Most rigid economy is therefore necessary to avoid increase in taxes.
Herbert Hoover
The Public Record
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1929, to March 4, 1933. A member of the Republican Party, Hoover was born in Iowa but later moved to California. Before his presidency, he served as the Secretary of Commerce from 1921 to 1928, where he focused on promoting economic growth and efficiency. Hoover was also known for his humanitarian efforts during World War I, leading relief efforts in Europe and earning a reputation as a skilled administrator.
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I shall make suggestions for handling the present-year deficit in the Budget message, but I do not favor encroachment upon the statutory reduction of the public debt.
In order that the Government may meet its full obligation toward our countrymen in distress through no fault of their own, I recommend that an appropriation should be made to the Department of Agriculture to be loaned for the purpose of…
The price levels of our major agricultural commodities are, in fact, higher than those in other principal producing countries, due to the combined result of the tariff and the operations of the Farm Board.
Our immediate problem is the increase of employment for the next six months, and new plans which do not produce such immediate result or which extend commitments beyond this period are not warranted.
To increase taxation for purposes of construction work defeats its own purpose, as such taxes directly diminish employment in private industry.
The Government must not undertake works that are not of sound economic purpose and that have not been subject to searching technical investigation, and which have not been given adequate consideration by the Congress.
I favor still further temporary expansion of these activities in aid to unemployment during this winter.
We have as a Nation a definite duty to see that no deserving person in our country suffers from hunger or cold.
The result of magnificent cooperation throughout the country has been that actual suffering has been kept to a minimum during the past 12 months, and our unemployment has been far less in proportion than in other large industrial countries.
On this occasion, however, the increased authorization and generous appropriations by the Congress and the action of States and municipalities have resulted in the expansion of public construction to an amount even above that in the most…
Of equal importance the Nation has had unusual peace in industry and freedom from the public disorder which has characterized previous depressions.
The best contribution of government lies in encouragement of this voluntary cooperation in the community.
Recovery can be expedited and its effects mitigated by cooperative action.
Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body--the producers and consumers themselves.
Economic depression can not be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement.
In the larger view the major forces of the depression now lie outside of the United States, and our recuperation has been retarded by the unwarranted degree of fear and apprehension created by these outside forces.
The political agitation in Asia; revolutions in South America and political unrest in some European States; the methods of sale by Russia of her increasing agricultural exports to European markets; and our own drought--have all contributed…
Other deep-seated causes have been in action, however, chiefly the world-wide overproduction beyond even the demand of prosperous times for such important basic commodities as wheat, rubber, coffee, sugar, copper, silver, zinc, to some…
Had overspeculation in securities been the only force operating, we should have seen recovery many months ago, as these particular dislocations have generally readjusted themselves.
The origins of this depression lie to some extent within our own borders through a speculative period which diverted capital and energy into speculation rather than constructive enterprise.
These things reveal a moral awakening both in the people and in officials which lies at the very foundation of the rule of law.
I have been gratified at the awakening sense of this responsibility in our citizens during the past few months, and gratified that many instances have occurred which refuted the cynicism which has asserted that our system could not convict…
Our laws are made by the people themselves; theirs is the right to work for their repeal; but until repeal it is an equal duty to observe them and demand their enforcement.
If the law is upheld only by Government officials, then all law is at an end.
Politicians like Herbert Hoover
