Date: June 16, 1931
Location: Marion, OH
(Original document available here)
An ambitious proposal is being made for adopting a ten-year plan for operating this country. Suggestions for improvement are always welcome. But we should not let words supplant ideas. We have the most complete plans already that any nation ever possessed. A system of transportation by land and water is constantly under construction. The ablest and most skilled people in the world have extensive plants for furnishing all kinds of raw materials and merchandise. Agriculture is prepared to supply all our food. A multitude of banks are ready to issue money and give credit.
This vast system has been prepared by generations of great business leaders. We need not wait five or ten years for something we already have. Any intelligent discussion then will be directed not at supplying systems of production and distribution but at the most efficient operation of those in existence. A free people can plan for the future only in a limited way. We do not know the future amount of consumption, wages, prices or production. No hard and fast plan can be successful without establishing these elements in advance. Freedom of action prevents that. But thought, discussion and conference can produce improvement.
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 Craig Eyermann who prepared this document for digital publication.