A Supplement to

A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS

1789-1902

BY JAMES D. RICHARDSON

A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE

Prefatory Note

As the exigencies which prompted, at a late date, the change of plans in the compilation of this work, left the messages and papers of the McKinley administration incomplete and defective, it has been felt that the time has now arrived for their collection. In this supplement are included the messages, proclamations and executive orders of President McKinley which do not appear in Volume X, and those of his successor, President Roosevelt, to date. They set forth the home affairs of the nation, and illustrate the stability of the government and institutions of the United States. They demonstrate that affairs were conducted with attention and directness unaffected by the apparently distracting, but glorious, incidents, which marked her interposition by arms and the extension of her sheltering aegis to Cuba. They teach us that the foundations of this country are deep-rooted and that the process of nation-building, as recounted in these volumes, has proceeded upon right lines and with an unbounded fidelity to principle and purpose.

GEORGE RAYWOOD DEVITT.

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 1, 1902.

SUPPLEMENT

William McKinley

March 4, 1897, to September 14, 1901

Additional Messages, Proclamations, Executive Orders and Last Public Utterance to the People at Buffalo

William McKinley

(For portrait and early biographical sketch see Vol. X, pp. 125, 126, 127)

At the National Republican Convention which met at Philadelphia in June, 1901, William McKinley was again nominated the Republican candidate for the Presidency of the United States. At the November election he was re-elected, receiving 292 electoral votes, against 155 votes for William J. Bryan.

In September, 1901, he accepted an invitation to be present at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo. On September 5 he delivered his last public utterance to the people, in the Temple of Music, to a vast audience. The next day, returning from a short trip to Niagara Falls, he yielded to the wishes of the people and held a reception in the Temple. Among those who, passing in single file, took him by the hand, was one who approached with his hand wrapped and held to his breast as though injured. Concealed within the covering was a loaded revolver; and as he gave his other hand to the President, a token of friendship, he quickly fired two shots, from the effects of which the President sank into the arms of those near him. He was taken to the residence of Mr. John G. Milburn, President of the Exposition Company, where on September 14, 1901, after an unexpected relapse, he died. The body was taken to Washington, D.C., and the state funeral was held in the rotunda of the Capitol. Thence the body was taken to his home in Canton, Ohio, for interment.

The period covered by the administration of William McKinley was, undoubtedly, more crowded with events calculated to try and to touch the very heart of the nation than was any period since the Civil War. The United States has passed through crisis after crisis in quick succession and has emerged not only in safety but with untarnished honor, increased glory, and the great consciousness of solidarity and unification. This is attested by the wise management of affairs in connection with the Nicaragua Canal; the increase of the navy, the formation of an army and the imposition of taxes which in no way impeded the march of industry; the settlement of railway claims; and the successful starting in life of Cuba and the administration of far colonial affairs. Aside from the wise counsels of the Executive of the nation, the calmness and cool action of the people, amid distracting and perplexing events, have contributed to the honor of the nation in no slight degree. All of this, and more, was abundantly testified to, at the time of the deplorable circumstances attending William McKinley's death by the unexampled outburst throughout the world of sympathy with the bereaved nation and of admiration for the man.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS

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 on 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.

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