INAUGURATION ADDRESS
OF PRESIDENT TAFT
NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE OUTLINES POLICIES
Definite Announcement That Extra Session of
Congress Will Be Called to Consider Tariff
Revision—Postal Savings Bank Is to Be
Pushed—Other Recommendations.
Washington, March 4. —President
Taft's inaugural address, delivered
after he had taken the oath of office,
was as follows:
My Fellow Citizens: Any one who
takes the oath I have just taken must
feel a heavy weight of responsibility.
If not, he has no conception of the
powers and duties of the office upon
which he is about to enter, or he is
lacking in a proper sense of the obli
gation which the oath imposes.
The office of an inaugural address
Is to give a summary outline of the
main policies of the new administra
tion, so far as they can be anticipated.
I have had the honor to be one of the
advisers of my distinguished prede- j
cessor, and as such, to hold up his i
hands in the reforms he has initiated. I
1 should be untrue to myself, to my ,
promises and to the declarations of 1
the party platform upon which I am
elected to office, if I did not make the
maintenance and enforcement of those
reforms a most important feature of
my administration. They were di- '
rected to the suppression of the law
lessness and abuses of jMWer of the
ureal, combinations of capital invested ,
in railroads and in industrial enter- j
prises carrying on interstate com- i
merce. The steps which my predeces-!
sor took and the legislation passed on
his recommendation have accom- |
plished much, have caused a general
halt in the vicious policies which cre
ated popular alarm, and have brought
about, in the business affected, a much
higher regard for existing law.
To render the reforms lasting, how
sver, and to secure at the same time
freedom from alarm on the part of
those pursuing proper and progres
sive business methods, further legisla
tive and executive action are needed.
Relief of the railroads from certain re
strictions of the anti-trust law have
been urged by my predecessor and will
be urged by rne. On the other hand,
the administration is pledged to legis
lation looking to a proper federal su
pervision and restriction to prevent ex
cessive issues of bonds and stocks by
companies owning and operating inter
state commerce railroads.
Then, too, a reorganization of tlu:
department of justice, of the burea*
of corporations in the department of
commerce and labor, and of the inter
state commerce commission, looking
to effective co-operation of these
agencies, is needed to secure a more
rapid and certain enforcement of the
laws affecting interstate railroads and
industrial combinations.
I hope to be able to submit, at the
first regular session of the incoming
congress, in December next, definite
suggestions in respect to the needed
amendments to the anti-trust and the
interstate commerce law, and the
changes required in the executive de
partments concerned in their enforce
ment.
It. is believed that with the changes
to be recommended, American busi
ness can be assured of that measure
of stability and certainty in respect to
those things that may be done and
those that are prohibited, which is es
sential to the life and growth of all
business. Such a plan must include
the right of the people to avail them
selves of those methods of combining
capital and effort deemed necessary
to reach the highest degree of econom
ic efficiency, at the same time dif
ferentiating between combinations
based upon legitimate economic rea
sons and those formed with the intent
of creating monopolies and artificially
controlling prices.
The work of formulating into prac
tical shape such changes is creative
work of the highest order, and re
quires all the deliberation possible in
the interval. I believe that the amend
ments to be proposed are just as nec
essary in the protection of legitimate
business as in the clinching of the re
forms which properly bear the name
of my predecessor.
Extra Session for March 15.
A matter of most pressing impor
tance is the revision of the tariff. In
accordance with the promises of the
platform upon which I was edected,
I shall call congress into extra session,
to meet on the fifteenth day of March,
in order that consideration may be at
once given to a bill revising the Ding
ley act. This should secure an ade
quate revenue and adjust the duties in
such a manner as to afford to labor
and to all industries in this country,
whethei ui the farm, mine or factory,
protection by tariff equal to the dif
ference between the cost of produc
tion abroad and the cost of production
here, and have a provision which
shall put into force, upon executive
determination of certain facts, a high
er or maximum tariff against those
countries whose trade policy toward
us equitably requires such discrimi
nation. It is thought that there has
been such a change in conditions since
•the enactment of the Dingley act,
drafted on a similarly protective prin
ciple, that the measure of the tariff
above stated will permit the reduction
of rates in certain schedules and will
require the advancement of few, if
any.
