Remarks to Delegates of Boys Nation.

IT IS NICE to have you boys here as our guests this morning. I am familiar with what you are trying to do, because I am doing it. In Missouri, some years ago, I was interested in the Boys State and I think its expansion into the national picture is a good thing.

The welfare of the United States in the next 25 or 30 years is going to be in your hands--the hands of the young men who are now growing up and going to high school and college. You should know all that it is possible to know about the operations of your Government.

When people ask what the Government of the United States is, it is you. The Government is the people. We only represent what we believe to be the opinion of the majority of the people. When I act as President of the United States, when we act as Senators, when we act as Congressmen, we are merely expressing what we believe to be the views of the majority. When the majority is overturned, the other fellow gets a chance to express his views. And that is what constitutes a Republic.

Our Government is the government of a Republic--delegated powers, diffused powers, legislative powers, executive powers, judicial powers, all separate and independent, which makes it very difficult for an individual to be persecuted under our system.

I have been studying it ever since I was your age, and I don't think a finer system has ever been created in the history of the world. Those gentlemen who met in Philadelphia to build a Constitution of the United States wrought much better, I think, than they knew. They were young men, most of them. There was Benjamin Franklin, of course, but the average age was in the forties, and they worked for the setting up of a Republic that would work.

Now that Republic is working, as you have seen demonstrated here since you have been here. It will continue to work just as long as you want it to work. I think it's good for a thousand years. I hope so.

It has been a pleasure to have you up here this morning to greet you on the White House grounds. Right over there in that rose garden is where all the pictures are taken of distinguished guests. The rose garden wasn't quite big enough to hold this gathering, so we picked this corner so that everybody could get up close to the President.

If you will all come by here, I will be glad to shake hands with each one of you.