THE SOCIAL SECURITY The Man Who Forced A Way, hough Not His Own
From 4)ur New York Correspondent At the , rcentenary of Harvard University in September President Roosevelt quoted the following from Euripides:— , " There are many shapes of mystery, And rnany things God makes to be, Past hope or fear.
And the end man looked for cometh not And a path is there where no man sought, So halt it fallen here." These words can be applied to the work for which Mr. Roosevelt has been responsible. Not all of it has been successful, but a way has been found through success and failure for' the recovery which is apparent to-day andlwhich augurs well for the future. It is the American sense of a personal achievement through every sort of obstacle which has returned the President triumphantly to power.
His eneriies have been the first to recognise it. Mr. Landon congratulating him in terms far varmer than mere courtesy required, and Fr. Coughlin retiring for good from the tiolitical arena.
Fr. Coughlin's Tribute
The latter who expected nine million votes, received but 650,000 and admitted that his cause had been thoroughly discredited. With a really profound humility, as creditable as Roosevelt's triumph, he withdraws " in the best interests of the people."
When he was asked last week what he thought about Mr. Roosevelt's victory, Fr. Coughlin said : "Does Roosevelt want to become a dictator? If he does the nation has given him the power to become one. May God bless him with his wisdom and care and may the Holy Ghost give hinz the strength not to abuse such invincible power."
Roosevel 's triumph places him in a position to bui d on the foundations, prepared during the ast four years, The next four years may see the country not only emerge finally from the chaos in which it was plunged, wen he took office, but also witness the solid accomplishment of those policies which in his first term he has pursued against incredible obstacles.
Roosey.relt's Schemes Let us review the situation in order to judge more clearly what the future has in store for the United States.
Is the country likely to benefit from the bold experimentation which this great statesman had the courage to initiate in 1933?
When Mr. Roosevelt became President in 1933 probably no President had taken office in times so difficult since the days of Abraham Lincoln.
With admirable courage but fully recognising the seriousness of the situation, he called for immediate action to end unemployment, redistribute population, rescue the farmer from bankruptcy, reorganise banking and place industry on a new footing.
To have shouldered such a burden would have been herculean enough in the best of times. To have undertaken them in the conditions which existed in March, 1933, indicated that Mr. Roosevelt believed that the best policy was one of vigorous attack rather than mere defence.
He told Congress that if it would not itself take action he would ask for " broad executive power to wage war against the emergency . . . as if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe."
Depression Driven Away
As he went on to show, the state of the country made this simile by no means inept. Values had shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes had risen; ability to pay had fallen; government of all kinds was faced by something approaching bankruptcy; means of exchange were frozen in the currents of trade; farmers could find. no markets for their produce; a host of unemployed citizens faced the grim problem of existence.
It is well known how with the emergency powers conferred upon him the president restored order out of chaos.
A mass of legislation, some of it designed to tide over the temporary emergency, some of it of more permanent character, was passed.
It is impossible to enter into the constitutional disputes which later arose over much of this legislature. The very fact that such questions could arise were sufficient indication of the recovery which had been made.
A country in the dire straits of the United States in 1933 would not have stopped to discuss the constitutional aspects of the measures which had been passed to rescue it.
Securing Society
The great permanent achievement, the thing on which President Roosevelt will be always associated in history is the Social Security Act on which more than any other issue the presidential election was fought. 1n a later despatch it is proposed to give an outline of what that Act is designed to accomplish and some of the other legislation which embodies the political philosophy of President Roosevelt.