The proposal to revise the tariff
made in such an authoritative way as
to lead the business community to
count upon it, necessarily halts all
those branches of business directly af
fected, and as these are most impor
tant, it disturbs the whole business of
the country. It. is imperatively neces
sary, therefore, that a tariff bill be
drawn in good faith in accordance
witli promises made before the elec
tion by the party in power, and as
promptly passed as due consideration
will permit. It is not that the tariff
is more important in the long run than
the perfecting of the reforms in re
spect to anti-trust legislation and in
terstate commerce regulation, but the
need for action when the revision of
the tariff lias been determined upon,
is more immediate to avoid embar
rassment of business. To secure the
needed speed in the passage of the
tariff bill, it would seem wise to at
tempt no other legislation at the ex
tra session* I venture this as a sug
gestion only, for the course to be tak
en by congress, upon the call of the
executive, is wholly within its discre
tion.
For Graduated Inheritance Tax.
In the making of a tariff bill, the
prime motive is taxation, and the se
curing thereby of a revenue. Due
largely to the business depression
which followed the financial panic of
1907, the reverue from customs and
other sources i .s decreased to such an
extent that the expenditures for the
current fiscal year will exceed the re
ceipts by $100,000,000. It is impera
tive that such a deficit shall not con
tinue, and the framers of the tariff
bill must of course have in mind the
total revenues likely to be produced
by it.and so arrange the duties as to,
secure an adequate income. Should it
be impossible to do so by import du
ties, new kinds of taxation must be
adopted, and among these I recom
mend a graduated inheritance tax, as
correct in principle and as certain and
easy of collection.
The obligation on the part of those
responsible for theexpenditures madeto
carry on the government, to be as eco
nomical as possible, and to make the
burden of taxation as light as possible,
is plain and should be affirmed in
every declaration of government pol
icy. This is especially true when we
are face to face with a heavy deficit.
But when the desire to win the popu
lar approval leads to the cutting off
of expenditures really needed to make
the government effective, and to en
able it to accomplish its proper ob
jects, the result is as much to be con
demned as the waste of government
funds in unnecessary expenditure. The
scope of a modern government in
what it can and ought to accomplish
for its people has been widened far
beyond the principles laid down by
the old laissez faire school of political
writers, and this widening has met
popular approval.
In (lie department of agriculture, the
use of scientific experiments on a
large scale, and the spread of informa
tion derived from them for the im
provement of general agriculture, must
goon.
The importance of supervising busi
ness of great railways and indus
trial combinations, and the necessary
investigation and prosecution of un
lawful business methods, are another
necessary tax upon government which
did not exist half a century ago.
Necessary Expenditures.
The putting into force of laws which
shall secure the conservation of our
resources, so far as they may be with
in the jurisdiction of the federal gov
ernment, including the most impor
tant work of saving and restoring our
forests, and the general improvement
of waterways, are all proper govern
ment functions which must involve
largo expenditure if properly per
formed. While some of them, like the
reclamation of arid lands, are made
to pay for themselves, others are of
such an indirect benefit that this can
not be expected of them. A perma
nent improvement, like the Panama
canal, should be treated as a distinct
Muterprise, and should be paid for by
the proceeds of bonds, the issue of
which will distribute its cost between
the present and future generations in
accordance with the benefits derived.
It may well be submitted to the seri
ous consideration of congress whether
the deepening and control of the chan
nel of a great river system, like that
of the Ohio or of the Mississippi, when
definite and practical plans for the
enterprise have been approved and
determined upon, should not be pro
vided for in the same way.
Then, too, there are expenditures
of government absolutely necessary if
our country is to maintain its proper
place among the nations of the world.
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS., THURSDAY MARCH 11, 1909.
and is to exercise its proper influence
in defense of its own trade interests,
in the maintenance of traditional
American policy against the coloniza
tion of European monarchies in this
hemisphere, and in the promotion of
peace and international morality. I
refer to the cost of maintaining a
proper army, a proper navy and suit
able fortifications upon the mainland
of the United States and in its depend
encies.
We should have an army so organ
ized, and so officered, as to be capable
in time of emergency, in co-operation
with the national militia, and under
the provisions of a proper national
volunteer law, rapidly to expand into
a force sufficient to resist all probable
invasion from abroad and to furnish
a respectable expeditionary force, if
necessary, in the maintenance of our
traditional American policy which
bears the name of President Monroe.
Calls for Army and Navy.
