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April 24, 2003

Thanks for the warm welcome. I appreciate you letting me come by to say hello. [Laughter] I'm honored to be in Canton, and I'm honored to be here at The Timken Company.

Tim was telling me that you all have been in business since 1899. Turns out that's when William McKinley of Canton slept in the same room I'm sleeping in. [Laughter] Tim told me that this is a company--they say, "We are a roll-up-your-sleeves company, a can--it is a can-do environment, which is one of the reasons I've got so much optimism about the future of our economy--because of the roll-up-your-sleeves attitude by thousands of our fellow Americans, because of the business sense of "we can do whatever it takes to overcome the obstacles in our way." I know you're optimistic about the future of this company. I'm optimistic about the future of our country. It's important that Washington, however, respond to some of the problems we face.

One of the problems we face is not enough of our fellow Americans can find work. There's too much economic uncertainty today. And so 3 months ago, I sent Congress a package that would promote job growth and economic vitality. For the sake of our country, for the sake of the workers of America, Congress needs to pass this jobs growth package soon.

And that's why I thank you for letting me come and talk to you about some of the problems that we face here in America. I appreciate the Timken family for their leadership, their concern about their fellow associates. They're working hard to make sure the future of this company is bright, and therefore, the future of employment is bright for the families that work here, that work to put food on the table for their children.

I appreciate so very much Jim Griffith, the CEO of the company, for setting up this wonderful setting for a speech. I want thank you all for taking time out of your work to come and let me share some thoughts with you. I want to thank you for loving your country.

I appreciate Hector Barreto, who is the Administrator of the Small Business Association. He's traveling with me today. And I named a good man to run what they call the General Services Administration, a fellow named Steve Perry, who learned how to be a--he's making sure that we spend your money wisely. And he cut his teeth right here in The Timken Company, and he's really a good man. He's doing a fine job.

I appreciate the Governor of the State of Ohio for joining us today. Governor Taft, I'm honored you're here with us. And we've got Senator Mike DeWine with us as well. Mike, thank you for coming; Congressman LaTourette--Steve LaTourette--and Ralph Regula as well, from the Ohio delegation. We got members of the State senate. We got members of the State house. We got members of the city council. We got the mayor. We got a lot of people showing up today. [Laughter] And I'm glad they're here. Thank you all for taking time out of your schedules to come.

I've just come from an interesting discussion with some of our fellow citizens who have joined me on the stage, the Freelands, who are retired citizens. They are anxious about their future. They want to make sure they got enough money to live out their final years. We talked about some of the tax relief package and what it means to their lives. Extra money in their pocket means that they're likely to have retirement security, which is something we're all concerned about.

I met with Brenda James from Stockport, Ohio. She told me Stockport had 500 people, counting all the cats. [Laughter] And I said, "Well, that's 200 less than Crawford--[laughter]--counting all the cows." [Laughter] But Brenda is a--owns her own insurance company. She is a small-business owner. She is a representative of thousands and thousands of people who own their own business, part of the small-business sector, which is an incredibly important part of our economy.

As well, Mike Kovach is here. He's from Youngstown, Ohio. Mike started his own business. It grew from 2 people to 70 employees. A small-business owner is an integral part of the backbone of the U.S. economy. If you're interested in jobs and job creation, you better be worried about the small-business sector of America, and the plan I'm about to talk about addresses the needs of the small-business owner.

We got Charles Parker and his wife here, Linda. Charles is a farmer; that's a small-business owner. Linda works right here for The Timken Company, as does Pat Williams. I'll talk about Pat a little bit later and what this plan means for her and her family.

Finally, Bryan Rice, of Rice's Nursery, right here in Canton. If you're interested in buying a plant, as the weather gets better and you want to improve your garden, Bryan said he's got some for sale. [Laughter]

Today I had the honor of meeting Anson Park. Anson, you need to step out here so people can see you. Come over here. Anson is not hard to miss. [Laughter] I want to tell you why I want to introduce Anson. You know a lot of focus on America these days is on our military, how strong we are, how mighty we are, how powerful we are. And that's--it's been helpful to be mighty and powerful. But in the midst of the discussion of our military might, oftentimes we overlook the true strength of our country. And the true strength of America is the hearts of our fellow citizens. That's the strength of America, the compassion of neighbor loving neighbor.

Anson Park is an employee of Enterprise. He's a volunteer in what they call the ASSET program with Akron Urban League, which is a mentoring program, a program designed to make sure that every child has a chance to succeed in America, a program that understands that if you're a fortunate soul, if you're somebody with talents to give, you're called upon to lend those talents to help somebody in need. Whether you become involved in mentoring or in your church or synagogue, in helping somebody in need, the definition of patriotism is to help somebody. And my call to our fellow Americans is, our might is more than our military; our might is our compassion for our fellow citizens. And I want to thank you, Anson, and thank thousands across America and the hundreds in this room who are serving your country by teaching a child to read or making sure a shut-in gets loved or helping a boy or a girl at a Boys and Girls Clubs. The strength of America is the compassion of America, and I'm honored you're here, Anson. Thank you.

In January of this year, I defined two great priorities for this Nation, priorities for my administration. First, we will confront and defeat threats to America wherever they gather. We have made very clear that we would hunt down terrorists who hate us and who want to harm us. And we made very clear that we would deal with the growing danger of Saddam Hussein and his brutal regime. The world now knows we keep our word.

Our men in uniform have made us all proud; the women in uniform have made us all proud because they've showed incredible skill and bravery and decency. They have fought the enemy with fierce courage. They treated the innocent with compassion and respect, and they are working to make sure the Iraqi people are free.

You see, the values of America understand and say clearly that freedom is not America's gift to the world. Freedom is God's gift to each and every person of the world, no matter where they live. And it was with that value that our soldiers are now acting in Iraq. And we're working to make sure America is more secure, but we're also making sure that the Iraqi people can be free, can run their own country, can decide their own fate. I know that some of you here today have a loved one serving in the Armed Forces. You tell them the United States of America is proud of your loved one's service.

We learned a good lesson on September the 11th, 2001--I say a good lesson. It better be a good lesson. It was a sad day, but we learned a lesson, and that is that oceans will no longer protect us from the threats of a new era. We must have a--there's a new reality in the world today. We learned that lesson, but the world has also learned that this Nation is resolute, that we're determined. And the terrorists are learning that they are not safe anywhere on this Earth from the justice of the United States of America. Our coalition of 90 nations is still intact. We're still working hard. We're waging the war on terror every single day, and we're winning.

And here at home, we have another great priority. We will work for a vigorous and healthy and growing economy so that every American who wants to work can find a job.