Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1913-06-25
WILSON READS HIS
CURRENCY MESSAGE
President Gives Views to Joint
Session of Congress.
REQUESTS A NEW SYSTEM
Declares That Revision of Banking
and Money Laws Must Go Hand
in Hand With Changes
of Tariff.

|
congress on the subject of currency
reform:
Mr.. Speaker, Mr.. President, Gentle
men of the Congress: 1t is under the
compulsion of what seems to me a
clear and imperative duty that l have
a second time this session sought the
privilege of addressing you in person.
I 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 consideration of personal
comfort, perhaps, in the cases Of some
| of us, considerations of personal
health even, dictate an early conclu-
sion of the deliberations of the ses-
sion; 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 pressing and
SO fraught with big consequence that
we know that we are not at liberty to
weigh against it any point of personal
sacrifice. 1t is absolutely imperative
| that we should give the business men
of this country banking and currep-
cy system by means of which they
can make use of the freedom of enter
prise 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 fell in love,
indeed with the slothful security Of
their dependence upon the govern
ment; some took advantage of the
shelter of the nursery to set up g
| mimic mastery of their own within
it's walls Now both the tonic and
the discipline of liberty and maturity
are to ensue. There will be some re-
| adjustments of purpose and point of
view. There will follow period of
| expansion and new enterprise, fresh
! ~ conceived 1t is for us to deter
mine now whether it shall be rapid
and facile and of easy accomplish
ment. This it can not be unless the re-
sourceful business men who are to
deal with the new circumstances are
| to have at hand and ready for use
the instrumentalities and conveniences
of free enterprise which independent
men need when acting on their own
initiative.
1t is not enough to strike the
shackles 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 it's credit,
corporate and individual, and it's orig
NATIVE brains. What will it profit us
to 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 be quit Of
one kind of monopoly if we are to re-
main in the grip of another and more
effective kind? How are we to gain
and keep the confidence of the bust
ness community unless we show that
we know how both to aid and to pro-
tect 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
cannot make his assets available at
| pleasure, his assets of capacity and
character and resource, what satisfac-
| ton 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 private 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 Immediately 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 the tariff
laws and then be laggards about max
ing 1t 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 a
duty which the circumstances forbid
us to postpone. I should be recreant
to my deepest convictions of public
obligation did not press it upon you
with solemn and urgent insistence.
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