Our fortifications are yet in a state
of only partial completeness and the
number of men toman them is insuffi
cient. In a few years, however, the
usual annual appropriations for our
coast defenses both on the mainland
and in the dependencies, will make
them sufficient to resist all direct at
tack, and by that time we may hope
that the men toman them will be pro
vided as a necessary adjunct. The
distance of our shores from Europe
and Asia of course reduces the neces
sity for maintaining under arms a
great army, but it does not take away
the requirement of mere prudence,
that we should have an army suffi
ciently large and so constituted as to
form a nucleus out of which a suit
able force can quickly grow.
What has been said of the army
may be affirmed in even a more em
phatic way of the navy. A modern
navy cannot be improvised. It must
be built and in existence when the
emergency arises which calls for its
use and operation. My distinguished
predecessor has in many speeches and
messages set out with great force and
striking language the necessity for
maintaining a strong navy commensur
ate with the coast line, the govern
mental resources and the foreign trade
of our nation; and I wish to reiterate
all the reasons which he has pre
sented in favor of the policy of main
taining a strong navy as the best con
servator of our peace with other na
tions and the best means of securing
respect for the assertion of our rights,
the defense of our interests and the
exercise of our influence in interna
tional matters.
Our international policy is always
to promote peace. We shall enter
into any war with a full conscious
ness of the awful consequences that
it always entails, whether successful
or not, and we, of course, shall make
every effort, consistent with national
honor and the highest national inter
est, to avoid a resort to arms. We
favor every Instrumentality, like that
of The Hague tribunal and arbitration
treaties made with a view to its use
in all international controversies, in
order to maintain peace and to avoid
war. But we should be blind to ex
isting conditions, and should allow
ourselves to become foolish idealists,
if we did not realize that with all the
nations of the world armed and pre
pared for war, we must be ourselves
in a similar condition, in order to pre
vent other nations from taking ad
vantage of us and of our inability to
defend our interests and assert our
rights with a strong hand. In the
international controversies that are
likely to arise in tho orient, growing
out of the question of the open door
and other issues, the United States
can maintain her interests Intact and
can secure respect for her just de
mands. She will not be able to do so,
however, if it is understood that she
never intends to back up her asser
tion of right and her defense of her
interest by anything but more verbal
protest and diplomatic note. For
these reasons, the expenses of the
army and navy and of coast defenses
should always bo considered as some
thing which the government must pay
for, and they should not be cut off
through mere consideration of econ
omy. Our government is able to af
ford a suitable army and a suitable
navy. It may maintain them without
tho slightest danger to the republic
or the cause of free institutions, and
fear of additional taxation ought not
to change a proper policy in this re
gard.
The policy of the United States in
the Spanish war, and since, has given
it a position of influence among the
nations that it never had before, and
should be constantly exerted to se
curing to its bona fide citizens, wheth
er native or naturalized, respect for
them as such in foreign countries.
We should make every effort to pre
vent humiliating • and degrading pro
hibition against any of our citizens
wishing temporarily to sojourn in for
eign countries, because of race or re
ligion.
Defect in Federal Jurisdiction.
The admission of Asiatic immi
grants who can not be amalgamated
with our population has been made
tho subject either of prohibitory
clauses in our treaties and statutes,
or of strict administrative regulation
secured by diplomatic negotiation. I
sincerely hope that we may continue
to minimize the evils likely to arise
from such immigration without un
necessary friction and by mutual con
cessions between self-respecting gov
ernments. Meantime, we must take
every precaution to prevent, or, fail
ing that, to punish outbursts of race
feeling among our people against for
eigners of whatever nationality who
have by our grant, a treaty right to
pursue lawful business here and to be
protected against lawless assault or
injury.
I This leads me to point out a serious
defect In the present federal jurisdic
tion which ought to be remedied at
once. Having assured to other coun
tries by treaty the protection of our
laws for such of their subjects or
citizens as we permit to come within
our jurisdiction, wo now leave to a
state or a city, not under the control
of the federal government, a duty o t
performing our international obliga
tions in this respect. Hy proper legis
lation we may, and ought to, place in
the hands of the federal executive the
means of enforcing the treaty rights
of such aliens in the courts of the fed
eral government. It puts our govern
ment in a pusillanimous position to
make definite engagements to protect
aliens and then to excuse the failure
to perform those engagements by an
explanation that the duty to keep
them is in states or cities, not within
,our control. If we would promise, we
must put ourselves in a position to
perform our promise. We cannot per
mit the possible failure of justice due
to local prejudice in any state or mu
nicipal government to expose us to
the risk of a war which might be
avoided if federal jurisdiction was as
serted by suitable legislation by con
gress and carried out by proper pro
ceedings instituted by the executive,
in the courts of the national govern
ment.
