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William
McKinley Speech - First inaugural address
Fellow-Citizens:
In obedience to the will of the people, and in their presence, by the
authority vested in me by this oath, I assume the arduous and responsible
duties of President of the United States, relying upon the support of my
countrymen and invoking the guidance of Almighty God. Our faith teaches
that there is no safer reliance than upon the God of our fathers, who has
so singularly favored the American people in every national trial, and who
will not forsake us so long as we obey His commandments and walk humbly in
His footsteps.
The responsibilities of the high trust to which I have been called--always
of grave importance--are augmented by the prevailing business conditions
entailing idleness upon willing labor and loss to useful enterprises. The
country is suffering from industrial disturbances from which speedy relief
must be had. Our financial system needs some revision; our money is all
good now, but its value must not further be threatened. It should all be
put upon an enduring basis, not subject to easy attack, nor its stability
to doubt or dispute. Our currency should continue under the supervision of
the Government. The several forms of our paper money offer, in my
judgment, a constant embarrassment to the Government and a safe balance in
the Treasury. Therefore I believe it necessary to devise a system which,
without diminishing the circulating medium or offering a premium for its
contraction, will present a remedy for those arrangements which, temporary
in their nature, might well in the years of our prosperity have been
displaced by wiser provisions. With adequate revenue secured, but not
until then, we can enter upon such changes in our fiscal laws as will,
while insuring safety and volume to our money, no longer impose upon the
Government the necessity of maintaining so large a gold reserve, with its
attendant and inevitable temptations to speculation. Most of our financial
laws are the outgrowth of experience and trial, and should not be amended
without investigation and demonstration of the wisdom of the proposed
changes. We must be both "sure we are right" and "make haste slowly." If,
therefore, Congress, in its wisdom, shall deem it expedient to create a
commission to take under early consideration the revision of our coinage,
banking and currency laws, and give them that exhaustive, careful and
dispassionate examination that their importance demands, I shall cordially
concur in such action. If such power is vested in the President, it is my
purpose to appoint a commission of prominent, well-informed citizens of
different parties, who will command public confidence, both on account of
their ability and special fitness for the work. Business experience and
public training may thus be combined, and the patriotic zeal of the
friends of the country be so directed that such a report will be made as
to receive the support of all parties, and our finances cease to be the
subject of mere partisan contention. The experiment is, at all events,
worth a trial, and, in my opinion, it can but prove beneficial to the
entire country.
The question of international bimetallism will have early and earnest
attention. It will be my constant endeavor to secure it by co-operation
with the other great commercial powers of the world. Until that condition
is realized when the parity between our gold and silver money springs from
and is supported by the relative value of the two metals, the value of the
silver already coined and of that which may hereafter be coined, must be
kept constantly at par with gold by every resource at our command. The
credit of the Government, the integrity of its currency, and the
inviolability of its obligations must be preserved. This was the
commanding verdict of the people, and it will not be unheeded.
Economy is demanded in every branch of the Government at all times, but
especially in periods, like the present, of depression in business and
distress among the people. The severest economy must be observed in all
public expenditures, and extravagance stopped wherever it is found, and
prevented wherever in the future it may be developed. If the revenues are
to remain as now, the only relief that can come must be from decreased
expenditures. But the present must not become the permanent condition of
the Government. It has been our uniform practice to retire, not increase
our outstanding obligations, and this policy must again be resumed and
vigorously enforced. Our revenues should always be large enough to meet
with ease and promptness not only our current needs and the principal and
interest of the public debt, but to make proper and liberal provision for
that most deserving body of public creditors, the soldiers and sailors and
the widows and orphans who are the pensioners of the United States.
The Government should not be permitted to run behind or increase its debt
in times like the present. Suitably to provide against this is the mandate
of duty--the certain and easy remedy for most of our financial
difficulties. A deficiency is inevitable so long as the expenditures of
the Government exceed its receipts. It can only be met by loans or an
increased revenue. While a large annual surplus of revenue may invite
waste and extravagance, inadequate revenue creates distrust and undermines
public and private credit. Neither should be encouraged. Between more
loans and more revenue there ought to be but one opinion. We should have
more revenue, and that without delay, hindrance, or postponement. A
surplus in the Treasury created by loans is not a permanent or safe
reliance. It will suffice while it lasts, but it can not last long while
the outlays of the Government are greater than its receipts, as has been
the case during the past two years. Nor must it be forgotten that however
much such loans may temporarily relieve the situation, the Government is
still indebted for the amount of the surplus thus accrued, which it must
ultimately pay, while its ability to pay is not strengthened, but weakened
by a continued deficit. Loans are imperative in great emergencies to
preserve the Government or its credit, but a failure to supply needed
revenue in time of peace for the maintenance of either has no
justification.
