Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress of the United States: For the first time in our national history a President delivers his Annual Message to a new Congress within a fortnight of the expiration of his term of office. While there is no change in the Presidency this year, change will occur in future years. It is my belief that under this new constitutional practice, the President should in every fourth year, in so far as seems reasonable, review the existing state of our national affairs and outline broad future problems, leaving specific recommendations for future legislation to be made by the President about to be inaugurated. At this time, however, circumstances of the moment compel me to ask your immediate consideration of: First, measures extending the life of certain authorizations and powers which, under present statutes, expire within a few weeks; second, an addition to the existing Neutrality Act to cover specific points raised by the unfortunate civil strife in Spain; and, third, a deficiency appropriation bill for which I shall submit estimates this week. In March, 1933, the problems which faced our Nation and which only our national Government had the resources to meet were more serious even than appeared on the surface. It was not only that the visible mechanism of economic life had broken down. More disturbing was the fact that long neglect of the needs of the underprivileged had brought too many of our people to the verge of doubt as to the successful adaptation of our historic traditions to the complex modern world. In that lay a challenge to our democratic form of Government itself. Ours was the task to prove that democracy could be made to function in the world of today as effectively as in the simpler world of a hundred years ago. Ours was the task to do more than to argue a theory. The times required the confident answer of performance to those whose instinctive faith in humanity made them want to believe that in the long run democracy would prove superior to more extreme forms of Government as a process of getting action when action was wisdom, without the spiritual sacrifices which those other forms of Government exact. That challenge we met. To meet it required unprecedented activities under Federal leadership to end abuses, to restore a large measure of material prosperity, to give new faith to millions of our citizens who had been traditionally taught to expect that democracy would provide continuously wider opportunity and continuously greater security in a world where science was continuously making material riches more available to man. In the many methods of attack with which we met these problems, you and I, by mutual understanding and by determination to cooperate, helped to make democracy succeed by refusing to permit unnecessary disagreement to arise between two of our branches of Government. That spirit of cooperation was able to solve difficulties of extraordinary magnitude and ramification with few important errors, and at a cost cheap when measured by the immediate necessities and the eventual results. I look forward to a continuance of that cooperation in the next four years. I look forward also to a continuance of the basis of that cooperation- mutual respect for each other's proper sphere of functioning in a democracy which is working well, and a common-sense realization of the need for play in the joints of the machine. On that basis, it is within the right of the Congress to determine which of the many new activities shall be continued or abandoned, increased or curtailed. On that same basis, the President alone has the responsibility for their administration. I find that this task of Executive management has reached the point where our administrative machinery needs comprehensive overhauling. I shall, therefore, shortly address the Congress more fully in regard to modernizing and improving the Executive branch of the Government. That cooperation of the past four years between the Congress and the President has aimed at the fulfillment of a twofold policy: first, economic recovery through many kinds of assistance to agriculture, industry and banking; and, second, deliberate improvement in the personal security and opportunity of the great mass of our people. The recovery we sought was not to be merely temporary. It was to be a recovery protected from the causes of previous disasters. With that aim in view—to prevent a future similar crisis-you and I joined in a series of enactments—safe banking and sound currency, the guarantee of bank deposits, protection for the investor in securities, the removal of the threat of agricultural surpluses, insistence on collective bargaining, the outlawing of sweat shops, child labor and unfair trade practices, and the beginnings of security for the aged and the worker. Nor was the recovery we sought merely a purposeless whirring of machinery. It is important, of course, that every man and woman in the country be able to find work, that every factory run, that business and farming as a whole earn profits. But Government in a democratic Nation does not exist solely, or even primarily, for that purpose. It is not enough that the wheels turn. They must carry us in the direction of a greater satisfaction in life for the average man. The deeper purpose of democratic government is to assist as many of its citizens as possible, especially those who need it most, to improve their conditions of life, to retain all personal liberty which does not adversely affect their neighbors, and to pursue the happiness which comes with security and an opportunity for recreation and culture. Even with our present recovery we are far from the goal of that deeper purpose. There are far-reaching problems still with us for which democracy must find solutions if it is to consider itself successful. For example, many millions of Americans still live in habitations which not only fail to provide the physical benefits of modern civilization but breed disease and impair the health of future generations. The menace exists not only in the slum areas of the very large cities, but in many smaller cities as well. It exists on tens of thousands of farms, in varying degrees, in every part of the country. Another example is the prevalence of an un-American type of tenant farming. I do not suggest that every farm family has the capacity to earn a satisfactory living on its own farm. But many thousands of tenant farmers, indeed most of them, with some financial assistance and with some advice and training, can be made self-supporting on land which can eventually belong to them. The Nation would be wise to offer them that chance instead of permitting them to go along as they do now, year after year, with neither future security as tenants nor hope of ownership of their homes nor expectation of bettering the lot of their children. Another national problem is the intelligent development of our social security system, the broadening of the services it renders, and practical improvement in its operation. In many Nations where such laws are in effect, success in meeting the expectations of the community has come through frequent amendment of the original statute. And, of course, the most far-reaching and the most inclusive problem of all is that of unemployment and the lack of economic balance of which unemployment is at once the result and the symptom. The immediate question of adequate relief for the needy unemployed who are capable of performing useful work, I shall discuss with the Congress during the coming months. The broader task of preventing unemployment is a matter of long-range evolutionary policy. To that we must continue to give our best thought and effort. We cannot assume that immediate industrial and commercial activity which mitigates present pressures justifies the national Government at this time in placing the unemployment problem in a filing cabinet of finished business. Fluctuations in employment are tied to all other wasteful fluctuations in our mechanism of production and distribution. One of these wastes is speculation. In securities or commodities, the larger the volume of speculation, the wider become the upward and downward swings and the more certain the result that in the long run there will be more losses than gains in the underlying wealth of the community. And, as is now well known to all of us, the same net loss to society comes from reckless overproduction and monopolistic underproduction of natural and manufactured commodities. Overproduction, underproduction and speculation are three evil sisters who distill the troubles of unsound inflation and disastrous deflation. It is to the interest of the Nation to have Government help private enterprise to gain sound general price levels and to protect those levels from wide perilous fluctuations. We