Evening star., 1943-01-07

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The people at home and the
people at the front-men and
women-are wondering about the
third freedom - freedom from
want. To them it means that
when they are mustered out,
when war production is converted
to the economy of peace, they will
have the right to expect full en-
ployment-for themselves and for
all able bodied men and women
In America who want to work.
They expect the opportunity to
work, to run their farms, their
stores, to earn decent wages.
They are eager to face the risks
inherent in our system of free
enterprise.
They do not want q postwar
America which suffers from un-
dernourishment or slums-or the
dole. They want no get-rich-
quick era Of bogus prosperity"
which will end for them in selling
apples on a street corner, as hap.
pened after the bursting of the
boom in 1929.
When you talk with our young
men and women, you will find
they want to work for themselves
and their families: they consider
they have the right to work. and
they know that after the last war
their fathers did not gain that
right.
When you talk with our young
men and women, you will find
that with the opportunity for
employment they want assurance
against the evils of all major eco
nomic MISUNDERSTANDING that
will extend from the cradle to
the grave This great Govern
ment can and must provide this
assurance.
I have been told that this is
no time to speak of better
America after the war. I am told
it is a grave error on my part.
I dissent.
If the security Of the individual
citizen, or the family, should
become subject of national de-
bate. the country knows where l
stand.
Assures Postwar
Freedom From Want.
I say this now to this Seventy
eighth Congress, because it is
wholly possible that freedom
from want-the right Of employ
ment and the right of assurance
against life's hazards-will loom
very large as a task of America
during the coming two years.
l trust it will not be regarded
as an Lssue-but rather as a
task for all of us to study SYM
pathetically. to work out with
a constant regard for the attain
ment of the objective, with fair
ness to all and with injustice to
none
In this war Of survival We must
keep before our minds not only
the evil things we fight against,
but the good things we are fight
ing for. We fight to retain a
great past-and we fight to gain
greater future.
Let us remember that economic
safety for America of the future
is threatened unless greater
economic stability comes to the
rest of the world. We cannot
make America an island in either
a military or an economic sense.
Hitlerism, like any other form of
crime or disease, can grow from
the evil seeds of economic as well
as military feudalism.
Victory in this war is the first
and greatest goal before us. Vic
tory in the peace is the next.
That means striving toward the
enlargement Of the security of
man here and throughout the
world-and finally. striving for
the fourth freedom - freedom
from fear.
1t is of little account for any
of US to talk of essential human
needs, of attaining security, if
we run the risk of another World
War in 10 or 20 or so years. That
Is just plain common sense. Wars
grow in size, in death and de-
struction. and in the inevitability
of engulflng all nations, in in
verse ratio to the shrinking size
of the world as result of the
conquest of the air. I shudder
to think of what will happen to
humanity, including ourselves, If
this war ends in an inconclusive
peace. and another war breaks
out when the babies of today
have grown to fighting age.
Every normal American prays
that neither he nor his sons nor
his grandsons will be compelled
to go through this horror again.
Undoubtedly few Americans.
even now, think that this Nation
can end this war comfortably
and then climb back into an
American hole and pull the hole
in after them.
But we have learned that We
can never dig hole so deep
that it would be safe against
predatory animals. We have also
learned that if we do not pull
the fangs of the predatory ami
mails of this world. they will null
tiply and grow in strength-and
they will be at our throats once
more in short generation.
Most Americans realize more
clearly than ever before that
modern war equipment in the
hands of aggressor nations can
bring danger overnight to our
own national existence or to that
of any other nation-or island
or continent.
1t is clear to us that If Germany
and Italy and Japan-or any one
of them-remain armed at the
end OF this war. or are permitted
to rearm, they will again, and
inevitably, embark upon an am
bilious career of world conquest.
They must be disarmed and kept
disarmed, and they must abondon
the philosophy, and the teaching
OF that philosophy. which has
brought 50 much suffering to the
world.
n. VEo.uL