The Fireside Chats of Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Radio Addresses to the American People Broadcast Between 1933 and 1944Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano)
History
The Fireside Chats of Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Radio Addresses to the American People Broadcast Between 1933 and 1944
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano)
Depressions -- 1929 -- United States -- Sources; New Deal, 1933-1939 -- Sources; Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945 -- Oratory -- Sources; Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945 -- Political and social views -- Sources; United States -- Economic conditions -- 1918-1945
Let me call your attention to the fact that the national Industrial
Recovery Act gave businessmen the opportunity they had sought for
years to improve business conditions through what has been called
self-government in industry. If the codes which have been written
have been too complicated, if they have gone too far in such
matters as price fixing and limitation of production, let it be
remembered that so far as possible, consistent with the immediate
public interest of this past year and the vital necessity of
improving labor conditions, the representatives of trade and
industry were permitted to write their ideas into the codes. It is
now time to review these actions as a whole to determine through
deliberative means in the light of experience, from the standpoint
of the good of the industries themselves, as well as the general
public interest, whether the methods and policies adopted in the
emergency have been best calculated to promote industrial recovery
and a permanent improvement of business and labor conditions. There
may be a serious question as to the wisdom of many of those devices
to control production, or to prevent destructive price cutting
which many business organizations have insisted were necessary, or
whether their effect may have been to prevent that volume of
production which would make possible lower prices and increased
employment. Another question arises as to whether in fixing minimum
wages on the basis of an hourly or weekly wage we have reached into
the heart of the problem which is to provide such annual earnings
for the lowest paid worker as will meet his minimum needs. We also
question the wisdom of extending code requirements suited to the
great industrial centers and to large employers, to the great
number of small employers in the smaller communities.
During the last twelve months our industrial recovery has been to
some extent retarded by strikes, including a few of major
importance. I would not minimize the inevitable losses to employers
and employees and to the general public through such conflicts. But
I would point out that the extent and severity of labor disputes
during this period has been far less than in any previous,
comparable period.
When the businessmen of the country were demanding the right to
organize themselves adequately to promote their legitimate
interests; when the farmers were demanding legislation which would
give them opportunities and incentives to organize themselves for a
common advance, it was natural that the workers should seek and
obtain a statutory declaration of their constitutional right to
organize themselves for collective bargaining as embodied in
Section 7 (a) of the national Industrial Recovery Act.
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