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State of the Union Addresses of William McKinley
The addresses are separated by three asterisks: ***
Dates of addresses by William McKinley in this eBook:
December 6, 1897
December 5, 1898
December 5, 1899
December 3, 1900
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State of the Union Address
William McKinley
December 6, 1897
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
It gives me pleasure to extend greeting to the Fifty-fifth Congress,assembled in regular session at the seat of Government, with many of whoseSenators and Representatives I have been associated in the legislativeservice. Their meeting occurs under felicitous conditions, justifyingsincere congratulation and calling for our grateful acknowledgment to abeneficent Providence which has so signally blessed and prospered us as anation. Peace and good will with all the nations of the earth continueunbroken.
A matter of genuine satisfaction is the growing feeling of fraternal regardand unification of all sections of our country, the incompleteness of whichhas too long delayed realization of the highest blessings of the Union. Thespirit of patriotism is universal and is ever increasing in fervor. Thepublic questions which now most engross us are lifted far above eitherpartisanship, prejudice, or former sectional differences. They affect everypart of our common country alike and permit of no division on ancientlines. Questions of foreign policy, of revenue, the soundness of thecurrency, the inviolability of national obligations, the improvement of thepublic service, appeal to the individual conscience of every earnestcitizen to whatever party he belongs or in whatever section of the countryhe may reside.
The extra session of this Congress which closed during July last enactedimportant legislation, and while its full effect has not yet been realized,what it has already accomplished assures us of its timeliness and wisdom.To test its permanent value further time will be required, and the people,satisfied with its operation and results thus far, are in no mind towithhold from it a fair trial.
Tariff legislation having been settled by the extra session of Congress,the question next pressing for consideration is that of the currency.
The work of putting our finances upon a sound basis, difficult as it mayseem, will appear easier when we recall the financial operations of theGovernment since 1866. On the 30th day of June of that year we hadoutstanding demand liabilities in the sum of $728,868,447.41. On the 1st ofJanuary, 1879, these liabilities had been reduced to $443,889,495.88. Of ourinterest-bearing obligations, the figures are even more striking. On July1, 1866, the principal of the interest-bearing debt of the Government was$2,332,331,208. On the 1st day of July, 1893, this sum had been reduced to$585,137,100, or an aggregate reduction of $1,747,294,108. Theinterest-bearing debt of the United States on the 1st day of December,1897, was $847,365,620. The Government money now outstanding (December 1)consists of $346,681,016 of United States notes, $107,793,280 of Treasurynotes issued by authority of the law of 1890, $384,963,504 of silvercertificates, and $61,280,761 of standard silver dollars.
With the great resources of the Government, and with the honorable exampleof the past before us, we ought not to hesitate to enter upon a currencyrevision which will make our demand obligations less onerous to theGovernment and relieve our financial laws fr