Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-03-23
BY the Associated Press

BY the Associated Press
FOLLOWING is the teEt of an
address prepared By President !
Kennedy for a ciuic luncheon
In Chicago today:
I am grateful for the warmth
of your greeting. My gratitude
to this city, and to your dyna-
mic mayor, goes back many
years; and / shall always well
come the opportunity to come
once again to Chicago.
On each trip I see new signs
Of progress. Today we dedi-
Gated great international air.
port. Already this city is be-
coming a great international
seaport. And when I contem-
plate Chicago's role as a hub
Of American commercials a
point of concentration for
north, south, east and west
and as a point of conveyance
for rail. highway, air and
waterway travel-I am re-
minded that the decade in
which we live seems to have
been given a similar role in
history. For in almost every
sphere of activity. at home and
abroad, countless rivers and
streams which began long ago
as tiny hidden springs are now
all converging at once, in full
flood tide, upon the turbulent
COS.
Today / want to talk about
one tide that is causing us
particular concern-the tide of
manpower. That tide could be
either favorable or Inflated. If
this Nation can provide enough
Jobs to make the most Of that
flow, it will surely be a ire
mendous asset to our economic
strength; and those nations
which are short of manpower-I
such as most of those in West
ern Europe-will then envy
Americas good fortune.
Issues Warning
But if this tide continues toI
flood our labor markets with
pools Of idle men, then, must
warn you, this Nation faces o.
decade of chronic troubles and
Observation-Disclosures by the
economic waste and the human
tragedy of unemployment, by
higher welfare payments and
weaker consumer markets, by
recurrent problems Of crime and
delinquency and unstable labor
relations. Already the issue Of
Job security is placing an undue
strain on collective bargaining
as those out Of work demand
negative solutions, such as i'm
port restrictions, featherbedding
rules and a 35-hour week-and
those still on the job grow less
secure in the face of so much
labor surplus.
That is why our No. / do
nestle concern Is, and must
be, jobs-jobs for the COS, jobs
for the tidal wave Of men and
women now flooding our labor
market. It is a concern which
requires the best efforts OF US
all-Federal, State and local
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and
labor leaders-builders Of edu-
cation and moulders Of opinion.
Some may think 1t strange
that the issue of jobs looms as
large In the l960s as 1t did in
the 1906, when the Nation was
In depression. The difficulty
then was an Unfortunately low
supply of jobs TO meet the man
power demand. The difficulty
now Is an inordinately high
manpower demand which ex-
ceeds the supply Of jobs. But
now, as then. every effort must
be made TO strengthen our
economy so that the supply OF
Jobs will equal the demand.
/ would like TO review with
you today three Of the princi-
pal causes Of this manpower
tide now converging upon our
Nation. For II we can better
understand these causes, we
can see more clearly that UNI
employment In the SOS cannot
be reduced by the usual plati-
tudes and pious hopes. The
effects Of all three OF these
tides, I might add. can be felt
right here in Chicago.