Excerpts from remarks by the Honorable Brooks Hays, Assistant Secretary of State, at the "Festival of Thanksgiving" - Page 2

Abstract

Speech reflecting on the Thanksgiving holiday to audience in Lisner Auditorium ; -2- A second blessing derived from the dreams and energies of earlier generations is our free society and it has economic as well as political implications. Even from the standpoint of material and physical measurements the free way is the best way. Without national character, however, our incomparable prosperity would lack the gratifications we are acknowledging. Capitalism is free enterprise with a conscience. If the conscience is sensitized the system will remain unimpaired. Without conscience no technical skill or managerial proficiency can prevent the interjection of forms of statism which limit freedom. Thus the dual blessing of religious origin and economic freedom are tied together. A third item in this brief inventory is a stable government. This is essential in a period of world danger for it supplies the cohesiveness that is necessary for the nation's defense. The national community must have a well ordered political life. Governmental powers must be adequate for defense. Our federal system represented remarkable craftsmanship and it is working. Our spirit of thanksgiving does not obscure the feeling that it can be made to work better. Giving thanks for the national government's stability might indeed focus attention upon the necessity of allaying fears regarding the moral solvency of the government.