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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5032-h.zip b/5032-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b598689 --- /dev/null +++ b/5032-h.zip diff --git a/5032-h/5032-h.htm b/5032-h/5032-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb87b9b --- /dev/null +++ b/5032-h/5032-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,17446 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en"> + +<head> + +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> + +<title> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of State of the Union Addresses, by Theodore Roosevelt +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +body { color: black; + background: white; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +p {text-indent: 4% } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 200%; + text-align: center } + +p.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center } + +p.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center } + +p.t3b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center } + +p.t4b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 60%; + text-align: center } + +h1 { text-align: center } +h2 { text-align: center } +h3 { text-align: center } +h4 { text-align: center } +h5 { text-align: center } + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +p.contents {text-indent: -3%; + margin-left: 5% } + +p.thought {text-indent: 0% ; + letter-spacing: 4em ; + text-align: center } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.transnote {text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.intro {font-size: 90% ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.quote {text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of State of the Union Addresses of Theodore +Roosevelt, by Theodore Roosevelt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: State of the Union Addresses of Theodore Roosevelt + +Author: Theodore Roosevelt + +Posting Date: December 3, 2014 [EBook #5032] +Release Date: February, 2004 +First Posted: April 11, 2002 +Last Updated: December 16, 2004 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESSES *** + + + + +Produced by James Linden. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1> +<br /><br /><br /> +State of the Union Addresses of Theodore Roosevelt +</h1> + +<p class="noindent"> +<br /><br /> +The addresses are separated by three asterisks: *** +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +Dates of addresses by Theodore Roosevelt in this eBook: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> + <a href="#dec1901">December 3, 1901</a><br /> + <a href="#dec1902">December 2, 1902</a><br /> + <a href="#dec1903">December 7, 1903</a><br /> + <a href="#dec1904">December 6, 1904</a><br /> + <a href="#dec1905">December 5, 1905</a><br /> + <a href="#dec1906">December 3, 1906</a><br /> + <a href="#dec1907">December 3, 1907</a><br /> + <a href="#dec1908">December 8, 1908</a><br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3"> +*** +</p> + +<p><a id="dec1901"></a></p> + +<p class="noindent"> +State of the Union Address<br /> +Theodore Roosevelt<br /> +December 3, 1901<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To the Senate and House of Representatives: +</p> + +<p> +The Congress assembles this year under the shadow of a great calamity. +On the sixth of September, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist +while attending the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, and died in +that city on the fourteenth of that month. +</p> + +<p> +Of the last seven elected Presidents, he is the third who has been +murdered, and the bare recital of this fact is sufficient to justify +grave alarm among all loyal American citizens. Moreover, the +circumstances of this, the third assassination of an American +President, have a peculiarly sinister significance. Both President +Lincoln and President Garfield were killed by assassins of types +unfortunately not uncommon in history; President Lincoln falling a +victim to the terrible passions aroused by four years of civil war, and +President Garfield to the revengeful vanity of a disappointed +office-seeker. President McKinley was killed by an utterly depraved +criminal belonging to that body of criminals who object to all +governments, good and bad alike, who are against any form of popular +liberty if it is guaranteed by even the most just and liberal laws, and +who are as hostile to the upright exponent of a free people's sober +will as to the tyrannical and irresponsible despot. +</p> + +<p> +It is not too much to say that at the time of President McKinley's +death he was the most widely loved man in all the United States; while +we have never had any public man of his position who has been so wholly +free from the bitter animosities incident to public life. His political +opponents were the first to bear the heartiest and most generous +tribute to the broad kindliness of nature, the sweetness and gentleness +of character which so endeared him to his close associates. To a +standard of lofty integrity in public life he united the tender +affections and home virtues which are all-important in the make-up of +national character. A gallant soldier in the great war for the Union, +he also shone as an example to all our people because of his conduct in +the most sacred and intimate of home relations. There could be no +personal hatred of him, for he never acted with aught but consideration +for the welfare of others. No one could fail to respect him who knew +him in public or private life. The defenders of those murderous +criminals who seek to excuse their criminality by asserting that it is +exercised for political ends, inveigh against wealth and irresponsible +power. But for this assassination even this base apology cannot be +urged. +</p> + +<p> +President McKinley was a man of moderate means, a man whose stock +sprang from the sturdy tillers of the soil, who had himself belonged +among the wage-workers, who had entered the Army as a private soldier. +Wealth was not struck at when the President was assassinated, but the +honest toil which is content with moderate gains after a lifetime of +unremitting labor, largely in the service of the public. Still less was +power struck at in the sense that power is irresponsible or centered in +the hands of any one individual. The blow was not aimed at tyranny or +wealth. It was aimed at one of the strongest champions the wage-worker +has ever had; at one of the most faithful representatives of the system +of public rights and representative government who has ever risen to +public office. President McKinley filled that political office for +which the entire people vote, and no President not even Lincoln +himself--was ever more earnestly anxious to represent the well +thought-out wishes of the people; his one anxiety in every crisis was +to keep in closest touch with the people--to find out what they thought +and to endeavor to give expression to their thought, after having +endeavored to guide that thought aright. He had just been reelected to +the Presidency because the majority of our citizens, the majority of +our farmers and wage-workers, believed that he had faithfully upheld +their interests for four years. They felt themselves in close and +intimate touch with him. They felt that he represented so well and so +honorably all their ideals and aspirations that they wished him to +continue for another four years to represent them. +</p> + +<p> +And this was the man at whom the assassin struck That there might be +nothing lacking to complete the Judas-like infamy of his act, he took +advantage of an occasion when the President was meeting the people +generally; and advancing as if to take the hand out-stretched to him in +kindly and brotherly fellowship, he turned the noble and generous +confidence of the victim into an opportunity to strike the fatal blow. +There is no baser deed in all the annals of crime. +</p> + +<p> +The shock, the grief of the country, are bitter in the minds of all who +saw the dark days, while the President yet hovered between life and +death. At last the light was stilled in the kindly eyes and the breath +went from the lips that even in mortal agony uttered no words save of +forgiveness to his murderer, of love for his friends, and of faltering +trust in the will of the Most High. Such a death, crowning the glory of +such a life, leaves us with infinite sorrow, but with such pride in +what he had accomplished and in his own personal character, that we +feel the blow not as struck at him, but as struck at the Nation We +mourn a good and great President who is dead; but while we mourn we are +lifted up by the splendid achievements of his life and the grand +heroism with which he met his death. +</p> + +<p> +When we turn from the man to the Nation, the harm done is so great as +to excite our gravest apprehensions and to demand our wisest and most +resolute action. This criminal was a professed anarchist, inflamed by +the teachings of professed anarchists, and probably also by the +reckless utterances of those who, on the stump and in the public press, +appeal to the dark and evil spirits of malice and greed, envy and +sullen hatred. The wind is sowed by the men who preach such doctrines, +and they cannot escape their share of responsibility for the whirlwind +that is reaped. This applies alike to the deliberate demagogue, to the +exploiter of sensationalism, and to the crude and foolish visionary +who, for whatever reason, apologizes for crime or excites aimless +discontent. +</p> + +<p> +The blow was aimed not at this President, but at all Presidents; at +every symbol of government. President McKinley was as emphatically the +embodiment of the popular will of the Nation expressed through the +forms of law as a New England town meeting is in similar fashion the +embodiment of the law-abiding purpose and practice of the people of the +town. On no conceivable theory could the murder of the President be +accepted as due to protest against "inequalities in the social order," +save as the murder of all the freemen engaged in a town meeting could +be accepted as a protest against that social inequality which puts a +malefactor in jail. Anarchy is no more an expression of "social +discontent" than picking pockets or wife-beating. +</p> + +<p> +The anarchist, and especially the anarchist in the United States, is +merely one type of criminal, more dangerous than any other because he +represents the same depravity in a greater degree. The man who +advocates anarchy directly or indirectly, in any shape or fashion, or +the man who apologizes for anarchists and their deeds, makes himself +morally accessory to murder before the fact. The anarchist is a +criminal whose perverted instincts lead him to prefer confusion and +chaos to the most beneficent form of social order. His protest of +concern for workingmen is outrageous in its impudent falsity; for if +the political institutions of this country do not afford opportunity to +every honest and intelligent son of toil, then the door of hope is +forever closed against him. The anarchist is everywhere not merely the +enemy of system and of progress, but the deadly foe of liberty. If ever +anarchy is triumphant, its triumph will last for but one red moment, to +be succeeded, for ages by the gloomy night of despotism. +</p> + +<p> +For the anarchist himself, whether he preaches or practices his +doctrines, we need not have one particle more concern than for any +ordinary murderer. He is not the victim of social or political +injustice. There are no wrongs to remedy in his case. The cause of his +criminality is to be found in his own evil passions and in the evil +conduct of those who urge him on, not in any failure by others or by +the State to do justice to him or his. He is a malefactor and nothing +else. He is in no sense, in no shape or way, a "product of social +conditions," save as a highwayman is "produced" by the fact than an +unarmed man happens to have a purse. It is a travesty upon the great +and holy names of liberty and freedom to permit them to be invoked in +such a cause. No man or body of men preaching anarchistic doctrines +should be allowed at large any more than if preaching the murder of +some specified private individual. Anarchistic speeches, writings, and +meetings are essentially seditious and treasonable. +</p> + +<p> +I earnestly recommend to the Congress that in the exercise of its wise +discretion it should take into consideration the coming to this country +of anarchists or persons professing principles hostile to all +government and justifying the murder of those placed in authority. Such +individuals as those who not long ago gathered in open meeting to +glorify the murder of King Humbert of Italy perpetrate a crime, and the +law should ensure their rigorous punishment. They and those like them +should be kept out of this country; and if found here they should be +promptly deported to the country whence they came; and far-reaching +provision should be made for the punishment of those who stay. No +matter calls more urgently for the wisest thought of the Congress. +</p> + +<p> +The Federal courts should be given jurisdiction over any man who kills +or attempts to kill the President or any man who by the Constitution or +by law is in line of succession for the Presidency, while the +punishment for an unsuccessful attempt should be proportioned to the +enormity of the offense against our institutions. +</p> + +<p> +Anarchy is a crime against the whole human race; and all mankind should +band against the anarchist. His crime should be made an offense against +the law of nations, like piracy and that form of man-stealing known as +the slave trade; for it is of far blacker infamy than either. It should +be so declared by treaties among all civilized powers. Such treaties +would give to the Federal Government the power of dealing with the +crime. +</p> + +<p> +A grim commentary upon the folly of the anarchist position was afforded +by the attitude of the law toward this very criminal who had just taken +the life of the President. The people would have torn him limb from +limb if it had not been that the law he defied was at once invoked in +his behalf. So far from his deed being committed on behalf of the +people against the Government, the Government was obliged at once to +exert its full police power to save him from instant death at the hands +of the people. Moreover, his deed worked not the slightest dislocation +in our governmental system, and the danger of a recurrence of such +deeds, no matter how great it might grow, would work only in the +direction of strengthening and giving harshness to the forces of order. +No man will ever be restrained from becoming President by any fear as +to his personal safety. If the risk to the President's life became +great, it would mean that the office would more and more come to be +filled by men of a spirit which would make them resolute and merciless +in dealing with every friend of disorder. This great country will not +fall into anarchy, and if anarchists should ever become a serious +menace to its institutions, they would not merely be stamped out, but +would involve in their own ruin every active or passive sympathizer +with their doctrines. The American people are slow to wrath, but when +their wrath is once kindled it burns like a consuming flame. +</p> + +<p> +During the last five years business confidence has been restored, and +the nation is to be congratulated because of its present abounding +prosperity. Such prosperity can never be created by law alone, although +it is easy enough to destroy it by mischievous laws. If the hand of the +Lord is heavy upon any country, if flood or drought comes, human wisdom +is powerless to avert the calamity. Moreover, no law can guard us +against the consequences of our own folly. The men who are idle or +credulous, the men who seek gains not by genuine work with head or hand +but by gambling in any form, are always a source of menace not only to +themselves but to others. If the business world loses its head, it +loses what legislation cannot supply. Fundamentally the welfare of each +citizen, and therefore the welfare of the aggregate of citizens which +makes the nation, must rest upon individual thrift and energy, +resolution, and intelligence. Nothing can take the place of this +individual capacity; but wise legislation and honest and intelligent +administration can give it the fullest scope, the largest opportunity +to work to good effect. +</p> + +<p> +The tremendous and highly complex industrial development which went on +with ever accelerated rapidity during the latter half of the nineteenth +century brings us face to face, at the beginning of the twentieth, with +very serious social problems. The old laws, and the old customs which +had almost the binding force of law, were once quite sufficient to +regulate the accumulation and distribution of wealth. Since the +industrial changes which have so enormously increased the productive +power of mankind, they are no longer sufficient. +</p> + +<p> +The growth of cities has gone on beyond comparison faster than the +growth of the country, and the upbuilding of the great industrial +centers has meant a startling increase, not merely in the aggregate of +wealth, but in the number of very large individual, and especially of +very large corporate, fortunes. The creation of these great corporate +fortunes has not been due to the tariff nor to any other governmental +action, but to natural causes in the business world, operating in other +countries as they operate in our own. +</p> + +<p> +The process has aroused much antagonism, a great part of which is +wholly without warrant. It is not true that as the rich have grown +richer the poor have grown poorer. On the contrary, never before has +the average man, the wage-worker, the farmer, the small trader, been so +well off as in this country and at the present time. There have been +abuses connected with the accumulation of wealth; yet it remains true +that a fortune accumulated in legitimate business can be accumulated by +the person specially benefited only on condition of conferring immense +incidental benefits upon others. Successful enterprise, of the type +which benefits all mankind, can only exist if the conditions are such +as to offer great prizes as the rewards of success. +</p> + +<p> +The captains of industry who have driven the railway systems across +this continent, who have built up our commerce, who have developed our +manufactures, have on the whole done great good to our people. Without +them the material development of which we are so justly proud could +never have taken place. Moreover, we should recognize the immense +importance of this material development of leaving as unhampered as is +compatible with the public good the strong and forceful men upon whom +the success of business operations inevitably rests. The slightest +study of business conditions will satisfy anyone capable of forming a +judgment that the personal equation is the most important factor in a +business operation; that the business ability of the man at the head of +any business concern, big or little, is usually the factor which fixes +the gulf between striking success and hopeless failure. +</p> + +<p> +An additional reason for caution in dealing with corporations is to be +found in the international commercial conditions of to-day. The same +business conditions which have produced the great aggregations of +corporate and individual wealth have made them very potent factors in +international Commercial competition. Business concerns which have the +largest means at their disposal and are managed by the ablest men are +naturally those which take the lead in the strife for commercial +supremacy among the nations of the world. America has only just begun +to assume that commanding position in the international business world +which we believe will more and more be hers. It is of the utmost +importance that this position be not jeoparded, especially at a time +when the overflowing abundance of our own natural resources and the +skill, business energy, and mechanical aptitude of our people make +foreign markets essential. Under such conditions it would be most +unwise to cramp or to fetter the youthful strength of our Nation. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, it cannot too often be pointed out that to strike with +ignorant violence at the interests of one set of men almost inevitably +endangers the interests of all. The fundamental rule in our national +life--the rule which underlies all others--is that, on the whole, and +in the long run, we shall go up or down together. There are exceptions; +and in times of prosperity some will prosper far more, and in times of +adversity, some will suffer far more, than others; but speaking +generally, a period of good times means that all share more or less in +them, and in a period of hard times all feel the stress to a greater or +less degree. It surely ought not to be necessary to enter into any +proof of this statement; the memory of the lean years which began in +1893 is still vivid, and we can contrast them with the conditions in +this very year which is now closing. Disaster to great business +enterprises can never have its effects limited to the men at the top. +It spreads throughout, and while it is bad for everybody, it is worst +for those farthest down. The capitalist may be shorn of his luxuries; +but the wage-worker may be deprived of even bare necessities. +</p> + +<p> +The mechanism of modern business is so delicate that extreme care must +be taken not to interfere with it in a spirit of rashness or ignorance. +Many of those who have made it their vocation to denounce the great +industrial combinations which are popularly, although with technical +inaccuracy, known as "trusts," appeal especially to hatred and fear. +These are precisely the two emotions, particularly when combined with +ignorance, which unfit men for the exercise of cool and steady +judgment. In facing new industrial conditions, the whole history of the +world shows that legislation will generally be both unwise and +ineffective unless undertaken after calm inquiry and with sober +self-restraint. Much of the legislation directed at the trusts would +have been exceedingly mischievous had it not also been entirely +ineffective. In accordance with a well-known sociological law, the +ignorant or reckless agitator has been the really effective friend of +the evils which he has been nominally opposing. In dealing with +business interests, for the Government to undertake by crude and +ill-considered legislation to do what may turn out to be bad, would be +to incur the risk of such far-reaching national disaster that it would +be preferable to undertake nothing at all. The men who demand the +impossible or the undesirable serve as the allies of the forces with +which they are nominally at war, for they hamper those who would +endeavor to find out in rational fashion what the wrongs really are and +to what extent and in what manner it is practicable to apply remedies. +</p> + +<p> +All this is true; and yet it is also true that there are real and grave +evils, one of the chief being over-capitalization because of its many +baleful consequences; and a resolute and practical effort must be made +to correct these evils. +</p> + +<p> +There is a widespread conviction in the minds of the American people +that the great corporations known as trusts are in certain of their +features and tendencies hurtful to the general welfare. This springs +from no spirit of envy or uncharitableness, nor lack of pride in the +great industrial achievements that have placed this country at the head +of the nations struggling for commercial supremacy. It does not rest +upon a lack of intelligent appreciation of the necessity of meeting +changing and changed conditions of trade with new methods, nor upon +ignorance of the fact that combination of capital in the effort to +accomplish great things is necessary when the world's progress demands +that great things be done. It is based upon sincere conviction that +combination and concentration should be, not prohibited, but supervised +and within reasonable limits controlled; and in my judgment this +conviction is right. +</p> + +<p> +It is no limitation upon property rights or freedom of contract to +require that when men receive from Government the privilege of doing +business under corporate form, which frees them from individual +responsibility, and enables them to call into their enterprises the +capital of the public, they shall do so upon absolutely truthful +representations as to the value of the property in which the capital is +to be invested. Corporations engaged in interstate commerce should be +regulated if they are found to exercise a license working to the public +injury. It should be as much the aim of those who seek for social +betterment to rid the business world of crimes of cunning as to rid the +entire body politic of crimes of violence. Great corporations exist +only because they are created and safeguarded by our institutions; and +it is therefore our right and our duty to see that they work in harmony +with these institutions. +</p> + +<p> +The first essential in determining how to deal with the great +industrial combinations is knowledge of the facts--publicity. In the +interest of the public, the Government should have the right to inspect +and examine the workings of the great corporations engaged in +interstate business. Publicity is the only sure remedy which we can now +invoke. What further remedies are needed in the way of governmental +regulation, or taxation, can only be determined after publicity has +been obtained, by process of law, and in the course of administration. +The first requisite is knowledge, full and complete--knowledge which +may be made public to the world. +</p> + +<p> +Artificial bodies, such as corporations and joint stock or other +associations, depending upon any statutory law for their existence or +privileges, should be subject to proper governmental supervision, and +full and accurate information as to their operations should be made +public regularly at reasonable intervals. +</p> + +<p> +The large corporations, commonly called trusts, though organized in one +State, always do business in many States, often doing very little +business in the State where they are incorporated. There is utter lack +of uniformity in the State laws about them; and as no State has any +exclusive interest in or power over their acts, it has in practice +proved impossible to get adequate regulation through State action. +Therefore, in the interest of the whole people, the Nation should, +without interfering with the power of the States in the matter itself, +also assume power of supervision and regulation over all corporations +doing an interstate business. This is especially true where the +corporation derives a portion of its wealth from the existence of some +monopolistic element or tendency in its business. There would be no +hardship in such supervision; banks are subject to it, and in their +case it is now accepted as a simple matter of course. Indeed, it is +probable that supervision of corporations by the National Government +need not go so far as is now the case with the supervision exercised +over them by so conservative a State as Massachusetts, in order to +produce excellent results. +</p> + +<p> +When the Constitution was adopted, at the end of the eighteenth +century, no human wisdom could foretell the sweeping changes, alike in +industrial and political conditions, which were to take place by the +beginning of the twentieth century. At that time it was accepted as a +matter of course that the several States were the proper authorities to +regulate, so far as was then necessary, the comparatively insignificant +and strictly localized corporate bodies of the day. The conditions are +now wholly different and wholly different action is called for. I +believe that a law can be framed which will enable the National +Government to exercise control along the lines above indicated; +profiting by the experience gained through the passage and +administration of the Interstate-Commerce Act. If, however, the +judgment of the Congress is that it lacks the constitutional power to +pass such an act, then a constitutional amendment should be submitted +to confer the power. +</p> + +<p> +There should be created a Cabinet officer, to be known as Secretary of +Commerce and Industries, as provided in the bill introduced at the last +session of the Congress. It should be his province to deal with +commerce in its broadest sense; including among many other things +whatever concerns labor and all matters affecting the great business +corporations and our merchant marine. +</p> + +<p> +The course proposed is one phase of what should be a comprehensive and +far-reaching scheme of constructive statesmanship for the purpose of +broadening our markets, securing our business interests on a safe +basis, and making firm our new position in the international industrial +world; while scrupulously safeguarding the rights of wage-worker and +capitalist, of investor and private citizen, so as to secure equity as +between man and man in this Republic. +</p> + +<p> +With the sole exception of the farming interest, no one matter is of +such vital moment to our whole people as the welfare of the +wage-workers. If the farmer and the wage-worker are well off, it is +absolutely certain that all others will be well off too. It is +therefore a matter for hearty congratulation that on the whole wages +are higher to-day in the United States than ever before in our history, +and far higher than in any other country. The standard of living is +also higher than ever before. Every effort of legislator and +administrator should be bent to secure the permanency of this condition +of things and its improvement wherever possible. Not only must our +labor be protected by the tariff, but it should also be protected so +far as it is possible from the presence in this country of any laborers +brought over by contract, or of those who, coming freely, yet represent +a standard of living so depressed that they can undersell our men in +the labor market and drag them to a lower level. I regard it as +necessary, with this end in view, to re-enact immediately the law +excluding Chinese laborers and to strengthen it wherever necessary in +order to make its enforcement entirely effective. +</p> + +<p> +The National Government should demand the highest quality of service +from its employees; and in return it should be a good employer. If +possible legislation should be passed, in connection with the +Interstate Commerce Law, which will render effective the efforts of +different States to do away with the competition of convict contract +labor in the open labor market. So far as practicable under the +conditions of Government work, provision should be made to render the +enforcement of the eight-hour law easy and certain. In all industries +carried on directly or indirectly for the United States Government +women and children should be protected from excessive hours of labor, +from night work, and from work under unsanitary conditions. The +Government should provide in its contracts that all work should be done +under "fair" conditions, and in addition to setting a high standard +should uphold it by proper inspection, extending if necessary to the +subcontractors. The Government should forbid all night work for women +and children, as well as excessive overtime. For the District of +Columbia a good factory law should be passed; and, as a powerful +indirect aid to such laws, provision should be made to turn the +inhabited alleys, the existence of which is a reproach to our Capital +city, into minor streets, where the inhabitants can live under +conditions favorable to health and morals. +</p> + +<p> +American wage-workers work with their heads as well as their hands. +Moreover, they take a keen pride in what they are doing; so that, +independent of the reward, they wish to turn out a perfect job. This is +the great secret of our success in competition with the labor of +foreign countries. +</p> + +<p> +The most vital problem with which this country, and for that matter the +whole civilized world, has to deal, is the problem which has for one +side the betterment of social conditions, moral and physical, in large +cities, and for another side the effort to deal with that tangle of +far-reaching questions which we group together when we speak of +"labor." The chief factor in the success of each man--wage-worker, +farmer, and capitalist alike--must ever be the sum total of his own +individual qualities and abilities. Second only to this comes the power +of acting in combination or association with others. Very great good +has been and will be accomplished by associations or unions of +wage-workers, when managed with forethought, and when they combine +insistence upon their own rights with law-abiding respect for the +rights of others. The display of these qualities in such bodies is a +duty to the nation no less than to the associations themselves. +Finally, there must also in many cases be action by the Government in +order to safeguard the rights and interests of all. Under our +Constitution there is much more scope for such action by the State and +the municipality than by the nation. But on points such as those +touched on above the National Government can act. +</p> + +<p> +When all is said and done, the rule of brotherhood remains as the +indispensable prerequisite to success in the kind of national life for +which we strive. Each man must work for himself, and unless he so works +no outside help can avail him; but each man must remember also that he +is indeed his brother's keeper, and that while no man who refuses to +walk can be carried with advantage to himself or anyone else, yet that +each at times stumbles or halts, that each at times needs to have the +helping hand outstretched to him. To be permanently effective, aid must +always take the form of helping a man to help himself; and we can all +best help ourselves by joining together in the work that is of common +interest to all. +</p> + +<p> +Our present immigration laws are unsatisfactory. We need every honest +and efficient immigrant fitted to become an American citizen, every +immigrant who comes here to stay, who brings here a strong body, a +stout heart, a good head, and a resolute purpose to do his duty well in +every way and to bring up his children as law-abiding and God-fearing +members of the community. But there should be a comprehensive law +enacted with the object of working a threefold improvement over our +present system. First, we should aim to exclude absolutely not only all +persons who are known to be believers in anarchistic principles or +members of anarchistic societies, but also all persons who are of a low +moral tendency or of unsavory reputation. This means that we should +require a more thorough system of inspection abroad and a more rigid +system of examination at our immigration ports, the former being +especially necessary. +</p> + +<p> +The second object of a proper immigration law ought to be to secure by +a careful and not merely perfunctory educational test some intelligent +capacity to appreciate American institutions and act sanely as American +citizens. This would not keep out all anarchists, for many of them +belong to the intelligent criminal class. But it would do what is also +in point, that is, tend to decrease the sum of ignorance, so potent in +producing the envy, suspicion, malignant passion, and hatred of order, +out of which anarchistic sentiment inevitably springs. Finally, all +persons should be excluded who are below a certain standard of economic +fitness to enter our industrial field as competitors with American +labor. There should be proper proof of personal capacity to earn an +American living and enough money to insure a decent start under +American conditions. This would stop the influx of cheap labor, and the +resulting competition which gives rise to so much of bitterness in +American industrial life; and it would dry up the springs of the +pestilential social conditions in our great cities, where anarchistic +organizations have their greatest possibility of growth. +</p> + +<p> +Both the educational and economic tests in a wise immigration law +should be designed to protect and elevate the general body politic and +social. A very close supervision should be exercised over the steamship +companies which mainly bring over the immigrants, and they should be +held to a strict accountability for any infraction of the law. +</p> + +<p> +There is general acquiescence in our present tariff system as a +national policy. The first requisite to our prosperity is the +continuity and stability of this economic policy. Nothing could be more +unwise than to disturb the business interests of the country by any +general tariff change at this time. Doubt, apprehension, uncertainty +are exactly what we most wish to avoid in the interest of our +commercial and material well-being. Our experience in the past has +shown that sweeping revisions of the tariff are apt to produce +conditions closely approaching panic in the business world. Yet it is +not only possible, but eminently desirable, to combine with the +stability of our economic system a supplementary system of reciprocal +benefit and obligation with other nations. Such reciprocity is an +incident and result of the firm establishment and preservation of our +present economic policy. It was specially provided for in the present +tariff law. +</p> + +<p> +Reciprocity must be treated as the handmaiden of protection. Our first +duty is to see that the protection granted by the tariff in every case +where it is needed is maintained, and that reciprocity be sought for so +far as it can safely be done without injury to our home industries. +Just how far this is must be determined according to the individual +case, remembering always that every application of our tariff policy to +meet our shifting national needs must be conditioned upon the cardinal +fact that the duties must never be reduced below the point that will +cover the difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The +well-being of the wage-worker is a prime consideration of our entire +policy of economic legislation. +</p> + +<p> +Subject to this proviso of the proper protection necessary to our +industrial well-being at home, the principle of reciprocity must +command our hearty support. The phenomenal growth of our export trade +emphasizes the urgency of the need for wider markets and for a liberal +policy in dealing with foreign nations. Whatever is merely petty and +vexatious in the way of trade restrictions should be avoided. The +customers to whom we dispose of our surplus products in the long run, +directly or indirectly, purchase those surplus products by giving us +something in return. Their ability to purchase our products should as +far as possible be secured by so arranging our tariff as to enable us +to take from them those products which we can use without harm to our +own industries and labor, or the use of which will be of marked benefit +to us. +</p> + +<p> +It is most important that we should maintain the high level of our +present prosperity. We have now reached the point in the development of +our interests where we are not only able to supply our own markets but +to produce a constantly growing surplus for which we must find markets +abroad. To secure these markets we can utilize existing duties in any +case where they are no longer needed for the purpose of protection, or +in any case where the article is not produced here and the duty is no +longer necessary for revenue, as giving us something to offer in +exchange for what we ask. The cordial relations with other nations +which are so desirable will naturally be promoted by the course thus +required by our own interests. +</p> + +<p> +The natural line of development for a policy of reciprocity will be in +connection with those of our productions which no longer require all of +the support once needed to establish them upon a sound basis, and with +those others where either because of natural or of economic causes we +are beyond the reach of successful competition. +</p> + +<p> +I ask the attention of the Senate to the