The Washington herald., 1913-06-24
Message on Currency Reform
Read by President Wilson

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President. Gentlemen
of the Congress:
TT is under the compulsion of what
that 1 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 con-
venience 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 occa sion. II is absolutely imperative
that we should give the business men
of this country a 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.
Waited for Emancipation.
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 OPP
portunities it will bring with it. 1t has
been reserved for us to give 1t to them.
Some fell in love, indeed, with the sloth-
full security of their dependence 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 liberty and maturity are to ensue.
There will be some Establishments of
purpose and point of view. There will
follow period of expansion and new
enterprise, freshly conceived. 1t is for
US to determine now whether 1t shall be
rapid and facile and of easy accomplish
ment. This it cannot 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 instru-
mentalities and conveniences of free en-
terprise which independent men need
when acting on their own initiative.
1T is not enough to strike the shackles
from business. The duty of statesman
ship is not negative merely; it is con-
structive also. We must show that we
understand what business needs and that
we know how to supply 1t. No man,
however casual and superficial his obser-
walton of the conditions 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, cor
brains.
Plea for Confidence.
What will it profit US to be free If
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 monopoly 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 bust
ness community unless we show that we
know how both to aid and to protect It?
What shall we say II we make fresh
enterprise necessary and also make 1t
very difficult by leaving all else-except
the tariff just as we found 1t?
The tyrannies Of business, big and lit
tie. 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? II a man cannot make his
assets available at pleasure, his assets
of capacity and character and resource.
what satisfaction is it to him to see
opportunity beckoning him on every