tored. Mental
and moral horizons have been extended.

But our present gains were won under the pressure of more than ordinary
circumstances. Advance became imperative under the goad of fear and
suffering. The times were on the side of progress.

To hold to progress today, however, is more difficult. Dulled
conscience, irresponsibility, and ruthless self-interest already
reappear. Such symptoms of prosperity may become portents of disaster!
Prosperity already tests the persistence of our progressive purpose.

Let us ask again: Have we reached the goal of our vision of that fourth
day of March 1933? Have we found our happy valley?

I see a great nation, upon a great continent, blessed with a great
wealth of natural resources. Its hundred and thirty million people are
at peace among themselves; they are making their country a good neighbor
among the nations. I see a United States which can demonstrate that,
under democratic methods of government, national wealth can be
translated into a spreading volume of human comforts hitherto unknown,
and the lowest standard of living can be raised far above the level of
mere subsistence.

But here is the challenge to our democracy: In this nation I see tens of
millions of its citizens--a substantial part of its whole
population--who at this very moment are denied the greater part of what
the very lowest standards of today call the necessities of life.

I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the
pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day.

I see millions whose daily lives in city and on farm continue under
conditions labeled indecent by a so-called polite society half a century
ago.

I see millions denied education, recreation, and the opportunity to
better their lot and the lot of their children.

I see millions lacking the means to buy the products of farm and factory
and by their poverty denying work and productiveness to many other
millions.

I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.

It is not in despair that I paint you that picture. I paint it for you
in hope--because the Nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in
it, proposes to paint it out. We are determined to make every American
citizen the subject of his country's interest and concern; and we will
never regard any faithful law-abiding group within our borders as
superfluous. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the
abundance