30
Press Releases, vol. X, p. 273
Address Delivered by the Secretary of State
at Washington, May 6, 1934
[Extracts]
There are innumerable demands both new and
important which in this crisis rest upon the educational agencies of the Nation.
The late war was supposed to have been waged to make the world safe for
democracy. It is paradoxical to observe that since the war political systems on
which representative or popular government has rested have been toppling over
in every part of the world, while dictator-
[20] Message was delivered on April 29.
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ships have sprung up overnight in their stead. Nations everywhere are
steadily narrowing their vision, their policies, and their program. Each is
undertaking more and more to visualize only itself to live by itself, and to
arm conceivably to defend itself against any and all aggressors. Individual
cooperation to promote community interests and community welfare is
indispensable to human progress. International cooperation to promote
understanding, friendship, and vast and varied reciprocal benefits and
conditions of peace is equally indispensable to the progress of civilization.
These international relationships have been practically abandoned.
Most standards of conduct, both individual
and international, have been seriously neglected and impaired. In its chief
fundamental respects, civilization since the war has been on the decline. The
entire political, economic, social, and moral affairs of most parts of the
world are unquestionably in a more or less chaotic condition. They present an
unprecedented challenge, especially to the parents, the schools, and the
churches.
There are more opportunities for the present
young generation than is generally believed. It would be folly, however, for
all to fail to recognize that the world is living more in an iron than in the
so-called "golden age". The youth may as well realize that they face
a world of stress and responsibilities far more difficult and complex than any during
recent generations. More of study and of time and of effort will be required of
those who lead and plan than is generally imagined. The task must be approached
with vision, energy, and resolution, and in many respects with a pioneering and
self-sacrificing spirit.
The United States is in a position to render
valuable service to the world in the existing exigency. In my judgment, this
Nation will continue as in recent months to offer wise, sound, and efficient
leadership with suitable programs for political, economic, social, and moral
rehabilitation. If in this we should later fail, to whom would our and other
countries look to perform this indispensable role? We must revive some of the
spirit of hardihood and determination which sustained those who came to this
continent, conquered the wilderness, and erected our marvelous free
institutions. It becomes all-important to this end that the Nation restore its
humanitarian, moral, and spiritual values. I repeat that we are not living
amidst conditions where an easy, soft, and flabby existence is possible, as it
has seemed at times in the recent past.
Today numerous nations are feverishly arming.
They are taxing all of their citizens beyond the limit of ability to pay, and
in many
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ways developing a military spirit which, regardless of present motives of
self-defense, may probably lead to war, unless past human experience is to be
reversed. Every Christian nation owes it to itself and to humanity to preach
and promote understanding, friendship, and peace.
While there are no signs of immediate war
anywhere, it is true that seriously volcanic conditions exist in many parts of
the world. Peace stabilization is all-important at this stage. It would be both
a blunder and a crime for civilized peoples to fail much longer to take notice
of present dangerous tendencies which negative every idea of friendliness and
of the spirit of the good neighbor.
Economic structures of most countries have
been hopelessly undermined and must be restored under sound methods. The
American people in this respect must realize that the World War destroyed
hundreds of billions of physical wealth; that following the war the people in
every country seemingly became obsessed with the one idea of materialism. To
get rich or to secure money by the most direct method, regardless of ethics or
law or decency, and to spend it for purposes of luxury, amusement, and pastime,
became the all-absorbing passion. The result was the wildest runaway experience
in the inflation of credit and securities in all human experience. From a
combination of policies and methods, either short-sighted or narrow or selfish,
the processes of exchange and distribution broke down, and the general world
collapse of 1929 resulted. Conditions more or less chaotic have since
characterized nearly all phases of affairs of both individuals and nations.
Normal thinking and sane practical acting have been almost the exception rather
than the rule. There is still a striking lack of enthusiasm for the restoration
of those high standards of morals, of good fellowship, and of friendship which
normally prevail and should prevail between both individuals and countries.
Let no one, however, become unduly
pessimistic. The civilization of the present age, in my judgment, is amply
capable of meeting the unprecedented challenge which existing conditions offer,
and which must be successfully met unless the world is to be threatened with
another period of long night—such as the Dark Ages. My appeal, therefore, is
for every individual to awaken and come to a realization of the problems and
difficulties facing all alike, and of the necessity for real sacrifices of time
and service on the part of the individual in aiding his Government to effect a
solution. I know we shall succeed in this epochal task, and that the
educational institutions of our country can be relied upon to play their full
part.
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