Remarks at a Picnic Sponsored by the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin

THE PRESIDENT. Hello, everybody. I'm really proud that all of you came to the picnic that Rosalynn and I and Amy have put on with you, along with 3M Company. We're glad to be your cohosts and also the guests of a very fine example of the free enterprise system of our country.

3M was the first company in our Nation that was given the national award for conserving energy. And I think what they have done is typical of what has been done throughout the State of Wisconsin.

When your former Governor, Pat Lucey, who's now a very distinguished and able Ambassador to Mexico, was in office, he initiated some conservation measures in Wisconsin which have been good as an example for the entire Nation. You as a people in Wisconsin use 20 percent less energy per person than the average throughout our country, in spite of the fact that you rank 12th in industrial production and in spite of the fact that on normal days you have cooler weather than we do in Georgia—but I think today you've equaled the Georgia climate and temperature. But you haven't done well enough. And neither has anyone in the United States done well enough in saving energy.

Our country has a great challenge before us at this time. There is no conflict between the two things that we must do. One is to conserve energy, to stop waste, and secondly, to produce more energy in our own Nation.

Our Nation's security is threatened because we're too dependent on foreign oil. So, everyone in the United States must do as we have done in the past when our country was in danger or when it was threatened—unite with one another, instead of being divided one from another, and realize that every single American is important, cut back on waste of energy in your driving habits, obey the speed limits, join in the vanpool system that 3M is doing in other parts of the country—will soon be doing here—make sure that you don't waste energy in your home, do everything you can to save precious energy. And secondly, we'll have to use more solar power. We'll have to use more coal from within our own country, and we'll produce more oil and gas and synthetic fuels. If we do those things, there's no doubt in my mind that we can meet this present challenge.

Our country, as you well know, is the greatest nation on Earth. We're the strongest nation politically; we're the strongest nation economically; we're certainly the strongest nation militarily. And we've got something else as well. God has blessed us above all other peoples with natural resources, not only a great river, one of the best avenues for traffic and also freight and also passengers in the whole world—one of the most enjoyable trips, I think, imaginable anywhere—but, of course, we've also been blessed with energy reserves.

In our Nation we've got 25 percent of all the energy reserves in the whole world. All the OPEC nations in the Mideast put together only have 5 percent. So, God's blessed us with a strong nation and with a nation that has enough natural resources. It's up to us.

And I've come here this afternoon to remind you that sometimes we do get too discouraged. We ought to inventory what we've got. We ought to count our blessings and figure out how you as citizens of our country, how I as the highest elected official in the greatest nation on Earth, State officials, local officials, the Congress can all work together, not separated one from another, not criticizing one another, not looking for scapegoats, but how we can make the greatest nation on Earth even greater in the future. That's what I've pledged to do. If you'll help me, we'll do it together.

Thank you very much. God bless all of you.

MRS. CARTER. And I want to thank you for the wonderful welcome too. I've enjoyed shaking hands with you, some of you two and even three times. And thank you for the birthday wishes too.

We've had a wonderful trip down the river. The countryside is so beautiful, and the people all along the way, you have made it very special for us. We care for every one of you, and we're pleased and proud to be here.

Thank you very much.