Evening star. [volume], July 13, 1948, Page A-8, Image 8

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Partial Text of Barkley s Keynote Speech at Democratic Session
. O
By tH« A»wxiot«d Pr<H»
PHILADELPHIA, July 13.—Par
tial text of the keynote speech last
night by Senator Barkley of Ken
tucky, temporary chairman of the
Democratic Convention:
Fellow American*:
I am deeply moved by the signal
honor you have done me.
We have assembled here for a
great purpose. We have a solemn
commission from millions of Ameri
can men and women. We are here
to give to them an accounting of
our stewardship in the administra
tion of their affairs for 16 outstand
ing and eventful years, for not one
of which we make an apology.
We have come together to lay be
fore the American people our art
icles of faith and to nominate, in
harmony with them, our candidates
for President and Vice President of
the United States.
Hits Republican ‘Erotism.’
We shall not follow the example,
so egotistically set by' our oppon
ents from this rostrum three short
weeks ago, by announcing the re
sult of the contest four months in
advance.
There has never been greater need,
in the world than now for the sort
of leadership which, from its j
origin, the Democratic Party has
given in the development and forti
fication of democracy in America.,
In the midst of such a summons, j
and on the basis of our record, we
meet here today, and shall meet
our oponents, all and sundry, in
this contest and on the day of elec
tion next November.
Record Called New Deal.
What is this record of which I
speak? What is the sum total of
these accomplishments which we
have wrought in the 16 years now i
drawing to a close?
They call it the "New Deal.” At J
every convention since 1932, and on
every political rostrum. Republican
politicians have hurled their ana
themas at this "New Deal” as if it
were some blight or plague that had
poisoned the lives and consumed the
liberties of the people and kept
them chained and helpless.
In determining the valadity of
these diatribes, let us inquire what
is this cankering, corroding, fungus
growth, which every Republican or
ator, save one, at their recent con
vention denounced with unaccus
tomed rancor, then, in their adopted
platform, hugged to their political:
bosom as if it were the child of their
own loins?
In the first place, it was recovery.
The new administration of Franklin
D. Roosevelt breathed into the nos
trils of every worthy American en
terprise, large or small, a breath of
new life, new hope, and new de
termination. It put old agencies of
the Government at the people's dis
posal, and, where necessary, it in
augurated new ones to make de
mocracy live and work for the
American people.
Points to New Deal Gains.
■What, therefore, is this “New
Deal.” which Republican orators de
nounce and their platforms seek to
imitate?
I cannot here chronicle in detail
the great body of laws and policies
inaugurated by a Democratic Presi
dent and a Democratic Congress,
which have become as secure a part
of American statute law and Amer
ican policy as the Federal Reserve
System itself, and the laws against
trusts and monopolies.
In spite of the chronic, and noisy
opposition of this program's en
emies, the American people will not
willingly surrender the great gains
which they have made under it.
For,
Cite* Farm Program.
But, I call attention to me 101
lowing Items in our bill of particu
lars, of which we would remind
the American people as evidence of
our good faith with them and our
service to them:
A farmer's agricultural adjust
ment and price support program,
which, in 16 years, has increased
farm income by 800 per cent, sub
stantially reduced interest rates on
farm credit, reduced farm mortgage
Indebtedness by more than 60 per
cent, and farm mortgage foreclos
ures by 95 per cent.
A soil conservation program,
which has arrested the wasting
processes of soil erosion, by which
we propose to hand this land of
ours down to other generations ca
pable of their support.
A rural electrification program,
which has lifted from millions of
farm women the drudgery of ex
hausting housework, and brought to
millions of farms the boon of elec
tric power for their homes and
barns and farm equipment.
A program of development of our
water resources for navigation, flood
control, and power, as exemplified
by the Tennessee Valley Authority,
the Grand Coulee Dam, the St.1
Lawrence Waterway, and other ef
forts to make these God-given nat
ural resources the servants of the
public, rather than the objects of
private exploitation and recurring
destructive catastrophes.
Trade Program Recalled.
A Labor Relations Act, a Fair
Labor Standards Act, and other
measures for improving conditions
of labor and relationships between
employers and employes.
A reciprocal trade program,
urged by Cordell Hull, one of the
greatest Secretaries of State in the
history of the United States, and en
acted" bv a Democratic Congreas,
under which American capital and
American labor have been able to
Increase their markets throughout
the world, without substantial in
jury to any American industry.
A reorganized and stronger bank
ing system and a Federal Deposit
Insurance Corp., which has reduced
bank failures in the United States
from 4.004 in 1933 to only six in
all of 1947. by reason of which the
American people are allowed to go
to bed at night without fear that
their hard-earned savin* will
evaporate before the dawn of morn
ing.
