Show the new coinage washington 0 ton in answer to ona one of the numerous p protests orests which have ha ve been received at ohp th white house a against 0 a i ast the new gold coins which have bavo been doin coin yd ed without the words in god we trust pre president si derit roosevelt has written a lotto letter r which he be made public the lotter loiter follows when th ohp pol q question u e s t on a of new coinage coinage came up we looked looke d into the law and found there was was no warrant therein for foi putting in 1 n god we trust on the coins As the ahe custom without le legill leg mal ill war ar irant had grown up I 1 might have feltar fel tat liben fiber to keep the in capt ion had I 1 approved of its beenu on the chini coinage we but its us I 1 WO biot approve app of if it I 1 d did id not 1 direct I ri elt that it should w ag tin be j IL un in of cour course se the matter of the 1 jaw iw is absolutely in the hands of con ress an and d any act ifill in that chii direction f action will ivill ip ill ai lately obeyed at propst proP nt I 1 th ff i 10 wL WI mra trant in inlaw iv th 1 in my own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that to put such a motto 10 on n coins or to use it anol inny kiny kindred 1 manner not only does no good but does positive harm barin and is in effect irreverence which comes comes di dangerously close to sac A beautiful and solemn sentence such as the one in question should be treated and and uttered only with that fine verance leverance re which necessarily im plies a certain certa inexact in exaltation exalt aaion of spirit any use which tends to cheapen it and above all any use which tends to secure its bein being treated in h a spirit of levity is f roul front every standpoint profoundly to be regretted gret ted it is a motto which is is indeed well to have inscribed on our great national notional monument in in pur our temples of justice in our executive halls and in buildings such as those at west point and annapolis in short wb whenever it will tend to tc arouse tand and inspire a lofty ei emotion notion ju those who look thereupon but it seems to me I 1 eminently unwise to cheapen chei ipen a motto by use on coins such as it would bo be to cheapen it by use on postage M stamps or in advertisements As ron regards t ards its use on the 0 we have actual ex peri ence by which to go in all my life I 1 have never ne v er 1 head heard any botnan being D speak reverently antly of this i online coins but I 1 have literally rally h hundreds hun undre dreis Js of times heard it used as an occasion of and incitement to the sneering ril licule which it is above all things hins hin C s undesirable that so beautiful and exalted it a phrase should excite for example ample em throughout b the long contest test extending over several decades on the free coinage question the existence elisten ce of this mott on the c coins bins was a constant oon stant source of jost jest and rid icele and this wits was unavoidable everyone inus must t remember the innumerable c cir and articles based on the phrase like ln in god we trust for the eight cents in n god wo we trust for fai the s short hort wei weight r ht in god we trust for the thirty seven cents we d nt pay and so forth and sio ferth surely I 1 am ain welt well with in bounds when isay I say that a use of the phrase which abie li invites constant t tnt levity of this phrase is undesirable if con congress caress alte alters rs the laws and directs me to replace on the coins the sentence in in question it will be immediate ly put into effect effert but I 1 earnestly trust the religious r sentiment ff f the country the spirit of reverence in the country will prevent such action talen signed 1 theodore heodore roosevelt Hoo sevelt |