LAND OF THE FREE

[Music] [Applause] what makes a country what makes this country of ours let's take a swift bird's-eye view to see if we can discover the ingredients the first essential is faced to live in and we Americans have plenty of that this Republic stretches from ocean to ocean and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf within our borders are vast fertile plains where graze the cattle and the Sheep we have grape fields of billowing grain mile on mile nodding golden heads to the Sun a giant granary friendly smiling valleys are dotted with fragrant fruit trees and streaked with dusty green vineyards that march in columns over the rolling hills we have millions of acres of timberland oak and elm and hickory maple and walnuts spruce and pine our mighty rivers tossed their plumes of spray as they hurry down to the sea majestic mountains proudly lift their ancient snow-covered heads to the blue sky plenty of space to live in but land is not enough to make a country there must also be people to work the land men to swing the axe and fell the timber to begin the conversion of a tree into a useful piece of lumber there must be people to harvest the crops cotton and wheat corn and tobacco oats and out alpha barley and beans now people act pretty much alike the world over no matter where you go they eat and drink and discuss the news of the day they are born they work for their share of happiness and they die they feel the same heat of summer and the same chill of winter and after work they play but that isn't enough and that's why for 300 years they've been coming to this country our fathers or our fathers fathers months or years or generations ago made the long voyage to these shores in search of freedom for more than half a century the Statue of Liberty soaring symbol of America has held high aloft a torch brightly burning to light the way for 26 million new Americans to this new land of opportunity to this land of the free and what treasures are ours we produce 34 percent of all the coal mined in the world from our wells gushes 62 percent of the world's supply of oil from seemingly inexhaustible veins in the earth we produce 29% of the world's iron ore other rich loads supply us with 32 percent of the world's copper in the fields of the south we grow half of all the cotton produce our most valuable crop is corn of which we grow more than half of the world supplier to get about our great country we operate 34 percent of the world's railroads a quarter of a million miles of track for personal transportation we drive seventy percent of all the automobiles that roll along the world's highways we enjoy the convenience of half of all the telephones in service for diversion and instruction we listen to 45 percent of all the radio sets in existence we import into this country for our use half of all the rubber produced in other lands from across the sea we bring into America more than half of all the coffee grown and from the other side of the world we get more than half of the world's production of Ross and what proportion of the population of the earth shares all these ridges there are 130 million of us Americans but how do we compare in numbers with the rest of mankind well such is the ingenuity the courage and the capacity for hard work of the American people that they have developed these infinite resources and still have a lot of room to growing for we constitute only 6% of the population of the world only 6% and yet we are the wealthiest in resources as well as the happiest and freest people on earth we constitute the greatest country in the world great in resources and in the vision of our people great and accomplishment in the past and equally great in promise for the future not so long ago our forefathers braved unknown perils of an unknown land and crossed the continent to win the West a triumph of courage and will to achieve the country over stout hearted men and women were making homes and raising families one gala day the last spike was driven that laced the two oceans together with a Transcontinental railway now that two coasts were only days apart instead of month in 1840 a hundred years ago a member of the United States Senate made an amazing speech I urged the closing of the United States Patent Office it is obvious I think that you will concur that we have exhausted our inventiveness and because there is nothing further to be devised and tackled it no machine or contraption that can possibly add to our virtue and well-being I crave your support of a measure to close the Patent Office close the Patent Office and since that day of come inventions that have meant jobs for me of men and women the electric light the telephone the phonograph the automobile the airplane the radio and the sound motion picture each year 400,000 applications for patents are filed from which come as many as 40,000 workable ideas will high no further back than the turn of the century less than four decades ago letters were handwritten by the light of an oil lamp now your secretary turns out her work swiftly and legibly on the typewriter not so long ago metal was shaped by the Smith and the mighty man was he because he had to be nowadays a man touches a lever and the jaws of a giant press closed on a sheet of steel to form the top of an automobile not so long ago milk was skimmed by hand but now the separator efficiently divorces the milk from the cream ploughing used to be a slow job and a hard job not so long ago but now American inventiveness has lightened the labors of the farmer with the tractor and the gang flower nature created Niagara Falls truly a beautiful spectacle but even more magnificent is the largest man-made structure on earth Boulder Dam eloquent testimony to the vision of our country for this tremendous work will make the desert to blossom like the rose creating garden spots where once was reckless waste we have flung great bridges across bays and streams that people may move more easily from one place to another for the exchange of goods and ideas over and under rivers between the United States and the Dominion of Canada are bridges and tunnels that cross the boundary line between our good neighbor and ourselves a 3,000 mile frontier of friendship over which not a gun has been pointed in enmity in more than a hundred years typically American our our majestic cities were their towering skyscrapers of steel and stone and glass truly an awe-inspiring sight his Manhattan Island in busy bustling Chicago millions have been spent to beautify the lakefront until it is now one of the show places of America the gift of a generous city to its people the national capital at Washington breathed there a man with soul so dead who never to himself has said this is my own mind native land this country has been called the melting pot because by some strange alchemy a variety of ingredients goes into it and the result of the bubbling and seething is always the same a fresh creation a new citizen an American [Music] [Music] and what makes an American well there's