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Presidents 3,961 words
A Civil War officer, and a Governor and Congressman
from Ohio, Mr. McKinley took the oath on a platform erected on the
north East Front steps at the Capitol. It was administered by Chief
Justice Melville Fuller. The Republican had defeated Democrat William
Jennings Bryan on the issue of the gold standard in the currency.
Thomas Edison's new motion picture camera captured the events, and
his gramophone recorded the address. The inaugural ball was held in
the Pension Building.
"Fellow-Citizens: In obedience to the will of the people, and in their
presence, by the authority vested in me by this oath, I
assume the arduous and responsible duties of President of
the United States, relying upon the support of my countrymen
and invoking the guidance of Almighty God. Our faith teaches
that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our
fathers, who has so singularly favored the American people
in every national trial, and who will not forsake us so long
as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in His
footsteps. 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 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.
Therefore I believe it necessary to devise a system which,
without diminishing the circulating medium or offering a
premium for its contraction, will present a remedy for those
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 fiscal 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." If, therefore, Congress,
in its wisdom, shall deem it expedient to create a
commission to take under early 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, well-informed 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 was
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 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 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 can not 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 practiced 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 subject 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 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. In the revision of the tariff especial attention should
be given to the re-enactment and extension of the
reciprocity principle of the law of 1890, under which so
great a stimulus was given to our foreign trade in new and
advantageous markets for our surplus agricultural and
manufactured products. The brief trial given this
legislation amply justifies a further experiment and
additional discretionary power in the making of commercial
treaties, the end in view always to be the opening up of new
markets for the products of our country, by granting
concessions to the products of other lands that we need and
cannot produce ourselves, and which do not involve any loss
of labor to our own people, but tend to increase their
employment. The depression of the past four years has fallen with
especial severity upon the great body of toilers of the
country, and upon none more than the holders of small farms.
Agriculture has languished and labor suffered. The revival
of manufacturing will be a relief to both. No portion of our
population is more devoted to the institution of free
government nor more loyal in their support, while none bears
more cheerfully or fully its proper share in the maintenance
of the Government or is better entitled to its wise and
liberal care and protection. Legislation helpful to
producers is beneficial to all. The depressed condition of
industry on the farm and in the mine and factory has
lessened the ability of the people to meet the demands upon
them, and they rightfully expect that not only a system of
revenue shall be established that will secure the largest
income with the least burden, but that every means will be
taken to decrease, rather than increase, our public
expenditures. Business conditions are not the most
promising. It will take time to restore the prosperity of
former years. If we cannot promptly attain it, we can
resolutely turn our faces in that direction and aid its
return by friendly legislation. However troublesome the
situation may appear, Congress will not, I am sure, be found
lacking in disposition or ability to relieve it as far as
legislation can do so. The restoration of confidence and the
revival of business, which men of all parties so much
desire, depend more largely upon the prompt, energetic, and
intelligent action of Congress than upon any other single
agency affecting the situation. It is inspiring, too, to remember that no great emergency
in the one hundred and eight years of our eventful national
life has ever arisen that has not been met with wisdom and
courage by the American people, with fidelity to their best
interests and highest destiny, and to the honor of the
American name. These years of glorious history have exalted
mankind and advanced the cause of freedom throughout the
world, and immeasurably strengthened the precious free
institutions which we enjoy. The people love and will
sustain these institutions. The great essential to our
happiness and prosperity is that we adhere to the principles
upon which the Government was established and insist upon
their faithful observance. Equality of rights must prevail,
and our laws be always and everywhere respected and obeyed.
