First. we must, through heavier taxes, keep personal and corporate
profits at a low reasonable rate.
Second. We must fix ceilings on prices and rents.
Third. We must stabilize wages.
Fourth. We must stabilize farm prices.
Fifth. We must put more billions into war bonds.
Sixth. We must ration all essential commodities which are scarce.
Seventh. We must discourage installment buying, and encourage
paying off debts and mortgages.
I do not think it is necessary to repeat what I said yesterday to
the Congress in discussing these general principles.
The important thing to remember is that each one of these points is
dependent on the others if the whole program is to work.
Some people are already taking the position that every one of the
seven points is correct except the one point which steps on their
own individual toes. A few seem very willing to approve self-
denial--on the part of their neighbors. The only effective course
of action is a simultaneous attack on all of the factors which
increase the cost of living, in one comprehensive, all-embracing
program covering prices, and profits, and wages, and taxes and
debts.
The blunt fact is that every single person in the United States is
going to be affected by this program. Some of you will be affected
more directly by one or two of these restrictive measures, but all
of you will be affected indirectly by all of them.
Are you a businessman, or do you own stock in a business
corporation? Well, your profits are going to be cut down to a
reasonably low level by taxation. Your income will be subject to
higher taxes. Indeed in these days, when every available dollar
should go to the war effort, I do not think that any American
citizen should have a net income in excess of $25,000 per year
after payment of taxes.
Are you a retailer or a wholesaler or a manufacturer or a farmer or
a landlord? Ceilings are being placed on the prices at which you
can sell your goods or rent your property.
Do you work for wages? You will have to forego higher wages for
your particular job for the duration of the war.
All of us are used to spending money for things that we want,
things, however, which are not absolutely essential. We will all
have to forego that kind of spending. Because we must put every
dime and every dollar we can possibly spare out of our earnings
into war bonds and stamps. Because the demands of the war effort
require the rationing of goods of which there is not enough to go
around. Because the stopping of purchases of non-essentials will
release thousands of workers who are needed in the war effort.
As I told the Congress yesterday, "sacrifice" is not exactly the
proper word with which to describe this program of self-denial.
When, at the end of this great struggle we shall have saved our
free way of life, we shall have made no "sacrifice."
The price for civilization must be paid in hard work and sorrow and
blood. The price is not too high. If you doubt it, ask those
millions who live today under the tyranny of Hitlerism.
Ask the workers of France and Norway and the Netherlands, whipped
to labor by the lash, whether the stabilization of wages is too
great a "sacrifice."
Ask the farmers of Poland and Denmark, of Czechoslovakia and
France, looted of their livestock, starving while their own crops
are stolen from their land, ask them whether "parity" prices are
too great a "sacrifice."
Ask the businessmen of Europe, whose enterprises have been stolen
from their owners, whether the limitation of profits and personal
incomes is too great a "sacrifice."
Ask the women and children whom Hitler is starving whether the
rationing of tires and gasoline and sugar is too great a
"sacrifice."
We do not have to ask them. They have already given us their
agonized answers.
This great war effort must be carried through to its victorious
conclusion by the indomitable will and determination of the people
as one great whole.
It must not be impeded by the faint of heart.
It must not be impeded by those who put their own selfish interests
above the interests of the nation.
It must not be impeded by those who pervert honest criticism into
falsification of fact.
It must not be impeded by self-styled experts either in economics
or military problems who know neither true figures nor geography
itself.
It must not be impeded by a few bogus patriots who use the sacred
freedom of the press to echo the sentiments of the propagandists in
Tokyo and Berlin.
And, above all, it shall not be imperiled by the handful of noisy
traitors--betrayers of America, betrayers of Christianity itself--
would-be dictators who in their hearts and souls have yielded to
Hitlerism and would have this Republic do likewise.
I shall use all of the executive power that I have to carry out the
policy laid down. If it becomes necessary to ask for any additional
legislation in order to attain our objective of preventing a spiral
in the cost of living, I shall do so.
I know the American farmer, the American workman, and the American
businessman. I know that they will gladly embrace this economy and
equality of sacrifice, satisfied that it is necessary for the most
vital and compelling motive in all their lives--winning through to
victory.
Never in the memory of man has there been a war in which the
courage, the endurance and the loyalty of civilians played so vital
a part.
Many thousands of civilians all over the world have been and are
being killed or maimed by enemy action. Indeed, it was the
fortitude of the common people of Britain under fire which enabled
that island to stand and prevented Hitler from winning the war in
1940. The ruins of London and Coventry and other cities are today
the proudest monuments to British heroism.
Our own American civilian population is now relatively safe from
such disasters. And, to an ever-increasing extent, our soldiers,
sailors and marines are fighting with great bravery and great skill
on far distant fronts to make sure that we shall remain safe.
I should like to tell you one or two stories about the men we have
in our armed forces:
There is, for example, Dr. Corydon M. Wassell. He was a missionary,
well known for his good works in China. He is a simple, modest,
retiring man, nearly sixty years old, but he entered the service of
his country and was commissioned a Lieutenant Commander in the
Navy.
Dr. Wassell was assigned to duty in Java caring for wounded
officers and men of the cruisers HOUSTON and MARBLEHEAD which had
been in heavy action in the Java seas.
When the Japanese advanced across the island, it was decided to
evacuate as many as possible of the wounded to Australia. But about
twelve of the men were so badly wounded that they could not be
moved. Dr. Wassell remained with these men, knowing that he would
be captured by the enemy. But he decided to make a last desperate
attempt to get the men out of Java. He asked each of them if he
wished to take the chance, and every one agreed.
He first had to get the twelve men to the sea coast--fifty miles
away. To do this, he had to improvise stretchers for the hazardous
journey. The men were suffering severely, but Dr. Wassell kept them
alive by his skill, and inspired them by his own courage.
And as the official report said, Dr. Wassell was "almost like a
Christ-like shepherd devoted to his flock."
On the sea coast, he embarked the men on a little Dutch ship. They
were bombed, they were machine-gunned by waves of Japanese planes.
Dr. Wassell took virtual command of the ship, and by great skill
avoided destruction, hiding in little bays and little inlets.
