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Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Chicago, February 20, 1967
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Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Chicago, February 20, 1967
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The original documents are located in Box D21, folder "Better Business Bureau of
Metropolitan Chicago, February 20, 1967" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press
Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D21 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
SPEECH BEFORE THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OF METRO. CHICAGO
Int RW
have
MONDAY, FEB. 20, 1967
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
Bur up be had Great,
I AM VERY HAPPY TO BE HERE WITH YOU, AND TO DEMONSTRATE
will
MY PLEASURE I AM GOING TO LET YOU IN ON A NEW ECONOMIC
THEORY ADVANCED BY A NEWSPAPERMAN FRIEND OF MINE.
OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME GOING BACK NEARLY TO THE
TURN OF THE CENTURY, THIS NEWSPAPER REPORTER HAS STUDIED
THE LENGTH OF WOMEN'S SKIRTS. BY CLOSE AND UNCEASING
OBSERVATION, HE HAS COME TO AN UNSHAKEABLE AND UNSWERVING
CONCLUSION.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
THAT CONCLUSION IS/THAT THE HEMLINE OF WOMEN'S SKIRTS
RISES IN GOOD TIMES/-AS THEY SAY, THINGS ARE LOOKING UP--
-2-
AND THE HEMLINE FALLS IN BAD TIMES.
HE alleges SAYS HE HAS CHARTS TO PROVE HIS POINT. IN 1927,
releable of graphs
FOR INSTANCE, WE HAD REAL GOOD TIMES. THAT WAS THE YEAR
THAT GIRLS WHO BLUSH EASILY/WERE AFRAID TO SIT DOWN.
OF COURSE, WHEN THE STOCK MARKET DROPPED INTO THE
& investors
CELLAR IN 1929 AND BANKERS, BEGAN DROPPING OUT OF HOTEL
WINDOWS, HEMLINES ON SKIRTS FELL TOO. THE OUTLOOK THEN
/
WAS REALLY DEPRESSING!
ants sales of production
@
w
Home Guilding still in the Boldowns doldrums
Prifits am Lagger,
Inventorio have accumulated
TODAY THE ECONOMY IS UNSTABLE., SO WHAT'S HAPPENED
TO SKIRTS? WELL, THE GIRLS JUST CAN'T MAKE UP THEIR MINDS--
ANY MORE THAN THE ECONOMY CAN. THE PLUNGERS ARE WEARING
of the Juner sex
MINISKIRTS. THE MORE CAUTIOUS WOMEN ARE KEEPING HEMLINES
CLOSE TO THE KNEE. AND SOME JUST DON'T KNOW WHICH WAY TO GO.
GERALD
ABRARY
-3-
TODAY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS BIG BUSINESS. IT MAY
although there are some bureaucrets
NOT BE DICTATING THE LENGTH OF WOMEN'S HEMLINES, BUT IT who have
researched the
idea
&
CERTAINLY HAS A LOT TO SAY ABOUT THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY
have a
THE GOVERNMENT OCCUPIES A MIGHTY BIG ROLE IN YOUR LIFE plan
AND MINE.
THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE WOMEN'S SKIRTS WOULD LIKE GOVERNMENT
TO MIND ITS OWN BUSINESS. BUT FOR OTHER BUSINESSMEN,
out 8 meantry
GOVERNMENT IS A BIG CUSTOMER. SO THEY CULTIVATE BIG BROTHER.
WHEN BIG GOVERNMENT REGULATES, BUSINESS NATURALLY
COMPLAINS. WHEN BIG GOVERNMENT TALKS, BUSINESS LISTENS.
WHEN BIG GOVERNMENT ORDERS, BUSINESS OBEYS.
IS BIG GOVERNMENT IMPORTANT TO YOU MEMBERS OF THE CHICAGO
BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU? YOU BET IT IS! GOVERNMENT DOES
A LOT THAT AFFECTS YOU, AND GOVERNMENT DOES A LOT TO YOU.
2 feel the most important private -4- business as the public burness,
However, how one defines that interest & operates within that interest to an indusdual
SOME BUSINESSMEN LOOK UPON WASHINGTON AS THE SOURCE decision
OF ALL WISDOM AND POWER, THE PROPER VEHICLE FOR SOLVING
MOST PROBLEMS, THE MEANS OF KEEPING THE COMPETITION CLEAN
AND OF AVOIDING RECESSIONS.
OTHERS ARE HAPPY TO POCKET WHATEVER PROFITS BIG GOVERN-
MENT CHANNELS THEIR WAY BUT LOOK UPON WASHINGTON AS THEIR
NATURAL ENEMY.
STILL OTHERS FIGURE BIG GOVERNMENT IS TOO BIG BUT
DECIDE THE BEST APPROACH IS TO PLAY THE GAME, TUNE IN AT
THE TAP AND TRY TO LIVE WITH THE MONSTER.
WASHINGTON IS MANY THINGS TO MANY PEOPLE. BUT THAT
THE GOVERNMENT IS BIG--OF THAT THERE IS NO DOUBT.
HOW BIG IS BIG BROTHER? HE HAS ROUGHLY 2,281,000 CIVIL
or will that hast- many Presents The bedget
EMPLOYEES ON HIS PAYROLL-ABOUT 280,000 IN WASHINGTON AND
THE REST SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.
HE DISPENSES curlian NEARLY $200 BILLION A YEAR, AND HIS
MONTHLY WORLDWIDE PAYROLL COMES TO A WHOPPING $1.5 BILLION
1
A MONTH.
