Chat

Having with unwonted consideration first told Congress that there was a Depression and that he meant to cure it, a few hours later last week, the President told the country. Result was his twelfth "fireside chat," delivered from the diplomatic room of the

White House and punctuated by the ringing of a telephone bell in the police booth directly behind the President's desk.* Because it was concerned almost entirely with fiscal matters, because these were expressed largely by quotations of his earlier message and because the President's voice and manner were flatter, more perfunctory than usual, it was one of the dullest as well as the longest (4,860 words) on record. Nonetheless, it was not devoid of appealing imagery, an adroitly conciliatory reference to Business and a thoughtful little essay on the ideology of centralized government. Excerpts:

Prince of Peace. "I had hoped to be able to defer this talk until next week because, as we all know, this is Holy Week. In this decision I have been strengthened by the thought that by speaking tonight there may be greater peace of mind and that the hope of Easter may be more real at firesides everywhere, and that it is not inappropriate to encourage peace when so many of us are thinking of the Prince of Peace."

Dictatorships. "Democracy has disappeared in several other great nations-disappeared not because the people of those nations disliked democracy, but because they had grown tired of unemployment and insecurity, of seeing their children hungry while they sat helpless in the face of government confusion, government weakness, weakness through lack of leadership in government. Finally, in desperation, they chose to sacrifice liberty in the hope of getting something to eat."

No Bad Names. "There is placed on all of us the duty of self-restraint. . . . That is the discipline of a democracy. Every patriotic citizen must say to himself or herself that immoderate statement, appeals to prejudice, the creation of unkindness, are offenses . . . against the whole population of the United States."

Wages & Hours. "I am again expressing my hope that the Congress will enact at this session a wage-and-hour bill ... to insure a better distribution of our prosperity. . . ."

Profits. "It is essential in our economy that private funds must be put to work and all of us recognize that such funds are entitled to a fair profit. . . .

"I try not to forget that what really counts at the bottom of it all is that the men and women willing to work can have a decent job, a decent job to take care of themselves and their homes and their children adequately; that the farmer, the factory worker, the storekeeper, the gas station man, the manufacturer, the merchant--big and small--the banker who takes pride in the help that he can give to the building of his community--that all these can be sure of a reasonable profit and safety for the earnings that they make--not today nor tomorrow alone, but as far ahead as they can see."

Deep Water Sailor. "I believe we have been right in the course we have charted. I propose to sail ahead. I feel sure that your hopes, I feel sure your help are with me. For, to reach a port, we must sail--sail, not lie at anchor; sail, not drift."

*Said a reporter to Franklin Roosevelt the day after the broadcast: "We thought it was Major Bowes." The President replied that someone else had asked him if it was Mark Sullivan.

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