A few days later, Dr. Wassell and his small flock of wounded men
reached Australia safely.
And today Dr. Wassell wears the Navy Cross.
Another story concerns a ship, a ship rather than an individual
man.
You may remember the tragic sinking of the submarine, the U.S.S.
SQUALUS off the New England coast in the summer of 1939. Some of
the crew were lost, but others were saved by the speed and the
efficiency of the surface rescue crews. The SQUALUS itself was
tediously raised from the bottom of the sea.
She was repaired and put back into commission, and eventually she
sailed again under a new name, the U.S.S. SAILFISH. Today, she is a
potent and effective unit of our submarine fleet in the Southwest
Pacific.
The SAILFISH has covered many thousands of miles in operations in
those waters.
She has sunk a Japanese destroyer.
She has torpedoed a Japanese cruiser.
She has made torpedo hits--two of them--on a Japanese aircraft
carrier.
Three of the enlisted men of our Navy who went down with the
SQUALUS in 1939 and were rescued, are today serving on the same
ship, the U.S.S. SAILFISH, in this war.
It seems to me that it is heartening to know that the SQUALUS, once
given up as lost, rose from the depths to fight for our country in
time of peril.
One more story, that I heard only this morning:
This is a story of one of our Army Flying Fortresses operating in
the Western Pacific. The pilot of this plane is a modest young man,
proud of his crew for one of the toughest fights a bomber has yet
experienced.
The bomber departed from its base, as part or a flight of five
bombers, to attack Japanese transports that were landing troops
against us in the Philippines. When they had gone about halfway to
their destination, one of the motors of this bomber went out of
commission. The young pilot lost contact with the other bombers.
The crew, however, got the motor working, got it going again and
the plane proceeded on its mission alone.
By the time it arrived at its target the other four Flying
Fortresses had already passed over, had dropped their bombs, and
had stirred up the hornets' nest of Japanese "Zero" planes.
Eighteen of these "Zero" fighters attacked our one Flying Fortress.
Despite this mass attack, our plane proceeded on its mission, and
dropped all of its bombs on six Japanese transports which were
lined up along the docks.
As it turned back on its homeward journey a running fight between
the bomber and the eighteen Japanese pursuit planes continued for
75 miles. Four pursuit planes of the Japs attacked simultaneously
at each side. Four were shot down with the side guns. During this
fight, the bomber's radio operator was killed, the engineer's right
hand was shot off, and one gunner was crippled, leaving only one
man available to operate both side guns. Although wounded in one
hand, this gunner alternately manned both side guns, bringing down
three more Japanese "Zero" planes. While this was going on, one
engine on the American bomber was shot out, one gas tank was hit,
the radio was shot off, and the oxygen system was entirely
destroyed. Out of eleven control cables all but four were shot
away. The rear landing wheel was blown off entirely, and the two
front wheels were both shot flat.
The fight continued until the remaining Japanese pursuit ships
exhausted their ammunition and turned back. With two engines gone
and the plane practically out of control, the American bomber
returned to its base after dark and made an emergency landing. The
mission had been accomplished.
The name of that pilot is Captain Hewitt T. Wheless, of the United
States Army. He comes from a place called Menard, Texas--with a
population 2,375. He has been awarded the Distinguished Service
Cross. And I hope that he is listening.
These stories I have told you are not exceptional. They are typical
examples of individual heroism and skill.
As we here at home contemplate our own duties, our own
responsibilities, let us think and think hard of the example which
is being set for us by our fighting men.
Our soldiers and sailors are members of well disciplined units. But
they are still and forever individuals--free individuals. They are
farmers, and workers, businessmen, professional men, artists,
clerks.
They are the United States of America.
That is why they fight.
We too are the United States of America.
That is why we must work and sacrifice.
It is for them. It is for us. It is for victory.
September 7, 1942.
My Friends:
I wish that all the Americans people could read all the citations
for various medals recommended for our soldiers and sailors and
marines. I am picking out one of these citations which tells of the
accomplishments of Lieutenant John James Powers, United States
Navy, during three days of the battles with Japanese forces in the
Coral Sea.
During the first two days, Lieutenant Powers, flying a dive-bomber
in the face of blasting enemy anti-aircraft fire, demolished one
large enemy gunboat, put another gunboat out of commission,
severely damaged an aircraft tender and a twenty-thousand-ton
transport, and scored a direct hit on an aircraft carrier which
burst into flames and sank soon after.
The official citation then describes the morning of the third day
of battle. As the pilots of his squadron left the ready room to man
their planes, Lieutenant Powers said to them, "Remember, the folks
back home are counting on us. I am going to get a hit if I have to
lay it on their flight deck.
He led his section down to the target from an altitude of 18,000
feet, through a wall of bursting anti-aircraft shells and swarms of
enemy planes. He dived almost to the very deck of the enemy
carrier, and did not release his bomb until he was sure of a direct
hit. He was last seen attempting recovery from his dive at the
extremely low altitude of two hundred feet, amid a terrific barrage
of shell and bomb fragments, and smoke and flame and debris from
the stricken vessel. His own plane was destroyed by the explosion
of his own bomb. But he had made good his promise to "lay it on
their flight deck."
I have received a recommendation from the Secretary of the Navy
that Lieutenant John James Powers of New York City, missing in
action, be awarded the Medal of Honor. I hereby and now make this
award.
You and I are "the folks back home" for whose protection Lieutenant
Powers fought and repeatedly risked his life. He said that we
counted on him and his men. We did not count in vain. But have not
those men a right to be counting on us? How are we playing our part
"back home" in winning this war?
The answer is that we are not doing enough.
Today I sent a message to the Congress, pointing out the
overwhelming urgency of the serious domestic economic crisis with
which we are threatened. Some call it "inflation," which is a vague
sort of term, and others call it a "rise in the cost of living,"
which is much more easily understood by most families.
That phrase, "the cost of living," means essentially what a dollar
can buy.
From January 1, 1941, to May of this year, nearly a year and a
half, the cost of living went up about 15 percent. And at that
point last May we undertook to freeze the cost of living. But we
could not do a complete job of it, because the Congressional
authority at the time exempted a large part of farm products used
for food and for making clothing, although several weeks before, I
had asked the Congress for legislation to stabilize all farm
prices.
