Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.

To be unselfish. That alone would require a great change in the way people lived. Emaline had known one truth since she was a girl. The poor helped one another, the rich helped themselves. Hoboes had come knocking at Velma’s door almost every day, they were never turned away. Sometimes, if things were good, they got a sit-down meal. Other times, it was only a little dry bread or whatever she could spare. The tramps passed it along as common wisdom, never knock at a rich man’s door.

Our greatest primary task is to put people to work.… The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms.…

Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order: there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; so that there will be an end to speculation with other people’s money; and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.

Emaline did not begin to understand Wall Street or the forces that had brought America to its knees, but the president seemed to understand very clearly. That was enough for her.

If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective.

Emaline had heard people say the new president was arrogant, a rich easterner who was trying to fool common folk, but she didn’t believe that for a minute. He was proof that there were still a few wealthy men who would sacrifice themselves for their country.