Our National Government is not doing as much as it legitimately can do to
promote the welfare of the people. Our enormous material wealth, our
institutions, our whole form of society, can not be considered fully
successful until their benefits reach the merit of every individual. This
is not a suggestion that the Government should, or could, assume for the
people the inevitable burdens of existence. There is no method by which we
can either be relieved of the results of our own folly or be guaranteed a
successful life. There is an inescapable personal responsibility for the
development of character, of industry, of thrift, and of self-control.
These do not come from the Government, but from the people themselves. But
the Government can and should always be expressive of steadfast
determination, always vigilant, to maintain conditions under which these
virtues are most likely to develop and secure recognition and reward. This
is the American policy.
It is in accordance with this principle that we have enacted laws for the
protection of the public health and have adopted prohibition in narcotic
drugs and intoxicating liquors. For purposes of national uniformity we
ought to provide, by constitutional amendment and appropriate legislation,
for a limitation of child labor, and in all cases under the exclusive
jurisdiction of the Federal Government a minimum wage law for women, which
would undoubtedly find sufficient power of enforcement in the influence of
public opinion.
Having in mind that education is peculiarly a local problem, and that it
should always be pursued with the largest freedom of choice by students and
parents, nevertheless, the Federal Government might well give the benefit
of its counsel and encouragement more freely in this direction. If anyone
doubts the need of concerted action by the States of the Nation for this
purpose, it is only necessary to consider the appalling figures of
illiteracy representing a condition which does not vary much in all parts
of the Union. I do not favor the making of appropriations from the National
Treasury to be expended directly on local education, but I do consider it a
fundamental requirement of national activity which, accompanied by allied
subjects of welfare, is worthy of a separate department and a place in the
Cabinet. The humanitarian side of government should not be repressed, but
should be cultivated.
Mere intelligence, however, is not enough. Enlightenment must be
accompanied by that moral power which is the product of the home and of
rebellion. Real education and true welfare for the people rest inevitably
on this foundation, which the Government can approve and commend, but which
the people themselves must create.