At that time I had told the Congress that there were seven elements
in our national economy, all of which had to be controlled; and
that if any one essential element remained exempt, the cost of
living could not be held down.
On only two of these points--both of them vital however--did I call
for Congressional action. These two vital points were: First,
taxation; and, second, the stabilization of all farm prices at
parity.
"Parity" is a standard for the maintenance of good farm prices. It
was established as our national policy way back in 1933. It means
that the farmer and the city worker are on the same relative ratio
with each other in purchasing power as they were during a period
some thirty years before--at a time then the farmer had a
satisfactory purchasing power. One hundred percent of parity,
therefore, has been accepted by farmers as the fair standard for
the prices they receive.
Last January, however, the Congress passed a law forbidding
ceilings on farm prices below 110 percent of parity on some
commodities. And on other commodities the ceiling was even higher,
so that the average possible ceiling is now about 116 percent of
parity for agricultural products as a whole.
This act of favoritism for one particular group in the community
increased the cost of food to everybody--not only to the workers in
the city or in the munitions plants, and their families, but also
to the families of the farmers themselves.
Since last May, ceilings have been set on nearly all commodities,
rents services, except the exempted farm products. Installment
buying, for example, has been effectively controlled.
Wages in certain key industries have been stabilized on the basis
of the present cost of living.
But it is obvious to all of us that if the cost of food continues
to go up, as it is doing at present, the wage earner, particularly
in the lower brackets, will have a right to an increase in his
wages. I think that would be essential justice and a practical
necessity.
Our experience with the control of other prices during the past few
months has brought out one important fact--the rising cost of
living can be controlled, providing that all elements making up the
cost of living are controlled at the same time. I think that also
is an essential justice and a practical necessity. We know that
parity prices for farm products not now controlled will not put up
the cost of living more than a very small amount; but we also know
that if we must go up to an average of 116 percent of parity for
food and other farm products--which is necessary at present under
the Emergency Price Control Act before we can control all farm
prices--the cost of living will get well out of hand. We are face
to face with this danger today. Let us meet it and remove it.
I realize that it may seem out of proportion to you to be over-
stressing these economic problems at a time like this, when we are
all deeply concerned about the news from far distant fields of
battle. But I give you the solemn assurance that failure to solve
this problem here at home--and to solve it now--will make more
difficult the winning of this war.
If the vicious spiral of inflation ever gets under way, the whole
economic system will stagger. Prices and wages will go up so
rapidly that the entire production program will be endangered. The
cost of the war, paid by taxpayers, will jump beyond all present
calculations. It will mean an uncontrollable rise in prices and in
wages, which can result in raising the overall cost of living as
high as another 20 percent soon. That would mean that the
purchasing power of every dollar that you have in your pay
envelope, or in the bank, or included in your insurance policy or
your pension, would be reduced to about eighty centsą worth. I need
not tell you that this would have a demoralizing effect on our
people, soldiers and civilians alike.
Overall stabilization of prices, and salaries, wages and profits is
necessary to the continued increasing production of planes and
tanks and ships and guns.
In my message to Congress today, I have said that this must be done
quickly. If we wait for two or three or four or six months it may
well be too late.
I have told the Congress that the administration cannot hold the
actual cost of food and clothing down to the present level beyond
October first.
Therefore, I have asked the Congress to pass legislation under
which the President would be specifically authorized to stabilize
the cost of living, including the price of all farm commodities.
The purpose should be to hold farm prices at parity, or at levels
of a recent date, whichever is higher. The purpose should also be
to keep wages at a point stabilized with today's cost of living.
Both must be regulated at the same time; and neither one of them
can or should be regulated without the other.
At the same time that farm prices are stabilized, I will stabilize
wages.
That is plain justice--and plain common sense.
And so I have asked the Congress to take this action by the first
of October. We must now act with the dispatch which the stern
necessities of war require.
I have told the Congress that inaction on their part by that date
will leave me with an inescapable responsibility, a responsibility
to the people of this country to see to it that the war effort is
no longer imperiled by the threat of economic chaos.
As I said in my message to the Congress:
In the event that the Congress should fail to act, and act
adequately, I shall accept the responsibility, and I will act.
The President has the powers, under the Constitution and under
Congressional Acts, to take measures necessary to avert a disaster
which would interfere with the winning of the war.
I have given the most careful and thoughtful consideration to
meeting this issue without further reference to the Congress. I
have determined, however, on this vital matter to consult with the
Congress.
There may be those who will say that, if the situation is as grave
as I have stated it to be, I should use my powers and act now. I
can only say that I have approached this problem from every angle,
and that I have decided that the course of conduct which I am
following in this case is consistent with my sense of
responsibility as President in time of war, and with my deep and
unalterable devotion to the processes of democracy.
The responsibilities of the President in wartime to protect the
nation are very grave. This total war, with our fighting fronts all
over the world, makes the use of the executive power far more
essential than in any previous war.
If we were invaded, the people of this country would expect the
President to use any and all means to repel the invader.
Now the revolution and the war between the states were fought on
our own soil, but today this war will be won or lost on other
continents and in remote seas. I cannot tell what powers may have
to be exercised in order to win this war.
The American people can be sure that I will use my powers with a
full sense of responsibility to the Constitution and to my country.
The American people can also be sure that I shall not hesitate to
use every power vested in me to accomplish the defeat of our
enemies in any part of the world where our own safety demands such
defeat.
And when the war is over, the powers under which I act will
automatically revert to the people of the United States--to the
people to whom those powers belong.
I think I know the American farmers. I know they are as
wholehearted in their patriotism as any other group. They have
suffered from the constant fluctuations of farm prices--
occasionally too high, more often too low. Nobody knows better than
farmers the disastrous effects of wartime inflationary booms, and
postwar deflationary panics.
So I have also suggested today that the Congress make our
agricultural economy more stable. I have recommended that in
addition to putting ceilings on all farm products now, we also
place a definite floor under those prices for a period beginning
now, continuing through the war, and for as long as necessary after
the war. In this way we will be able to avoid the collapse of farm
prices that happened after the last war. The farmers must be
assured of a fair minimum price during the readjustment period
which will follow the great, excessive world food demands which now
prevail.
