Home Photo Gallery Classroom Documents My Dear Mr. President:- Your letter to the clergymen of the country has, I am confident, met with hearty response. Faced as all of us are with responsibilities which tax our wisdom and our strength and with burdens which the depression has increased, we realize the need of all the advice and counsel which we can receive from any source and appreciate it when the President of our great country takes a similar position. We only hope that we may be able to make some suggestions which will be of value. The members of my church are of the industrial class. Needless to say, the past few years have been very hard upon them. It is my own personal feeling that the new Social Security Legislation is an important step in the right direction and should mean much for the future. I believe that provision should be made to include groups not at present included. Some of my people are very much interested in the Townsend Plan. While I can see the impracticality of it, I am convinced that, unless something even more far-reaching than the present Social Security Legislation is enacted, the people of our country will demand that this Plan or something similar be given a trial. They just will not stand forever for the misery which loss of savings, uncertainty and unemployment have wrought while so many all about them are living in luxury. I see no evidence of violent revolution but I do see evidence that many people are coming to the point where they favor trying what seem to those of s who try to think the problem through visionary and impracticable schemes. While more of my people are working than a year ago, the low wages and the rise in the prices of the necessities of life bring about a condition where those who work are little better off than those on relief. To date this problem seems to be increasing in seriousness. When so many people would like to eat better food and wear better clothes, it seems to us that there is something drastically wrong with a plan of procedure which limits production to raise prices. The problem of distribution and the excessive rise in prices from producer to consumer must be solved some day. A real solution of this problem would greatly benefit the working classes. It does seem as if a way could be fond whereby it would be just as profitable for the farmer to produce more and find a ready market because prices are within the range of pocketbooks as for him to produce less and be unable to sell because those who desire his products cannot afford them. After eating hamburg for five years, my people would welcome a diet of pork chops. Personally I cannot feel that the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment and the prohibition laws has tended to benefit the morals of my people. The evidence which comes to me all points the other way. The writer of this letter is naturally conservative in his economic and political thinking, but I have been trying to express some of the thoughts which seem to me to be in the minds of a group of people such as those to whom I minister. They have struggled along against great odds in the last few years and helped one another. Many have had to fall back upon relief. Such experiences have shaken the former standards and beliefs.. If this attempt to picture conditions as they are is of any value whatever, I shall feel more than repaid for the effort which I have made. Be assured of our prayers that God will guide you in the great tasks which confront you. Most respectfully yours,
Clayton R. Stoddard, Pastor
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