 Ladies and gentlemen, Secretary Ling, Secretary Verity, and Secretary McLaughlin. Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. Hello there. Well, thank you all and good morning. Please be seated. Secretary Verity, Secretary McLaughlin, Secretary Ling, and ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to welcome all of you to the White House. We have quite an array of experts here today, including members of Congress, representatives from the President's Export Council, the Export Now Advisory Committee, the Departments of Commerce, Labor and Agriculture, and of course, members of trade and professional groups. And now, for these garden events, I've always followed Lyndon Johnson's guidelines. He said there are two basic kinds of speeches. The first is the Mother Hubbard speech, which covers everything, but touches nothing. The second is the Bikini speech, which covers only the essentials. And today, I'll try to stick to the second and cover only the essential points. That's obviously the 12 winners here today, who are the recipients of the 1988 E&E Star Awards for their sustained contributions to our nation's export expansion efforts. Your work is the vital machine that produces prosperity for America. Exports mean jobs for our people. You be growth and... Well, that's how it's always a pleasure, I was going to say, the profits for our businesses and the jobs for our people that you mean and the growth of our economy. And I think that it's why it's a pleasure to present the well-deserved E&E Star Awards. And this year's ceremony couldn't have come at a better time. Last week, the Commerce Department announced a remarkable reduction in the trade deficit. The trade deficit declined to $9.75 billion for March from the February figure of $13.83 billion. This was overwhelmingly due to the 23% jump in exports that the award winners here today helped fuel. Yet even with all this profoundly optimistic news, the pessimists just won't give up. You gotta hand it to them. They see the dark cloud behind every silver lining. Sometimes economic reporting resembles nothing so much as a hall of mirrors where good news becomes bad. Dropping unemployment means, quote, rising fears of inflation. The fact that we're in the longest peacetime expansion in history can only mean calamity is just around the corner. And just the other night, one network managed to turn the American export boom into economic gloom. An export boom, they said, and I'm quoting, may also mean a bust in the same region. Well, it reminds me of the story about Harry Truman and his use of colorful language. It seems that Eleanor Roosevelt called Bess one day and in the course of the conversation asked where Harry was and what he was doing. And Bess said he's outputting manure on the flower garden. And Eleanor said, oh, Bess, can't you get him to use some other term like fertilizer instead of manure? And Bess said it's taken me 20 years to get him to call it manure. I won't keep you here all day, but before handing out the awards, there's one other point I want to bring up. As many of you know, I launched the Export Now campaign on February 24th, and I'm glad to say it's in full swing. Our aim is to make sure that all American businesses, small, medium, and large, are aware of the great opportunities that exist in exporting. Of course, the recent trade figures with a genuine boom in exports show that plenty of businesses have already received the message. But there are thousands more that are still hesitant and uncertain, and it's these we want to reach. More than 40 states are on board the Export Now campaign, and they've appointed their trade experts to work with Commerce Department offices around the country. The Export Now staff has handled over 1,000 requests for information and arranged for speakers and other participation in over 300 events nationwide. And soon we'll have solid figures on new companies that have entered exporting or present exporters and have found new markets. That'll be the test of how well we're doing, but it's still too early to rack up the results. For myself, I have no doubts that the Yankee trading spirit is alive and well. Our products are of world-class quality, our costs are now among the lowest in the world, and we're shipping overseas everything from donut makers to locomotives. It's people like you who will catapult America into the roaring nineties. So keep up the good work, and thank you, and God bless you, and now with Secretary Verity's help, we'll present the awards. I'll be happy to do that. I'll go down here and be ready. I will read the names of the recipients as the President makes the awards, and we'll start with the E-Awards for Excellence. The first company is Compact Computer Corporation from Houston, Texas, with Rod Canyon President accepting. The second is Electrical South, Incorporated from Greensboro, North Carolina. Gregory Smith, President accepting. The third is Karsten Manufacturing Company of Phoenix, Arizona. Karsten Solheim, President accepting. The next is Leroy Likroy Corporation, Chestnut Ridge, New York. Walter Likroy, Chairman accepting. Lindsey International Sales Corporation, Lindsey Manufacturing Company, Lindsey Nebraska. Gary Carper Parker, Chief Executive accepting. Multiplex Company from Baldwin, Missouri. Walter Kisling, President accepting. Port Longview, Longview, Washington. Ralph Noly, Chairman, Board of Commissioners accepting. The Wayne Division, Dresser Industries, Salisbury, Maryland. Raymond Gronsky, President accepting. Now we have the E-Star Awards for Continued Excellence in Exporting. The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, Miami, Florida. Dorothy Weaver, Chairman accepting. The Port of Oakland, Oakland, California. William Hunter, President of the Board of Commissioners accepting. Technical Rubber Company from Johnstown, Ohio. Pauline Chambers-Yost, President accepting. Union Camp Corporation, Savannah, Georgia. R.E. Cartledge, Chairman, President, and CEO accepting. Mr. President, you've run out of certificates. And that is the end of the awards. Mr. President, I'm about to make a deal before Wednesday. We're not going by time. We're going by quality. Have you agreed to drop the drug charges, Mr. President? No, no, no, no. There's been nothing else that has killed him before. If Noriega and his magnanimous priest...