Frank F. Merriam

28th Governor, Republican
1934–1939

Inaugural Address

Delivered: January 8, 1935

Members of the California Senate and Assembly:

As the representatives of the people in the legislative branch of the State government, I welcome you to Sacramento for the biennial session of the State Legislature. We meet here under conditions that rob this occasion - and our common endeavors - of every influence and issue not vitally concerned with the public welfare and the exceedingly grave problems immediately ahead.

The people of California expect from you and from me at this time the fullest exercise of intelligent, devoted, energetic and unselfish attention to the critical problems confronting this commonwealth.

Confidence and Cooperation Necessary

And if you perceive a disposition on my part in the remarks I shall make to you today or in later messages I may submit to you, to stress the imperative need for cooperation and confidence between the executive and the legislative agencies of the government, let me say now with all the emphasis at my command that only by the widest application of such cooperation and confidence can essential results be obtained.

In no perfunctory or formal manner, but wholeheartedly and earnestly, I assure you that you may rely at all times upon my readiness to give sympathetic attention to your views and to confer with you individually or collectively upon any and all matters having your attention.

We must not come here as Republicans or as Democrats, or as the representatives of any political party, but as Californians -charged with the responsibility and inspired by the opportunity to serve our people and our State.

If there is any one among us who has come to the State Capitol seeking merely to accomplish personal ends, or to further the selfish interests of any class or faction or section, that individual is not only misguided, but is blind to the nature of the trust which all of us share in common.

Public Services Only Issue

Public necessity, the security of our people, the employment of our citizens, the protection of our homes, the relief of destitution and suffering, the restoration of our constructive economic processes, and the wider and greater enjoyment of the full range of social justice and basic human rights should have, and must have, our undivided, unremitting, and unselfish care.

The next three or four months will mark an epoch in California's history. It is your opportunity, and mine, to labor so diligently, to attain results so effectively, to serve so faithfully, that this epochal period shall hereafter be regarded as a milestone in the progress and in the development of good government.

For if we fail to measure up to the requirements of the emergency with which we are faced; if we do not expeditiously and ably discharge our several duties, if we complicate and increase rather than eliminate and solve the problems of our people - then it shall be said of us that we lacked the capacity and the vision required to render the valuable public service which the people entrusted to us.

Future Outlook is Promising

I fear no such misfortune; rather I am filled with optimism and with confidence.

We shall succeed, and our success will be interpreted in terms of greater security, happiness, and prosperity for the people of California.

We are entering upon a year of promise and of hope. Our courage is high; and if we soberly recognize the need for renewed effort and for continued service and sacrifice in the interests of our fellow citizens needing and meriting our consideration and care, we are prepared to carry our burdens uncomplainingly and with stout hearts.

With respect to all the methods to be employed or all the steps to be taken in attempting a solution of our many perplexing problems, we may not always see alike, but in the main we are in accord as to the ends to he attained; we have a common goal-service to the people.

With such an understanding, and in such a spirit, I earnestly pray we may proceed.

Government Alone Can Not Indefinitely Meet Emergency

In this era of unprecedented dislocation of ordinary economic forces, the people have been required by necessity to look to National, State and local government for a coordination and the effective use of all their resources.

This condition has prevailed and to an increasing extent, for almost five years.

Now, hope is revived that the normal activities of industry, agriculture, business and commerce will steadily improve to a point where the initiative and enterprise of our citizens will once again afford full opportunity for the employment of all our able-bodied citizens and for the proper and useful expansion of our productive enterprises.

But as fondly us some may believe and as earnestly as others may hope, government itself cannot indefinitely assume the responsibility for meeting all the demands of this depression and this emergency.

People Themselves are Masters of Their Destiny

Government, if it be intelligent, efficient, and devoted, can aid in the solution of these problems. Government can be the medium through which an enlightened people can express their ideals and their aspirations, but government cannot permanently assume responsibilities which the private citizen and private business must eventually discharge if our people are to remain free and independent.

Before we shall attain complete economic balance, however, we must eliminate the evils which aggravated, and which, in fact, contributed to the collapse of the old economic order from which we now are emerging.

Furthermore, as much as the necessity is to be regretted, we must for some time to come continue to pay the price of some of our mistakes, of our wistfulness, our extravagance, our disregard, as a people of many of the ordinary safeguards which we should have placed around our activities both in private enterprises and in governmental policies and functions.

Sound Financial Basis Essential to Security

Of primary importance at this time, from the standpoint of an efficient administration of State functions, is the need for placing the government of California on a sound financial basis.

This we must do without imposing intolerable taxes upon the people and without undertaking obligations not absolutely essential to the public service.

As the first step in such a direction, we must adopt a program that will enable us to keep our expenditures below our income.

