Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-03-11
INAUGURATION SPEECH.
President Mckinley's Outlines of the
Policy of the Administration.

dent of the United States, relying on the sup
port of my countrymen and invoking the guild
ance 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 tc
which haze been called-always of grave i'm
portance--are augmented by the prevailing
business conditions, entailing idleness upon
willing labor and loss to useful enterprises.
The country is suffering from industrial dis
turbances 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 1t should all be
put upon an enduring basis, not subject to
easy attack, nor its stability to doubt or dis
pute. Our currency should continue under
the supervision of the government. The sew
eral forms OF our paper money offer, in my
judgment, constant embarrassment to the
government and safe balance in the treasury.
Therefore | believe it necessary to devise a
system which, without diminishing the circu-
lating medium or Offering premium for its
contraction, will present u remedy for those
arrangements which, temporary in their ma
ture, might well in the years of our prosper
ity have been displaced by wiser provisions.
With adequate revenue secured-but not until
then-we can enter upon such changes in our
finance laws rs will, while insuring safety and
volume to our money, no longer impose upon
the government the necessity of maintaining
SO large gold reserve with its attendent and
inevitable temptations to speculation. Most
OF our financial laws are the outgrowth of OK.
perience 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 ''malSe haste
slowly IT, therefore, congress in its wisdom
shall deem II 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 dispas-
sionate examination that their Importance de-
mands shall cordially concur in such action
II such power is vested in the president, 1t is
my purpose to appoint a commission of prom
inent, well informed citizens of different par
ties 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 patri-
otic zeal of the friends of the country be so di-
rected that such report will be made as to
receive the support of all parties and our
finances cease to be the subject of mere parti-
san contention. The experiment is, at all
events, worth trial and, in my opinion, it
can but prove beneficial to the entire country
International BimetaIlism.
The question of international bimetallism
will have early and earnest attention. 1t 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 CON
stantly at par with gold by every resource at
our command The credit of the government
the integrity of its currency and the inviola-
bility of its obligations must be preserved
This the commanding % verdict of ha
pie, and ii will not be unheeded.
Economy Is demanded in every branch of the
government at all times, but especially in pc
riods like the present of depression in business
and distress among the people. The severest
economy 3ust be observed in all public ex-
penditures and extravaganza stopped wher-
ever it is found and prevented wherever in
the future 1t may be developed. II the reve-
nues are to remain ms now, the only relief that
can come must be from decreased expendi-
lures. But the present must not become the
permanent condition of the government. l6
has been our uniform practice to retire, not
increase, our outstanding bligations, 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 de-
serving body of public creditors, the soldiers
and the sailors and this 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 man
date 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. 1t can only
b, met by loans an increased revenue.
AS to Revenue.
While Il large annual surplus of revenue may
invite waste and extravagance, inadequate
revenue creates distrust and undermines pub
lie and private credit.
Neither should he encouraged. Between
more loans and more revenue there ought to
be but one opinion. We should have more rev
enue, and that without delay hindrance or
postponemont. A surplus in the treasury ere
ated by loans is not permanent safe reli.
ance. 1t will suffice while it lasts, but it can
not last long while the outlays of the govern.
ment 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 gov
ernment is still indebted for the amount of the
surplus thus accrued, which it must ultimate
ly pay while its ability to pay is not strength
eued, 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 main.
tain its credit is to pay as ii goes, not by re-
sorting to loans, but by keeping out of debt
through an adequate income secured by sys-
TEN of taxation, external or internal, or both.
it is the settled policy of the government, pur
sued from the beginning and practiced by all
parties and administrations, to raise the bulk
of our revenue from taxes upon foreign pro-
ductions entering the United States for sale
and consumption, and avoiding for the most
/ part every form of direct taxation, except in
| time of war.
Tariff Taxation.
| The country is clearly opposed to any neod-
I less additions to the subject of internal taxa
/ tion and is committed by its latest popular ut
terance 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
/ palmer at general election than that the con
/ trolling principle in the raising of revenue
| from duties on imports is Jealous 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 1t is therefore