336 Presidential Addresses 



modification as will ensure definitely the parity of 

 every dollar coined or issued by the government, and 

 such expansion or contraction of the currency as will 

 promptly and automatically respond to the varying 

 needs of commerce. Permanent increase would be 

 dangerous, permanent contraction ruinous, but the 

 needed elasticity must be brought about by provi 

 sions which will permit both contraction and ex 

 pansion as the varying needs of the several commu 

 nities and business interests at different times and in 

 different localities require. 



AT ODEON HALL, ST. LOUIS, MO., BEFORE THE 



NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL GOOD 



ROADS CONVENTION, APRIL 29, 1903 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



When we wish to use descriptive terms fit to 

 characterize great empires and the men who made 

 those empires great, invariably one of the terms used 

 is to signify that that empire built good roads. When 

 we speak of the Romans, we speak of them as rulers, 

 as conquerors, as administrators, as road builders. 

 There were empires that rose over night and fell 

 over night, empires whose influence was absolutely 

 evanescent, which have passed away without leaving 

 a trace of their former existence ; but wherever the 

 Roman established his rule the traces of that rule 

 remain deep to-day, stamped on the language and 

 customs of the people, or stamped in tangible form 

 upon the soil itself. And so passing through Brit- 