The best way for the Government to maintain its credit is to pay as it
goes--not by resorting to loans, but by keeping out of debt--through an
adequate income secured by a system of taxation, external or internal, or
both. It is the settled policy of the Government, pursued from the
beginning and practiced by all parties and Administrations, to raise the
bulk of our revenue from taxes upon foreign productions entering the
United States for sale and consumption, and avoiding, for the most part,
every form of direct taxation, except in time of war. The country is
clearly opposed to any needless additions to the subject of internal
taxation, and is committed by its latest popular utterance to the system
of tariff taxation. There can be no misunderstanding, either, about the
principle upon which this tariff taxation shall be levied. Nothing has
ever been made plainer at a general election than that the controlling
principle in the raising of revenue from duties on imports is zealous care
for American interests and American labor. The people have declared that
such legislation should be had as will give ample protection and
encouragement to the industries and the development of our country. It is,
therefore, earnestly hoped and expected that Congress will, at the
earliest practicable moment, enact revenue legislation that shall be fair,
reasonable, conservative, and just, and which, while supplying sufficient
revenue for public purposes, will still be signally beneficial and helpful
to every section and every enterprise of the people. To this policy we are
all, of whatever party, firmly bound by the voice of the people--a power
vastly more potential than the expression of any political platform. The
paramount duty of Congress is to stop deficiencies by the restoration of
that protective legislation which has always been the firmest prop of the
Treasury. The passage of such a law or laws would strengthen the credit of
the Government both at home and abroad, and go far toward stopping the
drain upon the gold reserve held for the redemption of our currency, which
has been heavy and well-nigh constant for several years.
In the revision of the tariff especial attention should be given to the
re-enactment and extension of the reciprocity principle of the law of
1890, under which so great a stimulus was given to our foreign trade in
new and advantageous markets for our surplus agricultural and manufactured
products. The brief trial given this legislation amply justifies a further
experiment and additional discretionary power in the making of commercial
treaties, the end in view always to be the opening up of new markets for
the products of our country, by granting concessions to the products of
other lands that we need and cannot produce ourselves, and which do not
involve any loss of labor to our own people, but tend to increase their
employment.
The depression of the past four years has fallen with especial severity
upon the great body of toilers of the country, and upon none more than the
holders of small farms. Agriculture has languished and labor suffered. The
revival of manufacturing will be a relief to both. No portion of our
population is more devoted to the institution of free government nor more
loyal in their support, while none bears more cheerfully or fully its
proper share in the maintenance of the Government or is better entitled to
its wise and liberal care and protection. Legislation helpful to producers
is beneficial to all. The depressed condition of industry on the farm and
in the mine and factory has lessened the ability of the people to meet the
demands upon them, and they rightfully expect that not only a system of
revenue shall be established that will secure the largest income with the
least burden, but that every means will be taken to decrease, rather than
increase, our public expenditures. Business conditions are not the most
promising. It will take time to restore the prosperity of former years. If
we cannot promptly attain it, we can resolutely turn our faces in that
direction and aid its return by friendly legislation. However troublesome
the situation may appear, Congress will not, I am sure, be found lacking
in disposition or ability to relieve it as far as legislation can do so.
The restoration of confidence and the revival of business, which men of
all parties so much desire, depend more largely upon the prompt,
energetic, and intelligent action of Congress than upon any other single
agency affecting the situation.
It is inspiring, too, to remember that no great emergency in the one
hundred and eight years of our eventful national life has ever arisen that
has not been met with wisdom and courage by the American people, with
fidelity to their best interests and highest destiny, and to the honor of
the American name. These years of glorious history have exalted mankind
and advanced the cause of freedom throughout the world, and immeasurably
strengthened the precious free institutions which we enjoy. The people
love and will sustain these institutions. The great essential to our
happiness and prosperity is that we adhere to the principles upon which
the Government was established and insist upon their faithful observance.
