HERE IS TEXT OF BOB'S WISCONSIN RAPIDS SPEECH
Here Is Text of Bob's Wisconsin Rapids Speech FOLLOWING is the complete text the stJeech delivered by V. S. M U Pollette Jr. at ;l birthday celebra--n Rapids Sunday Follow Climes In November of...
...As we come together to celebrate the launching of the Progressive party, we re-affirm our faith in the necessity for a genuine political realignment in the state and nation and a truly Progressive program for a dynamic America and the building up of the western hemisphere...
...In the United States senate I have joined with sen...
...Thus, we can and will make America safe from any enemy...
...Their lives lie ahead of them, and they demand a program of political and social action which will enable them to make the most of their lives...
...The youth of a nation Is Its most precious asset, and there can be no pardon for the crime of denying opportunity to the five million young men and young women out of school and without Jobs...
...The bill will give the farmer the benefit of the government's credit...
...By the spring of 1933 we were threatened with panic and complete economic paralysis as a result of this reactionary economic policy...
...Progressives likewise have a long: record of achievement in the Held of labor legislation, and I am happy to report to you that at last the senate Is now considering (he La Follette-Thomas bill to stamp out industrial spies, strike breakers and industrial munitions...
...Evjue held that the appropriation was unconstitutional...
...led io Progressivj movement in Wis-msin to its first state-wide vic-ry...
...The Progressive party was born of present-day issues...
...at ;l birthday celebra--n Rapids Sunday Follow Climes In November of 1900, 40 years 10, Robert M. La Pollette Sr...
...The Progressive party Is committed to the task of strengthening the internal as well as the external defenses of American democracy, and in this period of crisis there is no time for compromise or delay...
...This reflected In the division of Jurisdiction in the committees of congress...
...Furthermore, Wisconsin has now had a two-year inoculation of reactionary Republicanism which ought to serve as an effective vaccination against contracting the disease further...
...The supreme court has taken no action on the petition...
...Such conventions stimulate Americanism, inculcate patriotism, and contribute to and promote general welfare...
...From that day forward men v' women like yourselves have :;ven freely of their time and energy in unselfish devotion to make Wisconsin and the nation a better place in which to live...
...Reactionaries have speculated as to my political course in the coming campaign...
...The American Legion devotes itself in part to the development and maintenance of fundamental doctrines of Americanism," Siewerts petition said, "to the dissemination of patriotic information and to the fostering of traditional American principles of government...
...As Progressives our eyes are turned ahead: we are looking to the future...
...Ask High Court Release Legion Convo Money George F. Kiewert, Milwaukee, sectary of the American Legion 1941 Convention Corp...
...The state treasurer refused to release the appropriated money without a court order after he was notified by William T. Evjue, editor of The Capital Times, who acted as a citizen, that Smith would be held responsible for payment of funds...
...I am flying back to Washington to carry on the fight for the passage of this bill, which has the endorsement of every important labor organization In America...
...Man created this paradox of privation and insecurity in the midst of potential plenty, and man can solve it...
...I appeal to the men and women voters of this state, regardless of class, creed, or former party allegiance, to unite in rededicat-ing the government of the state and nation to American principles, and to band together to fight with unswerving determination the tyranny of communism on the one hand, and fascism on the other, confident that a full and abundant life for all the people can be attained when ''the will of the people shall be the law of the land...
...Progressives have always favored a pay-as-you-go policy, and while we have recognized that there are emergencies when the credit of the national government must be utilized, at the same time we have fought for increased taxes based on ability to pay...
...At such annual conventions, members of the American Legion meet to exchange ideas and discuss methods on promotion of patriotism, development of loyalty to the United States and Its form of government, enhancement of the general public welfare, and achievement of the purposes of the American Legion...
...W. Daniel Boyd of the American F~-'"" - -lion of Teachers (AFL) was elected county superintendent of school He defeated R. C. Marshall, who was Instrumental in firing Boyd and 40 other union teachers last July...
...The technique of modern war demands co-ordination of all branches of military and naval defense...
...We can then face the future with supreme confidence...
