The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1913-07-04
PRESIDENT READS BANKING
AND CURRENCY MESSAGE
For Second Time Chief Executive
Appears Before Law Makers tt.
Ask Consideration Of Bill.

Washington, D. C-For a second
dlce since his Inauguration President
ilson apl Jared bef1>eNa joint ses-
sion of the two houses o. congress.
His message on banking and cur
rency reform system was delivered in
clear, deliberate and distinct voice.
He said:
Mr.. Speaker, Mr.. President, Gentlemen
of the Congress-:
It is under the compulsion Of what
seems to me clear and imperative duty
that have a second time this session
sought the privilege OF addressing you in
person. ! know, Of course, that the heat
ed season of the year is upon us, that
work in these chambers andSin the COM
mittee rooms is likely to become a bur-
den as the season lengthens, and that
every consideration of personal convent
ence 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 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.
We are now in the presence of such an
occasion. 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
rot leave them without the tools of ac-
tion when they are free. We are about
to set them free by removing the tram
mels of the protective tariff Ever since
the civil war they have waited for this
emancipation and for the free opportuni- 4
ties 1t will bring with 1t. 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
government; some. took advantage OF the
shelter Of the nursery to set up a mimic
mastery Of their own within its walls.
Now both the tonic and the discipline Of
liberty and maturity are to ensue. There
Will be some readjusments of purpose
and point of view There will follow a
period of expansion and new enterprise,
freshly conceived. 1t is for us to deter
mine now whether it shall be rapid and
facile and OF easy accomplishment. This
II can not be unless the resourceful
new circumstances are to have at hand
ana ready for use the instrumentalities
and conveniences OF free enterprise which
independent men need when acting on
their own initiative.
it is not enough to strike the shacklea
from business. The duty OF statesman
ship is not negative merely. 1t is con-
structive also. We must show that We
understand what business needs and
that we know how to supply It. No man,
however casual and superficial his OBJ
servation of the conditions now prevail
ing 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 i'm
u,ediately ahead Of us, is the proper
means by which readily to vitalize its
credit, corporate and individual, and its
originative brains. What will 1t profit
us to be free II we are not to have the
best and most accessible instrumentalities
OF commerce and enterprise? What will
II profit us to be quit of one kind Of mon
opoly II we are to remain in the grip Of
another and more effective kind? How
are we to gain and keep the confidence Of
the business community unless we show
that we know how both to aid to protect
It? What shall we say II we make fresh
enterprise necessary and also make II
very difficult by leaving all else except
the tariff just as we found It? The tyran-
MES of business, big and little, lie within
the field Of credit. We that that. Shall
we not act upon the knowledge? Do we
not know how to act upon 1t? II man
can not, make his assets available at
pleasure, his assets Of capacity and char
acter and resource, what satisfaction is
Il to him to see opportunity beckoning
to him on every hand when Others have
the keys Of credit in their pockets and
treat them as all but their own private
possessions? 1t is perfectly clear that II
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 making 1t possible and
easy for the country to take advantage
OF the change? There can be only one
answer to that question. We must act
now, at whatever sacrifice to ourselves.
1t is duty which the circumstances for
hid us to postpone. | should be recreant
to my deepest convictions of public obli-
cation did l not press 1t upon you with
solemn and urgent inSlStence.
The principles upon which we should
act as also clear. The country has
sought and seen its path in this matter
within the last few years-sees it more
clearly now than it ever saw it before
much more clearly than when the last
legislative proposals on the subject were
made We must have a currency, not
rigid as now, but readily, elastically re-
sponsive to sound credit, the expanding
and contracting credits Of everyday trans
actions, the normal ebb and flow of per-
sonal and corporate dealings. Our bank,
ing laws must mobilize reserves; must not
permit the concentration anywhere in a
few hands of the monetary resources of
the country or their use for speculative
purposes in such volume as to hinder
or impede or stand IN the way Of more
legitimate, more fruitful uses. And the
control OF the system OF banking and Of
issue which our new laws are to set up
must be public, not private, must be
vested in the government itself so that
til banks may the instruments, not the
masters. OF business and of individual
enterprise and initiative.