The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-11-14
WHY Cg!Ny.LAcE MOTTO
PRESIDENTS EXPLANATION
Says Such Use of Name of Deity is Harmful and Borders
 on Saorilege.

Washington, Nov, 13-In answer to
 one of the numerous protests which have been received at the White house against the new gold coins
 which have been struck without the
 words In God We Trust President Roosevelt has written a letter which The to-day made public. The letter follows:
 When the question of the new coinage came up we looked Into tho
 law and found there was no warrant therein for putting In God We Trust
 on the coins. As the custom although
 without legal warrant, had grown up, however, I might have felt at liherty
 to keep the inscription had I approved
 of it's being on the coinage. But I did not approve of it, did not direct that it should again be put on. Of course,
 the matter of the law is absolutely in
 the hands of congress, and anyl yldirec- ton of congress In the matter will be Iimmedlately obeyed. At present, as II have said, there is no warrant in
 law for the inscription.
 My own feeling in the matter is due
 to my very firm conviction that to put ] such motto on coins, or to uso it in any kindred manner, not only does no good, but does positive harm, and Is in effect irrevenance, which comes dan
 gerously close to sacrilege A beautiful
 and solemn sentence such as the one in
 question should be treated and uttered only with that fine reverence which ne- ceSsarily implies a. certain exaltation of
 spirit. Any use which tends to cheapen | it, and above all, any use which tends to secure it's being treated in a spirit of levity, is from every standpoint pro foundly to be regretted It is motto
 which 1t is indeed well to have inserib-' Jed on our great national monuments, in our temples of justice, in our legisla-' tive halls, and in buildings such as
 those at West Point and Annapolis-in short, wherever it will tend to arouse
 and inspire a lofty emotion in those who look thereon. But it seems to me
 enninently unwise to cheapen such a
 motto by use on coins, just as it would
 be to cheapen 1t by use on postage ] stamps or fn advertisements.
 l AS regards it's use on the coinage we have actual experience by which to go. In all my life l have never heard ! any human being speak reverently Of i this motto on the coins, or show any 1 signs of it's having appealed to any | high emotion in him, but nave literal l ly hundreds of times heard 1t used as | an occasion of, and ihcitement to the sneering riaicule which it is above all 1 things undesirable that so beautiful and eXhalted a phrase should excite. | For example, throughout the long con- test extending over several decades on 1 the free coinage question, the existence | of this motto on the coins was h con- gtsnt source of jest and rtdicule; and ! this was unavoidable. Every one must | remember the innnmerable cartoons and articles based on phrases like In 1 Gc6 we trust for tbe eight cents, Tn God we trust for the short weight In God we trust for the thirty-seven cents We do not pay, and so forth and so 1 forth.
 Surely I am well within bounds when I say that a use of the phrase which invites constant levity of this
 type Is most uudesirable, If congress alters the law and directs ne to place ! % tAa eeshs tue sentence tn, qpestions the dusetfsn vii be immediately put ! tat9 sKset; but very esYnext'F trust tps religious sentiment e3 tAe as7Nf"'-, 1 taa splTit sf reverence Tn the country, { VIII prevent any such actsn hssaS T aI- en. THEODORE RoOSAv1At1 = '--