Equality of rights must prevail, and our laws be always and everywhere
respected and obeyed. We may have failed in the discharge of our full duty
as citizens of the great Republic, but it is consoling and encouraging to
realize that free speech, a free press, free thought, free schools, the
free and unmolested right of religious liberty and worship, and free and
fair elections are dearer and more universally enjoyed to-day than ever
before. These guaranties must be sacredly preserved and wisely
strengthened. The constituted authorities must be cheerfully and
vigorously upheld. Lynchings must not be tolerated in a great and
civilized country like the United States; courts, not mobs, must execute
the penalties of the law. The preservation of public order, the right of
discussion, the integrity of courts, and the orderly administration of
justice must continue forever the rock of safety upon which our Government
securely rests.
One of the lessons taught by the late election, which all can rejoice in,
is that the citizens of the United States are both law-respecting and
law-abiding people, not easily swerved from the path of patriotism and
honor. This is in entire accord with the genius of our institutions, and
but emphasizes the advantages of inculcating even a greater love for law
and order in the future. Immunity should be granted to none who violate
the laws, whether individuals, corporations, or communities; and as the
Constitution imposes upon the President the duty of both its own
execution, and of the statutes enacted in pursuance of its provisions, I
shall endeavor carefully to carry them into effect. The declaration of the
party now restored to power has been in the past that of "opposition to
all combinations of capital organized in trusts, or otherwise, to control
arbitrarily the condition of trade among our citizens," and it has
supported "such legislation as will prevent the execution of all schemes
to oppress the people by undue charges on their supplies, or by unjust
rates for the transportation of their products to the market." This
purpose will be steadily pursued, both by the enforcement of the laws now
in existence and the recommendation and support of such new statutes as
may be necessary to carry it into effect.
Our naturalization and immigration laws should be further improved to the
constant promotion of a safer, a better, and a higher citizenship. A grave
peril to the Republic would be a citizenship too ignorant to understand or
too vicious to appreciate the great value and beneficence of our
institutions and laws, and against all who come here to make war upon them
our gates must be promptly and tightly closed. Nor must we be unmindful of
the need of improvement among our own citizens, but with the zeal of our
forefathers encourage the spread of knowledge and free education.
Illiteracy must be banished from the land if we shall attain that high
destiny as the foremost of the enlightened nations of the world which,
under Providence, we ought to achieve.
Reforms in the civil service must go on; but the changes should be real
and genuine, not perfunctory, or prompted by a zeal in behalf of any party
simply because it happens to be in power. As a member of Congress I voted
and spoke in favor of the present law, and I shall attempt its enforcement
in the spirit in which it was enacted. The purpose in view was to secure
the most efficient service of the best men who would accept appointment
under the Government, retaining faithful and devoted public servants in
office, but shielding none, under the authority of any rule or custom, who
are inefficient, incompetent, or unworthy. The best interests of the
country demand this, and the people heartily approve the law wherever and
whenever it has been thus administrated.
Congress should give prompt attention to the restoration of our American
merchant marine, once the pride of the seas in all the great ocean
highways of commerce. To my mind, few more important subjects so
imperatively demand its intelligent consideration. The United States has
progressed with marvelous rapidity in every field of enterprise and
endeavor until we have become foremost in nearly all the great lines of
inland trade, commerce, and industry. Yet, while this is true, our
American merchant marine has been steadily declining until it is now
lower, both in the percentage of tonnage and the number of vessels
employed, than it was prior to the Civil War. Commendable progress has
been made of late years in the upbuilding of the American Navy, but we
must supplement these efforts by providing as a proper consort for it a
merchant marine amply sufficient for our own carrying trade to foreign
countries. The question is one that appeals both to our business
necessities and the patriotic aspirations of a great people.
It has been the policy of the United States since the foundation of the
Government to cultivate relations of peace and amity with all the nations
of the world, and this accords with my conception of our duty now. We have
cherished the policy of non-interference with affairs of foreign
governments wisely inaugurated by Washington, keeping ourselves free from
entanglement, either as allies or foes, content to leave undisturbed with
them the settlement of their own domestic concerns. It will be our aim to
pursue a firm and dignified foreign policy, which shall be just,
impartial, ever watchful of our national honor, and always insisting upon
the enforcement of the lawful rights of American citizens everywhere. Our
diplomacy should seek nothing more and accept nothing less than is due us.
We want no wars of conquest; we must avoid the temptation of territorial
aggression. War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace
has failed; peace is preferable to war in almost every contingency.