FOR BUSINESSMEN, THIS GIANT BUREAUCRACY inevitally OFTEN MEANS A
MOUNTAIN OF RED TAPE AND A STEEPER PAPER ORK BURDEN.
LET'S BE HONEST ABOUT IT. BIG BROTHER IS A MEDDLER.
HE CALLS THIS MEDDLING PROTECTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST.
MANY AMERICANS AGREE WITH HIM. MANY OTHERS FEEL SMOTHERED
AND OVERWHELMED.
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
THE TONE AND AMOUNT OF FEDERAL MEDDLING ARE PRETTY
MUCH DETERMINED BY THE MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE, CURRENTLY
-6-
YNDON JOHNSON. I DON'T HAVE TO TELL YOU HOW LYNDON JOHNSON
OPERATES WITH BUSINESSMEN.
OF COURSE
IT'S ONLY REALLY
2 believe it pair to say
BIG BUSINESSMEN HE DOES BUSINESS WITH
IN FACT, THIS
ADMINISTRATION HAS FAVORED BIG BUSINESS TO THE POINT THAT
in 1966
REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS HAD TO MOUNT AN ALL-OUT CAMPAIGN
TO RESCUE THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION FROM EXTINCTION.
I AM SURE THERE ARE DEMOCRATS AND INDEPENDENTS IN THIS
AUDIENCE, AS WELL AS REPUBLICANS. SOME PEOPLE SAY THE TWO
MAJOR PARTIES ARE PRETTY MUCH THE SAME. LET ME POINT OUT
A BASIC DIFFERENCE.
+ 2 believe element This predomentis in The
protection
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS TEND TO LOOK UPON ALL BUSINESSMEN
AS SUSPECT. 'BUSINESSMEN ARE GUIDED BY THE PROFIT MOTIVE,
THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT CONCERNED WITH THE PUBLIC GOOD,
THE SO-CALLED LIBERAL PHILOSOPHY GOES.
GERALD FORD VIBRARI
-7-
THIS, OF COURSE, IS NONSENSE EXCEPT AS IT APPLIES TO
THOSE FEW HARD-NOSED BUSINESSMEN WHO ARE SO BENIGHTED THAT
THEY STILL EMBRACE THE ROBBER BARON PHILOSOPHY OF THE PAST.
NEARLY EVERY BUSINESSMAN TODAY RECOGNIZES THAT THE BEST
PUBLIC RELATIONS IS TO BE VERY MUCH CONCERNED WITH COMMUNITY
BETTERMENT, THE WELFARE OF JOHN Q. CITIZEN, AND THE PROGRESS
OF THE NATION. THAT KIND OF CONCERN, HE KNOWS, IS GOOD
BUSINESS. IT MAKES SENSE.
rules out
THE LIBERAL PHILOSOPHY DOES NOT ALLOW FOR THE KIND OF
business
ENLIGHTENMENT I HAVE JUST DESCRIBED. THE LEGISLATION
PIOUSLY LABELED "TRUTH IN PACKAGING" IS A GOOD EXAMPLE
OF THAT VIEWPOINT.
EVERY PACKAGER AND EVERY MERCHANDISER INVOLVED IN THE
SALE OF GROCERY AND DRUG ITEMS WAS A VILLAIN LAST YEAR.
-8- in the Honse unanamonaty & enough endependent Demicrate
IT WAS ONLY BECAUSE REPUBLICANS, HELD OUT FOR A COMMON-
SENSE COMPROMISE THAT THE PACKAGING BILL AS FINALLY ENACTED
PROVIDED FOR SOME SELF-POLICING BY INDUSTRY.
THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO MAJOR
Thank grown - competition is good
POLITICAL PARTIES. BOTH PARTIES HAVE LOFTY GOALS. BOTH
ARE DEDICATED TO PROMOTING THE WELL-BEING OF THE NATION.
BUT THERE IS A BASIC DIFFERENCE IN APPROACH.
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY BELIEVES IN BIG GOVERNMENT AND
SWINGING A BIG STICK. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BELIEVES IN
LIMITED GOVERNMENT AND THE CARROT, WITH THE STICK PLACED
WITHIN REACH ONLY WITH THE HOPE IT WON'T BE NEEDED. THE
CARROT IS THE BETTER WAY.
so callul
THE FAIR PACKAGING AND LABELING ACT WILL BECOME
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
EFFECTIVE IN FIVE MONTHS. NOW THE PRESIDENT IS SAYING
-9-
OF THIS LEGISLATION, "IT REFLECTS OUR STRONG BELIEF THAT
AMERICAN PRODUCERS CAN MEET--AND WANT TO MEET--THE TEST
OF TRUTH." BUT THAT WASN T THE STORY FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
as many of you know
LAST YEAR WHEN THE TRUTH IN PACKAGING BILL WAS UNDER
CONSIDERATION IN THE CONGRESS. The administration at that time was
"guy-ho" for the Thoughest bill possible
REFUSAL TO USE THE CARROT APPROACH TO PROGRESS IS A
BIG STUMBLING BLOCK TO THE FORWARD MOVEMENT OF THIS COUNTRY.
TAKE THE PRESIDENT'S RECENT MESSAGE ON AIR POLLUTION,
FOR EXAMPLE. IT'S FULL OF THE BIG STICK, MAKES NO USE OF
THE CARROT.