...Its enactment would put a stop to unjustified foreclosures...
...All patriotic American citizens must enlist in this task...
...Progressives have long advocated the establishment of public control over our money and credit through a government owned central bank...
...must give youth the opportunity to succeed in life and make employment available to those who are in want of work at fair wages...
...I believe that, congress should provide taxes now to meet as much of the new armament burden as possible...
...I would vote the last man and the last dollar, If necessary, to defend this hemisphere, but in the name of democracy I pledge to you that I shall never give my vote to send American boys to fight overseas in a foreign war...
...This economic crisis which has so disorganized our economy was brought upon us by the reactionaries who controlled both business and government almost continuously since the Civil war until 1933...
...To guard America effectively against the fifth columns of communism and fascism we must have a contented and united people...
...We will not tolerate a change in sovereignty of an inch of territory needed for the defense of this hemisphere...
...By borrowing the money for him and administering the loans made with the aim in view of aiding agriculture in getting reestablished financially, it will improve the security behind the loans...
...What is still more important: Progressives have a program to meet these issues...
...Equally, If not more Important, they have the right to demand a sound co-ordinated plan for the future development and maintenance of our naltonal defense...
...Party of Tomorrow On this sixth anniversary of its establishment in our state...
...We have been" successful In securing the adoption of a program through which the federal government buys up surplus farm products and distributes them to people on relief who could otherwise not buy them...
...This program is now receiving new form in the food-stamp plan which is operating in approximately 100 cities...
...We must assure the farmer a price for his products which will represent the cost of production plus a fair profit and give business access to the credit which It needs to expand and develop new markets...
...Debt has been one of the curses of American agriculture ever since the World war, and it has broken literally thousands of good, honest, hard-working farm c r s whose only fault has been that they happened to be farming when times were hard...
...But If we allow ourselves to be drawn into the European slaughter, it will bleed us white and leave us as helpless as the rest...
...Their only answer was curtailed production throughout industry and the situation became worse...
...We have only to follow that course faithfully and we will be in a position when the war Is over to offer some real assistance to the war-torn nations in bringing about a lasting peace and extending aid to the victims of war and aggression...
...They have been revealed in the military and naval establishments of some nations abroad...
...We must) provide security for those who have contributed so much to the upbuilding of this country and who in their later years are entitled to a life of comfort and respectability...
...There is no time to waste in meeting the challenge of our day and generation...
...In this crisis when there are billions of idle capital, it is imperative that the people assert their rightful control over money and credit in order that it may be available to businessmen, to farmers, and to all the others who have a legitimate need for it...
...Our younger generation Is entitled to the opportunity for a full and better life commensurate with the productive capacity of the nation...
...We members and supporters of the Progressive party face the challenge of another campaign...
...Need Sound Economy We can see in the success of the aggressors in Europe that the first essential of a strong united nation capable of defending itself is a sound economy which affords opportunity to youth, the wage earner, the business and professional man and security t'o its senior citizens...
...But I want a Joint congressional committee created representing the military, naval, and appropriations committee of the house and senate, including technical experts, to make a thorough study of this vital problem...
...It is my sober judgment that this will be our year...
...The Progressive party program will make and keep democracy safe for America...
...Reliable estimates indicate that nearly 18 billion dollars of credit are needed to bring the machinery in our factories up to date and make it adequate to meet our present requirements...
...It is vital to unite in a supreme effort which will bring a smashing party triumph that can leave no doubt as to the destiny of this movement...
...I gave my whole-hearted support to this movement for a new political alignment in state and nation because I believe it is essential to a dynamic functioning of our democracy...
...When you realize that there were actually 35,000 fewer votes cast against the Progressive candidate for governor in 1938 than were cast against him in 1936, a year in which we scored a tremendous victory, you will understand the importance of marshalling our full strength at the polls on election day...
...As unemployment is reduced and the purchasing power of the people in our cities is restored, there will come a greater market for farm products...
...Progressives have fought for legislation approaching it from many angles...
...The responsibility for our own nRtlonal defense is still by tradition divided between two departments of the government: the army and the navy...
