Radio
Address on Democratic Women's Day
September 27, 1949
Public Papers of the President #219
[Broadcast from
the White House at 3:05 p.m.]
THANK YOU, Mrs.
Edwards. It certainly was a great pleasure to listen to the talks
of these three good American women.
I am glad to speak
to the women of the United States on Democratic Women's Day.
As President,
I know that women have an interest in the welfare of the Government
that goes far beyond job holding or partisanship. I know that women
are not misled by political slogans. They have learned that the real
issues in political activity are the well-being of the country and
the future of their families. Women look beneath the labels and see
the facts.
It is my firm
conviction that the Democratic Party offers more for the welfare of
the country--and therefore more for the women of the country--than
any other party or political group.
The Democratic
Party has a program.
It is a program
of practical measures. It is not a blueprint imposed from on high
by a little group of theorists. Neither is it a set of platitudes
concocted by a group of corporation lawyers in a smokefilled room.
Our program is an expression of the desires of the people.
The Democratic
Party does not dodge issues or seek to gloss them over. We state them
boldly. We propose concrete and practical action to solve them.
Our program consists
of measures which have come up from the grassroots--of ideas and proposals
that have been discussed and hammered out among unions, in farm groups,
in city councils, in county boards, and in State legislatures. Our
program is as American as the soil we walk upon.
It is a program
unshakably founded on the principle that the power of government should
be used to promote the general welfare. It is a program based upon
the experience of the Democratic Party in using the power of government
to establish actual conditions in which the people can achieve a better
life for themselves and for their children. It is a program of what
should be done and what our experience tells us can be done.
We have just heard,
from the ladies present here, the viewpoints of the farmer, the worker,
and the businessman. It is interesting to see how these three points
of view fit together. Each of these groups depends on the others.
Farmers cannot be prosperous unless industrial workers have good wages
and steady employment so they can buy the products that farmers raise.
Workers cannot be prosperous unless the farmers have good incomes
and can buy the things that industrial workers make. Businessmen cannot
be prosperous unless both the farmers and the workers have the money
to buy the things they sell.
All groups in
our Nation depend on one another. That is what the term "general
welfare" means. The general welfare is the sum total of the welfare
of all the groups in our country.
The Constitution
was established to "promote the general welfare." These
are the words of its preamble. And that is the duty of our Government.
The Democratic
Party proposes to see that the Federal Government carries out this
constitutional responsibility. We will do that in spite of the outcries
of certain people who say there is something alien or dangerous in
the idea of a government that works for the welfare of all our citizens.
Those people are just about 160 years behind the times. They want
us to forget the language of the Constitution itself.
We have some serious
problems in this country today. If we are to continue to promote the
general welfare, we must devise modern methods to solve these modern
problems.
One of our serious
problems today is the fact that there are not enough good houses for
our rapidly growing population. The Democratic Party is pledged to
work for good housing. The 81st Congress has just passed a public
housing bill to provide assistance in building homes for low-income
groups. The 81st Congress and the administration are working out solutions
for the homebuilding problems of other groups. Since the 1948 election,
and in spite of determined opposition, we have made great progress
in the field of housing. We are going to keep right on making progress.
We are just as
interested in good schools as we are in good houses. I think all of
you know that many boys and girls are not getting the right kind of
schooling. There are not enough teachers and there are not enough
school buildings. Our schools are getting steadily more crowded. Women
who serve on school boards and women who teach know that in many parts
of the country better schools cannot be obtained unless there is financial
assistance from the Federal Government.
This administration
has pledged Federal aid to the States to help them improve their schools.
A bill providing such aid has already passed the Senate and is now
awaiting action in the House of Representatives. I shall continue
to urge Congress to pass this legislation.
We must also act
promptly to improve the health of our Nation. The women of the country,
particularly, know that in many areas there are not enough doctors
or hospitals and that many families cannot afford the medical care
they need. This administration has proposed a program of improved
medical care. Some parts of this program, such as an expanded health
service for schoolchildren and additional aid for hospital construction,
have already passed the Senate. Our medical program will mean happier
homes, healthier children, greater opportunity for useful lives for
all the people.
A good system
of social security is also essential to our welfare. We established
the principle a long time ago that the people of this country can
protect themselves against the hazards of life and the burdens of
old age by a system of social insurance. We need to make improvements
in our social insurance system at this time became its benefits are
entirely too low to meet current living costs. We should bring this
system up to date by increasing its benefits and extending its protection
to more people. This is part of the program to which the Democratic
Party is firmly committed. The 81st Congress is going to improve our
social security system.
Another part of
the Democratic Party program is to increase the minimum wage for industrial
workers from 40 cents to 75 cents an hour. A bill for this purpose
is well along toward final passage in the Congress, and I am confident
that it will become law very shortly.
Minimum wages
and social security together protect our working people against disastrously
low incomes. Farmers need safeguards against low incomes, too. The
Democratic Party has taken the lead in working out a program for lasting
farm prosperity, for we know that the welfare of the country depends
upon the welfare of our farmers.
We are determined
to see that our economy continues to grow and expand. That is why
we are enacting laws to provide for better use of our abundant natural
resources, to develop more electric power, and to bring water to areas
in need of it.
Above all else,
we want to keep the United States prosperous and strong because we
know that our prosperity is the best guarantee of peace. Every measure
to promote the general welfare in this country is a measure to promote
peace in the world.
The program of
the Democratic Party is a program for prosperity and peace. It can
be made effective only through the united efforts of our citizens.
It is not enough
for the Congress to pass these measures. They have to be brought to
life by the citizens of this country, and by our State and local governments.
Our public housing program will not be effective unless local authorities,
backed by alert citizens, are active in building and operating local
housing projects. Our program of aid to education will not be effective
unless there is efficient and public-spirited hometown and home-state
administration. Our farm program depends upon the joint effort of
our farmers in county committees and rural cooperatives.
Only the people,
working together, can make our program a success.
I ask you to bear
that in mind when you hear people saying that measures for the general
welfare are merely Federal handouts to selfish or incompetent people.
I ask you to bear it in mind when you hear our opponents saying that
our program is undermining local government and the moral character
of our citizens.
The facts are
just the opposite. Our program increases opportunity and incentive
among our citizens. It increases the responsibilities and activities
of our local governments.
The American people
are not afraid of their Government, because they know it belongs to
them and that they control it. Now, more than ever before, the people
realize that they can use their Government to help achieve wider opportunity
and greater security--to help achieve real independence for themselves
and their children.
This concept of
government has been greatly advanced by the increasing participation
of women in our political life, with their straightforward approach
to public affairs. I am confident that the women of the United States
will continue to exercise their democratic rights in order to build
a happier and more prosperous Nation.
NOTE: The President's
address was part of a program sponsored by the Women's Division of
the Democratic National Committee marking "Democratic Women's
Day." The President spoke at 3:05 p.m. from the Projection Room
of the White House. He was introduced by Mrs. India Edwards, executive
director of the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee.
The three women
referred to by the President were Mrs. Elsie West of Lothian, Md.,
who represented the farm women of America, Mrs. Albert C. Hulihan
of Slippery Rock, Pa., who represented labor, and Mrs. George London
of Raleigh, N.C., who represented small business.
