His presidency was the start of the New Deal, my understanding is that he set up the basis for the welfare system in the Unites States. My friend and I were talking about this the other day and he mentioned a quote from FDR that sounded to be anti-welfare. I looked up the speech, and he sounds like he passed the New Deal, despite being opposed to the idea of a welfare state. Why did he create the New Deal and what was his long term plan for welfare in the United States?
The quote: "The lessons of history, confirmed by the evidence immediately before me, show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fibre. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. It is inimical to the dictates of sound policy. It is in violation of the traditions of America. Work must be found for able-bodied but destitute workers."
In reality, FDR was doing everything possible to provide help to people who needed it without fueling the perception that people were somehow livin' high off the government hog. This is a critical point which I think helps contextualize both your quote and question.
When FDR comes into office, he's in the midst of a complete financial and economic collapse. His first 100 days in office are critical. He's basically doing two things. Trying to stop the bleeding (announcing a Bank Holiday) and put people back to work. This is where the alphabet soup programs get going (PWA, NRA, TVA, and many others). Some people criticize these projects as "ditch digging" but they actually accomplish a ton in building new roads, schools, parks, and airports. The financial system was outdated and needed reform. But more than that, people were struggling to get by (see the 1932 Bonus Army March, for instance). Some fixes are clear and obvious, but with other stuff he's simply throwing it against the wall to see what sticks. Many of his initial reforms are thrown out by the Supreme Court.
As far as a "long term plan" for welfare, I think FDR was more concerned with social security than unemployment benefits, per se. The Social Security Act is passed in 1935. It's a true life saver for the people who needed it. You can find photographs of people living in "Hooverville" style camps with their new social security numbers tattooed on their arm. But still, people at the time criticized the act as enabling free loading, so Roosevelt needed to combat this idea in his public appearances and fireside chats.
Still, FDR was criticized by many for leading the country into deeper debt and giving money to people some thought were simply lazy and shiftless. People called him a "traitor to his class," meaning he had somehow turned against his wealthy, elite background and upbringing. In oral histories, however, people who lived through these experiences sometimes share the notion that FDR basically prevented this country from entering into a period of violent revolution.
Because of this context, in basically every speech then, including the one you quote, FDR is trying to frame New Deal programs as anything BUT welfare. Work programs, retirement savings, you name it. Even though what desperately needs to happen to save the economic is to pump more money into it, the rich in this country have a powerful fear of giving "free money" to the poor.
A relatively new book called The New New Deal by Michael Grunwald goes further into unpacking the analogies between the responses to the Great Depression and the present day situation.