WHAT THE PRESIDENT SAID IN EFFECT WAS THAT THE STATES
HAVE FAILED TO ACT ON AIR CONTROL, SO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
IS GOING TO CRACK THE WHIP. YOU COULD SEE THE MAILED FIST
BENEATH THE VELVETY LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT THE MESSAGE.
-10-
AM I ARGUING THAT WE SHOULD NOT ATTACK AIR POLLUTION?
NOT AT ALL! I SAY THE PRESIDENT DIDN' T GO FAR ENOUGH.
went too pan down the womstruct
BY THAT I MEAN HIS APPROACH IS WRONG. YOU HAVE TO ATTACK
AIR POLLUTION AT THE SOURCE. WHAT IS THE SOURCE? PRIMARILY,
IT'S INDUSTRY.
THEREARE TWO POSSIBLE WAYS TO HANDLE THE PROBLEM:
with regulations & controls
EITHER YOU FASHION A BIG STICK AND BEAT INDUSTRY OVER THE
HEAD WITH IT. OR YOU OFFER INDUSTRY AN INDUCEMENT TO GET
IT TO DO WHAT WE ALL KNOW IS IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST--CLEAN
UP THE AIR.
IF YOU SIMPLY BLUDGEON INDUSTRY INTO ACTION, THE
TREMENDOUS COST OF AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS WILL HAVE TO BE
FORD
PASSED ALONG TO THE CONSUMER BECAUSE FORCED POLLUTION
CONTROL WILL ADD GREATLY TO THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS.
-11-
INEQUITIES AND RESISTANCE ARE INEVITABLE. INDIVIDUAL
BUSINESSES UNDERSTANDABLY WILL NOT WANT TO BE THE FIRST
TO BE SADDLED WITH THESE EXTRA COSTS--WILL NOT WANT TO
BE PLACED AT A COMPETITIVE DISADVANTAGE EVEN FOR A SHORT
TIME.
fmy
colleages
THE OTHER APPROACH--ONE TAKEN BY MORE THAN 20 REPUBLICAN
CONGRESSMEN WHO HAVE INTRODUCED IDENTICAL BILLS--IS TO
OFFER INDUSTRY A 20 PERCENT FEDERAL TAX CREDIT AND FAST
TAX WRITEOFFS FOR INVESTMENTS IN AIR POLLUTION PROGRAMS
masmable
THAT MEET, STATE AND FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS.
THIS SAME APPROACH SHOULD BE TAKEN TO ESCALATE OUR WAR
AGAINST WATER POLLUTION.
WE HAVE LIVED WITH POISONED WATER AND AIR TOO LONG and
all Hoperts agree the problem will become fan umae & much more Aerious
in the years about
-12-
I BELIEVE OUR VERY EXISTENCE IS AT STAKE. AND THE BIG
STICK ALONE WON'T SAVE US.
I am proud to say
REPUBLICANS PRESERVED THE PRINCIPLE OF THE TAX CREDIT
FOR INVESTMENTS IN AIR AND WATER POLLUTION CONTROLS BY
INSISTING THE 7 PERCENT INVESTMENT TAX CREDIT BE CONTINUED
FOR THAT PURPOSE WHEN IT WAS DROPPED FOR INDUSTRY GENERALLY
AS AN ANTI-INFLATION MOVE LAST YEAR. NOW WE MUST EXPAND IT.
I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT WITH ADDED TAX CREDIT INCENTIVES
FOR INDUSTRY AND A FRESH FOCUS ON AIR AND WATER POLLUTION
DANGERS, WE CAN DEVELOP AN NDUSTRY-GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP
THAT WILL WORK IN THIS CRITICAL PROBLEM AREA. WILLING
COOPERATION FROM INDUSTRY IS THE VITAL INGREDIENT, AND I
HAVE FAITH IT WILL BE FORTHCOMING.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
-13-
abraham Incoln had a
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS FAITH IN PEOPLE, AND THE
a
REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS FAITH IN OUR FREE ENTERPRISE ECONOMY.
we, for inheritors of his philoophy
THAT IS WHY REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS WOULD EMPLOY A
our opportion
DIFFERENT STRATEGY THAN THE OTHER PARTY IN FIGHTING POVERTY.
WE WOULD, FOR INSTANCE, PLACE GREATER EMPHASIS ON WAYS IN
WHICH PRIVATE INDUSTRY COULD BEEF UP OUR FIGHT AGAINST THE
FORCES OF MISERY AND WANT.
WHAT WE NEED IS STIMULUS AND DESIRE.
WHAT WE NEED TO REMEMBER IS THAT THE MOST EFFECTIVE
JOB TRAINER IN THE WORLD IS AMERICAN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY.
WE MUST ALSO RECOGNIZE THAT THERE ARE TODAY AN ESTIMATED
TWO MILLION JOBLESS AMERICANS WHO ARE UNEMPLOYED ONLY
BECAUSE THEY LACK NECESSARY SKILLS.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
-14-
IT'S A MOST INTERESTING AND SIGNIFICANT PARALLEL THAT
THERE ARE TODAY SOME TWO MILLION JOBS GOING UNFILLED SIMPLY
BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE THE SKILLED PEOPLE TO FILL THEM.
WE KNOW THAT RETRAINING UNDER GOVERNMENT GRANT, TRAINING
4the Job crrps
UNDER THE MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT TRAINING ACT OF 1962, HAS
NOT BEEN FULLY EFFECTIVE.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? IS IT MORE GOVERNMENT
TRAINING PROGRAMS, AN EXPANDED JOB CORPS?
