of Governor Herbert R. O'Conor 245

and which can more safely be entrusted to guide the destinies of our national
government for the next four years. Based upon performances, which of the
pasties gives greater hope of doing a better job, in which experience is an
important asset?

In the last twenty years we have witnessed kaleidoscopic changes in the
history of the world. During the first twelve years of that momentous era
we had the Republican Party continuously in power in Washington. Repub-
lican Presidents had served for twelve years, for three consecutive terms. For
almost eight years' the Democratic Party has been in power. Historians may
well refer to this twenty-year period as the "tale of two crises; "—one, the
greatest economic crisis of our time; the other, the greatest international
crisis of all time brought about by the war-crazed leaders across the oceans.

Let us examine the handling of these events, the one by the Republican
Party; the other by the Democratic Party. Let us determine in the light of
the past whether we wish to turn out, of office the party 'of accomplishment,
experience and present ability and substitute in its place the party with a
record of glaring failure.

How well do we remember the years from 1929 through 1932! The
leaders of the Republican Party had blindly failed to heed the storm signals
that were posted. The warnings of economists and conservative business
men had gone unheeded. Then the bubble burst; the banks closed; the farmer
went broke; homes were foreclosed; hunger and cold threatened millions of
our unemployed.

The Republican Party showed an utter inability to comprehend the
economic forces that engulfed our Nation. Apparently, it did not know how
to find a way out. Its leadership was impotent, and with only one or two
minor exceptions did nothing to alleviate the horrible conditions brought about
by the depression.

In the face of that great emergency the party which had been in power
for twelve consecutive years failed our people. And that failure brought
about suffering that defied description. Where was the leadership that the
Country so sorely needed? It could not be found in the Republican Party.
Impotence, weakness, lethargy marched hand in hand, while the ranks of the
unemployed increased. The economic condition of the Country went from bad
to worse, and still there was no action. The ability to decide, to accomplish,
to do; —all seemed to have disappeared from the Republican Party.

The people of our Nation sought a leader. They were disillusioned with
the Republican Party. They found a great executive, a man of proven worth,
most of whose lifetime had been devoted to public service. They elected a
great Democrat, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The people placed at the helm
this man capable of supplying dynamic leadership, the kind that had been so
woefully lacking in his predecessor. The people turned to their government
because they knew it was the duty of their government to protect lives and
property, and to lead them out of the morass into which they had been led
under three terms of Republican rule.

Have we forgotten how those groups who suffered in that terrible depres-
sion turned to this government for aid ? Have we forgotten the frantic appeal
from the banks all over the Country that cried "Help, save us"?

They sought action. They got it—in striking contrast to the "let-it-
alone" attitude of the Republican Party. Billions of dollars were advanced