...They refused to recognize that permanent prosperity cannot be built without mass buying power...
...It would insure an adequate and co-ordinated program...
...An essential element in this program is the national American Legion convention which is held annually...
...In his petition, Kiewert maintained that the Legion and its convention exist for public purposes...
...Business Needs Credit Business needs suitable credit facilities in order to undertake new ventures and expand production...
...Look to Future But we are not gathered here simply to point with pride to the great record which the Progressive movement has made in the past...
...I am ready to support the president's recent request for more than a billion dollars for national defense...
...These are essential to our national morale and the efficient use of our economic and social resources...
...We are already making a di-recl attack upon this problem...
...We are prepared to make whatever sacrifices arc necessary In order to do so...
...It is no time for either despair or hysteria, but it is time for every patriotic American to search his heart and re-dedicate his civic energies to ihe defence of our American heritage...
...The two old parties grew up in response to issues of a day gone past, and they are incapable of meeting our present problems effectively because of their reactionary control or internal conflict...
...I shall work for and support such a joint committee...
...When there is a shortage of two million homes, when one-third of our people are undernourished and without enough clothing, and when there is scarcely a family in America that docs not have some need that must be neglected for financial reasons, it is time to abandon this reactionary theory of overproduction...
...The taxpayers and the congress are entitled to know what the present slate of our national defense it...
...This alone would be a sufficient reason for more taxes...
...To achieve great national strength we must build up our human and material resources...
...The events taking place in the world emphasize beyond doubt that the democratic way of life is in danger...
...That sum represents enough money to buy a $8,000 house and a $1,000 car for every family in the United States...
...It Can Be Solved No one can doubt our capacity to achieve these objectives...
...Without the appropriation, it will be impossible to raise the additional funds needed to successfully carry out the purposes of the corporation and bring the 1941 convention lo Milwaukee," Kiewert told the court...
...It is made up of people like yourselves who understand and appreciate the issues of national unemployment, economic insecurity, and the dangers which beset democracy both at home and abroad...
...The farmers in Wisconsin and the nation are In urgent need of adequate credit, not only to meet the present emergency, but to assist them In the larger task of restoring agriculture to a sound basis and making it once more the backbone of a prosperous nation...
...So far as I am concerned, the fight in Wisconsin will be waged under the banner of the Progressive party in 1940...
...Xced Full Strength Important issues are at stake in this political campaign, and there is no doubt in my mind that the Progressives can carry Wisconsin by a decisive margin providing we bring our full strength to the polls...
...JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Backed by both AFL and CIO, local Pres...
...It has ruthlessly driven them and their families out of their homes onto the highways where they have been forced to join the great army of homeless unemployed...
...But there is a more compelling one...
...The railroads right now, for example, could put three or four billion dollars worth of new capital to work in modernizing their transportation facilities...
...When people were no longer able to buy the products of our farms and factories, the reactionaries were content to assume that we were facing a problem of overproduction...
...Gov...
...Through a joint congressional committee we can get a proper study and solution to the problem of defense...
...We must and shall provide adequate military defenses for this hemisphere to protect us against Invasion or interference...
...We must all Join together in a concerted and decisive effort to build up the internal and external defenses of democracy...
...Sixty-five per cent of all our metal working equipment is obsolete...
...If I am any judge of the sentiment expressed here today, the Progressive forces in the state have come back with renewed determination to make up in good measure for the defeat of 1938...
...As patriotic American citizens we must all make up our minds that we can no longer tolerate a house divided, part idle and part at work, and we must have the courage to adhere to a sound, constructive, coherent program to put our human and material resources to work in America for the building of a stronger and better national life...
...Cites Lost Income Since 1929 we have lost 250 billion dollars in Income that might have been produced if we had kept our productive resources at work...
...To get our economic system functioning again so that our unused manpower, idle capital, and material resources can be put to work, we must increase mass purchasing power, and make available adequate monetary and credit facilities to all forms of constructive enterprise...
...For years they permitted monopolists and the privileged few to drain away the people's wealth and purchasing power...
