I see millions lacking the means to buy the products of farm and
factory and by their poverty denying work and productiveness to
many other millions.
I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.
It is not in despair that I paint you that picture. I paint it for
you in hope--because the Nation, seeing and understanding the
injustice in it, proposes to paint it out. We are determined to
make every American citizen the subject of his country's interest
and concern; and we will never regard any faithful law-abiding
group within our borders as superfluous. The test of our progress
is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have
much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too
little.
If I know aught of the spirit and purpose of our Nation, we will
not listen to Comfort, Opportunism, and Timidity. We will carry
on.
Overwhelmingly, we of the Republic are men and women of good will;
men and women who have more than warm hearts of dedication; men
and women who have cool heads and willing hands of practical
purpose as well. They will insist that every agency of popular
government use effective instruments to carry out their will.
Government is competent when all who compose it work as trustees
for the whole people. It can make constant progress when it keeps
abreast of all the facts.
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