Show prisident U GE S CUR ENG HE FORM public duty makes prompt action acion act t imperative I 1 READS MESSAGE TO CONGRESS business men of country should d OO do given banking and currency system which will make possible individual initiation washington juno 23 ta the following la Is ITes president ident wilsons albona Wil il Bona sons message to con on the ho subject ot of currency reform i mr alt speaker mr president gentlemen of alie longress engross it Is under unde tile the compulsion of what scams to me ine a clear and duty that hat I 1 have a second time this session sought ti tho 0 privilege of addressing you in person I 1 know of course that tho ole heated season of tho the year Is upon us that work ork in those these chambers and in the committee roomi Is likely to bacomo a burden as tile tho season lengthens and ahr tafu evory consideration of personal comfort perhaps in ili the cases of some som of us considerations of personal persona ahti alth even dictate an early concu of the doliber deliberations actions of tho the 6 BOS ca sion blon but thoro MOTO are occasions of public duty when these things which touch us privately seem very small email when the work to bo be done to Is SoT BO pressing a and nd so BO fraught with blk big consequence that we know that wo we are not at liberty to weigh against it any point of personal sacrifice it Is absolutely imperative that we should give the business men of this country a banking and currency ayee iii by means of which they can make use of the freedom of enterprise and of individual initiative which wo we are about to bestow upon them wo we ore are about abou to set them free we must not leave them them without the tools of action when they are free we are about to set them tree free by removing I 1 the trammels tram mela of the protective tarl tariff ff ever since the civil war they have waited for thin thim emancipation and fo for r the free opportunities it will bring with it it has been reserved tor for us ua to give it to them some fell jn in love indeed with the tha slothful security of their dependence upon the government some took advantage of the shelter of the nursery to set eel up a mimic mastery of their own within I 1 its to walls now both the tono and the discipline of liberty and arato ensue there will be tuomo rw adjustments of purpose and polut point pt P t view th there ere will follow a period of lot expansion and new enter enterprise prime freshly conceived conc elved it Is for us to determine now whether it shall be rapid and facile and of easy accomplishment this it can not be unless the resourceful business busi nesa men who axe arc to deal with the now new circumstances are to haye have at hand and ready tor for use the instrumentalities and conveniences of free enterprise which independent men need when acting on their own initiative it to Is not enough to strike the ill ackles from business the duty of statesmanship Is not negative merely it t Is constructive also we must show that wo we understand what business needs do and that we know how to supply it no man however casual and superficial his observation of tile the conditions now prevailing in the country can fall to see that one of the chief things business needs now and will need increasingly as it gains in scope and vigor to in the years immediately ahead of us is the proper means by which readily to vitalize its credit corporate and and originative brains what will it profit us to be free if we are not to havo have the tha best and most accessible instrumentalities tali ties of commerce and enterprise what will it profit us to be quit of one kind of monopoly if we lire are to re in the grip of another and more effective kind ilow how are ye we to gain and keep the confidence of the bust bus less t ess co community unless we show that we know how bow both to aid and to protect project it what shall we say eay it if we make fresh enterprise necessary and also make it very difficult by leaving all else except the tariff just as we found it the tyrannies tyrannizes tyr annies of big and little lie within the field of credit we know that shall wo we not act upon the knowledge DR do we not know how bow to act upon it T a man cannot make maka hla hio assets adsetts available at pleasure his bla assets of capacity and character and resource what satisfaction Is it to him to see opportunity beck to him on olevery every hand when othera have the keys of credit in their pockets and treat them as aa all but their own private possession it la Is perfectly clear that it la Is our duty to supply the now new banking and currency system the country needs and that it will immediately need it more than ever the only ilu question estion Is when shall wo we supply it now or later after the demands shall havo have acome reproaches reproach As that we were so BO dull and sa so slow shall we ave hasten to change the tariff laws an and d then alen be laggards about making it possible and easy cpr alii ali a country to take advantage of the change there can be only one answer to that question we must act now at whatever sacrifice to ourselves it Is a duty which tho the circumstances forbid us as to postpone I 1 should be recreant to roy my deepest convictions convict lona ol of public obligation did I 1 not pes it upon you inith ath solemn and urgent insistence ns the principles upon which we should ia net are also clear the chufi country tr nag nab sought and seen its path in this matter within tho last few years gee it more clearly now than it ever vcr saw it before much moro clearly than wilsn wll sn the last legislative proposals on brithe the subject were made wo we must hayo havo it currency not rigid as aa now but readily elastically responsive to sound round credit lie ho expanding landing and contracting credits of everyday transactions tho the normal obb ebb and flow ot of personal and corp dritto dealings our banking laws ino mo bilczo reserves must not permit the tha concentration anywhere in a few fow fiands ot of tho monetary resources resource of tho country or their uso use for speculative purposes in such volume as to hinder or impede or br stand in ili the way of other more legitimate fruitful uses and the control of tho the system ot of banking anti and of leabo which our new laws are to set up must bo be public not arl vate must be vested in ili tho government itself so that the banks bank 14 may inny 0 b tile tho instruments not the nin masters q toro of and of individual and initiative tile the committees of tile tho congress to which legislation of this hla character la is havo have devoted careful and dispassionate study to the means of accomplishing cOmp lishing those objects thoy they have honored lio nored mo me by consulting me they are ready to suggest action I 1 havn have como come to you as tho the head of tho the government laid and tho the responsible leader or of the party in ili power fa 0 urge action now willio while there Is time to serve the country deliberately and as wo we should in ill it a clear air of common counsel I 1 appeal to you with a deep conviction of duty 1 I bellevo that you share chare this co conviction I 1 therefore ther eforo appeal to you yoi with confidence I 1 am at your service without rese reserve ryoto to play my part in any way you may call upon me to play it in this great enterprise of exigent reform which it will dignify and distinguish us ua to perform end and discredit us ua to neglect |