The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1946-11-08
WALLACE LOOKS AT AMERICA

to find. Some men and women il
America are denied opportunities be
cause they are black, or because they
were not born here, or because they
belong to a church with small mem
| bership. There are demagogues here
seeking to convince the ignorant thai
there is a pure race in America-that
all other races must be kept subserv
lent to a mythical master race.
But we are not cast down. Our sol
diers and sailors won battles which
could not be won. They built landing
| fields with incredible speed thousands
of miles from America. They turned
rocky coasts into safe Ravens for
Allied ships Beginning in 1941 survey
parties explored the possibility of an
IndiaChina highway, which was need
ed to help win the war The experts
agreed that it was an impossible I'M
dertaking. But sons Of American pio-
neers, white and black, Christian and
Jew, hacked their way through jungles
over successive ranges of jumbled
m un t aims, through fever laden
swamps; fought tigers, headhunters,
and Japanese soldiers, and built the
Ledo road. Nothing except defeat was
impossible for our fighting men. Meth
er was any problem too difficult for
those who won the battle of produc-
ton here at home. Americans, many
of whom travelled 20 or more miles
dialy to and from their jobs, built 21a
million army trucks, 100000 airplanes,
10000 tanks, Az million machine
guns, and II million rifles during the
war, and every American must share
in the victory.
The people of the United States,
soldiers and civilians, who have met
the terrible challenges of this war,
will not believe that any constructive
peacetime task can not be accomplish
ed. They are ready and anxious to get
he job done on the st. Lawrence
Waterway, the Missouri Valley Auth
)rity, and a real Full Employment
Bill. They believe in world peace and
lold those reasonable who say: 1--WE |
must fight Russia" or some other !
country. The people of the United |
States wish to promote peace by in
control of the atomic bomb |
md promote an age of abundance by |
speeding the use of atomic energy,
lnder strict governmental control For
We are against private armies, private
Irsenals, and unregulated private use
# atomic materials. We can play our
,art in new era, in which the energy
# the atom will work, not for mans
destruction, but for his great good
The people of our country who per-
ormed wartime miracles know that
We can provide housing, that we can
ave our rich soil from erosion, that
We can live up to the great opportuni-
les, beyond all dreaming, of the
tonic age, that Professionals, Catholics
nd Jews, native-born Negroes and
mites, and all of the foreign born can
cal Justly, one with another, and live
Ogether in peace.
We have made a start, but we have
VI SOIG dllCdu last CHOuSll, VI ldi j.,
nough. We have yet to achieve full
Employment at an annual wage We
ave only scratched the surface on
ousing. In many towns there are de-
ent homes entirely surrounded by
ldecent slums. Let the Ida b. Wells
ZONES in Chicago and the Sojourner
ruth Homes in Detroit serve as an
xample for the rest of the country
lat good housing and good citizenship
D together.
A nations wealth begins with the
nd The battle to save the land has
My started. Soil erosion has been
opped on thousands of farms, but
e must save the precious top soil all
yer America. Whoever allows his
nd to deteriorate commits crime
sainst his children and against his
,untry. When we save the land we
I'VE the people on the land and safe
lard the economy of the nation.
Every farmer hopes to own his own
rm In Missouri an eroded plantation
as sold on credit to 100 sharecropper
IlIlltS"OU MuILC IdIiillCo anu ~
egro families. Their average net
orth was S24. They were given moth
g except an opportunity to thrive in
free America Today-a few years
ter-most of these families have a
It worth of over $4,000, they have
lsbanded the soil, payments on their
rms are not in default, and the
nited States Government will make
oney on the deal In Alabama, farms
I've been sold through the Farm
scurity Administration to 1,058 Negro
miles. They are increasing their
orth at the rate of $500 year. This
only a beginning More farmers
ould and must be given opportuni-
IS to buy farms at fair prices, and
/ terms which they can meet
Every citizen cherishes his right to
tie, and no poll tax or other artificial
.rrier must stand in the way of that
eedom. A mans rights are not de-
.ndent upon the color Of his skin, his
rthplace or the name of his church