The mere accomplishment of a balanced State budget is in itself unimportant unless it definitely reflects an intelligent management of the people's business.

In the efforts of myself and those working under my direction to gain a full understanding of the State's financial needs and of measures that must be taken to meet those needs, we have kept in mind the two important facts, that no tax is popular, and that no tax system can be maintained and supported unless it is equitable and in no sense discriminatory.

Need for Tax Revision and Adjustments Recognized

I have been deeply impressed with the general feeling upon the part of citizens everywhere in the State that taxes must be temporarily increased and that the so-called tax base must be broadened to gain revenues from new sources, but I have been equally struck by the fact that both individuals and groups are disposed to feel that “the other fellow" should be called upon to bear the added burden.

This is natural and particularly so at a time when any additional drain upon the income and resources of individuals and business organizations represents a genuine hardship.

Yet it is obvious that if government is to survive and if the needs of the people in this emergency are to be properly served, public funds must be raised and disbursed.

Ours is the difficult and perhaps thankless task to see to it that not one unnecessary dollar be sought from the taxpayers; that no injustice be worked; that the individual or the corporation, or the business institution, pay all that equity and necessity demand.

Within a short time, I shall submit to you a biennial budget for 1935-1937, together with a tax program designed to meet budget requirements. We will complete the current biennium with a deficit of approximately $30,000,000. If we do not adjust our tax needs, and our tax program to the emergency condition now confronting us, we shall have a further deficit of approximately $100,000,000 during the next biennial period.

Such conditions prevail despite a determined and widespread policy of retrenchment and economy in the administration of state functions subject to the jurisdiction and direction of that Legislature and of the Governor.

Human Needs Come First

Human needs demand and should receive first consideration; they must be served as long as society exists and government is maintained.

To such a service we must bring not alone the words of our mouths and the wishes of our hearts; we must contribute the labor of our hands and the intelligent and practical attention of our minds.

It is impossible at this time to estimate either the extent or the exact nature of the unemployment relief program which California, in cooperation with the Federal government will be called upon to carry out. This is a continuing obligation, however, which we neither can nor desire to shirk.

Cooperation with Federal Relief Porgram Assured

The State and Federal governments are in accord on the general aspects of the relief program. The $24,000,000 relief bond issue approved by the Legislature in special session last September and ratified by the voters of California in November, soon will be available for use.

While it is my purpose to administer State relief policies according to my best judgment as to local needs, I am likewise determined to maintain close contact with Federal relief authorities and to carry on relief activities in California in close harmony with the policies and wishes of the National administration.

Upon this phase of our state affairs, I shall have more to say when officers of National government have indicated their views of certain steps already taken by me to carry out further development of our relief program.

President’s Work Program Approved

I am in hearty accord with the announcement of President Roosevelt that every needy unemployed man and woman who is able to work should be required to do so in exchange for compensation from employment either by private business or upon some governmental or public project.

To the care of the disabled, the aged, and the sick, every consideration should be given. There is an obligation here which as a people we have never fully understood or assumed. In the future, society will meet this responsibility not only in justice to the individual but as a protection to society itself.

The hazards and the hardships encountered by the common man have been unmeasurably increased and complicated during the last five years. Ours is the duty so far as we are able, to overcome and remove such handicaps as they are imposed upon the citizenship of our own State.

California is a fertile and a fruitful land. Our natural resources are abundant, and sufficient for many generations to come if wisely utilized and properly conserved. As a people, we are industrious, progressive, and enlightened. Our public and private institutions are sound. Our wellbeing is assured as long as we act for the common good and with an understanding of our common needs.

Biennal Message To Present State's Problems

In the regular biennial message of the Governor, which I am preparing, and which I shall present to you without unnecessary delay, I shall discuss in detail all of the various subjects and public issues which you and I will be expected to consider upon which we must act during this legislative session.

While it is not in any sense my purpose to ask you to accept and approve, without mature consideration and discussion such proposals as I may make to you in the furtherance of my administrative program, it is my earnest hope and expectation that your deliberations will result in expeditious handling of the business I shall place before you.

Furthermore, from my own years of experience as a legislator, I feel I may say that your success as a legislative body will be determined more by the quality, the clarity, the justice, and the effectiveness of the Laws you enact than by their multiplicity and complexity.

Legislature Responsible to the People Alone

Here in the historic State Capitol you are the independent representatives of the people, to whom alone you owe your allegiance and your duty.

Let no special interest, no selfish pleader, no secret influence intrude.

You have my best wishes and throughout the session to come you shall at all times have my assistance and support in evolving a workable program which, in its broad aspects, will encompass efficient and economic administration of government, relief of distress, and eventual reconstruction, recovery and stability.

Very promptly I shall lay before you such information and recommendations as I feel merit your consideration and official action.