We must have some floor under farm prices, as we must have under
wages, if we are to avoid the dangers of a postwar inflation on the
one hand, or the catastrophe of a crash in farm prices and wages on
the other.
Today I have also advised the Congress of the importance of
speeding up the passage of the tax bill. The federal treasury is
losing millions of dollars each and every day because the bill has
not yet been passed. Taxation is the only practical way of
preventing the incomes and profits of individuals and corporations
from getting too high.
I have told the Congress once more that all net individual incomes,
after payment of all taxes, should be limited effectively by
further taxation to a maximum net income of $25,000 a year. And it
is equally important that corporate profits should not exceed a
reasonable amount in any case.
The nation must have more money to run the war. People must stop
spending for luxuries. Our country needs a far greater share of our
incomes.
For this is a global war, and it will cost this nation nearly one
hundred billion dollars in 1943.
In that global war there are now four main areas of combat; and I
should like to speak briefly of them, not in the order of their
importance, for all of them are vital and all of them are
interrelated.
1. The Russian front. Here the Germans are still unable to gain the
smashing victory which, almost a year ago, Hitler announced he had
already achieved. Germany has been able to capture important
Russian territory. Nevertheless, Hitler has been unable to destroy
a single Russian Army; and this, you may be sure, has been, and
still is, his main objective. Millions of German troops seem doomed
to spend another cruel and bitter winter on the Russian front. Yes,
the Russians are killing more Nazis, and destroying more airplanes
and tanks than are being smashed on any other front. They are
fighting not only bravely but brilliantly. In spite of any setbacks
Russia will hold out, and with the help of her Allies will
ultimately drive every Nazi from her soil.
2. The Pacific Ocean Area. This area must be grouped together as a
whole--every part of it, land and sea. We have stopped one major
Japanese offensive; and we have inflicted heavy losses on their
fleet. But they still possess great strength; they seek to keep the
initiative; and they will undoubtedly strike hard again. We must
not overrate the importance of our successes in the Solomon
Islands, though we may be proud of the skill with which these local
operations were conducted. At the same time, we need not underrate
the significance of our victory at Midway. There we stopped the
major Japanese offensive.
3. In the Mediterranean and the Middle East area the British,
together with the South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders,
Indian troops and others of the United Nations, including
ourselves, are fighting a desperate battle with the Germans and
Italians. The Axis powers are fighting to gain control of that
area, dominate the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, and gain
contact with the Japanese Navy. The battle in the Middle East is
now joined. We are well aware of our danger, but we are hopeful of
the outcome.
4. The European area. Here the aim is an offensive against Germany.
There are at least a dozen different points at which attacks can be
launched. You, of course, do not expect me to give details of
future plans, but you can rest assured that preparations are being
made here and in Britain toward this purpose. The power of Germany
must be broken on the battlefields of Europe.
Various people urge that we concentrate our forces on one or
another of these four areas, although no one suggests that any one
of the four areas should be abandoned. Certainly, it could not be
seriously urged that we abandon aid to Russia, or that we surrender
all of the Pacific to Japan, or the Mediterranean and Middle East
to Germany, or give up an offensive against Germany. The American
people may be sure that we shall neglect none of the four great
theaters of war.
Certain vital military decisions have been made. In due time you
will know what these decisions are--and so will our enemies. I can
say now that all of these decisions are directed toward taking the
offensive.
Today, exactly nine months after Pearl Harbor, we have sent
overseas three times more men than we transported to France in the
first nine months of the first World War. We have done this in
spite of greater danger and fewer ships. And every week sees a gain
in the actual number of American men and weapons in the fighting
areas. These reinforcements in men and munitions are continuing,
and will continue to go forward.
This war will finally be won by the coordination of all the armies,
navies and air forces of all of the United Nations operating in
unison against our enemies.
This will require vast assemblies of weapons and men at all the
vital points of attack. We and our allies have worked for years to
achieve superiority in weapons. We have no doubts about the
superiority of our men. We glory in the individual exploits of our
soldiers, our sailors, our marines, our merchant seamen. Lieutenant
John James Powers was one of these--and there are thousands of
others in the forces of the United Nations.
Several thousand Americans have met death in battle. Other
thousands will lose their lives. But many millions stand ready to
step into their places--to engage in a struggle to the very death.
For they know that the enemy is determined to destroy us, our homes
and our institutions--that in this war it is kill or be killed.
Battles are not won by soldiers or sailors who think first of their
own personal safety. And wars are not won by people who are
concerned primarily with their own comfort, their own convenience,
their own pocketbooks.
We Americans of today bear the gravest of responsibilities. And all
of the United Nations share them.
All of us here at home are being tested--for our fortitude, for our
selfless devotion to our country and to our cause.
This is the toughest war of all time. We need not leave it to
historians of the future to answer the question whether we are
tough enough to meet this unprecedented challenge. We can give that
answer now. The answer is "Yes."
October 12, 1942.
My Fellow Americans:
As you know, I have recently come back from a trip of inspection of
camps and training stations and war factories.
The main thing that I observed on this trip is not exactly news. It
is the plain fact that the American people are united as never
before in their determination to do a job and to do it well.
This whole nation of 130,000,000 free men, women and children is
becoming one great fighting force. Some of us are soldiers or
sailors, some of us are civilians. Some of us are fighting the war
in airplanes five miles above the continent of Europe or the
islands of the Pacific--and some of us are fighting it in mines
deep down in the earth of Pennsylvania or Montana. A few of us are
decorated with medals for heroic achievement, but all of us can
have that deep and permanent inner satisfaction that comes from
doing the best we know how--each of us playing an honorable part in
the great struggle to save our democratic civilization.
Whatever our individual circumstances or opportunities--we are all
in it, and our spirit is good, and we Americans and our allies are
going to win--and do not let anyone tell you anything different.
That is the main thing that I saw on my trip around the country--
unbeatable spirit. If the leaders of Germany and Japan could have
come along with me, and had seen what I saw, they would agree with
my conclusions. Unfortunately, they were unable to make the trip
with me. And that is one reason why we are carrying our war effort
overseas--to them.
