I come before you this afternoon as an old Navy man with my heart full of pride for the United States Army.

It is to hasten the day when war is no longer the arbiter among nations.

We always just love to come to the great State of Illinois.

I don't think the day will come when Americans are ever afraid to fight for freedom.

So we are convinced that the development will make a material contribution to the economic well-being of this area.

I am particularly pleased to see the wide, representative character of organizations serving as sponsors--cooperatives and labor unions, settlement houses, veterans, civic groups, and especially churches.

It is then also that you can maintain controls that will keep out the unscrupulous few who might seek to exploit the program.

There is little in their normal experience that prepares them as sponsors of housing projects.

Their willingness to join forces with private enterprise and government in attacking the stubborn problem of housing the poor must be matched by our readiness to give them all the assistance we can.

It is gratifying to learn of the progress of the rent supplement program.

I shall continue to follow the rent supplement program with keen interest.

I want you to give the highest priority to whatever steps are necessary to maintain a system of assistance and surveillance.

Guidance by your Department during the formative stages of these projects can be critically important.

This is a new kind of venture for most of them.

I hoped you would ride tall in it.

Today we are pushing forward the frontiers of human aspirations and the needs of humankind.

Your success in making democracy work will strengthen the exercise of democracy elsewhere.

Your presence here symbolizes the ties which unite us and the common objectives we share.