Calvin Coolidge Comments- "Nothing is easier than the expenditure of public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody."- From Fourth Annual Message of December 7, 1926.

"Nothing is easier than the expenditure of public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody. But the results of extravagance are ruinous. The property of the country, like the freedom of the country, belongs to the people of the country. They have not empowered their Government to take a dollar of it except for a necessary public purpose. But if the Constitution conferred such right, sound economics would forbid it. Nothing is more destructive of the progress of the Nation than government extravagance. It means an increase in the burden of taxation, dissipation of the returns from enterprise, a decrease in the real value of wages, with ultimate stagnation and decay. The whole theory of our institutions is based on the liberty and independence of the individual. He is dependent on himself for support and therefore entitled to the rewards of his own industry. He is not to be deprived of what he earns that others may be benefited by what they do not earn. What he saves through his private effort is not to be wasted by Government extravagance."

Excerpts from "Have Faith in Massachusetts," a speech by Calvin Coolidge, to the State Senate, upon being elected its President- January 7, 1914.

On January 7, 1914 Calvin Coolidge who had been newly elected to the position of President of the Massachusetts State Senate gave this speech- "Have Faith in Massachusetts." I think it is a wonderful speech which our citizens need to hear at this time of economic turmoil. Then Senate President Coolidge addresses numerous philosophical and ethical issues of the time, and which also pertain to our current lapses of ethics on Wall Street and in the Halls of Congress. Mr. Coolidge notes in his speech: "Industry cannot flourish if labor languish. Transportation cannot prosper if manufactures decline." Our current President needs to address the "manufactures" issue that President Coolidge so perceptively referred to. We need the changes made, which will allow America to manufacture again. My personal thesis is that we must require the Chinese government to float its RMB and we must insist that the Chinese also implement a "safety net" for their labor force. A 35% tax on Chinese goods would help as well.

Calvin Coolidge Comments: "We need a broader, firmer, deeper faith in the people; A faith that men desire to do right, that the Commonwealth is founded upon a righteousness which will endure."

http://www.calvin-coolidge.org/html/_have_faith_in_massachusetts__.html