The cooperative movement, which is gradually building the needed organization, is in harmony with public interest and therefore merits public encouragement.
Calvin Coolidge
The Public Record
Calvin Coolidge was the 30th President of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A member of the Republican Party, he was known for his quiet demeanor and strong support for business and limited government. Coolidge's presidency is often associated with the economic prosperity of the Roaring Twenties, and he famously advocated for a hands-off approach to the economy, believing that government should interfere as little as possible in the lives of citizens and businesses.
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Agriculture has lagged behind industry in achieving that unity of effort which modern economic life demands.
Hence putting the Government directly into business, subsidies, and price fixing, and the alluring promises of political action as a substitute for private initiative, should be avoided.
Temporary expedients, though sometimes capable of appeasing the demands of the moment, can not permanently solve the surplus problem and might seriously aggravate it.
Expenditure of public funds to bring in more new land should have most searching scrutiny, so long as our farmers face unsatisfactory prices for crops and livestock produced on land already under cultivation.
The Government should, however, provide reliable information as a guide to private effort; and in this connection fundamental research on prospective supply and demand, as a guide to production and marketing, should be encouraged.
In the past eight years more constructive legislation of direct benefit to agriculture has been adopted than during any other period.
The Government has been, and must continue to be, alive to the needs of agriculture.
The present status of agriculture, although greatly improved over that of a few years ago, bespeaks the need of further improvement which calls for determined effort of farmers themselves, encouraged and assisted by wise public policy.
The livestock industry has attained the best balance for many years and is prospering conspicuously.
It is the conception of our Government that the pension roll is an honor roll.
Our entire influence is in behalf of their independence.
We are more anxious than they are to have their sovereignty respected.
I wish to repeat again for the benefit of the timid and the suspicious that this country is neither militaristic nor imperialistic.
To insure our citizens against the infringement of their legal rights at home and abroad, to preserve order, liberty, and peace by making the law supreme, we have an Army and a Navy.
The advancement of world civilization likewise is dependent upon that order among the people of different countries which we term peace.
Unless and until that duty is met a government is not even eligible for recognition among the family of nations.
The first duty of our Government to its own citizens and foreigners within its borders is the preservation of order.
The observance of this covenant, so simple and so straightforward, promises more for the peace of the world than any other agreement ever negotiated among the nations.
But it is a new standard in the world around which can rally the informed and enlightened opinion of nations to prevent their governments from being forced into hostile action by the temporary outbreak of international animosities.
It is the most solemn declaration against war, the most positive adherence to peace, that it is possible for sovereign nations to make.
Our relations with Mexico are on a more satisfactory basis than at any time since their revolution.
I am certain that the Congress would not pass and I should not feel warranted in approving legislation which would involve us in that financial disgrace.
It is necessary therefore during the present session to refrain from new appropriations for immediate outlay, or if such are absolutely required to provide for them by new revenue; otherwise, we shall reach the end of the year with the…
If it is to be permanent, it must be made so by the repeated application of economy.
Politicians like Calvin Coolidge
