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diff --git a/5035.txt b/5035.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb2533e --- /dev/null +++ b/5035.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1584 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of State of the Union Addresses of Warren +Harding, by Warren Harding + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: State of the Union Addresses of Warren Harding + +Author: Warren Harding + +Posting Date: December 3, 2014 [EBook #5035] +Release Date: February, 2004 +First Posted: April 11, 2002 +Last Updated: December 16, 2004 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESSES *** + + + + +Produced by James Linden. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + +State of the Union Addresses of Warren Harding + + + +The addresses are separated by three asterisks: *** + +Dates of addresses by Warren Harding in this eBook: + + December 6, 1921 + December 8, 1922 + + + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Warren Harding +December 6, 1921 + +MR. SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE CONGRESS: + +It is a very gratifying privilege to come to the Congress with the Republic +at peace with all the nations of the world. More, it is equally gratifying +to report that our country is not only free from every impending, menace of +war, but there are growing assurances of the permanency of the peace which +we so deeply cherish. + +For approximately ten years we have dwelt amid menaces of war or as +participants in war's actualities, and the inevitable aftermath, with its +disordered conditions, bits added to the difficulties of government which +adequately can not be appraised except by, those who are in immediate +contact and know the responsibilities. Our tasks would be less difficult if +we had only ourselves to consider, but so much of the world was involved, +the disordered conditions are so well-nigh universal, even among nations +not engaged in actual warfare, that no permanent readjustments can be +effected without consideration of our inescapable relationship to world +affairs in finance and trade. Indeed, we should be unworthy of our best +traditions if we were unmindful of social, moral, and political conditions +which are not of direct concern to us, but which do appeal to the human +sympathies and the very becoming interest of a people blest with our +national good fortune. + +It is not my purpose to bring to you a program of world restoration. In the +main such a program must be worked out by the nations more directly +concerned. They must themselves turn to the heroic remedies for the +menacing conditions under which they are struggling, then we can help, and +we mean to help. We shall do so unselfishly because there is compensation +in the consciousness of assisting, selfishly because the commerce and +international exchanges in trade, which marked our high tide of fortunate +advancement, are possible only when the nations of all continents are +restored to stable order and normal relationship. + +In the main the contribution of this Republic to restored normalcy in the +world must come through the initiative of the executive branch of the +Government, but the best of intentions and most carefully considered +purposes would fail utterly if the sanction and the cooperation of Congress +were not cheerfully accorded. + +I am very sure we shall have no conflict of opinion about constitutional +duties or authority. During the anxieties of war, when necessity seemed +compelling there were excessive grants of authority and all extraordinary +concentration of powers in the Chief Executive. The repeal of war-time +legislation and the automatic expirations which attended the peace +proclamations have put an end to these emergency excesses but I have the +wish to go further than that. I want to join you ill restoring-, ill the +most cordial way, the spirit of coordination and cooperation, and that +mutuality of confidence and respect which is necessary ill representative +popular government. + +Encroachment upon the functions of Congress or attempted dictation of its +policy are not to be thought of, much less attempted, but there is all +insistent call for harmony of purpose and concord of action to speed the +solution of the difficult problems confronting both the legislative and +executive branches of the Government. + +It is worth while to make allusion here to the character of our Clove +Government, mindful as one must be that an address to you is no less it +message to all our people, for whom you speak most intimately. Ours is it +popular Government through political parties. We divide along political +lines, and I would ever have it so. I do not mean that partisan preferences +should hinder any public servant in the performance of a conscientious and +patriotic official duty. We saw partisan lines utterly obliterated when war +imperiled, and our faith in the Republic was riveted anew. We ought not to +find these partisan lines obstructing the expeditious solution of the +urgent problems of peace. + +Granting that we are fundamentally a representative popular Government, +with political parties the governing agencies, I believe the political +party in power should assume responsibility, determine upon policies ill +the conference which supplements conventions and election campaigns, and +then strive for achievement through adherence to the accepted policy. + +There is vastly greater security, immensely more of the national +viewpoint, much larger and prompter accomplishment where our divisions are +along party lines, in the broader and loftier sense, than to divide +geographically, or according to pursuits, or personal following. For a +century and a third, parties have been charged with responsibility and held +to strict accounting. When they fail, they are relieved of authority; and +the system has brought its to a national eminence no less than a world +example. + +Necessarily legislation is a matter of compromise. The full ideal is seldom +attained. In that meeting of minds necessary to insure results, there must +and will be accommodations and compromises, but in the estimate of +convictions and sincere put-poses the supreme responsibility to national +interest must not be ignored. The shield to the high-minded public servant +who adheres to party policy is manifest, but the higher purpose is the good +of the Republic as a whole. + +It would be ungracious to withhold acknowledgment of the really large +volume and excellent quality of work accomplished by the extraordinary +session of Congress which so recently adjourned. I am not unmindful of the +very difficult tasks with which you were called to deal, and no one can +ignore the insistent conditions which, during recent years, have called for +the continued and almost exclusive attention of your membership to public +work. It would suggest insincerity if I expressed complete accord with +every expression recorded in your roll calls, but we are all agreed about +the difficulties and the inevitable divergence of opinion in seeking the +reduction, amelioration and readjustment of the burdens of taxation. Later +on, when other problems are solved, I shall make some recommendations about +renewed consideration of our tax program, but for the immediate time before +us we must be content with the billion dollar reduction in the tax draft +upon the people, and diminished irritations, banished uncertainty and +improved methods of collection. By your sustainment of the rigid economies +already inaugurated, with hoped-for extension of these economies and added +efficiencies in administration, I believe further reductions may be enacted +and hindering burdens abolished. + +In these urgent economies we shall be immensely assisted by the budget +system for which you made provision in the extraordinary session. The first +budget is before you. Its preparation is a signal achievement, and the +perfection of the system, a thing impossible in the few months available +for its initial trial, will mark its enactment as the beginning of the +greatest reformation in governmental practices since the beginning of the +Republic. + +There is pending a grant of authority to the administrative branch of the +Government for the funding and settlement of our vast foreign loans growing +out of our grant of war credits. With the hands of the executive branch +held impotent to deal with these debts we are hindering urgent +readjustments among our debtors and accomplishing nothing for ourselves. I +think it is fair for the Congress to assume that the executive branch of +the Government would adopt no major policy in dealing with these matters +which would conflict with the purpose of Congress in authorizing the loans, +certainly not without asking congressional approval, but there are minor +problems incident to prudent loan transactions and the safeguarding of our +interests which can not even be attempted without this authorization. It +will be helpful to ourselves and it will improve conditions among our +debtors if funding and the settlement of defaulted interest may be +negotiated. + +The previous Congress, deeply concerned in behalf of our merchant marine, +in 1920 enacted the existing shipping law, designed for the upbuilding of +the American merchant marine. Among other things provided to encourage our +shipping on the world's seas, the Executive was directed to give notice of +the termination of all existing commercial treaties in order to admit of +reduced duties on imports carried in American bottoms. During the life of +the act no Executive has complied with this order of the Congress. When the +present administration came into responsibility it began an early inquiry +into the failure to execute the expressed purpose of the Jones Act. Only +one conclusion has been possible. Frankly, Members of House and Senate, +eager its I am to join you in the making of an American merchant marine +commensurate with our commerce, the denouncement of our commercial +treaties would involve us in a chaos of trade relationships and add +indescribably to the confusion of the already disordered commercial world. +Our power to do so is not disputed, but power and ships, without comity of +relationship, will not give us the expanded trade which is inseparably +linked with a great merchant marine. Moreover, the applied reduction of +duty, for which the treaty denouncements were necessary, encouraged only +the carrying of dutiable imports to our shores, while the tonnage which +unfurls the flag on the seas is both free and dutiable, and the cargoes +which make it nation eminent in trade are outgoing, rather than incoming. + +It is not my thought to lay the problem before you in detail today. It is +desired only to say to you that the executive branch of the Government, +uninfluenced by the protest of any nation, for none has been made, is well +convinced that your proposal, highly intended and heartily supported here, +is so fraught with difficulties and so marked by tendencies to discourage +trade expansion, that I invite your tolerance of noncompliance for only a +few weeks until a plan may be presented which contemplates no greater draft +upon the Public Treasury, and which, though yet too crude to offer it +to-day, gives such promise of expanding our merchant marine, that it will +argue its own approval. It is enough to say to-day that we are so possessed +of ships, and the American intention to establish it merchant marine is so +unalterable, that a plain of reimbursement, at no other cost than is +contemplated in the existing act, will appeal to the pride and encourage +the hope of all the American people. + +There is before you the completion of the enactment of what has been termed +a "permanent" tariff law, the word "permanent" being used to distinguish +it from the emergency act which the Congress expedited early in the +extraordinary session, and which is the law today. I can not too strongly +urge in early completion of this necessary legislation It is needed to +stabilize our industry at home; it is essential to make more definite our +trade relations abroad. More, it is vital to the preservation of many of +our own industries which contribute so notably to the very lifeblood of our +Nation. + +There is now, and there always will be, a storm of conflicting opinion +about any tariff revision. We can not go far wrong when we base our tariffs +on the policy of preserving the productive activities which enhance +employment and add to our national prosperity. + +Again comes the reminder that we must not be unmindful of world conditions, +that peoples are struggling for industrial rehabilitation and that we can +not dwell in industrial and commercial exclusion and at the same time do +the just thing in aiding world reconstruction and readjustment. We do not +seek a selfish aloofness, and we could not profit by it, were it possible. +We recognize the necessity of buying wherever we sell, and the permanency +of trade lies in its acceptable exchanges. In our pursuit of markets we +must give as well as receive. We can not sell to others who do not produce, +nor can we buy unless we produce at home. Sensible of every obligation of +humanity, commerce and finance, linked as they are in the present world +condition, it is not to be argued that we need destroy ourselves to be +helpful to others. With all my heart I wish restoration to the peoples +blighted by the awful World War, but the process of restoration does not +lie in our acceptance of like conditions. It were better to, remain on firm +ground, strive for ample employment and high standards of wage at home, and +point the way to balanced budgets, rigid economies, and resolute, efficient +work as the necessary remedies to cure disaster. + +Everything relating to trade, among ourselves and among nations, has been +expanded, excessive, inflated, abnormal, and there is a madness in finance +which no American policy alone will cure. We are a creditor Nation, not by +normal processes, but made so by war. It is not an unworthy selfishness to +seek to save ourselves, when the processes of that salvation are not only +not denied to others, but commended to them. We seek to undermine for +others no industry by which they subsist; we are obligated to permit the +undermining of none of our own which make for employment and maintained +activities. + +Every contemplation, it little matters in which direction one turns, +magnifies the difficulty of tariff legislation, but the necessity of the +revision is magnified with it. Doubtless we are justified in seeking it. +More flexible policy than we have provided heretofore. I hope a way will be +found to make for flexibility and elasticity, so that rates may be adjusted +to meet unusual and changing conditions which can not be accurately +anticipated. There are problems incident to unfair practices, and to +exchanges which madness in money have made almost unsolvable. I know of no +manner in which to effect this flexibility other than the extension of the +powers of the Tariff Commission so that it can adapt itself to it +scientific and wholly just administration of the law. + +I am not unmindful of the constitutional difficulties. These can be met by +giving authority to the Chief Executive, who could proclaim-additional +duties to meet conditions which the Congress may designate. + +At this point I must disavow any desire to enlarge the Executive's powers +or add to the responsibilities of the office. They are already too large. +If there were any other plan I would prefer it. + +The grant of authority to proclaim would necessarily bring the Tariff +Commission into new and enlarged activities, because no Executive could +discharge such a duty except upon the information acquired and +recommendations made by this commission. But the plan is feasible, and the +proper functioning of the board would give its it better administration of +a defined policy than ever can be made possible by tariff duties prescribed +without flexibility. + +There is a manifest difference of opinion about the merits of American +valuation. Many nations have adopted delivery valuation as the basis for +collecting duties; that is, they take the cost of the imports delivered at +the port of entry as the basis for levying duty. It is no radical +departure, in view of varying conditions and the disordered state of money +values, to provide for American valuation, but there can not be ignored the +danger of such a valuation, brought to the level of our own production +costs, making our tariffs prohibitive. It might do so in many instances +where imports ought to be encouraged. I believe Congress ought well +consider the desirability of the only promising alternative, namely, a +provision authorizing proclaimed American valuation, under prescribed +conditions, on any given list of articles imported. + +In this proposed flexibility, authorizing increases to meet conditions so +likely to change, there should also be provision for decreases. A rate may +be just to-day, and entirely out of proportion six months from to-day. If +our tariffs are to be made equitable, and not necessarily burden our +imports and hinder our trade abroad, frequent adjustment will be necessary +for years to come. Knowing the impossibility of modification by act of +Congress for any one or a score of lines without involving a long array of +schedules, I think we shall go a long ways toward stabilization, if there +is recognition of the Tariff Commission's fitness to recommend urgent +changes by proclamation. + +I am sure about public opinion favoring the early determination of our +tariff policy. There have been reassuring signs of a business revival from +the deep slump which all the world has been experiencing. Our unemployment, +which gave its deep concern only a few weeks ago, has grown encouragingly +less, and new assurances and renewed confidence will attend the +congressional declaration that