Speech of Senator Harry S. Truman at Before the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce at Brooklyn, New York

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SPEECH OF SENATOR HARRY S. TRUMAN before THE ANNUAL LUNCHEON MEETING OF THI EROOKLYN chamber OF COMNERCE, AT HOTEL ST. GeORGL, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ON MAY 22, 1944, AT 12:30 NOON RELEASE ON delIViRY THE WAR IN REVIEN I am honored to be invited here today to take part in the Annual Meeting of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. Such organizations as yours have played a prominent role in the building and development of our great nation. The importance of the work of the Chamber of Commerce throughout the country will be demonstrated in the post-war period, when all our resources and our material wealth must be mobilized to bring us through the transition period from war to peace. It is a difficult and complex future we are facing, but I do not hesitate to voice this belief; it will be a good future if we have the wisdom and courage to make it so. In this war we have had to create an enormous number of new regulations and controls. That is part of the price which we must pay for war. It is no greater than the price being paid by our allies and our enemies. It is what we must bid to purchase victory and freedom. These wartime controls have not relation to politics. They were imposed solely because of war needs. Nearly all of them were suggested by industry and labor. Most of the government representatives dealing with them came from private life. And these representatives are about evenly divided between both parties. These restrictions must be maintained just as long as they are required to assure victory - just that long, and no longer. Personal and business liberties and freedom from regimentation are not only abstract ideals. They are concrete realities which impinge daily on our lives. They seriously affect our happiness RAUMAN S NARA