Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 4 (of 7)Roosevelt, Theodore
History
Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 4 (of 7)
Roosevelt, Theodore
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919; United States -- Politics and government -- 1901-1909
I earnestly recommend to the Congress the need of economy and to this
end of a rigid scrutiny of appropriations. As examples merely, I
call your attention to one or two specific matters. All unnecessary
offices should be abolished. The Commissioner of the General Land
Office recommends the abolishment of the office of receiver of public
moneys for United States land offices. This will effect a saving of
about a quarter of a million dollars a year. As the business of the
Nation grows it is inevitable that there should be from time to time a
legitimate increase in the number of officials, and this fact renders
it all the more important that when offices become unnecessary they
should be abolished. In the public printing also a large saving of
public money can be made. There is a constantly growing tendency to
publish masses of unimportant information. It is probably not unfair to
say that many tens of thousands of volumes are published at which no
human being ever looks and for which there is no real demand whatever.
Yet, in speaking of economy, I must in no wise be understood
as advocating the false economy which is in the end the worst
extravagance. To cut down on the Navy, for instance, would be a crime
against the Nation. To fail to push forward all work on the Panama
Canal would be as great a folly.
* * * * *
In my Message of December 2, 1902, to the Congress I said:
“Interest rates are a potent factor in business activity, and in
order that these rates may be equalized to meet the varying needs
of the seasons and of widely separated communities, and to prevent
the recurrence of financial stringencies which injuriously affect
legitimate business, it is necessary that there should be an element
of elasticity in our monetary system. Banks are the natural servants
of commerce, and upon them should be placed, as far as practicable,
the burden of furnishing and maintaining a circulation adequate to
supply the needs of our diversified industries and of our domestic and
foreign commerce; and the issue of this should be so regulated that a
sufficient supply should be always available for the business interests
of the country.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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