American industry will be held secure. + +Much has been said about the protective policy for ourselves making it +impossible for our debtors to discharge their obligations to us. This is a +contention not now pressing for decision. If we must choose between a +people in idleness pressing for the payment of indebtedness, or a people +resuming the normal ways of employment and carrying the credit, let us +choose the latter. Sometimes we appraise largest the human ill most vivid +in our minds. We have been giving, and are giving now, of our influence and +appeals to minimize the likelihood of war and throw off the crushing +burdens of armament. It is all very earnest, with a national soul +impelling. But a people unemployed, and gaunt with hunger, face a situation +quite as disheartening as war, and our greater obligation to-day is to do +the Government's part toward resuming productivity and promoting fortunate +and remunerative employment. + +Something more than tariff protection is required by American agriculture. +To the farmer has come the earlier and the heavier burdens of readjustment. +There is actual depression in our agricultural industry, while agricultural +prosperity is absolutely essential to the general prosperity of the +country. + +Congress has sought very earnestly to provide relief. It has promptly given +such temporary relief as has been possible, but the call is insistent for +the permanent solution. It is inevitable that large crops lower the prices +and short crops advance them. No legislation can cure that fundamental law. +But there must be some economic solution for the excessive variation in +returns for agricultural production. + +It is rather shocking to be told, and to have the statement strongly +supported, that 9,000,000 bales of cotton, raised on American plantations +in a given year, will actually be worth more to the producers than +13,000,000 bales would have been. Equally shocking is the statement that +700,000,000 bushels of wheat, raised by American farmers, would bring them +more money than a billion bushels. Yet these are not exaggerated +statements. In a world where there are tens of millions who need food and +clothing which they can not get, such a condition is sure to indict the +social system which makes it possible. + +In the main the remedy lies in distribution and marketing. Every proper +encouragement should be given to the cooperative marketing programs. These +have proven very helpful to the cooperating communities in Europe. In +Russia the cooperative community has become the recognized bulwark of law +and order, and saved individualism from engulfment in social paralysis. +Ultimately they will be accredited with the salvation of the Russian +State. + +There is the appeal for this experiment. Why not try it? No one challenges +the right of the farmer to a larger share of the consumer's pay for his +product, no one disputes that we can not live without the farmer. He is +justified in rebelling against the transportation cost. Given a fair +return for his labor, he will have less occasion to appeal for financial +aid; and given assurance that his labors shall not be in vain, we reassure +all the people of a production sufficient to meet our National requirement +and guard against disaster. + +The base of the pyramid of civilization which rests upon the soil is +shrinking through the drift of population from farm to city. For a +generation we have been expressing more or less concern about this +tendency. Economists have warned and statesmen have deplored. We thought +for at time that modern conveniences and the more intimate contact would +halt the movement, but it has gone steadily on. Perhaps only grim necessity +will correct it, but we ought to find a less drastic remedy. + +The existing scheme of adjusting freight rates hits been favoring the +basing points, until industries are attracted to some centers and repelled +from others. A great volume of uneconomic and wasteful transportation has +attended, and the cost increased accordingly. The grain-milling and +meat-packing industries afford ample illustration, and the attending +concentration is readily apparent. The menaces in concentration are not +limited to the retardingly influences on agriculture. Manifestly the. +conditions and terms of railway transportation ought not be permitted to +increase this undesirable tendency. We have a just pride in our great +cities, but we shall find a greater pride in the Nation, which has it +larger distribution of its population into the country, where comparatively +self-sufficient smaller communities may blend agricultural and +manufacturing interests in harmonious helpfulness and enhanced good +fortune. Such a movement contemplates no destruction of things wrought, of +investments made, or wealth involved. It only looks to a general policy of +transportation of distributed industry, and of highway construction, to +encourage the spread of our population and restore the proper balance +between city and country. The problem may well have your earnest +attention. + +It has been perhaps the proudest claim of our American civilization that in +dealing with human relationships it has constantly moved toward such +justice in distributing the product of human energy that it has improved +continuously the economic status of the mass of people. Ours has been a +highly productive social organization. On the way up from the elemental +stages of society we have eliminated slavery and serfdom and are now far on +the way to the elimination of poverty. + +Through the eradication of illiteracy and the diffusion of education +mankind has reached a stage where we may fairly say that in the United +States equality of opportunity has been attained, though all are not +prepared to embrace it. There is, indeed, a too great divergence between +the economic conditions of the most and the least favored classes in the +community. But even that divergence has now come to the point where we +bracket the very poor and the very rich together as the least fortunate +classes. Our efforts may well be directed to improving the status of both. + +While this set of problems is commonly comprehended under the general +phrase "Capital and labor," it is really vastly broader. It is a question +of social and economic organization. Labor has become a large contributor, +through its savings, to the stock of capital; while the people who own the +largest individual aggregates of capital are themselves often hard and +earnest laborers. Very often it is extremely difficult to draw the line of +demarcation between the two groups; to determine whether a particular +individual is entitled to be set down as laborer or as capitalist. In a +very large proportion of cases he is both, and when he is both he is the +most useful citizen. + +The right of labor to organize is just as fundamental and necessary as is +the right of capital to organize. The right of labor to negotiate, to deal +with and solve its particular problems in an organized way, through its +chosen agents, is just as essential as is the right of capital to organize, +to maintain corporations, to limit the liabilities of stockholders. Indeed, +we have come to recognize that the limited liability of the citizen as a +member of a labor organization closely parallels the limitation of +liability of the citizen as a stockholder in a corporation for profit. +Along this line of reasoning we shall make the greatest progress toward +solution of our problem of capital and labor. + +In the case of the corporation which enjoys the privilege of limited +liability of stockholders, particularly when engaged in in the public +service, it is recognized that the outside public has a large concern +which must be protected; and so we provide regulations, restrictions, and +in some cases detailed supervision. Likewise in the case of labor +organizations, we might well apply similar and equally well-defined +principles of regulation and supervision in order to conserve the public's +interests as affected by their operations. + +Just as it is not desirable that a corporation shall be allowed to impose +undue exactions upon the public, so it is not desirable that a labor +organization shall be permitted to exact unfair terms of employment or +subject the public to actual distresses in order to enforce its terms. +Finally, just as we are earnestly seeking for procedures whereby to adjust +and settle political differences between nations without resort to war, so +we may well look about for means to settle the differences between +organized capital and organized labor without resort to those forms of +warfare which we recognize under the name of strikes, lockouts, boycotts, +and the like. + +As we have great bodies of law carefully regulating the organization and +operations of industrial and financial corporations, as we have treaties +and compacts among nations which look to the settlement of differences +without the necessity of conflict in arms, so we might