. The National Civic Federation review . hin-ery of our Federal Governmentto the purposes we desire to at-tain. While others may havetheir eyes fixed upon some par-ticular piece of legislation ormore particular policy of socialjustice which calls for the sym-pathetic interest of us all, I say,without hesitation, that our pri-mary consideration must be themachinery of administration,and that when the time comesfor us to reorganize our admin-istrative government in Wash-ington we must all stand to-gether for the creation of aDepartment of Public Weftfare. I pledge myself today tosupport with all
. The National Civic Federation review . hin-ery of our Federal Governmentto the purposes we desire to at-tain. While others may havetheir eyes fixed upon some par-ticular piece of legislation ormore particular policy of socialjustice which calls for the sym-pathetic interest of us all, I say,without hesitation, that our pri-mary consideration must be themachinery of administration,and that when the time comesfor us to reorganize our admin-istrative government in Wash-ington we must all stand to-gether for the creation of aDepartment of Public Weftfare. I pledge myself today tosupport with all that is in me /whatever practical policy of so-cial welfare and social justice can be broughtforward by the combiner! wisdom of all Ameri-cans. Nothing can concern America, and noth-ing fan concern trie as an American, more deeplythan the health, the happiness and the enlight-mr-nt, of every fellow American. The social justice that I conceive is notpaternalism. It would be easy to make it so,and dangerous indeed to the best spirit that. PRESIDENT-ELECT WARREN G. HARDING Americans can have—the spirit of expressingby the individual free will ones own merits,capacity and worth. We do not want govern-ment to suppress that expression of free will,even by benevolence, but we do mean to pre-serve in America an equal opportunity and apreparedness for self-expression therein, eventhough we use the government to do it. Social justice, on the other hand, is not a mere sentiment. To my mind asocial justice policy in govern-ment cannot and should not beconfined to a program for theflow of benefits from some un-certain and magic source at theseat of government. I could noteven consider a policy of socialjustice which is conceived, as somany visionaries conceive it, asa right of mankind. I will onlyconsider it as an obligation tomankind. I refuse to subscribe to thedoctrine which has gone so farto delude the world that evencitizenship is based upon believe, and have repeatedlysaid
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