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THE MAKING OF A NATION - Nation Is in Economic Trouble as Pr

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THE MAKING OF A NATION - Nation Is in Economic Trouble as President Cleveland Takes Office
By Frank Beardsley

Broadcast: Thursday, November 24, 2005

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America.

(MUSIC)

I'm Shirley Griffith. Today, Frank Oliver and I begin the story of Grover Cleveland's second presidency1.

VOICE TWO:

In March, eighteen eighty-nine, President Grover Cleveland left the White House after four years as President. He had been defeated by Benjamin Harrison.

As the President and his wife left, Misses Cleveland spoke2 with a member of the White House staff. She said: "I want you to take good care of everything. I want to find it the same when we come back. And we will be back...in four years."

 
Crowds gather outside the Capitol building for Grover Cleveland's inauguration3 in 1893
Misses Cleveland was right. She and her husband moved back into the White House after he became president again in eighteen ninety-three. Grover Cleveland is the only man to serve two terms separated by the administration of a different president.

VOICE ONE:

Cleveland did not want to be president again. But he was worried about the future of the United States. He did not think President Harrison could solve the serious economic problems the country faced.

President Harrison had approved very high taxes on imports. He also had approved an increase in the supply of silver money. Grover Cleveland said both actions had hurt the economy. He also feared that Harrison was not strong enough to oppose the demands of special interest groups in the Republican Party.

 
Benjamin Harrison
Cleveland believed he was the only Democrat4 who could defeat Harrison. He won his party's nomination5. And he was easily elected to a second presidency.

VOICE TWO:

Grover Cleveland immediately turned to the nation's economic problems. The country seemed headed for a serious depression.

Only a few days before Cleveland's second inauguration in eighteen ninety-three, a major railroad failed. Then another big company declared failure. This set off a selling panic on the stock market.

In the next few months, almost eight thousand businesses failed in the United States. Four hundred banks closed. One million workers lost their jobs. The prices of farm products fell lower than ever before. And thousands of farmers -- unable to pay their debts -- had to give up their farms.

VOICE ONE:

Experts offered a number of different reasons for the depression. Some said it was a plot by members of the stock market to ruin farmers and seize their land. Some said it happened because American factories were producing more goods than people could use. Still others said the problem was caused by the government's money policy.

For many years, the United States and other nations used both gold and silver as money. Paper money was used to represent a nation's gold and silver holdings. The value of silver was tied to the value of gold.

In the United States in the early eighteen hundreds, fifteen ounces of silver had the same value as one ounce of gold. This value did not change until after eighteen sixty. That was when mines in the western United States began to produce large amounts of silver. The extra silver caused the price of the metal to fall.

VOICE TWO:

In eighteen seventy-one, Germany declared that it would no longer support its paper money with silver. Instead, it would use only gold. Other European countries quickly did the same thing.

The United States did, too. In eighteen seventy-three, Congress passed a law that stopped the government from using silver as money. Western silver producers protested. They put great pressure on lawmakers to change the law. Five years later, Congress passed a compromise bill.

The compromise bill said the government could issue limited amounts of silver money. It said the government must buy two million dollars' worth of silver each month for that purpose.

VOICE ONE:

Twelve years later, during President Benjamin Harrison's administration, Congress passed a new silver purchase bill.

It said the government must buy four-and-one-half million ounces of silver each month. The Treasury6 Department would buy the silver with new paper money that could be exchanged for silver or gold. The new law increased the amount of silver money used in the United States.

The country soon became sharply divided on the issue of silver money.

Wealthy businessmen and bankers did not want to use silver money at all. They wanted the country's economy to be based only on gold. This was what was known as the "gold standard." They believed the gold standard would keep the value of the dollar high. Using silver, they said, made the dollar less valuable.

VOICE TWO:

Farmers, laborers7 and others wanted to use silver money. And they wanted an unlimited8 supply of it. Without silver, they said, the country's money supply would be too small. Gold would increase in value. People who had borrowed money would be hurt. They would have to pay back loans with dollars that were more valuable than those they had borrowed.

President Cleveland supported the gold standard. He opposed any use of silver for money. He said the United States should use only gold, as other nations did.

