“We cannot be satisfied merely with makeshift arrangements which will tide us over the present emergencies.”
An emergency can reveal a weakness that temporary relief alone will not repair. Frances Perkins made that distinction in a national radio address on February 25, 1935, while the United States was debating a proposed system of social insurance. As secretary of labor, she was explaining why the response to economic distress needed to extend beyond the immediate crisis. The sentence expresses dissatisfaction with arrangements that carry people through the present without changing the risks they will face afterward. Its force lies in the time horizon it introduces: public responsibility includes both helping now and preparing for a future that will bring new difficulties.
Perkins spoke during the Great Depression and chaired the Committee on Economic Security. Her address discussed the administration’s proposals rather than an already enacted Social Security Act. That law followed in August 1935, so the quotation belongs to the period of explanation and persuasion before enactment. The speech framed unemployment, old age, and other forms of insecurity as problems that called for organized public responses. It also distinguished emergency measures from an enduring system. Recognizing that sequence keeps the quotation grounded in the actual debate, where the structure of protection still had to be decided and put into effect.
A makeshift arrangement may be necessary and useful. The word does not make immediate assistance worthless, especially when people cannot wait for an institution to be designed. The concern is what happens if temporary measures become the entire answer. People may have to prove their hardship repeatedly, depend on uncertain funding, or confront the same gap whenever another crisis arrives. A lasting approach asks different questions about predictability, access, and responsibility. Who will administer it? How will it reach people before a preventable loss becomes catastrophic? What provisions will keep it working when public attention moves elsewhere?
The sentence offers a way to assess institutional planning without assuming that every permanent program is well designed. A system can endure and still exclude people, handle claims poorly, or fail to adapt to changing circumstances. Durable protection needs scrutiny as well as continuity. The useful distinction is between a response built only to survive today and one that also learns from today’s exposed weaknesses. Readers can apply that distinction to public services, disaster preparation, or community support while examining the particular evidence in each case. Perkins’s historical argument leaves a demanding question for any promise of recovery: what will make the next emergency less destructive?
Perkins delivered the national radio address on February 25, 1935, while social insurance legislation was under discussion.
She chaired the Committee on Economic Security. The Social Security Act was enacted later that year, in August.
The sentence distinguishes immediate assistance from enduring protection. It does not dismiss the need for relief during an emergency.
Its central concern is recurring insecurity: temporary arrangements can leave the same underlying risks in place.
Ask whether a public response creates dependable access and clear responsibility after the immediate crisis passes.
A lasting program still requires evidence about its design and results. Permanence alone is not proof of effectiveness.
Explore more "Quotes of The Day"
Discover more notable quotes from influential voices across politics, science, business, technology, sports, and culture. Each quote offers insight into how ideas, beliefs, and decisions shape the world around us.