In this speech, Harry Truman lauds the efforts of the pioneers of the west, especially the early Mormons. Then he broadens his focus to the entire west to tell his listeners how serious is the battle for control of the resources of the west. When today's right-wingers rail about government control of so much of the west, they miss the point. The set-asides were the result of powerful Wall Street forces who sought to control the resources and siphon off the profits for their own selfish interests. A very small portion of the speech is printed below. For the entire speech please visit the URL below. What a night that must have been when Harry Truman spoke!
Selfish men have always tried to skim the cream from our natural resources to satisfy their own greed. And they have always sought to control the Government in order to accomplish this. Their instrument in this effort has always been the Republican Party.
The Republican administrations of our time have done their best to make the West [p.532] an economic colony of Wall Street. In the 1920's, under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, quick and greedy exploitation was the order of the day. Many parts of the West were withering--withering from the failure to develop its power and irrigation, withering actually from Republican sabotage.
Selfish men had control, and the great resources of the West were wasted with sinful disregard of the people.
Never before in history had so much been wasted by so few.
Speech Text: The Night Harry Truman Spoke at the Mormon Tabernacle
No comments:
Post a Comment