well have plans of +conference, of common counsel, of mediation, arbitration, and judicial +determination in controversies between labor and capital. To accomplish +this would involve the necessity to develop a thoroughgoing code of +practice in dealing with such affairs It might be well to frankly set forth +the superior interest of the community as a whole to either the labor group +or the capital group. With rights, privileges, immunities, and modes of +organization thus carefully defined, it should be possible to set up +judicial or quasi judicial tribunals for the consideration and +determination of all disputes which menace the public welfare. + +In an industrial society such as ours the strike, the lockout, and the +boycott are as much out of place and as disastrous in their results as is +war or armed revolution in the domain of politics. The same disposition to +reasonableness, to conciliation, to recognition of the other side's point +of view, the same provision of fair and recognized tribunals and processes, +ought to make it possible to solve the one set of questions its easily as +the other. I believe the solution is possible. + +The consideration of such a policy would necessitate the exercise of care +and deliberation in the construction of a code and a charter of elemental +rights, dealing with the relations of employer and employee. This +foundation in the law, dealing with the modern conditions of social and +economic life, would hasten the building of the temple of peace in industry +which a rejoicing nation would acclaim. + +After each war, until the last, the Government has been enabled to give +homes to its returned soldiers, and a large part of our settlement and +development has attended this generous provision of land for the Nation's +defenders. + +There is yet unreserved approximately 200,000,000 acres in the public +domain, 20,000,000 acres of which are known to be susceptible of +reclamation and made fit for homes by provision for irrigation. + +The Government has been assisting in the development of its remaining +lands, until the estimated increase in land values in the irrigated +sections is full $500,000,000 and the crops of 1920 alone on these lands +are estimated to exceed $100,000,000. Under the law authorization these +expenditures for development the advances are to be returned and it would +be good business for the Government to provide for the reclamation of the +remaining 20,000,000 acres, in addition to expediting the completion of +projects long under way. + +Under what is known as the coal and gas lease law, applicable also to +deposits of phosphates and other minerals on the public domain, leases are +now being made on the royalty basis, and are producing large revenues to +the Government. Under this legislation, 10 per centum of all royalties is +to be paid directly to the Federal Treasury, and of the remainder 50 per +centum is to be used for reclamation of arid lands by irrigation, and 40 +per centum is to be paid to the States, in which the operations are +located, to be used by them for school and road purposes. + +These resources are so vast, and the development is affording so reliable a +basis of estimate, that the Interior Department expresses the belief that +ultimately the present law will add in royalties and payments to the +treasuries of the Federal Government and the States containing these public +lands a total of $12,000,000,000. This means, of course, an added wealth of +many times that sum. These prospects seem to afford every justification of +Government advances in reclamation and irrigation. + +Contemplating the inevitable and desirable increase of population, there is +another phase of reclamation full worthy of consideration. There are +79,000,000 acres of swamp and cut-over lands which may be reclaimed and +made as valuable as any farm lands we possess. These acres are largely +located in Southern States, and the greater proportion is owned by the +States or by private citizens. Congress has a report of the survey of this +field for reclamation, and the feasibility is established. I gladly commend +Federal aid, by way of advances, where State and private participation is +assured. + +Home making is one of the greater benefits which government can bestow. +Measures are pending embodying this sound policy to which we may well +adhere. It is easily possible to make available permanent homes which will +provide, in turn, for prosperous American families, without injurious +competition with established activities, or imposition on wealth already +acquired. + +While we are thinking of promoting the fortunes of our own people I am sure +there is room in the sympathetic thought of America for fellow human beings +who are suffering and dying of starvation in Russia. A severe drought in +the Valley of the Volga has plunged 15,000,000 people into grievous famine. +Our voluntary agencies are exerting themselves to the utmost to save the +lives of children in this area, but it is now evident that unless relief is +afforded the loss of life will extend into many millions. America can not +be deaf to such a call as that. + +We do not recognize the government of Russia, nor tolerate the propaganda +which emanates therefrom, but we do not forget the traditions of Russian +friendship. We may put aside our consideration of all international +politics and fundamental differences in government. The big thing is the +call of the suffering and the dying. Unreservedly I recommend the +appropriation necessary to supply the American Relief Administration with +10,000,000 bushels of corn and 1,000,000 bushels of seed grains, not alone +to halt the wave of death through starvation, but to enable spring planting +in areas where the seed grains have been exhausted temporarily to stem +starvation. + +The American Relief Administration is directed in Russia by former officers +of our own armies, and has fully demonstrated its ability to transport and +distribute relief through American hands without hindrance or loss. The +time has come to add the Government's support to the wonderful relief +already wrought out of the generosity of the American private purse. + +I am not unaware that we have suffering and privation at home. When it +exceeds the capacity for the relief within the States concerned, it will +have Federal consideration. It seems to me we should be indifferent to our +own heart promptings, and out of accord with the spirit which acclaims the +Christmastide, if we do not give out of our national abundance to lighten +this burden of woe upon a people blameless and helpless in famine's peril. + +There are it full score of topics concerning which it would be becoming to +address you, and on which I hope to make report at a later time. I have +alluded to the things requiring your earlier attention. However, I can not +end this limited address without a suggested amendment to the organic law. + +Many of us belong to that school of thought which is hesitant about +altering the fundamental law. I think our tax problems, the tendency of +wealth to seek nontaxable investment, and the menacing increase of public +debt, Federal, State and municipal-all justify a proposal to change the +Constitution so as to end the issue of nontaxable bonds. No action can +change the status of the many billions outstanding, but we can guard +against future encouragement of capital's paralysis, while a halt in the +growth of public indebtedness would be beneficial throughout our whole +land. + +Such a change in the Constitution must be very thoroughly considered before +submission. There ought to be known what influence it will have on the +inevitable refunding of our vast national debt, how it will operate on the +necessary refunding of State and municipal debt, how the advantages of +Nation over State and municipality, or the contrary, may be avoided. +Clearly the States would not ratify to their own apparent disadvantage. I +suggest the consideration because the drift of wealth into nontaxable +securities is hindering the flow of large capital to our industries, +manufacturing, agricultural, and carrying, until we are discouraging the +very activities which make our wealth. + +Agreeable to your expressed desire and in complete accord with the purposes +of the executive branch of the Government, there is in Washington, as you +happily know, an International Conference now most earnestly at work on +plans for the limitation of armament, a naval holiday, and the just +settlement of problems which might develop into causes of international +disagreement. + +It is easy to believe a world-hope is centered on this Capital City. A most +gratifying world-accomplishment is not improbable. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Warren Harding +December 8, 1922 + +MEMBERS OF THE CONGRESS: + +So many problems are calling for solution that a recital of all of them, in +the face of the known limitations of a short session of Congress, would +seem to lack sincerity of purpose. It is four years since the World War +ended, but the inevitable readjustment of the social and economic order is +not more than barely begun. There is no acceptance of pre-war conditions +anywhere in the world. In a very general way humanity harbors individual +wishes to go on with war-time compensation for production, with pre-war +requirements in expenditure. In short, everyone, speaking broadly, craves +readjustment for everybody except himself, while there can be no just and +permanent readjustment except when all participate. + +The civilization which measured its strength of genius and the power of +science and the resources of industries, in addition to testing the limits +of man power and the endurance and heroism of men and women--that same +civilization is brought to its severest test in restoring a tranquil order +and committing humanity to the stable ways of peace. + +If the sober and deliberate appraisal of pre-war civilization makes it seem +a worth-while inheritance, then with patience and good courage it will be +preserved. There never again will be precisely the old order; indeed, I +know of no one who thinks it to be desirable For out of the old order came +the war itself, and the new order, established and made secure, never will +permit its recurrence. + +It is no figure of speech to say we have come to the test of Our +civilization. The world has been passing--is today passing through of a +great crisis. The conduct of war itself is not more difficult than the +solution of the problems which necessarily follow. I am not speaking at +this moment of the problem in its wider aspect of world rehabilitation or +of international relationships. The reference is to our own social, +financial, and economic problems at home. These things are not to be +considered solely as problems apart from all international relationship, +but every nation must be able to carry on for itself, else its +international relationship will have scant importance. + +Doubtless our own people have emerged from the World War tumult less +impaired than most belligerent powers; probably we have made larger +progress toward reconstruction. Surely we have been fortunate in +diminishing unemployment, and our industrial and business activities, which +are the lifeblood of our material existence, have been restored as in no +other reconstruction period of like length in the history of the world. Had +we escaped the coal and railway strikes, which had no excuse for their +beginning and less justification for their delayed settlement, we should +have done infinitely better. But labor was insistent on holding to the war +heights, and heedless forces of reaction sought the pre-war levels, and +both were wrong. In the folly of conflict our progress was hindered, and +the heavy cost has not yet been fully estimated. There can be neither +adjustment nor the penalty of the failure to readjust in which all do not +somehow participate. + +The railway strike accentuated the difficulty of the American farmer. The +first distress of readjustment came to the farmer, and it will not be a +readjustment fit to abide until he is relieved. The distress brought to the +farmer does not affect him alone. Agricultural ill fortune is a national +ill fortune. That one-fourth of our population which produces the food of +the Republic and adds so largely to our export commerce must participate in +the good fortunes of the Nation, else there is none worth retaining. + +Agriculture is a vital activity in our national life. In it we had our +beginning, and its westward march with the star of the empire has reflected +the growth of the Republic. It has its vicissitudes which no legislation +will prevent, its hardships for which no law can provide escape. But the +Congress can make available to the farmer the financial facilities which +have been built up under Government aid and supervision for other +commercial and industrial enterprises. It may be done on the same solid +fundamentals and make the vitally important agricultural industry more +secure, and it must be done. + +This Congress already has taken cognizance of the misfortune which +precipitate deflation brought to American agriculture. Your measures of +relief and the reduction of the Federal reserve discount rate undoubtedly +saved the country from widespread disaster. The very proof of helpfulness +already given is the strongest argument for the permanent establishment of +widened credits, heretofore temporarily extended through the War Finance +Corporation. + +The Farm Loan Bureau, which already has proven its usefulness through the +Federal land banks, may well have its powers enlarged to provide ample farm +production credits as well as enlarged land credits. It is entirely +practical to create a division in the Federal land banks to deal with +production credits, with the limitations of time so adjusted to the farm +turnover as the Federal reserve system provides for the turnover in the +manufacturing and mercantile world. Special provision must be made for +live-stock production credits, and the limit of land loans may be safely +enlarged. Various measures are pending before you, and the best judgment of +Congress ought to be expressed in a prompt enactment at the present +session. + +But American agriculture needs more than added credit facilities. The +credits will help to solve the pressing problems growing out of +war-inflated land values and the drastic deflation of three years ago, but +permanent and deserved agricultural good fortune depends on better and +cheaper transportation. + +Here is an outstanding problem, demanding the most rigorous consideration +of the Congress and the country. It has to do with more than agriculture. +It provides the channel for the flow of the country's commerce. But the +farmer is particularly hard hit. His market, so affected by the world +consumption, does not admit of the price adjustment to meet carrying +charges. In the last half of the year now closing the railways, broken in +carrying capacity because of motive power and rolling stock out of order, +though insistently declaring to the contrary, embargoed his shipments or +denied him cars when fortunate markets were calling. Too frequently +transportation failed while perishable products were turning from possible +profit to losses counted in tens of millions. + +I know of no problem exceeding in importance this one of transportation. In +our complex and interdependent modern life transportation is essential to +our very existence. Let us pass for the moment the menace in the possible +paralysis of such service as we have and note the failure, for whatever +reason, to expand our transportation to meet the Nation's needs. + +The census of 1880 recorded a population of 50,000,000. In two decades more +we may reasonably expect to count thrice that number. In the three decades +ending in 1920 the country's freight by rail increased from 631,000,000 +tons to 2,234,000,000 tons; that is to say, while our population was +increasing, less than 70 per cent, the freight movement increased over 250 +per cent. + +We have built 40 per cent of the world's railroad mileage, and yet find it +inadequate to our present requirements. When we contemplate the inadequacy +of to-day it is easy to believe that the next few decades will witness the +paralysis of our transportation-using social scheme or a complete +reorganization on some new basis. Mindful of the tremendous costs of +betterments, extensions, and expansions, and mindful of the staggering +debts of the world to-day, the difficulty is magnified. Here is a problem +demanding wide vision and the avoidance of mere makeshifts. No matter what +the errors of the past, no matter how we acclaimed construction and then +condemned operations in the past, we have the transportation and the honest +investment in the transportation which sped us on to what we are, and we +face conditions which reflect its inadequacy to-day, its greater inadequacy +to-morrow, and we contemplate transportation costs which much of the +traffic can not and will not continue to pay. + +Manifestly, we have need to begin on plans to coordinate all transportation +facilities. We should more effectively connect up our rail lines with our +carriers by sea. We ought to reap some benefit from the hundreds of +millions expended on inland waterways, proving our capacity to utilize as +well as expend. We ought to turn the motor truck into a railway feeder and +distributor instead of a destroying competitor. + +It would be folly to ignore that we live in a motor age. The motor car +reflects our standard of living and gauges the speed of our present-day +life. It long ago ran down Simple Living, and never halted to inquire about +the prostrate figure which fell as its victim. With full recognition of +motor-car transportation we must turn it to the most practical use. It can +not supersede the railway lines, no matter how generously we afford it +highways out of the Public