know now that if early in 1931 Government had taken the steps which were taken two and three years later, the depression would never have reached the depths of the beginning of 1933. Sober second thought confirms most of us in the belief that the broad objectives of the National Recovery Act were sound. We know now that its difficulties arose from the fact that it tried to do too much. For example, it was unwise to expect the same agency to regulate the length of working hours, minimum wages, child labor and collective bargaining on the one hand and the complicated questions of unfair trade practices and business controls on the other. The statute of N.R.A. has been outlawed. The problems have not. They are still with us. That decent conditions and adequate pay for labor, and just return for agriculture, can be secured through parallel and simultaneous action by forty-eight States is a proven impossibility. It is equally impossible to obtain curbs on monopoly, unfair trade practices and speculation by State action alone. There are those who, sincerely or insincerely, still cling to State action as a theoretical hope. But experience with actualities makes it clear that Federal laws supplementing State laws are needed to help solve the problems which result from modern invention applied in an industrialized Nation which conducts its business with scant regard to State lines. During the past year there has been a growing belief that there is little fault to be found with the Constitution of the United States as it stands today. The vital need is not an alteration of our fundamental law, but an increasingly enlightened view with reference to it. Difficulties have grown out of its interpretation; but rightly considered, it can be used as an instrument of progress, and not as a device for prevention of action. It is worth our while to read and reread the preamble of the Constitution, and Article I thereof which confers the legislative powers upon the Congress of the United States. It is also worth our while to read again the debates in the Constitutional Convention of one hundred and fifty years ago. From such reading, I obtain the very definite thought that the members of that Convention were fully aware that civilization would raise problems for the proposed new Federal Government, which they themselves could not even surmise; and that it was their definite intent and expectation that a liberal interpretation in the years to come would give to the Congress the same relative powers over new national problems as they themselves gave to the Congress over the national problems of their day. In presenting to the Convention the first basic draft of the Constitution, Edmund Randolph explained that it was the purpose "to insert essential principles only, lest the operation of government should be clogged by rendering those provisions permanent and unalterable which ought to be accommodated to times and events." With a better understanding of our purposes, and a more intelligent recognition of our needs as a Nation, it is not to be assumed that there will be prolonged failure to bring legislative and judicial action into closer harmony. Means must be found to adapt our legal forms and our judicial interpretation to the actual present national needs of the largest progressive democracy in the modern world. That thought leads to a consideration of world problems. To go no further back than the beginning of this century, men and women everywhere were seeking conditions of life very different from those which were customary before modern invention and modern industry and modern communications had come into being. The World war, for all of its tragedy, encouraged these ,demands, and stimulated action to fulfill these new desires. Many national Governments seemed unable adequately to respond; and, often with the improvident assent of the masses of the people themselves, new forms of government were set up with oligarchy taking the place of democracy. In oligarchies, militarism has leapt forward, while in those Nations which have retained democracy, militarism has waned. I have recently visited three of our sister Republics in South America. The very cordial receptions with which I was greeted were in tribute to democracy. To me the outstanding observation of that visit was that the masses of the peoples of all the Americas are convinced that the democratic form of government can be made to succeed and do not wish to substitute for it any other form of government. They believe that democracies are best able to cope with the changing problems of modern civilization within themselves, and that democracies are best able to maintain peace among themselves. The Inter-American Conference, operating on these fundamental principles of democracy, did much to assure peace in this Hemisphere. Existing peace machinery was improved. New instruments to maintain peace and eliminate causes of war were adopted. Wider protection of the interests of the American Republics in the event of war outside the Western Hemisphere was provided. Respect for, and observance of, international treaties and international law were strengthened. Principles of liberal trade policies, as effective aids to the maintenance of peace, were reaffirmed. The intellectual and cultural relationships among American Republics were broadened as a part of the general peace program. In a world unhappily thinking in terms of war, the representatives of twenty-one Nations sat around a table, in an atmosphere of complete confidence and understanding, sincerely discussing measures for maintaining peace. Here was a great and a permanent achievement directly affecting the lives and security of the two hundred and fifty million human beings who dwell in this Western Hemisphere. Here was an example which must have a wholesome effect upon the rest of the world. In a very real sense, the Conference in Buenos Aires sent forth a message on behalf of all the democracies of the world to those Nations which live otherwise. Because such other Governments are perhaps more spectacular, it was high time for democracy to assert itself. Because all of us believe that our democratic form of government can cope adequately with modern problems as they arise, it is patriotic as well as logical for us to prove that we can meet new national needs with new laws consistent with an historic constitutional framework clearly intended to receive liberal and not narrow interpretation. The United States of America, within itself, must continue the task of making democracy succeed. In that task the Legislative branch of our Government will, I am confident, continue to meet the demands of democracy whether they relate to the curbing of abuses, the extension of help to those who need help, or the better balancing of our interdependent economies. So, too, the Executive branch of the Government must move forward in this task, and, at the same time, provide better management for administrative action of all kinds. The Judicial branch also is asked by the people to do its part in making democracy successful. We do not ask the Courts to call non-existent powers into being, but we have a right to expect that conceded powers or those legitimately implied shall be made effective instruments for the common good. The process of our democracy must not be imperiled by the denial of essential powers of free government. Your task and mine is not ending with the end of the depression. The people of the United States have made it clear that they expect us to continue our active efforts in behalf of their peaceful advancement. In that spirit of endeavor and service I greet the 75th Congress at the beginning of this auspicious New Year.
