Too many blind people are condemned to a life of frustration because we have been willing to accept as fact that they can do no more.

Here on earth, God's work must truly be our own.

And I believe that we just must give a spur and an incentive and a desire for people to embrace rural life in America.

In the decade ahead we must accomplish more--much more--than in the decade past.

And today I want to announce the beginning of a Water for Peace program.

If science can unlock the door to an unlimited supply of pure and drinkable water, I think it will be an event in human history as significant as the harnessing of the atom.

Tonight, the President of the United States is going on record as naming this session of Congress the greatest in American history.

Above all, let us light the world of our blind citizens with opportunity.

We hope that this study will be a model for future cooperation among neighbors in all the regions of the world that are suffering from water shortage.

I have not been willing to accept that fact, and as long as I hold this Office of the Presidency I am going to try not to accept that fact.

I urge that we pray for God-given vision and determination to make the sacrifices demanded by our responsibilities to our fellow men in our own Nation and in other lands of this world.

Water is a prime necessity, for only if we have water can our growing populations ever be fed.

So, today, we have come here to proclaim October 15th as 'White Cane Day.'

So the bill that we are signing into law today is, we think, going to help bring these new water systems into being.

Well, now we are going to balance the ledger.

You have done more.

I do hereby proclaim October 15, 1965, as White Cane Safety Day.

I call upon all our citizens to join individually in this effort, that blind persons in our society may continue to enjoy a high degree of independence.