A Federal Housing Administra
tion. under which hundreds of thou
sands of homes in this Nation were
built and improved.
A Home Owners* Loan Corp..
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Senator Barkley of Kentucky pictured as he responded to
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delivered the keynote address. —AP Wirephoto.
which rescued huhdreds of thou-]
sands of homes in town and city;
from immediate foreclosure, rep
resenting a reduction in non-farm
real estate foreclosures from 252,000
in 1933 to only 10,000 in 1947,
A Commodity Credit Corp.. an
Export-Import Bank, a Federal
Home Loan Bank, a Bank for Co
operatives and other institutions for
the service of the American people.
An expanded Reconstruction Fi
nance Corp., strengthened and forti
fied by a Democratic Congress and
a Democratic President at a time
when it was the only money-lending
agency in the Nation capable of
averting financial disaster.
A statute abolishing the holding
company evil, and a Securities and
Exchange Commission to supervise
the issue and sale of corporate stocks
and protect the American people
from the fraud to which they had
been subjected under the boom and
bust days of a previous administra
tion.
Cite* Good Neighbor Policy.
A good neighbor policy, inaugu
rated by President Roosevelt and
Cordell Hull, to bring into more
friendlv relationships the great na
tions of the Western Hemisphere,
more recently cemented by economic
and political pledges guaranteeing
the solidarity of co-operative pan
Americanism, as a substitute for the
sordid concept of dollar diplomacy
which was a program of s^$ah
exploitation carried on undenHhe
friendly eyes of the American ©8?'
ernment.
“What is this New Deal?"
The gainful employment of more
than 61.000,000 American woa|*«w.
which bids fair to rise fcpanore
63,000,000 during the present year,
compared to 15,000,000 unemployed
18 years ago.
Profits, after taxes, for American
corporations for 1947 of more than
$17,000,000,000. the highest level in
the history of the Nation in either
peace or war.
Increased production by the
American people to a level exceed
ing $230,0000.0000.000 per annum:
and an annual income of $210,000.
000,000 for the American people in
this good year, 1946, compared to
an annual income of $38,000,000,000
16 years ago. ,
Construction Growing.
An increase in the monthly av
erage of new construction in the
first half of 1948 to more than
$1,200,000,000; and for the same
period for new' plants and equip
ment throughout the United States,
excluding agriculture, the expendi
ture of the sum of $19,000,000,000.
which is an increase of nearly 400
per cent above the same figures for
1939. and 1.000 per cent greater than
16 years ago. Does this appear as
an undue restriction in the facilities
for new investment in new plants
and equipment in the United States?
An increase in new corporate se
curity issues, under the supervision
of the Securities and Exchange
Commission, to more than $6,000,
000,000 for the year 1947, which does
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tion on the Investment of new cap
ital in the corporations of the
United States,
An increase in sales of America
goods to a figure of more than
$15,000,000,000 per month for the
first two months of 1948.
An increase in our exports to
other nations to more than $15,000,
000,000 for the year 1947, giving
us an excess of exports over
imports of more than $6,000,000,000
under a reciprocal trade program
that the Republicans in Congress
have scuttled.
100 Billions In Savings.
A prosperity enabling the Ameri
can people to indulge in personal
savings of more than $100,000,000,000
since 1939.
A prosperity that has enabled the
Treasury of the United States to
discharge, in a little more than two
years, more than $27,000,000,000 of
the national debt inherited from
the great expenditures of the war.
Let us ask, and let the American
people ask, those who spray this
forest of superb accomplishment
with the froth of their vindictive
lips, which tree will they cut down
with their mighty ax or their puny
hatchet?
In 1946 the Republican Party
secured control of both branches of
the Congress and has been in con
trol ever since. .
^The people did not reallv mean to
4ect a Republican Congress. They
vdfere voting against irksome a'nd
irritating annoyances which the war
had required, and which many of
tjjem thought should have been al
ready eliminated. But, whatever
tfte motive, the result tyas the same.
Points to Record of Congress.
' What has been its record? How
has it dealt with the monumental
problems of the American people?
During the war, under the admin
istration of President Roosevelt, oc
curred probably the greatest dis
covery in the -history of science or
invention, the discovery and utili
zation of atomic energy.
This fantastic element of nature
has always existed, just as the
rays of the sun always held the
mysterv of electricity long before
Franklin flew his kite, but it has
not been brought under the con
trol of man until the emergency of
war produced it, at a cost to the
American people of $2,000,000,000 or
$3,000,000,000.
The problem which faces the
world now is how and by whom it
shall be used, and whether for the;
destruction of mankind, or for his
greater advancement in developing
and producing the means of greater
happiness and prosperity.
