It is apparent that we are reaching into an era of great general
prosperity. It will continue only so long as we shall use it properly.
After all, there is but a fixed quantity of wealth in this country at any
fixed time. The only way that we can all secure more of it is to create
more. The element of time enters into production, If the people have
sufficient moderation and contentment to be willing to improve their
condition by the process of enlarging production, eliminating waste, and
distributing equitably, a prosperity almost without limit lies before its.
If the people are to be dominated by selfishness, seeking immediate riches
by nonproductive speculation and by wasteful quarreling over the returns
from industry, they will be confronted by the inevitable results of
depression and privation. If they will continue industrious and thrifty,
contented with fair wages and moderate profits, and the returns which
accrue from the development of oar natural resources, our prosperity will
extend itself indefinitely.
In all your deliberations you should remember that the purpose of
legislation is to translate principles into action. It is an effort to have
our country be better by doing better. Because the thoughts and ways of
people are firmly fixed and not easily changed, the field within which
immediate improvement can be secured is very narrow. Legislation can
provide opportunity. Whether it is taken advantage of or not depends upon
the people themselves. The Government of the United States has been created
by the people. It is solely responsible to them. It will be most successful
if it is conducted solely for their benefit. All its efforts would be of
little avail unless they brought more justice, more enlightenment, more
happiness and prosperity into the home. This means an opportunity to
observe religion, secure education, and earn a living under a reign of law
and order. It is the growth and improvement of the material and spiritual
life of the Nation. We shall not be able to gain these ends merely by our
own action. If they come at all, it will be because we have been willing to
work in harmony with the abiding purpose of a Divine Providence.
***
State of the Union Address
Calvin Coolidge
December 7, 1926
Members of the Congress:
In reporting to the Congress the state of the Union, I find it impossible
to characterize it other than one of general peace and prosperity. In some
quarters our diplomacy is vexed with difficult and as yet unsolved
problems, but nowhere are we met with armed conflict. If some occupations
and areas are not flourishing, in none does there remain any acute chronic
depression. What the country requires is not so much new policies as a
steady continuation of those which are already being crowned with such
abundant success. It can not be too often repeated that in common with all
the world we are engaged in liquidating the war.
In the present short session no great amount of new legislation is
possible, but in order to comprehend what is most desirable some survey of
our general situation is necessary. A large amount of time is consumed in
the passage of appropriation bills. If each Congress in its opening session
would make appropriations to continue for two years, very much time would
be saved which could either be devoted to a consideration of the general
needs of the country or would result in decreasing the work of legislation.
ECONOMY
Our present state of prosperity has been greatly promoted by three
important causes, one of which is economy, resulting in reduction and
reform in national taxation. Another is the elimination of many kinds of
waste. The third is a general raising of the standards of efficiency. This
combination has brought the perfectly astonishing result of a reduction in
the index price of commodities and an increase in the index rate of wages.
We have secured a lowering of the cost to produce and a raising of the
ability to consume. Prosperity resulting from these causes rests on the
securest of all foundations. It gathers strength from its own progress.
In promoting this progress the chief part which the National Government
plays lies in the field of economy. Whatever doubts may have been
entertained as to the necessity of this policy and the beneficial results
which would accrue from it to all the people of the Nation, its wisdom must
now be considered thoroughly demonstrated. It may not have appeared to be a
novel or perhaps brilliant conception, but it has turned out to be
preeminently sound. It has not failed to work. It has surely brought
results. It does not have to be excused as a temporary expedient adopted as
the lesser evil to remedy some abuse, it is not a palliative seeking to
treat symptoms, but a major operation for the, eradication at the source of
a large number of social diseases.
Nothing is easier than the expenditure of public money. It does not appear
to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on
somebody. But the results of extravagance are ruinous. The property of the
country, like the freedom of the country, belongs to the people of the
country. They have not empowered their Government to take a dollar of it
except for a necessary public purpose. But if the Constitution conferred
such right, sound economics would forbid it. Nothing is more, destructive
of the progress of the Nation than government extravagance. It means an
increase in the burden of taxation, dissipation of the returns from
enterprise, a decrease in the real value of wages, with ultimate stagnation
and decay. The whole theory of our institutions is based on the liberty and
independence of the individual. He is dependent on himself for support and
therefore entitled to the rewards of his own industry. He is not to be
deprived of what he earns that others may be benefited by what they do not
earn. What he saves through his private effort is not to be wasted by
Government extravagance.
Our national activities have become so vast that it is necessary to
scrutinize each item of public expenditure if we are to apply the principle
of economy. At the last session we made an immediate increase in the annual
budget of more than $100,000,000 in benefits conferred on the veterans of
three wars, public buildings, and river and harbor improvement. Many
projects are being broached requiring further large outlays. I am convinced
that it would be greatly for the welfare of the country if we avoid at the
present session all commitments except those of the most pressing nature.
From a reduction of the debt and taxes will accrue a wider benefit to all
the people of this country than from embarking on any new enterprise. When
our war debt is decreased we shall have resources for expansion. Until that
is accomplished we should confine ourselves to expenditures of the most
urgent necessity.
The Department of Commerce has performed a most important function in
making plans and securing support of all kinds of national enterprise for
the elimination of waste. Efficiency has been greatly promoted through good
management and the constantly increasing cooperation of the wage earners
throughout the whole realm of private business. It is my opinion that this
whole development has been predicated on the foundation of a protective
tariff.