Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 6.djvu/239

Rh ley's imperialistic policy. I, for one, refuse to be so terrorized. I am certainly as anxious to maintain the gold standard as you are. I say this as one who, during more than a quarter of a century, has made the advocacy of a sound monetary system one of the principal parts of his public activity; who looks back upon that feature of his work with especial satisfaction, and who, if he has somewhat, however little, contributed to the accomplishment of good results, would not lightly expose those results to jeopardy. But I am convinced that the battle for sound money is substantially won, and that whatever apparent danger to the gold standard may still arise, it must and can be overcome without the people subjecting themselves to a moral thralldom keeping them from independent and conscientious action upon other public questions of equal, and even superior, importance. And I may assure you, Mr. Secretary, that there are such questions with regard to which many American citizens have very strong convictions of duty. 



When forty-three years ago, after five years' residence in the country, I became a citizen of this Republic, I took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. I understood that oath to mean that I would remain faithful to those principles of free government which are laid down in the Declaration of Independence and form the vital spirit of the fundamental law of our democracy. I was happy to feel that my sworn duty as an American citizen was in perfect harmony with my own cherished ideals of civil liberty, right and justice, and I have endeavored to keep my oath to the best of my knowledge and