It strengthened the hand of the Federal Government in its attempts to suppress gangster crime. It supplemented our agricultural policy through measures widely demanded by farmers themselves and intended to avert price destroying surpluses. It made further advances towards peace in industry through the labor adjustment act. It strengthened our naval forces to conform with the intentions and permission of existing treaty rights. It provided a rational method of increasing our volume of foreign trade through reciprocal trading agreements. It strengthened the integrity of finance through the regulation of securities exchanges. It lent a hand to industry by encouraging loans to solvent industries unable to secure adequate help from banking institutions. It provided for the readjustment of the debt burden through the corporate and municipal bankruptcy acts and the farm relief act. I mention only a few of the major enactments. The session was distinguished by the extent and variety of legislation enacted and by the intelligence and good will of debate upon these measures. It has been well said that while there were a few exceptions, this Congress displayed a greater freedom from mere partisanship than any other peace-time Congress since the Administration of President Washington himself. That was no easy task, but the Congress was equal to it. As we review the achievements of this session of the Seventy-third Congress, it is made increasingly clear that its task was essentially that of completing and fortifying the work it had begun in March, 1933. It seemed to us our duty not only to make the right path clear but also to tread that path. Since January, those of us in whom you have vested responsibility have been engaged in the fulfillment of plans and policies which had been widely discussed in previous months. It has been several months since I have talked with you concerning the problems of government.

Fdr fireside chats national archives