personal investigation. Our catalogs go to Russia and the Soviet Republic has 
been a customer for bulbs to go to the Botanical Institute in Moscow. 
Since our present administration has shown its confidence in ex- President 
Herbert Hoover, I am now unlikely to offend our Democratic friends by quoting 
from a speech made by Hoover at the Ohio Wesleyan University, recently. He 
said: While security eliminates many of the risks of life it ‘‘also kills the joy that 
lies in competition, in individual adventure, new undertakings and new achieve- 
ments. These contain moral and intellectual impulses more vital even than profits 
for from them alone comes national progress.” 
Speaking sarcastically of these “new ideas’ of England and Russia, he 
said: “The reactionary notion of equal opportunity with the right of everyone 
to go as far as his ambitions and abilities will take him, provided he does not 
trespass on others, still holds in the American dream.” 
I believe it will continue to hold because this American idea has made us 
the strongest nation on earth. It has made us the richest. It has made us the 
most generous. We implimented and largely financed World War II to put down 
aggression and to advance the freedom of all peoples. Since the end of the war 
we have given foreign nations 22 billion dollars a year to help them toward re- 
covery. The war cost us near $250 billion dollars. The standard of living in 
America is the highest ever achieved in the world history. 
And yet a governor or perhaps even a president may evolve a health pro- 
gram that includes socialized medicine. When we note the advancement made 
by medical science by the good and long tried and proven American way, I think 
the American people will not approve departure from that way. The experience 
we had when the government operated the railroads during the first World War 
must have taught us a lesson. 
If we do not always approve the doctors’ fees, there are always clinics, like 
that at the Los Angeles Co. Hospital (the greatest hospital in the world) where 
the sick can go for diagnosis, medical advise, treatment or an operation for 
what they are able to pay or at no cost if wholly indigent. 
Are we likely to remove the opportunity of free enterprise from the medical 
profession in view of what it has accomplished under that system? I think not. 
I am confident that California realizes it went a-step too far last year in 
our pension law, at least in the way it was set up, and confident too that it will 
be corrected in the next election. We all need to study this question carefully 
before we vote. At least, I do. This fact I do know. At the age of 60 years, my 
resources because of the depression, amounted to a very small sum. We had only 
1000 names on our mailing list. Now we_have 35,000 names and throw away a- 
bout 5,000 every year of the names of persons who do not buy for two years. Mrs. 
Houdyshel and I do not make a lot of money but we are free. Personally I would 
rather work than take a pension. I do believe that the proper place to retire to 
is the cemetery. This is not my original idea. It was first expressed by the 
Lord in the Garden of Eden, but in other words, I have seen too many acquire 
enough money and retire, get fat and die in a very few years. 
The general tone of this letter is a discussion of what has made America 
strong and what will keep it strong, altho I did not announce that as my topic 
for discussion. You will agree with me that democracy and free enterprise are 
part of the answer. Also that work is another important element and that I be- 
lieve that the work of old men is highly important. If we note the age of the 
important men of today, our Congressmen, our Supreme Court Judges, our 
business executives, review also the men of history we must admit that old men 
have always ruled most of the world and they still do. 
You will agree with me too that we must keep America strong,—the strong- 
est nation on earth,—even in all history, as it is now. We can do that with brains, 
brawn and spirit. A nation is a composite of its entire citizenry. Every individual 
is a vital element because he is one part of the whole. It is not only a duty to 
one’s self to be as strong as possible, but equally a duty to one’s fellows and to 
America. When we allow ourselves to become weak and to take instead of give 
by that much we have weakened America. That may seem infinitesimal but it 
isn’t if large groups align themselves in that policy. Even tho a man has retired 
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