CHAPTER XXI.

MCKINLEY'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

A lofty appeal to all patriotic Americans for the prompt solution of the great and pressing problems of the National Government.

F

ELLOW-CITIZENS: In obedience to the will of the people and in their presence by the authority vested in me by them, I must be both "sure we are right" and "make haste slowly."

If, therefore, Congress in its wisdom shall deem it expedient to create a commission to take under consideration the revision of our coinage, banking and currency laws, and give them that exhaustive, careful and dispassionate examination that their importance demands, I shall cordially concur in such action.

If such power is vested in the President, it is my purpose to appoint a commission of prominent, wellinformed citizens of different parties, who will command public confidence both on account of their ability and special fitness for the work.

Business experience and public training may thus be combined, and the patriotic zeal of the friends of the country be so directed that such a report will be made as to receive the support of all parties, and our

finances cease to be the subject of mere partisan contention.

The experiment is, at all events, worth a trial, and, in my opinion, it can but prove beneficial to the entire country.

The question of international bimetallism will have early and earnest attention. It will be my constant endeavor to secure it by co-operation with the other great commercial Powers of the world.

Until that condition is realized, when the parity between our gold and silver money springs from and is supported by the relative value of the two metals, the value of the silver already coined, and of that which may hereafter be coined, must be kept constantly at par with gold by every resource at our command.

The credit of the Government, the integrity of its currency and the inviolability of its obligations must be preserved. This will be the commanding verdict of the people, and it will not be unheeded.

Economy is demanded in every branch of the Government at all times, but especially in periods like the present of depression in business and distress among the people. The severest economy must be observed in all public expenditures, and extravagance stopped wherever it is found, and prevented wherever in the future it may be developed.

If the revenues are to remain as now, the only relief that can come must be from decreased expenditures.

But the present must not become the permanent condition of the Government.

It has been our uniform practice to retire, not increase, our outstanding obligations, and this policy must again be resumed and vigorously enforced.

Our revenues should always be large enough to meet with ease and promptness not only our current needs, and the principal and interest of the public debt, but to make proper and liberal provision for that most deserving body of public creditors, the soldiers and sailors, and the widows and orphans, who are the pensioners of the United States.

The Government must 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 only be met 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 signally 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 towards stopping the drain upon the gold reserve held for the redemption. of our currency, which has been heavy and wellnigh constant for several years.

In the revision of the tariff, special attention should