Remarks to Representatives of the American Voluntary Societies Cooperating in the United States Escapee Program.

WELL, ladies and gentlemen, of course, I am not going into a dissertation on statistics. About all I can say is, thank you for the extraordinary understanding that you exhibit by your very participation in this kind of work.

If we are to win this ideological struggle going on in the world, if we are going to stand for freedom and opportunity and the dignity of the human, we have got to be ready to do those things voluntarily that give some other individual the right to be dignified as well, to enjoy opportunity, to live in freedom.

And of course we know from our own history, going way back into the dim past, that freedom is not won easily, nor is it won without sacrifice.

Whenever we allow anybody else's freedom to be cut down, by that much our own is endangered. Consequently, the work that you are doing is not only completely humanitarian, as I see it. It is also in furtherance of the idea that this thing--this concept of freedom--is not going to be kept alive and flourish in the world unless we do those things that are expected of free men, and make sure that everybody else has a similar opportunity.

So it is in that spirit that I say: thank you very much. I assure you that this administration, in its own several jobs spread all over the United States and over the world, is dedicated to the same ideas here that you are doing in the practical, every day work-a-day field. These are things that have to be done, things of the greatest importance.

So, my gratitude for that, and my best wishes for your continued success. I didn't realize you were 3 years old today, but that is good. I hope you continue to grow.