The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1913-06-26
WILSON MESSAGE
President Reads Address on
Currency Before Senators
and Representatives
MONETARY REFORM is URGED
Declares 1t Is Imperative That Con-
gress Give the Business Men of
This Country a System Which
Will Mean Freedom of Enterprise.

wilson 1ourneyed TO the capitol again
and read the following address before
the members of the Senate and
House,
Mr.. Speaker, Mr.. President Gentle
men of the Congress-
1t is under the compulsion Of what
seems to me clear and imperative
duty that / have a second time this
session sought the privilege of ad-
dressing you in person. l know, of
course, that the heated season of the
year is upon us, that work in these
chambers and in the committee rooms
is likely to become a burden as the
season lengthens, and that every con-
sideration of personal convenience and
personal comfort, perhaps, in the
cases of some of US, considerations of
personal health even, dictate an early
conclusion of the deliberations of the
session; but there are occasions of
public duty when these things which
touch US privately seem very small;
when the work to be done is so press
ing and so fraught with big conse-
quence that we know that we are not
at liberty to weigh against it any
point of personal sacrifice. We are
now in the presence of such an oc-
casion. 1t is absolutely imperative
that we should give the business men
of this country banking and currency
system by means of which they can
make use of the freedom of enterprise
and of individual initiative which we
are about to bestow upon them.
We are about to set them free; we
must not leave them without the tools
of action when they are free. We are
about to set them free by removing the
trammels of the protective tariff. Ever
since the Civil War they have waited
for this emancipation and for the free
opportunities it will bring with it. 1t
has been reserved for us to give it to
them. Some ell in love- in deed, with
the slothful security of the Deepen
1ence upon the Government; some
took advantage of the shelter Of the
nursery to set up mimic mastery
of their own within its walls. Now
both the tonic and the discipline of
lIDtIlN anu maturity ulC " CllbuC'
there will be some re-adjustments of
purpose and point of view. There will
follow a period of expansion and new
enterprise, freshly conceived. 1t is for
US to determine now whether it shall
be rapid and facile and of easy &C
complishment. This it can not be I'M
less the resourceful business men who
he pirp NM
stances are to have at hand and ready
for use the instrumentalities and con-
veniences Of free enterprise which in
dependent men need when acting on
their own initiative.
1t is not enough to strike the
shackIes from business. The duty of
craftsmanship is not negative merely.
1t is constructive also. We must show
that we understand what business
needs and that we know how to sup
ply it No man, however casual and
superficial his observation of the CON
ditions now prevailing in the country,
can fail to see that one of the chief
things business needs now, and will
need increasingly as it gains in scope
and vigor in the years Immediately
ahead of US. is the proper means by
which readily to vitalize its credit
corporate and individual, and its origi-
native brains. What will it profit US
tc be free if we are not to have the
best and most accessible instrument
talities of commerce and enterprise?
What will it profit US to ne quit of one
lind of monopoly if we are to remain
in the grip of another and more eff
fective kind? How are we to gain and
Keep the confidence of the business
community unless we show that we
know how both to ala and to protect
it? What shall we say if we make
fresh enterprise necessary and also
make it very difficult by leaving all
else except the tariff just as we found
it? The tyrannies of business, big
and little. lie within the field of credit.
We know that Shall we not act upon
the knowledge? Do we not know how
to act upon it? If a man can not make
his assets available at pleasure, his
assets of capacity and character and
resource, what satisfaction is it to
him to see opportunity reckoning to
him on every hand, when others have
the keys of credit in their pockets and
treat them as all but their own pri-
vate possession? 1t is perfectly clear
that it is our duty to supply the new
banking and currency system the
country needs, and that it will immedi-
ately need it more than ever.
The only question is, When shall we
supply it-now, or later, after the de-
mands shall have become reproaches
that we were so dull and so slow?
Shall we hasten to change he tariff
laws and then be laggards about max
ing it possible and easy for the cOun-
try to take advantage of the change?
There can be only one answer to that
question We must act now, at what
ever sacrifice to ourselves. 1t is duty
which the circumstances forbid US to
postpone. ! should be recreant to my
deepest convictions of public Obliga-
ton did l not press it upon you with
solemn and urgent insistence.
The principles upon which we
should act are also clean. The coun-
Tut! Tut!
Ioo tha T