With every passing week the war increases in scope and intensity.
That is true in Europe, in Africa, in Asia, and on all the seas.
The strength of the United Nations is on the upgrade in this war.
The Axis leaders, on the other hand, know by now that they have
already reached their full strength, and that their steadily
mounting losses in men and material cannot be fully replaced.
Germany and Japan are already realizing what the inevitable result
will be when the total strength of the United Nations hits them--at
additional places on the earth's surface.
One of the principal weapons of our enemies in the past has been
their use of what is called "The War of Nerves." They have spread
falsehood and terror; they have started Fifth Columns everywhere;
they have duped the innocent; they have fomented suspicion and hate
between neighbors; they have aided and abetted those people in
other nations--including our own--whose words and deeds are
advertised from Berlin and from Tokyo as proof of our disunity.
The greatest defense against all such propaganda, of course, is the
common sense of the common people--and that defense is prevailing.
The "War of Nerves" against the United Nations is now turning into
a boomerang. For the first time, the Nazi propaganda machine is on
the defensive. They begin to apologize to their own people for the
repulse of their vast forces at Stalingrad, and for the enormous
casualties they are suffering. They are compelled to beg their
overworked people to rally their weakened production. They even
publicly admit, for the first time, that Germany can be fed only at
the cost of stealing food from the rest of Europe.
They are proclaiming that a second front is impossible; but, at the
same time, they are desperately rushing troops in all directions,
and stringing barbed wire all the way from the coasts of Finland
and Norway to the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, they are driven to increase the fury of their
atrocities.
The United Nations have decided to establish the identity of those
Nazi leaders who are responsible for the innumerable acts of
savagery. As each of these criminal deeds is committed, it is being
carefully investigated; and the evidence is being relentlessly
piled up for the future purposes of justice.
We have made it entirely clear that the United Nations seek no mass
reprisals against the populations of Germany or Italy or Japan. But
the ring leaders and their brutal henchmen must be named, and
apprehended, and tried in accordance with the judicial processes of
criminal law.
There are now millions of Americans in army camps, in naval
stations, in factories and in shipyards.
Who are these millions upon whom the life of our country depends?
What are they thinking? What are their doubts? What are their
hopes? And how is the work progressing?
The Commander-in-Chief cannot learn all of the answers to these
questions in Washington. And that is why I made the trip I did.
It is very easy to say, as some have said, that when the President
travels through the country he should go with a blare of trumpets,
with crowds on the sidewalks, with batteries of reporters and
photographers--talking and posing with all of the politicians of
the land.
But having had some experience in this war and in the last war, I
can tell you very simply that the kind of trip I took permitted me
to concentrate on the work I had to do without expending time,
meeting all the demands of publicity. And--I might add--it was a
particular pleasure to make a tour of the country without having to
give a single thought to politics.
I expect to make other trips for similar purposes, and I shall make
them in the same way.
In the last war, I had seen great factories; but until I saw some
of the new present-day plants, I had not thoroughly visualized our
American war effort. Of course, I saw only a small portion of all
our plants, but that portion was a good cross-section, and it was
deeply impressive.
The United States has been at war for only ten months, and is
engaged in the enormous task of multiplying its armed forces many
times. We are by no means at full production level yet. But I could
not help asking myself on the trip, where would we be today if the
government of the United States had not begun to build many of its
factories for this huge increase more than two years ago, more than
a year before war was forced upon us at Pearl Harbor?
We have also had to face the problem of shipping. Ships in every
part of the world continue to be sunk by enemy action. But the
total tonnage of ships coming out of American, Canadian and British
shipyards, day by day, has increased so fast that we are getting
ahead of our enemies in the bitter battle of transportation.
In expanding our shipping, we have had to enlist many thousands of
men for our Merchant Marine. These men are serving magnificently.
They are risking their lives every hour so that guns and tanks and
planes and ammunition and food may be carried to the heroic
defenders of Stalingrad and to all the United Nations' forces all
over the world.
A few days ago I awarded the first Maritime Distinguished Service
Medal to a young man--Edward F. Cheney of Yeadon, Pennsylvania--who
had shown great gallantry in rescuing his comrades from the oily
waters of the sea after their ship had been torpedoed. There will
be many more such acts of bravery.
In one sense my recent trip was a hurried one, out through the
Middle West, to the Northwest, down the length of the Pacific Coast
and back through the Southwest and the South. In another sense,
however, it was a leisurely trip, because I had the opportunity to
talk to the people who are actually doing the work--management and
labor alike--on their own home grounds. And it gave me a fine
chance to do some thinking about the major problems of our war
effort on the basis of first things first.
As I told the three press association representatives who
accompanied me, I was impressed by the large proportion of women
employed--doing skilled manual labor running machines. As time goes
on, and many more of our men enter the armed forces, this
proportion of women will increase. Within less than a year from
now, I think, there will probably be as many women as men working
in our war production plants.
I had some enlightening experiences relating to the old saying of
us men that curiosity--inquisitiveness--is stronger among woman. I
noticed, frequently, that when we drove unannounced down the middle
aisle of a great plant full of workers and machines, the first
people to look up from their work were the men--and not the women.
It was chiefly the men who were arguing as to whether that fellow
in the straw hat was really the President or not.
So having seen the quality of the work and of the workers on our
production lines--and coupling these firsthand observations with
the reports of actual performance of our weapons on the fighting
fronts--I can say to you that we are getting ahead of our enemies
in the battle of production.
And of great importance to our future production was the effective
and rapid manner in which the Congress met the serious problem of
the rising cost of living. It was a splendid example of the
operation of democratic processes in wartime.
The machinery to carry out this act of the Congress was put into
effect within twelve hours after the bill was signed. The
legislation will help the cost-of-living problems of every worker
in every factory and on every farm in the land.
In order to keep stepping up our production, we have had to add
millions of workers to the total labor force of the nation. And as
new factories came into operation, we must find additional millions
of workers.
This presents a formidable problem in the mobilization of manpower.