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress of the United States: For the first time in our national history a President delivers his Annual Message to a new Congress within a fortnight of the expiration of his term of office. While there is no change in the Presidency this year, change will occur in future years. It is my belief that under this new constitutional practice, the President should in every fourth year, in so far as seems reasonable, review the existing state of our national affairs and outline broad future problems, leaving specific recommendations for future legislation to be made by the President about to be inaugurated. At this time, however, circumstances of the moment compel me to ask your immediate consideration of: First, measures extending the life of certain authorizations and powers which, under present statutes, expire within a few weeks; second, an addition to the existing Neutrality Act to cover specific points raised by the unfortunate civil strife in Spain; and, third, a deficiency appropriation bill for which I shall submit estimates this week. In March, 1933, the problems which faced our Nation and which only our national Government had the resources to meet were more serious even than appeared on the surface. It was not only that the visible mechanism of economic life had broken down. More disturbing was the fact that long neglect of the needs of the underprivileged had brought too many of our people to the verge of doubt as to the successful adaptation of our historic traditions to the complex modern world. In that lay a challenge to our democratic form of Government itself. Ours was the task to prove that democracy could be made to function in the world of today as effectively as in the simpler world of a hundred years ago. Ours was the task to do more than to argue a theory. The times required the confident answer of performance to those whose instinctive faith in humanity made them want to believe that in the long run democracy would prove superior to more extreme forms of Government as a process of getting action when action was wisdom, without the spiritual sacrifices which those other forms of Government exact. That challenge we met. To meet it required unprecedented activities under Federal leadership to end abuses, to restore a large measure of material prosperity, to give new faith to millions of our citizens who had been traditionally taught to expect that democracy would provide continuously wider opportunity and continuously greater security in a world where science was continuously making material riches more available to man. In the many methods of attack with which we met these problems, you and I, by mutual understanding and by determination to cooperate, helped to make democracy succeed by refusing to permit unnecessary disagreement to arise between two of our branches of Government. That spirit of cooperation was able to solve difficulties of extraordinary magnitude and ramification with few important errors, and at a cost cheap when measured by the immediate necessities and the eventual results. I look forward to a continuance of that cooperation in the next four years. I look forward also to a continuance of the basis of that cooperation- mutual respect for each other's proper sphere of functioning in a democracy which is working well, and a common-sense realization of the need for play in the joints of the machine. On that basis, it is within the right of the Congress to determine which of the many new activities shall be continued or abandoned, increased or curtailed. On that same basis, the President alone has the responsibility for their administration. I find that this task of Executive management has reached the point where our administrative machinery needs comprehensive overhauling. I shall, therefore, shortly address the Congress more fully in regard to modernizing and improving the Executive branch of the Government. That cooperation of the past four years between the Congress and the President has aimed at the fulfillment of a twofold policy: first, economic recovery through many kinds of assistance to agriculture, industry and banking; and, second, deliberate improvement in the personal security and opportunity of the great mass of our people. The recovery we sought was not to be merely temporary. It was to be a recovery protected from the causes of previous disasters. With that aim in view—to prevent a future similar crisis-you and I joined in a series of enactments—safe banking and sound currency, the guarantee of bank deposits, protection for the investor in securities, the removal of the threat of agricultural surpluses, insistence on collective bargaining, the outlawing of sweat shops, child labor and unfair trade practices, and the beginnings of security for the aged and the worker. Nor was the recovery we sought merely a purposeless whirring of machinery. It is important, of course, that every man and woman in the country be able to find work, that every factory run, that business and farming as a whole earn profits. But Government in a democratic Nation does not exist solely, or even primarily, for that purpose. It is not enough that the wheels turn. They must carry us in the direction of a greater satisfaction in life for the average man. The deeper purpose of democratic government is to assist as many of its citizens as possible, especially those who need it most, to improve their conditions of life, to retain all personal liberty which does not adversely affect their neighbors, and to pursue the happiness which comes with security and an opportunity for recreation and culture. Even with our present recovery we are far from the goal of that deeper purpose. There are far-reaching problems still with us for which democracy must find solutions if it is to consider itself successful. For example, many millions of Americans still live in habitations which not only fail to provide the physical benefits of modern civilization but breed disease and impair the health of future generations. The menace exists not only in the slum areas of the very large cities, but in many smaller cities as well. It exists on tens of thousands of farms, in varying degrees, in every part of the country. Another example is the prevalence of an un-American type of tenant farming. I do not suggest that every farm family has the capacity to earn a satisfactory living on its own farm. But many thousands of tenant farmers, indeed most of them, with some financial assistance and with some advice and training, can be made self-supporting on land which can eventually belong to them. The Nation would be wise to offer them that chance instead of permitting them to go along as they do now, year after year, with neither future security as tenants nor hope of ownership of their homes nor expectation of bettering the lot of their children. Another national problem is the intelligent development of our social security system, the broadening of the services it renders, and practical improvement in its operation. In many Nations where such laws are in effect, success in meeting the expectations of the community has come through frequent amendment of the original statute. And, of course, the most far-reaching and the most inclusive problem of all is that of unemployment and the lack of economic balance of which unemployment is at once the result and the symptom. The immediate question of adequate relief for the needy unemployed who are capable of performing useful work, I shall discuss with the Congress during the coming months. The broader task of preventing unemployment is a matter of long-range evolutionary policy. To that we must continue to give our best thought and effort. We cannot assume that immediate industrial and commercial activity which mitigates present pressures justifies the national Government at this time in placing the unemployment problem in a filing cabinet of finished business. Fluctuations in employment are tied to all other wasteful fluctuations in our mechanism of production and distribution. One of these wastes is speculation. In securities or commodities, the larger the volume of speculation, the wider become the upward and downward swings and the more certain the result that in the long run there will be more losses than gains in the underlying wealth of the community. And, as is now well known to all of us, the same net loss to society comes from reckless overproduction and monopolistic underproduction of natural and manufactured commodities. Overproduction, underproduction and speculation are three evil sisters who distill the troubles of unsound inflation and disastrous deflation. It is to the interest of the Nation to have Government help private enterprise to gain sound general price levels and to protect those levels from wide perilous fluctuations. We know now that if early in 1931 Government had taken the steps which were taken two and three years later, the depression would never have reached the depths of the beginning of 1933. Sober second thought confirms most of us in the belief that the broad objectives of the National Recovery Act were sound. We know now that its difficulties arose from the fact that it tried to do too much. For example, it was unwise to expect the same agency to regulate the length of working hours, minimum wages, child labor and collective bargaining on the one hand and the complicated questions of unfair trade practices and business controls on the other. The statute of N.R.A. has been outlawed. The problems have not. They are still with us. That decent conditions and adequate pay for labor, and just return for agriculture, can be secured through parallel and simultaneous action by forty-eight States is a proven impossibility. It is equally impossible to obtain curbs on monopoly, unfair trade practices and speculation by State action alone. There are those who, sincerely or insincerely, still cling to State action as a