Monetary and Banking Laws.
One of the reforms to be carried
out during the incoming administra
tion is a change of our monetary and
banking laws, so as to secure greater
elasticity in the forms of currency
available for trade, and to prevent the
limitations of law from operating to
increase the embarrassments of a
financial panic. Tho monetary com
mission lately appointed is giving full
consideration to existing conditions
and to all proposed remedies, and will
doubtless suggest one that will meet
the requirements of business and of
public interest. We may hope that
the report will embody neither the nar
row view of those who believe that the
sole purpose of the new system should
be to secure''a large return on bank
ing capital or of those who would
have greater expansion of currency
with little regard to provisions for Its
immediate redemption or ultimate se
curity. There is no subject of eco
nomic discussion so intricate and so
likely to evoke differing views and
dogmatic statements as this one. The
commission in studying the general in
fluence of currency on business and
of business on currency, have wisely
extended their investigation in Euro
pean banking and monetary methods.
Urges Postal Savings Banks.
The incoming congress should
promptly fulfill the promise of the Re
publican platform and pass a proper
postal savings bank bill. It will not
be unwise or excessive paternalism.
The promise to repay by the govern
ment will furnish an inducement to
savings deposits which private enter
prise cannot supply, and at such a low
rate of interest as not to withdraw
custom from existing banks. It will
substantially increase the funds avail
able for investment as capital in use
ful enterprises. It will furnish the
absolute security which makes the
proposed scheme of guar
anty of deposits so alluring without
its pernicious results.
I sincerely hope that the incoming
congress will be alive, as it should be,
to the importance of our foreign trade
and of encouraging it in every way
feasible. The possibility of increas
ing this trade in the orient, in the
Philippines and in South America are
known to everyone who has given the
matter attention.
The importance which the depart
ment of agriculture and of commerce
and labor may play in ridding the
markets of Europe of prohibitions and
discriminations against the Importa
tion of our products is fully under
stood, and it is hoped that the use of
the maximum and minimum feature
of our tariff law to be soon passed
will be effective to remove many of
those restrictions.
The Panama Canal.
The Panama canal will have a most
important bearing upon the trade be
tween the eastern and the far western
sections of our country, and will great
ly increase the facilities for transpor
tation between the eastern and west
ern seaboard, and may possibly revo
lutionize the transcontinental rates
with respect to bulky merchandise. It
will also have a most beneficial effect
to increase tho trade between the east
ern seaboard of the United States and
the western coast of South America,
and, indeed, with some of the im
portant ports on the east coast of
South America reached by rail from
the west coast. The work on the
canal is making most satisfactory
progress. Tho type of the canal as a
lock canal was fixed by congress after
a full consideration of the conflicting
reports of the majority and minority
of the consulting board, and after the
recommendation of the war depart
ment and the executive upon those
reports. Recent suggestion that some
thing had occurred on the isthmus to
make the lock type of the canal less
feasible than it was supposed to be
when the reports were made and the
policy determined on, led to a visit to
th 3 isthmus of a board of competent
engineers to examine the Gatun dam
and locks which are the key of the
lock type. The report of that board
shows that nothing has occurred in
the nature of newly revealed evi
dence which should change the views
onse formed in original discussion.
The construction will goon under a
most effective organization controlled
by Col. Goethals and his fellow army
engineers associated with him. and
will certainly be completed early in
the next administration, if not before.
Some type of canal must be con
structed. .The lock type has been se-
lected. We are all in favor of having
it built as promptly as possible. We
*nust not now, therefore, keep up a fire
in the rear of the agents whom we
have authorized to do our work on the
Isthmus. We must hold up their
hands, and speaking for the incoming
administration, I wish to say that I
propose to devote all the energy pos
sible and under my control, to the
pushing of this work on the plans
which have been adopted, and to stand
behind the men who are doing faithful
hard work to bring about the early
completion of this, the greatest con
structive enterprise of modern times.
