Government aid

“ Our foreign aid program is not growing in size, it is, on the contrary, smaller now than in previous years. It has had its weaknesses, but we have undertaken to correct them. And the proper way of treating weaknesses is to replace them with strength, not to increase those weaknesses by emasculating essential programs. Dollar for dollar, in or out of government, there is no better form of investment in our national security than our much-abused foreign aid program. ”

“ There are those, however, who fear any extension of power of the National Government even through influence acquired by subsidies for necessary aids to the common life. It is a matter for thought and unprejudiced study what form of public aid is, on the whole, the best for our country. It cannot be denied, however, that different states have differing burdens to carry for the immigrant, the ignorant, the destitute, and the defective. ”

“ There can, I suppose, be little doubt that it is due to the moral influences of this policy that the States are now turning to the common government for aid in such things as education. Expecting to be helped, they will not help themselves. ”

“ When any waterway of the Republic is of sufficient importance to demand aid of the Government, such aid should be extended upon a definite plan of continuous work until permanent improvement is secured. {568} "Confiding in the justice of our cause and the necessity of its success at the polls, we submit the foregoing declaration of principles and purposes to the considerate judgment of the American people. ”

“ Such projects should be carried out by the localities interested and the burden should be borne by those who are to derive the benefit. Only in large undertakings of national concern should the General Government be called upon for aid. ”

“ Aids for advanced research, whether from the government or private foundations, are of the same nature. To be selected for such aid is a high honor, justified, however, only by the receiver’s proving himself a good transmitter. He should regard the money as given not67 to him but through him and be sure that ultimately it reaches some mark other than himself. This may be accomplished by returning an equal sum to the source from which the aid came, by helping some other person equally needy, or by dedicating to public service powers raised by such aid from ordinary to superior rank. ”

“ Enforcement must be supplemented by positive measures of aid to new enterprises. Government assistance, research programs, and credit powers should be designed and used to promote the growth of new firms and new industries. Assistance to small business is particularly important at this time when thousands of veterans who are potential business and industrial leaders are beginning their careers. ”

“ All that a good government aims at, therefore, is to add no unnecessary and artificial aid to the force of its own unavoidable consequences, and to abstain from fortifying and accumulating social inequality as a means of increasing political inequalities. ”

“ An electronic chart system should be considered as an aid to navigation, one of many the navigator might have at his disposal to help ensure a safe passage. While possessing revolutionary capabilities, it must be considered as a tool, not an infallible answer to all navigational problems. The rule for the use of electronic charts is the same as for all other aids to navigation: The prudent navigator will never rely completely on any single one. ”

“ The shrinkage of $26.9 million per year in revenue from registrations and fees was more than made up by a whopping $55.5 million increase in the annual yield of the fuel tax which, with registrations, gave the States an annual highway revenue in addition to Federal aid of $807 million in 1932. [36]
This huge revenue was an irresistible magnet to hard-pressed legislatures. In the words of one commentator, “. . . the motor tax has become a big red apple within easy reach, viewed with slavering lips by every agency of government.” ”

“ Many of the men who would be included in this form of relief are now dependent upon public aid, and it does not, in my judgment, consist with the national honor that they shall continue to subsist upon the local relief given indiscriminately to paupers instead of upon the special and generous provision of the nation they served so gallantly and unselfishly. Our people will, I am sure, very generally approve such legislation. ”

“ Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both ”

“ If these joint and equal supplies should, on particular occasions, not be sufficient, let Congress make requisitions on the richer and more powerful states for further aids, to be voluntarily afforded, leaving to each state the right of considering the necessity and utility of the aid desired, and of giving more or less, as it should be found proper. ”

“ Terms and Definitions Short range aids to navigation are those intended to be used visually or by radar while in inland, harbor and approach, and coastal navigation. The term encompasses lighted and unlighted beacons, ranges, leading lights, buoys, and their associated sound signals. Each short range aid to navigation, commonly referred to as a NAVAID, fits within a system designed to warn the mariner of dangers and direct him toward safe water. An aid’s function determines its color, shape, light characteristic, and sound. ”

“ If it be the wish of the people that the construction of roads and canals should be conducted by the Federal Government, it is not only highly expedient, but indispensably necessary, that a previous amendment to the Constitution, delegating the necessary power and defining and restricting its exercise with reference to the sovereignty of the States, should be made. ”

“ To the Majority what seems desirable is that the army of destitute persons needing assistance should be divided into two classes—those who can best be helped by private charity, and those for whom public assistance is most appropriate. These two classes should, it is asserted, be kept, from the outset, wholly separate, to be dealt with by two vertically co-ordinate authorities—the Public Assistance Committee, an official body, dispensing public funds, and the Voluntary Aid Committee, made up of voluntary charitable workers, dispensing private funds. ”

“ It authorizes grants of money by the United States to States for old age assistance, for administration of unemployment compensation, for aid to dependent children, for maternal and child welfare and for public health. ”

“ Arguments for and Against Private Agencies of Relief.—Some argue that private agencies should do it all. In spite of the large resources at the command of the state and the frequent necessity of legislation to handle the problem, they claim that public aid humiliates and degrades the recipient, while private assistance may put him on his feet without destroying his self-respect; and that public charity is too often unfeeling and tends to become a routine affair, while private aid can deal better with specific cases, show real interest and try experiments in the improvement of methods. ”