It is not that we do not have enough people in this country to do
the job. The problem is to have the right numbers of the right
people in the right places at the right time.
We are learning to ration materials, and we must now learn to
ration manpower. The major objectives of a sound manpower policy
are:
First, to select and train men of the highest fighting efficiency
needed for our armed forces in the achievement of victory over our
enemies in combat.
Second, to man our war industries and farms with the workers needed
to produce the arms and munitions and food required by ourselves
and by our fighting allies to win this war.
In order to do this, we shall be compelled to stop workers from
moving from one war job to another as a matter of personal
preference; to stop employers from stealing labor from each other;
to use older men, and handicapped people, and more women, and even
grown boys and girls, wherever possible and reasonable, to replace
men of military age and fitness; to train new personnel for
essential war work; and to stop the wastage of labor in all non-
essential activities.
There are many other things that we can do, and do immediately, to
help meet this manpower problem.
The school authorities in all the states should work out plans to
enable our high school students to take some time from their school
year, and to use their summer vacations, to help farmers raise and
harvest their crops, or to work somewhere in the war industries.
This does not mean closing schools and stopping education. It does
mean giving older students a better opportunity to contribute their
bit to the war effort. Such work will do no harm to the students.
People should do their work as near their homes as possible. We
cannot afford to transport a single worker into an area where there
is already a worker available to do the job.
In some communities, employers dislike to employ women. In others
they are reluctant to hire Negroes. In still others, older men are
not wanted. We can no longer afford to indulge such prejudices or
practices.
Every citizen wants to know what essential war work he can do the
best. He can get the answer by applying to the nearest United
States Employment Service office. There are four thousand five
hundred of these offices throughout the nation. They form the
corner grocery stores of our manpower system. This network of
employment offices is prepared to advise every citizen where his
skills and labors are needed most, and to refer him to an employer
who can utilize them to best advantage in the war effort.
Perhaps the most difficult phase of the manpower problem is the
scarcity of farm labor in many places. I have seen evidences of the
fact, however, that the people are trying to meet it as well as
possible.
In one community that I visited a perishable crop was harvested by
turning out the whole of the high school for three or four days.
And in another community of fruit growers the usual Japanese labor
was not available; but when the fruit ripened, the banker, the
butcher, the lawyer, the garage man, the druggist, the local
editor, and in fact every able-bodied man and woman in the town,
left their occupations and went out, gathered the fruit, and sent
it to market.
Every farmer in the land must realize fully that his production is
part of war production, and that he is regarded by the nation as
essential to victory. The American people expect him to keep his
production up, and even to increase it. We will use every effort to
help him to get labor; but, at the same time, he and the people of
his community must use ingenuity and cooperative effort to produce
crops, and livestock and dairy products.
It may be that all of our volunteer effort--however well
intentioned and well administered--will not suffice wholly to solve
this problem. In that case, we shall have to adopt new legislation.
And if this is necessary, I do not believe that the American people
will shrink from it.
In a sense, every American, because of the privilege of his
citizenship, is a part of the Selective Service.
The Nation owes a debt of gratitude to the Selective Service
boards. The successful operation of the Selective Service System
and the way it has been accepted by the great mass of our citizens
give us confidence that if necessary, the same principle could be
used to solve any manpower problem.
And I want to say also a word of praise and thanks to the more than
ten million people, all over the country, who have volunteered for
the work of civilian defense--and who are working hard at it. They
are displaying unselfish devotion in the patient performance of
their often tiresome and always anonymous tasks. In doing this
important neighborly work they are helping to fortify our national
unity and our real understanding of the fact that we are all
involved in this war.
Naturally, on my trip I was most interested in watching the
training of our fighting forces.
All of our combat units that go overseas must consist of young,
strong men who have had thorough training. An Army division that
has an average age of twenty-three or twenty-four is a better
fighting unit than one which has an average age of thirty-three or
thirty-four. The more of such troops we have in the field, the
sooner the war will be won, and the smaller will be the cost in
casualties.
Therefore, I believe that it will be necessary to lower the present
minimum age limit for Selective Service from twenty years down to
eighteen. We have learned how inevitable that is--and how important
to the speeding up of victory.
I can very thoroughly understand the feelings of all parents whose
sons have entered our armed forces. I have an appreciation of that
feeling and so has my wife.
I want every father and every mother who has a son in the service
to know--again, from what I have seen with my own eyes--that the
men in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps are receiving today the best
possible training, equipment and medical care. And we will never
fail to provide for the spiritual needs of our officers and men
under the Chaplains of our armed services.
Good training will save many, many lives in battle. The highest
rate of casualties is always suffered by units comprised of
inadequately trained men.
We can be sure that the combat units of our Army and Navy are well
manned, well equipped, and well trained. Their effectiveness in
action will depend upon the quality of their leadership, and upon
the wisdom of the strategic plans on which all military operations
are based.
I can say one thing about these plans of ours: They are not being
decided by the typewriter strategists who expound their views on
the radio or in the press.
One of the greatest of American soldiers, Robert E. Lee, once
remarked on the tragic fact that in the war of his day all of the
best generals were apparently working on newspapers instead of in
the Army. And that seems to be true in all wars.
The trouble with the typewriter strategists is that while they may
be full of bright ideas, they are not in possession of much
information about the facts or problems of military operations.
We, therefore, will continue to leave the plans for this war to the
military leaders.
The military and naval plans of the United States are made by the
Joint Staff of the Army and Navy which is constantly in session in
Washington. The Chiefs of this Staff are Admiral Leahy, General
Marshall, Admiral King and General Arnold. They meet and confer
regularly with representatives of the British Joint Staff, and with
representatives of Russia, China, the Netherlands, Poland, Norway,
the British Dominions and other nations working in the common
cause.
Since this unity of operations was put into effect last January,
there has been a very substantial agreement between these planners,
all of whom are trained in the profession of arms--air, sea and
land--from their early years. As Commander-in-Chief I have at all
times also been in substantial agreement.
As I have said before, many major decisions of strategy have been
made. One of them--on which we have all agreed--relates to the
necessity of diverting enemy forces from Russia and China to other
theaters of war by new offensives against Germany and Japan. An
announcement of how these offensives are to be launched, and when,
and where, cannot be broadcast over the radio at this time.
