796 State Papers and Addresses

This is an instance, wherein the States can assume leadership, to the end
that the working classes in the Country will not suffer. It is obvious that if such
a large percentage of our people are displaced in their employment and unable
to find the means of livelihood, the entire structure of our National system will
be affected adversely.

The States are peculiarly adopted and situated to plan for the industrial,
economic and commercial welfare of the people throughout the Country while,
at the same time, the Federal Government is required to concentrate upon the
war effort and upon international problems. It must be remembered that our
Nation only possesses the sum total of the resources, the energies and the man-
power of the 48 States. This accumulation of resources, energies and man-
power must be put to work now in planning for the reconstruction period which
must be successful if we are to avoid a repetition of the present holocaust.

The events of the recent past give added confidence that ultimately Amer-
ica's cause will be victorious. The spirit of our men in Africa, in the South-
west Pacific, and elsewhere in the world, is simply the spirit which has been
manifest in every crisis of our Nation's history. It was that spirit that brought
the early settlers in this country, that urged them to dare forests and prairies
and mountains in their westward search for better things; that bolstered their
aims in every hour of crisis faced by our Nation from earliest days.

America won't be beaten in this war because it is simply inconceivable to
the spirit of America that defeat could come. Democracy with its freedoms and
privilege®, that have been the life's blood of our people for three centuries and
more is so precious that death itself is a small price to pay for its preservation.

No, it may not be this year, but it will be next year or the year after or even
years after that. But whenever this war does end, be assured that it will end
in America's favor, as certainly as there is a just God in the heavens. While
there is one sturdy American left to resist, slavery will never foisted upon the
48 States that compose this greatest of all great Nations.