Remarks to the Members of the National YMCA and Government Assembly.

THANK YOU very much. You are really doing something for the benefit of the country. You are finding out how government works, and what government under our system means by actual experience.

Now this one person before you here has been from precinct to President all along the line. I have been in elective public office for 30 years. That is one of the reasons I am retiring. I think that is long enough for a man to serve his country. I am going to continue to serve the country, understand, but I will do it in a little freer way than I do now.

Learning about government is absolutely essential to people your age, because it is going to be your responsibility now, in a few years--you will be responsible for the operation of the Government. And you must bear that in mind, when you are studying how our Government works.

Our Government works on what we call the two-party system. It is supposed to be party responsibility. Sometimes there isn't any, however. But we still have the two-party system. It is a good system.

The President is the only official who is elected by the whole country. The Senators, two from each State, represent the States, and the Congressmen represent the districts, and when they get together they represent the whole country, and legislate. And the President is supposed to carry out the legislative acts which the Congress passes when it is possible for them to be carried out. Sometimes it isn't. That is not very often the case, but it can happen.

I am very much interested in what you are doing. It is one of the finest things that is taking place in the country. Keep it up. Inform yourselves. It is knowledge that makes power. And if you don't have the knowledge, if you don't understand the Government under which you live, you certainly can't make a contribution to its welfare.

It is you young people, as I said awhile ago, who are going to be responsible that this great Republic of ours continues; and it is the greatest republic in the history of the world. The Office of President is the greatest office in the history of the world, and the most responsible one in these times.

And if you understand your duty, you can make it a lot easier on the President in carrying out his duties as the Chief Executive of the greatest Nation in the history of the world.

Thank you very much.