American capital has sought and found various opportunities of competing to carry out the internal improvements which the Imperial Government is wisely encouraging, and to develop the natural resources of the Empire.
William McKinley
The Public Record
William McKinley was the 25th President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1897, until his assassination on September 14, 1901. A member of the Republican Party, he was born in Ohio and previously served as the governor of Ohio from 1892 to 1896. McKinley is known for leading the nation to victory in the Spanish-American War and for implementing protective tariffs to bolster American industry while maintaining the gold standard.
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The whole question is so important and far-reaching that I am sure no part of it will be lightly considered, but every phase of it will have the studied deliberation of the Congress, resulting in wise and judicious action.
When organized, as they often are, to crush out all healthy competition and to monopolize the production or sale of an article of commerce and general necessity they are dangerous conspiracies against the public good, and should be made…
Whatever power the Congress possesses over this most important subject should be promptly ascertained and asserted.
If the present law can be extended more certainly to control or check these monopolies or trusts, it should be done without delay.
There must be a remedy for the evils involved in such organizations.
Combinations of capital organized into trusts to control the conditions of trade among our citizens, to stifle competition, limit production, and determine the prices of products used and consumed by the people, are justly provoking public…
The reestablishment of our merchant marine involves in a large measure our continued industrial progress and the extension of our commercial triumphs.
Last year American vessels transported a smaller share of our exports and imports than during any former year in all our history, and the measure of our dependence upon foreign shipping was painfully manifested to our people.
We shall fail to realize our opportunities, however, if we complacently regard only matters at home and blind ourselves to the necessity of securing our share in the valuable carrying trade of the world.
Our national development will be one-sided and unsatisfactory so long as the remarkable growth of our inland industries remains unaccompanied by progress on the seas.
The value of an American merchant marine to the extension of our commercial trade and the strengthening of our power upon the sea invites the immediate action of the Congress.
Increased activity in industry, with its welcome attendant--a larger employment for labor at higher wages--gives to the body of the people a larger power to absorb the circulating medium.
The combined imports and exports for the year are the largest ever shown by a single year in all our history.
The Fifty-sixth Congress convenes in its first regular session with the country in a condition of unusual prosperity, of universal good will among the people at home, and in relations of peace and friendship with every government of the…
The number of sugar factories has been doubled in the past two years, and the ability of the United States to produce its own sugar from this source has been clearly demonstrated.
This will be only an act of justice and will be much appreciated by the brave men who left their homes and employments to help the country in its emergency.
The part which American merchant vessels and their seamen performed in the war with Spain demonstrates that this service, furnishing both pickets and the second line of defense, is a national necessity, and should be encouraged in every…
It will be conceded that the present situation calls for legislation which shall be prompt, durable, and liberal.
It is our duty to furnish the people of Hawaii with facilities, under national control, for their export and import trade.
The annexation of Hawaii and the changed relations of the United States to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines resulting from the war, compel the prompt adoption of a maritime policy by the United States.
The United States Government has for many years advocated this humane and beneficent principle, and is now in position to recommend it to other powers without the imputation of selfish motives.
This purpose can probably best be accomplished by an international agreement to regard all private property at sea as exempt from capture or destruction by the forces of belligerent powers.
We desire, in common with most civilized nations, to reduce to the lowest possible point the damage sustained in time of war by peaceable trade and commerce.
The experiences of the last year bring forcibly home to us a sense of the burdens and the waste of war.
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