reciprocity treaties laid +before it by my predecessor. +</p> + +<p> +The condition of the American merchant marine is such as to call for +immediate remedial action by the Congress. It is discreditable to us as +a Nation that our merchant marine should be utterly insignificant in +comparison to that of other nations which we overtop in other forms of +business. We should not longer submit to conditions under which only a +trifling portion of our great commerce is carried in our own ships. To +remedy this state of things would not .merely serve to build up our +shipping interests, but it would also result in benefit to all who are +interested in the permanent establishment of a wider market for +American products, and would provide an auxiliary force for the Navy. +Ships work for their own countries just as railroads work for their +terminal points. Shipping lines, if established to the principal +countries with which we have dealings, would be of political as well as +commercial benefit. From every standpoint it is unwise for the United +States to continue to rely upon the ships of competing nations for the +distribution of our goods. It should be made advantageous to carry +American goods in American-built ships. +</p> + +<p> +At present American shipping is under certain great disadvantages when +put in competition with the shipping of foreign countries. Many of the +fast foreign steamships, at a speed of fourteen knots or above, are +subsidized; and all our ships, sailing vessels and steamers alike, +cargo carriers of slow speed and mail carriers of high speed, have to +meet the fact that the original cost of building American ships is +greater than is the case abroad; that the wages paid American officers +and seamen are very much higher than those paid the officers and seamen +of foreign competing countries; and that the standard of living on our +ships is far superior to the standard of living on the ships of our +commercial rivals. +</p> + +<p> +Our Government should take such action as will remedy these +inequalities. The American merchant marine should be restored to the +ocean. +</p> + +<p> +The Act of March 14, 1900, intended unequivocally to establish gold as +the standard money and to maintain at a parity therewith all forms of +money medium in use with us, has been shown to be timely and judicious. +The price of our Government bonds in the world's market, when compared +with the price of similar obligations issued by other nations, is a +flattering tribute to our public credit. This condition it is evidently +desirable to maintain. +</p> + +<p> +In many respects the National Banking Law furnishes sufficient liberty +for the proper exercise of the banking function; but there seems to be +need of better safeguards against the deranging influence of commercial +crises and financial panics. Moreover, the currency of the country +should be made responsive to the demands of our domestic trade and +commerce. +</p> + +<p> +The collections from duties on imports and internal taxes continue to +exceed the ordinary expenditures of the Government, thanks mainly to +the reduced army expenditures. The utmost care should be taken not to +reduce the revenues so that there will be any possibility of a deficit; +but, after providing against any such contingency, means should be +adopted which will bring the revenues more nearly within the limit of +our actual needs. In his report to the Congress the Secretary of the +Treasury considers all these questions at length, and I ask your +attention to the report and recommendations. +</p> + +<p> +I call special attention to the need of strict economy in expenditures. +The fact that our national needs forbid us to be niggardly in providing +whatever is actually necessary to our well-being, should make us doubly +careful to husband our national resources, as each of us husbands his +private resources, by scrupulous avoidance of anything like wasteful or +reckless expenditure. Only by avoidance of spending money on what is +needless or unjustifiable can we legitimately keep our income to the +point required to meet our needs that are genuine. +</p> + +<p> +In 1887 a measure was enacted for the regulation of interstate +railways, commonly known as the Interstate Commerce Act. The cardinal +provisions of that act were that railway rates should be just and +reasonable and that all shippers, localities, and commodities should be +accorded equal treatment. A commission was created and endowed with +what were supposed to be the necessary powers to execute the provisions +of this act. That law was largely an experiment. Experience has shown +the wisdom of its purposes, but has also shown, possibly that some of +its requirements are wrong, certainly that the means devised for the +enforcement of its provisions are defective. Those who complain of the +management of the railways allege that established rates are not +maintained; that rebates and similar devices are habitually resorted +to; that these preferences are usually in favor of the large shipper; +that they drive out of business the smaller competitor; that while many +rates are too low, many others are excessive; and that gross +preferences are made, affecting both localities and commodities. Upon +the other hand, the railways assert that the law by its very terms +tends to produce many of these illegal practices by depriving carriers +of that right of concerted action which they claim is necessary to +establish and maintain non-discriminating rates. +</p> + +<p> +The act should be amended. The railway is a public servant. Its rates +should be just to and open to all shippers alike. The Government should +see to it that within its jurisdiction this is so and should provide a +speedy, inexpensive, and effective remedy to that end. At the same time +it must not be forgotten that our railways are the arteries through +which the commercial lifeblood of this Nation flows. Nothing could be +more foolish than the enactment of legislation which would +unnecessarily interfere with the development and operation of these +commercial agencies. The subject is one of great importance and calls +for the earnest attention of the Congress. +</p> + +<p> +The Department of Agriculture during the past fifteen years has +steadily broadened its work on economic lines, and has accomplished +results of real value in upbuilding domestic and foreign trade. It has +gone into new fields until it is now in touch with all sections of our +country and with two of the island groups that have lately come under +our jurisdiction, whose people must look to agriculture as a +livelihood. It is searching the world for grains, grasses, fruits, and +vegetables specially fitted for introduction into localities in the +several States and Territories where they may add materially to our +resources. By scientific attention to soil survey and possible new +crops, to breeding of new varieties of plants, to experimental +shipments, to animal industry and applied chemistry, very practical aid +has been given our farming and stock-growing interests. The products of +the farm have taken an unprecedented place in our export trade during +the year that has just closed. +</p> + +<p> +Public opinion throughout the United States has moved steadily toward a +just appreciation of the value of forests, whether planted or of +natural growth. The great part played by them in the creation and +maintenance of the national wealth is now more fully realized than ever +before. +</p> + +<p> +Wise forest protection does not mean the withdrawal of forest +resources, whether of wood, water, or grass, from contributing their +full share to the welfare of the people, but, on the contrary, gives +the assurance of larger and more certain supplies. The fundamental idea +of forestry is the perpetuation of forests by use. Forest protection is +not an end of itself; it is a means to increase and sustain the +resources of our country and the industries which depend upon them. The +preservation of our forests is an imperative business necessity. We +have come to see clearly that whatever destroys the forest, except to +make way for agriculture, threatens our well being. +</p> + +<p> +The practical usefulness of the national forest reserves to the mining, +grazing, irrigation, and other interests of the regions in which the +reserves lie has led to a widespread demand by the people of the West +for their protection and extension. The forest reserves will inevitably +be of still greater use in the future than in the past. Additions +should be made to them whenever practicable, and their usefulness +should be increased by a thoroughly business-like management. +</p> + +<p> +At present the protection of the forest reserves rests with the General +Land Office, the mapping and description of their timber with the +United States Geological Survey, and the preparation of plans for their +conservative use with the Bureau of Forestry, which is also charged +with the general advancement of practical forestry in the United +States. These various functions should be united in the Bureau of +Forestry, to which they properly belong. The present diffusion of +responsibility is bad from every standpoint. It prevents that effective +co-operation between the Government and the men who utilize the +resources of the reserves, without which the interests of both must +suffer. The scientific bureaus generally should be put under the +Department of Agriculture. The President should have by law the power +of transferring lands for use as forest reserves to the Department of +Agriculture. He already has such power in the case of lands needed by +the Departments of War and the Navy. +</p> + +<p> +The wise administration of the forest reserves will be not less helpful +to the interests which depend on water than to those which depend on +wood and grass. The water supply itself depends upon the forest. In the +arid region it is water, not land, which measures production. The +western half of the United States would sustain a population greater +than that of our whole country to-day if the waters that now run to +waste were saved and used for irrigation. The forest and water problems +are perhaps the most vital internal questions of the United States. +</p> + +<p> +Certain of the forest reserves should also be made preserves for the +wild forest creatures. All of the reserves should be better protected +from fires. Many of them need special protection because of the great +injury done by live stock, above all by sheep. The increase in deer, +elk, and other animals in the Yellowstone Park shows what may be +expected when other mountain forests are properly protected by law and +properly guarded. Some of these areas have been so denuded of surface +vegetation by overgrazing that the ground breeding birds, including +grouse and quail, and many mammals, including deer, have been +exterminated or driven away. At the same time the water-storing +capacity of the surface has been decreased or destroyed, thus promoting +floods in times of rain and diminishing the flow of streams between +rains. +</p> + +<p> +In cases where natural conditions have been restored for a few years, +vegetation has again carpeted the ground, birds and deer are coming +back, and hundreds of persons, especially from the immediate +neighborhood, come each summer to enjoy the privilege of camping. Some +at least of the forest reserves should afford perpetual protection to +the native fauna and flora, safe havens of refuge to our rapidly +diminishing wild animals of the larger kinds, and free camping grounds +for the ever-increasing numbers of men and women who have learned to +find rest, health, and recreation in the splendid forests and +flower-clad meadows of our mountains. The forest reserves should be set +apart forever for the use and benefit of our people as a whole and not +sacrificed to the shortsighted greed of a few. +</p> + +<p> +The forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the streams in flood +and replenishing them in drought they make possible the use of waters +otherwise wasted. They prevent the soil from washing, and so protect +the storage reservoirs from filling up with silt. Forest conservation +is therefore an essential condition of water conservation. +</p> + +<p> +The forests alone cannot, however, fully regulate and conserve the +waters of the arid region. Great storage works are necessary to +equalize the flow of streams and to save the flood waters. Their +construction has been conclusively shown to be an undertaking too vast +for private effort. Nor can it be best accomplished by the individual +States acting alone. Far-reaching interstate problems are involved; and +the resources of single States would often be inadequate. It is +properly a national function, at least in some of its features. It is +as right for the National Government to make the streams and rivers of +the arid region useful by engineering works for water storage as to +make useful the rivers and harbors of the humid region by engineering +works of another kind. The storing of the floods in reservoirs at the +headwaters of our rivers is but an enlargement of our present policy of +river control, under which levees are built on the lower reaches of the +same streams. +</p> + +<p> +The Government should construct and maintain these reservoirs as it +does other public works. Where their purpose is to regulate the flow of +streams, the water should be turned freely into the channels in the dry +season to take the same course under the same laws as the natural flow. +</p> + +<p> +The reclamation of the unsettled arid public lands presents a different +problem. Here it is not enough to regulate the flow of streams. The +object of the Government is to dispose of the land to settlers who will +build homes upon it. To accomplish this object water must be brought +within their reach. +</p> + +<p> +The pioneer settlers on the arid public domain chose their homes along +streams from which they could themselves divert the water to reclaim +their holdings. Such opportunities are practically gone. There remain, +however, vast areas of public land which can be made available for +homestead settlement, but only by reservoirs and main-line canals +impracticable for private enterprise. These irrigation works should be +built by the National Government. The lands reclaimed by them should be +reserved by the Government for actual settlers, and the cost of +construction should so far as possible be repaid by the land reclaimed. +The distribution of the water, the division of the streams among +irrigators, should be left to the settlers themselves in conformity +with State laws and without interference with those laws or with vested +fights. The policy of the National Government should be to aid +irrigation in the several States and Territories in such manner as will +enable the people in the local communities to help themselves, and as +will stimulate needed reforms in the State laws and regulations +governing irrigation. +</p> + +<p> +The reclamation and settlement of the arid lands will enrich every +portion of our country, just as the settlement of the Ohio and +Mississippi valleys brought prosperity to the Atlantic States. The +increased demand for manufactured articles will stimulate industrial +production, while wider home markets and the trade of Asia will consume +the larger food supplies and effectually prevent Western competition +with Eastern agriculture. Indeed, the products of irrigation will be +consumed chiefly in upbuilding local centers of mining and other +industries, which would otherwise not come into existence at all. Our +people as a whole will profit, for successful home-making is but +another name for the upbuilding of the nation. +</p> + +<p> +The necessary foundation has already been laid for the inauguration of +the policy just described. It would be unwise to begin by doing too +much, for a great deal will doubtless be learned, both as to what can +and what cannot be safely attempted, by the early efforts, which must +of necessity be partly experimental in character. At the very beginning +the Government should make clear, beyond shadow of doubt, its intention +to pursue this policy on lines of the broadest public interest. No +reservoir or canal should ever be built to satisfy selfish personal or +local interests; but only in accordance with the advice of trained +experts, after long investigation has shown the locality where all the +conditions combine to make the work most needed and fraught with the +greatest usefulness to the community as a whole. There should be no +extravagance, and the believers in the need of irrigation will most +benefit their cause by seeing to it that it is free from the least +taint of excessive or reckless expenditure of the public moneys. +</p> + +<p> +Whatever the nation does for the extension of irrigation should +harmonize with, and tend to improve, the condition of those now living +on irrigated land. We are not at the starting point of this +development. Over two hundred millions of private capital has already +been expended in the construction of irrigation works, and many million +acres of arid land reclaimed. A high degree of enterprise and ability +has been shown in the work itself; but as much cannot be said in +reference to the laws relating thereto. The security and value of the +homes created depend largely on the stability of titles to water; but +the majority of these rest on the uncertain foundation of court +decisions rendered in ordinary suits at law. With a few creditable +exceptions, the arid States have failed to provide for the certain and +just division of streams in times of scarcity. Lax and uncertain laws +have made it possible to establish rights to water in excess of actual +uses or necessities, and many streams have already passed into private +ownership, or a control equivalent to ownership. +</p> + +<p> +Whoever controls a stream practically controls the land it renders +productive, and the doctrine of private ownership of water apart from +land cannot prevail without causing enduring wrong. The recognition of +such ownership, which has been permitted to grow up in the arid +regions, should give way to a more enlightened and larger recognition +of the rights of the public in the control and disposal of the public +water supplies. Laws founded upon conditions obtaining in humid +regions, where water is too abundant to justify hoarding it, have no +proper application in a dry country. +</p> + +<p> +In the arid States the only right to water which should be recognized +is that of use. In irrigation this right should attach to the land +reclaimed and be inseparable therefrom. Granting perpetual water rights +to others than users, without compensation to the public, is open to +all the objections which apply to giving away perpetual franchises to +the public utilities of cities. A few of the Western States have +already recognized this, and have incorporated in their constitutions +the doctrine of perpetual State ownership of water. +</p> + +<p> +The benefits which have followed the unaided development of the past +justify the nation's aid and co-operation in the more difficult and +important work yet to be accomplished. Laws so vitally affecting homes +as those which control the water supply will only be effective when +they have the sanction of the irrigators; reforms can only be final and +satisfactory when they come through the enlightenment of the people +most concerned. The larger development which national aid insures +should, however, awaken in every arid State the determination to make +its irrigation system equal in justice and effectiveness that of any +country in the civilized world. Nothing could be more unwise than for +isolated communities to continue to learn everything experimentally, +instead of profiting by what is already known elsewhere. We are dealing +with a new and momentous question, in the pregnant years while +institutions are forming, and what we do will affect not only the +present but future generations. +</p> + +<p> +Our aim should be not simply to reclaim the largest area of land and +provide homes for the largest number of people, but to create for this +new industry the best possible social and industrial conditions; and +this requires that we not only understand the existing situation, but +avail ourselves of the best experience of the time in the solution of +its problems. A careful study should be made, both by the Nation and +the States, of the irrigation laws and conditions here and abroad. +Ultimately it will probably be necessary for the Nation to co-operate +with the several arid States in proportion as these States by their +legislation and administration show themselves fit to receive it. +</p> + +<p> +In Hawaii our aim must be to develop the Territory on the traditional +American lines. We do not wish a region of large estates tilled by +cheap labor; we wish a healthy American community of men who themselves +till the farms they own. All our legislation for the islands should be +shaped with this end in view; the well-being of the average home-maker +must afford the true test of the healthy development of the islands. +The land policy should as nearly as possible be modeled on our +homestead system. +</p> + +<p> +It is a pleasure to say that it is hardly more necessary to report as +to Puerto Rico than as to any State or Territory within our continental +limits. The island is thriving as never before, and it is being +administered efficiently and honestly. Its people are now enjoying +liberty and order under the protection of the United States, and upon +this fact we congratulate them and ourselves. Their material welfare +must be as carefully and jealously considered as the welfare of any +other portion of our country. We have given them the great gift of free +access for their products to the markets of the United States. I ask +the attention of the Congress to the need of legislation concerning the +public lands of Puerto Rico. +</p> + +<p> +In Cuba such progress has been made toward putting the independent +government of the island upon a firm footing that before the present +session of the Congress closes this will be an accomplished fact. Cuba +will then start as her own mistress; and to the beautiful Queen of the +Antilles, as she unfolds this new page of her destiny, we extend our +heartiest greetings and good wishes. Elsewhere I have discussed the +question of reciprocity. In the case of Cuba, however, there are +weighty reasons of morality and of national interest why the policy +should be held to have a peculiar application, and I most earnestly ask +your attention to the wisdom, indeed to the vital need, of providing +for a substantial reduction in the tariff duties on Cuban imports into +the United States. Cuba has in her constitution affirmed what we +desired: that she should stand, in international matters, in closer and +more friendly relations with us than with any other power; and we are +bound by every consideration of honor and expediency to pass commercial +measures in the interest of her material well-being. +</p> + +<p> +In the Philippines our problem is larger. They are very rich tropical +islands, inhabited by many varying tribes, representing widely +different stages of progress toward civilization. Our earnest effort is +to help these people upward along the stony and difficult path that +leads to self-government. We hope to make our administration of the +islands honorable to our Nation by making it of the highest benefit to +the Filipinos themselves; and as an earnest of what we intend to do, we +point to what we have done. Already a greater measure of material +prosperity and of governmental honesty and efficiency has been attained +in the Philippines than ever before in their history. +</p> + +<p> +It is no light task for a nation to achieve the temperamental qualities +without which the institutions of free government are but an empty +mockery. Our people are now successfully governing themselves, because +for more than a thousand years they have been slowly fitting +themselves, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, toward this +end. What has taken us thirty generations to achieve, we cannot expect +to have another race accomplish out of hand, especially when large +portions of that race start very far behind the point which our +ancestors had reached even thirty generations ago. In dealing with the +Philippine people we must show both patience and strength, forbearance +and steadfast resolution. Our aim is high. We do not desire to do for +the islanders merely what has elsewhere been done for tropic peoples by +even the best foreign governments. We hope to do for them what has +never before been done for any people of the tropics--to make them fit +for self-government after the fashion of the really free nations. +</p> + +<p> +History may safely be challenged to show a single instance in which a +masterful race such as ours, having been forced by the exigencies of +war to take possession of an alien land, has behaved to its inhabitants +with the disinterested zeal for their progress that our people have +shown in the Philippines. To leave the islands at this time would mean +that they would fall into a welter of murderous anarchy. Such desertion +of duty on our part would be a crime against humanity. The character of +Governor Taft and of his associates and subordinates is a proof, if +such be needed, of the sincerity of our effort to give the islanders a +constantly increasing measure of self-government, exactly as fast as +they show themselves fit to exercise it. Since the civil government was +established not an appointment has been made in the islands with any +reference to considerations of political influence, or to aught else +Save the fitness of the man and the needs of the service. +</p> + +<p> +In our anxiety for the welfare and progress of the Philippines, may be +that here and there we have gone too rapidly in giving them local +self-government. It is on this side that our error, if any, has been +committed. No competent observer, sincerely desirous of finding out the +facts and influenced only by a desire for the welfare of the natives, +can assert that we have not gone far enough. We have gone to the very +verge of safety in hastening the process. To have taken a single step +farther or faster in advance would have been folly and weakness, and +might well have been crime. We are extremely anxious that the natives +shall show the power of governing themselves. We are anxious, first for +their sakes, and next, because it relieves us of a great burden. There +need not be the slightest fear of our not continuing to give them all +the liberty for which they are fit. +</p> + +<p> +The only fear is test in our overanxiety we give them a degree of +independence for which they are unfit, thereby inviting reaction and +disaster. As fast as there is any reasonable hope that in a given +district the people can govern themselves, self-government has been +given in that district. There is not a locality fitted for +self-government which has not received it. But it may well be that in +certain cases it will have to be withdrawn because the inhabitants show +themselves unfit to exercise it; such instances have already occurred. +In other words, there is not the slightest chance of our failing to +show a sufficiently humanitarian spirit. The danger comes in the +opposite direction. +</p> + +<p> +There are still troubles ahead in the islands. The insurrection has +become an affair of local banditti and marauders, who deserve no higher +regard than the brigands of portions of the Old World. Encouragement, +direct or indirect, to these insurrectors stands on the same footing as +encouragement to hostile Indians in the days when we still had Indian +wars. Exactly as our aim is to give to the Indian who remains peaceful +the fullest and amplest consideration, but to have it understood that +we will show no weakness if he goes on the warpath, so we must make it +evident, unless we are false to our own traditions and to the demands +of civilization and humanity, that while we will do everything in our +power for the Filipino who is peaceful, we will take the sternest +measures with the Filipino who follows the path of the insurrecto and +the ladrone. +</p> + +<p> +The heartiest praise is due to large numbers of the natives of the +islands for their steadfast loyalty. The Macabebes have been +conspicuous for their courage and devotion to the flag. I recommend +that the Secretary of War be empowered to take some systematic action +in the way of aiding those of these men who are crippled in the service +and the families of those who are killed. +</p> + +<p> +The time has come when there should be additional legislation for the +Philippines. Nothing better can be done for the islands than to +introduce industrial enterprises. Nothing would benefit them so much as +throwing them open to industrial development. The connection between +idleness and mischief is proverbial, and the opportunity to do +remunerative work is one of the surest preventatives of war. Of course +no business man will go into the Philippines unless it is to his +interest to do so; and it is immensely to the interest of the islands +that he should go in. It is therefore necessary that the Congress +should pass laws by which the resources of the islands can be +developed; so that franchises (for limited terms of years) can be +granted to companies doing business in them, and every encouragement be +given to the incoming of business men of every kind. +</p> + +<p> +Not to permit this is to do a wrong to the Philippines. The franchises +must be granted and the business permitted only under regulations which +will guarantee the islands against any kind of improper exploitation. +But the vast natural wealth of the islands must be developed, and the +capital willing to develop it must be given the opportunity. The field +must be thrown open to individual enterprise, which has been the real +factor in the development of every region over which our flag has +flown. It is urgently necessary to enact suitable laws dealing with +general transportation, mining, banking, currency, homesteads, and the +use and ownership of the lands and timber. These laws will give free +play to industrial enterprise; and the commercial development which +will surely follow will accord to the people of the islands the best +proofs of the sincerity of our desire to aid them. +</p> + +<p> +I call your attention most earnestly to the crying need of a cable to +Hawaii and the Philippines, to be continued from the Philippines to +points in Asia. We should not defer a day longer than necessary the +construction of such a cable. It is demanded not merely for commercial +but for political and military considerations. +</p> + +<p> +Either the Congress should immediately provide for the construction of +a Government cable, or else an arrangement should be made by which like +advantages to those accruing from a Government cable may be secured to +the Government by contract with a private cable company. +</p> + +<p> +No single great material work which remains to be undertaken on this +continent is of such consequence to the American people as the building +of a canal across the Isthmus connecting North and South America. Its +importance to the Nation is by no means limited merely to its material +effects upon our business prosperity; and yet with view to these +effects alone it would be to the last degree important for us +immediately to begin it. While its beneficial effects would perhaps be +most marked upon the Pacific Coast and the Gulf and South Atlantic +States, it would also greatly benefit other sections. It is +emphatically a work which it is for the interest of the entire country +to begin and complete as soon as possible; it is one of those great +works which only a great nation can undertake with prospects of +success, and which when done are not only permanent assets in the +nation's material interests, but standing monuments to its constructive +ability. +</p> + +<p> +I am glad to be able to announce to you that our negotiations on this +subject with Great Britain, conducted on both sides in a spirit of +friendliness and mutual good will and respect, have resulted in my +being able to lay before the Senate a treaty which if ratified will +enable us to begin preparations for an Isthmian canal at any time, and +which guarantees to this Nation every right that it has ever asked in +connection with the canal. In this treaty, the old Clayton-Bulwer +treaty, so long recognized as inadequate to supply the base for the +construction and maintenance of a necessarily American ship canal, is +abrogated. It specifically provides that the United States alone shall +do the work of building and assume the responsibility of safeguarding +the canal and shall regulate its neutral use by all nations on terms of +equality without the guaranty or interference of any outside nation +from any quarter. The signed treaty will at once be laid before the +Senate, and if approved the Congress can then proceed to give effect to +the advantages it secures us by providing for the building of the +canal. +</p> + +<p> +The true end of every great and free people should be self-respecting +peace; and this Nation most earnestly desires sincere and cordial +friendship with all others. Over the entire world, of recent years, +wars between the great civilized powers have become less and less +frequent. Wars with barbarous or semi-barbarous peoples come in an +entirely different category, being merely a most regrettable but +necessary international police duty which must be performed for the +sake of the welfare of mankind. Peace can only be kept with certainty +where both sides wish to keep it; but more and more the civilized +peoples are realizing the wicked folly of war and are attaining that +condition of just and intelligent regard for the rights of others which +will in the end, as we hope and believe, make world-wide peace +possible. The peace conference at The Hague gave definite expression to +this hope and belief and marked a stride toward their attainment. +</p> + +<p> +This same peace conference acquiesced in our statement of the Monroe +Doctrine as compatible with the purposes and aims of the conference. +</p> + +<p> +The Monroe Doctrine should be the cardinal feature of the foreign +policy of all the nations of the two Americas, as it is of the United +States. Just seventy-eight years have passed since President Monroe in +his Annual Message announced that "The American continents are +henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by +any European power." In other words, the Monroe Doctrine is a +declaration that there must be no territorial aggrandizement by any +non-American power at the expense of any American power on American +soil. It is in no wise intended as hostile to any nation in the Old +World. Still less is it intended to give cover to any aggression by one +New World power at the expense of any other. It is simply a step, and a +long step, toward assuring the universal peace of the world by securing +the possibility of permanent peace on this hemisphere. +</p> + +<p> +During the past century other influences have established the +permanence and independence of the smaller states of Europe. Through +the Monroe Doctrine we hope to be able to safeguard like independence +and secure like permanence for the lesser among the New World nations. +</p> + +<p> +This doctrine has nothing to do with the commercial relations of any +American power, save that it in truth allows each of them to form such +as it desires. In other words, it is really a guaranty of the +commercial independence of the Americas. We do not ask under this +doctrine for any exclusive commercial dealings with any other American +state. We do not guarantee any state against punishment if it +misconducts itself, provided that punishment does not take the form of +the acquisition of territory by any non-American power. +</p> + +<p> +Our attitude in Cuba is a sufficient guaranty of our own good faith. We +have not the slightest desire to secure any territory at the expense of +any of our neighbors. We wish to work with them hand in hand, so that +all of us may be uplifted together, and we rejoice over the good +fortune of any of them, we gladly hail their material prosperity and +political stability, and are concerned and alarmed if any of them fall +into industrial or political chaos. We do not wish to see any Old World +military power grow up on this continent, or to be compelled to become +a military power ourselves. The peoples of the Americas can prosper +best if left to work out their own salvation in their own way. +</p> + +<p> +The work of upbuilding the Navy must be steadily continued. No one +point of our policy, foreign or domestic, is more important than this +to the honor and material welfare, and above all to the peace, of our +nation in the future. Whether we desire it or not, we must henceforth +recognize that we have international duties no less than international +rights. Even if our flag were hauled down in the Philippines and Puerto +Rico, even if we decided not to build the Isthmian Canal, we should +need a thoroughly trained Navy of adequate size, or else be prepared +definitely and for all time to abandon the idea that our nation is +among those whose sons go down to the sea in ships. Unless our commerce +is always to be carried in foreign bottoms, we must have war craft to +protect it. +</p> + +<p> +Inasmuch, however, as the American people have no thought of abandoning +the path upon which they have entered, and especially in view of the +fact that the building of the Isthmian Canal is fast becoming one of +the matters which the whole people are united in demanding, it is +imperative that our Navy should be put and kept in the highest state of +efficiency, and should be made to answer to our growing needs. So far +from being in any way a provocation to war, an adequate and highly +trained navy is the best guaranty against war, the cheapest and most +effective peace insurance. The cost of building and maintaining such a +navy represents the very lightest premium for insuring peace which this +nation can possibly pay. +</p> + +<p> +Probably no other great nation in the world is so anxious for peace as +we are. There is not a single civilized power which has anything +whatever to fear from aggressiveness on our part. All we want is peace; +and toward this end we wish to be able to secure the same respect for +our rights from others which we are eager and anxious to extend to +their rights in return, to insure fair treatment to us commercially, +and to guarantee the safety of the American people. +</p> + +<p> +Our people intend to abide by the Monroe Doctrine and to insist upon it +as the one sure means of securing the peace of the Western Hemisphere. +The Navy offers us the only means of making our insistence upon the +Monroe Doctrine anything but a subject of derision to whatever nation +chooses to disregard it. We desire the peace which comes as of right to +the just man armed; not the peace granted on terms of ignominy to the +craven and the weakling. +</p> + +<p> +It is not possible to improvise a navy after war breaks out. The ships +must be built and the men trained long in advance. Some auxiliary +vessels can be turned into makeshifts which will do in default of any +better for the minor work, and a proportion of raw men can be mixed +with the highly trained, their shortcomings being made good by the +skill of their fellows; but the efficient fighting force of the Navy +when pitted against an equal opponent will be found almost exclusively +in the war ships that have been regularly built and in the officers and +men who through years of faithful performance of sea duty have been +trained to handle their formidable but complex and delicate weapons +with the highest efficiency. In the late war with Spain the ships that +dealt the decisive blows at Manila and Santiago had been launched from +two to fourteen years, and they were able to do as they did because the +men in the conning towers, the gun turrets, and the engine-rooms had +through long years of practice at sea learned how to do their duty. +</p> + +<p> +Our present Navy was begun in 1882. At that period our Navy consisted +of a collection of antiquated wooden ships, already almost as out of +place against modern war