 
President Grover Cleveland
VOICE ONE:

President Cleveland was sure the silver purchase law of eighteen ninety had caused the economic depression. He explained the situation in this way:

The law had caused businessmen and investors9 to lose faith in the government's money policy. They were afraid their money would drop in value, as more silver money was put into use.

Investors began to withdraw their money from businesses. Banks began demanding early payment of loans. Everyone wanted gold. They took their paper money and their silver to the government and exchanged them for gold.

In eighteen ninety, when the Silver Purchase Act was passed, the government held almost two hundred ninety million dollars in gold. After two years, withdrawals10 had cut that amount to one hundred million dollars.

VOICE TWO:

President Cleveland and other administration officials began to worry. It was possible that gold holdings might fall so low the government could not support the dollar.

Cleveland decided11 the only answer was to get Congress to kill the silver purchase law. Then the government could stop buying silver. It could return to the gold standard.

The Congress was not in session, however. It would not meet again for several months. President Cleveland did not want to wait. He believed the problem was too serious. So, he called a special session of Congress.

The president did not expect an easy time with the Congress. Many congressmen supported silver money -- especially those congressmen from silver-producing states in the west.

VOICE ONE:

President Cleveland believed he could get Congress to kill the silver purchase law. But if he showed any weakness, the fight would be lost. Then, just before the congressional debate, he learned he would need an operation.

He felt a rough spot in the top of his mouth. It got bigger and more painful. Doctors examined the spot. It was a cancer. President Cleveland asked how long he could wait to have the cancer removed. "If it were in my mouth," one of the doctors said, "I would have it removed immediately."

VOICE TWO:

Cleveland agreed. But he said the operation would have to be kept secret. News from the White House often affected12 short-term activity on the stock market. News that the president's life was in danger could cause the nation's economic crisis to become worse.

Cleveland decided to have the operation on a friend's boat in New York Harbor. Newsmen were told he was going sailing with his friend.

Doctors made final preparations. They were not afraid of the operation. But they were afraid of what would happen if news of the operation were leaked to the press.

One of them spoke with the boat's captain. "If you hit an underwater rock," he said, "hit it good and hard, so we will all go to the bottom."

VOICE ONE:

As the boat moved slowly up the East River in New York, the doctors put President Cleveland to sleep with an anesthetic13 drug. Then they began the operation. That will be our story in the next program of THE MAKING OF A NATION.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THE MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Frank Oliver and Shirley Griffith. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.

(MUSIC)


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 presidency J1HzD     
n.总统(校长,总经理)的职位(任期)
参考例句:
  • Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
  • Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。
2 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
3 inauguration 3cQzR     
n.开幕、就职典礼
参考例句:
  • The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
  • Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。
4 democrat Xmkzf     
n.民主主义者,民主人士;民主党党员
参考例句:
  • The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
  • About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后,他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。
5 nomination BHMxw     
n.提名,任命,提名权
参考例句:
  • John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
  • Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。
6 treasury 7GeyP     
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库
参考例句:
  • The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
  • This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。
7 laborers c8c6422086151d6c0ae2a95777108e3c     
n.体力劳动者,工人( laborer的名词复数 );(熟练工人的)辅助工
参考例句:
  • Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言
8 unlimited MKbzB     
adj.无限的,不受控制的,无条件的
参考例句:
  • They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
  • There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。
9 investors dffc64354445b947454450e472276b99     
n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
  • a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会
10 withdrawals e8b79ee63bd5060c582d7b93a43ec3dd     
n.收回,取回,撤回( withdrawal的名词复数 );撤退,撤走;收回[取回,撤回,撤退,撤走]的实例;推出(组织),提走(存款),戒除毒瘾,对说过的话收回,孤僻
参考例句:
  • He has made several withdrawals from his bank account. 他从银行账户上提了几次款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • It is not the bank's policy to deduct interest on withdrawals. 提款需扣除利息这并非是本银行的政策。 来自辞典例句
11 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
12 affected TzUzg0     
adj.不自然的,假装的
参考例句:
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
13 anesthetic 8wHz9     
n.麻醉剂,麻药;adj.麻醉的,失去知觉的
参考例句:
  • He was given a general anesthetic.他被全身麻醉。
  • He was still under the influence of the anesthetic.他仍处在麻醉状态。

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