Treasury. If freight traffic by motor were +charged with its proper and proportionate share of highway construction, we +should find much of it wasteful and more costly than like service by rail. +Yet we have paralleled the railways, a most natural line of construction, +and thereby taken away from the agency of expected service much of its +profitable traffic, which the taxpayers have been providing the highways, +whose cost of maintenance is not yet realized. + +The Federal Government has a right to inquire into the wisdom of this +policy, because the National Treasury is contributing largely to this +highway construction. Costly highways ought to be made to serve as feeders +rather than competitors of the railroads, and the motor truck should become +a coordinate factor in our great distributing system. + +This transportation problem can not be waived aside. The demand for lowered +costs on farm products and basic materials can not be ignored. Rates +horizontally increased, to meet increased wage outlays during the war +inflation, are not easily reduced. When some very moderate wage reductions +were effected last summer there was a 5 per cent horizontal reduction in +rates. I sought at that time, in a very informal way, to have the railway +managers go before the Interstate Commerce Commission and agree to a +heavier reduction on farm products and coal and other basic commodities, +and leave unchanged the freight tariffs which a very large portion of the +traffic was able to bear. Neither the managers nor the commission tile@@ +suggestion, so we had the horizontal reduction saw fit to adopt too slight +to be felt by the higher class cargoes and too little to benefit the heavy +tonnage calling most loudly for relief. + +Railways are not to be expected to render the most essential service in our +social organization without a air return on capital invested, but the +Government has gone so far in the regulation of rates and rules of +operation that it has the responsibility of pointing the way to the reduced +freight costs so essential to our national welfare. + +Government operation does not afford the cure. It was Government operation +which brought us to the very order of things against which we now rebel, +and we are still liquidating the costs of that supreme folly. + +Surely the genius of the railway builders has not become extinct among the +railway managers. New economies, new efficiencies in cooperation must be +found. The fact that labor takes 50 to 60 per cent of total railway +earnings makes limitations within which to effect economies very difficult, +but the demand is no less insistent on that account. + +Clearly the managers are without that intercarrier, cooperative +relationship so highly essential to the best and most economical operation. +They could not function in harmony when the strike threatened the paralysis +of all railway transportation. The relationship of the service to public +welfare, so intimately affected by State and Federal regulation, demands +the effective correlation and a concerted drive to meet an insistent and +justified public demand. + +The merger of lines into systems, a facilitated interchange of freight +cars, the economic use of terminals, and the consolidation of facilities +are suggested ways of economy and efficiency. + +I remind you that Congress provided a Joint Commission of Agricultural +Inquiry which made an exhaustive investigation of car service and +transportation, and unanimously recommended in its report of October 15, +1921, the pooling of freight cars under a central agency. This report well +deserves your serious consideration. I think well of the central agency, +which shall be a creation of the railways themselves, to provide, under the +jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission, the means for financing +equipment for carriers which are otherwise unable to provide their +proportion of car equipment adequate to transportation needs. This same +agency ought to point the way to every possible economy in maintained +equipment and the necessary interchanges in railway commerce. + +In a previous address to the Congress I called to your attention the +insufficiency of power to enforce the decisions of the Railroad Labor +Board. Carriers have ignored its decisions, on the one hand, railway +workmen have challenged its decisions by a strike, on the other hand. + +The intent of Congress to establish a tribunal to which railway labor and +managers may appeal respecting questions of wages and working conditions +can not be too strongly commended. It is vitally important that some such +agency should be a guaranty against suspended operation. The public must be +spared even the threat of discontinued service. + +Sponsoring the railroads as we do, it is an obligation that labor shall be +assured the highest justice and every proper consideration of wage and +working conditions, but it is an equal obligation to see that no concerted +action in forcing demands shall deprive the public of the transportation +service essential to its very existence. It is now impossible to safeguard +public interest, because the decrees of the board are unenforceable against +either employer or employee. + +The Labor Board itself is not so constituted as best to serve the public +interest. With six partisan members on a board of nine, three partisans +nominated by the employees and three by the railway managers, it is +inevitable that the partisan viewpoint is maintained throughout hearings +and in decisions handed down. Indeed, the few exceptions to a strictly +partisan expression in decisions thus far rendered have been followed by +accusations of betrayal of the partisan interests represented. Only the +public group of three is free to function in unbiased decisions. Therefore +the partisan membership may well be abolished, and decisions should be made +by an impartial tribunal. + +I am well convinced that the functions of this tribunal could be much +better carried on here in Washington. Even were it to be continued as a +separate tribunal, there ought to be contact with the Interstate Commerce +Commission, which has supreme authority in the rate making to which wage +cost bears an indissoluble relationship Theoretically, a fair and living +wage must be determined quite apart from the employer's earning capacity, +but in practice, in the railway service, they are inseparable. The record +of advanced rates to meet increased wages, both determined by the +Government, is proof enough. + +The substitution of a labor division in the Interstate Commerce Commission +made up from its membership, to hear and decide disputes relating to wages +and working conditions which have failed of adjustment by proper committees +created by the railways and their employees, offers a more effective plan. + +It need not be surprising that there is dissatisfaction over delayed +hearings and decisions by the present board when every trivial dispute is +carried to that tribunal. The law should require the railroads and their +employees to institute means and methods to negotiate between themselves +their constantly arising differences, limiting appeals to the Government +tribunal to disputes of such character as are likely to affect the public +welfare. + +This suggested substitution will involve a necessary increase in the +membership of the commission, probably four, to constitute the labor +division. If the suggestion appeals to the Congress, it will be well to +specify that the labor division shall be constituted of representatives of +the four rate-making territories, thereby assuring a tribunal conversant +with the conditions which obtain in the different ratemaking sections of +the country. + +I wish I could bring to you the precise recommendation for the prevention +of strikes which threaten the welfare of the people and menace public +safety. It is an impotent civilization and an inadequate government which +lacks the genius and the courage to guard against such a menace to public +welfare as we experienced last summer. You were aware of the Government's +great concern and its futile attempt to aid in an adjustment. It will +reveal the inexcusable obstinacy which was responsible for so much distress +to the country to recall now that, though all disputes are not yet +adjusted, the many settlements which have been made were on the terms which +the Government proposed in mediation. + +Public interest demands that ample power shall be conferred upon the. labor +tribunal, whether it is the present board or the suggested substitute, to +require its rulings to be accepted by both parties to a disputed question. + +Let there be no confusion about the purpose of the suggested conferment of +power to make decisions effective. There can be no denial of constitutional +rights of either railway workmen or railway managers. No man can be denied +his right to labor when and how he chooses, or cease to labor when he so +elects, but, since the Government assumes to