“ Do not our Ministers of State know that other civilized countries grant efficient state aid, and further, that private effort has provided in Great Britain less than 10 per cent, of the sum thus furnished in the United States in addition to state aid? Are they content that we should go under in the great struggle of the modern world because the ministers of other states are wiser, and because the individual citizens of another country are more generous, than our own? ”

“ But they can supplement the efforts of these organizations; they can bring monetary as well as personal assistance; and they can, above all, bring a mass of public opinion to bear on local and central governing bodies which will lead to the only real economy, which consists in expenditure on an adequate scale, bringing to the aid of the families of the people the preventive, the medical, and the nursing facilities of which they remain in need. ”

“ The provisions made for loans from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, to States that have exhausted their own resources, guarantee that there should be no hunger or suffering from cold in the country. The large majority of States are showing a sturdy cooperation in the spirit of the Federal aid. ”

“ In this session of the Congress, I believe we are near the breakthrough point on efforts which I have suggested, proposals to let people themselves make their own decisions for their own communities and, in particular, on those to provide broad new flexibility in Federal aid for community development, for economic development, for education. ”

“ Research was one of the principal missions of the first national highway program in the United States and is, in fact, the oldest continuous Federal highway activity. The scope of federally conducted or assisted research encompasses all of the Federal highway programs and every facet of highway transportation—as a national resource and as a principal force in the social and economic well-being of the people and Government. ”

“ The lack of roads, and the resources to build them, was a serious impediment to the development of the lands north and west of the Ohio River. The United States Government owned practically all of the undeveloped land, the sale of which was its main source of revenue. What could be more logical than to set aside a portion of the revenues from the sale of public lands for building roads and canals, thus, promoting not only the development of the new territories, but land sales as well? ”

“ It shall be the duty of each State to provide, at its own expense, for the necessities of its government and administration; but the Union shall extend assistance to any State which, in case of public calamity, shall demand it. ”

“ The Social Welfare Administration has performed excellently during the past three years in spite of fund limitations that affect all government offices and in spite of the ever growing demands for its services. ”

“ Out of all our past efforts—planning, designing, constructing, bridge building, and organizational efforts at all levels of government—has come a superb system of highways to serve a growing Nation. The challenge now and in the future is to preserve and enhance the performance level of our highways and at the same time promote within a multi-modal transportation family a more flexible and innovative transportation system. ”

“ States throughout the country are beginning to operate with new assumptions: that when able-bodied people receive government assistance they have responsibilities to the taxpayer. A responsibility to seek work, education, or job training. A responsibility to get their lives in order. A responsibility to hold their families together and refrain from having children out of wedlock. And a responsibility to obey the law. We are going to help this movement. Often, state reform requires waiving certain federal regulations. ”

“ Federal programs today provide more funds for our States and local governments than ever before--$70 billion for the current fiscal year. Through these programs and others that provide aid directly to individuals, we have kept faith with our tradition of compassionate help for those who need it. As we begin our third century we can be proud of the progress that we have made in meeting human needs for all of our citizens. ”

“ America is leading the fight against global poverty, with strong education initiatives and humanitarian assistance. We've also changed the way we deliver aid by launching the Millennium Challenge Account. This program strengthens democracy, transparency, and the rule of law in developing nations, and I ask you to fully fund this important initiative. ”

“ It would be impossible for the charitable offices to do their work without assistance from the authorities, and the Administration of Public Aid helps the offices with contributions which may be put down at 500,000 francs in money and 700,000 francs in bread, besides another 500,000 francs, called the subvention extraordinaire, which enables the central administration to establish something like a balance between the resources of the different bureaux. ”

“ Such assistance as can be given through the action of the public authorities and of our private citizens, through friendly counsel and cooperation, and through economic and financial support, not for any warlike effort but for reproductive enterprise, not to provide means for unsound government financing but to establish sound business administration ' should be unhesitatingly provided. ”

“ I ask at the hands of the Congress such prompt aid as it alone has the power to give to prevent in a time of fear and apprehension any sacrifice of the people's interests and the public funds or the impairment of our public credit in an effort by Executive action to relieve the dangers of the present emergency. ”

“ I ask that you fund the Millennium Challenge Account, so that American aid reaches the people who need it, in nations where democracy is on the rise and corruption is in retreat. And let us continue to support the expanded trade and debt relief that are the best hope for lifting lives and eliminating poverty. ”

“ The other $11 billion will be provided by allocating $1 billion of new funds and converting one-third of the money going to the present narrow-purpose aid programs into Federal revenue sharing funds for six broad purposes--for urban development, rural development, education, transportation, job training, and law enforcement-- but with the States and localities making their own decisions on how it should be spent within each category. ”

“ I ask all honest lovers of liberty and human rights, both male and female, to hold up my hands by contributions of pecuniary aid, either as counties, cities, towns, villages, societies, churches, or individuals. ”

“ The governments of the afflicted areas, both State and municipal, can not be given too high praise for the courageous and helpful way in which they have come to the rescue of the people. If the sources directly chargeable can not meet the demand, the National Government should not fail to provide generous relief. ”