theoretical hope. But experience with actualities makes it clear that Federal laws supplementing State laws are needed to help solve the problems which result from modern invention applied in an industrialized Nation which conducts its business with scant regard to State lines. During the past year there has been a growing belief that there is little fault to be found with the Constitution of the United States as it stands today. The vital need is not an alteration of our fundamental law, but an increasingly enlightened view with reference to it. Difficulties have grown out of its interpretation; but rightly considered, it can be used as an instrument of progress, and not as a device for prevention of action. It is worth our while to read and reread the preamble of the Constitution, and Article I thereof which confers the legislative powers upon the Congress of the United States. It is also worth our while to read again the debates in the Constitutional Convention of one hundred and fifty years ago. From such reading, I obtain the very definite thought that the members of that Convention were fully aware that civilization would raise problems for the proposed new Federal Government, which they themselves could not even surmise; and that it was their definite intent and expectation that a liberal interpretation in the years to come would give to the Congress the same relative powers over new national problems as they themselves gave to the Congress over the national problems of their day. In presenting to the Convention the first basic draft of the Constitution, Edmund Randolph explained that it was the purpose "to insert essential principles only, lest the operation of government should be clogged by rendering those provisions permanent and unalterable which ought to be accommodated to times and events." With a better understanding of our purposes, and a more intelligent recognition of our needs as a Nation, it is not to be assumed that there will be prolonged failure to bring legislative and judicial action into closer harmony. Means must be found to adapt our legal forms and our judicial interpretation to the actual present national needs of the largest progressive democracy in the modern world. That thought leads to a consideration of world problems. To go no further back than the beginning of this century, men and women everywhere were seeking conditions of life very different from those which were customary before modern invention and modern industry and modern communications had come into being. The World war, for all of its tragedy, encouraged these ,demands, and stimulated action to fulfill these new desires. Many national Governments seemed unable adequately to respond; and, often with the improvident assent of the masses of the people themselves, new forms of government were set up with oligarchy taking the place of democracy. In oligarchies, militarism has leapt forward, while in those Nations which have retained democracy, militarism has waned. I have recently visited three of our sister Republics in South America. The very cordial receptions with which I was greeted were in tribute to democracy. To me the outstanding observation of that visit was that the masses of the peoples of all the Americas are convinced that the democratic form of government can be made to succeed and do not wish to substitute for it any other form of government. They believe that democracies are best able to cope with the changing problems of modern civilization within themselves, and that democracies are best able to maintain peace among themselves. The Inter-American Conference, operating on these fundamental principles of democracy, did much to assure peace in this Hemisphere. Existing peace machinery was improved. New instruments to maintain peace and eliminate causes of war were adopted. Wider protection of the interests of the American Republics in the event of war outside the Western Hemisphere was provided. Respect for, and observance of, international treaties and international law were strengthened. Principles of liberal trade policies, as effective aids to the maintenance of peace, were reaffirmed. The intellectual and cultural relationships among American Republics were broadened as a part of the general peace program. In a world unhappily thinking in terms of war, the representatives of twenty-one Nations sat around a table, in an atmosphere of complete confidence and understanding, sincerely discussing measures for maintaining peace. Here was a great and a permanent achievement directly affecting the lives and security of the two hundred and fifty million human beings who dwell in this Western Hemisphere. Here was an example which must have a wholesome effect upon the rest of the world. In a very real sense, the Conference in Buenos Aires sent forth a message on behalf of all the democracies of the world to those Nations which live otherwise. Because such other Governments are perhaps more spectacular, it was high time for democracy to assert itself. Because all of us believe that our democratic form of government can cope adequately with modern problems as they arise, it is patriotic as well as logical for us to prove that we can meet new national needs with new laws consistent with an historic constitutional framework clearly intended to receive liberal and not narrow interpretation. The United States of America, within itself, must continue the task of making democracy succeed. In that task the Legislative branch of our Government will, I am confident, continue to meet the demands of democracy whether they relate to the curbing of abuses, the extension of help to those who need help, or the better balancing of our interdependent economies. So, too, the Executive branch of the Government must move forward in this task, and, at the same time, provide better management for administrative action of all kinds. The Judicial branch also is asked by the people to do its part in making democracy successful. We do not ask the Courts to call non-existent powers into being, but we have a right to expect that conceded powers or those legitimately implied shall be made effective instruments for the common good. The process of our democracy must not be imperiled by the denial of essential powers of free government. Your task and mine is not ending with the end of the depression. The people of the United States have made it clear that they expect us to continue our active efforts in behalf of their peaceful advancement. In that spirit of endeavor and service I greet the 75th Congress at the beginning of this auspicious New Year.
president speaker members of the congress of the united states for the first time in our national history a president delivers his annual message to a new congress within a fortnight of the expiration of his term of office while there is no change in the presidency this year change will occur in future years it is my belief that under this new constitutional practice the president should in every fourth year in so far as seems reasonable review the existing state of our national affairs and outline broad future problems leaving specific recommendations for future legislation to be made by the president about to be inaugurated at this time however circumstances of the moment compel me to ask your immediate consideration of first measures extending the life of certain authorizations and powers which under present statutes expire within a few weeks second an addition to the existing neutrality act to cover specific points raised by the unfortunate civil strife in spain and third a deficiency appropriation bill for which i shall submit estimates this week in march 1933 the problems which faced our nation and which only our national government had the resources to meet were more serious even than appeared on the surface it was not only that the visible mechanism of economic life had broken down more disturbing was the fact that long neglect of the needs of the underprivileged had brought too many of our people to the verge of doubt as to the successful adaptation of our historic traditions to the complex modern world in that lay a challenge to our democratic form of government itself ours was the task to prove that democracy could be made to function in the world of today as effectively as in the simpler world of a hundred years ago ours was the task to do more than to argue a theory the times required the confident answer of performance to those whose instinctive faith in humanity made them want to believe that in the long run democracy would prove superior to more extreme forms of government as a process of getting action when action was wisdom without the spiritual sacrifices which those other forms of government exact that challenge we met to meet it required unprecedented activities under federal leadership to