And let no one think that the unfortunate and the oppressed of this land sit stifled and alone in their hope tonight.  Hundreds of their servants and their protectors sit before me tonight here in this great Chamber.  III.

The Great Society leads us along three roads—­growth and justice and liberation.

I can report to you tonight what you have seen for yourselves already—­in every city and countryside.  This Nation is flourishing.

Workers are making more money than ever—­with after-tax income in the past 5 years up 33 percent; in the last year alone, up 8 percent.

More people are working than ever before in our history—­an increase last year of 2 1/2 million jobs.

Corporations have greater after-tax earnings than ever in history.  For the past 5 years those earnings have been up over 65 percent, and last year alone they had a rise of 20 percent.

Average farm income is higher than ever.  Over the past 5 years it is up 40 percent, and over the past year it is up 22 percent alone.

I was informed this afternoon by the distinguished Secretary of the Treasury that his preliminary estimates indicate that our balance of payments deficit has been reduced from $2.8 billion in 1964 to $1.3 billion, or less, in 1965.  This achievement has been made possible by the patriotic voluntary cooperation of businessmen and bankers working with your Government.

We must now work together with increased urgency to wipe out this balance of payments deficit altogether in the next year.

And as our economy surges toward new heights we must increase our vigilance against the inflation which raises the cost of living and which lowers the savings of every family in this land.  It is essential, to prevent inflation, that we ask both labor and business to exercise price and wage restraint, and I do so again tonight.

I believe it desirable, because of increased military expenditures, that you temporarily restore the automobile and certain telephone excise tax reductions made effective only 12 days ago.  Without raising taxes—­or even increasing the total tax bill paid—­we should move to improve our withholding system so that Americans can more realistically pay as they go, speed up the collection of corporate taxes, and make other necessary simplifications of the tax structure at an early date.

I hope these measures will be adequate.  But if the necessities of Vietnam require it, I will not hesitate to return to the Congress for additional appropriations, or additional revenues if they are needed.

I propose legislation to establish unavoidable requirements for nondiscriminatory jury selection in Federal and State courts—­and to give the Attorney General the power necessary to enforce those requirements.

I propose legislation to strengthen authority of Federal courts to try those who murder, attack, or intimidate either civil rights workers or others exercising their constitutional rights—­and to increase penalties to a level equal to the nature of the crime.