The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1941-09-04
Roosevelt Refuses

and in foreign lands and on all the
seas all over the world.
There has never been a moment in
our history when Americans were not
ready to stand up as free men and
fight for their rights.
In times Of national emergency, one
fact is brought home to US clearly
and decisively the fact that all Of our
rights are interdependent.
The right of freedom of worship
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 en-
terprise.
That is the indestructible bond that
is between US, between al | of US
-interdependence of inter-
ests, privileges, opportunities, re-
sponsibilities, in t e d e p endence of
rights.
That is what unites US, men and
women of all sections, of all races, of
all faiths, of all occupations, of all
political beliefs. That is why we have
been able to defy and Illustrate the
enemies who believed that they could
l.vide US and conquer us from within.
These enemies all know that we
possess a strong Navy, a Navy gain
'ng in strength. They know that that
Navy, as long as the navies of the
British Empire, and the Netherlands,
and Norway, and Russia, exist, can
,{oo ho fraaIny,, nf tho
seas. These enemies know also that
f these other navies are destroyed
the American Navy cannot now, or
n the future, maintain the freedom
IF the seas against all the rest of the
vorld.
These enemies know that our Army
s increasing daily in its allround
strength.
| These enemies know that today the
| ,hief 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
| last year has shown enormous gains
and that the product of these indus
| tres is moving to the battle fronts,
the battle fronts against Hitlerism, in
| Increasing volume each day.
But these enemies also know that
our American effort is not yet
enough, and that unless we step up
he total of our production and more
yreatly safeguard it on it's journeys
TO the battefields, these enemies will
take heart in pushing their attack in
fields old and new.
| give solemn warning to those who
think that Hitler has been blocked
and halted, that they are making a
very dangerous assumption. When in
| any war your enemy seems to be
making slower progress than he did
the year before, that is the very mo-
ment 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 there
! by end all talk or thought of any
peace founded on compromise with
evil itself.
And we know that free labor
system is the very foundation Of a
functioning democracy. We know that
one Of the first acts Of the Axis die
tQtorships has been to wipe out all
the principles and standards which
| labor had been able to establish for
its own preservation and advance
mcnt.
Trade mionism is forbidden
philosophy under these rule or ruin
dictators. For trade unionism de-
mands full freedom Of expression and
peaceful assembly. Trade unionism
has helped to give to every one who
tolls the position Of dignity which is
his due.
The present position Of labor in
the United States as an interdepen-
dent unit in the life of the nation has
not come about by chance. 1t has
been an evolutionary process of a
healthy democracy at work.
Hitler has not worked that way. He
will not, he cannot work that way.
Just as he denies all rights to ndi-
viduals he must deny all rights to
groups-groups of labor, or business,
groups of labor, or business, groups
of learning, of the Church. He has
abolished trade unions as ruthlessly
as he has prosecuted religion.
No group of Americans has re-
allied more clearly what Nazi domi-
nation of the world means than has
! organized labor-what it means to
their standard of living, their free
dom, their lives. No group has a
greater stake in the defeat of Nazism,
! in the preservation Of the funda-
mental freedoms, in the continuance
of democracy throughout the world.
We have already achieved much; it
is imperative that we achieve infinite
| ly more.
The single mindednesS and sacrifice
with which we jointly dedicate our
selves to the production Of the
weapons of freedom will determine in
no small part the length Of the ordeal
| through which humanity must pass
We cannot hesitate, we cannot