threatened. It should all be put upon 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