First, we are giving opportunity of employment to one-quarter of a
million of the unemployed, especially the young men who have
dependents, to go into the forestry and flood prevention work. This
is a big task because it means feeding, clothing and caring for
nearly twice as many men as we have in the regular army itself. In
creating this civilian conservation corps we are killing two birds
with one stone. We are clearly enhancing the value of our natural
resources and we are relieving an appreciable amount of actual
distress. This great group of men has entered upon its work on a
purely voluntary basis; no military training is involved and we are
conserving not only our natural resources, but our human resources.
One of the great values to this work is the fact that it is direct
and requires the intervention of very little machinery.

Second, I have requested the Congress and have secured action upon
a proposal to put the great properties owned by our government at
Muscle Shoals to work after long years of wasteful inaction, and
with this a broad plan for the improvement of a vast area in the
Tennessee Valley. It will add to the comfort and happiness of
hundreds of thousands of people and the incident benefits will
reach the entire nation.

Next, the Congress is about to pass legislation that will greatly
ease the mortgage distress among the farmers and the home owners of
the nation, by providing for the easing of the burden of debt now
bearing so heavily upon millions of our people.

Our next step in seeking immediate relief is a grant of half a
billion dollars to help the states, counties and municipalities in