GERALD
THE ANSWER IS TO INVEST IN PEOPLE THROUGH WHAT REPUBLI-
CANS CALL THE HUMAN INVESTMENT ACT OF 1967. MORE THAN
120 REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE AND NEARLY 30 REPUBL ICAN
MEMBERS OF THE SENATE RECENTLY INTRODUCED THIS LEGISLATION
WE ANT TO MAKE IT ORTH HILE FOR INDUSTRY TO GREATLY
What born adution
I NCREASE ITS ON-THE-JOB TRAINING., SO WE OFFER A TAX CREDIT
-15-
AMOUNTING TO 10 PERCENT OF ALLOWABLE EMPLOYEE TRAINING
EXPENSES, WITH A MAXIMUM OF $25,000, PLUS 50 PERCENT OF
THE TAX LIABILITY IN EXCESS OF $25,000.
THIS IS THE typecal AMERICAN WAY TO LICK POVERTY. THIS IS THE
FREE ENTERPRISE WAY. IT'S ALSO THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY.
LET US NEVER FORGET THAT LARGE-SCALE ON-THE-JOB TRAINING
PROGRAM AND A SINGLE PERCENTAGE POINT INCREASE IN THE
RATE OF OUR NATIONAL ECONOMIC GROWTH CAN DO MORE TO ERASE
HUMAN MISERY AND WANT IN AMERICA THAN ALL THE GOVERNMENT
RETRAINING AND WAR ON POVERTY PROGRAMS ROLLED TOGETHER.
with no apologis
THIS ADMINISTRATION CLOTHES ALL OF ITS PUBLIC ACTIONS
1
IN THE LANGUAGE OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. IT ALL ADDS UP TO
A GIGANTIC SALES CA PAIGN, A BIG SNOW JOB. THE MIRACLE
IS THAT IT HASN'T WORKED.
-16-
SHAKESPEARE, WHO HAD SUCH A FACILITY WITH WORDS, SAID
SIMPLY: "THE TRUTH WILL OUT." ABRAHAM LINCOLN DECLARED
THAT "THE PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS NEARER THE TRUTH THAN POLITICIANS
SUPPOSE."
THIS IS WHY FEW PEOPLE ARE REALLY FOOLED WHEN THE
in federal spending
ADMINISTRATION PREACHES ECONOMY BUT GOES RIGHT ON SPENDING
MONEY LIKE A DRUNKEN SAILOR. The 1 federal budget for next year does
demand more spending for both butter + gams -vifles + suffles. Federal planners have an inatiable appetite
ADMIRAL HYMAN RICKOVER, HO HAS A DELIGHTFUL SENSE OF for mome
HUMOR, PUTS IT THIS WAY: "IF THE RUSSIANS WERE TO ANNOUNCE fund federal
PLANS TO SEND A MAN TO HELL, THERE WOULD BE PEOPLE FROM
AT LEAST TWO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES ON CAPITOL HILL THE NEXT
DAY TRYING TO GET THE FUNDS TO SEND AN AMERICAN THERE
FIRST."
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT
IT
THIS BIG GOVERNMENT THAT
-17-
PERVADES ALL, THIS BIG BROTHER WHO INTRUDES EVERYWHERE?
I OFFER YOU WHAT I CALL A POSITIVE APPROACH TO POLITICS
FOR BUSINESSMEN.
YOU MUST ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR PROMOTING GOOD
GOVERNMENT IN THIS COUNTRY. TO SHIRK THAT DUTY IS TO
FAIL YOUR NATION. 2 end where 2 began - The most important prwate Insurers
is the public business
YOU MEN AND WOMEN IN BUSINESS ARE IMPORTANT PEOPLE.
YOU ARE IMPORTANT NOT ONLY IN BUSINESS BUT IN POLITICS.
IF YOU ARE TO HAVE A HAND IN SHAPING LEGISLATION.
YOU MUST PARTICIPATE IN THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS--RUN FOR
PUBLIC OFFICE YOURSELF OR PERSUADE OTHER CAPABLE AND
ATTRACTIVE MEN AND WOMEN TO DO SO, COMMUNICATE WITH OTHERS
ON ISSUES AND CANDIDATES, URGE YOUR EMPLOYEES TO MAKE
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE POLITICAL PARTY OF THEIR CHOICE.
-18-
DISCUSS LEGISLATION AND ISSUES AND THEIR IMPORTANCE TO THE
BUSINESS COMMUNITY AND TO THE ECONOMY, GIVE YOUR EMPLOYEES
TIME OFF TO VOTE ON ELECTION DAY.
YOU CAN ENCOURAGE WOMEN, ESPECIALLY YOUR OWN WIVES,
TO BECOME ACTIVE IN POLITICS. THIS SUGGESTION OF COURSE
HAS NOTHING TO DO ITH THE LENGTH OF HEMLINES OR THE STATE
OF THE ECONOMY. BUT, BOY, WHAT A POWER FOR GOOD OMEN CAN
BE WHEN THEY ANT TO. AS LINCOLN SO BEAUTIFULLY EXPRESSED
IT: "WOMAN IS MAN'S BEST PRESENT gift FROM HIS MAKER."
LABOR HAS MADE ITSELF A FORCE IN AMERICAN POLITICS BY
in business because 6 dedication + necessary
ENGAGING IN POLITICAL ACTION. YOU CAN BECOME A FORCE FOR
Chunkell-
I
GOOD GOVERNMENT AND A SOUND SOCIETY.