The Eightieth Republican Con
gress refused to confirm for the
terms fixed by law, the members of
the Atomic Commission, which has
been engaged in profound research
into this new force of nature. But,
it shortened theif terms to a period
of two years, so that, if successful
in the coming election, they might
secure political control of the -com
mission and its functions.
Assails Attack on REA. ,
This Republican Congress claimed
to have had a mandate from the
American people. It began the dis
charge of that mandate in 1947 by
seeking to destroy the Rural Elec
trification Administer tion. by de
nying to it adequate funds for its
extension to the farmers of the Na
tion.
Though lacking in courage to re
peal directly the soil conservation
program, they have sought, both in
1947 and 1948. to restrict or destroy
it by denying it the funds necessary
for its administration.
While lacking in courage to re
peal the Labor Relations Act. and
the Fair Labor Standards Act, they
have sought so to modify the basis
upon which these enactments were
predicated, as to destroy, in part,
the rights enjoyed by labor in the
collective process. They have done
this by the enactment of a statute,
which had its inception in a desire
to destroy the right of American
labor to organize, portions of which
enactment have already been de
clared null and voind by the Su
preme Court of the United State*
The American people have the
right to demand that the Republi
an Party and its candidates take
jthem into their confidence regard
: ing their intentions on this great
I program, which they condemn out
of their mouths, but indorse In their
; platforms.
What, may I ask again, is the
record1 of the Republican Eightieth
Congress, upon which the candidates
and the/platform base their claim
for support?
Recalls Speaker's Promise.,
When it first assembled in Jan
uary, 1947, the new Speaker of the
House of .Representatives, who waa
the permanent chairman of the re
cent Republican convention, an
nounced that they would open each
session with a prayer and close it
with a probe..
They have been in control of this
Congress during its entire existence.
If their prayers have been no more,
effective than their probes, they dltjj
not rise above the heads of ' th4f
congressional inmates. The man
date upon which this Congress
claimed to have been elected, ww
supposed to have called for the un
doing of nearly everything that had
been done since they folded their
tents and departed from Washing
ton in 1933.
There is more to this record than
appears upon the surface. There
is more to it than found its way
into the lawbooks. There is the
record that is written in committee
hearings and In floor debates.
There is the record of things prom
ised and not acomplished. There
is the record of tatempted sabotage
of some of the greatest programs
ever inaugurated by the American
Government.
Cites Things Unseen.
So far as the Eightieth Republi
can Congress is concerned, the evi-j
dence of things seen is no reliable
guide to things unseen.
You do not see* a housing bill in
that visible record. What became pf
it? Notwithstanding repeated rec
ommendations ny the President
urging it to enact adequate housing
legislation, not only for the vet
erans of our latest war, but for mil
lions of people in the lower incom*
brackets, this Republican Congress
did nothing. Word came down from
Philadelphia, where the Platform
Committeee was in session, in the
closing hours of the last confused
session of the Congress, demanding
that some sort of housing bill be
passed. Anything with the word
“House” in it would be sufficient.
They had to see it written across
the horizon. Where is that housing
legislation? It is not on the statutes.
It furnishes no root over the vet
erans, workers, or farmers. It is
just another “gone goose.”
Heaun rrogram oiwu.
Repeatedly, the President recom
mended the enactment of legislation
to improve and conserve the health
of our people. The Eightieth Con
gress fumed and fretted and dick
ered. But where is the health legis
lation which the Republican Party
and the Republican platform have
promised the American people? It
is another “gone goose.”
Repeatedly, the President urged
this Congress to enact legislation to
improve the American educational
system, to assist the States in pro
viding better schools and better
teachers and better school facilities
lor the education of our people,
found deplorably deficient during
the administration of the Selective
Service Law in the last war.
The American people have the
right to ask Republican leaders of
the Eightieth Congress and the
platform makers at Philadelphia in
June, and the candidates nomin
ated at that convention, to explain
why the Congress which they in
dorse failed utterly in the enact
ment of legislation to improve our
educational facilities. They have
the right to ask to what extent
they may rely upon present prom
ises in regard to education made
either by a platform or by candi
dates, since they have been unable
or unwilling to honor their com
mitments in the past. Where is
,.. because of
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the Republican educational pro
gram?
If you ask me where all these
measures now repose, I answer that
they have gone to the home for
lost causes. If I msy quote a re
cent distinguished authority on the
subject, they are a part of the flock
of "gone goose,” put to flight by
the Republican Congress, which has
just adjourned.
Why Net Pawed?
Why did these measures remain
unacted upon? It may be because
they bordered too much upon the
hated and despied theory that Gov
ernment should place its powers sod
its facilities at the disposal of the
people to be used by them to ad
vance their welfare.
