the world to the same
heights. But pride in things wrought is no reflex of a completed task.
Common welfare is the goal of our national endeavor. Wealth is not
inimical to welfare; it ought to be its friendliest agency. There never
can be equality of rewards or possessions so long as the human plan
contains varied talents and differing degrees of industry and thrift,
but ours ought to be a country free from the great blotches of
distressed poverty. We ought to find a way to guard against the perils
and penalties of unemployment. We want an America of homes, illumined
with hope and happiness, where mothers, freed from the necessity for
long hours of toil beyond their own doors, may preside as befits the
hearthstone of American citizenship. We want the cradle of American
childhood rocked under conditions so wholesome and so hopeful that no
blight may touch it in its development, and we want to provide that no
selfish interest, no material necessity, no lack of opportunity shall
prevent the gaining of that education so essential to best citizenship.

There is no short cut to the making of these ideals into glad realities.
The world has witnessed again and again the futility and the mischief
of ill-considered remedies for social and economic disorders. But we are
mindful today as never before of the friction of modern industrialism,
and we must learn its causes and reduce its evil consequences by sober
and tested methods. Where genius has made for great possibilities,
justice and happiness must be reflected in a greater common welfare.

Service is the supreme commitment of life. I would rejoice to acclaim
the era of the Golden Rule and crown it with the autocracy of service.
I pledge an administration wherein all the agencies of Government are
called to serve, and ever promote an understanding of Government purely
as an expression of the popular will.

One cannot stand in this presence and be unmindful of the tremendous
responsibility. The world upheaval has added heavily to our tasks.
But with the realization comes the surge of high resolve, and there is
reassurance in belief in the God-given destiny of our Republic. If I
felt that there is to be sole responsibility in the Executive for the
America of tomorrow I should shrink from the burden. But here are
a hundred millions, with common concern and shared responsibility,
answerable to God and country. The Republic summons them to their duty,
and I invite co-operation.