vessels as the galleys of Alcibiades and +Hamilcar--certainly as the ships of Tromp and Blake. Nor at that time +did we have men fit to handle a modern man-of-war. Under the wise +legislation of the Congress and the successful administration of a +succession of patriotic Secretaries of the Navy, belonging to both +political parties, the work of upbuilding the Navy went on, and ships +equal to any in the world of their kind were continually added; and +what was even more important, these ships were exercised at sea singly +and in squadrons until the men aboard them were able to get the best +possible service out of them. The result was seen in the short war with +Spain, which was decided with such rapidity because of the infinitely +greater preparedness of our Navy than of the Spanish Navy. +</p> + +<p> +While awarding the fullest honor to the men who actually commanded and +manned the ships which destroyed the Spanish sea forces in the +Philippines and in Cuba, we must not forget that an equal meed of +praise belongs to those without whom neither blow could have been +struck. The Congressmen who voted years in advance the money to lay +down the ships, to build the guns, to buy the armor-plate; the +Department officials and the business men and wage-workers who +furnished what the Congress had authorized; the Secretaries of the Navy +who asked for and expended the appropriations; and finally the officers +who, in fair weather and foul, on actual sea service, trained and +disciplined the crews of the ships when there was no war in sight--all +are entitled to a full share in the glory of Manila and Santiago, and +the respect accorded by every true American to those who wrought such +signal triumph for our country. It was forethought and preparation +which secured us the overwhelming triumph of 1898. If we fail to show +forethought and preparation now, there may come a time when disaster +will befall us instead of triumph; and should this time come, the fault +will rest primarily, not upon those whom the accident of events puts in +supreme command at the moment, but upon those who have failed to +prepare in advance. +</p> + +<p> +There should be no cessation in the work of completing our Navy. So far +ingenuity has been wholly unable to devise a substitute for the great +war craft whose hammering guns beat out the mastery of the high seas. +It is unsafe and unwise not to provide this year for several additional +Battle ships and heavy armored cruisers, with auxiliary and lighter +craft in proportion; for the exact numbers and character I refer you to +the report of the Secretary of the Navy. But there is something we need +even more than additional ships, and this is additional officers and +men. To provide battle ships and cruisers and then lay them up, with +the expectation of leaving them unmanned until they are needed in +actual war, would be worse than folly; it would be a crime against the +Nation. +</p> + +<p> +To send any war ship against a competent enemy unless those aboard it +have been trained by years of actual sea service, including incessant +gunnery practice, would be to invite not merely disaster, but the +bitterest shame and humiliation. Four thousand additional seamen and +one thousand additional marines should be provided; and an increase in +the officers should be provided by making a large addition to the +classes at Annapolis. There is one small matter which should be +mentioned in connection with Annapolis. The pretentious and unmeaning +title of "naval cadet" should be abolished; the title of "midshipman," +full of historic association, should be restored. +</p> + +<p> +Even in time of peace a war ship should be used until it wears out, for +only so can it be kept fit to respond to any emergency. The officers +and men alike should be kept as much as possible on blue water, for it +is there only they can learn their duties as they should be learned. +The big vessels should be manoeuvred in squadrons containing not merely +battle ships, but the necessary proportion of cruisers and scouts. The +torpedo boats should be handled by the younger officers in such manner +as will best fit the latter to take responsibility and meet the +emergencies of actual warfare. +</p> + +<p> +Every detail ashore which can be performed by a civilian should be so +performed, the officer being kept for his special duty in the sea +service. Above all, gunnery practice should be unceasing. It is +important to have our Navy of adequate size, but it is even more +important that ship for ship it should equal in efficiency any navy in +the world. This is possible only with highly drilled crews and +officers, and this in turn imperatively demands continuous and +progressive instruction in target practice, ship handling, squadron +tactics, and general discipline. Our ships must be assembled in +squadrons actively cruising away from harbors and never long at anchor. +The resulting wear upon engines and hulls must be endured; a battle +ship worn out in long training of officers and men is well paid for by +the results, while, on the other hand, no matter in how excellent +condition, it is useless if the crew be not expert. +</p> + +<p> +We now have seventeen battle ships appropriated for, of which nine are +completed and have been commissioned for actual service. The remaining +eight will be ready in from two to four years, but it will take at +least that time to recruit and train the men to fight them. It is of +vast concern that we have trained crews ready for the vessels by the +time they are commissioned. Good ships and good guns are simply good +weapons, and the best weapons are useless save in the hands of men who +know how to fight with them. The men must be trained and drilled under +a thorough and well-planned system of progressive instruction, while +the recruiting must be carried on with still greater vigor. Every +effort must be made to exalt the main function of the officer--the +command of men. The leading graduates of the Naval Academy should be +assigned to the combatant branches, the line and marines. +</p> + +<p> +Many of the essentials of success are already recognized by the General +Board, which, as the central office of a growing staff, is moving +steadily toward a proper war efficiency and a proper efficiency of the +whole Navy, under the Secretary. This General Board, by fostering the +creation of a general staff, is providing for the official and then the +general recognition of our altered conditions as a Nation and of the +true meaning of a great war fleet, which meaning is, first, the best +men, and, second, the best ships. +</p> + +<p> +Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, vol. 9, +p.6667 +</p> + +<p> +The Naval Militia forces are State organizations, and are trained for +coast service, and in event of war they will constitute the inner line +of defense. They should receive hearty encouragement from the General +Government. +</p> + +<p> +But in addition we should at once provide for a National Naval Reserve, +organized and trained under the direction of the Navy Department, and +subject to the call of the Chief Executive whenever war becomes +imminent. It should be a real auxiliary to the naval seagoing peace +establishment, and offer material to be drawn on at once for manning +our ships in time of war. It should be composed of graduates of the +Naval Academy, graduates of the Naval Militia, officers and crews of +coast-line steamers, longshore schooners, fishing vessels, and steam +yachts, together with the coast population about such centers as +lifesaving stations and light-houses. +</p> + +<p> +The American people must either build and maintain an adequate navy or +else make up their minds definitely to accept a secondary position in +international affairs, not merely in political, but in commercial, +matters. It has been well said that there is no surer way of courting +national disaster than to be "opulent, aggressive, and unarmed." +</p> + +<p> +It is not necessary to increase our Army beyond its present size at +this time. But it is necessary to keep it at the highest point of +efficiency. The individual units who as officers and enlisted men +compose this Army, are, we have good reason to believe, at least as +efficient as those of any other army in the entire world. It is our +duty to see that their training is of a kind to insure the highest +possible expression of power to these units when acting in combination. +</p> + +<p> +The conditions of modern war are such as to make an infinitely heavier +demand than ever before upon the individual character and capacity of +the officer and the enlisted man, and to make it far more difficult for +men to act together with effect. At present the fighting must be done +in extended order, which means that each man must act for himself and +at the same time act in combination with others with whom he is no +longer in the old-fashioned elbow-to-elbow touch. Under such conditions +a few men of the highest excellence are worth more than many men +without the special skill which is only found as the result of special +training applied to men of exceptional physique and morale. But +nowadays the most valuable fighting man and the most difficult to +perfect is the rifleman who is also a skillful and daring rider. +</p> + +<p> +The proportion of our cavalry regiments has wisely been increased. The +American cavalryman, trained to manoeuvre and fight with equal facility +on foot and on horseback, is the best type of soldier for general +purposes now to be found in the world. The ideal cavalryman of the +present day is a man who can fight on foot as effectively as the best +infantryman, and who is in addition unsurpassed in the care and +management of his horse and in his ability to fight on horseback. +</p> + +<p> +A general staff should be created. As for the present staff and supply +departments, they should be filled by details from the line, the men so +detailed returning after a while to their line duties. It is very +undesirable to have the senior grades of the Army composed of men who +have come to fill the positions by the mere fact of seniority. A system +should be adopted by which there shall be an elimination grade by grade +of those who seem unfit to render the best service in the next grade. +Justice to the veterans of the Civil War who are still in the Army +would seem to require that in the matter of retirements they be given +by law the same privileges accorded to their comrades in the Navy. +</p> + +<p> +The process of elimination of the least fit should be conducted in a +manner that would render it practically impossible to apply political +or social pressure on behalf of any candidate, so that each man may be +judged purely on his own merits. Pressure for the promotion of civil +officials for political reasons is bad enough, but it is tenfold worse +where applied on behalf of officers of the Army or Navy. Every +promotion and every detail under the War Department must be made solely +with regard to the good of the service and to the capacity and merit of +the man himself. No pressure, political, social, or personal, of any +kind, will be permitted to exercise the least effect in any question of +promotion or detail; and if there is reason to believe that such +pressure is exercised at the instigation of the officer concerned, it +will be held to militate against him. In our Army we cannot afford to +have rewards or duties distributed save on the simple ground that those +who by their own merits are entitled to the rewards get them, and that +those who are peculiarly fit to do the duties are chosen to perform +them. +</p> + +<p> +Every effort should be made to bring the Army to a constantly +increasing state of efficiency. When on actual service no work save +that directly in the line of such service should be required. The paper +work in the Army, as in the Navy, should be greatly reduced. What is +needed is proved power of command and capacity to work well in the +field. Constant care is necessary to prevent dry rot in the +transportation and commissary departments. +</p> + +<p> +Our Army is so small and so much scattered that it is very difficult to +give the higher officers (as well as the lower officers and the +enlisted men) a chance to practice manoeuvres in mass and on a +comparatively large scale. In time of need no amount of individual +excellence would avail against the paralysis which would follow +inability to work as a coherent whole, under skillful and daring +leadership. The Congress should provide means whereby it will be +possible to have field exercises by at least a division of regulars, +and if possible also a division of national guardsmen, once a year. +These exercises might take the form of field manoeuvres; or, if on the +Gulf Coast or the Pacific or Atlantic Seaboard, or in the region of the +Great Lakes, the army corps when assembled could be marched from some +inland point to some point on the water, there embarked, disembarked +after a couple of days' journey at some other point, and again marched +inland. Only by actual handling and providing for men in masses while +they are marching, camping, embarking, and disembarking, will it be +possible to train the higher officers to perform their duties well and +smoothly. +</p> + +<p> +A great debt is owing from the public to the men of the Army and Navy. +They should be so treated as to enable them to reach the highest point +of efficiency, so that they may be able to respond instantly to any +demand made upon them to sustain the interests of the Nation and the +honor of the flag. The individual American enlisted man is probably on +the whole a more formidable fighting man than the regular of any other +army. Every consideration should be shown him, and in return the +highest standard of usefulness should be exacted from him. It is well +worth while for the Congress to consider whether the pay of enlisted +men upon second and subsequent enlistments should not be increased to +correspond with the increased value of the veteran soldier. +</p> + +<p> +Much good has already come from the act reorganizing the Army, passed +early in the present year. The three prime reforms, all of them of +literally inestimable value, are, first, the substitution of four-year +details from the line for permanent appointments in the so-called staff +divisions; second, the establishment of a corps of artillery with a +chief at the head; third, the establishment of a maximum and minimum +limit for the Army. It would be difficult to overestimate the +improvement in the efficiency of our Army which these three reforms are +making, and have in part already effected. +</p> + +<p> +The reorganization provided for by the act has been substantially +accomplished. The improved conditions in the Philippines have enabled +the War Department materially to reduce the military charge upon our +revenue and to arrange the number of soldiers so as to bring this +number much nearer to the minimum than to the maximum limit established +by law. There is, however, need of supplementary legislation. Thorough +military education must be provided, and in addition to the regulars +the advantages of this education should be given to the officers of the +National Guard and others in civil life who desire intelligently to fit +themselves for possible military duty. The officers should be given the +chance to perfect themselves by study in the higher branches of this +art. At West Point the education should be of the kind most apt to turn +out men who are good in actual field service; too much stress should +not be laid on mathematics, nor should proficiency therein be held to +establish the right of entry to a corps d'elite. The typical American +officer of the best kind need not be a good mathematician; but he must +be able to master himself, to control others, and to show boldness and +fertility of resource in every emergency. +</p> + +<p> +Action should be taken in reference to the militia and to the raising +of volunteer forces. Our militia law is obsolete and worthless. The +organization and armament of the National Guard of the several States, +which are treated as militia in the appropriations by the Congress, +should be made identical with those provided for the regular forces. +The obligations and duties of the Guard in time of war should be +carefully defined, and a system established by law under which the +method of procedure of raising volunteer forces should be prescribed in +advance. It is utterly impossible in the excitement and haste of +impending war to do this satisfactorily if the arrangements have not +been made long beforehand. Provision should be made for utilizing in +the first volunteer organizations called out the training of those +citizens who have already had experience under arms, and especially for +the selection in advance of the officers of any force which may be +raised; for careful selection of the kind necessary is impossible after +the outbreak of war. +</p> + +<p> +That the Army is not at all a mere instrument of destruction has been +shown during the last three years. In the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto +Rico it has proved itself a great constructive force, a most potent +implement for the upbuilding of a peaceful civilization. +</p> + +<p> +No other citizens deserve so well of the Republic as the veterans, the +survivors of those who saved the Union. They did the one deed which if +left undone would have meant that all else in our history went for +nothing. But for their steadfast prowess in the greatest crisis of our +history, all our annals would be meaningless, and our great experiment +in popular freedom and self-government a gloomy failure. Moreover, they +not only left us a united Nation, but they left us also as a heritage +the memory of the mighty deeds by which the Nation was kept united. We +are now indeed one Nation, one in fact as well as in name; we are +united in our devotion to the flag which is the symbol of national +greatness and unity; and the very completeness of our union enables us +all, in every part of the country, to glory in the valor shown alike by +the sons of the North and the sons of the South in the times that tried +men's souls. +</p> + +<p> +The men who in the last three years have done so well in the East and +the West Indies and on the mainland of Asia have shown that this +remembrance is not lost. In any serious crisis the United States must +rely for the great mass of its fighting men upon the volunteer soldiery +who do not make a permanent profession of the military career; and +whenever such a crisis arises the deathless memories of the Civil War +will give to Americans the lift of lofty purpose which comes to those +whose fathers have stood valiantly in the forefront of the battle. +</p> + +<p> +The merit system of making appointments is in its essence as democratic +and American as the common school system itself. It simply means that +in clerical and other positions where the duties are entirely +non-political, all applicants should have a fair field and no favor, +each standing on his merits as he is able to show them by practical +test. Written competitive examinations offer the only available means +in many cases for applying this system. In other cases, as where +laborers are employed, a system of registration undoubtedly can be +widely extended. There are, of course, places where the written +competitive examination cannot be applied, and others where it offers +by no means an ideal solution, but where under existing political +conditions it is, though an imperfect means, yet the best present means +of getting satisfactory results. +</p> + +<p> +Wherever the conditions have permitted the application of the merit +system in its fullest and widest sense, the gain to the Government has +been immense. The navy-yards and postal service illustrate, probably +better than any other branches of the Government, the great gain in +economy, efficiency, and honesty due to the enforcement of this +principle. +</p> + +<p> +I recommend the passage of a law which will extend the classified +service to the District of Columbia, or will at least enable the +President thus to extend it. In my judgment all laws providing for the +temporary employment of clerks should hereafter contain a provision +that they be selected under the Civil Service Law. +</p> + +<p> +It is important to have this system obtain at home, but it is even more +important to have it applied rigidly in our insular possessions. Not an +office should be filled in the Philippines or Puerto Rico with any +regard to the man's partisan affiliations or services, with any regard +to the political, social, or personal influence which he may have at +his command; in short, heed should be paid to absolutely nothing save +the man's own character and capacity and the needs of the service. +</p> + +<p> +The administration of these islands should be as wholly free from the +suspicion of partisan politics as the administration of the Army and +Navy. All that we ask from the public servant in the Philippines or +Puerto Rico is that he reflect honor on his country by the way in which +he makes that country's rule a benefit to the peoples who have come +under it. This is all that we should ask, and we cannot afford to be +content with less. +</p> + +<p> +The merit system is simply one method of securing honest and efficient +administration of the Government; and in the long run the sole +justification of any type of government lies in its proving itself both +honest and efficient. +</p> + +<p> +The consular service is now organized under the provisions of a law +passed in 1856, which is entirely inadequate to existing conditions. +The interest shown by so many commercial bodies throughout the country +in the reorganization of the service is heartily commended to your +attention. Several bills providing for a new consular service have in +recent years been submitted to the Congress. They are based upon the +just principle that appointments to the service should be made only +after a practical test of the applicant's fitness, that promotions +should be governed by trustworthiness, adaptability, and zeal in the +performance of duty, and that the tenure of office should be unaffected +by partisan considerations. +</p> + +<p> +The guardianship and fostering of our rapidly expanding foreign +commerce, the protection of American citizens resorting to foreign +countries in lawful pursuit of their affairs, and the maintenance of +the dignity of the nation abroad, combine to make it essential that our +consuls should be men of character, knowledge and enterprise. It is +true that the service is now, in the main, efficient, but a standard of +excellence cannot be permanently maintained until the principles set +forth in the bills heretofore submitted to the Congress on this subject +are enacted into law. +</p> + +<p> +In my judgment the time has arrived when we should definitely make up +our minds to recognize the Indian as an individual and not as a member +of a tribe. The General Allotment Act is a mighty pulverizing engine to +break up the tribal mass. It acts directly upon the family and the +individual. Under its provisions some sixty thousand Indians have +already become citizens of the United States. We should now break up +the tribal funds, doing for them what allotment does for the tribal +lands; that is, they should be divided into individual holdings. There +will be a transition period during which the funds will in many cases +have to be held in trust. This is the case also with the lands. A stop +should be put upon the indiscriminate permission to Indians to lease +their allotments. The effort should be steadily to make the Indian work +like any other man on his own ground. The marriage laws of the Indians +should be made the same as those of the whites. +</p> + +<p> +In the schools the education should be elementary and largely +industrial. The need of higher education among the Indians is very, +very limited. On the reservations care should be taken to try to suit +the teaching to the needs of the particular Indian. There is no use in +attempting to induce agriculture in a country suited only for cattle +raising, where the Indian should be made a stock grower. The ration +system, which is merely the corral and the reservation system, is +highly detrimental to the Indians. It promotes beggary, perpetuates +pauperism, and stifles industry. It is an effectual barrier to +progress. It must continue to a greater or less degree as long as +tribes are herded on reservations and have everything in common. The +Indian should be treated as an individual--like the white man. During +the change of treatment inevitable hardships will occur; every effort +should be made to minimize these hardships; but we should not because +of them hesitate to make the change. There should be a continuous +reduction in the number of agencies. +</p> + +<p> +In dealing with the aboriginal races few things are more important than +to preserve them from the terrible physical and moral degradation +resulting from the liquor traffic. We are doing all we can to save our +own Indian tribes from this evil. Wherever by international agreement +this same end can be attained as regards races where we do not possess +exclusive control, every effort should be made to bring it about. +</p> + +<p> +I bespeak the most cordial support from the Congress and the people for +the St. Louis Exposition to commemorate the One Hundredth Anniversary +of the Louisiana Purchase. This purchase was the greatest instance of +expansion in our history. It definitely decided that we were to become +a great continental republic, by far the foremost power in the Western +Hemisphere. It is one of three or four great landmarks in our +history--the great turning points in our development. It is eminently +fitting that all our people should join with heartiest good will in +commemorating it, and the citizens of St. Louis, of Missouri, of all +the adjacent region, are entitled to every aid in making the +celebration a noteworthy event in our annals. We earnestly hope that +foreign nations will appreciate the deep interest our country takes in +this Exposition, and our view of its importance from every standpoint, +and that they will participate in securing its success. The National +Government should be represented by a full and complete set of +exhibits. +</p> + +<p> +The people of Charleston, with great energy and civic spirit, are +carrying on an Exposition which will continue throughout most of the +present session of the Congress. I heartily commend this Exposition to +the good will of the people. It deserves all the encouragement that can +be given it. The managers of the Charleston Exposition have requested +the Cabinet officers to place thereat the Government exhibits which +have been at Buffalo, promising to pay the necessary expenses. I have +taken the responsibility of directing that this be done, for I feel +that it is due to Charleston to help her in her praiseworthy effort. In +my opinion the management should not be required to pay all these +expenses. I earnestly recommend that the Congress appropriate at once +the small sum necessary for this purpose. +</p> + +<p> +The Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo has just closed. Both from the +industrial and the artistic standpoint this Exposition has been in a +high degree creditable and useful, not merely to Buffalo but to the +United States. The terrible tragedy of the President's assassination +interfered materially with its being a financial success. The +Exposition was peculiarly in harmony with the trend of our public +policy, because it represented an effort to bring into closer touch all +the peoples of the Western Hemisphere, and give them an increasing +sense of unity. Such an effort was a genuine service to the entire +American public. +</p> + +<p> +The advancement of the highest interests of national science and +learning and the custody of objects of art and of the valuable results +of scientific expeditions conducted by the United States have been +committed to the Smithsonian Institution. In furtherance of its +declared purpose--for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge among +men"--the Congress has from time to time given it other important +functions. Such trusts have been executed by the Institution with +notable fidelity. There should be no halt in the work of the +Institution, in accordance with the plans which its Secretary has +presented, for the preservation of the vanishing races of great North +American animals in the National Zoological Park. The urgent needs of +the National Museum are recommended to the favorable consideration of +the Congress. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps the most characteristic educational movement of the past fifty +years is that which has created the modern public library and developed +it into broad and active service. There are now over five thousand +public libraries in the United States, the product of this period. In +addition to accumulating material, they are also striving by +organization, by improvement in method, and by co-operation, to give +greater efficiency to the material they hold, to make it more widely +useful, and by avoidance of unnecessary duplication in process to +reduce the cost of its administration. +</p> + +<p> +In these efforts they naturally look for assistance to the Federal +library, which, though still the Library of Congress, and so entitled, +is the one national library of the United States. Already the largest +single collection of books on the Western Hemisphere, and certain to +increase more rapidly than any other through purchase, exchange, and +the operation of the copyright law, this library has a unique +opportunity to render to the libraries of this country--to American +scholarship--service of the highest importance. It is housed in a +building which is the largest and most magnificent yet erected for +library uses. Resources are now being provided which will develop the +collection properly, equip it with the apparatus and service necessary +to its effective use, render its bibliographic work widely available, +and enable it to become, not merely a center of research, but the chief +factor in great co-operative efforts for the diffusion of knowledge and +the advancement of learning. +</p> + +<p> +For the sake of good administration, sound economy, and the advancement +of science, the Census Office as now constituted should be made a +permanent Government bureau. This would insure better, cheaper, and +more satisfactory work, in the interest not only of our business but of +statistic, economic, and social science. +</p> + +<p> +The remarkable growth of the postal service is shown in the fact that +its revenues have doubled and its expenditures have nearly doubled +within twelve years. Its progressive development compels constantly +increasing outlay, but in this period of business energy and prosperity +its receipts grow so much faster than its expenses that the annual +deficit has been steadily reduced from $11,411,779 in 1897 to +$3,923,727 in 1901. Among recent postal advances the success of rural +free delivery wherever established has been so marked, and actual +experience has made its benefits so plain, that the demand for its +extension is general and urgent. +</p> + +<p> +It is just that the great agricultural population should share in the +improvement of the service. The number of rural routes now in operation +is 6,009, practically all established within three years, and there are +6,000 applications awaiting action. It is expected that the number in +operation at the close of the current fiscal year will reach 8,600. The +mail will then be daily carried to the doors of 5,700,000 of our people +who have heretofore been dependent upon distant offices, and one-third +of all that portion of the country which is adapted to it will be +covered by this kind of service. +</p> + +<p> +The full measure of postal progress which might be realized has long +been hampered and obstructed by the heavy burden imposed on the +Government through the intrenched and well-understood abuses which have +grown up in connection with second-class mail matter. The extent of +this burden appears when it is stated that while the second-class +matter makes nearly three-fifths of the weight of all the mail, it paid +for the last fiscal year only $4,294,445 of the aggregate postal +revenue of $111,631,193. If the pound rate of postage, which produces +the large loss thus entailed, and which was fixed by the Congress with +the purpose of encouraging the dissemination of public information, +were limited to the legitimate newspapers and periodicals actually +contemplated by the law, no just exception could be taken. That expense +would be the recognized and accepted cost of a liberal public policy +deliberately adopted for a justifiable end. But much of the matter +which enjoys the privileged rate is wholly outside of the intent of the +law, and has secured admission only through an evasion of its +requirements or through lax construction. The proportion of such +wrongly included matter is estimated by postal experts to be one-half +of the whole volume of second-class mail. If it be only one-third or +one-quarter, the magnitude of the burden is apparent. The Post-Office +Department has now undertaken to remove the abuses so far as is +possible by a stricter application of the law; and it should be +sustained in its effort. +</p> + +<p> +Owing to the rapid growth of our power and our interests on the +Pacific, whatever happens in China must be of the keenest national +concern to us. +</p> + +<p> +The general terms of the settlement of the questions growing out of the +antiforeign uprisings in China of 1900, having been formulated in a +joint note addressed to China by the representatives of the injured +powers in December last, were promptly accepted by the Chinese +Government. After protracted conferences the plenipotentiaries of the +several powers were able to sign a final protocol with the Chinese +plenipotentiaries on the 7th of last September, setting forth the +measures taken by China in compliance with the demands of the joint +note, and expressing their satisfaction therewith. It will be laid +before the Congress, with a report of the plenipotentiary on behalf of +the United States, Mr. William Woodville Rockhill, to whom high praise +is due for the tact, good judgment, and energy he has displayed in +performing an exceptionally difficult and delicate task. +</p> + +<p> +The agreement reached disposes in a manner satisfactory to the powers +of the various grounds of complaint, and will contribute materially to +better future relations between China and the powers. Reparation has +been made by China for the murder of foreigners during the uprising and +punishment has been inflicted on the officials, however high in rank, +recognized as responsible for or having participated in the outbreak. +Official examinations have been forbidden for a period of five years in +all cities in which foreigners have been murdered or cruelly treated, +and edicts have been issued making all officials directly responsible +for the future safety of foreigners and for the suppression of violence +against them. +</p> + +<p> +Provisions have been made for insuring the future safety of the foreign +representatives in Peking by setting aside for their exclusive use a +quarter of the city which the powers can make defensible and in which +they can if necessary maintain permanent military guards; by +dismantling the military works between the capital and the sea; and by +allowing the temporary maintenance of foreign military posts along this +line. An edict has been issued by the Emperor of China prohibiting for +two years the importation of arms and ammunition into China. China has +agreed to pay adequate indemnities to the states, societies, and +individuals for the losses sustained by them and for the expenses of +the military expeditions sent by the various powers to protect life and +restore order. +</p> + +<p> +Under the provisions of the joint note of December, 1900, China has +agreed to revise the treaties of commerce and navigation and to take +such other steps for the purpose of facilitating foreign trade as the +foreign powers may decide to be needed. +</p> + +<p> +The Chinese Government has agreed to participate financially in the +work of bettering the water approaches to Shanghai and to Tientsin, the +centers of foreign trade in central and northern China, and an +international conservancy board, in which the Chinese Government is +largely represented, has been provided for the improvement of the +Shanghai River and the control of its navigation. In the same line of +commercial advantages a revision of the present tariff on imports has +been assented to for the purpose of substituting specific for ad +valorem duties, and an expert has been sent abroad on the part of the +United States to assist in this work. A list of articles to remain free +of duty, including flour, cereals, and rice, gold and silver coin and +bullion, has also been agreed upon in the settlement. +</p> + +<p> +During these troubles our Government has unswervingly advocated +moderation, and has materially aided in bringing about an adjustment +which tends to enhance the welfare of China and to lead to a more +beneficial intercourse between the Empire and the modern world; while +in the critical period of revolt and massacre we did our full share in +safe-guarding life and property, restoring order, and vindicating the +national interest and honor. It behooves us to continue in these paths, +doing what lies in our power to foster feelings of good will, and +leaving no effort untried to work out the great policy of full and fair +intercourse between China and the nations, on a footing of equal rights +and advantages to all. We advocate the "open door" with all that it +implies; not merely the procurement of enlarged commercial +opportunities on the coasts, but access to the interior by the +waterways with which China has been so extraordinarily favored. Only by +bringing the people of China into peaceful and friendly community of +trade with all the peoples of the earth can the work now auspiciously +begun be carried to fruition. In the attainment of this purpose we +necessarily claim parity of treatment, under the conventions, +throughout the Empire for our trade and our citizens with those of all +other powers. +</p> + +<p> +We view with lively interest and keen hopes of beneficial results the +proceedings of the Pan-American Congress, convoked at the invitation of +Mexico, and now sitting at the Mexican capital. The delegates of the +United States are under the most liberal instructions to cooperate with +their colleagues in all matters promising advantage to the great family +of American commonwealths, as well in their relations among themselves +as in their domestic advancement and in their intercourse with the +world at large. +</p> + +<p> +My predecessor communicated to the Congress the fact that the Weil and +La Abra awards against Mexico have been adjudged by the highest courts +of our country to have been obtained through fraud and perjury on the +part of the claimants, and that in accordance with the acts of the +Congress the money remaining in the hands of the Secretary of State on +these awards has been returned to Mexico. A considerable portion of the +money received from Mexico on these awards had been paid by this +Government to the claimants before the decision of the courts was +rendered. My judgment is that the Congress should return to Mexico an +amount equal to the sums thus already paid to the claimants. +</p> + +<p> +The death of Queen Victoria caused the people of the United States deep +and heartfelt sorrow, to which the Government gave full expression. +When President McKinley died, our Nation in turn received from every +quarter of the British Empire expressions of grief and sympathy no less +sincere. The death of the Empress Dowager Frederick of Germany also +aroused the genuine sympathy of the American people; and this sympathy +was cordially reciprocated by Germany when the President was +assassinated. Indeed, from every quarter of the civilized world we +received, at the time of the President's death, assurances of such +grief and regard as to touch the hearts of our people. In the midst of +our affliction we reverently thank the Almighty that we are at peace +with the nations of mankind; and we firmly intend that our policy shall +be such as to continue unbroken these international relations of mutual +respect and good will. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3"> +*** +</p> + +<p><a id="dec1902"></a></p> + +<p class="noindent"> +State of the Union Address<br /> +Theodore Roosevelt<br /> +December 2, 1902<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To the Senate and House of Representatives: +</p> + +<p> +We still continue in a period of unbounded prosperity. This prosperity +is not the creature of law, but undoubtedly the laws under which we +work have been instrumental in creating the conditions which made it +possible, and by unwise legislation it would be easy enough to destroy +it. There will undoubtedly be periods of depression. The wave will +recede; but the tide will advance. This Nation is seated on a continent +flanked by two great oceans. It is composed of men the descendants of +pioneers, or, in a sense, pioneers themselves; of men winnowed out from +among the nations of the Old World by the energy, boldness, and love of +adventure found in their own eager hearts. Such a Nation, so placed, +will surely wrest success from fortune. +</p> + +<p> +As a people we have played a large part in the world, and we are bent +upon making our future even larger than the past. In particular, the +events of the last four years have definitely decided that, for woe or +for weal, our place must be great among the nations. We may either fall +greatly or succeed greatly; but we can not avoid the endeavor from +which either great failure or great success must come. Even if we +would, we can not play a small part. If we should try, all that would +follow would be that we should play a large part ignobly and +shamefully. +</p> + +<p> +But our people, the sons of the men of the Civil War, the sons of the +men who had iron in their blood, rejoice in the present and face the +future high of heart and resolute of will. Ours is not the creed of the +weakling and the coward; ours is the gospel of hope and of triumphant +endeavor. We do not shrink from the struggle before us. There are many +problems for us to face at the outset of the twentieth century--grave +problems abroad and still graver at home; but we know that we can solve +them and solve them well, provided only that we bring to the solution +the qualities of head and heart which were shown by the men who, in the +days of Washington, rounded this Government, and, in the days of +Lincoln, preserved it. +</p> + +<p> +No country has ever occupied a higher plane of material well-being than +ours at the present moment. This well-being is due to no sudden or +accidental causes, but to the play of the economic forces in this +country for over a century; to our laws, our sustained and continuous +policies; above all, to the high individual average of our citizenship. +Great fortunes have been won by those who have taken the lead in this +phenomenal industrial development, and most of these fortunes have been +won not by doing evil, but as an incident to action which has benefited +the community as a whole. Never before has material well-being been so +widely diffused among our people. Great fortunes have been accumulated, +and yet in the aggregate these fortunes are small Indeed when compared +to the wealth of the people as a whole. The plain people are better off +than they have ever been before. The insurance companies, which are +practically mutual benefit societies--especially helpful to men of +moderate means--represent accumulations of capital which are among the +largest in this country. There are more deposits in the savings banks, +more owners of farms, more well-paid wage-workers in this country now +than ever before in our history. Of course, when the conditions have +favored the growth of so much that was good, they have also favored +somewhat the growth of what was evil. It is eminently necessary that we +should endeavor to cut out this evil, but let us keep a due sense of +proportion; let us not in fixing our gaze upon the lesser evil forget +the greater good. The evils are real and some of them are menacing, but +they are the outgrowth, not of misery or decadence, but of +prosperity--of the progress of our gigantic industrial development. +This industrial development must not be checked, but side by side with +it should go such progressive regulation as will diminish the evils. We +should fail in our duty if we did not try to remedy the evils, but we +shall succeed only if we proceed patiently, with practical common sense +as well as resolution, separating the good from the bad and holding on +to the former while endeavoring to get rid of the latter. +</p> + +<p> +In my Message to the present Congress at its first session I discussed +at length the question of the regulation of those big corporations +commonly doing an interstate business, often with some tendency to +monopoly, which are popularly known as trusts. The experience of the +past year has emphasized, in my opinion, the desirability of the steps +I then proposed. A fundamental requisite of social efficiency is a high +standard of individual energy and excellence; but this is in no wise +inconsistent with power to act in combination for aims which can not so +well be achieved by the individual acting alone. A fundamental base of +civilization is the inviolability of property; but this is in no wise +inconsistent with the right of society to regulate the exercise of the +artificial powers which it confers upon the owners of property, under +the name of corporate franchises, in such a way as to prevent the +misuse of these powers. Corporations, and especially combinations of +corporations, should be managed under public regulation. Experience has +shown that under our system of government the necessary supervision can +not be obtained by State action. It must therefore be achieved by +national action. Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the +contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of +modern industrialism, and the effort to destroy them would be futile +unless accomplished in ways that would work the utmost mischief to the +entire body politic. We can do nothing of good in the way of regulating +and supervising these corporations until we fix clearly in our minds +that we are not attacking the corporations, but endeavoring to do away +with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely +determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public +good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth. The +capitalist who, alone or in conjunction with his fellows, performs some +great industrial feat by which he wins money is a welldoer, not a +wrongdoer, provided only he works in proper and legitimate lines. We +wish to favor such a man when he does well. We wish to supervise and +control his actions only to prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can +do no harm to the honest corporation; and we need not be over tender +about sparing the dishonest corporation. In curbing and regulating the +combinations of capital which are, or may become, injurious to the +public we must be careful not to stop the great enterprises which have +legitimately reduced the cost of production, not to abandon the place +which our country has won in the leadership of the international +industrial world, not to strike down wealth with the result of closing +factories and mines, of turning the wage-worker idle in the streets and +leaving the farmer without a market for what he grows. Insistence upon +the impossible means delay in achieving the possible, exactly as, on +the other hand, the stubborn defense alike of what is good and what is +bad in the existing system, the resolute effort to obstruct any attempt +at betterment, betrays blindness to the historic truth that wise +evolution is the sure safeguard against revolution. +</p> + +<p> +No more important subject can come before the Congress than this of the +regulation of interstate business. This country can not afford to sit +supine on the plea that under our peculiar system of government we are +helpless in the presence of the new conditions, and unable to grapple +with them or to cut out whatever of evil has arisen in connection with +them. The power of the Congress to regulate interstate commerce is an +absolute and unqualified grant, and without limitations other than +those prescribed by the Constitution. The Congress has constitutional +authority to make all laws necessary and proper for executing this +power, and I am satisfied that this power has not been exhausted by any +legislation now on the statute books. It is evident, therefore, that +evils restrictive of commercial freedom and entailing restraint upon +national commerce fall within the regulative power of the Congress, and +that a wise and reasonable law would be a necessary and proper exercise +of Congressional authority to the end that such evils should be +eradicated. +</p> + +<p> +I believe that monopolies, unjust discriminations, which prevent or +cripple competition, fraudulent overcapitalization, and other evils in +trust organizations and practices which injuriously affect interstate +trade can be prevented under the power of the Congress to "regulate +commerce with foreign nations and among the several States" through +regulations and requirements operating directly upon such commerce, the +instrumentalities thereof, and those engaged therein. +</p> + +<p> +I earnestly recommend this subject to the consideration of the Congress +with a view to the passage of a law reasonable in its provisions and +effective in its operations, upon which the questions can be finally +adjudicated that now raise doubts as to the necessity of constitutional +amendment. If it prove impossible to accomplish the purposes above set +forth by such a law, then, assuredly, we should not shrink from +amending the Constitution so as to secure beyond peradventure the power +sought. +</p> + +<p> +The Congress has not heretofore made any appropriation for the better +enforcement of the antitrust law as it now stands. Very much has been +done by the Department of Justice in securing the enforcement of this +law, but much more could be done if the Congress would make a special +appropriation for this purpose, to be expended under the direction of +the Attorney-General. +</p> + +<p> +One proposition advocated has been the reduction of the tariff as a +means of reaching the evils of the trusts which fall within the +category I have described. Not merely would this be wholly ineffective, +but the diversion of our efforts in such a direction would mean the +abandonment of all intelligent attempt to do away with these evils. +Many of the largest corporations, many of those which should certainly +be included in any proper scheme of regulation, would not be affected +in the slightest degree by a change in the tariff, save as such change +interfered with the general prosperity of the country. The only +relation of the tariff to big corporations as a whole is that the +tariff makes manufactures profitable, and the tariff remedy proposed +would be in effect simply to make manufactures unprofitable. To remove +the tariff as a punitive measure directed against trusts would +inevitably result in ruin to the weaker competitors who are struggling +against them. Our aim should be not by unwise tariff changes to give +foreign products the advantage over domestic products, but by proper +regulation to give domestic competition a fair chance; and this end can +not be reached by any tariff changes which would affect unfavorably all +domestic competitors, good and bad alike. The question of regulation of +the trusts stands apart from the question of tariff revision. +</p> + +<p> +Stability of economic policy must always be the prime economic need of +this country. This stability should not be fossilization. The country +has acquiesced in the wisdom of the protective-tariff principle. It is +exceedingly undesirable that this system should be destroyed or that +there should be violent and radical changes therein. Our past +experience shows that great prosperity in this country has always come +under a protective tariff; and that the country can not prosper under +fitful tariff changes at short intervals. Moreover, if the tariff laws +as a whole work well, and if business has prospered under them and is +prospering, it is better to endure for a time slight inconveniences and +inequalities in some schedules than to upset business by too quick and +too radical changes. It is most earnestly to be wished that we could +treat the tariff from the standpoint solely of our business needs. It +is, perhaps, too much to hope that partisanship may be entirely +excluded from consideration of the subject, but at least it can be made +secondary to the business interests of the country--that is, to the +interests of our people as a whole. Unquestionably these business +interests will best be served if together with fixity of principle as +regards the tariff we combine a system which will permit us from time +to time to make the necessary reapplication of the principle to the +shifting national needs. We must take scrupulous care that the +reapplication shall be made in such a way that it will not amount to a +dislocation of our system, the mere threat of which (not to speak of +the performance) would produce paralysis in the business energies of +the community. The first consideration in making these changes would, +of course, be to preserve the principle which underlies our whole +tariff system--that is, the principle of putting American business +interests at least on a full equality with interests abroad, and of +always allowing a sufficient rate of duty to more than cover the +difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The well-being of +the wage-worker, like the well-being of the tiller of the soil, should +be treated as an essential in shaping our whole economic policy. There +must never be any change which will jeopardize the standard of comfort, +the standard of wages of the American wage-worker. +</p> + +<p> +One way in which the readjustment sought can be reached is by +reciprocity treaties. It is greatly to be desired that such treaties +may be adopted. They can be used to widen our markets and to give a +greater field for the activities of our producers on the one hand, and +on the other hand to secure in practical shape the lowering of duties +when they are no longer needed for protection among our own people, or +when the minimum of damage done may be disregarded for the sake of the +maximum of good accomplished. If it prove impossible to ratify the +pending treaties, and if there seem to be no warrant for the endeavor +to execute others, or to amend the pending treaties so that they can be +ratified, then the same end--to secure reciprocity--should be met by +direct legislation. +</p> + +<p> +Wherever the tariff conditions are such that a needed change can not +with advantage be made by the application of the reciprocity idea, then +it can be made outright by a lowering of duties on a given product. If +possible, such change should be made only after the fullest +consideration by practical experts, who should approach the subject +from a business standpoint, having in view both the particular +interests affected and the commercial well-being of the people as a +whole. The machinery for providing such careful investigation can +readily be supplied. The executive department has already at its +disposal methods of collecting facts and figures; and if the Congress +desires additional consideration to that which will be given the +subject by its own committees, then a commission of business experts +can be appointed whose duty it should be to recommend action by the +Congress after a deliberate and scientific examination of the various +schedules as they are affected by the changed and changing conditions. +The unhurried and unbiased report of this commission would show what +changes should be made in the various schedules, and how far these +changes could go without also changing the great prosperity which this +country is now enjoying, or upsetting its fixed economic policy. +</p> + +<p> +The cases in which the tariff can produce a monopoly are so few as to +constitute an inconsiderable factor in the question; but of course if +in any case it be found that a given rate of duty does promote a +monopoly which works ill, no protectionist would object to such +reduction of the duty as would equalize competition. +</p> + +<p> +In my judgment, the tariff on anthracite coal should be removed, and +anthracite put actually, where it now is nominally, on the free list. +This would have no effect at all save in crises; but in crises it might +be of service to the people. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +It would be both unwise and unnecessary at this time to attempt to +reconstruct our financial system, which has been the growth of a +century; but some additional legislation is, I think, desirable. The +mere outline of any plan sufficiently comprehensive to meet these +requirements would transgress the appropriate limits of this +communication. It is suggested, however, that all future legislation on +the subject should be with the view of encouraging the use of such +instrumentalities as will automatically supply every legitimate demand +of productive industries and of commerce, not only in the amount, but +in the character of circulation; and of making all kinds of money +interchangeable, and, at the will of the holder, convertible into the +established gold standard. +</p> + +<p> +I again call your attention to the need of passing a proper immigration +law, covering the points outlined in my Message to you at the first +session of the present Congress; substantially such a bill has already +passed the House. +</p> + +<p> +How to secure fair treatment alike for labor and for capital, how to +hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether employer or employee, +without weakening individual initiative, without hampering and cramping +the industrial development of the country, is a problem fraught with +great difficulties and one which it is of the highest importance to +solve on lines of sanity and far-sighted common sense as well as of +devotion to the right. This is an era of federation and combination. +Exactly as business men find they must often work through corporations, +and as it is a constant tendency of these corporations to grow larger, +so it is often necessary for laboring men to work in federations, and +these have become important factors of modern industrial life. Both +kinds of federation, capitalistic and labor, can do much good, and as a +necessary corollary they can both do evil. Opposition to each kind of +organization should take the form of opposition to whatever is bad in +the conduct of any given corporation or union--not of attacks upon +corporations as such nor upon unions as such; for some of the most +far-reaching beneficent work for our people has been accomplished +through both corporations and unions. Each must refrain from arbitrary +or tyrannous interference with the rights of others. Organized capital +and organized labor alike should remember that in the long run the +interest of each must be brought into harmony with the interest of the +general public; and the conduct of each must conform to the fundamental +rules of obedience to the law, of individual freedom, and of justice +and fair dealing toward all. Each should remember that in addition to +power it must strive after the realization of healthy, lofty, and +generous ideals. Every employer, every wage-worker, must be guaranteed +his liberty and his right to do as he likes with his property or his +labor so long as he does not infringe upon the rights of others. It is +of the highest importance that employer and employee alike should +endeavor to appreciate each the viewpoint of the other and the sure +disaster that will come upon both in the long run if either grows to +take as habitual an attitude of sour hostility and distrust toward the +other. Few people deserve better of the country than those +representatives both of capital and labor--and there are many such--who +work continually to bring about a good understanding of this kind, +based upon wisdom and upon broad and kindly sympathy between employers +and employed. Above all, we need to remember that any kind of class +animosity in the political world is, if possible, even more wicked, +even more destructive to national welfare, than sectional, race, or +religious animosity. We can get good government only upon condition +that we keep true to the principles upon which this Nation was founded, +and judge each man not as a part of a class, but upon his individual +merits. All that we have a right to ask of any man, rich or poor, +whatever his creed, his occupation, his birthplace, or his residence, +is that he shall act well and honorably by his neighbor and by, his +country. We are neither for the rich man as such nor for the poor man +as such; we are for the upright man, rich or poor. So far as the +constitutional powers of the National Government touch these matters of +general and vital moment to the Nation, they should be exercised in +conformity with the principles above set forth. +</p> + +<p> +It is earnestly hoped that a secretary of commerce may be created, with +a seat in the Cabinet. The rapid multiplication of questions affecting +labor and capital, the growth and complexity of the organizations +through which both labor and capital now find expression, the steady +tendency toward the employment of capital in huge corporations, and the +wonderful strides of this country toward leadership in the +international business world justify an urgent demand for the creation +of such a position. Substantially all the leading commercial bodies in +this country have united in requesting its creation. It is desirable +that some such measure as that which has already passed the Senate be +enacted into law. The creation of such a department would in itself be +an advance toward dealing with and exercising supervision over the +whole subject of the great corporations doing an interstate business; +and with this end in view, the Congress should endow the department +with large powers, which could be increased as experience might show +the need. +</p> + +<p> +I hope soon to submit to the Senate a reciprocity treaty with Cuba. On +May 20 last the United States kept its promise to the island by +formally vacating Cuban soil and turning Cuba over to those whom her +own people had chosen as the first officials of the new Republic. +</p> + +<p> +Cuba lies at our doors, and whatever affects her for good or for ill +affects us also. So much have our people felt this that in the Platt +amendment we definitely took the ground that Cuba must hereafter have +closer political relations with us than with any other power. Thus in a +sense Cuba has become a part of our international political system. +This makes it necessary that in return she should be given some of the +benefits of becoming part of our economic system. It is, from our own +standpoint, a short-sighted and mischievous policy to fail to recognize +this need. Moreover, it is unworthy of a mighty and generous nation, +itself the greatest and most successful republic in history, to refuse +to stretch out a helping hand to a young and weak sister republic just +entering upon its career of independence. We should always fearlessly +insist upon our rights in the face of the strong, and we should with +ungrudging hand do our generous duty by the weak. I urge the adoption +of reciprocity with Cuba not only because it is eminently for our own +interests to control the Cuban market and by every means to foster our +supremacy in the tropical lands and waters south of us, but also +because we, of the giant republic of the north, should make all our +sister nations of the American Continent feel that whenever they will +permit it we desire to show ourselves disinterestedly and effectively +their friend. +</p> + +<p> +A convention with Great Britain has been concluded, which will be at +once laid before the Senate for ratification, providing for reciprocal +trade arrangements between the United States and Newfoundland on +substantially the lines of the convention formerly negotiated by the +Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine. I believe reciprocal trade relations +will be greatly to the advantage of both countries. +</p> + +<p> +As civilization grows warfare becomes less and less the normal +condition of foreign relations. The last century has seen a marked +diminution of wars between civilized powers; wars with uncivilized +powers are largely mere matters of international police duty, essential +for the welfare of the world. Wherever possible, arbitration or some +similar method should be employed in lieu of war to settle difficulties +between civilized nations, although as yet the world has not progressed +sufficiently to render it possible, or necessarily desirable, to invoke +arbitration in every case. The formation of the international tribunal +which sits at The Hague is an event of good omen from which great +consequences for the welfare of all mankind may flow. It is far better, +where possible, to invoke such a permanent tribunal than to create +special arbitrators for a given purpose. +</p> + +<p> +It is a matter of sincere congratulation to our country that the United +States and Mexico should have been the first to use the good offices of +The Hague Court. This was done last summer with most satisfactory +results in the case of a claim at issue between us and our sister +Republic. It is earnestly to be hoped that this first case will serve +as a precedent for others, in which not only the United States but +foreign nations may take advantage of the machinery already in +existence at The Hague. +</p> + +<p> +I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the Hawaiian +fire claims, which were the subject of careful investigation during the +last session. +</p> + +<p> +The Congress has wisely provided that we shall build at once an +isthmian canal, if possible at Panama. The Attorney-General reports +that we can undoubtedly acquire good title from the French Panama Canal +Company. Negotiations are now pending with Colombia to secure her +assent to our building the canal. This canal will be one of the +greatest engineering feats of the twentieth century; a greater +engineering feat than has yet been accomplished during the history of +mankind. The work should be carried out as a continuing policy without +regard to change of Administration; and it should be begun under +circumstances which will make it a matter of pride for all +Administrations to continue the policy. +</p> + +<p> +The canal will be of great benefit to America, and of importance to all +the world. It will be of advantage to us industrially and also as +improving our military position. It will be of advantage to the +countries of tropical America. It is earnestly to be hoped that all of +these countries will do as some of them have already done with signal +success, and will invite to their shores commerce and improve their +material conditions by recognizing that stability and order are the +prerequisites of successful development. No independent nation in +America need have the slightest fear of aggression from the United +States. It behoves each one to maintain order within its own borders +and to discharge its just obligations to foreigners. When this is done, +they can rest assured that, be they strong or weak, they have nothing +to dread from outside interference. More and more the increasing +interdependence and complexity of international political and economic +relations render it incumbent on all civilized and orderly powers to +insist on the proper policing of the world. +</p> + +<p> +During the fall of 1901 a communication was addressed to the Secretary +of State, asking whether permission would be granted by the President +to a corporation to lay a cable from a point on the California coast to +the Philippine Islands by way of Hawaii. A statement of conditions or +terms upon which such corporation would undertake to lay and operate a +cable was volunteered. +</p> + +<p> +Inasmuch as the Congress was shortly to convene, and Pacific-cable +legislation had been the subject of consideration by the Congress for +several years, it seemed to me wise to defer action upon the +application until the Congress had first an opportunity to act. The +Congress adjourned without taking any action, leaving the matter in +exactly the same condition in which it stood when the Congress +convened. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile it appears that the Commercial Pacific Cable Company had +promptly proceeded with preparations for laying its cable. It also made +application to the President for access to and use of soundings taken +by the U. S. S. Nero, for the purpose of discovering a practicable +route for a trans-Pacific cable, the company urging that with access to +these soundings it could complete its cable much sooner than if it were +required to take soundings upon its own account. Pending consideration +of this subject, it appeared important and desirable to attach certain +conditions to the permission to examine and use the soundings, if it +should be granted. +</p> + +<p> +In consequence of this solicitation of the cable company, certain +conditions were formulated, upon which the President was willing to +allow access to these soundings and to consent to the landing and +laying of the cable, subject to any alterations or additions thereto +imposed by the Congress. This was deemed proper, especially as it was +clear that a cable connection of some kind with China, a foreign +country, was a part of the company's plan. This course was, moreover, +in accordance with a line of precedents, including President Grant's +action in the case of the first French cable, explained to the Congress +in his Annual Message of December, 1875, and the instance occurring in +1879 of the second French cable from Brest to St. Pierre, with a branch +to Cape Cod. +</p> + +<p> +These conditions prescribed, among other things, a maximum rate for +commercial messages and that the company should construct a line from +the Philippine Islands to China, there being at present, as is well +known, a British line from Manila to Hongkong. +</p> + +<p> +The representatives of the cable company kept these conditions long +under consideration, continuing, in the meantime, to prepare for laying +the cable. They have, however, at length acceded to them, and an +all-American line between our Pacific coast and the Chinese Empire, by +way of Honolulu and the Philippine Islands, is thus provided for, and +is expected within a few months to be ready for business. +</p> + +<p> +Among the conditions is one reserving the power of the Congress to +modify or repeal any or all of them. A copy of the conditions is +herewith transmitted. +</p> + +<p> +Of Porto Rico it is only necessary to say that the prosperity of the +island and the wisdom with which it has been governed have been such as +to make it serve as an example of all that is best in insular +administration. +</p> + +<p> +On July 4 last, on the one hundred and twenty-sixth anniversary of the +declaration of our independence, peace and amnesty were promulgated in +the Philippine Islands. Some trouble has since from time to time +threatened with the Mohammedan Moros, but with the late insurrectionary +Filipinos the war has entirely ceased. Civil government has now been +introduced. Not only does each Filipino enjoy such rights to life, +liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as he has never before known +during the recorded history of the islands, but the people taken as a +whole now enjoy a measure of self-government greater than that granted +to any other Orientals by any foreign power and greater than that +enjoyed by any other Orientals under their own governments, save the +Japanese alone. We have not gone too far in granting these rights of +liberty and self-government; but we have certainly gone to the limit +that in the interests of the Philippine people themselves it was wise +or just to go. To hurry matters, to go faster than we are now going, +would entail calamity on the people of the islands. No policy ever +entered into by the American people has vindicated itself in more +signal manner than the policy of holding the Philippines. The triumph +of our arms, above all the triumph of our laws and principles, has come +sooner than we had any right to expect. Too much praise can not be +given to the Army for what it has done in the Philippines both in +warfare and from an administrative standpoint in preparing the way for +civil government; and similar credit belongs to the civil authorities +for the way in which they have planted the seeds of self-government in +the ground thus made ready for them. The courage, the unflinching +endurance, the high soldierly efficiency; and the general +kind-heartedness and humanity of our troops have been strikingly +manifested. There now remain only some fifteen thousand troops in the +islands. All told, over one hundred thousand have been sent there. Of +course, there have been individual instances of wrongdoing among them. +They warred under fearful difficulties of climate and surroundings; and +under the strain of the terrible provocations which they continually +received from their foes, occasional instances of cruel retaliation +occurred. Every effort has been made to prevent such cruelties, and +finally these efforts have been completely successful. Every effort has +also been made to detect and punish the wrongdoers. After making all +allowance for these misdeeds, it remains true that few indeed have been +the instances in which war has been waged by a civilized power against +semicivilized or barbarous forces where there has been so little +wrongdoing by the victors as in the Philippine Islands. On the other +hand, the amount of difficult, important, and beneficent work which has +been done is well-nigh incalculable. +</p> + +<p> +Taking the work of the Army and the civil authorities together, it may +be questioned whether anywhere else in modern times the world has seen +a better example of real constructive statesmanship than our people +have given in the Philippine Islands. High praise should also be given +those Filipinos, in the aggregate very numerous, who have accepted the +new conditions and joined with our representatives to work with hearty +good will for the welfare of the islands. +</p> + +<p> +The Army has been reduced to the minimum allowed by law. It is very +small for the size of the Nation, and most certainly should be kept at +the highest point of efficiency. The senior officers are given scant +chance under ordinary conditions to exercise commands commensurate with +their rank, under circumstances which would fit them to do their duty +in time of actual war. A system of maneuvering our Army in bodies of +some little size has been begun and should be steadily continued. +Without such maneuvers it is folly to expect that in the event of +hostilities with any serious foe even a small army corps could be +handled to advantage. Both our officers and enlisted men are such that +we can take hearty pride in them. No better material can be found. But +they must be thoroughly trained, both as individuals and in the mass. +The marksmanship of the men must receive special attention. In the +circumstances of modern warfare the man must act far more on his own +individual responsibility than ever before, and the high individual +efficiency of the unit is of the utmost importance. Formerly this unit +was the regiment; it is now not the regiment, not even the troop or +company; it is the individual soldier. Every effort must be made to +develop every workmanlike and soldierly quality in both the officer and +the enlisted man. +</p> + +<p> +I urgently call your attention to the need of passing a bill providing +for a general staff and for the reorganization of the supply +departments on the lines of the bill proposed by the Secretary of War +last year. When the young officers enter the Army from West Point they +probably stand above their compeers in any other military service. +Every effort should be made, by training, by reward of merit, by +scrutiny into their careers and capacity, to keep them of the same high +relative excellence throughout their careers. +</p> + +<p> +The measure providing for the reorganization of the militia system and +for securing the highest efficiency in the National Guard, which has +already passed the House, should receive prompt attention and action. +It is of great importance that the relation of the National Guard to +the militia and volunteer forces of the United States should be +defined, and that in place of our present obsolete laws a practical and +efficient system should be adopted. +</p> + +<p> +Provision should be made to enable the Secretary of War to keep cavalry +and artillery horses, worn-out in long performance of duty. Such horses +fetch but a trifle when sold; and rather than turn them out to the +misery awaiting them when thus disposed of, it would be better to +employ them at light work around the posts, and when necessary to put +them painlessly to death. +</p> + +<p> +For the first time in our history naval maneuvers on a large scale are +being held under the immediate command of the Admiral of the Navy. +Constantly increasing attention is being paid to the gunnery of the +Navy, but it is yet far from what it should be. I earnestly urge that +the increase asked for by the Secretary of the Navy in the +appropriation for improving the markmanship be granted. In battle the +only shots that count are the shots that hit. It is necessary to +provide ample funds for practice with the great guns in time of peace. +These funds must provide not only for the purchase of projectiles, but +for allowances for prizes to encourage the gun crews, and especially +the gun pointers, and for perfecting an intelligent system under which +alone it is possible to get good practice. +</p> + +<p> +There should be no halt in the work of building up the Navy, providing +every year additional fighting craft. We are a very rich country, vast +in extent of territory and great in population; a country, moreover, +which has an Army diminutive indeed when compared with that of any +other first-class power. We have deliberately made our own certain +foreign policies which demand the possession of a first-class navy. The +isthmian canal will greatly increase the efficiency of our Navy if the +Navy is of sufficient size; but if we have an inadequate navy, then the +building of the canal would be merely giving a hostage to any power of +superior strength. The Monroe Doctrine should be treated as the +cardinal feature of American foreign policy; but it would be worse than +idle to assert it unless we intended to back it up, and it can be +backed up only by a thoroughly good navy. A good navy is not a +provocative of war. It is the surest guaranty of peace. +</p> + +<p> +Each individual unit of our Navy should be the most efficient of its +kind as regards both material and personnel that is to be found in the +world. I call your special attention to the need of providing for the +manning of the ships. Serious trouble threatens us if we can not do +better than we are now doing as regards securing the services of a +sufficient number of the highest type of sailormen, of sea mechanics. +The veteran seamen of our war ships are of as high a type as can be +found in any navy which rides the waters of the world; they are +unsurpassed in daring, in resolution, in readiness, in thorough +knowledge of their profession. They deserve every consideration that +can be shown them. But there are not enough of them. It is no more +possible to improvise a crew than it is possible to improvise a war +ship. To build the finest ship, with the deadliest battery, and to send +it afloat with a raw crew, no matter how brave they were individually, +would be to insure disaster if a foe of average capacity were +encountered. Neither ships nor men can be improvised when war has +begun. +</p> + +<p> +We need a thousand additional officers in order to properly man the +ships