The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-10
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
MIR. MCKINLEY Dt PARTS FROM
THE BEAJEN TRACK

He Omits Comments Upon tho Reports OF
Heads Of the DE pnr, msn ts and Makes F. W
eugge.tions Ms to Needed L. gislatiOn-He
suCg-sts Changes to Prevent u. p~letlop OF
the Gold Reserve and to Increase the
Us. fuln.ss of National BaDks-ADnexa-
zion Of Hawaii and Non-Interf. renee In
Cuba Advocated
Washington. December 6.-President
Mckinley today sent his annual message
to congress-. congratulating 1T upon re-
assembling under felicitous conditions.
calling for grateful acknowledgment to a
beneficent Providence which has so sig
nally blessed and prospered us as a ma
ton. Peace and good will with all the
nations of the earth continue unbroken,
he says. He also expresses genuine sat
isfaction at the growing spirit or fra
ternal regard and the unifcation or all
sections Of our country, upon the uni
versal spirit of patriotism and the lift
ing Of great pubic questions above par
ty prejudice and sectional difference.
Contrary to the usual custom "nlcn
has led to the treatment OF matters OF
foreign relations in the beginning OF uhe
message, President Mckinley devotes
mis- attention first to the financial ques-
ton, of which he says:
'~Irhe extra. session Of this congress
which closed during July last, enacted
important legislation, and Whlle It's Iui
effect has not yet been realized, what
1T has already accomplished assures US
of It's timeliness and wisdom. 10 test us
permanent value further time Will De re-
nuired- and the people, satisfied with its
operation and results thus TAR, are IN no
mind to withhold from 1t a fair trial.
Tariff legislation having been settled by
the extra session of congress, the queS-
ton next pressing for consideration is
that of the currency.
OUR FINANCIAL SITUATION.
THE work of putting our finances upon
q sound basis, difficult as it may seem,
will appear easier when We recall the II
nancial operations of the government
sine 1866. ON the 18th of June of that year
we had outstanding demand liabilities in
the sum Of $728, 1863. 447.71. On the LIST of jan
uary, 1897, these Iiabllitieshad been reduc-
ed to $i43. 1888, 495.8 SO. OF our nterest-bear-
ing obligations, the figures are even more
striking. On July l, 1866. the principal
of the Understanding debt of the gov
rnmen was 81, 1872, 331 ,208. On July /, 1898,
this sum had been reduced to $3.50, U3l, WO,
or an aggregate reduction Of Sl,747, 294, lOo.
The Understanding debt of the United
States on December l, 1897, was SS4l ,365,-
620. The government money now out
standing December 1sO, consists OF
S346, 6Sl ,016 of United States notes, $107,-
1884, S0 of treasury notes issued by au.
thority of the law of 1890; 1884, 1863, 504 Of
silver certificates and SCI, $50, 761 of stand
ard silver dollars.
"WfLh the great resources of the gov
eminent and with the honorable example
of the past before us, We ouSlnt not to
hesitate to enter upon a currency revis-
ION which will make out demand Ob.iga-
tions less oneTous to the government and
relieve our financial laws from ambigu-
fly and doubt. The brief review of what
was accomplished from the close of the
groundless any distrust either of our
~ Ia. iDtH. ar ,aA,IJn-,- va, .t.
situation from 1893 to 1897 must admonisn
cong eSs of the immediate necessity of
so legislating as to make the return of
the conditions then prevailing impossible.
There are many plans proposed as a
remedy for the evis Before we can find
the true remedy we must appreciate the
real evil. 1t is not that our currency of
every kind is not good, for every dollar
of ii is g~oOd-goOd because the govern
ments pledge is out to keep 1t so-and
that pledge will not be broken. However,
the guaranty Of our purpose to keep the
pledge will be best shown by advancing
toward it's fulfllment. The evil of the
present system is found in the great cost
to the government OF maintaining the
parity of our different forms of money;
that is, keeping all of them at par with
god. We surely cannot be longer heed
less Of the burden this imposes upon the
people, even under fairly prosperous con-
ditions, while the past four years have
demonstrated that 1t is not only an ex-
pensive charge upon the government,
"a AASiS1SS ~ SAS -
credit.
THE EVILS OF THE PRESENT SYs-
TEN.
1T is manifest that We must devise
some plan to protect the government
against bond issues for repeated redemp-
lions. We must either curtail the oppor-
tunity for speculation, made by the null
tiplied redemptions Of our demand Obli-
cations, or incr ease the gold reserve fol
their redemption. We have 5000, 900, 900 OF
hi h W. r,nyt Iyy col
emn enactment has undertaken to keeI
at par with gold. Nobody is obliged tC
redeem In gold but the government. The
banks are not required to redeem in
gold. The government is Obliged to keeI
equal with gold all it's outstanding cur
Cency and coin obligations, while it's re-
ceipts are not required to be paid in
gold. They are paid in every kind OF
money but gold and the only means by
which the government can with certain
ty get gold is by borrowing. 1t can get
TT in no other way when it most needs
1t. The government without any fixed
gold revenue is pledged to maintain gold
redemption, which it has steadily AND
faithfully done and which, under the au.
THE law which requires the govern
ment. after having redeemed it's United
States notes to pay them out again a.
currency funds, emands a constant re-
Punishment of the gold reserve. This l.
especially so at times of business panic
and when the revenues are insufficient
to meet the expenses OF the government
AT such times the government has nc
other way to supply it's deficit. and main.
tain redemption. but through the in
crease of it's beaded debt, as during the
administration of my predecessor. wher
S262. 31o, 400 of Az per cent. bonds were is
sued and sold and the proceeds used tt
pay the expenses of the government ir
excess of the revenues and sustain thu
gold reserve. While it is true hat The
greater part Of the proceeds Of these
bonds were used to supply deficient rev
enues, a considerable portion was re-
CURED to maintain the gold reserve.
With our revenues equal to our ex
penses, there would be no deficit requir
ing the issuance of bonds. But if tn,
gold reserve falls below 500, 900, 0W, how
will 1t be replenished except by sellin:
more bonds? Is there any other wa,
practicable under existing law? The seri
Gus question then is: Shall we continu,
the policy that has been pursued in tn,
past: that is, when the gold reserv,