FORD
OUR FORM OF GOVERNMENT, AS MOLDED BY THE FRAMERS OF
LIBRARY
-19-
THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION, IS A MOST PRECIOUS GIFT. YOU
AND I MUST DO EVERYTHING WITHIN OUR POWER TO PRESERVE IT.
WHEN THE MEN WHO WROTE THE CONSTITUTION COMPLETED
THEIR TASK, THEY GATHERED UP THEIR NOTES AND DEPARTED
FROM THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. AS HE LEFT, BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN WAS STOPPED BY A BYSTANDER.
HICH HAVE YOU GIVEN US," THE MAN ASKED HIM, "A
MONARCHY OR A REPUBLIC?" "A REPUBLIC," FRANKLIN ANS ERED,
"IF YOU CAN KEEP IT!"
THAT IS THE TASK YOU HAVE. THAT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY
YOU BEAR AND SHARE. IT IS FOR US TO REDEDICATE OURSELVES
TO THAT HIGH PURPOSE. AND IT IS MY DEEP CONVICTION THAT
YOU--ALL OF YOU--WILL PASS ON THE TORCH OF FREEDOM TO
BERALO YOUR FORD LIBRARY
-20-
CHILDREN BECAUSE YOU WILL DARE TO STAND UP AND BE COUNTED
FOR AMERICA.
----THANK YOU----
----END----
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
FOR RELEASE AT 7 P.M. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1967
ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
BEFORE THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
I am very happy to be here with you, and to demonstrate my pleasure I am going
to let you in on a new economic theory advanced by a newspaperman friend of mine.
Over a long period of time going back nearly to the turn of the century, this
newspaper reporter has studied the length of women's skirts. By close and unceasing
observation, he has come to an unshakeable and unswerving conclusion.
That conclusion is that the hemline of women's skirts rises in good times--as
they say, things are looking up--and the hemline falls in bad times.
He says he has charts to prove his point. In 1927, for instance, we had real
good times. That was the year that girls who blush easily were afraid to sit down.
Of course, when the stock market dropped into the cellar in 1929 and bankers
began dropping out of hotel windows, hemlines on skirts fell too. The outlook then
was really depressing.
Today the economy is unstable. So what's happened to skirts? Well, the girls
just can't make up their minds--any more than the economy can. The plungers are
wearing miniskirts. The more cautious women are keeping hemlines close to the knee.
And some just don't know which way to go.
Today the Federal Government is Big Business. It may not be dictating the
length of women's hemlines, but it certainly has a lot to say about the state of the
economy. The government occupies a mighty big role in your life and mine.
The people who make women's skirts would like government to mind its own
business. But for other businessmen, government is a big customer. So they cultivate
Big Brother.
When Big Government regulates, business naturally complains. When Big
Government talks, business listens. When Big Government orders, business obeys.
Is Big Government important to you members of the Chicago Better Business
Bureau? You bet it is. Government does a lot that affects you, and Government does
a lot to you.
Some businessmen look upon Washington as the source of all wisdom and power,
the proper vehicle for solving most problems, the means of keeping the competition
clean and of avoiding recessions.
Others are happy to pocket whatever profits Big Government channels their way
but look upon Washington as their natural enemy.
Still others figure Big Government is too big but decide the best approach is,
to play the game, tune in at the tap and try to live with the monster.
GERALD
(MORE)
-2-
Washington is many things to many people. But that the Government is BIG--of
that there is no doubt.
How big is Big Brother? He has roughly 2,281,000 civil employees on his pay-
roll--about 280,000 in Washington and the rest scattered throughout the country.
He dispenses nearly $200 billion a year, and his monthly worldwide payroll
comes to a whopping $1.5 billion a month.
For businessmen, this giant bureaucracy often means a mountain of red tape and
a steeper and steeper paperwork burden.
Let's be honest about it. Big Brother is a meddler. He calls this meddling
protecting the public interest. Many Americans agree with him. Many others feel
smothered and overwhelmed.
The tone and amount of federal meddling are pretty much determined by the man
in the White House, currently Lyndon Johnson. I don't have to tell you how Lyndon
Johnson operates with businessmen. Of course, it's only really big businessmen he
does business with. In fact, this Administration has favored Big Business to the
point that Republicans in Congress had to mount an all-out campaign to rescue the
Small Business Administration from extinction.
I am sure there are Democrats and independents in this audience, as well as
Republicans. Some people say the two major parties are pretty much the same. Let
me point out a basic difference.
Liberal Democrats tend to look upon all businessmen as suspect. Businessmen
are guided by the profit motive, therefore they are not concerned with the public
good, the so-called liberal philosophy goes.
This, of course, is nonsense except as it applies to those few hard-nosed
businessmen who are so benighted that they still embrace the robber baron philosophy
of the past. Nearly every businessman today recognizes that the best public relations
is to be very much concerned with community betterment, the welfare of John Q.Citizen,
and the progress of the Nation. That kind of concern, he knows, is good business.
It makes sense.
The liberal philosophy does not allow for the kind of enlightenment I have
just described. The legislation piously labeled "Truth In Packaging" is a good
example of that viewpoint.
Every packager and every merchandiser involved in the sale of grocery and drug
items was a villain last year. It was only because Republicans held out for a common-
sense compromise that the Packaging Bill as finally enacted provided for some self-
policing by industry.