It might be interesting to inquire
of the more than 1,400 registered
lobbyists in Washington during the
Eightieth Congress. In 1946, Con
gress passed a law requiring the
registration of lobbyists and lobby
ing organizations. In the Seventy
ninth Congress there were 360 reg
istrations of lobbyists and organiza
tions engaged in lobbying. During
the Eightieth Republican Congress,
more than 1.400 lobbyists and lobby
ing organizations registered. This
is approximately three lobbyists for
each member of Congress, both
Senators and Representatives.
Financial statements flled by lob
byist organizations and employers
of these lobbyists also show that spe
cial Interests are willing to pay big
money to get the i&ws they want.
These organizations have spent
more than $8,000,000 to influence
the Eightieth Congress, which is
$3,000,000 more than the entire ap
propriation of all the 96 Senators
and their official staffs to conduct
the business of the people in the
Senate of the United States.
The increase in lobbying registra
tions, and the enormous expense in
volved, might be a source of reveal
ing information to the American
people, if the truth can be ascer
tained.
Whether the American people re
ceive adequate or satisfactory an
swers to these questions, they are
entitled to know why it was that
this Republican Congress subordi
nated the need of American vet
erans and American workers to the
will of the real estate lobby which
infested the corridors of the Capitol
and every hotel in the City of
Washington.
These recitals, however, scarcely
more than scratch the surfaqe of
Republican failures in the ElghtUeth
Congress. Despite its repeated
promises In its previous platforms
to extend tlii benefits of the social
security system, inaugurate and en
acted by the Democratic Party, it
not only refuses to extend its bene
fits to those to whom it had promised
them, but actually eliminated nearly
three-quarters of a million people
from possible benefits under it.
Minimum Pay Plan Rejected.
The Eightieth Congress refused to
enact legislation increasing the
minimum wage paid to American
labor from 40 cents an hour, which
will not buy a single pound of soup
meat, to 10 cents an hour, which
will just buy a pound of hamburger.
This brings us to the question of
inflation, which not one Republican
leader or orator dared to mention
three weeks ago in their convention
held in this auditorium.
Repeatedly, the President of the
United States called attention to
the increase in the cost of living,
which, since 1945, notwithstanding
periodical Increases in wages, has
reduced the wage earners1 buying
power by more than 16 per cent.
It was upon this issue, in part,
that the Republicans won control
of the two Houses of the Congress
in 1946. But this Republican Con
gress was content to pass a milk
and water voluntary price reduction
'measure, in spite of which prices
have continued to soar. Production,
they said, was the remedy to the
i high cost of living. Repeatedly,
the President urged Congress to
take definite steps to halt this
spiral of increased prices and con
sequent lower take-home wages.
Production has exceeded' wartime
levels. But prices have continued
to rise while a Republican Congress
continued to dwadle.
Recalls Labor Pledge.
In their platform in 1944, the
Republican Party criticized the dis
persion of the agencies dealing with
I labor subjects away from the De
partment of Labor, and pledged
I themselves to consolidate them all
| under the Secretary of Labor.
The Eightieth Congress not only
deliberately refused to carry ou*
that pledge, but have literally
stripped the Department of Labor
by transferring from it agencies al
ready existing under ita Jurisdiction,
such as the Conciliation Service,
and refused to approve a reorganisa
tion plan sent to Congress by the
President, which would have brought
about a more central Jurisdiction
within the department on matters'
dealing with labor.
Following the* enactment of the
Smoot-Hawley tariff law of 1930,
and the Inauguration of a Demo
cratic administration in 1933, Con
gress enacted fi program for recipro
cal trade agreements, in an effort
to soften the Inequities and exorbi
tant tariff duties provided In that
law and open upon the doors for
the resumption of International
trade.
Law in Existence 14 years.
This law has been in existence for
14 years. It had been renewed and
extended four times prior to the
assembling of the Eightieth Con
gress. The majority of Republican
members of both Houses of Congress
voted against its enactment and Its
extension, except for one extension
during the period of the recent war.
When the law expired on June
12. 1948. the House of Representa
tives passed a makeshift extension
of one year, Intended and calculated
to destroy the whole reciprocal trade
program. It provided that no agree
ment could go into effect until It
had been approved by the Congress
itself, a provision which had never
been included in the trade agree
ment laws previously enacted.
This bill was somewhat modified,
in the Senate, but both houses re
fused to extend It beyond the one
year limit, because they wished to
turn their faces back toward the
days of 1930, the days of log-rolling
and back-scratching In the making
of tariff laws dealing with our trade
foreign nations.
Even In the extension of one year
provided for in the recent session
of Congress, tl>e President la power
less to go beyond the recommenda
tion of a bl-partlsan Tariff Com7
mission, which means in fact, that
during this one years extenaion
(Continued on Page A-9. Column 2 >
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