end abuses to restore a large measure of material prosperity to give new faith to millions of our citizens who had been traditionally taught to expect that democracy would provide continuously wider opportunity and continuously greater security in a world where science was continuously making material riches more available to man in the many methods of attack with which we met these problems you and i by mutual understanding and by determination to cooperate helped to make democracy succeed by refusing to permit unnecessary disagreement to arise between two of our branches of government that spirit of cooperation was able to solve difficulties of extraordinary magnitude and ramification with few important errors and at a cost cheap when measured by the immediate necessities and the eventual results i look forward to a continuance of that cooperation in the next four years i look forward also to a continuance of the basis of that mutual respect for each other proper sphere of functioning in a democracy which is working well and a realization of the need for play in the joints of the machine on that basis it is within the right of the congress to determine which of the many new activities shall be continued or abandoned increased or curtailed on that same basis the president alone has the responsibility for their administration i find that this task of executive management has reached the point where our administrative machinery needs comprehensive overhauling i shall therefore shortly address the congress more fully in regard to modernizing and improving the executive branch of the government that cooperation of the past four years between the congress and the president has aimed at the fulfillment of a twofold policy first economic recovery through many kinds of assistance to agriculture industry and banking and second deliberate improvement in the personal security and opportunity of the great mass of our people the recovery we sought was not to be merely temporary it was to be a recovery protected from the causes of previous disasters with that aim in prevent a future similar and i joined in a series of banking and sound currency the guarantee of bank deposits protection for the investor in securities the removal of the threat of agricultural surpluses insistence on collective bargaining the outlawing of sweat shops child labor and unfair trade practices and the beginnings of security for the aged and the worker nor was the recovery we sought merely a purposeless whirring of machinery it is important of course that every man and woman in the country be able to find work that every factory run that business and farming as a whole earn profits but government in a democratic nation does not exist solely or even primarily for that purpose it is not enough that the wheels turn they must carry us in the direction of a greater satisfaction in life for the average man the deeper purpose of democratic government is to assist as many of its citizens as possible especially those who need it most to improve their conditions of life to retain all personal liberty which does not adversely affect their neighbors and to pursue the happiness which comes with security and an opportunity for recreation and culture even with our present recovery we are far from the goal of that deeper purpose there are problems still with us for which democracy must find solutions if it is to consider itself successful for example many millions of americans still live in habitations which not only fail to provide the physical benefits of modern civilization but breed disease and impair the health of future generations the menace exists not only in the slum areas of the very large cities but in many smaller cities as well it exists on tens of thousands of farms in varying degrees in every part of the country another example is the prevalence of an type of tenant farming i do not suggest that every farm family has the capacity to earn a satisfactory living on its own farm but many thousands of tenant farmers indeed most of them with some financial assistance and with some advice and training can be made on land which can eventually belong to them the nation would be wise to offer them that chance instead of permitting them to go along as they do now year after year with neither future security as tenants nor hope of ownership of their homes nor expectation of bettering the lot of their children another national problem is the intelligent development of our social security system the broadening of the services it renders and practical improvement in its operation in many nations where such laws are in effect success in meeting the expectations of the community has come through frequent amendment of the original statute and of course the most and the most inclusive problem of all is that of unemployment and the lack of economic balance of which unemployment is at once the result and the symptom the immediate question of adequate relief for the needy unemployed who are capable of performing useful work i shall discuss with the congress during the coming months the broader task of preventing unemployment is a matter of evolutionary policy to that we must continue to give our best thought and effort we can not assume that immediate industrial and commercial activity which mitigates present pressures justifies the national government at this time in placing the unemployment problem in a filing cabinet of finished business fluctuations in employment are tied to all other wasteful fluctuations in our mechanism of production and distribution one of these wastes is speculation in securities or commodities the larger the volume of speculation the wider become the upward and downward swings and the more certain the result that in the long run there will be more losses than gains in the underlying wealth of the community and as is now well known to all of us the same net loss to society comes from reckless overproduction and monopolistic underproduction of natural and manufactured commodities overproduction underproduction and speculation are three evil sisters who distill the troubles of unsound inflation and disastrous deflation it is to the interest of the nation to have government help private enterprise to gain sound general price levels and to protect those levels from wide perilous fluctuations we know now that if early in 1931 government had taken the steps which were taken two and three years later the depression would never have reached the depths of the beginning of 1933 sober second thought confirms most of us in the belief that the broad objectives of the national recovery act were sound we know now that its difficulties arose from the fact that it tried to do too much for example it was unwise to expect the same agency to regulate the length of working hours minimum wages child labor and collective bargaining on the one hand and the complicated questions of unfair trade practices and business controls on the other the statute of has been outlawed the problems have not they are still with us that decent conditions and adequate pay for labor and just return for agriculture can be secured through parallel and simultaneous action by states is a proven impossibility it is equally impossible to obtain curbs on monopoly unfair trade practices and speculation by state action alone there are those who sincerely or insincerely still cling to state action as a theoretical hope but experience with actualities makes it clear that federal laws supplementing state laws are needed to help solve the problems which result from modern invention applied in an industrialized nation which conducts its business with scant regard to state lines during the past year there has been a growing belief that there is little fault to be found with the constitution of the united states as it stands today the vital need is not an alteration of our fundamental law but an increasingly enlightened view with reference to it difficulties have grown out of its interpretation but rightly considered it can be used as an instrument of progress and not as a device for prevention of action it is worth our while to read and reread the preamble of the constitution and article i thereof which confers the legislative powers upon the congress of the united states it is also worth our while to read again the debates in the constitutional convention of one hundred and fifty years ago from such reading i obtain the very definite thought that the members of that convention were fully aware that civilization would raise problems for the proposed new federal government which they themselves could not even surmise and that it was their definite intent and expectation that a liberal interpretation in the years to come would give to the congress the same relative powers over new national problems as they themselves