education free schools for all the people only a hundred and fifty thousand of our youngsters were enrolled in institutions of higher learning fifty years ago now the enrollment is 1 million two hundred thousand then there's a free press for the uninterrupted exchange of ideas a press that is free to speak its mind about those in power to safeguard the rights of the lowly to examine acts and motives of people in high places to ensure justice for all under the Constitution there is free speech for we are an aggressive tough minded people who never hesitate to speak our minds still the fact remains that we homeowners have our rights too and I for one I'm gonna stick up for mine [Applause] from its beginning more than 300 years ago America has been the Haven of the oppressed to found religious freedom here doffing the landscape in city town and country our church spires reaching up into the heavens great edifices invite worshipers to sit beneath their hushed and holy doors here in America every man may worship his God according to his lights may address the Almighty if he so pleases in the tongue of his father's for this is the land of the free we Americans like to play laughter rings out in the land on the beaches of the Atlantic and the Pacific and the gulf of lakes and rivers and streams millions of us are ardent devotees of the national game of baseball on each coast is a great exposition to teach us amuse us and amaze us one has arisen outside of New York City on the Flushing Meadows the other on Treasure Island in beautiful San Francisco Bay all the year round the out-of-doors calls us bidding us forget all care and live an hour or two with nature in her ever-changing Wonderland always fascinating weather in the crisp cold of winter or on a soft June evening out in the woods [Music] back in 1900 men were still doing many laborious tasks by hand then came the beginning of a new program of action the American Way which consists of an endless chain of four links endless because no one can say which comes first one link was quantity production by which products of finer quality were produced in greater numbers and a price within the reach of everybody general education was essential to the American Way so the people could learn the advantages of a product from magazine advertising from newspapers that daily tell a hundred sales stories from billboards that display a message so that he who runs may read and from the radio that takes education directly into the whole now we have national desire exemplified by a hurrying stream of shoppers quantity production means a product that combines high quality with low cost returning more value on the investment whether it's an automobile or a cake of soap nationwide distribution means laying down the product in every community for the convenience of the prospective buyer general education is accomplished by advertising in all its forms and through all available media thus is engendered national desire the result is the American Way uh approached even unique as it operates day in and day out in furtherance of the health happiness and well-being of all of us of highest standards of living than exists elsewhere in the world here in the land of the free this was a mighty snappy job not so long ago only forty years in fact and yet this scene almost takes us back to the dark ages so rapid has been the growth of the automotive industry the outstanding example of the American Way in operation in 1900 there were only 8,000 motor vehicles registered in the United States by 1906 the number had grown to a hundred and five thousand we topped the million mark for the first time in 1913 with 1 million 258,000 registrations two years later the total was two million four hundred forty five thousand and the curve went steadily upward through the years three and a half million in 1916 five million in seventeen six million in 1870 and a half million in nineteen and nine and a quarter million in 1920 what a growth that was in a score of years but it still went on and up 15 million in 1923 22 million in 26 26 and a half million in 30 28 million in 36 and 29 and a half million last year think of it in 40 years we have built a total of 62 and a quarter million motor vehicles and we're going to keep right on building them more and more for Americans always have demanded and always will demand these necessities of good living now for the men and women who build the cars motor car companies employ as many as a half a million persons in a year and pay them as much as eight hundred million dollars in 12 months another million and a quarter are employed in sales and service and when you consider the related manufacturers who depend on the automobile business you find on the payrolls more than 6 million employees one out of every seven gainfully employed in the United States America's Road building program went hand in hand with the development of motor transportation until now we have 360 thousand miles of surfaced highways in the fiscal year of 1939 more than three and a half million men were employed on road construction and maintenance the motorists of America fill their tanks each year with 22 billion gallons of gasoline 90 percent of the total United States production automobile manufacturers shipped their product in three million fake car loads for which they pay the railroads the staggering total of three hundred and sixty million dollars the automotive industry writes many another big change in a year it spends more than twenty three million dollars for cotton nearly three million dollars is the bill for wool and another two million goes from oh here the cattlemen received more than one and three-quarters million dollars for Heinz and there are many other commodities of which the industry is the largest single consumer such as rubber 80% plate-glass 69% alloy steel 54 percent malleable iron 53 percent clip steel 51 percent sheet steel 41 percent LED 35 percent nickel 29 percent every state in the Union contributes to the building of automobiles and every state profits New England Weaver's make fabrics for upholstery from the Northwest comes lumber millions of feet of it from the south comes sugar cane and cotton millions of pounds of it from the southwest comes oil billions of gallons of it from the Middle West come corn and wheat soybeans and flaxseed millions of bushels of it from ranchers and farmers the country over comes sheep and cattle and hogs millions of them from nature's bountiful storehouse of treasures in the earth come hyoeun and lead zinc and nickel tin and aluminum copper and coal mercury and silver tungsten and bauxite vanadium molybdenum and manganese truly all America builds the automobile it's a nationwide collaboration of 48 states cooperating to achieve a common purpose and it could happen nowhere but here in the land of the free where men can still dream dreams and make them come true close the Patent Office no siree not while there are still Americans ever striving to make this a better world too to show this is a freely