It does not follow, because our difficulties are stupendous, because there are some souls timorous enough to doubt the validity and effectiveness of our ideals and our system, that we must turn to a State-controlled or State-directed social or economic system in order to cure our troubles.  That is not liberalism; it is tyranny.  It is the regimentation of men under autocratic bureaucracy with all its extinction of liberty, or hope, and of opportunity.  Of course, no man of understanding says that our system works perfectly.  It does not.  The human race is not perfect.  Nevertheless, the movement of a true civilization is toward freedom rather than regimentation.  This is our ideal

Instead, we met the situation with proposals to private business and the Congress of the most gigantic program of economic defense and counter attack ever evolved in the history of the Republic.  We put it into action.

The countries of Europe proved unable to withstand the stress of the depression.  The memories of the world had ignored the fact that the insidious diseases left by the Great War had not been cured.  The skill and intelligence of millions in Europe had been blotted out by battle, disease and starvation.  Stupendous burdens of national debts had been built up.  Poisoned springs of political instability lay in the treaties which closed the war.  Fears and hates held armaments to double those before the war.  Governments were fallaciously seeking to build back by enlarged borrowing, by subsidizing industry and employment with taxes that slowly sapped the savings upon which industry must be rejuvenated and commerce solidly built.  Under these strains the financial systems of many foreign countries crashed one by one.