There are many differences between the two major political parties. Both
(MORE)
-3-
parties have lofty goals. Both are dedicated to promoting the well-being of the
Nation. But there is a basic difference in approach.
The Democratic Party believes in Big Government and swinging a big stick. The
Republican Party believes in Limited Government and the carrot, with the stick placed
within reach only with the hope it won't be needed. The carrot is the better way.
The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act will become effective in five months. Now
the President is saying of this legislation, "It reflects our strong belief that
American producers can meet--and want to meet--the test of truth." But that wasn't
the story from the White House last year when the Truth in Packaging Bill was under
consideration in the Congress.
Refusal to use the carrot approach to progress is a big stumbling block to the
forward movement of this country.
Take the President's recent message on air pollution, for example. It's full
of the big stick, makes no use of the carrot.
What the President said in effect was that the states have failed to act on
air control, so the federal government is going to crack the whip. You could see the
mailed fist beneath the velvety language throughout the message.
Am I arguing that we should not attack air pollution? Not at all. I say the
President didn't go far enough. By that I mean his approach is wrong. You have to
attack air pollution at the source. What is the source? Primarily, its's industry.
There are two possible ways to handle the problem. Either you fashion a big
stick and beat industry over the head with it. Or you offer industry an inducement
to get it to do what we all know is in the public interest--clean up the air.
If you simply bludgeon industry into action, the tremendous cost of air
pollution controls will have to be passed along to the consumer because forced
pollution control will add greatly to the cost of doing business. Inequities and
resistance are inevitable. Individual businesses understandably will not want to be
the first to be saddled with these extra costs--will not want to be placed at a com-
petitive disadvantage even for a short time.
The other approach--one taken by more than 20 Republican congressmen who have
introduced identical bills--is to offer industry a 20 percent federal tax credit and
fast tax writeoffs for investments in air pollution programs that meet state and
federal requirements.
This same approach should be taken to escalate our war against water pollution.
We have lived with poisoned water and air too long. I believe our very
existence is at stake. And the big stick alone won't save us.
Republicans preserved the principle of the tax credit for investments in air
(MORE)
-4-
and water pollution controls by insisting the 7 percent investment tax credit be
continued for that purpose when it was dropped for industry generally as an anti-
inflation move last year. Now we must expand it.
I firmly believe that with added tax credit incentives for industry and a fresh
focus on air and water pollution dangers, we can develop an industry-government
partnership that will work in this critical problem area. Willing cooperation from
industry is the vital ingredient, and I have faith it will be forthcoming.
The Republican Party has faith in people, and the Republican Party has faith
in our free enterprise economy.
That is why Republicans in Congress would employ a different strategy than the
other party in fighting poverty. We would, for instance, place greater emphasis on
ways in which private industry could beef up our fight against the forces of misery
and want.
What we need is stimulus and desire.
What we need to remember is that the most effective job trainer in the world
is American business and industry.
We must also recognize that there are today an estimated two million jobless
Americans who are unemployed only because they lack necessary skills.
It's a most interesting and significant parallel that there are today some two
million jobs going unfilled simply because we don't have the skilled people to fill
them.
We know that retraining under government grant, training under the Manpower
Development Training Act of 1962, has not been fully effective.
Where do we go from here? Is it more government training programs, an expanded
Job Corps?
The answer is to invest in people through what Republicans call the Human
Investment Act of 1967. More than 120 Republican members of the House and nearly 30
Republican members of the Senate recently introduced this legislation. We want to
make it worthwhile for industry to greatly increase its on-the-job training. So we
offer a tax credit amounting to 10 percent of allowable employee training expenses,
with a maximum of $25,000, plus 50 percent of the tax liability in excess of $25,000.
This is the American way to lick poverty. This is the free enterprise way.
It's also the most effective way.
Let us never forget that large-scale on-the-
job training programs and a single percentage point increase in the rate of our
national economic growth can do more to erase human misery and want in America than all
the government retraining and war on poverty programs rolled together.
This Administration clothes all of its public actions in the language of self-
righteousness. It all adds up to a gigantic sales campaign, a big snow job. The
miracle is that it hasn't worked.
(MORE)
-5-
Shakespeare, who had such a facility with words, said simply: "The truth will
out." Abraham Lincoln declared that "The people are always nearer the truth than
politicians suppose."
This is why few people are really fooled when the Administration preaches
economy but goes right on spending money like a drunken sailor.
Admiral Hyman Rickover, who has a delightful sense of humor, puts it this way:
"If the Russians were to announce plans to send a man to hell, there would be people
from at least two government agencies on Capitol Hill the next day trying to get the
funds to send an American there first."
What can you do about it...this Big Government that pervades all, this Big
Brother who intrudes everywhere? I offer you what I call a positive approach to
politics for businessmen.
You must assume responsibility for promoting good government in this country.
To shirk that duty is to fail your Nation.
You men and women in business are important people. You are important not only
in business but in politics.
If you are to have a hand in shaping legislation, you must participate in the
legislative prccess--run for public office yourself or persuade other capable and
attractive men and women to do so, communicate with others on issues and candidates,
urge your employees to make contributions to the political party of their choice,
discuss legislation and issues and their importance to the business community and to
the economy, give your employees time off to vote on Election Day.
You can encourage women, especially your own wives, to become active in politics.
This suggestion of course has nothing to do with the length of hemlines or the state
of the economy. But, boy, what a power for good women can be when they want to. As
Lincoln so beautifully expressed it, "Woman is man's best present from his Maker."