We are celebrating today the exploit of a bold and adventurous
Italian--Christopher Columbus--who with the aid of Spain opened up
a new world where freedom and tolerance and respect for human
rights and dignity provided an asylum for the oppressed of the Old
World.
Today, the sons of the New World are fighting in lands far distant
from their own America. They are fighting to save for all mankind,
including ourselves, the principles which have flourished in this
new world of freedom.
We are mindful of the countless millions of people whose future
liberty and whose very lives depend upon permanent victory for the
United Nations.
There are a few people in this country who, when the collapse of
the Axis begins, will tell our people that we are safe once more;
that we can tell the rest of the world to "stew in its own juice";
that never again will we help to pull "the other fellow's chestnuts
from the fire"; that the future of civilization can jolly well take
care of itself insofar as we are concerned.
But it is useless to win battles if the cause for which we fight
these battles is lost. It is useless to win a war unless it stays
won.
We, therefore, fight for the restoration and perpetuation of faith
and hope and peace throughout the world.
The objective of today is clear and realistic. It is to destroy
completely the military power of Germany, Italy and Japan to such
good purpose that their threat against us and all the other United
Nations cannot be revived a generation hence.
We are united in seeking the kind of victory that will guarantee
that our grandchildren can grow and, under God, may live their
lives, free from the constant threat of invasion, destruction,
slavery and violent death.
May 2, 1943.
My Fellow Americans:
I am speaking tonight to the American people, and in particular to
those of our citizens who are coal miners.
Tonight this country faces a serious crisis. We are engaged in a
war on the successful outcome of which will depend the whole future
of our country.
This war has reached a new critical phase. After the years that we
have spent in preparation, we have moved into active and continuing
battle with our enemies. We are pouring into the world-wide
conflict everything that we have--our young men, and the vast
resources of our nation.
I have just returned from a two weeks' tour of inspection on which
I saw our men being trained and our war materials made. My trip
took me through twenty states. I saw thousands of workers on the
production line, making airplanes, and guns and ammunition.
Everywhere I found great eagerness to get on with the war. Men and
women are working long hours at difficult jobs and living under
difficult conditions without complaint.
Along thousands of miles of track I saw countless acres of newly
ploughed fields. The farmers of this country are planting the crops
that are needed to feed our armed forces, our civilian population
and our Allies. Those crops will be harvested.
On my trip, I saw hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Young men who
were green recruits last autumn have matured into self-assured and
hardened fighting men. They are in splendid physical condition.
They are mastering the superior weapons that we are pouring out of
our factories.
The American people have accomplished a miracle.
However, all of our massed effort is none too great to meet the
demands of this war. We shall need everything that we have and
everything that our Allies have to defeat the Nazis and the
Fascists in the coming battles on the continent of Europe, and the
Japanese on the continent of Asia and in the islands of the
Pacific.
This tremendous forward movement of the United States and the
United Nations cannot be stopped by our enemies.
And equally, it must not be hampered by any one individual or by
the leaders of any one group here back home.
I want to make it clear that every American coal miner who has
stopped mining coal--no matter how sincere his motives, no matter
how legitimate he may believe his grievances to be--every idle
miner directly and individually is obstructing our war effort. We
have not yet won this war. We will win this war only as we produce
and deliver our total American effort on the high seas and on the
battle fronts. And that requires unrelenting, uninterrupted effort
here on the home front.
A stopping of the coal supply, even for a short time, would involve
a gamble with the lives of American soldiers and sailors and the
future security of our whole people. It would involve an
unwarranted, unnecessary and terribly dangerous gamble with our
chances for victory.
Therefore, I say to all miners--and to all Americans everywhere, at
home and abroad--the production of coal will not be stopped.
Tonight, I am speaking to the essential patriotism of the miners,
and to the patriotism of their wives and children. And I am going
to state the true facts of this case as simply and as plainly as I
know how.
After the attack at Pearl Harbor, the three great labor
organizations--the American Federation of Labor, the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, and the Railroad Brotherhoods--gave the
positive assurance that there would be no strikes as long as the
war lasted. And the President of the United Mine workers of America
was a party to that assurance.
That pledge was applauded throughout the country. It was a forcible
means of telling the world that we Americans--135,000,000 of us--
are united in our determination to fight this total war with our
total will and our total power.
At the request of employers and of organized labor--including the
United Mine Workers--the War Labor Board was set up for settling
any disputes which could not be adjusted through collective
bargaining. The War Labor Board is a tribunal on which workers,
employers and the general public are equally represented.
In the present coal crisis, conciliation and mediation were tried
unsuccessfully.
In accordance with the law, the case was then certified to the War
Labor Board, the agency created for this express purpose with the
approval of organized labor. The members of the Board followed the
usual practice which has proved successful in other disputes.
Acting promptly, they undertook to get all the facts of this case
from both the miners and the operators.
The national officers of the United Mine Workers, however, declined
to have anything to do with the fact-finding of the War Labor
Board. The only excuse that they offer is that the War Labor Board
is prejudiced.
The War Labor Board has been and is ready to give this case a fair
and impartial hearing. And I have given my assurance that if any
adjustment of wages is made by the Board, it will be made
retroactive to April first. But the national officers of the United
Mine Workers refused to participate in the hearing, when asked to
do so last Monday.
On Wednesday of this past week, while the Board was proceeding with
the case, stoppages began to occur in some mines. On Thursday
morning I telegraphed to the officers of the United Mine Workers
asking that the miners continue mining coal on Saturday morning.
However, a general strike throughout the industry became effective
on Friday night.
The responsibility for the crisis that we now face rests squarely
on these national officers of the United Mine Workers, and not on
the government of the United States. But the consequences of this
arbitrary action threaten all of us everywhere.
At ten o'clock yesterday morning the government took over the
mines. I called upon the miners to return to work for their
government. The government needs their services just as surely as
it needs the services of our soldiers, and sailors, and marines--
and the services of the millions who are turning out the munitions
of war.