competitive business there's a list of the different makes of motorcars manufactured in this country since 1900 more than a thousand of them surely fair competition is the life of trade quality is increased prices are lowered and may the best cars win look at some of the names ace Acme Ajax Akron Alpena ambassador Eames Complex anchor Angus Ardsley Aurora Auto Motor all dead and gone now but such as America's faith in the future that behind every one of those names lies a story of hope and determination and hard work the story of a factory that was first at loop print and finally a reality when a man or a group of men to their dream added their dollars first a hot idea then cold cash that's the American way of describing the beginning of the American Way that flourishes here and nowhere else here in the land of the free where capital joins hands with labour where the individual is free to carve out his own destiny where the people make the law not where the law circumscribes and concentrates the people nowhere else in the world could rise such a huge business as the automotive industry only here in the land of the free in a democracy where the rich soil of freedom fosters the growth of individual effort and enterprise in America where last year was invested the vast sum of 1 billion three hundred million dollars in the business of manufacturing automobiles a thousand new motor car companies founded since 1900 and of them all only 20 are now in existence here as elsewhere it is the fittest that survives such lively competition just as the automotive industry is typical of the success of the American Way so this pioneer this 25 year old institution typifies what may be accomplished when individual enterprise is initiated and actuated by high resolve and is sustained and encouraged by the Free People the land that is free more than a quarter of a century ago two Americans brothers formed a partnership to build dependable motorcars their begining was humbled like many another they invested their own capital in the venture and they erected a factory in which they installed machines and hired men to operate them because they built good cars at a fair price the company prospered selling thirty five million dollars worth of cars its first year and as the business grew more capital was invested in the plant and more modern machines were purchased little remains as it was more than 25 years ago and yet the cornerstone of the enterprise is unchanged the men who make the cars they are maintaining the same high standards in materials and workmanship that were established by the brothers in the beginning many of them have worked here at bench and lathe and press since that momentous day November 14 1914 when the first car came off the line the first of four and a half million vehicles to bear the name of the founders and such is their dependability and long life that today nearly 2 million of those vehicles are registered and in service still running over the highways of America progress is growth and so behind the scenes in the laboratories 12 months a year the engineers seek to improve the product through the years these scientists have tested and tried created and then accepted or rejected changing the car improving it in appearance and comfort in safety and economy in handling ease and power it has been a steady growth and orderly progression toward the unattainable ideal of perfection a goal never to be reached just as there can be no end to America's greatness as the hell theist and wealthiest nation of the world so there can be no end either to this industry because there is no possible substitute for the automobile let's forget the good old days the good new days are here and an even better finer day is coming yearly change yearly progress new models new refinements new luxury thus has this company done its share toward the development of a great industry justifying its survival among the fittest pointing proudly to an unblemished record of achievement for a quarter of a century looking confidently toward the bright future that so surely stretches ahead turning wheels wheels forever turning they tell the story of the aggressive spirit of Americanism we are not content to stay in one place this country of ours is big plenty of space in it and we want to see it all we want to go places that has been true since the beginning first we traveled by covered wagons slowly and dangerously from coast to coast then we bridge the continent by railroad train getting from the Atlantic to the Pacific widening our horizons binding the Republic together with bonds of friendship and understanding and finally we traveled by means of the most luxurious and the least costly personal transportation that the world ever knew they automobile and we who live on the western side of the Atlantic can travel 3,000 miles from coast to coast without showing a passport or getting permission to cross a border our nation and our industry have a permanency that cannot and will not be denied for we have those two things that make a great country the land and the people still abroad in this Republic is the spirit of the pioneer and you simply can't lick that brand of courage and initiative the land is still rich in resources awaiting the hand of our resourceful people to change trees into lumber and to change lumber into homes something new something better today that we didn't have yesterday that is progress for progress is growth and growth is always change beneath the surface buried in the earth is still a treasury of precious awaiting the hand of a man who will rest the metal from the rock all manner of metals that in the hands of the cunning workman will be shaped and fashioned into all manner of useful things something new something better that is progress for progress is growth and growth is always change still our mighty rivers are rushing headlong to the sea but man harnesses the flood puts the water to work to create usable power to change the surge into a faithful servant that too is change and progress we plot and so we cultivate and we reap we watch the land move through a cycle with the changing seasons a cycle as old as time from the seed to the harvest and this too is growth you can't stop America we're going to keep right on rolling along like these motorcars glorious product of the American Way that way of life created and upheld by Americans who are not content with past achievements who want something different growth change progress Americans whose ambitions soar into the skies who are unfettered and unbound by traditions of the past Americans who know there has always been and always will be a definite and substantial reward for persistent effort and for work well and truly done turning wheels wheels forever turning let them stand by the grace of God and the indomitable will of man as symbols of change that is progress of wider scope and deeper sympathy of the Brotherhood of capital and labor of what we mean when with grateful hearts we salute this democracy land of the free [Music]