Show TE PSSSIDSJSTTS MESSAGE 1 1 I Presidential messages are very much 1 alike from the necessity of the case They are chiefly devoted to a revIew of the state of the Union which is very much the same year in and year out To this general rule President SlcKInleya message is no exception He first takes up the currency ques ticn and deals with i at considerable length He would have the currency of the country put on a sound basis He j say that the situation from 1893 to j 1S97 must admonish congress of the Immediate necessity of so legislating as to make the return of such conditions I then prevailing Impossible The evil of the present system says the president Is found In the great cost of maintaining main-taining the parity with gold of the various kinds of money That is the chief evil I is pointed out that the government alone is compelled to redeem re-deem in gold while at the same time it has no gold revenue The president would have the drain on the gold reserve j I re-serve stopped by having i provIded bylaw j I by-law that when government notes are redeemed in gold they hal not be paid I out agam except for gold This is sensible sen-sible He would have the government relieved from the cessity of providing I provid-ing gold for exchange and export and the remedy he suggests would relieve the government of the necessity of goermcnt providing pro-viding it His recommendations and arguments on this point are very largely an elaboration on Mr Cleve lands famous phrase about the endless chain In his discussion of the currency cur-rency question there are three really important points aside from that of cutting the endless chain He takes i I the position that all the governnifs obligations are redeemable in gold This Is identical with the position taken by Mr Carlisle He would have the ir o of national bank notes restricted to co nomiiations of ten dollars and upwards up-wards and he would require national banks to redeem their notes in gold This last recommendation is a very radical departure from the policy that has prevailed towards national banks in the past What the president has to say on the currency question will commend com-mend itself to all who favor the gold standard though some may complain because he did not come out with a positive declaration against silver More space is devoted to the Cuban question thitn to any other The tone of it all 5s very friendly to Spain and is very hopeful of good results from the new policy inaugurated by Sa gusts and being carried out by Blanco There is a very elaborate argument aga4r > according bellgerent rights to the Cubans and the position taken has much to commend i The president makes plain wherein the according of such rights would be fraught with dauger to the peace of this country because of the right of search The president is satisfied that the Sa rasta I government is sincere in its dese to pacify Cuba along the lines of a genuine gen-uine autonomy policy The message breathes quite a different spirit on the Cuban ciuestion from that in the St Louis Dlatform The Hawaiian annexation treaty is II referred to I is favored by the presi I dent I raises a smile to read that no less Is due to a people who ate nearly five rears of demonstrated capacity ca-pacity to fulfill the obligations of self governing statehood come of their freewill free-will to merge their destinies in our body politic A part of the message that has a double interest for the west Is that e I ferring to the Wolcott comn i nOn n-On this subject the president sas in I part partThe I The gratifying action of our great I sister republic of France in joining this country in the attempt to bring I about an agreement between the principal prin-cipal commercial nations of Europe I whereby a fixed and relative value between be-tween gold and silver shall be secured furnishes assurance that we are not alone among the larger nations of the world in realizing the international I character of the problem and In the desire de-sire of reaching some wise and practical cal solution of it The British government has published pub-lished a resume of the steps taken joint by the French ambassador in London and the special envoys of the United States with whom our ambassador I ambassa-dor in London actively cooperated in I I the presentation of this subject to her majestys government This will be laid I before congress Our special envoys have not made their final report a further negotiations between the representatives rep-resentatives of this government and the governments of other countries are I pending and in contemplation They j believe that doubts which have been j raised ia certain quarters respecting the possibility of maintaining the stability sta-bility of the parity between the metals and kindred questions may yet be I solved by furMjr negotiations Meanwhile it gives me satisfaction to state that the special envoys have already demonstrated their ability and fitness to deal with the subject and it is to b earnestly hoped that their labors la-bors may result in an international agreement which will bring about recognition of both gold and silver a I money upon such terms and with such safeguards a will secure the use of I both metals upon a basis which shall work no injuries to any class of our citizens I There is nothing very positive reassuring re-assuring or hopeful about it The I I reference to the gratifying action of our great sister republic of France I Is more in the nature of a douceur for those who thought the commission I would accomplish something than anything any-thing else The only important thing in this connection is the Information that the commissioners have not made their final report because further negotiations ne-gotiations between the representatives of this government and the governments govern-ments of other countries are pending and others are in contemplation I is stated that they believe that doubts which have been raised in certain quarters respecting the possibility of maintaining the stability of parity between be-tween the metals and kindred questions ques-tions may yet be solved by further negotiations ne-gotiations the message itself expresses no opinion on this subject I means that the commission is to be continued at all events but whether In the honest hon-est expectation that something beneficial bene-ficial to silver will really result from its labs or merely as a stopgap to prevent any attempt at legislation in behalf of silver i Is impossible to say This part of the message will disappoint the sound money men while the free coinage men will take no stock in any efforts the Wolcott commission may make In behalf of international in-ternational bimetallism There Is a perfunctory reference tow to-w the Dingley law About all that is said is that to test its permanent value further time will be required The assumption sumption is made that the people are satisfied with its operations and re j suits thus far which is a pure assumption as-sumption No reference whatever is i i made to the very grave fact that since the new law went Into effect a deficit i j I of some 540000000 has accrued I maybe j may-be the president had the idea that to I i acknowledge even a temporary failure lof j the law to supply ample revenue j I would be to be disloyal to it i On the whole the message is a conservative j con-servative one but not a strong and j I positive one |