gave to the congress over the national problems of their day in presenting to the convention the first basic draft of the constitution edmund randolph explained that it was the purpose to insert essential principles only lest the operation of government should be clogged by rendering those provisions permanent and unalterable which ought to be accommodated to times and events with a better understanding of our purposes and a more intelligent recognition of our needs as a nation it is not to be assumed that there will be prolonged failure to bring legislative and judicial action into closer harmony means must be found to adapt our legal forms and our judicial interpretation to the actual present national needs of the largest progressive democracy in the modern world that thought leads to a consideration of world problems to go no further back than the beginning of this century men and women everywhere were seeking conditions of life very different from those which were customary before modern invention and modern industry and modern communications had come into being the world war for all of its tragedy encouraged these demands and stimulated action to fulfill these new desires many national governments seemed unable adequately to respond and often with the improvident assent of the masses of the people themselves new forms of government were set up with oligarchy taking the place of democracy in oligarchies militarism has leapt forward while in those nations which have retained democracy militarism has waned i have recently visited three of our sister republics in south america the very cordial receptions with which i was greeted were in tribute to democracy to me the outstanding observation of that visit was that the masses of the peoples of all the americas are convinced that the democratic form of government can be made to succeed and do not wish to substitute for it any other form of government they believe that democracies are best able to cope with the changing problems of modern civilization within themselves and that democracies are best able to maintain peace among themselves the conference operating on these fundamental principles of democracy did much to assure peace in this hemisphere existing peace machinery was improved new instruments to maintain peace and eliminate causes of war were adopted wider protection of the interests of the american republics in the event of war outside the western hemisphere was provided respect for and observance of international treaties and international law were strengthened principles of liberal trade policies as effective aids to the maintenance of peace were reaffirmed the intellectual and cultural relationships among american republics were broadened as a part of the general peace program in a world unhappily thinking in terms of war the representatives of nations sat around a table in an atmosphere of complete confidence and understanding sincerely discussing measures for maintaining peace here was a great and a permanent achievement directly affecting the lives and security of the two hundred and fifty million human beings who dwell in this western hemisphere here was an example which must have a wholesome effect upon the rest of the world in a very real sense the conference in buenos aires sent forth a message on behalf of all the democracies of the world to those nations which live otherwise because such other governments are perhaps more spectacular it was high time for democracy to assert itself because all of us believe that our democratic form of government can cope adequately with modern problems as they arise it is patriotic as well as logical for us to prove that we can meet new national needs with new laws consistent with an historic constitutional framework clearly intended to receive liberal and not narrow interpretation the united states of america within itself must continue the task of making democracy succeed in that task the legislative branch of our government will i am confident continue to meet the demands of democracy whether they relate to the curbing of abuses the extension of help to those who need help or the better balancing of our interdependent economies so too the executive branch of the government must move forward in this task and at the same time provide better management for administrative action of all kinds the judicial branch also is asked by the people to do its part in making democracy successful we do not ask the courts to call powers into being but we have a right to expect that conceded powers or those legitimately implied shall be made effective instruments for the common good the process of our democracy must not be imperiled by the denial of essential powers of free government your task and mine is not ending with the end of the depression the people of the united states have made it clear that they expect us to continue our active efforts in behalf of their peaceful advancement in that spirit of endeavor and service i greet the 75th congress at the beginning of this auspicious new year
president speaker members congress united states first time national history president delivers annual message new congress within fortnight expiration term office change presidency year change occur future years belief new constitutional practice president every fourth year far seems reasonable review existing state national affairs outline broad future problems leaving specific recommendations future legislation made president inaugurated time however circumstances moment compel ask immediate consideration first measures extending life certain authorizations powers present statutes expire within weeks second addition existing neutrality act cover specific points raised unfortunate civil strife spain third deficiency appropriation bill shall submit estimates week march 1933 problems faced nation national government resources meet serious even appeared surface visible mechanism economic life broken disturbing fact long neglect needs underprivileged brought many people verge doubt successful adaptation historic traditions complex modern world lay challenge democratic form government task prove democracy could made function world today effectively simpler world hundred years ago task argue theory times required confident answer performance whose instinctive faith humanity made want believe long run democracy would prove superior extreme forms government process getting action action wisdom without spiritual sacrifices forms government exact challenge met meet required unprecedented activities federal leadership end abuses restore large measure material prosperity give new faith millions citizens traditionally taught expect democracy would provide continuously wider opportunity continuously greater security world science continuously making material riches available man many methods attack met problems mutual understanding determination cooperate helped make democracy succeed refusing permit unnecessary disagreement arise two branches government spirit cooperation able solve difficulties extraordinary magnitude ramification important errors cost cheap measured immediate necessities eventual results look forward continuance cooperation next four years look forward also continuance basis mutual respect proper sphere functioning democracy working well realization need play joints machine basis within right congress determine many new activities shall continued abandoned increased curtailed basis president alone responsibility administration find task executive management reached point administrative machinery needs comprehensive overhauling shall therefore shortly address congress fully regard modernizing improving executive branch government cooperation past four years congress president aimed fulfillment twofold policy first economic recovery many kinds assistance agriculture industry banking second deliberate improvement personal security opportunity great mass people recovery sought merely temporary recovery protected causes previous disasters aim prevent future similar joined series banking sound currency guarantee bank deposits protection investor securities removal threat agricultural surpluses insistence collective bargaining outlawing sweat shops child labor unfair trade practices beginnings security aged worker recovery sought merely purposeless whirring machinery important course every man woman country able find work every factory run business farming whole earn profits government democratic nation exist solely even primarily purpose enough wheels turn must carry us direction greater satisfaction life average man deeper purpose democratic government assist many citizens possible especially need improve conditions life retain personal liberty adversely affect neighbors pursue happiness comes security opportunity recreation culture even present