(2 of 4)
"It is my belief that under this new constitutional practice the President should in every fourth year, insofar as seems reasonable, review the existing state of our national affairs and outline broad future problems, leaving specific recommendations for future legislation to be made by the President about to be inaugurated." Having settled that matter of precedent, Franklin Roosevelt settled down to what appeared to be almost such a workaday enumeration of the problems confronting the Government as Calvin Coolidge used to give. Chief difference was that the Roosevelt voice cloaked them with an aura of statesmanship. He mentioned that he would ask Congress for quick action to extend the expiring life of certain authorizations and powers (for example, RFC lending), to modify the Neutrality Act in order to provide an embargo against arms shipments to Spain, to pass a deficiency bill (to provide for Relief). He ticked off recommendations and reports on many subjects: Reorganization. "I find that this task of Executive management has reached the point where our administrative machinery needs comprehensive overhauling." Housing. "Many millions of Americans still live in habitations which not only fail to provide the physical benefits of modern civilization but breed disease. . . ." Tenancy— "I do not suggest that every farm family has the capacity to earn a satisfactory living on its own farm. But many thousands of tenant farmers—indeed most of them—with some financial assistance and with some advice and training, can be made self-supporting on land which can eventually belong to them." Social Security. "In many nations where such laws are in effect success in meeting the expectations of the community has come through frequent amendment of the original statute." NRA— Halfway through his speech, President Roosevelt had drawn numerous brief bursts of applause, had stirred his audience to no excitement. Then he came to the point which he wished to drive home: whether or not—all other opposition having been crushed—the Supreme Court was still to stand in the way of the New Deal. To approach it, he turned to the question of NRA: "Overproduction, underproduction and speculation are three evil sisters who distill the troubles of unsound inflation and disastrous deflation. . . . Sober second thought confirms most of us in the belief that the broad objectives of the National Recovery Act were sound. We know now that its difficulties arose from the fact that it tried to do too much. For example, it was unwise to expect the same agency to regulate the length of working hours, minimum wages, child labor and collective bargaining on the one hand and the complicated questions of unfair trade practices and business controls on the other.
"The statute of NRA has been outlawed. The problems have not. They are still with us." The Constitution. Loud and long was the applause greeting these sentiments.