William McKinley
First Inaugural Address
Thursday, March 4, 1897
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.
