men. There is always a limit somewhere to the freaks of political lunacy; and, in this case, the strait-jacket would be put in use before the precipice was reached. The men who control finance would see the consequences before the consummation of the act, and a clear prospect of the enactment of a free-coinage law would produce anticipatory effects which would either prevent the passage of the law or bring about its repeal quickly upon its enactment.

"Men who scientifically and practically understand the destructiveness of this scheme, and the effects which the approach of its consummation must have upon public feeling, have no fear about the agitation beyond the possibility of its bringing us near to the verge of an appalling catastrophe. They are satisfied beyond question that, if free coinage could be enacted at all, its duration would be but momentary. This view is now so generally understood that the silver mania affects but a small minority, consisting largely of fanatics."

CHAPTER XXVI.

PRESIDENT MCKINLEY'S POLICY AND THE NATION'S

FUTURE.

A résumé of the policy of the present administration as outlined in the inaugural address of the President, speaking for himself and his party. The keynote of his policy is, first, sufficient revenue to run the government. Afterward, a commission on the currency question. — The wisdom of McKinley's policy in putting revenue and tariff reform before the currency. — Revision, but not revolution, of the tariff. — The government to remain in the banking business, but the currency to be taken out of politics and remodeled without reducing the volume. — Industrial interests and the rights of labor to be guarded against foreign invasion.

LTHOUGH President McKinley's inaugural address was published long since, it contains much valuable material and profound thought, that, more fully elucidated by the progress of events, will be highly interesting for many years to come. In this chapter, therefore, I propose to make a brief résumé of the policy of the President as outlined in his inaugural address, especially his financial policy.

That address was unique in the manner in which it got down to the most important business without any preliminaries. The President first described the business situation, as he found it, in the most succinct terms. After a few introductory remarks, he said:

"The responsibilities of the high trust to which I have been called — always of grave importance—are augmented by the prevailing business conditions, entailing idleness upon willing labor and loss to useful enterprises.

"The country is suffering from industrial disturbances, from which speedy relief must be had.

"Our financial system needs some revision; our money is all good now, but its value must not further be threatened. It should

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all be put upon an enduring basis, not subject to easy attack, nor its stability to doubt or dispute.

"Our currency should continue under the supervision of the government. The several forms of our paper money offer, in my judgment, a constant embarrassment to the government, and a safe balance in the Treasury is absolutely indispensable. Therefore I believe it necessary to devise a system which, without diminishing the circulation medium or offering a premium for its contraction, will present a remedy for these arrangements which, temporary in their nature, might well in the years of our prosperity have been displaced by wiser provisions.

"With adequate revenue secured, but not until then, we can enter upon such changes in our finance laws as will, while insuring safety and volume to our money, no longer impose upon the government the necessity of maintaining so large a gold reserve, with its attendant and inevitable temptations to speculation. Most of our financial laws are the outgrowth of experience and trial, and should not be amended without investigation and demonstration of the wisdom of the proposed changes. We must be both 'sure we are right' and 'make haste slowly.'”

When adequate revenue was once secured, many of the financial difficulties, out of which there seemed no easy way during the previous two or three years, found their own solution. For instance, the necessity for bond sales to replenish the gold reserve no longer existed. This was an inevitable result which the former administration could never see and which the McKinley administration demonstrated with ease; nor was it entitled to very much credit for its discernment, except as compared with its predecessor.

"Our money is all good now, but its value must not be further threatened," said the President. These words are very significant, especially in their application to those who have been proposing reforms since the inauguration which would strike at the very root of Mr. McKinley's wise recommendation. This "value" to which he refers would certainly be further “threatened" by retiring the greenbacks and the Treasury notes, and thus converting a non-interest-bearing debt of $500,000,000 into an interest-bearing one.

"It has been our practice," said the President, "to retire, not to increase, outstanding obligations." This, certainly, though mild in form, was a very strong rebuke in its essence to those who were diametrically and avowedly opposed to these views. Of course it is all right for cabinet officers to cherish their own independent opinions, but if they try to enforce them when they are not in harmony with the views of the majority of the cabinet or of the President, I think it has a decided tendency to cause discord.

The whole plan of providing a sufficient revenue, and at the same time laying the true foundation of national prosperity, is ably condensed in the following remarks of the President :

"The government should not be permitted to run behind or increase its debt in times like the present.

"Suitably to provide against this is the mandate of duty, the certain and easy remedy for most of our financial difficulties. A deficiency is inevitable so long as the expenditures of the government exceed its receipts. It can be met only by loans or an increased revenue.

"While a large annual surplus of revenue may invite waste and extravagance, inadequate revenue creates distrust and undermines public and private credit.

"Neither should be encouraged. Between more loans and more revenue there ought to be but one opinion. We should have more revenue, and that without delay, hindrance, or postponement.

"A surplus in the Treasury created by loans is not a permanent or safe reliance. It will suffice while it lasts, but it cannot last long while the outlays of the government are greater than its receipts, as has been the case during the past two years. Nor must it be forgotten that, however much such loans may temporarily relieve the situation, the government is still indebted for the amount of the surplus thus accrued, which it must ultimately pay, while its ability to pay is not strengthened but weakened by a continued deficit.

"Loans are imperative in great emergencies to preserve the government or its credit, but a failure to supply needed revenue in time of peace for the maintenance of either has no justification.

"The best way for the government to maintain its credit is to pay as it goes (not by resorting to loans, but by keeping out of debt), through an adequate income secured by a system of taxation, external or internal, or both.

"It is the settled policy of the government, pursued from the beginning and practised by all parties and administrations, to raise the bulk of our revenue from taxes upon foreign productions entering the United States for sale and consumption, and avoiding for the most part every form of direct taxation, except in time of war.

"The country is clearly opposed to any needless additions to the subjects of internal taxation, and is committed by its latest popular utterance to the system of tariff taxation. There can be no misunderstanding, either, about the principle upon which this tariff taxation shall be levied. Nothing has ever been made plainer at a general election than that the controlling principle in the raising of revenue from duties on imports is zealous care for American interests and American labor. The people have declared that such legislation should be had as will give ample protection and encouragement to the industries and the development of our country.

"It is therefore earnestly hoped and expected that Congress will, at the earliest practicable moment, enact revenue legislation that shall be fair, reasonable, conservative, and just, and which, while supplying sufficient revenue for public purposes, will still be generally beneficial and helpful to every section and every enterprise of the people. To this policy we are all, of whatever party, firmly bound by the voice of the people, a power vastly more potential than the expression of any political platform.

"The paramount duty of Congress is to stop deficiencies by the restoration of that protective legislation which has always been the firmest prop of the Treasury. The passage of such a law or laws would strengthen the credit of the government, both at home and abroad, and go far toward stopping the drain upon the gold reserve held for the redemption of our currency, which has been heavy and well-nigh constant for several years."

The President was exceedingly circumspect in these recommendations. He very adroitly anticipated and forestalled the critics who were keeping ostentatious and pretentious watch over Uncle Sam's purse.

In this instance he drew the line between these two extremes of a large surplus and a deficiency which have proved the Scylla and Charybdis of some other administrations. It has been a feast or a famine with some of them: either too much money, or else an embarrassment that menaced the country with a burden