This Congress—­Democrats and Republicans—­can earn the thanks of history.  We can make this truly a new day for the American consumer, and by giving him this protection we can live in history as the consumer-conscious Congress.

So let us get on with the work.  Let us act soon.

We, at every level of the government, State, local, Federal, know that the American people have had enough of rising crime and lawlessness in this country.

They recognize that law enforcement is first the duty of local police and local government.

They recognize that the frontline headquarters against crime is in the home, the church, the city hall and the county courthouse and the statehouse—­not in the far-removed National Capital of Washington.

But the people also recognize that the National Government can and the National Government should help the cities and the States in their war on crime to the full extent of its resources and its constitutional authority.  And this we shall do.

This does not mean a national police force.  It does mean help and financial support: 

—­to develop State and local master plans to combat crime,

—­to provide better training and better pay for police, and

—­to bring the most advanced technology to the war on crime in every city and every county in America.

There is no more urgent business before this Congress than to pass the Safe Streets Act this year that I proposed last year.  That law will provide these required funds.  They are so critically needed that I have doubled my request under this act to $100 million in fiscal 1969.

And I urge the Congress to stop the trade in mail-order murder, to stop it this year by adopting a proper gun control law.

This year, I will propose a Drug Control Act to provide stricter penalties for those who traffic in LSD and other dangerous drugs with our people.

I will ask for more vigorous enforcement of all of our drug laws by increasing the number of Federal drug and narcotics control officials by more than 30 percent.  The time has come to stop the sale of slavery to the young.  I also request you to give us funds to add immediately 100 assistant United States attorneys throughout the land to help prosecute our criminal laws.  We have increased our judiciary by 40 percent and we have increased our prosecutors by 16 percent.  The dockets are full of cases because we don’t have assistant district attorneys to go before the Federal judge and handle them.  We start these young lawyers at $8,200 a year.  And the docket is clogged because we don’t have authority to hire more of them.

I ask the Congress for authority to hire 100 more.  These young men will give special attention to this drug abuse, too.

Finally, I ask you to add 100 FBI agents to strengthen law enforcement in the Nation and to protect the individual rights of every citizen.