recovery far goal deeper purpose problems still us democracy must find solutions consider successful example many millions americans still live habitations fail provide physical benefits modern civilization breed disease impair health future generations menace exists slum areas large cities many smaller cities well exists tens thousands farms varying degrees every part country another example prevalence type tenant farming suggest every farm family capacity earn satisfactory living farm many thousands tenant farmers indeed financial assistance advice training made land eventually belong nation would wise offer chance instead permitting go along year year neither future security tenants hope ownership homes expectation bettering lot children another national problem intelligent development social security system broadening services renders practical improvement operation many nations laws effect success meeting expectations community come frequent amendment original statute course inclusive problem unemployment lack economic balance unemployment result symptom immediate question adequate relief needy unemployed capable performing useful work shall discuss congress coming months broader task preventing unemployment matter evolutionary policy must continue give best thought effort assume immediate industrial commercial activity mitigates present pressures justifies national government time placing unemployment problem filing cabinet finished business fluctuations employment tied wasteful fluctuations mechanism production distribution one wastes speculation securities commodities larger volume speculation wider become upward downward swings certain result long run losses gains underlying wealth community well known us net loss society comes reckless overproduction monopolistic underproduction natural manufactured commodities overproduction underproduction speculation three evil sisters distill troubles unsound inflation disastrous deflation interest nation government help private enterprise gain sound general price levels protect levels wide perilous fluctuations know early 1931 government taken steps taken two three years later depression would never reached depths beginning 1933 sober second thought confirms us belief broad objectives national recovery act sound know difficulties arose fact tried much example unwise expect agency regulate length working hours minimum wages child labor collective bargaining one hand complicated questions unfair trade practices business controls statute outlawed problems still us decent conditions adequate pay labor return agriculture secured parallel simultaneous action states proven impossibility equally impossible obtain curbs monopoly unfair trade practices speculation state action alone sincerely insincerely still cling state action theoretical hope experience actualities makes clear federal laws supplementing state laws needed help solve problems result modern invention applied industrialized nation conducts business scant regard state lines past year growing belief little fault found constitution united states stands today vital need alteration fundamental law increasingly enlightened view reference difficulties grown interpretation rightly considered used instrument progress device prevention action worth read reread preamble constitution article thereof confers legislative powers upon congress united states also worth read debates constitutional convention one hundred fifty years ago reading obtain definite thought members convention fully aware civilization would raise problems proposed new federal government could even surmise definite intent expectation liberal interpretation years come would give congress relative powers new national problems gave congress national problems day presenting convention first basic draft constitution edmund randolph explained purpose insert essential principles lest operation government clogged rendering provisions permanent unalterable ought accommodated times events better understanding purposes intelligent recognition needs nation assumed prolonged failure bring legislative judicial action closer harmony means must found adapt legal forms judicial interpretation actual present national needs largest progressive democracy modern world thought leads consideration world problems go back beginning century men women everywhere seeking conditions life different customary modern invention modern industry modern communications come world war tragedy encouraged demands stimulated action fulfill new desires many national governments seemed unable adequately respond often improvident assent masses people new forms government set oligarchy taking place democracy oligarchies militarism leapt forward nations retained democracy militarism waned recently visited three sister republics south america cordial receptions greeted tribute democracy outstanding observation visit masses peoples americas convinced democratic form government made succeed wish substitute form government believe democracies best able cope changing problems modern civilization within democracies best able maintain peace among conference operating fundamental principles democracy much assure peace hemisphere existing peace machinery improved new instruments maintain peace eliminate causes war adopted wider protection interests american republics event war outside western hemisphere provided respect observance international treaties international law strengthened principles liberal trade policies effective aids maintenance peace reaffirmed intellectual cultural relationships among american republics broadened part general peace program world unhappily thinking terms war representatives nations sat around table atmosphere complete confidence understanding sincerely discussing measures maintaining peace great permanent achievement directly affecting lives security two hundred fifty million human beings dwell western hemisphere example must wholesome effect upon rest world real sense conference buenos aires sent forth message behalf democracies world nations live otherwise governments perhaps spectacular high time democracy assert us believe democratic form government cope adequately modern problems arise patriotic well logical us prove meet new national needs new laws consistent historic constitutional framework clearly intended receive liberal narrow interpretation united states america within must continue task making democracy succeed task legislative branch government confident continue meet demands democracy whether relate curbing abuses extension help need help better balancing interdependent economies executive branch government must move forward task time provide better management administrative action kinds judicial branch also asked people part making democracy successful ask courts call powers right expect conceded powers legitimately implied shall made effective instruments common good process democracy must imperiled denial essential powers free government task mine ending end depression people united states made clear expect us continue active efforts behalf peaceful advancement spirit endeavor service greet 75th congress beginning auspicious new year
president speaker member congress united state first time national history president delivers annual message new congress within fortnight expiration term office change presidency year change occur future year belief new constitutional practice president every fourth year far seem reasonable review exist state national affair outline broad future problem leave specific recommendation future legislation make president inaugurated time however circumstance moment compel ask immediate consideration first measure extend life certain authorization power present statute expire within week second addition exist neutrality act cover specific point raise unfortunate civil strife spain third deficiency appropriation bill shall submit estimate week march 1933 problem face nation national government resource meet serious even appear surface visible mechanism economic life break disturb fact long neglect need underprivileged bring many people verge doubt successful adaptation historic tradition complex modern world lay challenge democratic form government task prove democracy could make function world today effectively simple world hundred year ago task argue theory time require confident answer performance whose instinctive faith humanity make want believe long run democracy would prove superior extreme form government process get action action wisdom without spiritual sacrifice forms government exact challenge meet meet require unprecedented activity federal leadership end abuse restore large measure material prosperity give new faith million citizen traditionally taught expect democracy would provide continuously wide opportunity continuously