Date: January 26, 1931
Location: Northampton, MA
Summary: Coolidge urges people to travel within the United States to learn more about the country and help the economy.
(Original document available here)
Winter travel is an important factor in our economic structure. We have great stretches of country, including the South Atlantic states, Florida, the Gulf region and the Mexican border land reaching through Southern California to the Pacific, which is unrivaled in climate and beauty. Excellent railway service, good roads and fine hotel accommodations make it most attractive to tourists.
Foreign travel is commendable. It is not necessary even to see America first. But to see the other parts of the world while our own country is unseen not only means lack of a desirable education but is scarcely patriotic.
Our people spend annually six or eight hundred million dollars in foreign travel. On the whole it is a good investment. But it should not be done to, the exclusion of domestic travel. People come from all quarters of the globe to behold the wonders of our own land. We ought not to remain ignorant of them ourselves.
It may well be remembered that money now expended in travel will be an aid to business. Every dollar so invested is turned over many times and, reaching in numerous directions, will stimulate trade and increase employment.
Citation: Calvin Coolidge Says: Dispatches Written by Former-President Coolidge and Syndicated to Newspapers in 1930-1931 (Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation)
The Coolidge Foundation gratefully acknowledges the volunteer efforts of Fr. Stephen Lawson who prepared this document for digital publication.