1894 State of the Union Address

The 1894 State of the Union Address was written on Monday, December 4, 1894, by Grover Cleveland, the 24th United States president, to both houses of the 53rd United States Congress. It was his sixth address.

1894 State of the Union Address

Date	December 4, 1894 (1894-12-04)
Venue	House Chamber, United States Capitol
Location	Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38°53′23″N 77°00′32″W
Type	State of the Union Address
Participants	Grover Cleveland
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Themes

The address mentions several foreign policy matters including the end of the Brazilian civil war. Other matters included the budget and the fading threat of any additional Native American conflicts. On the subject of monetary policy the President said:

Nothing could be worse or further removed from sensible finance than the relations existing between the currency the Government has issued, the gold held for its redemption, and the means which must be resorted to for the purpose of replenishing such redemption fund when impaired. Even if the claims upon this fund were confined to the obligations originally intended and if the redemption of these obligations meant their cancellation, the fund would be very small. But these obligations when received and redeemed in gold are not canceled, but are reissued and may do duty many times by way of drawing gold from the Treasury. Thus we have an endless chain in operation constantly depleting the Treasury’s gold and never near a final rest. As if this was not bad enough, we have, by a statutory declaration that it is the policy of the Government to maintain the parity between gold and silver, aided the force and momentum of this exhausting process and added largely to the currency obligations claiming this peculiar gold redemption. Our small gold reserve is thus subject to drain from every side. The demands that increase our danger also increase the necessity of protecting this reserve against depletion, and it is most unsatisfactory to know that the protection afforded is only a temporary palliation.