The governments of our dependen
cies in Porto Rico and the Philippines
are progressing as favorably as could
be desired. The prosperity of Porto
Rico continues unabated. The busi
ness conditions in the Philippines are
not all that we could wish them to be,
but with the passage of the new tariff
bill permitting free trade between the
United States and the archipelago,
with such limitations in sugar and to
bacco as shall prevent injury to the
domestic interests on those products,
we can count on an improvement in
business conditions in the Philippines
and the development of a mutually
profitable trade between this country
and the islands. Meantime our gov
ernment in each dependency is up
holding the traditions of civil liberty
and increasing popular control which
might be expected under American au
spices. The work which we are doing
there redounds to our credit as a na
tion.
Cites Progress of Negroes.
I look forward with hope tq increas
ing the already good feeling between
the south and the other sections of
the country. My chief purpose is not
to effect a change in the electoral vote
of the southern states. That is a sec
ondary consideration. What I look for
ward to is an increase in the tolerance
of political views of all kinds and their
advocacy throughout the south, and
the existence of a respectable political
opposition in every state; even more
than this, to an increased feeling on
the part of all the people In the south
that this, government is their govern
ment, and that its officers in their
states are their officers.
The consideration of this question
cannot, however, be complete and full
with reference to the negro race,
its progress and its present condition.
The 13th amendment secured them
freedom; the 14th amendment due
process of law, protection of property
and the pursuit of happiness; and the
16th amendment attempted to secure
the negro against any deprivation of
tho priviliege to vote, because he was
a negro. The 13th and 14th amend
ments have been generally enforced
and have secured the objects for
which they were intended. While the
iCth amendment has not been gener
ally observed in the past, it ought to
be observed, and the tendency of
southern legislation to-day is toward
the enactment of electoral qualifica
tions which shall square with that
amendment. Of course, the mere
adoption of a constitutional law is
only one step in the right direction.
It must be fairly and justly enforced
as well. In time both will come.
Hence it is clear to all that the dom
ination of an ignorant, irresponsible
element can be prevented by consti
tutional laws which shall exclude from
voting both negroes and whites not
having education or other qualifica
tions thought to be necessary for a
proper electorate. The danger of the
control of an ignorant electorate lias
therefore passed. With this change,
the interest which many of the south
ern white citizens take in the welfare
of the negroes has increased. The
colored man must base their hope on
the results of their own industry, self
restraint, thrift and business success,
as well as upon the aid and comfort
and sympathy which they may receive
from their white neighbors of the
south. There was a time when north
erners who sympathized with the ne-'
groin his necessary struggle for bet
ter conditions sought to give to him
the suffrage as a protection, and to
enforce its exercise against the pre
vailing sentiment of the south. The
movement proved to be a failure.
What remains is the 15th amendment
to the constitution and the right to
have statutes .of states specifying
qualifications for electors subjected to
the test of compliance with that
amendment. This is a great protec
tion to the negro. It will never be re
pealed, and it never ought to be re
pealed. If it had not been passsed, it
might be difficult now to adopt it; but
with it in our fundamental law, the
policy of southern legislation must and
will tend to obey it, and so long as
the statutes of the states meet the
test of this amendment and are not
otherwise in conflict with the consti
tution and laws of the United States,
it is not the disposition or within the
province of the federal government to
interfere with the regulation by south
ern slates of their domestic affairs
There is in the south a stronger feel
ing than ever among the intelligent,
well-to-do and influential element in
favor of the industrial education of
the negro and the encouragement of
the race to make themselves useful
members of the community. The
progress which the negro has made in
the last 50 years from slavery, when
its statistics are reviewed, is marvel
ous, and it furnishes every reason to
hope that in the next 25 years a still
greater improvement in his condition
as a productive member of society, on
the farm, and in the shop and in other
occupations, may come.# The negroes
are now Americans. Their ancestors
came here years ago against their 1
will, and this is their only country
and their only flag. They have shown
themselves anxious to live for it and
wi'Jing to die for it. Encountering
1 the race feeling against them, sub-
jecf«d at times to cruel injustice grow-,
ing out of it, they may well have our
profound sympathy and aid in tha 1
struggle they are making. We ar*
charged with the sacred duty of mak
ing their path as smooth and easy
as we can. Any recognition of their
distinguished men, any appointment
to office from among their number, is
properly taken as an encouragement,
and an appreciation of their progress,
and this just policy shall be pursued.
