FDR

The moment the Recovery Act was passed, this monstrous thing which neither opinion nor law could reach through years of effort went out in a flash.

I use this incident, my friends, not to boast of what has already been done but to point the way to you for even greater cooperative efforts this summer and autumn.

We are not going through another winter like the last.

We cannot ask America to continue to face such needless hardships.

It is time for courageous action, and the Recovery Bill gives us the means to conquer unemployment with exactly the same weapon that we have used to strike down child labor.

If all employers will act together to shorten hours and raise wages we can put people back to work.

But if any considerable group should lag or shirk, this great opportunity will pass us by and we will go into another desperate winter.

There are, of course, men, a few of them who might thwart this great common purpose by seeking selfish advantage.

But, important as is this heartening demonstration, the richest field for results is among the small employers, those whose contribution will give new work for from one to ten people.

These smaller employers are indeed a vital part of the backbone of the country, and the success of our plans lies largely in their hands.

You can look on every employer who adopts the plan as one who is doing his part, and those employers deserve well of everyone who works for a living.

It will be clear to you, as it is to me, that while the shirking employer may undersell his competitor, the saving he thus makes is made at the expense of his country's welfare.

It is time for patience and understanding and cooperation.

The workers of this country have rights under this law which cannot be taken from them, and nobody will be permitted to whittle them away, but, on the other hand, no aggression is now necessary to attain those rights.

I cannot guarantee the success of this nationwide plan, but the people of this country can guarantee its success.

I have no sympathy with the professional economists who insist that things must run their course and that human agencies can have no influence on economic ills.

One reason is that I happen to know that professional economists have changed their definition of economic laws every five or ten years for a very long time, but I do have faith, and retain faith, in the strength of common purpose, and in…

That is why I am describing to you the simple purposes and the solid foundations upon which our program of recovery is built.

That is why I am asking the employers of the nation to sign this common covenant with me--to sign it in the name of patriotism and humanity.

That is why I am asking the workers to go along with us in a spirit of understanding and of helpfulness.

That does not mean, my friends, that I am satisfied, or that you are satisfied that our work is ended.

How are we constructing the edifice of recovery--the temple which, when completed, will no longer be a temple of money-changers or of beggars, but rather a temple dedicated to and maintained for a greater social justice, a greater welfare…

I have been amazed by the extraordinary degree of cooperation given to the government by the cotton farmers in the South, the wheat farmers of the West, the tobacco farmers of the Southeast, and I am confident that the corn-hog farmers of…

The problem we seek to solve had been steadily getting worse for twenty years, but during the last six months we have made more rapid progress than any nation has ever made in a like period of time.

Its object is to put industry and business workers into employment and to increase their purchasing power through increased wages.