...of Milwaukee, last week petitioned the supreme court to take original action to force State Treasurer John M. Smith to release $27,050 of $50,000 appropriated to the corporation by the 1939 legislature...
...and a dynamic program to attack our domestic problems of unemployment, insecurity and low farm income...
...We are proud of the long record of achievement m both state and national government which the Progressives of Wisconsin have made...
...I can say to you with a great deal of pride that the Progressive party is the party of today in Wisconsin, and I confidently believe that it will be the party of tomorrow^ in the nation...
...The productive facilities on our farms and in our factories are the greatest the world has ever known...
...There will be fat profits made from the new defense program...
...Defend Hemisphere We are determined to defend this, hemisphere from the Arctic circle to Cape Horn against all comers...
...But there is one lesson which even a layman can see emerging from the smoke of battle in Europe, namely, that all the reactionaries are not in congress or the state legislatures...
...We should discharge our responsibility to provide the country with a program for adequate national defense, a sound tax bill to meet It...
...It will give him interest rates reduced to 3 per cent on his mortgage, and it will give him up to 40 years in which to repay the loan...
...I am opposed to the adjournment of congress...
...These arc our internal defenses against the enemies of democracy...
...There should be no further delay in facing this vital problem...
...With this objective always in view...
...Bankhcad of Alabama in Introducing a bill, which proposes a comprehensive program of farm debt adjustment and refinancing...
...In order to make America secure against attack, we must restore the dynamic quality of life which marked our development in the decades before 1930...
...To afford continuous protection to the mass purchasing power which is vital to permanent prosperity, the fight against monopoly must be pressed forward with even greater vigor than before...
...This will bring the appropriations for this session up to three billions for this purposo alone...
...Smith has also refused to Issue funds from this appropriation because of Evjue's action...
...He declared that the deposit of $27,-050 was required by the national Legion body as guarantee of the financial ability of the sponsors of the convention...
...The bill will give the farmer a chance to get unduly heavy mortgages reduced to an amount the productive capacity of the farm can successfully carry...
...In this foreign and domestic crisis we should stay In session...
...My answer to all such speculation is that I did not join i nthe formation of the Progressive party in 1934 as a political expedient...
...Must Provide Security Adequate national defense Is more than a mere matter of armaments...
...Also pending is an action by the Disabled American Veterans seeking $4,000 of a $10,000 appropriation by the 1939 legislature...
...Progressives likewise recognize the necessity for raising farm commodity prices so that the farmer can secure costs of production plus a fair profit on his labor and investment...
...Long before we launched the Progressive party in Wisconsin, my father realized that a general political realignment would* have to come in state and nation if the people were to have an effective political instrumentality through which they could solve the problem of this day and generation...
...All of this can be done without expense to the government...
...This is clearly a power conferred upon the federal government by the constitution, which gave to congress the power to coin money and regulate the value thereof...
...Hell had offered his personal check for the $27,050 needed by the Legion to underwrite the convention, but It was not accepted, after he was informed that such action would be in violation of the state corrupt practices act...
...I, for one, refuse to join the pessimists who see disaster lurking around every corner...
...We must banish the discouragement and dissatisfaction that breed in the dead atmosphere of idleness and poverty on which ruthless dictators have risen to power...
...With the stimulation of business through the provision of adequate credit opportunities and the general rehabilitation of agriculture, will come renewed demand for the products of labor...
...Keep Out of War America has the opportunity of emerging from this world crisis as the strongest nation on earth, if we will follow our determination to solve our own domestic problems and keep out of the European war...
...Sees Greater Market The encouragement of co-operatives, the elimination of monopoly from the dairy markets, and parity prices are all part of the Progressive program for agriculture...
...We, must secure a system of taxation which is without reservation or qualification based upon the taxpayer's ability to pay...
...It gave Wisconsin the deserved reputation of being the best governed state in the Union, and it ran be said fairly that the Progressives have pioneered the cause of nearly every constructive step taken by the nation for the advancement of the general welfare of the people...
...Wheeler of Montana and Sen...
...The Progressive movement looks to youth just as it looks to the future, for youth is primarily interested in the future...
Vol. 10 • May 1940 • No. 21
