This will require, of course, the abandonment not only of luxuries but of many other creature comforts. Here at home, everyone will have the privilege of making whatever self-denial is necessary, not only to supply our fighting men, but to keep the economic structure of our country fortified and secure during the war and after the war. That front is right here at home, in our daily lives, in our daily tasks. "But there is one front and one battle where everyone in the United States - every man, woman, and child - is in action, and will be privileged to remain in action throughout this war. I cannot expect all of the people to understand all of the people's problems but it is my job to try to understand all of the problems." I can hear your unspoken wonder as to where we are headed in this troubled world. "In these great problems of government, I try not to forget that what really counts at the bottom of it all is that the men and women willing to work can have a decent job - a decent job to take care of themselves and their homes and their children adequately that the farmer, the factory worker, the storekeeper, the gas station man, the manufacturer, the merchant - big and small - the banker who takes pride in the help that he can give to the building of his community - that all of these can be sure of a reasonable profit and safety for the earnings that they make - not for today nor tomorrow alone, but as far ahead as they can see. The country now enjoys the safety of bank savings under the new banking laws, the careful checking of new securities under the Securities Act and the curtailment of rank stock speculation through the Securities Exchange Act." They saw that without changes in the policies and methods of investment there could be no recovery of public confidence in the security of savings. In this we have had assistance from many bankers and businessmen, most of whom recognize the past evils in the banking system, in the sale of securities, in the deliberate encouragement of stock gambling, in the sale of unsound mortgages and in many other ways in which the public lost billions of dollars. "The second step we have taken in the restoration of normal business enterprise has been to clean up thoroughly unwholesome conditions in the field of investment.
SeptemOn moving forward to greater freedom and greater security I can assure you that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress." People will again be glad to have their money where it will be safely taken care of and where they can use it conveniently at any time. It needs no prophet to tell you that when the people find that they can get their money - that they can get it when they want it for all legitimate purposes - the phantom of fear will soon be laid. Let me make it clear that the banks will take care of all needs - and it is my belief that hoarding during the past week has become an exceedingly unfashionable pastime. "It is possible that when the banks resume, a very few people who have not recovered from their fear may again begin withdrawals. Our attack upon these enemies must be without stint and without discrimination." "This is a great national crusade to destroy enforced idleness, which is an enemy of the human spirit generated by this depression. It goes back to the basic idea of society and of the nation itself that people acting in a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could even hope to bring about." There is nothing complicated about it, and there is nothing particularly new in the principle. It will succeed if our people understand it - in the big industries, in the little shops, in the great cities and in the small villages. "On the basis of this simple principle of everybody doing things together, we are starting out on this nationwide attack on unemployment. What I seek is the highest possible batting average, not only for myself but for the team." I have no expectation of making a hit every time I come to bat. I do not deny that we may make mistakes of procedure as we carry out the policy. "I know that the people of this country will understand this and will also understand the spirit in which we are undertaking this policy.
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