It has been done in the
past, however, and may have to be done in the future. It behooves us,
therefore, to provide at once the best means to meet the emergency when
it arises, and the best means are those which are the most certain and
economical. Those now authorized have the virtue neither of directness
nor economy. We have already eliminated one of the causes of our
financial plight and embarrassment during the years 1893, 1894, 1895,
and 1896. Our receipts now equal our expenditures; deficient revenues
no longer create alarm. Let us remove the only remaining cause by
conferring the full and necessary power on the Secretary of the Treasury
and impose upon him the duty to uphold the present gold standard and
preserve the coins of the two metals on a parity with each other, which
is the repeatedly declared policy of the United States.
In this connection I repeat my former recommendations that a portion of
the gold holdings shall be placed in a trust fund from which greenbacks
shall be redeemed upon presentation, but when once redeemed shall not
thereafter be paid out except for gold.
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