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OCR Page 1 of 11SPEECH OF SENATOR HARRY S. TRUMAN
BEFORE THE LUNCHEON CLUB, DENVER,
COLORADO, JUNE , 1944.
RELEASE ON DELIVERY
RELEASE ON DELIVERY
Mr. President, distinguised guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am happy
to have the opportunity to be with you today. It may be of interest to you to
discuss some of the purposes of the Legislative Branch of our Government.
War endangers the very existence of the nation and of the principles
for which it stands. To insure success, it is necessary to concentrate all the
resources of the nation on the winning of the war. We had to stop entirely
the production of many civilian items and to curtail the production of others;
we had to begin manufacturing thousands of new items, many of them in quantities
never previously considered; we had to raise and supply an immense Army and Navy;
and, at the same time, we had to feed ourselves and increase our food supplies
and share them with our allies. In other words, as a result of war, our needs
automatically exceeded our ability to supply them.
This necessarily disrupted civilian activities and business, and re-
quired a large amount of government by administrators. The Government had to
determine which things were most important, and had to allocate our limited
supplies in such a way as to insure the winning of the war as soon as possible
with a minimum loss of life, and at a minimum cost. This meant that our
citizens were told what they could do and what they could not do.
In one sense, this curtailment of liberties during war time by
self-imposed restrictions is a regimentation which we voluntarily inflict
upon ourselves, so that the war may be won and our liberties guaranteed.
It is very like the payment of insurance premiums. We pay those premiums,
CS KRUMAN, NARA
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