FDR

In this same process of evolution we are keeping before us the objectives of protecting on the one hand industry against chiselers within its own ranks, and on the other hand the consumer through the maintenance of reasonable competition…

I have pointed out to the Congress that we are seeking to find the way once more to well-known, long-established but to some degree forgotten ideals and values.

We seek the security of the men, women and children of the nation.

That security involves added means of providing better homes for the people of the nation.

The second is to plan the use of land and water resources of this country to the end that the means of livelihood of our citizens may be more adequate to meet their daily needs.

And, finally, the third principle is to use the agencies of government to assist in the establishment of means to provide sound and adequate protection against the vicissitudes of modern life--in other words, social insurance.

I believe in practical explanations and in practical policies.

I believe that what we are doing today is a necessary fulfillment of what Americans have always been doing--a fulfillment of old and tested American ideals.

The simplicity and the strength of the structure remain in the face of every modern test.

It is this combination of the old and the new that marks orderly peaceful progress--not only in building buildings but in building government itself.

Other nations may sacrifice democracy for the transitory stimulation of old and discredited autocracies.

We are restoring confidence and well-being under the rule of the people themselves.

Its powers are granted by them, and are to be exercised directly on them, and for their benefits.

I am happy to report that after years of uncertainty, culminating in the collapse of the spring of 1933, we are bringing order out of the old chaos with a greater certainty of the employment of labor at a reasonable wage and of more…

Men may differ as to the particular form of governmental activity with respect to industry and business, but nearly all are agreed that private enterprise in times such as these cannot be left without assistance and without reasonable…

The country now enjoys the safety of bank savings under the new banking laws, the careful checking of new securities under the Securities Act and the curtailment of rank stock speculation through the Securities Exchange Act.

Only a very small minority of the people of this country believe in gambling as a substitute for the old philosophy of Benjamin Franklin that the way to wealth is through work.

Under these codes, in the industries covered, child labor has been eliminated.

The work day and the work week have been shortened.

Minimum wages have been established and other wages adjusted toward a rising standard of living.

Employed workers have not by any means all enjoyed a return to the earnings of prosperous times, although millions of hitherto underprivileged workers are today far better paid than ever before.

This is because of the establishment of fair, competitive standards and because of relief from unfair competition in wage cutting which depresses markets and destroys purchasing power.

There is no magic formula, no economic panacea, which could simply revive over-night the heavy industries and the trades dependent upon them.

We count, in the future as in the past, on the driving power of individual initiative and the incentive of fair private profit, strengthened with the acceptance of those obligations to the public interest which rest upon us all.

Another question arises as to whether in fixing minimum wages on the basis of an hourly or weekly wage we have reached into the heart of the problem which is to provide such annual earnings for the lowest paid worker as will meet his…