President Roosevelt's Autumn Plans President Roosevelt's final broadcast speech before
he went off on his holiday was in reality an appeal to the people in view of the Congressional elections in the autumn, and took the form of a justification of his past achievements and a forecast of the future. He denied that his government was Fascist, or Socialist, or that it involved any break with the democratic traditions of the -past. He was endeavouring to graft the new in orderly progress on to the structure that exists. His programme called in the first place for large expenditure on relief, since no one could be permitted to starve. Next it demanded further steps towards recovery, and that involved both social reform and reconstruction— and he once again declared his intention of establishing a national system of social insurance, a nation-wide campaign for the provision of houses, and schemes for developing the land and water resources of the country. There has been much in his programme up to now that has baffled the understanding of the ordinary American, or, for that matter, some economists. But here is a plain and comparatively simple statement of far-reaching projects which every elector can appreciate.
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