Our economy owes much to the efficiency of our farmers.  We must continue to assure them the opportunity to earn a fair reward.  I have instructed the Secretary of Agriculture to lead a major effort to find new approaches to reduce the heavy cost of our farm programs and to direct more of our effort to the small farmer who needs the help the most.

INCREASED PROSPERITY

We can help insure continued prosperity through: 

—­a regional recovery program to assist the development of stricken areas left behind by our national progress;

—­further efforts to provide our workers with the skills demanded by modern technology, for the laboring-man is an indispensable force in the American system;

—­the extension of the minimum wage to more than 2 million unprotected workers;

—­the improvement and the modernization of the unemployment compensation system.

And as pledged in our 1960 and 1964 Democratic platforms, I will propose to Congress changes in the Taft-Hartley Act including section 14(b).  I will do so hoping to reduce the conflicts that for several years have divided Americans in various States of our Union.

In a country that spans a continent modern transportation is vital to continued growth.

TRANSPORTATION FOR GROWTH

I will recommend heavier reliance on competition in transportation and a new policy for our merchant marine.

I will ask for funds to study high-speed rail transportation between urban centers.  We will begin with test projects between Washington and Boston.  On high-speed trains, passengers could travel this distance in less than 4 hours.

II.  OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

Second, we must open opportunity to all our people.

Most Americans enjoy a good life.  But far too many are still trapped in poverty and idleness and fear.

Let a just nation throw open to them the city of promise: 

—­to the elderly, by providing hospital care under social security and by raising benefit payments to those struggling to maintain the dignity of their later years;

—­to the poor and the unfortunate, through doubling the war against poverty this year;

—­to Negro Americans, through enforcement of the civil rights law and elimination of barriers to the right to vote;

—­to those in other lands that are seeking the promise of America, through an immigration law based on the work a man can do and not where he was born or how he spells his name.

III.  TO ENRICH THE LIFE OF ALL

Our third goal is to improve the quality of
American life.

THROUGH EDUCATION

We begin with learning.