The recovery we sought was not to be merely temporary.  It was to be a recovery protected from the causes of previous disasters.  With that aim in view—­to prevent a future similar crisis—­you and I joined in a series of enactments—­safe banking and sound currency, the guarantee of bank deposits, protection for the investor in securities, the removal of the threat of agricultural surpluses, insistence on collective bargaining, the outlawing of sweat shops, child labor and unfair trade practices, and the beginnings of security for the aged and the worker.

Nor was the recovery we sought merely a purposeless whirring of machinery.  It is important, of course, that every man and woman in the country be able to find work, that every factory run, that business and farming as a whole earn profits.  But Government in a democratic Nation does not exist solely, or even primarily, for that purpose.

It is not enough that the wheels turn.  They must carry us in the direction of a greater satisfaction in life for the average man.  The deeper purpose of democratic government is to assist as many of its citizens as possible, especially those who need it most, to improve their conditions of life, to retain all personal liberty which does not adversely affect their neighbors, and to pursue the happiness which comes with security and an opportunity for recreation and culture.

Even with our present recovery we are far from the goal of that deeper purpose.  There are far-reaching problems still with us for which democracy must find solutions if it is to consider itself successful.

For example, many millions of Americans still live in habitations which not only fail to provide the physical benefits of modern civilization but breed disease and impair the health of future generations.  The menace exists not only in the slum areas of the very large cities, but in many smaller cities as well.  It exists on tens of thousands of farms, in varying degrees, in every part of the country.

Another example is the prevalence of an un-American type of tenant farming.  I do not suggest that every farm family has the capacity to earn a satisfactory living on its own farm.  But many thousands of tenant farmers, indeed most of them, with some financial assistance and with some advice and training, can be made self-supporting on land which can eventually belong to them.  The Nation would be wise to offer them that chance instead of permitting them to go along as they do now, year after year, with neither future security as tenants nor hope of ownership of their homes nor expectation of bettering the lot of their children.

Another national problem is the intelligent development of our social security system, the broadening of the services it renders, and practical improvement in its operation.  In many Nations where such laws are in effect, success in meeting the expectations of the community has come through frequent amendment of the original statute.