great security world science continuously make material rich available man many method attack meet problem mutual understanding determination cooperate help make democracy succeed refuse permit unnecessary disagreement arise two branch government spirit cooperation able solve difficulty extraordinary magnitude ramification important error cost cheap measure immediate necessity eventual result look forward continuance cooperation next four year look forward also continuance basis mutual respect proper sphere function democracy work well realization need play joint machine basis within right congress determine many new activity shall continue abandon increase curtailed basis president alone responsibility administration find task executive management reach point administrative machinery need comprehensive overhaul shall therefore shortly address congress fully regard modernize improve executive branch government cooperation past four year congress president aim fulfillment twofold policy first economic recovery many kind assistance agriculture industry bank second deliberate improvement personal security opportunity great mass people recovery seek merely temporary recovery protect cause previous disaster aim prevent future similar join series banking sound currency guarantee bank deposit protection investor security removal threat agricultural surplus insistence collective bargaining outlaw sweat shop child labor unfair trade practice beginnings security age worker recovery seek merely purposeless whir machinery important course every man woman country able find work every factory run business farm whole earn profit government democratic nation exist solely even primarily purpose enough wheel turn must carry u direction great satisfaction life average man deeper purpose democratic government assist many citizen possible especially need improve condition life retain personal liberty adversely affect neighbor pursue happiness come security opportunity recreation culture even present recovery far goal deep purpose problem still u democracy must find solution consider successful example many million american still live habitation fail provide physical benefit modern civilization breed disease impair health future generation menace exist slum area large city many small city well exist ten thousand farm vary degree every part country another example prevalence type tenant farm suggest every farm family capacity earn satisfactory living farm many thousand tenant farmer indeed financial assistance advice training make land eventually belong nation would wise offer chance instead permit go along year year neither future security tenant hope ownership home expectation better lot child another national problem intelligent development social security system broaden service render practical improvement operation many nation law effect success meeting expectation community come frequent amendment original statute course inclusive problem unemployment lack economic balance unemployment result symptom immediate question adequate relief needy unemployed capable perform useful work shall discuss congress come month broad task prevent unemployment matter evolutionary policy must continue give best thought effort assume immediate industrial commercial activity mitigates present pressure justifies national government time place unemployment problem filing cabinet finish business fluctuation employment tie wasteful fluctuation mechanism production distribution one waste speculation security commodity large volume speculation wider become upward downward swing certain result long run loss gain underlie wealth community well know u net loss society come reckless overproduction monopolistic underproduction natural manufacture commodity overproduction underproduction speculation three evil sister distill trouble unsound inflation disastrous deflation interest nation government help private enterprise gain sound general price level protect level wide perilous fluctuation know early 1931 government take step take two three year later depression would never reach depth begin 1933 sober second thought confirm u belief broad objective national recovery act sound know difficulty arise fact try much example unwise expect agency regulate length work hour minimum wage child labor collective bargaining one hand complicate question unfair trade practice business control statute outlaw problem still u decent condition adequate pay labor return agriculture secure parallel simultaneous action state prove impossibility equally impossible obtain curbs monopoly unfair trade practice speculation state action alone sincerely insincerely still cling state action theoretical hope experience actuality make clear federal law supplement state law need help solve problem result modern invention apply industrialized nation conduct business scant regard state line past year grow belief little fault find constitution united state stand today vital need alteration fundamental law increasingly enlighten view reference difficulty grow interpretation rightly consider use instrument progress device prevention action worth read reread preamble constitution article thereof confers legislative power upon congress united state also worth read debate constitutional convention one hundred fifty year ago read obtain definite thought member convention fully aware civilization would raise problem propose new federal government could even surmise definite intent expectation liberal interpretation year come would give congress relative power new national problem give congress national problem day present convention first basic draft constitution edmund randolph explain purpose insert essential principle l operation government clog render provision permanent unalterable ought accommodate time event well understanding purpose intelligent recognition need nation assume prolonged failure bring legislative judicial action closer harmony mean must find adapt legal form judicial interpretation actual present national need large progressive democracy modern world think lead consideration world problem go back begin century men woman everywhere seek condition life different customary modern invention modern industry modern communication come world war tragedy encourage demand stimulate action fulfill new desire many national government seem unable adequately respond often improvident assent mass people new forms government set oligarchy take place democracy oligarchy militarism leapt forward nation retain democracy militarism wan recently visit three sister republic south america cordial reception greet tribute democracy outstanding observation visit mass people americas convince democratic form government make succeed wish substitute form government believe democracy best able cope change problem modern civilization within democracy best able maintain peace among conference operate fundamental principle democracy much assure peace hemisphere exist peace machinery improve new instrument maintain peace eliminate cause war adopt wide protection interest american republic event war outside western hemisphere provide respect observance international treaty international law strengthen principle liberal trade policy effective aid maintenance peace reaffirm intellectual cultural relationship among american republic broaden part general peace program world unhappily think term war representative nation sit around table atmosphere complete confidence understand sincerely discuss measure maintain peace great permanent achievement directly affect life security two hundred fifty million human being dwell western hemisphere example must wholesome effect upon rest world real sense conference buenos air sent forth message behalf democracies world nation live otherwise government perhaps spectacular high time democracy assert u believe democratic form government cope adequately modern problem arise patriotic well logical u prove meet new national need new law consistent historic constitutional framework clearly intend receive liberal narrow interpretation unite state america within must continue task make democracy succeed task legislative branch government confident continue meet demand democracy whether relate curbing abuse extension help need help good balance interdependent economy executive branch government must move forward task time provide good management administrative action kinds judicial branch also ask people part make democracy successful ask court call power right expect concede power legitimately imply shall make effective instrument common good process democracy must imperil denial essential power free government task mine end end depression people united state make clear expect u continue active effort behalf peaceful advancement spirit endeavor service greet 75th congress begin auspicious new year