Remarks in New York City at the Dedication of the Penn Station South Urban Renewal Project.

Dave Dubinsky, Mrs. Roosevelt, Governor Rockefeller, Mayor Wagner, Mr. Atntonini, distinguished city officials, distinguished Mayor, George Meany, Alex Rose, ladies and gentlemen:

I want to register an official protest with the International Ladies Garment Workers at the sweatshop conditions under which we are working today--I'm not sure that this represents 50 years of progress! It is true that your distinguished President invited me to come to speak on November third, as we were heading for a meeting which he was sponsoring, 3 days before election. I would have agreed to anything. But in any case, I'm delighted I agreed to come here, because this is most impressive. And I think what Dave Dubinsky said and what George Meany said, both carry very important messages, for this union, for the labor movement as a whole--and for the United States.

Because what they were saying was, what can a union now do to contribute to the welfare of its own members and to the welfare of the country? We read frequently that one of the great problems which are facing organized labor is how to maintain the same fervor, the same spirit, the same zeal which motivated this and other unions in their early days of a great struggle, to provide decent working conditions and pay for their members. We still have great areas of effort which are left for this union in protecting the welfare of its members. But it is also important to emphasize, and there is also a great opportunity open, to all unions across the country to participate in the strengthening of their country.

And that's what this union has done on this occasion, as well as so many others. The work available for organized labor in the United States today is just as important, in many ways more important, than it was 25 years ago. The unfinished business of our society still lies stretching before us, and this housing project demonstrates what labor, with good, effective, progressive leadership, and the city and the State, and private groups, and the federal Government, together in cooperation can do for this city and this country.

And that is why I think it most appropriate to come here today with your distinguished leaders and tell you that this union has done a good job--and to ask that other unions across the country imitate your example.

The unfinished business of this country is your business, and I can assure you, after being in the Presidency only 16 or 17 months, that the progress of this country will depend in a great measure on the sense of public responsibility of members of organized labor.

If you want to have equal opportunity for all Americans, if we want to rebuild our cities, if we want to provide transit in and out of our cities, if we want to educate our children, if we want to have colleges and universities to which they can go, if we want to have medical schools to train our doctors, if we want to make this country as wonderful a place as it can be for the 300 million people who will live in this country within 40 years, then we have to do our task today.

It is the task of every generation to build a road for the next generation. And this housing project, the efforts we are making in this city and State and in the National Government, I believe can provide a better life for the people who come after us--if we meet our responsibilities.

There are those who say that the job is done, that the function of the federal Government is not to govern, that all the things that had to be done were done in the thirties and the forties, and that now our task is merely to administer. I do not accept that view at all, nor can any American who sees what we still have left to do.

So this is a great effort by you. This union deserves the heartiest commendation. I hope others will follow your example. And I come here today and ask you to continue to work, as you have in the past, and as free labor organizations must do all over the world, for the kind of progress upon which our ultimate security depends.

We believe that there is much left to do, and I come here today and ask you to join us in doing it.

About 30 years ago, a distinguished French marshal asked his gardener to plant a tree. And the gardner said, "That tree won't come to flower for a hundred years." He said, "In that case plant it this afternoon."

Well, that's the way I feel about all the tasks left undone in this country which will not be finished in our time. But we ought to do something about it--this afternoon.

Thank you.