We may have failed in the discharge of our full duty as
citizens of the great Republic, but it is consoling and
encouraging to realize that free speech, a free press, free
thought, free schools, the free and unmolested right of
religious liberty and worship, and free and fair elections
are dearer and more universally enjoyed to-day than ever
before. These guaranties must be sacredly preserved and
wisely strengthened. The constituted authorities must be
cheerfully and vigorously upheld. Lynchings must not be
tolerated in a great and civilized country like the United
States; courts, not mobs, must execute the penalties of the
law. The preservation of public order, the right of
discussion, the integrity of courts, and the orderly
administration of justice must continue forever the rock of
safety upon which our Government securely rests. One of the lessons taught by the late election, which all
can rejoice in, is that the citizens of the United States
are both law-respecting and law-abiding people, not easily
swerved from the path of patriotism and honor. This is in
entire accord with the genius of our institutions, and but
emphasizes the advantages of inculcating even a greater love
for law and order in the future. Immunity should be granted
to none who violate the laws, whether individuals,
corporations, or communities; and as the Constitution
imposes upon the President the duty of both its own
execution, and of the statutes enacted in pursuance of its
provisions, I shall endeavor carefully to carry them into
effect. The declaration of the party now restored to power
has been in the past that of "opposition to all combinations
of capital organized in trusts, or otherwise, to control
arbitrarily the condition of trade among our citizens," and
it has supported "such legislation as will prevent the
execution of all schemes to oppress the people by undue
charges on their supplies, or by unjust rates for the
transportation of their products to the market." This
purpose will be steadily pursued, both by the enforcement of
the laws now in existence and the recommendation and support
of such new statutes as may be necessary to carry it into
effect. Our naturalization and immigration laws should be further
improved to the constant promotion of a safer, a better, and
a higher citizenship. A grave peril to the Republic would be
a citizenship too ignorant to understand or too vicious to
appreciate the great value and beneficence of our
institutions and laws, and against all who come here to make
war upon them our gates must be promptly and tightly closed.
Nor must we be unmindful of the need of improvement among
our own citizens, but with the zeal of our forefathers
encourage the spread of knowledge and free education.
Illiteracy must be banished from the land if we shall attain
that high destiny as the foremost of the enlightened nations
of the world which, under Providence, we ought to
achieve. Reforms in the civil service must go on; but the changes
should be real and genuine, not perfunctory, or prompted by
a zeal in behalf of any party simply because it happens to
be in power. As a member of Congress I voted and spoke in
favor of the present law, and I shall attempt its
enforcement in the spirit in which it was enacted. The
purpose in view was to secure the most efficient service of
the best men who would accept appointment under the
Government, retaining faithful and devoted public servants
in office, but shielding none, under the authority of any
rule or custom, who are inefficient, incompetent, or
unworthy. The best interests of the country demand this, and
the people heartily approve the law wherever and whenever it
has been thus administrated. Congress should give prompt attention to the restoration
of our American merchant marine, once the pride of the seas
in all the great ocean highways of commerce. To my mind, few
more important subjects so imperatively demand its
intelligent consideration. The United States has progressed
with marvelous rapidity in every field of enterprise and
endeavor until we have become foremost in nearly all the
great lines of inland trade, commerce, and industry. Yet,
while this is true, our American merchant marine has been
steadily declining until it is now lower, both in the
percentage of tonnage and the number of vessels employed,
than it was prior to the Civil War. Commendable progress has
been made of late years in the upbuilding of the American
Navy, but we must supplement these efforts by providing as a
proper consort for it a merchant marine amply sufficient for
our own carrying trade to foreign countries. The question is
one that appeals both to our business necessities and the
patriotic aspirations of a great people. It has been the policy of the United States since the
foundation of the Government to cultivate relations of peace
and amity with all the nations of the world, and this
accords with my conception of our duty now. We have
cherished the policy of non-interference with affairs of
foreign governments wisely inaugurated by Washington,
keeping ourselves free from entanglement, either as allies
or foes, content to leave undisturbed with them the
settlement of their own domestic concerns. It will be our
aim to pursue a firm and dignified foreign policy, which
shall be just, impartial, ever watchful of our national
honor, and always insisting upon the enforcement of the
lawful rights of American citizens everywhere. Our diplomacy
should seek nothing more and accept nothing less than is due
us. We want no wars of conquest; we must avoid the
temptation of territorial aggression. War should never be
entered upon until every agency of peace has failed; peace
is preferable to war in almost every contingency.
