My
Fellow-Citizens:
In
obedience of 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 I now give before God and these witnesses
of unreserved and complete devotion to the interests and
welfare of those who have honored me.
I
deem it fitting on this occasion, while indicating the
opinion I hold concerning public questions of present
importance, to also briefly refer 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 of violence, the wonderful
thrift and enterprise of our people, and the demonstrated
superiority of our free government, it behooves us to
constantly watch for every symptom of insidious infirmity
that threatens our national vigor.
The
strong man who in the confidence of sturdy health courts
the sternest activities of life and rejoices in the
hardihood of constant labor may still have lurking near
his vitals the unheeded disease that dooms him to sudden
collapse.
It
can not be doubted that our stupendous achievements as a
people and our country's robust strength have given rise
to 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 will 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. At the same time, in our efforts to
adjust differences of opinion we should be free from
intolerance or passion, and our judgments should be
unmoved by alluring phrases and unvexed by selfish
interests.
I
am confident that such an approach to the subject will
result in prudent and effective remedial legislation. In
the meantime, so far as the executive branch of the
Government can intervene, none of the powers with which it
is invested will be withheld when their exercise is deemed
necessary to maintain our national credit or avert
financial disaster.
Closely
related to the exaggerated confidence in our country's
greatness which tends to a 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 the 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 the constant peril of our government by
the people. It degrades to the purposes of wily craft the
plan of rule our fathers established and bequeathed to us
as an object of our love and veneration. It perverts the
patriotic sentiments of our countrymen and tempts them to
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 favoritism. It stifles the
spirit of true Americanism and stupefies every ennobling
trait of American citizenship.
The
lessons of paternalism ought to be unlearned and the
better lesson taught that while the people should
patriotically and cheerfully support their Government its
functions do not include the support of the people.
The
acceptance of this principle leads to a refusal of
bounties and subsidies, which burden the labor 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 defense.
Every
thoughtful American must realize 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 citizen, and the contempt of our people
for economy and frugality in their personal affairs
deplorably saps the strength and sturdiness of our
national character.
It
is a plain dictate of honesty and good government that
public expenditures should be limited by public necessity,
and that this should be measured by the rules of strict
economy; and it is equally clear that frugality among the
people is the best guaranty of a contented and strong
support of free institutions.
One
mode of the misappropriation of public funds is avoided
when appointments to office, instead of being the rewards
of partisan activity, are awarded to those whose
efficiency promises a fair return of work for the
compensation paid to them. To secure the fitness and
competency of appointees to office and remove from
political action the demoralizing 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 or who
hope for the elevation of political sentiment and the
purification of political methods.
The
existence of immense aggregations 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
cheapness which usually results from wholesome
competition. These aggregations and combinations
frequently constitute conspiracies against the interests
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 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 color, it
appeals for recognition to American manliness and
fairness.
Our
relations with the Indians located within our border
impose upon us responsibilities we can not 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. Every
effort should be made to lead them, through the paths of
civilization and education, to self-supporting and
independent citizenship. In the meantime, as the nation's
wards, they should be promptly defended against the
cupidity of designing men and shielded from every
influence or temptation that retards their advancement.
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 a political party
pledged in the most positive terms to the accomplishment
of tariff reform. They have thus determined in favor 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 and without heedless vindictiveness.
Our mission is not punishment, but the rectification of
wrong. If in lifting 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. If we exact from unwilling
minds acquiescence in the theory of an honest distribution
of the fund of the governmental beneficence treasured up
for all, we but insist upon a principle which underlies
our free institutions. 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 the
necessity for revenue to support the 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 perversions of the taxing power. And when
we seek to reinstate the self-confidence and business
enterprise of our citizens by discrediting an abject
dependence upon governmental favor, we strive to stimulate
those elements of American character which support the
hope of American achievement.
Anxiety
for the redemption of the pledges which my party has made
and solicitude for the complete justification of the trust
the people have reposed in us constrain me to remind those
with whom I am to cooperate that we can succeed in doing
the work which has been especially set before us only by
the most sincere, harmonious, and disinterested effort.
Even if insuperable obstacles and opposition prevent the
consummation of our task, we shall hardly be excused; and
if failure can be traced to our fault or neglect we may be
sure the people will hold us to a swift and exacting
accountability.
The
oath I now take to preserve, protect, and defend the
Constitution of the United States not only impressively
defines the great responsibility I assume, but suggests
obedience to constitutional commands as the rule by which
my official conduct must be guided. 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 favor 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 and the counsel and
cooperation 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.
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