Labor has made itself a force in American politics by engaging in political
action. You can become a force for good government and a sound society.
Our form of government, as molded by the framers of the federal constitution,
is a most precious gift. You and I must do everything within our power to preserve it.
When the men who wrote the Constitution completed their task, they gathered up
their notes and departed from the Constitutional Convention. As he left, Benjamin
Franklin was stopped by a bystander.
"Which have you given us," the man asked him, "a monarchy or a republic."
"A republic," Franklin answered, "if you can keep it."
That is the task you have. That is the responsibility you bear and share. It
is for us to rededicate ourselves to that high purpose. And it is my deep conviction
that you--all of you--will pass on the torch of freedom to your children because you
will dare to stand up and be counted for America. Thank you.
# # #
FOR RELEASE AT 7 P.M. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1967
ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
BEFORE THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
I am very happy to be here with you, and to demonstrate my pleasure I am going
to let you in on a new economic theory advanced by a newspaperman friend of mine.
Over a long period of time going back nearly to the turn of the century, this
newspaper reporter has studied the length of women's skirts. By close and unceasing
observation, he has come to an unshakeable and unswerving conclusion.
That conclusion is that the hemline of women's skirts rises in good times--as
they say, things are looking up--and the hemline falls in bad times.
He says he has charts to prove his point. In 1927, for instance, we had real
good times. That was the year that girls who blush easily were afraid to sit down.
Of course, when the stock market dropped into the cellar in 1929 and bankers
began dropping out of hotel windows, hemlines on skirts fell too. The outlook then
was really depressing.
Today the economy is unstable. So what's happened to skirts? Well, the girls
just can't make up their minds--any more than the economy can. The plungers are
wearing miniskirts. The more cautious women are keeping hemlines close to the knee.
And some just don't know which way to
Today the Federal Government is Big Business. It may not be dictating the
length of women's hemlines, but it certainly has a lot to say about the state of the
economy. The government occupies a mighty big role in your life and mine.
The people who make women's skirts would like government to mind its own
business. But for other businessmen, government is a big customer. So they cultivate
Big Brother.
When Big Government regulates, business naturally complains. When Big
Government talks, business listens. When Big Government orders, business obeys.
Is Big Government important to you members of the Chicago Better Business
Bureau? You bet it is. Government does a lot that affects you, and Government does
a lot to you.
Some businessmen look upon Washington as the source of all wisdom and power,
the proper vehicle for solving most problems, the means of keeping the competition
clean and of avoiding recessions.
Others are happy to pocket whatever profits Big Government channels their way
but look upon Washington as their natural enemy.
Still others figure Big Government is too big but decide the best approach is
to play the game, tune in at the tap and try to live with the monster.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
(MORE)
-2-
Washington is many things to many people. But that the Government is BIG--of
that there is no doubt.
How big is Big Brother? He has roughly 2,281,000 civil employees on his pay-
roll--about 280,000 in Washington and the rest scattered throughout the country.
He dispenses nearly $200 billion a year, and his monthly worldwide payroll
comes to a whopping $1.5 billion a month.
For businessmen, this giant bureaucracy often means a mountain of red tape and
a steeper and steeper paperwork burden.
Let's be honest about it. Big Brother is a meddler. He calls this meddling
protecting the public interest. Many Americans agree with him. Many others feel
smothered and overwhelmed.
The tone and amount of federal meddling are pretty much determined by the man
in the White House, currently Lyndon Johnson. I don't have to tell you how Lyndon
Johnson operates with businessmen. Of course, it's only really big businessmen he
does business with. In fact, this Administration has favored Big Business to the
point that Republicans in Congress had to mount an all-out campaign to rescue the
Small Business Administration from extinction.
I am sure there are Democrats and independents in this audience, as well as
Republicans. Some people say the two major parties are pretty much the same. Let
me point out a basic difference.
Liberal Democrats tend to look upon all businessmen as suspect. Businessmen
are guided by the profit motive, therefore they are not concerned with the public
good, the so-called liberal philosophy goes.
This, of course, is nonsense except as it applies to those few hard-nosed
businessmen who are so benighted that they still embrace the robber baron philosophy
of the past. Nearly every businessman today recognizes that the best public relations
is to be very much concerned with community betterment, the welfare of John Q.Citizen,
and the progress of the Nation. That kind of concern, he knows, is good business.
It makes sense.
The liberal philosophy does not allow for the kind of enlightenment I have
just described. The legislation piously labeled "Truth In Packaging" is a good
example of that viewpoint.
Every packager and every merchandiser involved in the sale of grocery and drug
items was a villain last year. It was only because Republicans held out for a common-
sense compromise that the Packaging Bill as finally enacted provided for some self-
policing by industry.
There are many differences between the two major political parties. Both
(MORE)
-3-
parties have lofty goals. Both are dedicated to promoting the well-being of the
Nation. But there is a basic difference in approach.
The Democratic Party believes in Big Government and swinging a big stick. The
Republican Party believes in Limited Government and the carrot, with the stick placed
within reach only with the hope it won't be needed. The carrot is the better way.
The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act will become effective in five months. Now
the President is saying of this legislation, "It reflects our strong belief that
American producers can meet--and want to meet--the test of truth." But that wasn't
the story from the White House last year when the Truth in Packaging Bill was under
consideration in the Congress.
Refusal to use the carrot approach to progress is a big stumbling block to the
forward movement of this country.
Take the President's recent message on air pollution, for example. It's full
of the big stick, makes no use of the carrot.