Sees Era of Better Feeling.
But it may well admit of doubt
whether, in the case of any race, an
appointment of one of their number
to a local office in a community in
which the race feeling is so wide
spread and acute as to interfere with
the ease and facility with which tho
local government business can be
done by the appointee, is of sufficient
benefit by way of encouragement to
the race to outweigh the recurrence
and increase of race feeling with such
an appointment is likely to engender.
Therefore, the executive, in recogniz
ing the negro race by appointments,
must exercise a careful discretion not
thereby to do it more harm than good.
On the other hand we must be careful
not to encourage the mere pretense
of race feeling manufactured in the in
terest of individual political ambition.
Personally I have not the slightest
race prejudice or feeling, and recogni
tion of its existence only awakens in
my heart a deeper sympathy for those
who have to bear it or suffer from it,
and I question the wisdom of a policy
which is likely to increase it. Mean
time, if nothing is done to prevent, a
better feeling between the negroes
and the whites in the south will con
tinue to grow, and more and more of
the white people will come to realize
that the future of the south is to be
much benefited by the industrial and
intellectual progress of the negro.
The exercise of political franchises by
those of his race who are intelligent
and well-to-do will be acquiesced in,
and the right to vote will be withheld
only from the ignorant and irresponsi
ble of both races.
Labor Legislation.
There is one other matter to which
I shall refer. It was made the subject
of great controversy during the elec
tion, and calls for at least a passing
reference now. My distinguished prede
cessor has given much attention to the
cause of labor, with whose struggle
for better things he has shown the sin
cerest sympathy. At his instance, con
gress has passed the bill fixing the lia
bility of interstate carriers to their
employes for injury sustained in the
course of employment, abolishing the
rule of fellow-servant and the common
law rule as to contributory negligence.
It has also passed a law fixing the
compensation of government employes
for injuries sustained in the employ
of the government through the negli
gence of the superior. It also passed
a model child labor law for the Dis
trict of Columbia. In previous admin
istrations an arbitrary law for inter
state commerce railroads and their
employes, and laws for the application
of safety devices to save the lives and
limbs of employes of interstate rail
roads had been passed. Additional
legislation of this kind was passed by
the outgoing congress.
I wish to say that in so far as I
can, I hope to promote the enactment
of further legislation of this charac
ter. I am strongly convinced that the
government should make itself as re
sponsible to employes injured in its
employ as an interstate railway cor
poration is made responsible by fed
eral law to its employes.
Federal Injunctions Upheld.
Another labor question has arisen
which has awakened the most excited
discussion. That is in respect to the
power of the federal courts to issue in
junctions in industrial disputes. As
to that, my convictions are fixed. Take
away from the courts, if it could be
taken away, the power to issue in
junctions in labor disputes, and it
would create a privileged class among
the laborers and save the lawless
among their number from a most need
ful remedy available to all men for
the protection of their business against
lawless invasion. The proposition
that business is not a property or pe
cuniary right which can be protected
by equitable injunction is utterly
without foundation in precedent or
reason. The proposition is usually
linked with one to make the second
ary boycott lawful. Such a proposi
tion is at variance with the American
instinct and will find no support in
my judgment when submitted to the
American people. The secondary boy
cott is an instrument of tyranny, and
ought not to be made legitimate.
The issuing of a temporary restrain
ing order without notice has in sev
eral Instances been abused by its In
considerate exercise, and to remedy
this, the platform upon which I was
elected recommends the formulation in .
a. statute of the conditions under
which such a temporary restraining
order ought to issue. A statute can
and ought to be framed to embody the
best modern practioe, and can bring
the subject so closely to the atten
tion of the court as to make abuses of
the process unlikely in the future.
American people, if I understand them,
insist that the authority of the courts
shall bo sustained and are opposed to
any change in the procedure by which
the powers of a court may be weak- "•
ened and the fearless and effective ad
ministration of justice be interfered '
With.
Having thus reviewed the questions ■
likely to recur during my administra
tion, and having expressed in a sum
mary way the position which I expect
to take in recommendations to con
gress and in my conduct as an ex
ecutive, I invoke the considerate sym
pathy and support of my fellow citi
zens, and the aid of Almighty God in
the discharge of my responsible du
ties.
3