My Fellow Citizens, — In obedience to the mandate of my
countrymen, I am about to dedicate myself to their service under the sanction
of a solemn oath. Deeply moved by the expression of confidence and personal
attachment which has called me to this service, I am sure my gratitude can make
no better return than the pledge which I now give before God and these
witnesses of my unreserved and complete devotion to the interests and welfare
of those who have honoured me.
I deem it fitting on this occasion, while indicating the
opinion I hold concerning public questions of present importance, to refer
briefly also to the existence of certain conditions and tendencies among our
people which seem to menace the integrity and usefulness of their Government.
While every American citizen must contemplate with the utmost pride and
enthusiasm the growth and expansion of our country, the sufficiency of our
institutions to stand against the rudest shocks, the wonderful enterprise of
our people, and the demonstrated superiority of our free government, it behoves
us constantly to watch for every symptom of insidious infirmity that threatens
our national vigour. It cannot be doubted that our stupendous achievements as a
people and our country's robust strength have given rise to a heedlessness of
those laws governing our national health which we can no more evade than human
life can escape the laws of God and nature. Manifestly nothing is more vital to
our supremacy as a nation and to the beneficent purposes of our government than
a sound and stable currency. Its exposure to degradation should at once arouse
to activity the most enlightened statesmanship, and the danger of depreciation
in the purchasing power of the wages paid to toil should furnish the strongest
incentive to prompt and conservative precaution. In dealing with our present embarrassing
situation as related to this subject, we shall be wise if we temper our
confidence and faith in our national strength and resources with the frank
concession that even these will not permit us to defy with impunity the
inexorable laws of finance and trade.
Closely related to the exaggerated confidence in our
country's greatness which tends to the disregard of the rules of national
safety another danger confronts us not less serious — I refer to the prevalence
of a popular disposition to expect from the operation of our Government
especial and direct individual advantages. The verdict of our voters which
condemned the injustice of maintaining protection for protection's sake enjoins
upon the people's servants the duty of exposing and destroying the brood of
kindred evils which are the unwholesome progeny of paternalism. This is the
bane of Republican institutions and a constant peril of our government by the
people. It degrades to purposes of wily craft the plan of rule which our
fathers established and bequeathed to us as an object of our love and
veneration. It perverts the patriotic sentiment of our countrymen and tempts
them to a pitiful calculation of the sordid gain to be derived from their
Government's maintenance. It undermines the self-reliance of our people and
substitutes in its place dependence upon governmental favouritism. While the
people should patriotically and cheerfully support their Government, its
functions do not include support of the people. The acceptance of this
principle leads to a refusal of bounties and subsidies which burden the labour
and thrift of a portion of our citizens to aid ill-advised or languishing
enterprises in which they have no concern. It leads also to a challenge of wild
and reckless pension expenditure which overleaps the bounds of grateful
recognition of patriotic service and prostitutes to vicious uses the people's
prompt and generous impulse to aid those disabled in their country's defence.
Every thoughtful American must realise the importance of checking at its
beginning any tendency, in public or private station, to regard frugality and
economy as virtues which we may safely outgrow. The toleration of this idea
results in the waste of the people's money by their chosen servants and
encourages prodigality and extravagance in the home life of our countrymen.
Under our scheme of government the waste of public money is a crime against the
citizens, and the contempt of our people for economy and frugality in their
personal affairs deplorably saps the strength and sturdiness of our national
character.
To secure the fitness and competency of appointees to office
and to remove from political action the demoralising madness for spoils, civil
service reform has found a place in our public policy and laws. The benefits
already gained through this instrumentality and the further usefulness it
promises entitle it to the hearty support and encouragement of all who desire
to see our public service well performed. The existence of an immense
aggregation of kindred enterprises and combinations of business interests,
formed for the purpose of limiting production and fixing prices, is
inconsistent with the fair field which ought to be open to every independent
activity. Legitimate strife in business should not be superseded by an enforced
concession to the demands of combinations that have the power to destroy, nor
should the people to be served lose the benefit of the cheapness which usually
results from wholesome competition. These aggregations and combinations
frequently constitute conspiracies against the interest of the people, and in
all their phases they are unnatural and opposed to our American sense of
fairness. To the extent that they can be reached and restrained by the Federal
power, the general Government should relieve our citizens from their
interference and exactions. Loyalty to the principles upon which our Government
rests positively demands that the equality before the law which it guarantees
to every citizen should be justly and in good faith conceded in all parts of
the land. The enjoyment of this right follows the badge of citizenship wherever
found; and, unimpaired by race or colour, it appeals for recognition to
American manliness and fairness. Our relations with the Indians located within
our borders impose upon us responsibilities we cannot escape. Humanity and
consistency require us to treat them with forbearance, and in our dealings with
them to honestly and considerately regard their rights and interests.
The people of the United States have decreed that on this
day the control of their Government, in its legislative and executive branches,
shall be given to the political party pledged in the most positive terms to the
accomplishment of tariff reform. They have thus determined in favour of a more
just and equitable system of Federal taxation. The agents they have chosen to
carry out their purposes are bound by their promises, not less than by the
command of their masters, to devote themselves unremittingly to this service.
While there should be no surrender of principle, our task must be undertaken
wisely, without vindictiveness. Our mission is not punishment, but the
rectification of wrongs. If in lifting the burdens from the daily life of our
people we reduce inordinate and unequal advantages too long enjoyed, this is
but a necessary incident of our return to right and justice. When we tear aside
the delusions and misconceptions which have blinded our countrymen to their
condition under vicious tariff laws, we but show them how far they have been
led away from the paths of contentment and prosperity. When we proclaim that
necessity for revenue to support Government furnishes the only justification
for taxing the people, we announce a truth so plain that its denial would seem
to indicate the extent to which judgment may be influenced by familiarity with
inversions of taxing power; and when we seek to reinstate the self-confidence
and business enterprise of our citizens by discrediting abject dependence upon
governmental favour, we strive to stimulate those elements of American
character which support the hope of American achievement. I shall, to the best
of my ability and within my sphere of duty, preserve the constitution by
loyally protecting every grant of Federal power it contains, by defending all
its restraints when attacked by impatience and restlessness, and by enforcing
its limitations and reservations in favour of the States and the people. Fully
impressed with the gravity of the duties that confront me, and mindful of my
weakness, I should be appalled if it were my lot to bear unaided the
responsibilities which await me. I am, however, saved from discouragement when
I remember that I shall have the support, counsel, and co-operation of wise and
patriotic men who will stand at my side in Cabinet places, or will represent
the people in their legislative halls. I find, also, much comfort in
remembering that my countrymen are just and generous, and in the assurance that
they will not condemn those who by sincere devotion to their service deserve
their forbearance and approval. Above all, I know there is a Supreme Being who
rules the affairs of men and whose goodness and mercy have always followed the
American people, and I know He will not turn from us now if we humbly and
reverently seek His powerful aid.
SOURCE: Aberdeen University Press, Publisher, The Annual Register: A Review of Public
Events at Home and Abroad for the Year 1893, p. 455-8
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