What the President said in effect was that the states have failed to act on
air control, so the federal government is going to crack the whip. You could see the
mailed fist beneath the velvety language throughout the message.
Am I arguing that we should not attack air pollution? Not at all. I say the
President didn't go far enough. By that I mean his approach is wrong. You have to
attack air pollution at the source. What is the source? Primarily, its's industry.
There are two possible ways to handle the problem. Either you fashion a big
stick and beat industry over the head with it. Or you offer industry an inducement
to get it to do what we all know is in the public interest--clean up the air.
If you simply bludgeon industry into action, the tremendous cost of air
pollution controls will have to be passed along to the consumer because forced
pollution control will add greatly to the cost of doing business. Inequities and
resistance are inevitable. Individual businesses understandably will not want to be
the first to be saddled with these extra costs--will not want to be placed at a com-
petitive disadvantage even for a short time.
The other approach--one taken by more than 20 Republican congressmen who have
introduced identical bills--is to offer industry a 20 percent federal tax credit and
fast tax writeoffs for investments in air pollution programs that meet state and
federal requirements.
This same approach should be taken to escalate our war against water pollution.
We have lived with poisoned water and air too long. I believe our very
existence is at stake. And the big stick alone won't save us.
Republicans preserved the principle of the tax credit for investments in air
(MORE)
-4-
and water pollution controls by insisting the 7 percent investment tax credit be
continued for that purpose when it was dropped for industry generally as an anti-
inflation move last year. Now we must expand it.
I firmly believe that with added tax credit incentives for industry and a fresh
focus on air and water pollution dangers, we can develop an industry-government
partnership that will work in this critical problem area. Willing cooperation from
industry is the vital ingredient, and I have faith it will be forthcoming.
The Republican Party has faith in people, and the Republican Party has faith
in our free enterprise economy.
That is why Republicans in Congress would employ a different strategy than the
other party in fighting poverty. We would, for instance, place greater emphasis on
ways in which private industry could beef up our fight against the forces of misery
and want.
What we need is atimulus and desire.
What we need to remember is that the most effective job trainer in the world
is American business and industry.
We must also recognize that there are today an estimated two million jobless
Americans who are unemployed only because they lack necessary skills.
It's a most interesting and significant parallel that there are today some two
million jobs going unfilled simply because we don't have the skilled people to fill
them.
We know that retraining under government grant, training under the Manpower
Development Training Act of 1962, has not been fully effective.
Where do we go from here? Is it more government training programs, an expanded
Job Corps?
The answer is to invest in people through what Republicans call the Human
Investment Act of 1967. More than 120 Republican members of the House and nearly 30
Republican members of the Senate recently introduced this legislation. We want to
make it worthwhile for industry to greatly increase its on-th-job training. So we
offer a tax credit amounting to 10 percent of allowable employee training expenses,
with a maximum of $25,000, plus 50 percent of the tax liability in excess of $25,000.
This is the American way to lick poverty. This is the free enterprise way.
It's also the most effective way.
Let us never forget that large-scale on-the-
job training programs and a single percentage point increase in the rate of our
national economic growth can do more to erase human misery and want in America than all
the government retraining and war on poverty programs rolled together.
This Administration clothes all of its public actions in the language of self-
righteousness. It all adds up to a gigantic sales campaign, a big snow job. The
miracle is that it hasn't worked.
(MORE)
-5-
Shakespeare, who had such a facility with words, said simply: "The truth will
out." Abraham Lincoln declared that "The people are always nearer the truth than
politicians suppose."
This is why few people are really fooled when the Administration preaches
economy but goes right on spending money like a drunken sailor.
Admiral Hyman Rickover, who has a delightful sense of humor, puts it this way:
"If the Russians were to announce plans to send a man to hell, there would be people
from at least two government agencies on Capitol Hill the next day trying to get the
funds to send an American there first."
What can you do about it this Big Government that pervades all, this Big
Brother who intrudes everywhere? I offer you what I call a positive approach to
politics for businessmen.
You must assume responsibility for promoting good government in this country.
To shirk that duty is to fail your Nation.
You men and women in business are important people. You are important not only
in business but in politics.
If you are to have a hand in shaping legislation, you must participate in the
legislative process--run for public office yourself or persuade other capable and
attractive men and women to do so, communicate with others on issues and candidates,
urge your employees to make contributions to the political party of their choice,
discuss legislation and issues and their importance to the business community and to
the economy, give your employees time off to vote on Election Day.
You can encourage women, especially your own wives, to become active in politics.
This suggestion of course has nothing to do with the length of hemlines or the state
of the economy. But, boy, what a power for good women can be when they want to. As
Lincoln so beautifully expressed it, "Woman is man's best present from his Maker."
Labor has made itself a force in American politics by engaging in political
action. You can become a force for good government and a sound society.
Our form of government, as molded by the framers of the federal constitution,
is a most precious gift. You and I must do everything within our power to preserve it.
When the men who wrote the Constitution completed their task, they gathered up
their notes and departed from the Constitutional Convention. As he left, Benjamin
Franklin was stopped by a bystander.
"Which have you given us," the man asked him, "a monarchy or a republic."
"A republic," Franklin answered, "if you can keep it."
That is the task you have. That is the responsibility you bear and share. It
is for us to rededicate ourselves to that high purpose. And it is my deep conviction
that you--all of you--will pass on the torch of freedom to your children because you
will dare to stand up and be counted for America. Thank you.
###