now provided for and under construction. The classes at the Naval +School at Annapolis should be greatly enlarged. At the same time that +we thus add the officers where we need them, we should facilitate the +retirement of those at the head of the list whose usefulness has become +impaired. Promotion must be fostered if the service is to be kept +efficient. +</p> + +<p> +The lamentable scarcity of officers, and the large number of recruits +and of unskilled men necessarily put aboard the new vessels as they +have been commissioned, has thrown upon our officers, and especially on +the lieutenants and junior grades, unusual labor and fatigue and has +gravely strained their powers of endurance. Nor is there sign of any +immediate let-up in this strain. It must continue for some time longer, +until more officers are graduated from Annapolis, and until the +recruits become trained and skillful in their duties. In these +difficulties incident upon the development of our war fleet the conduct +of all our officers has been creditable to the service, and the +lieutenants and junior grades in particular have displayed an ability +and a steadfast cheerfulness which entitles them to the ungrudging +thanks of all who realize the disheartening trials and fatigues to +which they are of necessity subjected. +</p> + +<p> +There is not a cloud on the horizon at present. There seems not the +slightest chance of trouble with a foreign power. We most earnestly +hope that this state of things may continue; and the way to insure its +continuance is to provide for a thoroughly efficient navy. The refusal +to maintain such a navy would invite trouble, and if trouble came would +insure disaster. Fatuous self-complacency or vanity, or +short-sightedness in refusing to prepare for danger, is both foolish +and wicked in such a nation as ours; and past experience has shown that +such fatuity in refusing to recognize or prepare for any crisis in +advance is usually succeeded by a mad panic of hysterical fear once the +crisis has actually arrived. +</p> + +<p> +The striking increase in the revenues of the Post-Office Department +shows clearly the prosperity of our people and the increasing activity +of the business of the country. +</p> + +<p> +The receipts of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending +June 30 last amounted to $121,848,047.26, an increase of $10,216,853.87 +over the preceding year, the largest increase known in the history of +the postal service. The magnitude of this increase will best appear +from the fact that the entire postal receipts for the year 1860 +amounted to but $8,518,067. +</p> + +<p> +Rural free-delivery service is no longer in the experimental stage; it +has become a fixed policy. The results following its introduction have +fully justified the Congress in the large appropriations made for its +establishment and extension. The average yearly increase in post-office +receipts in the rural districts of the country is about two per cent. +We are now able, by actual results, to show that where rural +free-delivery service has been established to such an extent as to +enable us to make comparisons the yearly increase has been upward of +ten per cent. +</p> + +<p> +On November 1, 1902, 11,650 rural free-delivery routes had been +established and were in operation, covering about one-third of the +territory of the United States available for rural free-delivery +service. There are now awaiting the action of the Department petitions +and applications for the establishment of 10,748 additional routes. +This shows conclusively the want which the establishment of the service +has met and the need of further extending it as rapidly as possible. It +is justified both by the financial results and by the practical +benefits to our rural population; it brings the men who live on the +soil into close relations with the active business world; it keeps the +farmer in daily touch with the markets; it is a potential educational +force; it enhances the value of farm property, makes farm life far +pleasanter and less isolated, and will do much to check the undesirable +current from country to city. +</p> + +<p> +It is to be hoped that the Congress will make liberal appropriations +for the continuance of the service already established and for its +further extension. +</p> + +<p> +Few subjects of more importance have been taken up by the Congress in +recent years than the inauguration of the system of nationally-aided +irrigation for the arid regions of the far West. A good beginning +therein has been made. Now that this policy of national irrigation has +been adopted, the need of thorough and scientific forest protection +will grow more rapidly than ever throughout the public-land States. +</p> + +<p> +Legislation should be provided for the protection of the game, and the +wild creatures generally, on the forest reserves. The senseless +slaughter of game, which can by judicious protection be permanently +preserved on our national reserves for the people as a whole, should be +stopped at once. It is, for instance, a serious count against our +national good sense to permit the present practice of butchering off +such a stately and beautiful creature as the elk for its antlers or +tusks. +</p> + +<p> +So far as they are available for agriculture, and to whatever extent +they may be reclaimed under the national irrigation law, the remaining +public lands should be held rigidly for the home builder, the settler +who lives on his land, and for no one else. In their actual use the +desert-land law, the timber and stone law, and the commutation clause +of the homestead law have been so perverted from the intention with +which they were enacted as to permit the acquisition of large areas of +the public domain for other than actual settlers and the consequent +prevention of settlement. Moreover, the approaching exhaustion of the +public ranges has of late led to much discussion as to the best manner +of using these public lands in the West which are suitable chiefly or +only for grazing. The sound and steady development of the West depends +upon the building up of homes therein. Much of our prosperity as a +nation has been due to the operation of the homestead law. On the other +hand, we should recognize the fact that in the grazing region the man +who corresponds to the homesteader may be unable to settle permanently +if only allowed to use the same amount of pasture land that his +brother, the homesteader, is allowed to use of arable land. One hundred +and sixty acres of fairly rich and well-watered soil, or a much smaller +amount of irrigated land, may keep a family in plenty, whereas no one +could get a living from one hundred and sixty acres of dry pasture land +capable of supporting at the outside only one head of cattle to every +ten acres. In the past great tracts of the public domain have been +fenced in by persons having no title thereto, in direct defiance of the +law forbidding the maintenance or construction of any such unlawful +inclosure of public land. For various reasons there has been little +interference with such inclosures in the past, but ample notice has now +been given the trespassers, and all the resources at the command of the +Government will hereafter be used to put a stop to such trespassing. +</p> + +<p> +In view of the capital importance of these matters, I commend them to +the earnest consideration of the Congress, and if the Congress finds +difficulty in dealing with them from lack of thorough knowledge of the +subject, I recommend that provision be made for a commission of experts +specially to investigate and report upon the complicated questions +involved. +</p> + +<p> +I especially urge upon the Congress the need of wise legislation for +Alaska. It is not to our credit as a nation that Alaska, which has been +ours for thirty-five years, should still have as poor a system Of laws +as is the case. No country has a more valuable possession--in mineral +wealth, in fisheries, furs, forests, and also in land available for +certain kinds of farming and stockgrowing. It is a territory of great +size and varied resources, well fitted to support a large permanent +population. Alaska needs a good land law and such provisions for +homesteads and pre-emptions as will encourage permanent settlement. We +should shape legislation with a view not to the exploiting and +abandoning of the territory, but to the building up of homes therein. +The land laws should be liberal in type, so as to hold out inducements +to the actual settler whom we most desire to see take possession of the +country. The forests of Alaska should be protected, and, as a secondary +but still important matter, the game also, and at the same time it is +imperative that the settlers should be allowed to cut timber, under +proper regulations, for their own use. Laws should be enacted to +protect the Alaskan salmon fisheries against the greed which would +destroy them. They should be preserved as a permanent industry and food +supply. Their management and control should be turned over to the +Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Alaska should have a Delegate in the +Congress. It would be well if a Congressional committee could visit +Alaska and investigate its needs on the ground. +</p> + +<p> +In dealing with the Indians our aim should be their ultimate absorption +into the body of our people. But in many cases this absorption must and +should be very slow. In portions of the Indian Territory the mixture of +blood has gone on at the same time with progress in wealth and +education, so that there are plenty of men with varying degrees of +purity of Indian blood who are absolutely indistinguishable in point of +social, political, and economic ability from their white associates. +There are other tribes which have as yet made no perceptible advance +toward such equality. To try to force such tribes too fast is to +prevent their going forward at all. Moreover, the tribes live under +widely different conditions. Where a tribe has made considerable +advance and lives on fertile farming soil it is possible to allot the +members lands in severalty much as is the case with white settlers. +There are other tribes where such a course is not desirable. On the +arid prairie lands the effort should be to induce the Indians to lead +pastoral rather than agricultural lives, and to permit them to settle +in villages rather than to force them into isolation. +</p> + +<p> +The large Indian schools situated remote from any Indian reservation do +a special and peculiar work of great importance. But, excellent though +these are, an immense amount of additional work must be done on the +reservations themselves among the old, and above all among the young, +Indians. +</p> + +<p> +The first and most important step toward the absorption of the Indian +is to teach him to earn his living; yet it is not necessarily to be +assumed that in each community all Indians must become either tillers +of the soil or stock raisers. Their industries may properly be +diversified, and those who show special desire or adaptability for +industrial or even commercial pursuits should be encouraged so far as +practicable to follow out each his own bent. +</p> + +<p> +Every effort should be made to develop the Indian along the lines of +natural aptitude, and to encourage the existing native industries +peculiar to certain tribes, such as the various kinds of basket +weaving, canoe building, smith work, and blanket work. Above all, the +Indian boys and girls should be given confident command of colloquial +English, and should ordinarily be prepared for a vigorous struggle with +the conditions under which their people live, rather than for immediate +absorption into some more highly developed community. +</p> + +<p> +The officials who represent the Government in dealing with the Indians +work under hard conditions, and also under conditions which render it +easy to do wrong and very difficult to detect wrong. Consequently they +should be amply paid on the one hand, and on the other hand a +particularly high standard of conduct should be demanded from them, and +where misconduct can be proved the punishment should be exemplary. +</p> + +<p> +In no department of governmental work in recent years has there been +greater success than in that of giving scientific aid to the farming +population, thereby showing them how most efficiently to help +themselves. There is no need of insisting upon its importance, for the +welfare of the farmer is fundamentally necessary to the welfare of the +Republic as a whole. In addition to such work as quarantine against +animal and vegetable plagues, and warring against them when here +introduced, much efficient help has been rendered to the farmer by the +introduction of new plants specially fitted for cultivation under the +peculiar conditions existing in different portions of the country. New +cereals have been established in the semi-arid West. For instance, the +practicability of producing the best types of macaroni wheats in +regions of an annual rainfall of only ten inches or thereabouts has +been conclusively demonstrated. Through the introduction of new rices +in Louisiana and Texas the production of rice in this country has been +made to about equal the home demand. In the South-west the possibility +of regrassing overstocked range lands has been demonstrated; in the +North many new forage crops have been introduced, while in the East it +has been shown that some of our choicest fruits can be stored and +shipped in such a way as to find a profitable market abroad. +</p> + +<p> +I again recommend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the +plans of the Smithsonian Institution for making the Museum under its +charge worthy of the Nation, and for preserving at the National Capital +not only records of the vanishing races of men but of the animals of +this continent which, like the buffalo, will soon become extinct unless +specimens from which their representatives may be renewed are sought in +their native regions and maintained there in safety. +</p> + +<p> +The District of Columbia is the only part of our territory in which the +National Government exercises local or municipal functions, and where +in consequence the Government has a free hand in reference to certain +types of social and economic legislation which must be essentially +local or municipal in their character. The Government should see to it, +for instance, that the hygienic and sanitary legislation affecting +Washington is of a high character. The evils of slum dwellings, whether +in the shape of crowded and congested tenement-house districts or of +the back-alley type, should never be permitted to grow up in +Washington. The city should be a model in every respect for all the +cities of the country. The charitable and correctional systems of the +District should receive consideration at the hands of the Congress to +the end that they may embody the results of the most advanced thought +in these fields. Moreover, while Washington is not a great industrial +city, there is some industrialism here, and our labor legislation, +while it would not be important in itself, might be made a model for +the rest of the Nation. We should pass, for instance, a wise +employer's-liability act for the District of Columbia, and we need such +an act in our navy-yards. Railroad companies in the District ought to +be required by law to block their frogs. +</p> + +<p> +The safety-appliance law, for the better protection of the lives and +limbs of railway employees, which was passed in 1893, went into full +effect on August 1, 1901. It has resulted in averting thousands of +casualties. Experience shows, however, the necessity of additional +legislation to perfect this law. A bill to provide for this passed the +Senate at the last session. It is to be hoped that some such measure +may now be enacted into law. +</p> + +<p> +There is a growing tendency to provide for the publication of masses of +documents for which there is no public demand and for the printing of +which there is no real necessity. Large numbers of volumes are turned +out by the Government printing presses for which there is no +justification. Nothing should be printed by any of the Departments +unless it contains something of permanent value, and the Congress could +with advantage cut down very materially on all the printing which it +has now become customary to provide. The excessive cost of Government +printing is a strong argument against the position of those who are +inclined on abstract grounds to advocate the Government's doing any +work which can with propriety be left in private hands. +</p> + +<p> +Gratifying progress has been made during the year in the extension of +the merit system of making appointments in the Government service. It +should be extended by law to the District of Columbia. It is much to be +desired that our consular system be established by law on a basis +providing for appointment and promotion only in consequence of proved +fitness. +</p> + +<p> +Through a wise provision of the Congress at its last session the White +House, which had become disfigured by incongruous additions and +changes, has now been restored to what it was planned to be by +Washington. In making the restorations the utmost care has been +exercised to come as near as possible to the early plans and to +supplement these plans by a careful study of such buildings as that of +the University of Virginia, which was built by Jefferson. The White +House is the property of the Nation, and so far as is compatible with +living therein it should be kept as it originally was, for the same +reasons that we keep Mount Vernon as it originally was. The stately +simplicity of its architecture is an expression of the character of the +period in which it was built, and is in accord with the purposes it was +designed to serve. It is a good thing to preserve such buildings as +historic monuments which keep alive our sense of continuity with the +Nation's past. +</p> + +<p> +The reports of the several Executive Departments are submitted to the +Congress with this communication. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3"> +*** +</p> + +<p><a id="dec1903"></a></p> + +<p class="noindent"> +State of the Union Address<br /> +Theodore Roosevelt<br /> +December 7, 1903<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To the Senate and House of Representatives: +</p> + +<p> +The country is to be congratulated on the amount of substantial +achievement which has marked the past year both as regards our foreign +and as regards our domestic policy. +</p> + +<p> +With a nation as with a man the most important things are those of the +household, and therefore the country is especially to be congratulated +on what has been accomplished in the direction of providing for the +exercise of supervision over the great corporations and combinations of +corporations engaged in interstate commerce. The Congress has created +the Department of Commerce and Labor, including the Bureau of +Corporations, with for the first time authority to secure proper +publicity of such proceedings of these great corporations as the public +has the right to know. It has provided for the expediting of suits for +the enforcement of the Federal anti-trust law; and by another law it +has secured equal treatment to all producers in the transportation of +their goods, thus taking a long stride forward in making effective the +work of the Interstate Commerce Commission. +</p> + +<p> +The establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor, with the +Bureau of Corporations thereunder, marks a real advance in the +direction of doing all that is possible for the solution of the +questions vitally affecting capitalists and wage-workers. The act +creating Department was approved on February 14, 1903, and two days +later the head of the Department was nominated and confirmed by the +Senate. Since then the work of organization has been pushed as rapidly +as the initial appropriations permitted, and with due regard to +thoroughness and the broad purposes which the Department is designed to +serve. After the transfer of the various bureaus and branches to the +Department at the beginning of the current fiscal year, as provided for +in the act, the personnel comprised 1,289 employees in Washington and +8,836 in the country at large. The scope of the Department's duty and +authority embraces the commercial and industrial interests of the +Nation. It is not designed to restrict or control the fullest liberty +of legitimate business action, but to secure exact and authentic +information which will aid the Executive in enforcing existing laws, +and which will enable the Congress to enact additional legislation, if +any should be found necessary, in order to prevent the few from +obtaining privileges at the expense of diminished opportunities for the +many. +</p> + +<p> +The preliminary work of the Bureau of Corporations in the Department +has shown the wisdom of its creation. Publicity in corporate affairs +will tend to do away with ignorance, and will afford facts upon which +intelligent action may be taken. Systematic, intelligent investigation +is already developing facts the knowledge of which is essential to a +right understanding of the needs and duties of the business world. The +corporation which is honestly and fairly organized, whose managers in +the conduct of its business recognize their obligation to deal squarely +with their stockholders, their competitors, and the public, has nothing +to fear from such supervision. The purpose of this Bureau is not to +embarrass or assail legitimate business, but to aid in bringing about a +better industrial condition--a condition under which there shall be +obedience to law and recognition of public obligation by all +corporations, great or small. The Department of Commerce and Labor will +be not only the clearing house for information regarding the business +transactions of the Nation, but the executive arm of the Government to +aid in strengthening our domestic and foreign markets, in perfecting +our transportation facilities, in building up our merchant marine, in +preventing the entrance of undesirable immigrants, in improving +commercial and industrial conditions, and in bringing together on +common ground those necessary partners in industrial progress--capital +and labor. Commerce between the nations is steadily growing in volume, +and the tendency of the times is toward closer trade relations. +Constant watchfulness is needed to secure to Americans the chance to +participate to the best advantage in foreign trade; and we may +confidently expect that the new Department will justify the expectation +of its creators by the exercise of this watchfulness, as well as by the +businesslike administration of such laws relating to our internal +affairs as are intrusted to its care. +</p> + +<p> +In enacting the laws above enumerated the Congress proceeded on sane +and conservative lines. Nothing revolutionary was attempted; but a +common-sense and successful effort was made in the direction of seeing +that corporations are so handled as to subserve the public good. The +legislation was moderate. It was characterized throughout by the idea +that we were not attacking corporations, but endeavoring to provide for +doing away with any evil in them; that we drew the line against +misconduct, not against wealth; gladly recognizing the great good done +by the capitalist who alone, or in conjunction with his fellows, does +his work along proper and legitimate lines. The purpose of the +legislation, which purpose will undoubtedly be fulfilled, was to favor +such a man when he does well, and to supervise his action only to +prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can do no harm to the honest +corporation. The only corporation that has cause to dread it is the +corporation which shrinks from the light, and about the welfare of such +corporations we need not be oversensitive. The work of the Department +of Commerce and Labor has been conditioned upon this theory, of +securing fair treatment alike for labor and for capital. +</p> + +<p> +The consistent policy of the National Government, so far as it has the +power, is to hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether employer or +employee; but to refuse to weaken individual initiative or to hamper or +cramp the industrial development of the country. We recognize that this +is an era of federation and combination, in which great capitalistic +corporations and labor unions have become factors of tremendous +importance in all industrial centers. Hearty recognition is given the +far-reaching, beneficent work which has been accomplished through both +corporations and unions, and the line as between different +corporations, as between different unions, is drawn as it is between +different individuals; that is, it is drawn on conduct, the effort +being to treat both organized capital and organized labor alike; asking +nothing save that the interest of each shall be brought into harmony +with the interest of the general public, and that the conduct of each +shall conform to the fundamental rules of obedience to law, of +individual freedom, and of justice and fair dealing towards all. +Whenever either corporation, labor union, or individual disregards the +law or acts in a spirit of arbitrary and tyrannous interference with +the rights of others, whether corporations or individuals, then where +the Federal Government has jurisdiction, it will see to it that the +misconduct is stopped, paying not the slightest heed to the position or +power of the corporation, the union or the individual, but only to one +vital fact--that is, the question whether or not the conduct of the +individual or aggregate of individuals is in accordance with the law of +the land. Every man must be guaranteed his liberty and his right to do +as he likes with his property or his labor, so long as he does not +infringe the rights of others. No man is above the law and no man is +below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to +obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a +favor. +</p> + +<p> +We have cause as a nation to be thankful for the steps that have been +so successfully taken to put these principles into effect. The progress +has been by evolution, not by revolution. Nothing radical has been +done; the action has been both moderate and resolute. Therefore the +work will stand. There shall be no backward step. If in the working of +the laws it proves desirable that they shall at any point be expanded +or amplified, the amendment can be made as its desirability is shown. +Meanwhile they are being administered with judgment, but with +insistence upon obedience to them, and their need has been emphasized +in signal fashion by the events of the past year. +</p> + +<p> +From all sources, exclusive of the postal service, the receipts of the +Government for the last fiscal year aggregated $560,396,674. The +expenditures for the same period were $506,099,007, the surplus for the +fiscal year being $54,297,667. The indications are that the surplus for +the present fiscal year will be very small, if indeed there be any +surplus. From July to November the receipts from customs were, +approximately, nine million dollars less than the receipts from the +same source for a corresponding portion of last year. Should this +decrease continue at the same ratio throughout the fiscal year, the +surplus would be reduced by, approximately, thirty million dollars. +Should the revenue from customs suffer much further decrease during the +fiscal year, the surplus would vanish. A large surplus is certainly +undesirable. Two years ago the war taxes were taken off with the +express intention of equalizing the governmental receipts and +expenditures, and though the first year thereafter still showed a +surplus, it now seems likely that a substantial equality of revenue and +expenditure will be attained. Such being the case it is of great moment +both to exercise care and economy in appropriations, and to scan +sharply any change in our fiscal revenue system which may reduce our +income. The need of strict economy in our expenditures is emphasized by +the fact that we can not afford to be parsimonious in providing for +what is essential to our national well-being. Careful economy wherever +possible will alone prevent our income from falling below the point +required in order to meet our genuine needs. +</p> + +<p> +The integrity of our currency is beyond question, and under present +conditions it would be unwise and unnecessary to attempt a +reconstruction of our entire monetary system. The same liberty should +be granted the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit customs receipts as +is granted him in the deposit of receipts from other sources. In my +Message of December 2, 1902, I called attention to certain needs of the +financial situation, and I again ask the consideration of the Congress +for these questions. +</p> + +<p> +During the last session of the Congress at the suggestion of a joint +note from the Republic of Mexico and the Imperial Government of China, +and in harmony with an act of the Congress appropriating $25,000 to pay +the expenses thereof, a commission was appointed to confer with the +principal European countries in the hope that some plan might be +devised whereby a fixed rate of exchange could be assured between the +gold-standard countries and the silver-standard countries. This +commission has filed its preliminary report, which has been made +public. I deem it important that the commission be continued, and that +a sum of money be appropriated sufficient to pay the expenses of its +further labors. +</p> + +<p> +A majority of our people desire that steps be taken in the interests of +American shipping, so that we may once more resume our former position +in the ocean carrying trade. But hitherto the differences of opinion as +to the proper method of reaching this end have been so wide that it has +proved impossible to secure the adoption of any particular scheme. +Having in view these facts, I recommend that the Congress direct the +Secretary of the Navy, the Postmaster-General, and the Secretary of +Commerce and Labor, associated with such a representation from the +Senate and House of Representatives as the Congress in its wisdom may +designate, to serve as a commission for the purpose of investigating +and reporting to the Congress at its next session what legislation is +desirable or necessary for the development of the American merchant +marine and American commerce, and incidentally of a national ocean mail +service of adequate auxiliary naval crusiers and naval reserves. While +such a measure is desirable in any event, it is especially desirable at +this time, in view of the fact that our present governmental contract +for ocean mail with the American Line will expire in 1905. Our ocean +mail act was passed in 1891. In 1895 our 20-knot transatlantic mail +line was equal to any foreign line. Since then the Germans have put on +23-knot, steamers, and the British have contracted for 24-knot +steamers. Our service should equal the best. If it does not, the +commercial public will abandon it. If we are to stay in the business it +ought to be with a full understanding of the advantages to the country +on one hand, and on the other with exact knowledge of the cost and +proper methods of carrying it on. Moreover, lines of cargo ships are of +even more importance than fast mail lines; save so far as the latter +can be depended upon to furnish swift auxiliary cruisers in time of +war. The establishment of new lines of cargo ships to South America, to +Asia, and elsewhere would be much in the interest of our commercial +expansion. +</p> + +<p> +We can not have too much immigration of the right kind, and we should +have none at all of the wrong kind. The need is to devise some system +by which undesirable immigrants shall be kept out entirely, while +desirable immigrants are properly distributed throughout the country. +At present some districts which need immigrants have none; and in +others, where the population is already congested, immigrants come in +such numbers as to depress the conditions of life for those already +there. During the last two years the immigration service at New York +has been greatly improved, and the corruption and inefficiency which +formerly obtained there have been eradicated. This service has just +been investigated by a committee of New York citizens of high standing, +Messrs. Arthur V. Briesen, Lee K. Frankel, Eugene A. Philbin, Thomas W. +Hynes, and Ralph Trautman. Their report deals with the whole situation +at length, and concludes with certain recommendations for +administrative and legislative action. It is now receiving the +attention of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. +</p> + +<p> +The special investigation of the subject of naturalization under the +direction of the Attorney-General, and the consequent prosecutions +reveal a condition of affairs calling for the immediate attention of +the Congress. Forgeries and perjuries of shameless and flagrant +character have been perpetrated, not only in the dense centers of +population, but throughout the country; and it is established beyond +doubt that very many so-called citizens of the United States have no +title whatever to that right, and are asserting and enjoying the +benefits of the same through the grossest frauds. It is never to be +forgotten that citizenship is, to quote the words recently used by the +Supreme Court of the United States, an "inestimable heritage," whether +it proceeds from birth within the country or is obtained by +naturalization; and we poison the sources of our national character and +strength at the fountain, if the privilege is claimed and exercised +without right, and by means of fraud and corruption. The body politic +can not be sound and healthy if many of its constituent members claim +their standing through the prostitution of the high right and calling +of citizenship. It should mean something to become a citizen of the +United States; and in the process no loophole whatever should be left +open to fraud. +</p> + +<p> +The methods by which these frauds--now under full investigation with a +view to meting out punishment and providing adequate remedies--are +perpetrated, include many variations of procedure by which false +certificates of citizenship are forged in their entirety; or genuine +certificates fraudulently or collusively obtained in blank are filled +in by the criminal conspirators; or certificates are obtained on +fraudulent statements as to the time of arrival and residence in this +country; or imposition and substitution of another party for the real +petitioner occur in court; or certificates are made the subject of +barter and sale and transferred from the rightful holder to those not +entitled to them; or certificates are forged by erasure of the original +names and the insertion of the names of other persons not entitled to +the same. +</p> + +<p> +It is not necessary for me to refer here at large to the causes leading +to this state of affairs. The desire for naturalization is heartily to +be commended where it springs from a sincere and permanent intention to +become citizens, and a real appreciation of the privilege. But it is a +source of untold evil and trouble where it is traceable to selfish and +dishonest motives, such as the effort by artificial and improper means, +in wholesale fashion to create voters who are ready-made tools of +corrupt politicians, or the desire to evade certain labor laws creating +discriminations against alien labor. All good citizens, whether +naturalized or native born, are equally interested in protecting our +citizenship against fraud in any form, and, on the other hand, in +affording every facility for naturalization to those who in good faith +desire to share alike our privileges and our responsibilities. +</p> + +<p> +The Federal grand jury lately in session in New York City dealt with +this subject and made a presentment which states the situation briefly +and forcibly and contains important suggestions for the consideration +of the Congress. This presentment is included as an appendix to the +report of the Attorney-General. +</p> + +<p> +In my last annual Message, in connection with the subject of the due +regulation of combinations of capital which are or may become injurious +to the public, I recommend a special appropriation for the better +enforcement of the antitrust law as it now stands, to be extended under +the direction of the Attorney-General. Accordingly (by the legislative, +executive, and judicial appropriation act of February 25, 1903, 32 +Stat., 854, 904), the Congress appropriated, for the purpose of +enforcing the various Federal trust and interstate-commerce laws, the +sum of five hundred thousand dollars, to be expended under the +direction of the Attorney-General in the employment of special counsel +and agents in the Department of Justice to conduct proceedings and +prosecutions under said laws in the courts of the United States. I now +recommend, as a matter of the utmost importance and urgency, the +extension of the purposes of this appropriation, so that it may be +available, under the direction of the Attorney-General, and until used, +for the due enforcement of the laws of the United States in general and +especially of the civil and criminal laws relating to public lands and +the laws relating to postal crimes and offenses and the subject of +naturalization. Recent investigations have shown a deplorable state of +affairs in these three matters of vital concern. By various frauds and +by forgeries and perjuries, thousands of acres of the public domain, +embracing lands of different character and extending through various +sections of the country, have been dishonestly acquired. It is hardly +necessary to urge the importance of recovering these dishonest +acquisitions, stolen from the people, and of promptly and duly +punishing the offenders. I speak in another part of this Message of the +widespread crimes by which the sacred right of citizenship is falsely +asserted and that "inestimable heritage" perverted to base ends. By +similar means--that is, through frauds, forgeries, and perjuries, and +by shameless briberies--the laws relating to the proper conduct of the +public service in general and to the due administration of the +Post-Office Department have been notoriously violated, and many +indictments have been found, and the consequent prosecutions are in +course of hearing or on the eve thereof. For the reasons thus +indicated, and so that the Government may be prepared to enforce +promptly and with the greatest effect the due penalties for such +violations of law, and to this end may be furnished with sufficient +instrumentalities and competent legal assistance for the investigations +and trials which will be necessary at many different points of the +country, I urge upon the Congress the necessity of making the said +appropriation available for immediate use for all such purposes, to be +expended under the direction of the Attorney-General. +</p> + +<p> +Steps have been taken by the State Department looking to the making of +bribery an extraditable offense with foreign powers. The need of more +effective treaties covering this crime is manifest. The exposures and +prosecutions of official corruption in St. Louis, Mo., and other cities +and States have resulted in a number of givers and takers of bribes +becoming fugitives in foreign lands. Bribery has not been included in +extradition treaties heretofore, as the necessity for it has not +arisen. While there may have been as much official corruption in former +years, there has been more developed and brought to light in the +immediate past than in the preceding century of our country's history. +It should be the policy of the United States to leave no place on earth +where a corrupt man fleeing from this country can rest in peace. There +is no reason why bribery should not be included in all treaties as +extraditable. The recent amended treaty with Mexico, whereby this crime +was put in the list of extraditable offenses, has established a +salutary precedent in this regard. Under this treaty the State +Department has asked, and Mexico has granted, the extradition of one of +the St. Louis bribe givers. +</p> + +<p> +There can be no crime more serious than bribery. Other