Seventh Firesider

At Franklin Roosevelt's radio fireside, the electorate has sat and imbibed faith in closed banks, in NRA, in the New Deal's monetary experiments. Last week he had more faith than ever to instill into the public: faith that the New Deal had helped the U. S., faith that its aims were intelligently chosen, faith in the specific measures that the New Deal still desires. Hence his seventh fireside chat, lasting 30 min., was his longest yet.

First he employed flattery to put both Congress and the people in a responsive mood. Of the Congress which has passed but one major measure in 17 weeks he declared: "The Congress . . . has made and is making distinct progress."

Of the bewildered electorate he boomed: "The overwhelming majority of people in this country know how to sift the wheat from the chaff in what they hear and what they read. . . . Americans as a whole are feeling a lot better--a lot more cheerful than for many, many years."

The President met his sharpest critics with his best illustrative technique. "The job of creating a program for the nation's welfare is, in some respects, like the building of a ship. At different points on the coast where I often visit they build great seagoing ships. When one of these ships is under construction and the steel frames have been set in the keel, it is difficult for a person who does not know ships to tell how it will finally look. ..."

But people could still wonder whether the naval architects knew how the Ship of State would finally look. That, explained the President, was why he took frequent trips to Hyde Park and the Caribbean. "To get away from the trees, as they say. and to look at the whole woods. . . . Did you ever stop to think that there are, after all, only two positions in the nation that are filled by the vote of all the voters-- the President and the Vice President? That makes it particularly necessary for the Vice President and for me to conceive of our duties toward the entire country."

Plunging into his central theme, President Roosevelt described the administrative set-up through which he will spend his five billion relief dollars (see p. 16), promised that the dirt would fly in short order.

The President bid for public support of his Social Security Bill by linking it with work relief as part of the New Deal attack on unemployment. "While our present and projected expenditures for work relief are wholly within the reasonable limits of our national credit resources, it is obvious that we cannot continue to create Governmental deficits for that purpose year after year. We must begin now to make provisions for the future. . . ."

Exposition finished, the President invited the entire population to share with him responsibility for seeing that his work relief billions are well spent. "This is a great national crusade to destroy enforced idleness. . . . Feel free to criticize, tell me of instances where work can be done better, or where improper practices prevail. . . ."

Few hours before the President went on the air, the National Association of Manufacturers, convening in Washington, issued a pronunciamento declaring that the threat of New Deal reform measures was all that blocked the pent-up surge of recovery. With a last-minute addition to his speech, President Roosevelt at once delivered a bold reply, outlined his "must" program of legislation, asked the electorate to help him prod Congress to action. Items:

NRA: "No reasonable person wants to abandon our present gains. . . ."

Utilities: "I consider this legislation a positive recovery measure. . . . The absentee management of unnecessary holding company control has lost touch with and has lost the sympathy of the communities it pretends to serve. ... A business that loses the confidence of its customers and the goodwill of the public cannot long continue to be a good risk for the investor. . . ."

Transportation: "There is need for ... measures for the strengthening of the Interstate Commerce Commission to enable it to carry out a rounded conception of the national transportation system in which the benefits of private ownership are retained, while the public stake in these important services is protected by the public's government."

Banking: "It was decided more than 20 years ago that the Government should assume the responsibility of providing a means by which the credit of the nation might be controlled, not by a few private banking institutions, but by a body with public prestige and authority. The answer to this demand was the Federal Reserve System. Twenty years of experience with this system have justified the efforts made to create it, but these 20 years have shown by experience definite possibilities for improvement. . . ."

Concluded the President cheerily: "Never since my inauguration in March 1933, have I felt so unmistakably the atmosphere of recovery. . . ."

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