safeguard his interests while +employed in an essential public service, the security of society itself +demands his retirement from the service shall not be so timed and related +as to effect the destruction of that service. This vitally essential public +transportation service, demanding so much of brain and brawn, so much for +efficiency and security, ought to offer the most attractive working +conditions and the highest of wages paid to workmen in any employment. + +In essentially every branch, from track repairer to the man at the +locomotive throttle, the railroad worker is responsible for the safety of +human lives and the care of vast property. His high responsibility might +well rate high his pay within the limits the traffic will bear; but the +same responsibility, plus governmental protection, may justly deny him and +his associates a withdrawal from service without a warning or under +circumstances which involve the paralysis of necessary transportation. We +have assumed so great a responsibility in necessary regulation that we +unconsciously have assumed the responsibility for maintained service; +therefore the lawful power for the enforcement of decisions is necessary +to sustain the majesty of government and to administer to the public +welfare. + +During its longer session the present Congress enacted a new tariff law. +The protection of the American standards of living demanded the insurance +it provides against the distorted conditions of world commerce The framers +of the law made provision for a certain flexibility of customs duties, +whereby it is possible to readjust them as developing conditions may +require. The enactment has imposed a large responsibility upon the +Executive, but that responsibility will be discharged with a broad +mindfulness of the whole business situation. The provision itself admits +either the possible fallibility of rates or their unsuitableness to +changing conditions. I believe the grant of authority may be promptly and +discreetly exercised, ever mindful of the intent and purpose to safeguard +American industrial activity, and at the same time prevent the exploitation +of the American consumer and keep open the paths of such liberal exchanges +as do not endanger our own productivity. + +No one contemplates commercial aloofness nor any other aloofness +contradictory to the best American traditions or loftiest human purposes. +Our fortunate capacity for comparative self-containment affords the firm +foundation on which to build for our own security, and a like foundation on +which to build for a future of influence and importance in world commerce. +Our trade expansion must come of capacity and of policies of righteousness +and reasonableness in till our commercial relations. + +Let no one assume that our provision for maintained good fortune at home, +and our unwillingness to assume the correction of all the ills of the +world, means a reluctance to cooperate with other peoples or to assume +every just obligation to promote human advancement anywhere in the world. + +War made its a creditor Nation. We did not seek an excess possession of the +world's gold, and we have neither desire to profit Unduly by its possession +nor permanently retain it. We do not seek to become an international +dictator because of its power. + +The voice of the United States has a respectful hearing in international +councils, because we have convinced the world that we have no selfish ends +to serve, no old grievances to avenge, no territorial or other greed to +satisfy. But the voice being heard is that of good counsel, not of +dictation. It is the voice of sympathy and fraternity and helpfulness, +seeking to assist but not assume for the United States burdens which +nations must bear for themselves. We would rejoice to help rehabilitate +currency systems and facilitate all commerce which does not drag us to the +very levels of those we seek to lift up. + +While I have everlasting faith in our Republic, it would be folly, indeed, +to blind ourselves to our problems at home. Abusing the hospitality of our +shores are the advocates of revolution, finding their deluded followers +among those who take on the habiliments of an American without knowing an +American soul. There is the recrudescence of hyphenated Americanism which +we thought to have been stamped out when we committed the Nation, life and +soul, to the World War. + +There is a call to make the alien respect our institutions while he +accepts our hospitality. There is need to magnify the American viewpoint to +the alien who seeks a citizenship among us. There is need to magnify the +national viewpoint to Americans throughout the land. More there is a demand +for every living being in the United States to respect and abide by the +laws of the Republic. Let men who are rending the moral fiber of the +Republic through easy contempt for the prohibition law, because they think +it restricts their personal liberty, remember that they set the example and +breed a contempt for law which will ultimately destroy the Republic. + +Constitutional prohibition has been adopted by the Nation. It is the +supreme law of the land. In plain speaking, there are conditions relating +to its enforcement which savor of nation-wide scandal. It is the most +demoralizing factor in our public life. + +Most of our people assumed that the adoption of the eighteenth amendment +meant the elimination of the question from our politics. On the contrary, +it has been so intensified as an issue that many voters are disposed to +make all political decisions with reference to this single question. It is +distracting the public mind and prejudicing the judgment of the +electorate. + +The day is unlikely to come when the eighteenth amendment will be repealed. +The fact may as well be recognized and our course adapted accordingly. If +the statutory provisions for its enforcement are contrary to deliberate +public opinion, which I do not believe the rigorous and literal enforcement +will concentrate public attention on any requisite modification. Such a +course, conforms with the law and saves the humiliation of the Government +and the humiliation of our people before the world, and challenges the +destructive forces engaged in widespread violation, official corruption and +individual demoralization. + +The eighteenth amendment involves the concurrent authority of State and +Federal Governments, for the enforcement of the policy it defines. A +certain lack of definiteness, through division of responsibility is thus +introduced. In order to bring about a full understanding of duties and +responsibilities as thus distributed, I purpose to invite the governors of +the States and Territories, at an early opportunity, to a conference with +the Federal Executive authority. Out of the full and free considerations +which will thus be possible, it is confidently believed, will emerge a more +adequate, comprehension of the whole problem, and definite policies of +National and State cooperation in administering the laws. + +There are pending bills for the registration of the alien who has come to +our shores. I wish the passage of such an act might be expedited. Life amid +American opportunities is worth the cost of registration if it is worth the +seeking, and the Nation has the right to know who are citizens in the +making or who live among us anti share our advantages while seeking to +undermine our cherished institutions. This provision will enable us to +guard against the abuses in immigration, checking the undesirable whose +irregular Willing is his first violation of our laws. More, it will +facilitate the needed Americanizing of those who mean to enroll as fellow +citizens. + +Before enlarging the immigration quotas we had better provide registration +for aliens, those now here or continually pressing for admission, and +establish our examination boards abroad, to make sure of desirables only. +By the examination abroad we could end the pathos at our ports, when men +and women find our doors closed, after long voyages and wasted savings, +because they are unfit for admission It would be kindlier and safer to tell +them before they embark. + +Our program of admission and treatment of immigrants is very intimately +related to the educational policy of the Republic With illiteracy estimated +at front two-tenths of 1 per cent to less than 2 per cent in 10 of the +foremost nations of Europe it rivets our attention to it serious problem +when we are reminded of a 6 per cent illiteracy in the United States. The +figures are based on the test which defines an Illiterate as one having no +schooling whatever. Remembering the wide freedom of our public schools +with compulsory attendance in many States in the Union, one is convinced +that much of our excessive illiteracy comes to us from abroad, and the +education of the immigrant becomes it requisite to his Americanization. It +must be done if he is fittingly to exercise the duties as well as enjoy the +privileges