 Thank you very much. Well, thank you for coming today. It's always a pleasure to meet with the individuals responsible for making this administration the force for change that it is. So I'm delighted to see you all here. I thought I might start today with a story about that out-of-town fellow who was riding in a New York City taxi cab. Cab driver was heading straight for a pedestrian that was crossing against the light. And at the very last moment, he swerved, sparing the poor pedestrian. And the driver, seeing the passenger startled expression, explained, he said, you see, if you hit him, you got to make out a report. Well, I'd like to make out a report today on the progress that we've made during our time here in Washington. I feel a little like the sales manager who was addressing his salesmen and saleswomen, because I want to tell you what a wonderful job you've been doing out there in your territories. You're meeting the goals that you're accomplishing, what we came here to do. You're fulfilling our hopes to change the direction of this government. I'm sure you remember in 1980 when we asked the American people if they were better off than they were four years earlier, well, today we can say that America is better off than she was four years ago, even three years ago. Inflation, which had been taking most Americans through the ringer at double-digit rates, is running at a remarkable 2.6% for the last 12 months. That's the lowest 12-month period in 17 years. And we did this in less than three years. The prime interest rate was 21.5%. It's hard to realize now that it actually got that high. It's like a bad experience you try to put out of your mind. But it was a staggering 21.5%. And we reduced that by almost half to 11%. And it's going to go down even further. Just think if the previous administration had cut in half the prime rate that it inherited, as we have done, they would have left us a rate of 3.5%. In the five years before we came to Washington, the tax take of the federal government doubled. And again, just think if we hadn't arrived on the scene, the American people's taxes would again nearly have doubled by inauguration day of 1985. Instead, we have cut personal tax rates 25% across the board. And beginning in 1985, taxes will be indexed so that never again will inflation push Americans into higher and higher tax brackets. Unemployment is, of course, a special concern, although it too is headed in the right direction downward. In July, we had a drop that was the biggest one-month drop in unemployment in 24 years. And in September, it dropped again, while the number of people working increased to an all-time high of, if we count the military, 103.6 million people. Now, in spite of the fact that Democrats and the press love to wallow in the negative news, good things are happening out there in the economy. And if good things weren't happening, you wouldn't have a stock market that was setting new records. There wouldn't be the increases in productivity, and housing, and construction, retail, and auto sales, all those things that show that a free economy with sound government policies can bring us prosperity once again. Overseas, we have direction as well. When we first came into office, we began speaking up for the principles that our nation believes in. Papering over our differences with the Soviet Union serves only the Soviet Union's propaganda purposes. We began speaking out against chemical warfare, against broken treaties, against the denial of human liberties. We began speaking up for freedom and democracy. And you know, it's amazing. In my meetings with foreign leaders, invariably, at some point or other in the conversation, they tell me how good it is to know once again what the United States stands for. And of course, the strengthening of our military defenses, along with our ardent search for arms reduction, also tells both friends and enemies alike that our mission is peace through strength. Our policies have direction at home and abroad. And it's thanks to you. And I just wanted to stop by to tell you that, because I realize it's not cabinet members or White House staff who do most of the work in planning, it's you. And you have my deepest appreciation and respect. And I've just received a memo this morning that kind of sums up a lot of what I've been saying. That from 1980 through the budget we're planning for 1984, in real dollars, domestic spending, excluding Social Security, will have dropped 10%. And after 20 years of continued climb in the percentage of gross national product that is spent by government, that has now begun to drop and will be a four-year drop for the first time, as I say, after 20 years of the previous increase. And the tax rate on people or the average tax taken from people, again, was above 18% when we came here. And it's now less than 14%. So God bless you all. And now I imagine that sometime or other, one or two of you might have said to yourselves, I know I only have a few minutes left, but might have said to yourselves, if I had a chance, I'd sure like to ask him. Well, go ahead and ask. Mr. President, there are a few of us here that work at the Department of Interior, and we are delighted by your choice. I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about our new boss. Well, I've known Bill Clark for quite a long time. And as you know, he served on the California State Supreme Court for a number of years. And in that, surprisingly enough, to those in the press who are intimating that he must not have any knowledge of what the Department of Interior will be doing, you would be surprised how many cases and how many judgments were made that he participated in that involved the very things that we're talking about. And of course, he's a Western rancher. I told him when I appointed him that he could now wear his Western hat all the time, not just on weekends. But I think you'll find him a very reasonable man. I think you'll find him a very fair man. And I think you'll find him dedicated to the principles that have marked the Department of Interior under the previous Secretary, who I think was a fine Secretary of Interior. Mr. President, you first amazes and pleases for the announcement of Judge Clark. Any hints on who will be the next national security advisor? No, I'll try to surprise everybody again. Mr. President, there was a significant announcement rather than Judge Clark yesterday, which was along the way to the announcement that on Monday, you will be signing papers authorizing an election committee. And I think I speak for the people in this room, but we want you to know that we've worked for a long time. We're looking forward to you being our boss for another four years. Thank you very much. We're doing any of you jump ship. So many. Mr. President, it's so wonderful to know that you're going to be so much younger than any of your opponents. It's really true. I'm not really that old. They mixed up the babies at the hospital. Well, there is another one. Mr. President, I felt that when you came into office, you gave this country great leadership and great direction. I'm interested in your administration, as I said to Mr. Meese earlier, developing a 10-year forward plan so that we can have a vision from your insights into the future that lasts much longer than your 10-year in office. Well, may I say that if there is more time, yes, we very definitely want to leave in place some permanent changes so there can't be just a drifting back into the ways that for the last 50 years have so drastically changed the balance between the various levels of government. I think that there is a need for us to once again recall and make plain that we are a federation of sovereign states, that they are not just administrative districts of the federal government. And you know, the first vote I ever cast in 1932 for the Democratic candidate was for a platform on which that candidate ran that pledged then to restore to states and local government the autonomy, the authority, the rights that he claimed the federal government had unjustly seized. So I haven't changed at all. Something's changed at the party. Well now, one more and then I know I have to say something. Mr. President, how would you rate the prospects for passage of federal enterprise zone legislation? Well, I continue to be optimistic. It's been buried over there in the House for a long time. As you know, the Senate thought very well of it. And I am hopeful now with some of the progress that we've made that we are going to get that. You know what we're talking about here. The enterprise zones across the country where we can actually use tax incentives, not government spending programs, to induce private enterprise, to come in, employ people who presently are dependent on the government for their living. And it makes a great deal of common sense because the tax incentives are such that we're not getting the tax anyway. If local governments involved can give some breaks on property tax for industries that will come in there, well, they're not getting any tax on that property now because most of that property in those zones has already been taken over by the governments, the local governments, for delinquent taxes. So we're going to continue to push hard. We believe in it. So I'm reaching out to twist arms. Well now, I have one other nice little item. I'd like to call on Bill Borkland, the publisher of Government Executive Magazine, who has a little surprise for an important member of our management team. Bill? Thank you, Mr. President. I was told by the people who scheduled the president's time that if I run on an 80 length, they're going to throw a net over me and drag me out of here. So I would like to present to Ed Meese, Councilor of the President, the first annual government executive award for management excellence in government for his demonstrated performance for the last two years. Congratulations. And I guarantee you, he's surprised. Now, I do have to run. Would you like to say a word? They lured me over under false pretenses, but thank you.