I hereby and now make this
award.
You and I are "the folks back home" for whose protection Lieutenant
Powers fought and repeatedly risked his life. He said that we
counted on him and his men. We did not count in vain. But have not
those men a right to be counting on us? How are we playing our part
"back home" in winning this war?
The answer is that we are not doing enough.
Today I sent a message to the Congress, pointing out the
overwhelming urgency of the serious domestic economic crisis with
which we are threatened. Some call it "inflation," which is a vague
sort of term, and others call it a "rise in the cost of living,"
which is much more easily understood by most families.
That phrase, "the cost of living," means essentially what a dollar
can buy.
From January 1, 1941, to May of this year, nearly a year and a
half, the cost of living went up about 15 percent. And at that
point last May we undertook to freeze the cost of living. But we
could not do a complete job of it, because the Congressional
authority at the time exempted a large part of farm products used
for food and for making clothing, although several weeks before, I
had asked the Congress for legislation to stabilize all farm
prices.
At that time I had told the Congress that there were seven elements
in our national economy, all of which had to be controlled; and
that if any one essential element remained exempt, the cost of
living could not be held down.
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