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Letter Requesting a Report by the National Emergency Council on the Problems and Needs of the South.
My dear Mr. Mellett:
Discussions in Congress and elsewhere in connection with legislation affecting the economic welfare of the Nation have served to point out the differences in the problems and needs of the different sections of the Country and have indicated the advisability of a clear and concise statement of these needs and problems in a form readily available, not only to the members of Congress, but to the public generally.
Attention has recently been focused particularly upon the South in connection with the Wages and Hours Bill, and I should like the National Emergency Council to undertake the preparation of such a statement of the problems and needs of the South. In preparing this statement I suggest that you call freely upon the various governmental departments and administrative agencies for information as to matters with which they are especially acquainted, and also that you request the assistance of Southerners well known for their interest in the South and familiarity with its problems.
The outcome of this undertaking may indicate the advisability of similar studies with reference to other sections of the country.
Very sincerely,
Honorable Lowell Mellett,
Executive Director,
National Emergency Council
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Letter Requesting a Report by the National Emergency Council on the Problems and Needs of the South. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/208962