offenses violate +one law while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law. Under +our form of Government all authority is vested in the people and by +them delegated to those who represent them in official capacity. There +can be no offense heavier than that of him in whom such a sacred trust +has been reposed, who sells it for his own gain and enrichment; and no +less heavy is the offense of the bribe giver. He is worse than the +thief, for the thief robs the individual, while the corrupt official +plunders an entire city or State. He is as wicked as the murderer, for +the murderer may only take one life against the law, while the corrupt +official and the man who corrupts the official alike aim at the +assassination of the commonwealth itself. Government of the people, by +the people, for the people will perish from the face of the earth if +bribery is tolerated. The givers and takers of bribes stand on an evil +pre-eminence of infamy. The exposure and punishment of public +corruption is an honor to a nation, not a disgrace. The shame lies in +toleration, not in correction. No city or State, still less the Nation, +can be injured by the enforcement of law. As long as public plunderers +when detected can find a haven of refuge in any foreign land and avoid +punishment, just so long encouragement is given them to continue their +practices. If we fail to do all that in us lies to stamp out corruption +we can not escape our share of responsibility for the guilt. The first +requisite of successful self-government is unflinching enforcement of +the law and the cutting out of corruption. +</p> + +<p> +For several years past the rapid development of Alaska and the +establishment of growing American interests in regions theretofore +unsurveyed and imperfectly known brought into prominence the urgent +necessity of a practical demarcation of the boundaries between the +jurisdictions of the United States and Great Britain. Although the +treaty of 1825 between Great Britain and Russia, the provisions of +which were copied in the treaty of 1867, whereby Russia conveyed Alaska +to the United States, was positive as to the control, first by Russia +and later by the United States, of a strip of territory along the +continental mainland from the western shore of Portland Canal to Mount +St. Elias, following and surrounding the indentations of the coast and +including the islands to the westward, its description of the landward +margin of the strip was indefinite, resting on the supposed existence +of a continuous ridge or range of mountains skirting the coast, as +figured in the charts of the early navigators. It had at no time been +possible for either party in interest to lay down, under the authority +of the treaty, a line so obviously exact according to its provisions as +to command the assent of the other. For nearly three-fourths of a +century the absence of tangible local interests demanding the exercise +of positive jurisdiction on either side of the border left the question +dormant. In 1878 questions of revenue administration on the Stikine +River led to the establishment of a provisional demarcation, crossing +the channel between two high peaks on either side about twenty-four +miles above the river mouth. In 1899 similar questions growing out of +the extraordinary development of mining interests in the region about +the head of Lynn Canal brought about a temporary modus vivendi, by +which a convenient separation was made at the watershed divides of the +White and Chilkoot passes and to the north of Klukwan, on the Klehini +River. These partial and tentative adjustments could not, in the very +nature of things, be satisfactory or lasting. A permanent disposition +of the matter became imperative. +</p> + +<p> +After unavailing attempts to reach an understanding through a Joint +High Commission, followed by prolonged negotiations, conducted in an +amicable spirit, a convention between the United States and Great +Britain was signed, January 24, 1903, providing for an examination of +the subject by a mixed tribunal of six members, three on a side, with a +view to its final disposition. Ratifications were exchanged on March 3 +last, whereupon the two Governments appointed their respective members. +Those on behalf of the United States were Elihu Root, Secretary of War, +Henry Cabot Lodge, a Senator of the United States, and George Turner, +an ex-Senator of the United States, while Great Britain named the Right +Honourable Lord Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir Louis +Amable Jette, K. C. M. G., retired judge of the Supreme Court of +Quebec, and A. B. Aylesworth, K. C., of Toronto. This Tribunal met in +London on September 3, under the Presidency of Lord Alverstone. The +proceedings were expeditious, and marked by a friendly and +conscientious spirit. The respective cases, counter cases, and +arguments presented the issues clearly and fully. On the 20th of +October a majority of the Tribunal reached and signed an agreement on +all the questions submitted by the terms of the Convention. By this +award the right of the United States to the control of a continuous +strip or border of the mainland shore, skirting all the tide-water +inlets and sinuosities of the coast, is confirmed; the entrance to +Portland Canal (concerning which legitimate doubt appeared) is defined +as passing by Tongass Inlet and to the northwestward of Wales and +Pearse islands; a line is drawn from the head of Portland Canal to the +fifty-sixth degree of north latitude; and the interior border line of +the strip is fixed by lines connecting certain mountain summits lying +between Portland Canal and Mount St. Elias, and running along the crest +of the divide separating the coast slope from the inland watershed at +the only part of the frontier where the drainage ridge approaches the +coast within the distance of ten marine leagues stipulated by the +treaty as the extreme width of the strip around the heads of Lynn Canal +and its branches. +</p> + +<p> +While the line so traced follows the provisional demarcation of 1878 at +the crossing of the Stikine River, and that of 1899 at the summits of +the White and Chilkoot passes, it runs much farther inland from the +Klehini than the temporary line of the later modus vivendi, and leaves +the entire mining district of the Porcupine River and Glacier Creek +within the jurisdiction of the United States. +</p> + +<p> +The result is satisfactory in every way. It is of great material +advantage to our people in the Far Northwest. It has removed from the +field of discussion and possible danger a question liable to become +more acutely accentuated with each passing year. Finally, it has +furnished a signal proof of the fairness and good will with which two +friendly nations can approach and determine issues involving national +sovereignty and by their nature incapable of submission to a third +power for adjudication. +</p> + +<p> +The award is self-executing on the vital points. To make it effective +as regards the others it only remains for the two Governments to +appoint, each on its own behalf, one or more scientific experts, who +shall, with all convenient speed, proceed together to lay down the +boundary line in accordance with the decision of the majority of the +Tribunal. I recommend that the Congress make adequate provision for the +appointment, compensation, and expenses of the members to serve on this +joint boundary commission on the part of the United States. +</p> + +<p> +It will be remembered that during the second session of the last +Congress Great Britain, Germany, and Italy formed an alliance for the +purpose of blockading the ports of Venezuela and using such other means +of pressure as would secure a settlement of claims due, as they +alleged, to certain of their subjects. Their employment of force for +the collection of these claims was terminated by an agreement brought +about through the offices of the diplomatic representatives of the +United States at Caracas and the Government at Washington, thereby +ending a situation which was bound to cause increasing friction, and +which jeoparded the peace of the continent. Under this agreement +Venezuela agreed to set apart a certain percentage of the customs +receipts of two of her ports to be applied to the payment of whatever +obligations might be ascertained by mixed commissions appointed for +that purpose to be due from her, not only to the three powers already +mentioned, whose proceedings against her had resulted in a state of +war, but also to the United States, France, Spain, Belgium, the +Netherland Sweden and Norway, and Mexico, who had not employed force +for the collection of the claims alleged to be due to certain of their +citizens. +</p> + +<p> +A demand was then made by the so-called blockading powers that the sums +ascertained to be due to their citizens by such mixed commissions +should be accorded payment in full before anything was paid upon the +claims of any of the so-called peace powers. Venezuela, on the other +hand, insisted that all her creditors should be paid upon a basis of +exact equality. During the efforts to adjust this dispute it was +suggested by the powers in interest that it should be referred to me +for decision, but I was clearly of the opinion that a far wiser course +would be to submit the question to the Permanent Court of Arbitration +at The Hague. It seemed to me to offer an admirable opportunity to +advance the practice of the peaceful settlement of disputes between +nations and to secure for the Hague Tribunal a memorable increase of +its practical importance. The nations interested in the controversy +were so numerous and in many instances so powerful as to make it +evident that beneficent results would follow from their appearance at +the same time before the bar of that august tribunal of peace. +</p> + +<p> +Our hopes in that regard have been realized. Russia and Austria are +represented in the persons of the learned and distinguished jurists who +compose the Tribunal, while Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, +Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, Mexico, the United +States, and Venezuela are represented by their respective agents and +counsel. Such an imposing concourse of nations presenting their +arguments to and invoking the decision of that high court of +international justice and international peace can hardly fail to secure +a like submission of many future controversies. The nations now +appearing there will find it far easier to appear there a second time, +while no nation can imagine its just pride will be lessened by +following the example now presented. This triumph of the principle of +international arbitration is a subject of warm congratulation and +offers a happy augury for the peace of the world. +</p> + +<p> +There seems good ground for the belief that there has been a real +growth among the civilized nations of a sentiment which will permit a +gradual substitution of other methods than the method of war in the +settlement of disputes. It is not pretended that as yet we are near a +position in which it will be possible wholly to prevent war, or that a +just regard for national interest and honor will in all cases permit of +the settlement of international disputes by arbitration; but by a +mixture of prudence and firmness with wisdom we think it is possible to +do away with much of the provocation and excuse for war, and at least +in many cases to substitute some other and more rational method for the +settlement of disputes. The Hague Court offers so good an example of +what can be done in the direction of such settlement that it should be +encouraged in every way. +</p> + +<p> +Further steps should be taken. In President McKinley's annual Message +of December 5, 1898, he made the following recommendation: +</p> + +<p> +"The experiences of the last year bring forcibly home to us a sense of +the burdens and the waste of war. We desire in common with most +civilized nations, to reduce to the lowest possible point the damage +sustained in time of war by peaceable trade and commerce. It is true we +may suffer in such cases less than other communities, but all nations +are damaged more or less by the state of uneasiness and apprehension +into which an outbreak of hostilities throws the entire commercial +world. It should be our object, therefore, to minimize, so far as +practicable, this inevitable loss and disturbance. This purpose can +probably best be accomplished by an international agreement to regard +all private property at sea as exempt from capture or destruction by +the forces of belligerent powers. The United States Government has for +many years advocated this humane and beneficent principle, and is now +in a position to recommend it to other powers without the imputation of +selfish motives. I therefore suggest for your consideration that the +Executive be authorized to correspond with the governments of the +principal maritime powers with a view of incorporating into the +permanent law of civilized nations the principle of the exemption of +all private property at sea, not contraband of war, from capture or +destruction by belligerent powers." +</p> + +<p> +I cordially renew this recommendation. +</p> + +<p> +The Supreme Court, speaking on December 11. 1899, through Peckham, J., +said: +</p> + +<p> +"It is, we think, historically accurate to say that this Government has +always been, in its views, among the most advanced of the governments +of the world in favor of mitigating, as to all non-combatants, the +hardships and horrors of war. To accomplish that object it has always +advocated those rules which would in most cases do away with the right +to capture the private property of an enemy on the high seas." +</p> + +<p> +I advocate this as a matter of humanity and morals. It is anachronistic +when private property is respected on land that it should not be +respected at sea. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that shipping +represents, internationally speaking, a much more generalized species +of private property than is the case with ordinary property on +land--that is, property found at sea is much less apt than is the case +with property found on land really to belong to any one nation. Under +the modern system of corporate ownership the flag of a vessel often +differs from the flag which would mark the nationality of the real +ownership and money control of the vessel; and the cargo may belong to +individuals of yet a different nationality. Much American capital is +now invested in foreign ships; and among foreign nations it often +happens that the capital of one is largely invested in the shipping of +another. Furthermore, as a practical matter, it may be mentioned that +while commerce destroying may cause serious loss and great annoyance, +it can never be more than a subsidiary factor in bringing to terms a +resolute foe. This is now well recognized by all of our naval experts. +The fighting ship, not the commerce destroyer, is the vessel whose +feats add renown to a nation's history, and establish her place among +the great powers of the world. +</p> + +<p> +Last year the Interparliamentary Union for International Arbitration +met at Vienna, six hundred members of the different legislatures of +civilized countries attending. It was provided that the next meeting +should be in 1904 at St. Louis, subject to our Congress extending an +invitation. Like the Hague Tribunal, this Interparliamentary Union is +one of the forces tending towards peace among the nations of the earth, +and it is entitled to our support. I trust the invitation can be +extended. +</p> + +<p> +Early in July, having received intelligence, which happily turned out +to be erroneous, of the assassination of our vice-consul at Beirut, I +dispatched a small squadron to that port for such service as might be +found necessary on arrival. Although the attempt on the life of our +vice-consul had not been successful, yet the outrage was symptomatic of +a state of excitement and disorder which demanded immediate attention. +The arrival of the vessels had the happiest result. A feeling of +security at once took the place of the former alarm and disquiet; our +officers were cordially welcomed by the consular body and the leading +merchants, and ordinary business resumed its activity. The Government +of the Sultan gave a considerate hearing to the representations of our +minister; the official who was regarded as responsible for the +disturbed condition of affairs was removed. Our relations with the +Turkish Government remain friendly; our claims rounded on inequitable +treatment of some of our schools and missions appear to be in process +of amicable adjustment. +</p> + +<p> +The signing of a new commercial treaty with China, which took place at +Shanghai on the 8th of October, is a cause for satisfaction. This act, +the result of long discussion and negotiation, places our commercial +relations with the great Oriental Empire on a more satisfactory footing +than they have ever heretofore enjoyed. It provides not only for the +ordinary rights and privileges of diplomatic and consular officers, but +also for an important extension of our commerce by increased facility +of access to Chinese ports, and for the relief of trade by the removal +of some of the obstacles which have embarrassed it in the past. The +Chinese Government engages, on fair and equitable conditions, which +will probably be accepted by the principal commercial nations, to +abandon the levy of "liken" and other transit dues throughout the +Empire, and to introduce other desirable administrative reforms. Larger +facilities are to be given to our citizens who desire to carry on +mining enterprises in China. We have secured for our missionaries a +valuable privilege, the recognition of their right to rent and lease in +perpetuity such property as their religious societies may need in all +parts of the Empire. And, what was an indispensable condition for the +advance and development of our commerce in Manchuria, China, by treaty +with us, has opened to foreign commerce the cities of Mukden, the +capital of the province of Manchuria, and An-tung, an important port on +the Yalu River, on the road to Korea. The full measure of development +which our commerce may rightfully expect can hardly be looked for until +the settlement of the present abnormal state of things in the Empire; +but the foundation for such development has at last been laid. +</p> + +<p> +I call your attention to the reduced cost in maintaining the consular +service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, as shown in the +annual report of the Auditor for the State and other Departments, as +compared with the year previous. For the year under consideration the +excess of expenditures over receipts on account of the consular service +amounted to $26,125.12, as against $96,972.50 for the year ending June +30, 1902, and $147,040.16 for the year ending June 30, 1901. This is +the best showing in this respect for the consular service for the past +fourteen years, and the reduction in the cost of the service to the +Government has been made in spite of the fact that the expenditures for +the year in question were more than $20,000 greater than for the +previous year. +</p> + +<p> +The rural free-delivery service has been steadily extended. The +attention of the Congress is asked to the question of the compensation +of the letter carriers and clerks engaged in the postal service, +especially on the new rural free-delivery routes. More routes have been +installed since the first of July last than in any like period in the +Department's history. While a due regard to economy must be kept in +mind in the establishment of new routes, yet the extension of the rural +free-delivery system must be continued, for reasons of sound public +policy. No governmental movement of recent years has resulted in +greater immediate benefit to the people of the country districts. Rural +free delivery, taken in connection with the telephone, the bicycle, and +the trolley, accomplishes much toward lessening the isolation of farm +life and making it brighter and more attractive. In the immediate past +the lack of just such facilities as these has driven many of the more +active and restless young men and women from the farms to the cities; +for they rebelled at loneliness and lack of mental companionship. It is +unhealthy and undesirable for the cities to grow at the expense of the +country; and rural free delivery is not only a good thing in itself, +but is good because it is one of the causes which check this +unwholesome tendency towards the urban concentration of our population +at the expense of the country districts. It is for the same reason that +we sympathize with and approve of the policy of building good roads. +The movement for good roads is one fraught with the greatest benefit to +the country districts. +</p> + +<p> +I trust that the Congress will continue to favor in all proper ways the +Louisiana Purchase Exposition. This Exposition commemorates the +Louisiana purchase, which was the first great step in the expansion +which made us a continental nation. The expedition of Lewis and Clark +across the continent followed thereon, and marked the beginning of the +process of exploration and colonization which thrust our national +boundaries to the Pacific. The acquisition of the Oregon country, +including the present States of Oregon and Washington, was a fact of +immense importance in our history; first giving us our place on the +Pacific seaboard, and making ready the way for our ascendency in the +commerce of the greatest of the oceans. The centennial of our +establishment upon the western coast by the expedition of Lewis and +Clark is to be celebrated at Portland, Oregon, by an exposition in the +summer of 1905, and this event should receive recognition and support +from the National Government. +</p> + +<p> +I call your special attention to the Territory of Alaska. The country +is developing rapidly, and it has an assured future. The mineral wealth +is great and has as yet hardly been tapped. The fisheries, if wisely +handled and kept under national control, will be a business as +permanent as any other, and of the utmost importance to the people. The +forests if properly guarded will form another great source of wealth. +Portions of Alaska are fitted for farming and stock raising, although +the methods must be adapted to the peculiar conditions of the country. +Alaska is situated in the far north; but so are Norway and Sweden and +Finland; and Alaska can prosper and play its part in the New World just +as those nations have prospered and played their parts in the Old +World. Proper land laws should be enacted; and the survey of the public +lands immediately begun. Coal-land laws should be provided whereby the +coal-land entryman may make his location and secure patent under +methods kindred to those now prescribed for homestead and mineral +entrymen. Salmon hatcheries, exclusively under Government control, +should be established. The cable should be extended from Sitka +westward. Wagon roads and trails should be built, and the building of +railroads promoted in all legitimate ways. Light-houses should be built +along the coast. Attention should be paid to the needs of the Alaska +Indians; provision should be made for an officer, with deputies, to +study their needs, relieve their immediate wants, and help them adapt +themselves to the new conditions. +</p> + +<p> +The commission appointed to investigate, during the season of 1903, the +condition and needs of the Alaskan salmon fisheries, has finished its +work in the field, and is preparing a detailed report thereon. A +preliminary report reciting the measures immediately required for the +protection and preservation of the salmon industry has already been +submitted to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for his attention and +for the needed action. +</p> + +<p> +I recommend that an appropriation be made for building light-houses in +Hawaii, and taking possession of those already built. The Territory +should be reimbursed for whatever amounts it has already expended for +light-houses. The governor should be empowered to suspend or remove any +official appointed by him, without submitting the matter to the +legislature. +</p> + +<p> +Of our insular possessions the Philippines and Porto Rico it is +gratifying to say that their steady progress has been such as to make +it unnecessary to spend much time in discussing them. Yet the Congress +should ever keep in mind that a peculiar obligation rests upon us to +further in every way the welfare of these communities. The Philippines +should be knit closer to us by tariff arrangements. It would, of +course, be impossible suddenly to raise the people of the islands to +the high pitch of industrial prosperity and of governmental efficiency +to which they will in the end by degrees attain; and the caution and +moderation shown in developing them have been among the main reasons +why this development has hitherto gone on so smoothly. Scrupulous care +has been taken in the choice of governmental agents, and the entire +elimination of partisan politics from the public service. The condition +of the islanders is in material things far better than ever before, +while their governmental, intellectual, and moral advance has kept pace +with their material advance. No one people ever benefited another +people more than we have benefited the Filipinos by taking possession +of the islands. +</p> + +<p> +The cash receipts of the General Land Office for the last fiscal year +were $11,024,743.65, an increase of $4,762,816.47 over the preceding +year. Of this sum, approximately, $8,461,493 will go to the credit of +the fund for the reclamation of arid land, making the total of this +fund, up to the 30th of June, 1903, approximately, $16,191,836. +</p> + +<p> +A gratifying disposition has been evinced by those having unlawful +inclosures of public land to remove their fences. Nearly two million +acres so inclosed have been thrown open on demand. In but comparatively +few cases has it been necessary to go into court to accomplish this +purpose. This work will be vigorously prosecuted until all unlawful +inclosures have been removed. +</p> + +<p> +Experience has shown that in the western States themselves, as well as +in the rest of the country, there is widespread conviction that certain +of the public-land laws and the resulting administrative practice no +longer meet the present needs. The character and uses of the remaining +public lands differ widely from those of the public lands which +Congress had especially in view when these laws were passed. The +rapidly increasing rate of disposal of the public lands is not followed +by a corresponding increase in home building. There is a tendency to +mass in large holdings public lands, especially timber and grazing +lands, and thereby to retard settlement. I renew and emphasize my +recommendation of last year that so far as they are available for +agriculture in its broadest sense, and to whatever extent they may be +reclaimed under the national irrigation law, the remaining public lands +should be held rigidly for the home builder. The attention of the +Congress is especially directed to the timber and stone law, the +desert-land law, and the commutation clause of the homestead law, which +in their operation have in many respects conflicted with wise +public-land policy. The discussions in the Congress and elsewhere have +made it evident that there is a wide divergence of opinions between +those holding opposite views on these subjects; and that the opposing +sides have strong and convinced representatives of weight both within +and without the Congress; the differences being not only as to matters +of opinion but as to matters of fact. In order that definite +information may be available for the use of the Congress, I have +appointed a commission composed of W. A. Richards, Commissioner of the +General Land Office; Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the Bureau of Forestry +of the Department of Agriculture, and F. H. Newell, Chief Hydrographer +of the Geological Survey, to report at the earliest practicable moment +upon the condition, operation, and effect of the present land laws and +on the use, condition, disposal, and settlement of the public lands. +The commission will report especially what changes in organization, +laws, regulations, and practice affecting the public lands are needed +to effect the largest practicable disposition of the public lands to +actual settlers who will build permanent homes upon them, and to secure +in permanence the fullest and most effective use of the resources of +the public lands; and it will make such other reports and +recommendations as its study of these questions may suggest. The +commission is to report immediately upon those points concerning which +its judgment is clear; on any point upon which it has doubt it will +take the time necessary to make investigation and reach a final +judgment. +</p> + +<p> +The work of reclamation of the arid lands of the West is progressing +steadily and satisfactorily under the terms of the law setting aside +the proceeds from the disposal of public lands. The corps of engineers +known as the Reclamation Service, which is conducting the surveys and +examinations, has been thoroughly organized, especial pains being taken +to secure under the civil-service rules a body of skilled, experienced, +and efficient men. Surveys and examinations are progressing throughout +the arid States and Territories, plans for reclaiming works being +prepared and passed upon by boards of engineers before approval by the +Secretary of the Interior. In Arizona and Nevada, in localities where +such work is pre-eminently needed, construction has already been begun. +In other parts of the arid West various projects are well advanced +towards the drawing up of contracts, these being delayed in part by +necessities of reaching agreements or understanding as regards rights +of way or acquisition of real estate. Most of the works contemplated +for construction are of national importance, involving interstate +questions or the securing of stable, self-supporting communities in the +midst of vast tracts of vacant land. The Nation as a whole is of course +the gainer by the creation of these homes, adding as they do to the +wealth and stability of the country, and furnishing a home market for +the products of the East and South. The reclamation law, while perhaps +not ideal, appears at present to answer the larger needs for which it +is designed. Further legislation is not recommended until the +necessities of change are more apparent. +</p> + +<p> +The study of the opportunities of reclamation of the vast extent of +arid land shows that whether this reclamation is done by individuals, +corporations, or the State, the sources of water supply must be +effectively protected and the reservoirs guarded by the preservation of +the forests at the headwaters of the streams. The engineers making the +preliminary examinations continually emphasize this need and urge that +the remaining public lands at the headwaters of the important streams +of the West be reserved to insure permanency of water supply for +irrigation. Much progress in forestry has been made during the past +year. The necessity for perpetuating our forest resources, whether in +public or private hands, is recognized now as never before. The demand +for forest reserves has become insistent in the West, because the West +must use the water, wood, and summer range which only such reserves can +supply. Progressive lumbermen are striving, through forestry, to give +their business permanence. Other great business interests are awakening +to the need of forest preservation as a business matter. The +Government's forest work should receive from the Congress hearty +support, and especially support adequate for the protection of the +forest reserves against fire. The forest-reserve policy of the +Government has passed beyond the experimental stage and has reached a +condition where scientific methods are essential to its successful +prosecution. The administrative features of forest reserves are at +present unsatisfactory, being divided between three Bureaus of two +Departments. It is therefore recommended that all matters pertaining to +forest reserves, except those involving or pertaining to land titles, +be consolidated in the Bureau of Forestry of the Department of +Agriculture. +</p> + +<p> +The cotton-growing States have recently been invaded by a weevil that +has done much damage and threatens the entire cotton industry. I +suggest to the Congress the prompt enactment of such remedial +legislation as its judgment may approve. +</p> + +<p> +In granting patents to foreigners the proper course for this country to +follow is to give the same advantages to foreigners here that the +countries in which these foreigners dwell extend in return to our +citizens; that is, to extend the benefits of our patent laws on +inventions and the like where in return the articles would be +patentable in the foreign countries concerned--where an American could +get a corresponding patent in such countries. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian agents should not be dependent for their appointment or +tenure of office upon considerations of partisan politics; the practice +of appointing, when possible, ex-army officers or bonded +superintendents to the vacancies that occur is working well. Attention +is invited to the widespread illiteracy due to lack of public schools +in the Indian Territory. Prompt heed should be paid to the need of +education for the children in this Territory. +</p> + +<p> +In my last annual Message the attention of the Congress was called to +the necessity of enlarging the safety-appliance law, and it is +gratifying to note that this law was amended in important respects. +With the increasing railway mileage of the country, the greater number +of men employed, and the use of larger and heavier equipment, the +urgency for renewed effort to prevent the loss of life and limb upon +the railroads of the country, particularly to employees, is apparent. +For the inspection of water craft and the Life-Saving Service upon the +water the Congress has built up an elaborate body of protective +legislation and a thorough method of inspection and is annually +spending large sums of money. It is encouraging to observe that the +Congress is alive to the interests of those who are employed upon our +wonderful arteries of commerce--the railroads--who so safely transport +millions of passengers and billions of tons of freight. The Federal +inspection, of safety appliances, for which the Congress is now making +appropriations, is a service analogous to that which the Government has +upheld for generations in regard to vessels, and it is believed will +prove of great practical benefit, both to railroad employees and the +traveling public. As the greater part of commerce is interstate and +exclusively under the control of the Congress the needed safety and +uniformity must be secured by national legislation. +</p> + +<p> +No other class of our citizens deserves so well of the Nation as those +to whom the Nation owes its very being, the veterans of the civil war. +Special attention is asked to the excellent work of the Pension Bureau +in expediting and disposing of pension claims. During the fiscal year +ending July 1, 1903, the Bureau settled 251,982 claims, an average of +825 claims for each working day of the year. The number of settlements +since July 1, 1903, has been in excess of last year's average, +approaching 1,000 claims for each working day, and it is believed that +the work of the Bureau will be current at the close of the present +fiscal year. +</p> + +<p> +During the year ended June 30 last 25,566 persons were appointed +through competitive examinations under the civil-service rules. This +was 12,672 more than during the preceding year, and 40 per cent of +those who passed the examinations. This abnormal growth was largely +occasioned by the extension of classification to the rural +free-delivery service and the appointment last year of over 9,000 rural +carriers. A revision of the civil-service rules took effect on April 15 +last, which has greatly improved their operation. The completion of the +reform of the civil service is recognized by good citizens everywhere +as a matter of the highest public importance, and the success of the +merit system largely depends upon the effectiveness of the rules and +the machinery provided for their enforcement. A very gratifying spirit +of friendly co-operation exists in all the Departments of the +Government in the enforcement and uniform observance of both the letter +and spirit of the civil-service act. Executive orders of July 3, 1902; +March 26, 1903, and July 8, 1903, require that appointments of all +unclassified laborers, both in the Departments at Washington and in the +field service, shall be made with the assistance of the United States +Civil Service Commission, under a system of registration to test the +relative fitness of applicants for appointment or employment. This +system is competitive, and is open to all citizens of the United States +qualified in respect to age, physical ability, moral character, +industry, and adaptability for manual labor; except that in case of +veterans of the Civil War the element of age is omitted. This system of +appointment is distinct from the classified service and does not +classify positions of mere laborer under the civil-service act and +rules. Regulations in aid thereof have been put in operation in several +of the Departments and are being gradually extended in other parts of +the service. The results have been very satisfactory, as extravagance +has been checked by decreasing the number of unnecessary positions and +by increasing the efficiency of the employees remaining. +</p> + +<p> +The Congress, as the result of a thorough investigation of the +charities and reformatory institutions in the District of Columbia, by +a joint select committee of the two Houses which made its report in +March, 1898, created in the act approved June 6, 1900, a board of +charities for the District of Columbia, to consist of five residents of +the District, appointed by the President of the United States, by and +with the advice and consent of the Senate, each for a term of three +years, to serve without compensation. President McKinley appointed five +men who had been active and prominent in the public charities in +Washington, all of whom upon taking office July 1, 1900, resigned from +the different charities with which they had been connected. The members +of the board have been reappointed in successive years. The board +serves under the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. The board +gave its first year to a careful and impartial study of the special +problems before it, and has continued that study every year in the +light of the best practice in public charities elsewhere. Its +recommendations in its annual reports to the Congress through the +Commissioners of the District of Columbia "for the economical and +efficient administration of the charities and reformatories of the +District of Columbia," as required by the act creating it, have been +based upon the principles commended by the joint select committee of +the Congress in its report of March, 1898, and approved by the best +administrators of public charities, and make for the desired +systematization and improvement of the affairs under its supervision. +They are worthy of favorable consideration by the Congress. +</p> + +<p> +The effect of the laws providing a General Staff for the Army and for +the more effective use of the National Guard has been excellent. Great +improvement has been made in the efficiency of our Army in recent +years. Such schools as those erected at Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley +and the institution of fall maneuver work accomplish satisfactory +results. The good effect of these maneuvers upon the National Guard is +marked, and ample appropriation should be made to enable the guardsmen +of the several States to share in the benefit. The Government should as +soon as possible secure suitable permanent camp sites for military +maneuvers in the various sections of the country. The service thereby +rendered not only to the Regular Army, but to the National Guard of the +several States, will be so great as to repay many times over the +relatively small expense. We should not rest satisfied with what has +been done, however. The only people who are contented with a system of +promotion by mere seniority are those who are contented with the +triumph of mediocrity over excellence. On the other hand, a system +which encouraged the exercise of social or political favoritism in +promotions would be even worse. But it would surely be easy to devise a +method of promotion from grade to grade in which the opinion of the +higher officers of the service upon the candidates should be decisive +upon the standing and promotion of the latter. Just such a system now +obtains at West Point. The quality of each year's work determines the +standing of that year's class, the man being dropped or graduated into +the next class in the relative position which his military superiors +decide to be warranted by his merit. In other words, ability, energy, +fidelity, and all other similar qualities determine the rank of a man +year after year in West Point, and his standing in the Army when he +graduates from West Point; but from that time on, all effort to find +which man is best or worst, and reward or punish him accordingly, is +abandoned; no brilliancy, no amount of hard work, no eagerness in the +performance of duty, can advance him, and no slackness or indifference +that falls short of a court-martial offense can retard him. Until this +system is changed we can not hope that our officers will be of as high +grade as we have a right to expect, considering the material upon which +we draw. Moreover, when a man renders such service as Captain Pershing +rendered last spring in the Moro campaign, it ought to be possible +to reward him without at once jumping him to the grade of +brigadier-general. