At the heart of this attack on crime must be the conviction that a free America—­as Abraham Lincoln once said—­must “let reverence for the laws . . . become the political religion of the Nation.”

Our country’s laws must be respected.  Order must be maintained.  And I will support—­with all the constitutional powers the President possesses—­our Nation’s law enforcement officials in their attempt to control the crime and the violence that tear the fabric of our communities.

Many of these priority proposals will be built on foundations that have already been laid.  Some will necessarily be small at first, but “every beginning is a consequence.”  If we postpone this urgent work now, it will simply have to be done later, and later we will pay a much higher price.

Our fourth objective is prosperity, to keep our economy moving ahead, moving ahead steadily and safely.

We have now enjoyed 6 years of unprecedented and rewarding prosperity.  Last year, in 1966: 

—­Wages were the highest in history—­and the unemployment rate, announced yesterday, reached the lowest point in 13 years;

—­Total after-tax income of American families rose nearly 5 percent;

—­Corporate profits after taxes rose a little more than 5 percent;

—­Our gross national product advanced 5.5 percent, to about $740 billion;

—­Income per farm went up 6 percent.

Now we have been greatly concerned because consumer prices rose 4.5 percent over the 18 months since we decided to send troops to Vietnam.  This was more than we had expected—­and the Government tried to do everything that we knew how to do to hold it down.  Yet we were not as successful as we wished to be.  In the 18 months after we entered World War II, prices rose not 4.5 percent, but 13.5 percent.  In the first 18 months after Korea, after the conflict broke out there, prices rose not 4.5 percent, but 11 percent.  During those two periods we had OPA price control that the Congress gave us and War Labor Board wage controls.

Since Vietnam we have not asked for those controls and we have tried to avoid imposing them.  We believe that we have done better, but we make no pretense of having been successful or doing as well as we wished.

Our greatest disappointment in the economy during 1966 was the excessive rise in interest rates and the tightening of credit.  They imposed very severe and very unfair burdens on our home buyers and on our home builders, and all those associated with the home industry.

Last January, and again last September, I recommended fiscal and moderate tax measures to try to restrain the unbalanced pace of economic expansion.  Legislatively and administratively we took several billions out of the economy.  With these measures, in both instances, the Congress approved most of the recommendations rather promptly.

As 1966 ended, price stability was seemingly being restored.  Wholesale prices are lower tonight than they were in August.  So are retail food prices.  Monetary conditions are also easing.  Most interest rates have retreated from their earlier peaks.  More money now seems to be available.