CONGRESS. (SPECIAL SESSION THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



225 



of tin- note* L'iveli ill it.s purchase IlllVc been ]ai<l ill 

 gold. This is illustrated l>\ the statement that l>e- 

 tween the 1st day of Miiv, 18M, and tin- l.'-tli <lny "I' 

 July, I* 1 .*:!, the notfs of tliis kind issued in payment 

 fur sil\ IT liiillinii amounted to a little more than $54,- 

 000,000, and that during the same period about $49,- 

 were paid l>y the Treasury in gold for the re- 

 demption of such notes. 



Tin- jtolicv necessarily adopted of paying these 

 notes in gold" has not spared the gold reserve of $100,- 

 niMi.noo, long ago set aside by the Government tor the 

 redemption of other notes, tor this fund has already 

 been subjected to the payment of new obligations 

 amounting to about $150,000,000 on account of silver 

 purchases, and has, as a consequence, for the first 

 time since its ereution, been encroached upon. 



\Ve have thus made the depletion of our gold easy, 

 und have tempted other and more appreciative 

 nations to add it to their stock. That the oppor- 

 tunity wo have offered has not been neglected is 

 shown by the large amounts of gold which have 

 been recently drawn from our Treasury and exported 

 to increase tne financial strength of foreign nations. 

 The excess of exports of gold over imports for the 

 year ending June 80, 1893, amounted to more than 

 $87,500,000. 



Between the 1st day of July, 1890, and the 15th day 

 of July, 1893, the gold coin and bullion in our Treasury 

 (Uenaaed more than $132,000,000, while during the 

 same period the silver coin and bullion in the Treas- 

 ury increased more than $147,000,000. Unless Gov- 

 ernment bonds are to be constantly issued and sold to 

 replenish our exhausted gold, only to be again ex- 

 hausted, it is apparent that the operation of the silver 

 purchase law now in force leads in the direction of 

 the entire substitution of silver for the gold in the 

 Government Treasury, and that this must DC followed 

 by the payment of all Government obligations in de- 

 preciated silver. 



At this stage gold and silver must part company, 

 and the Government must fail in its established poli- 

 cy to maintain the two metals on a parity with each 

 other. Given over to the exclusive use of a currency 

 greatly depreciated according to the standard of the 

 commercial world, we could no longer claim a place 

 aiming nations of the first class, nor could our Gov- 

 ernment claim a performance of its obligation, so 

 far as such an obligation has been imposed upon it, 

 to provide for the use of the people the best and 

 safest money. 



If, us many of its friends claim, silver ought to oc- 

 cupy a larger place in our currency and the currency 

 of the, world through general international co-opera- 

 tion and agreement, it is obvious that the United 

 States will not be in a position to gain a hearing in 

 favor of such an arrangement so long as we are will- 

 ing to continue our attempt to accomplish the result 

 single-handed. 



The knowledge in business circles among our own 

 people that our Government can not make its fiat 

 equivalent to intrinsic value, nor keep inferior money 

 on a parity with superior money by its own inde- 

 pendent efforts, has resulted in such a lack of confi- 

 deiiee at home iii the stability of currency values that 

 capital refuses its aid to new enterprises, while mil- 

 lions are actually withdrawn from the channels of 

 trade and commerce to become idle and unproductive 

 in the hands of timid owners. Foreign investors, 

 equally alert, not only decline to purchase American 

 securities, but make haste to sacrifice those which they 

 already have. It does not meet the situation to say 

 that the apprehension in regard to the future of our 

 tinanees is groundless and there is no room for laek 

 of confidence in the purposes or power of the Govern- 

 ment in the premises. The very existence of this ap- 

 prehension and lack of confidence, however caused, is 

 a menace which ought not for a moment to be disre- 

 garded. Possibly if the undertaking we have in hand 

 were the maintenance of a specific known quantity of 

 silver as the parity with gold, our ability to do so 

 might be estimated and gauged, and perhaps, in view 



VOL. xxxni. 15 A 



of our unparalleled growth and resources, might be 

 favorably passed upon; but when our avow- 

 deavor is to maintain such purity in regard to an 

 amount of silver increasing at the rate of $50,000,000 

 yearly, with no fixed termination to such increase, it 

 i-an hardly be .-aid that a problem is presented whose 

 solution is free from doubt. 



The people of the United States arc entitled to a 

 sound and stable currency, and to money recognized 

 as such on every c.vhangc and in every market of the 

 world. This Government has no right to injure them 

 by financial experiments opposed to the policy and 

 practice of other civilized states, nor is it justified in 

 permitting an exaggerated and unreasonable reliance 

 on our national strength and ability to jeopardize the 

 soundness of the people's money. 



This matter rises above the plane of party politics. 

 It vitally concerns every business and calling and en- 

 ters every household in the land. There ia one im- 

 portant aspect of the subject which especially should 

 never be overlooked. At times like the present, when 

 the evils of unsound finance threaten us, the specu- 

 lator may anticipate a harvest gathered from the mis- 

 fortune of others ; the capitalist may protect himself 

 by hoarding, or may even find profit in the fluctuation 

 of values ; but the wage earner, the first to be injured 

 by a depreciated currency and the last to receive the 

 benefit of its correction, is practically defenseless. He 

 relies for work upon the ventures of confident and con- 

 tented capital. This failing him, his condition is with- 

 out alleviation, for he can neither prey on the misfor- 

 tunes of others nor hoard his labor. One of the 

 greatest statesmen our country has known, speaking 

 more than fifty years ago, when a derangement of the 

 currency had caused commercial distress, said : " The 

 very man of all others who has the deepest interest in 

 a sound currency and who suffers most by mischiev- 

 ous legislation in money matters is the man who earns 

 his daily bread by his daily toil." 



These words are as pertinent now as on the day they 

 were uttered, and ought to impressively remind us that 

 a failure in the discharge of our duty at this time must 

 especially injure those of our countrymen who labor, 

 and who, because of their number and condition, are 

 entitled to the most watchful care of their Government 

 It is of the utmost importance that such relief as Con- 

 gress can afford in the existing situation be afforded at 

 once. The maxim, " He gives twice who gives quick- 

 ly," is directly applicable. It may be true that the 

 embarrassments from which the business of the coun- 

 try is suffering arise as much from evils apprehended 

 as from those actually existing. We may hope, too, 

 that calm counsels will prevail, and that neither the 

 capitalists nor the wage earners will give way to un- 

 reasoning panic, and sacrifice their property or their 

 interests under the influence of exaggerated fears. 

 Nevertheless, every day's delay in removing one of 

 the plain and principal causes of the present state 

 of things enlarges the mischief already done and in- 

 creases the responsibility of the Government for its 

 existence. Whatever else the people have a right 

 to expect from Congress, they may certainly de- 

 mand that legislation condemned by the ordeal of 

 three years' disastrous experience shall be removed 

 from the statute books as soon as their representatives 

 can legitimately deal with it 



It was my purpose to summon Congress in special 

 session early in the coming September, that we might 

 enter promptly upon the work of taritt reform, which 

 the true interests of the country clearly demand, which 

 so large a majority of the people, as shown by their 

 suffrages, desire and expect, and to the accomplish- 

 ment of which every effort of the present Administra- 

 tion is pledged. But while tariff reform has lost noth- 

 ing of its immediate and permanent importance, and 

 must in the near future engage the attention of Con- 

 gress, it has seemed to me that the financial condition 

 of the country should at once, and before other sub- 

 jects, be considered by your honorable body. 



I earnestly recommend the prompt repeal of the pro- 

 visions of the act passed July 14, 1890, authorizing the 