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after the enunciation of that famous principle of American +foreign policy now known as the "Monroe Doctrine," President Monroe, in +a special Message to Congress on January 30, 1824, spoke as follows: +"The Navy is the arm from which our Government will always derive most +aid in support of our rights. Every power engaged in war will know the +strength of our naval power, the number of our ships of each class, +their condition, and the promptitude with which we may bring them into +service, and will pay due consideration to that argument." +</p> + +<p> +I heartily congratulate the Congress upon the steady progress in +building up the American Navy. We can not afford a let-up in this great +work. To stand still means to go back. There should be no cessation in +adding to the effective units of the fighting strength of the fleet. +Meanwhile the Navy Department and the officers of the Navy are doing +well their part by providing constant service at sea under conditions +akin to those of actual warfare. Our officers and enlisted men are +learning to handle the battleships, cruisers, and torpedo boats with +high efficiency in fleet and squadron formations, and the standard of +marksmanship is being steadily raised. The best work ashore is +indispensable, but the highest duty of a naval officer is to exercise +command at sea. +</p> + +<p> +The establishment of a naval base in the Philippines ought not to be +longer postponed. Such a base is desirable in time of peace; in time of +war it would be indispensable, and its lack would be ruinous. Without +it our fleet would be helpless. Our naval experts are agreed that Subig +Bay is the proper place for the purpose. The national interests require +that the work of fortification and development of a naval station at +Subig Bay be begun at an early date; for under the best conditions it +is a work which will consume much time. +</p> + +<p> +It is eminently desirable, however, that there should be provided a +naval general staff on lines similar to those of the General Staff +lately created for the Army. Within the Navy Department itself the +needs of the service have brought about a system under which the duties +of a general staff are partially performed; for the Bureau of +Navigation has under its direction the War College, the Office of Naval +Intelligence, and the Board of Inspection, and has been in close touch +with the General Board of the Navy. But though under the excellent +officers at their head, these boards and bureaus do good work, they +have not the authority of a general staff, and have not sufficient +scope to insure a proper readiness for emergencies. We need the +establishment by law of a body of trained officers, who shall exercise +a systematic control of the military affairs of the Navy, and be +authorized advisers of the Secretary concerning it. +</p> + +<p> +By the act of June 28, 1902, the Congress authorized the President to +enter into treaty with Colombia for the building of the canal across +the Isthmus of Panama; it being provided that in the event of failure +to secure such treaty after the lapse of a reasonable time, recourse +should be had to building a canal through Nicaragua. It has not been +necessary to consider this alternative, as I am enabled to lay before +the Senate a treaty providing for the building of the canal across the +Isthmus of Panama. This was the route which commended itself to the +deliberate judgment of the Congress, and we can now acquire by treaty +the right to construct the canal over this route. The question now, +therefore, is not by which route the isthmian canal shall be built, for +that question has been definitely and irrevocably decided. The question +is simply whether or not we shall have an isthmian canal. +</p> + +<p> +When the Congress directed that we should take the Panama route under +treaty with Colombia, the essence of the condition, of course, referred +not to the Government which controlled that route, but to the route +itself; to the territory across which the route lay, not to the name +which for the moment the territory bore on the map. The purpose of the +law was to authorize the President to make a treaty with the power in +actual control of the Isthmus of Panama. This purpose has been +fulfilled. +</p> + +<p> +In the year 1846 this Government entered into a treaty with New +Granada, the predecessor upon the Isthmus of the Republic of Colombia +and of the present Republic of Panama, by which treaty it was provided +that the Government and citizens of the United States should always +have free and open right of way or transit across the Isthmus of Panama +by any modes of communication that might be constructed, while in turn +our Government guaranteed the perfect neutrality of the above-mentioned +Isthmus with the view that the free transit from the one to the other +sea might not be interrupted or embarrassed. The treaty vested in the +United States a substantial property right carved out of the rights of +sovereignty and property which New Granada then had and possessed over +the said territory. The name of New Granada has passed away and its +territory has been divided. Its successor, the Government of Colombia, +has ceased to own any property in the Isthmus. A new Republic, that of +Panama, which was at one time a sovereign state, and at another time a +mere department of the successive confederations known as New Granada +and Columbia, has now succeeded to the rights which first one and then +the other formerly exercised over the Isthmus. But as long as the +Isthmus endures, the mere geographical fact of its existence, and the +peculiar interest therein which is required by our position, perpetuate +the solemn contract which binds the holders of the territory to respect +our right to freedom of transit across it, and binds us in return to +safeguard for the Isthmus and the world the exercise of that +inestimable privilege. The true interpretation of the obligations upon +which the United States entered in this treaty of 1846 has been given +repeatedly in the utterances of Presidents and Secretaries of State. +Secretary Cuss in 1858 officially stated the position of this +Government as follows: +</p> + +<p> +"The progress of events has rendered the interoceanic route across the +narrow portion of Central America vastly important to the commercial +world, and especially to the United States, whose possessions extend +along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and demand the speediest and +easiest modes of communication. While the rights of sovereignty of the +states occupying this region should always be respected, we shall +expect that these rights be exercised in a spirit befitting the +occasion and the wants and circumstances that have arisen. Sovereignty +has its duties as well as its rights, and none of these local +governments, even if administered with more regard to the just demands +of other nations than they have been, would be permitted, in a spirit +of Eastern isolation, to close the gates of intercourse on the great +highways of the world, and justify the act by the pretension that these +avenues of trade and travel belong to them and that they choose to shut +them, or, what is almost equivalent, to encumber them with such unjust +relations as would prevent their general use." +</p> + +<p> +Seven years later, in 1865, Mr. Seward in different communications took +the following position: +</p> + +<p> +"The United States have taken and will take no interest in any question +of internal revolution in the State of Panama, or any State of the +United States of Colombia, but will maintain a perfect neutrality in +connection with such domestic altercations. The United States will, +nevertheless, hold themselves ready to protect the transit trade across +the Isthmus against invasion of either domestic or foreign disturbers +of the peace of the State of Panama. Neither the text nor the spirit of +the stipulation in that article by which the United States engages to +preserve the neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama, imposes an obligation +on this Government to comply with the requisition of the President of +the United States of Colombia for a force to protect the Isthmus of +Panama from a body of insurgents of that country. The purpose of the +stipulation was to guarantee the Isthmus against seizure or invasion by +a foreign power only." +</p> + +<p> +Attorney-General Speed, under date of November 7, 1865, advised +Secretary Seward as follows: +</p> + +<p> +"From this treaty it can not be supposed that New Granada invited the +United States to become a party to the intestine troubles of that +Government, nor did the United States become bound to take sides in the +domestic broils of New Granada. The United States did guarantee New +Granada in the sovereignty and property over the territory. This was as +against other and foreign governments." +</p> + +<p> +For four hundred years, ever since shortly after the discovery of this +hemisphere, the canal across the Isthmus has been planned. For two +score years it has been worked at. When made it is to last for the +ages. It is to alter the geography of a continent and the trade routes +of the world. We have shown by every treaty we have negotiated or +attempted to negotiate with the peoples in control of the Isthmus and +with foreign nations in reference thereto our consistent good faith in +observing our obligations; on the one hand to the peoples of the +Isthmus, and on the other hand to the civilized world whose commercial +rights we are safeguarding and guaranteeing by our action. We have done +our duty to others in letter and in spirit, and we have shown the +utmost forbearance in exacting our own rights. +</p> + +<p> +Last spring, under the act above referred to, a treaty concluded +between the representatives of the Republic of Colombia and of our +Government was ratified by the Senate. This treaty was entered into at +the urgent solicitation of the people of Colombia and after a body of +experts appointed by our Government especially to go into the matter of +the routes across the Isthmus had pronounced unanimously in favor of +the Panama route. In drawing up this treaty every concession was made +to the people and to the Government of Colombia. We were more than just +in dealing with them. Our generosity was such as to make it a serious +question whether we had not gone too far in their interest at the +expense of our own; for in our scrupulous desire to pay all possible +heed, not merely to the real but even to the fancied rights of our +weaker neighbor, who already owed so much to our protection and +forbearance, we yielded in all possible ways to her desires in drawing +up the treaty. Nevertheless the Government of Colombia not merely +repudiated the treaty, but repudiated it in such manner as to make it +evident by the time the Colombian Congress adjourned that not the +scantiest hope remained of ever getting a satisfactory treaty from +them. The Government of Colombia made the treaty, and yet when the +Colombian Congress was called to ratify it the vote against +ratification was unanimous. It does not appear that the Government made +any real effort to secure ratification. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately after the adjournment of the Congress a revolution broke +out in Panama. The people of Panama had long been discontented with the +Republic of Colombia, and they had been kept quiet only by the prospect +of the conclusion of the treaty, which was to them a matter of vital +concern. When it became evident that the treaty was hopelessly lost, +the people of Panama rose literally as one man. Not a shot was fired by +a single man on the Isthmus in the interest of the Colombian +Government. Not a life was lost in the accomplishment of the +revolution. The Colombian troops stationed on the Isthmus, who had long +been unpaid, made common cause with the people of Panama, and with +astonishing unanimity the new Republic was started. The duty of the +United States in the premises was clear. In strict accordance with the +principles laid down by Secretaries Cass and Seward in the official +documents above quoted, the United States gave notice that it would +permit the landing of no expeditionary force, the arrival of which +would mean chaos and destruction along the line of the railroad and of +the proposed Canal, and an interruption of transit as an inevitable +consequence. The de facto Government of Panama was recognized in the +following telegram to Mr. Ehrman: +</p> + +<p> +"The people of Panama have, by apparently unanimous movement, dissolved +their political connection with the Republic of Colombia and resumed +their independence. When you are satisfied that a de facto government, +republican in form and without substantial opposition from its own +people, has been established in the State of Panama, you will enter +into relations with it as the responsible government of the territory +and look to it for all due action to protect the persons and property +of citizens of the United States and to keep open the isthmian transit, +in accordance with the obligations of existing treaties governing the +relations of the United States to that Territory." +</p> + +<p> +The Government of Colombia was notified of our action by the following +telegram to Mr. Beaupre: +</p> + +<p> +"The people of Panama having, by an apparently unanimous movement, +dissolved their political connection with the Republic of Colombia and +resumed their independence, and having adopted a Government of their +own, republican in form, with which the Government of the United States +of America has entered into relations, the President of the United +States, in accordance with the ties of friendship which have so long +and so happily existed between the respective nations, most earnestly +commends to the Governments of Colombia and of Panama the peaceful and +equitable settlement of all questions at issue between them. He holds +that he is bound not merely by treaty obligations, but by the interests +of civilization, to see that the peaceful traffic of the world across +the Isthmus of Panama shall not longer be disturbed by a constant +succession of unnecessary and wasteful civil wars." +</p> + +<p> +When these events happened, fifty-seven years had elapsed since the +United States had entered into its treaty with New Granada. During that +time the Governments of New Granada and of its successor, Colombia, +have been in a constant state of flux. The following is a partial list +of the disturbances on the Isthmus of Panama during the period in +question as reported to us by our consuls. It is not possible to give a +complete list, and some of the reports that speak of "revolutions" must +mean unsuccessful revolutions. May 22, 1850.--Outbreak; two Americans +killed. War vessel demanded to quell outbreak. October, +1850.--Revolutionary plot to bring about independence of the Isthmus. +July 22, 1851.--Revolution in four southern provinces. November 14, +1851.--Outbreak at Chagres. Man-of-war requested for Chagres. June 27, +1853.--Insurrection at Bogota, and consequent disturbance on Isthmus. +War vessel demanded. May 23, 1854--Political disturbances; war vessel +requested. June 28, 1854.--Attempted revolution. October 24, +1854.--Independence of Isthmus demanded by provincial legislature. +April, 1856.--Riot, and massacre of Americans. May 4, 1856.--Riot. May +18, 1856.--Riot. June 3, 1856.--Riot. October 2, 1856.--Conflict +between two native parties. United States forces landed. December 18, +1858.--Attempted secession of Panama. April, 1859.--Riots. September, +1860.--Outbreak. October 4, 1860.--Landing of United States forces in +consequence. May 23, 1861.--Intervention of the United States forces +required by intendente. October 2, 1861.--Insurrection and civil war. +April 4, 1862.--Measures to prevent rebels crossing Isthmus. June 13, +1862.--Mosquera's troops refused admittance to Panama. March, +1865.--Revolution, and United States troops landed. August, +1865.--Riots; unsuccessful attempt to invade Panama. March, +1866.--Unsuccessful revolution. April, 1867.--Attempt to overthrow +Government. August, 1867.--Attempt at revolution. July 5, +1868.--Revolution; provisional government inaugurated. August 29, +1868.--Revolution; provisional government overthrown. April, +1871.--Revolution; followed apparently by counter revolution. April, +1873.--Revolution and civil war which lasted to October, 1875. August, +1876.--Civil war which lasted until April, 1877. July, +1878.--Rebellion. December, 1878.--Revolt. April, 1879.--Revolution. +June, 1879.--Revolution. March, 1883.--Riot. May, 1883.--Riot. June, +1884.--Revolutionary attempt. December, 1884.--Revolutionary attempt. +January, 1885.--Revolutionary disturbances. March, 1885.--Revolution. +April, 1887.--Disturbance on Panama Railroad. November, +1887.--Disturbance on line of canal. January, 1889.--Riot. January, +1895.--Revolution which lasted until April. March, 1895.--Incendiary +attempt. October, 1899.--Revolution. February, 1900, to July, +1900.--Revolution. January, 1901--Revolution. July, +1901.--Revolutionary disturbances. September, 1901.--City of Colon +taken by rebels. March, 1902.--Revolutionary disturbances. July, +1902.--Revolution. The above is only a partial list of the revolutions, +rebellions, insurrections, riots, and other outbreaks that have +occurred during the period in question; yet they number 53 for the 57 +years. It will be noted that one of them lasted for nearly three years +before it was quelled; another for nearly a year. In short, the +experience of over half a century has shown Colombia to be utterly +incapable of keeping order on the Isthmus. Only the active interference +of the United States has enabled her to preserve so much as a semblance +of sovereignty. Had it not been for the exercise by the United States +of the police power in her interest, her connection with the Isthmus +would have been sundered long ago. In 1856, in 1860, in 1873, in 1885, +in 1901, and again in 1902, sailors and marines from United States war +ships were forced to land in order to patrol the Isthmus, to protect +life and property, and to see that the transit across the Isthmus was +kept open. In 1861, in 1862, in 1885, and in 1900, the Colombian +Government asked that the United States Government would land troops to +protect its interests and maintain order on the Isthmus. Perhaps the +most extraordinary request is that which has just been received and +which runs as follows: +</p> + +<p> +"Knowing that revolution has already commenced in Panama [an eminent +Colombian] says that if the Government of the United States will land +troops to preserve Colombian sovereignty, and the transit, if requested +by Colombian charge d'affaires, this Government will declare martial +law; and, by virtue of vested constitutional authority, when public +order is disturbed, will approve by decree ratification of the canal +treaty as signed; or, if the Government of the United States prefers, +will call extra session of the Congress--with new and friendly +members--next May to approve the treaty. [An eminent Colombian] has the +perfect confidence of vice-president, he says, and if it became +necessary will go to the Isthmus or send representatives there to +adjust matters along above lines to the satisfaction of the people +there." +</p> + +<p> +This dispatch is noteworthy from two standpoints. Its offer of +immediately guaranteeing the treaty to us is in sharp contrast with the +positive and contemptuous refusal of the Congress which has just closed +its sessions to consider favorably such a treaty; it shows that the +Government which made the treaty really had absolute control over the +situation, but did not choose to exercise this control. The dispatch +further calls on us to restore order and secure Colombian supremacy in +the Isthmus from which the Colombian Government has just by its action +decided to bar us by preventing the construction of the canal. +</p> + +<p> +The control, in the interest of the commerce and traffic of the whole +civilized world, of the means of undisturbed transit across the Isthmus +of Panama has become of transcendent importance to the United States. +We have repeatedly exercised this control by intervening in the course +of domestic dissension, and by protecting the territory from foreign +invasion. In 1853 Mr. Everett assured the Peruvian minister that we +should not hesitate to maintain the neutrality of the Isthmus in the +case of war between Peru and Colombia. In 1864 Colombia, which has +always been vigilant to avail itself of its privileges conferred by the +treaty, expressed its expectation that in the event of war between Peru +and Spain the United States would carry into effect the guaranty of +neutrality. There have been few administrations of the State Department +in which this treaty has not, either by the one side or the other, been +used as a basis of more or less important demands. It was said by Mr. +Fish in 1871 that the Department of State had reason to believe that an +attack upon Colombian sovereignty on the Isthmus had, on several +occasions, been averted by warning from this Government. In 1886, when +Colombia was under the menace of hostilities from Italy in the Cerruti +case, Mr. Bayard expressed the serious concern that the United States +could not but feel, that a European power should resort to force +against a sister republic of this hemisphere, as to the sovereign and +uninterrupted use of a part of whose territory we are guarantors under +the solemn faith of a treaty. +</p> + +<p> +The above recital of facts establishes beyond question: First, that the +United States has for over half a century patiently and in good faith +carried out its obligations under the treaty of 1846; second, that when +for the first time it became possible for Colombia to do anything in +requital of the services thus repeatedly rendered to it for fifty-seven +years by the United States, the Colombian Government peremptorily and +offensively refused thus to do its part, even though to do so would +have been to its advantage and immeasurably to the advantage of the +State of Panama, at that time under its jurisdiction; third, that +throughout this period revolutions, riots, and factional disturbances +of every kind have occurred one after the other in almost uninterrupted +succession, some of them lasting for months and even for years, while +the central government was unable to put them down or to make peace +with the rebels; fourth, that these disturbances instead of showing any +sign of abating have tended to grow more numerous and more serious in +the immediate past; fifth, that the control of Colombia over the +Isthmus of Panama could not be maintained without the armed +intervention and assistance of the United States. In other words, the +Government of Colombia, though wholly unable to maintain order on the +Isthmus, has nevertheless declined to ratify a treaty the conclusion of +which opened the only chance to secure its own stability and to +guarantee permanent peace on, and the construction of a canal across, +the Isthmus. +</p> + +<p> +Under such circumstances the Government of the United States would have +been guilty of folly and weakness, amounting in their sum to a crime +against the Nation, had it acted otherwise than it did when the +revolution of November 3 last took place in Panama. This great +enterprise of building the interoceanic canal can not be held up to +gratify the whims, or out of respect to the governmental impotence, or +to the even more sinister and evil political peculiarities, of people +who, though they dwell afar off, yet, against the wish of the actual +dwellers on the Isthmus, assert an unreal supremacy over the territory. +The possession of a territory fraught with such peculiar capacities as +the Isthmus in question carries with it obligations to mankind. The +course of events has shown that this canal can not be built by private +enterprise, or by any other nation than our own; therefore it must be +built by the United States. +</p> + +<p> +Every effort has been made by the Government of the United States to +persuade Colombia to follow a course which was essentially not only to +our interests and to the interests of the world, but to the interests +of Colombia itself. These efforts have failed; and Colombia, by her +persistence in repulsing the advances that have been made, has forced +us, for the sake of our own honor, and of the interest and well-being, +not merely of our own people, but of the people of the Isthmus of +Panama and the people of the civilized countries of the world, to take +decisive steps to bring to an end a condition of affairs which had +become intolerable. The new Republic of Panama immediately offered to +negotiate a treaty with us. This treaty I herewith submit. By it our +interests are better safeguarded than in the treaty with Colombia which +was ratified by the Senate at its last session. It is better in its +terms than the treaties offered to us by the Republics of Nicaragua and +Costa Rica. At last the right to begin this great undertaking is made +available. Panama has done her part. All that remains is for the +American Congress to do its part, and forthwith this Republic will +enter upon the execution of a project colossal in its size and of +well-nigh incalculable possibilities for the good of this country and +the nations of mankind. +</p> + +<p> +By the provisions of the treaty the United States guarantees and will +maintain the independence of the Republic of Panama. There is granted +to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of +a strip ten miles wide and extending three nautical miles into the sea +at either terminal, with all lands lying outside of the zone necessary +for the construction of the canal or for its auxiliary works, and with +the islands in the Bay of Panama. The cities of Panama and Colon are +not embraced in the canal zone, but the United States assumes their +sanitation and, in case of need, the maintenance of order therein; the +United States enjoys within the granted limits all the rights, power, +and authority which it would possess were it the sovereign of the +territory to the exclusion of the exercise of sovereign rights by the +Republic. All railway and canal property rights belonging to Panama and +needed for the canal pass to the United States, including any property +of the respective companies in the cities of Panama and Colon; the +works, property, and personnel of the canal and railways are exempted +from taxation as well in the cities of Panama and Colon as in the canal +zone and its dependencies. Free immigration of the personnel and +importation of supplies for the construction and operation of the canal +are granted. Provision is made for the use of military force and the +building of fortifications by the United States for the protection of +the transit. In other details, particularly as to the acquisition of +the interests of the New Panama Canal Company and the Panama Railway by +the United States and the condemnation of private property for the uses +of the canal, the stipulations of the Hay-Herran treaty are closely +followed, while the compensation to be given for these enlarged grants +remains the same, being ten millions of dollars payable on exchange of +ratifications; and, beginning nine years from that date, an annual +payment of $250,000 during the life of the convention. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3"> +*** +</p> + +<p><a id="dec1904"></a></p> + +<p class="noindent"> +State of the Union Address<br /> +Theodore Roosevelt<br /> +December 6, 1904<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To the Senate and House of Representatives: +</p> + +<p> +The Nation continues to enjoy noteworthy prosperity. Such prosperity is +of course primarily due to the high individual average of our +citizenship, taken together with our great natural resources; but an +important factor therein is the working of our long-continued +governmental policies. The people have emphatically expressed their +approval of the principles underlying these policies, and their desire +that these principles be kept substantially unchanged, although of +course applied in a progressive spirit to meet changing conditions. +</p> + +<p> +The enlargement of scope of the functions of the National Government +required by our development as a nation involves, of course, increase +of expense; and the period of prosperity through which the country is +passing justifies expenditures for permanent improvements far greater +than would be wise in hard times. Battle ships and forts, public +buildings, and improved waterways are investments which should be made +when we have the money; but abundant revenues and a large surplus +always invite extravagance, and constant care should be taken to guard +against unnecessary increase of the ordinary expenses of government. +The cost of doing Government business should be regulated with the same +rigid scrutiny as the cost of doing a private business. +</p> + +<p> +In the vast and complicated mechanism of our modern civilized life the +dominant note is the note of industrialism; and the relations of +capital and labor, and especially of organized capital and organized +labor, to each other and to the public at large come second in +importance only to the intimate questions of family life. Our peculiar +form of government, with its sharp division of authority between the +Nation and the several States, has been on the whole far more +advantageous to our development than a more strongly centralized +government. But it is undoubtedly responsible for much of the +difficulty of meeting with adequate legislation the new problems +presented by the total change in industrial conditions on this +continent during the last half century. In actual practice it has +proved exceedingly difficult, and in many cases impossible, to get +unanimity of wise action among the various States on these subjects. +From the very nature of the case this is especially true of the laws +affecting the employment of capital in huge masses. +</p> + +<p> +With regard to labor the problem is no less important, but it is +simpler. As long as the States retain the primary control of the police +power the circumstances must be altogether extreme which require +interference by the Federal authorities, whether in the way of +safeguarding the rights of labor or in the way of seeing that wrong is +not done by unruly persons who shield themselves behind the name of +labor. If there is resistance to the Federal courts, interference with +the mails, or interstate commerce, or molestation of Federal property, +or if the State authorities in some crisis which they are unable to +face call for help, then the Federal Government may interfere; but +though such interference may be caused by a condition of things arising +out of trouble connected with some question of labor, the interference +itself simply takes the form of restoring order without regard to the +questions which have caused the breach of order--for to keep order is a +primary duty and in a time of disorder and violence all other questions +sink into abeyance until order has been restored. In the District of +Columbia and in the Territories the Federal law covers the entire field +of government; but the labor question is only acute in populous centers +of commerce, manufactures, or mining. Nevertheless, both in the +enactment and in the enforcement of law the Federal Government within +its restricted sphere should set an example to the State governments, +especially in a matter so vital as this affecting labor. I believe that +under modern industrial conditions it is often necessary, and even +where not necessary it is yet often wise, that there should be +organization of labor in order better to secure the rights of the +individual wage-worker. All encouragement should be given to any such +organization so long as it is conducted with a due and decent regard +for the rights of others. There are in this country some labor unions +which have habitually, and other labor unions which have often, been +among the most effective agents in working for good citizenship and for +uplifting the condition of those whose welfare should be closest to our +hearts. But when any labor union seeks improper ends, or seeks to +achieve proper ends by improper means, all good citizens and more +especially all honorable public servants must oppose the wrongdoing as +resolutely as they would oppose the wrongdoing of any great +corporation. Of course any violence, brutality, or corruption, should +not for one moment be tolerated. Wage-workers have an entire right to +organize and by all peaceful and honorable means to endeavor to +persuade their fellows to join with them in organizations. They have a +legal right, which, according to circumstances, may or may not be a +moral right, to refuse to work in company with men who decline to join +their organizations. They have under no circumstances the right to +commit violence upon these, whether capitalists or wage-workers, who +refuse to support their organizations, or who side with those with whom +they are at odds; for mob rule is intolerable in any form. +</p> + +<p> +The wage-workers are peculiarly entitled to the protection and the +encouragement of the law. From the very nature of their occupation +railroad men, for instance, are liable to be maimed in doing the +legitimate work of their profession, unless the railroad companies are +required by law to make ample provision for their safety. The +Administration has been zealous in enforcing the existing law for this +purpose. That law should be amended and strengthened. Wherever the +National Government has power there should be a stringent employer's +liability law, which should apply to the Government itself where the +Government is an employer of labor. +</p> + +<p> +In my Message to the Fifty-seventh Congress, at its second session, I +urged the passage of an employer's liability law for the District of +Columbia. I now renew that recommendation, and further recommend that +the Congress appoint a commission to make a comprehensive study of +employer's liability with the view of extending the provisions of a +great and constitutional law to all employments within the scope of +Federal power. +</p> + +<p> +The Government has recognized heroism upon the water, and bestows +medals of honor upon those persons who by extreme and heroic daring +have endangered their lives in saving, or endeavoring to save, lives +from the perils of the sea in the waters over which the United States +has jurisdiction, or upon an American vessel. This recognition should +be extended to cover cases of conspicuous bravery and self-sacrifice in +the saving of life in private employments under the jurisdiction of the +United States, and particularly in the land commerce of the Nation. +</p> + +<p> +The ever-increasing casualty list upon our railroads is a matter of +grave public concern, and urgently calls for action by the Congress. In +the matter of speed and comfort of railway travel our railroads give at +least as good service as those of any other nation, and there is no +reason why this service should not also be as safe as human ingenuity +can make it. Many of our leading roads have been foremost in the +adoption of the most approved safeguards for the protection of +travelers and employees, yet the list of clearly avoidable accidents +continues unduly large. The passage of a law requiring the adoption of +a block-signal system has been proposed to the Congress. I earnestly +concur in that recommendation, and would also point out to the Congress +the urgent need of legislation in the interest of the public safety +limiting the hours of labor for railroad employees in train service +upon railroads engaged in interstate commerce, and providing that only +trained and experienced persons be employed in positions of +responsibility connected with the operation of trains. Of course +nothing can ever prevent accidents caused by human weakness or +misconduct; and there should be drastic punishment for any railroad +employee, whether officer or man, who by issuance of wrong orders or by +disobedience of orders causes disaster. The law of 1901, requiring +interstate railroads to make monthly reports of all accidents to +passengers and employees on duty, should also be amended so as to +empower the Government to make a personal investigation, through proper +officers, of all accidents involving loss of life which seem to require +investigation, with a requirement that the results of such +investigation be made public. +</p> + +<p> +The safety-appliance law, as amended by the act of March 2, 1903, has +proved beneficial to railway employees, and in order that its +provisions may be properly carried out, the force of inspectors +provided for by appropriation should be largely increased. This service +is analogous to the Steamboat-Inspection Service, and deals with even +more important interests. It has passed the experimental stage and +demonstrated its utility, and should receive generous recognition by +the Congress. +</p> + +<p> +There is no objection to employees of the Government forming or +belonging to unions; but the Government can neither discriminate for +nor discriminate against nonunion men who are in its employment, or who +seek to be employed under it. Moreover, it is a very grave impropriety +for Government employees to band themselves together for the purpose of +extorting improperly high salaries from the Government. Especially is +this true of those within the classified service. The letter carriers, +both municipal and rural, are as a whole an excellent body of public +servants. They should be amply paid. But their payment must be obtained +by arguing their claims fairly and honorably before the Congress, and +not by banding together for the defeat of those Congressmen who refuse +to give promises which they can not in conscience give. The +Administration has already taken steps to prevent and punish abuses of +this nature; but it will be wise for the Congress to supplement this +action by legislation. +</p> + +<p> +Much can be done by the Government in labor matters merely by giving +publicity to certain conditions. The Bureau of Labor has done excellent +work of this kind in many different directions. I shall shortly lay +before you in a special message the full report of the investigation of +the Bureau of Labor into the Colorado mining strike, as this was a +strike in