of American citizenship. Here is revealed the special field for +Federal cooperation in furthering education. + +From the very beginning public education has been left mainly in the hands +of the States. So far as schooling youth is concerned the policy has been +justified, because no responsibility can be so effective as that of the +local community alive to its task. I believe in the cooperation of the +national authority to stimulate, encourage, and broaden the work of the +local authorities. But it is the especial obligation of the Federal +Government to devise means and effectively assist in the education of the +newcomer from foreign lands, so that the level of American education may be +made the highest that is humanly possible. + +Closely related to this problem of education is the abolition of child +labor. Twice Congress has attempted the correction of the evils incident to +child employment. The decision of the Supreme Court has put this problem +outside the proper domain of Federal regulation until the Constitution is +so amended as to give the Congress indubitable authority. I recommend the +submission of such an amendment. + +We have two schools of thought relating to amendment of the Constitution. +One need not be committed to the belief that amendment is weakening the +fundamental law, or that excessive amendment is essential to meet every +ephemeral whim. We ought to amend to meet the demands of the people when +sanctioned by deliberate public opinion. + +One year ago I suggested the submission of an amendment so that we may +lawfully restrict the issues of tax-exempt securities, and I renew that +recommendation now. Tax-exempt securities are drying up the sources of +Federal taxation and they are encouraging unproductive and extravagant +expenditures by States and municipalities. There is more than the menace in +mounting public debt, there is the dissipation of capital which should be +made available to the needs of productive industry. The proposed amendment +will place the State and Federal Governments and all political subdivisions +on an exact equality, and will correct the growing menace of public +borrowing, which if left unchecked may soon threaten the stability of our +institutions. + +We are so vast and so varied in our national interests that scores of +problems are pressing for attention. I must not risk the wearying of your +patience with detailed reference. + +Reclamation and irrigation projects, where waste land may be made available +for settlement and productivity, are worthy of your favorable +consideration. + +When it is realized that we are consuming our timber four times as rapidly +as we are growing it, we must encourage the greatest possible cooperation +between the Federal Government, the various States, and the owners of +forest lands, to the end that protection from fire shall be made more +effective and replanting encouraged. + +The fuel problem is under study now by a very capable fact-finding +commission, and any attempt to deal with the coal problem, of such deep +concern to the entire Nation, must await the report of the commission. + +There are necessary studies of great problems which Congress might well +initiate. The wide spread between production costs and prices which +consumers pay concerns every citizen of the Republic. It contributes very +largely to the unrest in agriculture and must stand sponsor for much +against which we inveigh in that familiar term--the high cost of living. + +No one doubts the excess is traceable to the levy of the middleman, but it +would be unfair to charge him with all responsibility before we appraise +what is exacted of him by our modernly complex life. We have attacked the +problem on one side by the promotion of cooperative marketing, and we might +well inquire into the benefits of cooperative buying. Admittedly, the +consumer is much to blame himself, because of his prodigal expenditure and +his exaction of service, but Government might well serve to point the way +of narrowing the spread of price, especially between the production of food +and its consumption. + +A superpower survey of the eastern industrial region has recently been +completed, looking to unification of steam, water, and electric powers, and +to a unified scheme of power distribution. The survey proved that vast +economies in tonnage movement of freights, and in the efficiency of the +railroads, would be effected if the superpower program were adopted. I am +convinced that constructive measures calculated to promote such an +industrial development--I am tempted to say, such an industrial +revolution-would be well worthy the careful attention and fostering +interest of the National Government. + +The proposed survey of a plan to draft all the resources of the Republic, +human and material, for national defense may well have your approval. I +commended such a program in case of future war, in the inaugural address. +of March 4, 1921, and every experience in the adjustment and liquidation of +war claims and the settlement of war obligations persuades me we ought to +be prepared for such universal call to armed defense. + +I bring you no apprehension of war. The world is abhorrent of it, and our +own relations are not only free from every threatening cloud, but we have +contributed our larger influence toward making armed conflict less likely. + +Those who assume that we played our part in the World War and later took +ourselves aloof and apart, unmindful of world obligations, give scant +credit to the helpful part we assume in international relationships. + +Whether all nations signatory ratify all the treaties growing out of the +Washington Conference on Limitation of Armament or some withhold approval, +the underlying policy of limiting naval armament has the sanction of the +larger naval powers, and naval competition is suspended. Of course, +unanimous ratification is much to be desired. + +The four-power pact, which abolishes every probability of war on the +Pacific, has brought new confidence in a maintained peace, and I can well +believe it might be made a model for like assurances wherever in the world +any common interests are concerned. + +We have had expressed the hostility of the American people to a +supergovernment or to any commitment where either a council or an assembly +of leagued powers may chart our course. Treaties of armed alliance can have +no likelihood of American sanction, but we believe in respecting the rights +of nations, in the value of conference and consultation, in the +effectiveness of leaders of nations looking each other in the face ace +before resorting to the arbitrament of arms. + +It has been our fortune both to preach and promote international +understanding. The influence of the United States in bringing near the +settlement of an ancient dispute between South American nations is added +proof of the glow of peace in ample understanding. In Washington to-day are +met the delegates of the Central American nations, gathered at the table of +international understanding, to stabilize their Republics and remove every +vestige of disagreement. They are met here by our invitation, not in our +aloofness, and they accept our hospitality because they have faith in our +unselfishness and believe in our helpfulness. Perhaps we are selfish in +craving their confidence and friendship, but such a selfishness we proclaim +to the world, regardless of hemisphere, or seas dividing. + +I would like the Congress and the people of the Nation to believe that in a +firm and considerate way we are insistent on American rights wherever they +may be questioned, and deny no rights of others in the assertion of our +own. Moreover we are cognizant of the world's struggles for full +readjustment and rehabilitation, and we have shirked no duty which comes of +sympathy, or fraternity, or highest fellowship among nations. Every +obligation consonant with American ideals and sanctioned under our form of +government is willingly met. When we can not support we do not demand. Our +constitutional limitations do not forbid the exercise of a moral influence, +the measure of which is not less than the high purposes we have sought to +serve. + +After all there is less difference about the part this great Republic shall +play in furthering peace and advancing humanity than in the manner of +playing it. We ask no one to assume responsibility for us; we assume no +responsibility which others must bear for themselves, unless nationality is +hopelessly swallowed up in internationalism. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of State of the Union Addresses of Warren +Harding, by Warren Harding + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESSES *** + +***** This file should be named 5035.txt or 5035.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/3/5035/ + +Produced by James Linden. HTML version by Al Haines. +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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