights are
interdependent
Ties of Unity.
The right of freedom of wor-
ship would mean nothing without
freedom of speech. And the
rights of free labor as We know
them today could not survive
without the rights of free enter
prise.
That is the indeStructible bond
that is between us-all of us
Americans: Interdependence of
interests, privileges, opportunities
-interdependenc Of rights.
That is what unites us-men
and women of all sections, of all
races, of all faiths, of all occupa-
tions, all political beliefs. That
is why we have been able to defy
and frustrate the enemies who
believed they could divide us and
conquer us from within.
These enemies all know that
we possess a strong Navy-gain-
ing in strength. They know that
the Navy-as long as the navies
of the British Empire and the
Netherlands and Norway and
Russia eXist-can together guar
antee the freedom of the seas.
These enemies know that if those
other navieS are destroyed, the
American Navy cannot now, or
in the future, maintain the free
dom of the seas against all the
rest of the world.
These enemies know that our
Army is increasing daily in its
all-rOund strength.
Labor Is Chief Weapon.
These enemies know that today
the chief American fighters in
the battles now raging are those
engaged in American industry,
employers and employees alike.
These enemies know that the
course of American production in
the past year has shown enor-
nous gains and that the product
Of these industries is moving to
the battle fronts against Hitler
ism in increasing volume each
day.
But these enemies also know
that our American effort is not
yet enough-and that unless we
step up the total of our produc-
ton and more greatly safeguard
it on its Journeys to the battle
fields, these enemies will take
heart in pushing their attack in
old fields and new.
I give solemn warning to those
who think that Hitler has been
blocked and halted, that they are
making a very dangerous as
sumption. When in any war
your enemy seems to be making
slower progress than he did the
year before, that is the very
moment to strike with redoubled
force-to throw more energy into
the job of defeating him-to end
for all time the menace of world
conquest and thereby end all talk
or thought of any peace founded
on a compromise with evil itself.
Foundation of Democracy.
And we know that a free labor