Arbitration is the true method of settlement of international as well as
local or individual differences. It was recognized as the best means of
adjustment of differences between employers and employees by the
Forty-ninth Congress, in 1886, and its application was extended to our
diplomatic relations by the unanimous concurrence of the Senate and House
of the Fifty-first Congress in 1890. The latter resolution was accepted as
the basis of negotiations with us by the British House of Commons in 1893,
and upon our invitation a treaty of arbitration between the United States
and Great Britain was signed at Washington and transmitted to the Senate
for its ratification in January last. Since this treaty is clearly the
result of our own initiative; since it has been recognized as the leading
feature of our foreign policy throughout our entire national history--the
adjustment of difficulties by judicial methods rather than force of
arms--and since it presents to the world the glorious example of reason
and peace, not passion and war, controlling the relations between two of
the greatest nations in the world, an example certain to be followed by
others, I respectfully urge the early action of the Senate thereon, not
merely as a matter of policy, but as a duty to mankind. The importance and
moral influence of the ratification of such a treaty can hardly be
overestimated in the cause of advancing civilization. It may well engage
the best thought of the statesmen and people of every country, and I
cannot but consider it fortunate that it was reserved to the United States
to have the leadership in so grand a work.
It has been the uniform practice of each President to avoid, as far as
possible, the convening of Congress in extraordinary session. It is an
example which, under ordinary circumstances and in the absence of a public
necessity, is to be commended. But a failure to convene the
representatives of the people in Congress in extra session when it
involves neglect of a public duty places the responsibility of such
neglect upon the Executive himself. The condition of the public Treasury,
as has been indicated, demands the immediate consideration of Congress. It
alone has the power to provide revenues for the Government. Not to convene
it under such circumstances I can view in no other sense than the neglect
of a plain duty. I do not sympathize with the sentiment that Congress in
session is dangerous to our general business interests. Its members are
the agents of the people, and their presence at the seat of Government in
the execution of the sovereign will should not operate as an injury, but a
benefit. There could be no better time to put the Government upon a sound
financial and economic basis than now. The people have only recently voted
that this should be done, and nothing is more binding upon the agents of
their will than the obligation of immediate action. It has always seemed
to me that the postponement of the meeting of Congress until more than a
year after it has been chosen deprived Congress too often of the
inspiration of the popular will and the country of the corresponding
benefits. It is evident, therefore, that to postpone action in the
presence of so great a necessity would be unwise on the part of the
Executive because unjust to the interests of the people. Our action now
will be freer from mere partisan consideration than if the question of
tariff revision was postponed until the regular session of Congress. We
are nearly two years from a Congressional election, and politics cannot so
greatly distract us as if such contest was immediately pending. We can
approach the problem calmly and patriotically, without fearing its effect
upon an early election.
Our fellow-citizens who may disagree with us upon the character of this
legislation prefer to have the question settled now, even against their
preconceived views, and perhaps settled so reasonably, as I trust and
believe it will be, as to insure great permanence, than to have further
uncertainty menacing the vast and varied business interests of the United
States. Again, whatever action Congress may take will be given a fair
opportunity for trial before the people are called to pass judgment upon
it, and this I consider a great essential to the rightful and lasting
settlement of the question. In view of these considerations, I shall deem
it my duty as President to convene Congress in extraordinary session on
Monday, the 15th day of March, 1897.
In conclusion, I congratulate the country upon the fraternal spirit of the
people and the manifestations of good will everywhere so apparent. The
recent election not only most fortunately demonstrated the obliteration of
sectional or geographical lines, but to some extent also the prejudices
which for years have distracted our councils and marred our true greatness
as a nation. The triumph of the people, whose verdict is carried into
effect today, is not the triumph of one section, nor wholly of one party,
but of all sections and all the people. The North and the South no longer
divide on the old lines, but upon principles and policies; and in this
fact surely every lover of the country can find cause for true
felicitation. Let us rejoice in and cultivate this spirit; it is ennobling
and will be both a gain and a blessing to our beloved country. It will be
my constant aim to do nothing, and permit nothing to be done, that will
arrest or disturb this growing sentiment of unity and cooperation, this
revival of esteem and affiliation which now animates so many thousands in
both the old antagonistic sections, but I shall cheerfully do everything
possible to promote and increase it.
Let me again repeat the words of the oath administered by the Chief
Justice which, in their respective spheres, so far as applicable, I would
have all my countrymen observe: "I will faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." This
is the obligation I have reverently taken before the Lord Most High. To
keep it will be my single purpose, my constant prayer; and I shall
confidently rely upon the forbearance and assistance of all the people in
the discharge of my solemn responsibilities.
William McKinley
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