Excerpt from "Annual Message to the Congress, January 3, 1938"

Reprinted from The Public Papers and Addresses
of Franklin D. Roosevelt: 1938 Volume
Published in 1941

"We are seeking only legislation to end starvation wages and intolerable hours.…"

Franklin D. Roosevelt

In his annual message to Congress in January of each year President Franklin Roosevelt lobbied (tried to influence law-makers) for important issues and pieces of legislation that would come before Congress during the next twelve months. In his speech on January 3, 1938, Roosevelt explained how the very low wages of factory jobs restricted the buying power of a large segment of the U.S. population. If their purchasing power could be raised, Roosevelt continued, they could buy their share of manufactured goods. With this line of...