You miners have sons in the Army and Navy and Marine Corps. You
have sons who at this very minute--this split second--may be
fighting in New Guinea, or in the Aleutian Islands, or Guadalcanal,
or Tunisia, or China, or protecting troop ships and supplies
against submarines on the high seas. We have already received
telegrams from some of our fighting men overseas, and I only wish
they could tell you what they think of the stoppage of work in the
coal mines.
Some of your own sons have come back from the fighting fronts,
wounded. A number of them, for example, are now here in an Army
hospital in Washington. Several of them have been decorated by
their government.
I could tell you of one from Pennsylvania. He was a coal miner
before his induction, and his father is a coal miner. He was
seriously wounded by Nazi machine gun bullets while he was on a
bombing mission over Europe in a Flying Fortress.
Another boy, from Kentucky, the son of a coal miner, was wounded
when our troops first landed in North Africa six months ago.
There is still another, from Illinois. He was a coal miner--his
father and two brothers are coal miners. He was seriously wounded
in Tunisia while attempting to rescue two comrades whose jeep had
been blown up by a Nazi mine.
These men do not consider themselves heroes. They would probably be
embarrassed if I mentioned their names over the air. They were
wounded in the line of duty. They know how essential it is to the
tens of thousands--hundreds of thousands--and ultimately millions
of other young Americans to get the best of arms and equipment into
the hands of our fighting forces--and get them there quickly.
The fathers and mothers of our fighting men, their brothers and
sisters and friends--and that includes all of us--are also in the
line of duty--the production line. Any failure in production may
well result in costly defeat on the field of battle.
There can be no one among us--no one faction powerful enough to
interrupt the forward march of our people to victory.
You miners have ample reason to know that there are certain basic
rights for which this country stands, and that those rights are
worth fighting for and worth dying for. That is why you have sent
your sons and brothers from every mining town in the nation to join
in the great struggle overseas. That is why you have contributed so
generously, so willingly, to the purchase of war bonds and to the
many funds for the relief of war victims in foreign lands. That is
why, since this war was started in 1939, you have increased the
annual production of coal by almost two hundred million tons a
year.
The toughness of your sons in our armed forces is not surprising.
They come of fine, rugged stock. Men who work in the mines are not
unaccustomed to hardship. It has been the objective of this
government to reduce that hardship, to obtain for miners and for
all who do the nation's work a better standard of living.
I know only too well that the cost of living is troubling the
miners' families, and troubling the families of millions of other
workers throughout the country as well.
A year ago it became evident to all of us that something had to be
done about living costs. Your government determined not to let the
cost of living continue to go up as it did in the first World War.
Your government has been determined to maintain stability of both
prices and wages--so that a dollar would buy, so far as possible,
the same amount of the necessities of life. And by necessities I
mean just that--not the luxuries, not the fancy goods that we have
learned to do without in wartime.
So far, we have not been able to keep the prices of some
necessities as low as we should have liked to keep them. That is
true not only in coal towns but in many other places.
Wherever we find that prices of essentials have risen too high,
they will be brought down. Wherever we find that price ceilings are
being violated, the violators will be punished.
Rents have been fixed in most parts of the country. In many cities
they have been cut to below where they were before we entered the
war. Clothing prices have generally remained stable.
These two items make up more than a third of the total budget of
the worker's family.
As for food, which today accounts for about another third of the
family expenditure on the average, I want to repeat again: your
government will continue to take all necessary measures to
eliminate unjustified and avoidable price increases. And we are
today taking measures to "roll back" the prices of meats.
The war is going to go on. Coal will be mined no matter what any
individual thinks about it. The operation of our factories, our
power plants, our railroads will not be stopped. Our munitions must
move to our troops.
And so, under these circumstances, it is inconceivable that any
patriotic miner can choose any course other than going back to work
and mining coal.
The nation cannot afford violence of any kind at the coal mines or
in coal towns. I have placed authority for the resumption of coal
mining in the hands of a civilian, the Secretary of the Interior.
If it becomes necessary to protect any miner who seeks
patriotically to go back and work, then that miner must have and
his family must have--and will have--complete and adequate
protection. If it becomes necessary to have troops at the mine
mouths or in coal towns for the protection of working miners and
their families, those troops will be doing police duty for the sake
of the nation as a whole, and particularly for the sake of the
fighting men in the Army, the Navy and the Marines--your sons and
mine--who are fighting our common enemies all over the world.
I understand the devotion of the coal miners to their union. I know
of the sacrifices they have made to build it up. I believe now, as
I have all my life, in the right of workers to join unions and to
protect their unions. I want to make it absolutely clear that this
government is not going to do anything now to weaken those rights
in the coal fields.
Every improvement in the conditions of the coal miners of this
country has had my hearty support, and I do not mean to desert them
now. But I also do not mean to desert my obligations and
responsibilities as President of the United States and Commander-
in-Chief of the Army and Navy.
The first necessity is the resumption of coal mining. The terms of
the old contract will be followed by the Secretary of the Interior.
If an adjustment in wages results from a decision of the War Labor
Board, or from any new agreement between the operators and miners,
which is approved by the War Labor Board, that adjustment will be
made retroactive to April first.
In the message that I delivered to the Congress four months ago, I
expressed my conviction that the spirit of this nation is good.
Since then, I have seen our troops in the Caribbean area, in bases
on the coasts of our ally, Brazil, and in North Africa. Recently I
have again seen great numbers of our fellow countrymen--soldiers
and civilians--from the Atlantic Seaboard to the Mexican border and
to the Rocky Mountains.
Tonight, in the fact of a crisis of serious proportions in the coal
industry, I say again that the spirit or this nation is good. I
know that the American people will not tolerate any threat offered
to their government by anyone. I believe the coal miners will not
continue the strike against their government. I believe that the
coal miners as Americans will not fail to heed the clear call to
duty. Like all other good Americans, they will march shoulder to
shoulder with their armed forces to victory.
Tomorrow the Stars and Stripes will fly over the coal mines, and I
hope that every miner will be at work under that flag.
July 28, 1943.
My Fellow Americans:
Over a year and a half ago I said this to the Congress: "The
militarists in Berlin, and Rome and Tokyo started this war, but the
massed angered forces of common humanity will finish it."