Arbitration is the true method of settlement of
international as well as local or individual differences. It
was recognized as the best means of adjustment of
differences between employers and employees by the
Forty-ninth Congress, in 1886, and its application was
extended to our diplomatic relations by the unanimous
concurrence of the Senate and House of the Fifty-first
Congress in 1890. The latter resolution was accepted as the
basis of negotiations with us by the British House of
Commons in 1893, and upon our invitation a treaty of
arbitration between the United States and Great Britain was
signed at Washington and transmitted to the Senate for its
ratification in January last. Since this treaty is clearly
the result of our own initiative; since it has been
recognized as the leading feature of our foreign policy
throughout our entire national history--the adjustment of
difficulties by judicial methods rather than force of
arms--and since it presents to the world the glorious
example of reason and peace, not passion and war,
controlling the relations between two of the greatest
nations in the world, an example certain to be followed by
others, I respectfully urge the early action of the Senate
thereon, not merely as a matter of policy, but as a duty to
mankind. The importance and moral influence of the
ratification of such a treaty can hardly be overestimated in
the cause of advancing civilization. It may well engage the
best thought of the statesmen and people of every country,
and I cannot but consider it fortunate that it was reserved
to the United States to have the leadership in so grand a
work. It has been the uniform practice of each President to
avoid, as far as possible, the convening of Congress in
extraordinary session. It is an example which, under
ordinary circumstances and in the absence of a public
necessity, is to be commended. But a failure to convene the
representatives of the people in Congress in extra session
when it involves neglect of a public duty places the
responsibility of such neglect upon the Executive himself.
The condition of the public Treasury, as has been indicated,
demands the immediate consideration of Congress. It alone
has the power to provide revenues for the Government. Not to
convene it under such circumstances I can view in no other
sense than the neglect of a plain duty. I do not sympathize
with the sentiment that Congress in session is dangerous to
our general business interests. Its members are the agents
of the people, and their presence at the seat of Government
in the execution of the sovereign will should not operate as
an injury, but a benefit. There could be no better time to
put the Government upon a sound financial and economic basis
than now. The people have only recently voted that this
should be done, and nothing is more binding upon the agents
of their will than the obligation of immediate action. It
has always seemed to me that the postponement of the meeting
of Congress until more than a year after it has been chosen
deprived Congress too often of the inspiration of the
popular will and the country of the corresponding benefits.
It is evident, therefore, that to postpone action in the
presence of so great a necessity would be unwise on the part
of the Executive because unjust to the interests of the
people. Our action now will be freer from mere partisan
consideration than if the question of tariff revision was
postponed until the regular session of Congress. We are
nearly two years from a Congressional election, and politics
cannot so greatly distract us as if such contest was
immediately pending. We can approach the problem calmly and
patriotically, without fearing its effect upon an early
election. Our fellow-citizens who may disagree with us upon the
character of this legislation prefer to have the question
settled now, even against their preconceived views, and
perhaps settled so reasonably, as I trust and believe it
will be, as to insure great permanence, than to have further
uncertainty menacing the vast and varied business interests
of the United States. Again, whatever action Congress may
take will be given a fair opportunity for trial before the
people are called to pass judgment upon it, and this I
consider a great essential to the rightful and lasting
settlement of the question. In view of these considerations,
I shall deem it my duty as President to convene Congress in
extraordinary session on Monday, the 15th day of March,
1897. In conclusion, I congratulate the country upon the
fraternal spirit of the people and the manifestations of
good will everywhere so apparent. The recent election not
only most fortunately demonstrated the obliteration of
sectional or geographical lines, but to some extent also the
prejudices which for years have distracted our councils and
marred our true greatness as a nation. The triumph of the
people, whose verdict is carried into effect today, is not
the triumph of one section, nor wholly of one party, but of
all sections and all the people. The North and the South no
longer divide on the old lines, but upon principles and
policies; and in this fact surely every lover of the country
can find cause for true felicitation. Let us rejoice in and
cultivate this spirit; it is ennobling and will be both a
gain and a blessing to our beloved country. It will be my
constant aim to do nothing, and permit nothing to be done,
that will arrest or disturb this growing sentiment of unity
and cooperation, this revival of esteem and affiliation
which now animates so many thousands in both the old
antagonistic sections, but I shall cheerfully do everything
possible to promote and increase it. Let me again repeat the words of the oath administered by
the Chief Justice which, in their respective spheres, so far
as applicable, I would have all my countrymen observe: "I
will faithfully execute the office of President of the
United States, and will, to the best of my ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United
States." This is the obligation I have reverently taken
before the Lord Most High. To keep it will be my single
purpose, my constant prayer; and I shall confidently rely
upon the forbearance and assistance of all the people in the
discharge of my solemn responsibilities."
March 4, 1897