which certain very evil forces, which are more or less at +work everywhere under the conditions of modern industrialism, became +startlingly prominent. It is greatly to be wished that the Department +of Commerce and Labor, through the Labor Bureau, should compile and +arrange for the Congress a list of the labor laws of the various +States, and should be given the means to investigate and report to the +Congress upon the labor conditions in the manufacturing and mining +regions throughout the country, both as to wages, as to hours of labor, +as to the labor of women and children, and as to the effect in the +various labor centers of immigration from abroad. In this investigation +especial attention should be paid to the conditions of child labor and +child-labor legislation in the several States. Such an investigation +must necessarily take into account many of the problems with which this +question of child labor is connected. These problems can be actually +met, in most cases, only by the States themselves; but the lack of +proper legislation in one State in such a matter as child labor often +renders it excessively difficult to establish protective restriction +upon the work in another State having the same industries, so that the +worst tends to drag down the better. For this reason, it would be well +for the Nation at least to endeavor to secure comprehensive information +as to the conditions of labor of children in the different States. Such +investigation and publication by the National Government would tend +toward the securing of approximately uniform legislation of the proper +character among the several States. +</p> + +<p> +When we come to deal with great corporations the need for the +Government to act directly is far greater than in the case of labor, +because great corporations can become such only by engaging in +interstate commerce, and interstate commerce is peculiarly the field of +the General Government. It is an absurdity to expect to eliminate the +abuses in great corporations by State action. It is difficult to be +patient with an argument that such matters should be left to the States +because more than one State pursues the policy of creating on easy +terms corporations which are never operated within that State at all, +but in other States whose laws they ignore. The National Government +alone can deal adequately with these great corporations. To try to deal +with them in an intemperate, destructive, or demagogic spirit would, in +all probability, mean that nothing whatever would be accomplished, and, +with absolute certainty, that if anything were accomplished it would be +of a harmful nature. The American people need to continue to show the +very qualities that they have shown--that is, moderation, good sense, +the earnest desire to avoid doing any damage, and yet the quiet +determination to proceed, step by step, without halt and without hurry, +in eliminating or at least in minimizing whatever of mischief or evil +there is to interstate commerce in the conduct of great corporations. +They are acting in no spirit of hostility to wealth, either individual +or corporate. They are not against the rich man any more than against +the poor man. On the contrary, they are friendly alike toward rich man +and toward poor man, provided only that each acts in a spirit of +justice and decency toward his fellows. Great corporations are +necessary, and only men of great and singular mental power can manage +such corporations successfully, and such men must have great rewards. +But these corporations should be managed with due regard to the +interest of the public as a whole. Where this can be done under the +present laws it must be done. Where these laws come short others should +be enacted to supplement them. +</p> + +<p> +Yet we must never forget the determining factor in every kind of work, +of head or hand, must be the man's own good sense, courage, and +kindliness. More important than any legislation is the gradual growth +of a feeling of responsibility and forbearance among capitalists, and +wage-workers alike; a feeling of respect on the part of each man for +the rights of others; a feeling of broad community of interest, not +merely of capitalists among themselves, and of wage-workers among +themselves, but of capitalists and wage-workers in their relations to +each other, and of both in their relations to their fellows who with +them make up the body politic. There are many captains of industry, +many labor leaders, who realize this. A recent speech by the president +of one of our great railroad systems to the employees of that system +contains sound common sense. It rims in part as follows: +</p> + +<p> +"It is my belief we can better serve each other, better understand the +man as well as his business, when meeting face to face, exchanging +views, and realizing from personal contact we serve but one interest, +that of our mutual prosperity. +</p> + +<p> +"Serious misunderstandings can not occur where personal good will +exists and opportunity for personal explanation is present. +</p> + +<p> +"In my early business life I had experience with men of affairs of a +character to make me desire to avoid creating a like feeling of +resentment to myself and the interests in my charge, should fortune +ever place me in authority, and I am solicitous of a measure of +confidence on the part of the public and our employees that I shall +hope may be warranted by the fairness and good fellowship I intend +shall prevail in our relationship. +</p> + +<p> +"But do not feel I am disposed to grant unreasonable requests, spend +the money of our company unnecessarily or without value received, nor +expect the days of mistakes are disappearing, or that cause for +complaint will not continually occur; simply to correct such abuses as +may be discovered, to better conditions as fast as reasonably may be +expected, constantly striving, with varying success, for that +improvement we all desire, to convince you there is a force at work in +the right direction, all the time making progress--is the disposition +with which I have come among you, asking your good will and +encouragement. +</p> + +<p> +"The day has gone by when a corporation can be handled successfully in +defiance of the public will, even though that will be unreasonable and +wrong. A public may be led, but not driven, and I prefer to go with it +and shape or modify, in a measure, its opinion, rather than be swept +from my bearings, with loss to myself and the interests in my charge. +</p> + +<p> +"Violent prejudice exists towards corporate activity and capital today, +much of it founded in reason, more in apprehension, and a large measure +is due to the personal traits of arbitrary, unreasonable, incompetent, +and offensive men in positions of authority. The accomplishment of +results by indirection, the endeavor to thwart the intention, if not +the expressed letter of the law (the will of the people), a disregard +of the rights of others, a disposition to withhold what is due, to +force by main strength or inactivity a result not justified, depending +upon the weakness of the claimant and his indisposition to become +involved in litigation, has created a sentiment harmful in the extreme +and a disposition to consider anything fair that gives gain to the +individual at the expense of the company. +</p> + +<p> +"If corporations are to continue to do the world's work, as they are +best fitted to, these qualities in their representatives that have +resulted in the present prejudice against them must be relegated to the +background. The corporations must come out into the open and see and be +seen. They must take the public into their confidence and ask for what +they want, and no more, and be prepared to explain satisfactorily what +advantage will accrue to the public if they are given their desires; +for they are permitted to exist not that they may make money solely, +but that they may effectively serve those from whom they derive their +power. +</p> + +<p> +"Publicity, and not secrecy, will win hereafter, and laws be construed +by their intent and not by their letter, otherwise public utilities +will be owned and operated by the public which created them, even +though the service be less efficient and the result less satisfactory +from a financial standpoint." +</p> + +<p> +The Bureau of Corporations has made careful preliminary investigation +of many important corporations. It will make a special report on the +beef industry. +</p> + +<p> +The policy of the Bureau is to accomplish the purposes of its creation +by co-operation, not antagonism; by making constructive legislation, +not destructive prosecution, the immediate object of its inquiries; by +conservative investigation of law and fact, and by refusal to issue +incomplete and hence necessarily inaccurate reports. Its policy being +thus one of open inquiry into, and not attack upon, business, the +Bureau has been able to gain not only the confidence, but, better +still, the cooperation of men engaged in legitimate business. +</p> + +<p> +The Bureau offers to the Congress the means of getting at the cost of +production of our various great staples of commerce. +</p> + +<p> +Of necessity the careful investigation of special corporations will +afford the Commissioner knowledge of certain business facts, the +publication of which might be an improper infringement of private +rights. The method of making public the results of these investigations +affords, under the law, a means for the protection of private rights. +The Congress will have all facts except such as would give to another +corporation information which would injure the legitimate business of a +competitor and destroy the incentive for individual superiority and +thrift. +</p> + +<p> +The Bureau has also made exhaustive examinations into the legal +condition under which corporate business is carried on in the various +States; into all judicial decisions on the subject; and into the +various systems of corporate taxation in use. I call special attention +to the report of the chief of the Bureau; and I earnestly ask that the +Congress carefully consider the report and recommendations of the +Commissioner on this subject. +</p> + +<p> +The business of insurance vitally affects the great mass of the people +of the United States and is national and not local in its application. +It involves a multitude of transactions among the people of the +different States and between American companies and foreign +governments. I urge that the Congress carefully consider whether the +power of the Bureau of Corporations can not constitutionally be +extended to cover interstate transactions in insurance. +</p> + +<p> +Above all else, we must strive to keep the highways of commerce open to +all on equal terms; and to do this it is necessary to put a complete +stop to all rebates. Whether the shipper or the railroad is to blame +makes no difference; the rebate must be stopped, the abuses of the +private car and private terminal-track and side-track systems must be +stopped, and the legislation of the Fifty-eighth Congress which +declares it to be unlawful for any person or corporation to offer, +grant, give, solicit, accept, or receive any rebate, concession, or +discrimination in respect of the transportation of any property in +interstate or foreign commerce whereby such property shall by any +device whatever be transported at a less rate than that named in the +tariffs published by the carrier must be enforced. For some time after +the enactment of the Act to Regulate Commerce it remained a mooted +question whether that act conferred upon the Interstate Commerce +Commission the power, after it had found a challenged rate to be +unreasonable, to declare what thereafter should, prima facie, be the +reasonable maximum rate for the transportation in dispute. The Supreme +Court finally resolved that question in the negative, so that as the +law now stands the Commission simply possess the bare power to denounce +a particular rate as unreasonable. While I am of the opinion that at +present it would be undesirable, if it were not impracticable, finally +to clothe the Commission with general authority to fix railroad rates, +I do believe that, as a fair security to shippers, the Commission +should be vested with the power, where a given rate has been challenged +and after full hearing found to be unreasonable, to decide, subject to +judicial review, what shall be a reasonable rate to take its place; the +ruling of the Commission to take effect immediately, and to obtain +unless and until it is reversed by the court of review. The Government +must in increasing degree supervise and regulate the workings of the +railways engaged in interstate commerce; and such increased supervision +is the only alternative to an increase of the present evils on the one +hand or a still more radical policy on the other. In my judgment the +most important legislative act now needed as regards the regulation of +corporations is this act to confer on the Interstate Commerce +Commission the power to revise rates and regulations, the revised rate +to at once go into effect, and stay in effect unless and until the +court of review reverses it. +</p> + +<p> +Steamship companies engaged in interstate commerce and protected in our +coastwise trade should be held to a strict observance of the interstate +commerce act. +</p> + +<p> +In pursuing the set plan to make the city of Washington an example to +other American municipalities several points should be kept in mind by +the legislators. In the first place, the people of this country should +clearly understand that no amount of industrial prosperity, and above +all no leadership in international industrial competition, can in any +way atone for the sapping of the vitality of those who are usually +spoken of as the working classes. The farmers, the mechanics, the +skilled and unskilled laborers, the small shop keepers, make up the +bulk of the population of any country; and upon their well-being, +generation after generation, the well-being of the country and the race +depends. Rapid development in wealth and industrial leadership is a +good thing, but only if it goes hand in hand with improvement, and not +deterioration, physical and moral. The over-crowding of cities and the +draining of country districts are unhealthy and even dangerous symptoms +in our modern life. We should not permit overcrowding in cities. In +certain European cities it is provided by law that the population of +towns shall not be allowed to exceed a very limited density for a given +area, so that the increase in density must be continually pushed back +into a broad zone around the center of the town, this zone having great +avenues or parks within it. The death-rate statistics show a terrible +increase in mortality, and especially in infant mortality, in +overcrowded tenements. The poorest families in tenement houses live in +one room, and it appears that in these one-room tenements the average +death rate for a number of given cities at home and abroad is about +twice what it is in a two-room tenement, four times what it is in a +three-room tenement, and eight times what it is in a tenement +consisting of four rooms or over. These figures vary somewhat for +different cities, but they approximate in each city those given above; +and in all cases the increase of mortality, and especially of infant +mortality, with the decrease in the number of rooms used by the family +and with the consequent overcrowding is startling. The slum exacts a +heavy total of death from those who dwell therein; and this is the case +not merely in the great crowded slums of high buildings in New York and +Chicago, but in the alley slums of Washington. In Washington people can +not afford to ignore the harm that this causes. No Christian and +civilized community can afford to show a happy-go-lucky lack of concern +for the youth of to-day; for, if so, the community will have to pay a +terrible penalty of financial burden and social degradation in the +to-morrow. There should be severe child-labor and factory-inspection +laws. It is very desirable that married women should not work in +factories. The prime duty of the man is to work, to be the breadwinner; +the prime duty of the woman is to be the mother, the housewife. All +questions of tariff and finance sink into utter insignificance when +compared with the tremendous, the vital importance of trying to shape +conditions so that these two duties of the man and of the woman can be +fulfilled under reasonably favorable circumstances. If a race does not +have plenty of children, or if the children do not grow up, or if when +they grow up they are unhealthy in body and stunted or vicious in mind, +then that race is decadent, and no heaping up of wealth, no splendor of +momentary material prosperity, can avail in any degree as offsets. The +Congress has the same power of legislation for the District of Columbia +which the State legislatures have for the various States. The problems +incident to our highly complex modern industrial civilization, with its +manifold and perplexing tendencies both for good and for evil, are far +less sharply accentuated in the city of Washington than in most other +cities. For this very reason it is easier to deal with the various +phases of these problems in Washington, and the District of Columbia +government should be a model for the other municipal governments of the +Nation, in all such matters as supervision of the housing of the poor, +the creation of small parks in the districts inhabited by the poor, in +laws affecting labor, in laws providing for the taking care of the +children, in truant laws, and in providing schools. +</p> + +<p> +In the vital matter of taking care of children, much advantage could be +gained by a careful study of what has been accomplished in such States +as Illinois and Colorado by the juvenile courts. The work of the +juvenile court is really a work of character building. It is now +generally recognized that young boys and young girls who go wrong +should not be treated as criminals, not even necessarily as needing +reformation, but rather as needing to have their characters formed, and +for this end to have them tested and developed by a system of +probation. Much admirable work has been done in many of our +Commonwealths by earnest men and women who have made a special study of +the needs of those classes of children which furnish the greatest +number of juvenile offenders, and therefore the greatest number of +adult offenders; and by their aid, and by profiting by the experiences +of the different States and cities in these matters, it would be easy +to provide a good code for the District of Columbia. +</p> + +<p> +Several considerations suggest the need for a systematic investigation +into and improvement of housing conditions in Washington. The hidden +residential alleys are breeding grounds of vice and disease, and should +be opened into minor streets. For a number of years influential +citizens have joined with the District Commissioners in the vain +endeavor to secure laws permitting the condemnation of insanitary +dwellings. The local death rates, especially from preventable diseases, +are so unduly high as to suggest that the exceptional wholesomeness of +Washington's better sections is offset by bad conditions in her poorer +neighborhoods. A special "Commission on Housing and Health Conditions +in the National Capital" would not only bring about the reformation of +existing evils, but would also formulate an appropriate building code +to protect the city from mammoth brick tenements and other evils which +threaten to develop here as they have in other cities. That the +Nation's Capital should be made a model for other municipalities is an +ideal which appeals to all patriotic citizens everywhere, and such a +special Commission might map out and organize the city's future +development in lines of civic social service, just as Major L'Enfant +and the recent Park Commission planned the arrangement of her streets +and parks. +</p> + +<p> +It is mortifying to remember that Washington has no compulsory school +attendance law and that careful inquiries indicate the habitual absence +from school of some twenty per cent of all children between the ages of +eight and fourteen. It must be evident to all who consider the problems +of neglected child life or the benefits of compulsory education in +other cities that one of the most urgent needs of the National Capital +is a law requiring the school attendance of all children, this law to +be enforced by attendance agents directed by the board of education. +</p> + +<p> +Public play grounds are necessary means for the development of +wholesome citizenship in modern cities. It is important that the work +inaugurated here through voluntary efforts should be taken up and +extended through Congressional appropriation of funds sufficient to +equip and maintain numerous convenient small play grounds upon land +which can be secured without purchase or rental. It is also desirable +that small vacant places be purchased and reserved as small-park play +grounds in densely settled sections of the city which now have no +public open spaces and are destined soon to be built up solidly. All +these needs should be met immediately. To meet them would entail +expenses; but a corresponding saving could be made by stopping the +building of streets and levelling of ground for purposes largely +speculative in outlying parts of the city. +</p> + +<p> +There are certain offenders, whose criminality takes the shape of +brutality and cruelty towards the weak, who need a special type of +punishment. The wife-beater, for example, is inadequately punished by +imprisonment; for imprisonment may often mean nothing to him, while it +may cause hunger and want to the wife and children who have been the +victims of his brutality. Probably some form of corporal punishment +would be the most adequate way of meeting this kind of crime. +</p> + +<p> +The Department of Agriculture has grown into an educational institution +with a faculty of two thousand specialists making research into all the +sciences of production. The Congress appropriates, directly and +indirectly, six millions of dollars annually to carry on this work. It +reaches every State and Territory in the Union and the islands of the +sea lately come under our flag. Co-operation is had with the State +experiment stations, and with many other institutions and individuals. +The world is carefully searched for new varieties of grains, fruits, +grasses, vegetables, trees, and shrubs, suitable to various localities +in our country; and marked benefit to our producers has resulted. +</p> + +<p> +The activities of our age in lines of research have reached the tillers +of the soil and inspired them with ambition to know more of the +principles that govern the forces of nature with which they have to +deal. Nearly half of the people of this country devote their energies +to growing things from the soil. Until a recent date little has been +done to prepare these millions for their life work. In most lines of +human activity college-trained men are the leaders. The farmer had no +opportunity for special training until the Congress made provision for +it forty years ago. During these years progress has been made and +teachers have been prepared. Over five thousand students are in +attendance at our State agricultural colleges. The Federal Government +expends ten millions of dollars annually toward this education and for +research in Washington and in the several States and Territories. The +Department of Agriculture has given facilities for post-graduate work +to five hundred young men during the last seven years, preparing them +for advance lines of work in the Department and in the State +institutions. +</p> + +<p> +The facts concerning meteorology and its relations to plant and animal +life are being systematically inquired into. Temperature and moisture +are controlling factors in all agricultural operations. The seasons of +the cyclones of the Caribbean Sea and their paths are being forecasted +with increasing accuracy. The cold winds that come from the north are +anticipated and their times and intensity told to farmers, gardeners, +and fruiterers in all southern localities. +</p> + +<p> +We sell two hundred and fifty million dollars' worth of animals and +animal products to foreign countries every year, in addition to +supplying our own people more cheaply and abundantly than any other +nation is able to provide for its people. Successful manufacturing +depends primarily on cheap food, which accounts to a considerable +extent for our growth in this direction. The Department of Agriculture, +by careful inspection of meats, guards the health of our people and +gives clean bills of health to deserving exports; it is prepared to +deal promptly with imported diseases of animals, and maintain the +excellence of our flocks and herds in this respect. There should be an +annual census of the live stock of the Nation. +</p> + +<p> +We sell abroad about six hundred million dollars' worth of plants and +their products every year. Strenuous efforts are being made to import +from foreign countries such grains as are suitable to our varying +localities. Seven years ago we bought three-fourths of our rice; by +helping the rice growers on the Gulf coast to secure seeds from the +Orient suited to their conditions, and by giving them adequate +protection, they now supply home demand and export to the islands of +the Caribbean Sea and to other rice-growing countries. Wheat and other +grains have been imported from light-rainfall countries to our lands in +the West and Southwest that have not grown crops because of light +precipitation, resulting in an extensive addition to our cropping area +and our home-making territory that can not be irrigated. Ten million +bushels of first-class macaroni wheat were grown from these +experimental importations last year. Fruits suitable to our soils and +climates are being imported from all the countries of the Old +World--the fig from Turkey, the almond from Spain, the date from +Algeria, the mango from India. We are helping our fruit growers to get +their crops into European markets by studying methods of preservation +through refrigeration, packing, and handling, which have been quite +successful. We are helping our hop growers by importing varieties that +ripen earlier and later than the kinds they have been raising, thereby +lengthening the harvesting season. The cotton crop of the country is +threatened with root rot, the bollworm, and the boll weevil. Our +pathologists will find immune varieties that will resist the root +disease, and the bollworm can be dealt with, but the boll weevil is a +serious menace to the cotton crop. It is a Central American insect that +has become acclimated in Texas and has done great damage. A scientist +of the Department of Agriculture has found the weevil at home in +Guatemala being kept in check by an ant, which has been brought to our +cotton fields for observation. It is hoped that it may serve a good +purpose. +</p> + +<p> +The soils of the country are getting attention from the farmer's +standpoint, and interesting results are following. We have duplicates +of the soils that grow the wrapper tobacco in Sumatra and the filler +tobacco in Cuba. It will be only a question of time when the large +amounts paid to these countries will be paid to our own people. The +reclamation of alkali lands is progressing, to give object lessons to +our people in methods by which worthless lands may be made productive. +</p> + +<p> +The insect friends and enemies of the farmer are getting attention. The +enemy of the San Jose scale was found near the Great Wall of China, and +is now cleaning up all our orchards. The fig-fertilizing insect +imported from Turkey has helped to establish an industry in California +that amounts to from fifty to one hundred tons of dried figs annually, +and is extending over the Pacific coast. A parasitic fly from South +Africa is keeping in subjection the black scale, the worst pest of the +orange and lemon industry in California. +</p> + +<p> +Careful preliminary work is being done towards producing our own silk. +The mulberry is being distributed in large numbers, eggs are being +imported and distributed, improved reels were imported from Europe last +year, and two expert reelers were brought to Washington to reel the +crop of cocoons and teach the art to our own people. +</p> + +<p> +The crop-reporting system of the Department of Agriculture is being +brought closer to accuracy every year. It has two hundred and fifty +thousand reporters selected from people in eight vocations in life. It +has arrangements with most European countries for interchange of +estimates, so that our people may know as nearly as possible with what +they must compete. +</p> + +<p> +During the two and a half years that have elapsed since the passage of +the reclamation act rapid progress has been made in the surveys and +examinations of the opportunities for reclamation in the thirteen +States and three Territories of the arid West. Construction has already +been begun on the largest and most important of the irrigation works, +and plans are being completed for works which will utilize the funds +now available. The operations are being carried on by the Reclamation +Service, a corps of engineers selected through competitive +civil-service examinations. This corps includes experienced consulting +and constructing engineers as well as various experts in mechanical and +legal matters, and is composed largely of men who have spent most of +their lives in practical affairs connected with irrigation. The larger +problems have been solved and it now remains to execute with care, +economy, and thoroughness the work which has been laid out. All +important details are being carefully considered by boards of +consulting engineers, selected for their thorough knowledge and +practical experience. Each project is taken up on the ground by +competent men and viewed from the standpoint of the creation of +prosperous homes, and of promptly refunding to the Treasury the cost of +construction. The reclamation act has been found to be remarkably +complete and effective, and so broad in its provisions that a wide +range of undertakings has been possible under it. At the same time, +economy is guaranteed by the fact that the funds must ultimately be +returned to be used over again. +</p> + +<p> +It is the cardinal principle of the forest-reserve policy of this +Administration that the reserves are for use. Whatever interferes with +the use of their resources is to be avoided by every possible means. +But these resources must be used in such a way as to make them +permanent. +</p> + +<p> +The forest policy of the Government is just now a subject of vivid +public interest throughout the West and to the people of the United +States in general. The forest reserves themselves are of extreme value +to the present as well as to the future welfare of all the western +public-land States. They powerfully affect the use and disposal of the +public lands. They are of special importance because they preserve the +water supply and the supply of timber for domestic purposes, and so +promote settlement under the reclamation act. Indeed, they are +essential to the welfare of every one of the great interests of the +West. +</p> + +<p> +Forest reserves are created for two principal purposes. The first is to +preserve the water supply. This is their most important use. The +principal users of the water thus preserved are irrigation ranchers and +settlers, cities and towns to whom their municipal water supplies are +of the very first importance, users and furnishers of water power, and +the users of water for domestic, manufacturing, mining, and other +purposes. All these are directly dependent upon the forest reserves. +</p> + +<p> +The second reason for which forest reserves are created is to preserve +the timber supply for various classes of wood users. Among the more +important of these are settlers under the reclamation act and other +acts, for whom a cheap and accessible supply of timber for domestic +uses is absolutely necessary; miners and prospectors, who are in +serious danger of losing their timber supply by fire or through export +by lumber companies when timber lands adjacent to their mines pass into +private ownership; lumbermen, transportation companies, builders, and +commercial interests in general. +</p> + +<p> +Although the wisdom of creating forest reserves is nearly everywhere +heartily recognized, yet in a few localities there has been +misunderstanding and complaint. The following statement is therefore +desirable: +</p> + +<p> +The forest reserve policy can be successful only when it has the full +support of the people of the West. It can not safely, and should not in +any case, be imposed upon them against their will. But neither can we +accept the views of those whose only interest in the forest is +temporary; who are anxious to reap what they have not sown and then +move away, leaving desolation behind them. On the contrary, it is +everywhere and always the interest of the permanent settler and the +permanent business man, the man with a stake in the country, which must +be considered and which must decide. +</p> + +<p> +The making of forest reserves within railroad and wagon-road land-grant +limits will hereafter, as for the past three years, be so managed as to +prevent the issue, under the act of June 4, 1897, of base for exchange +or lieu selection (usually called scrip). In all cases where forest +reserves within areas covered by land grants appear to be essential to +the prosperity of settlers, miners, or others, the Government lands +within such proposed forest reserves will, as in the recent past, be +withdrawn from sale or entry pending the completion of such +negotiations with the owners of the land grants as will prevent the +creation of so-called scrip. +</p> + +<p> +It was formerly the custom to make forest reserves without first +getting definite and detailed information as to the character of land +and timber within their boundaries. This method of action often +resulted in badly chosen boundaries and consequent injustice to +settlers and others. Therefore this Administration adopted the present +method of first withdrawing the land from disposal, followed by careful +examination on the ground and the preparation of detailed maps and +descriptions, before any forest reserve is created. +</p> + +<p> +I have repeatedly called attention to the confusion which exists in +Government forest matters because the work is scattered among three +independent organizations. The United States is the only one of the +great nations in which the forest work of the Government is not +concentrated under one department, in consonance with the plainest +dictates of good administration and common sense. The present +arrangement is bad from every point of view. Merely to mention it is to +prove that it should be terminated at once. As I have repeatedly +recommended, all the forest work of the Government should be +concentrated in the Department of Agriculture, where the larger part of +that work is already done, where practically all of the trained +foresters of the Government are employed, where chiefly in Washington +there is comprehensive first-class knowledge of the problems of the +reserves acquired on the ground, where all problems relating to growth +from the soil are already gathered, and where all the sciences +auxiliary to forestry are at hand for prompt and effective +co-operation. These reasons are decisive in themselves, but it should +be added that the great organizations of citizens whose interests are +affected by the forest-reserves, such as the National Live Stock +Association, the National Wool Growers' Association, the American +Mining Congress, the national Irrigation Congress, and the National +Board of Trade, have uniformly, emphatically, and most of them +repeatedly, expressed themselves in favor of placing all Government +forest work in the Department of Agriculture because of the peculiar +adaptation of that Department for it. It is true, also, that the forest +services of nearly all the great nations of the world are under the +respective departments of agriculture, while in but two of the smaller +nations and in one colony are they under the department of the +interior. This is the result of long and varied experience and it +agrees fully with the requirements of good administration in our own +case. +</p> + +<p> +The creation of a forest service in the Department of Agriculture will +have for its important results: +</p> + +<p> +First. A better handling of all forest work; because it will be under a +single head, and because the vast and indispensable experience of the +Department in all matters pertaining to the forest reserves, to +forestry in general, and to other forms of production from the soil, +will be easily and rapidly accessible. +</p> + +<p> +Second. The reserves themselves, being handled from the point of view +of the man in the field, instead of the man in the office, will be more +easily and more widely useful to the people of the West than has been +the case hitherto. +</p> + +<p> +Third. Within a comparatively short time the reserves will become +self-supporting. This is important, because continually and rapidly +increasing appropriations will be necessary for the proper care of this +exceedingly important interest of the Nation, and they can and should +he offset by returns from the National forests. Under similar +circumstances the forest possessions of other great nations form an +important source of revenue to their governments. +</p> + +<p> +Every administrative officer concerned is convinced of the necessity +for the proposed consolidation of forest work in the Department of +Agriculture, and I myself have urged it more than once in former +messages. Again I commend it to the early and favorable consideration +of the Congress. The interests of the Nation at large and of the West +in particular have suffered greatly because of the delay. +</p> + +<p> +I call the attention of the Congress again to the report and +recommendation of the Commission on the Public Lands forwarded by me to +the second session of the present Congress. The Commission has +prosecuted its investigations actively during the past season, and a +second report is now in an advanced stage of preparation. +</p> + +<p> +In connection with the work of the forest reserves I desire again to +urge upon the Congress the importance of authorizing the President to +set aside certain portions of these reserves or other public lands as +game refuges for the preservation of the bison, the wapiti, and other +large beasts once so abundant in our woods and mountains and on our +great plains, and now tending toward extinction. Every support should +be given to the authorities of the Yellowstone Park in their successful +efforts at preserving the large creatures therein; and at very little +expense portions of the public domain in other regions which are wholly +unsuited to agricultural settlement could be similarly utilized. We owe +it to future generations to keep alive the noble and beautiful +creatures which by their presence add such distinctive character to the +American wilderness. The limits of the Yellowstone Park should be +extended southwards. The Canyon of the Colorado should be made a +national park; and the national-park system should include the Yosemite +and as many as possible of the groves of giant trees in California. +</p> + +<p> +The veterans of the Civil War have a claim upon the Nation such as no +other body of our citizens possess. The Pension Bureau has never in its +history been managed in a more satisfactory manner than is now the +case. +</p> + +<p> +The progress of the Indians toward civilization, though not rapid, is +perhaps all that could be hoped for in view of the circumstances. +Within the past year many tribes have shown, in a degree greater than +ever before, an appreciation of the necessity of work. This changed +attitude is in part due to the policy recently pursued of reducing the +amount of subsistence to the Indians, and thus forcing them, through +sheer necessity, to work for a livelihood. The policy, though severe, +is a useful one, but it is to be exercised only with judgment and with +a full understanding of the conditions which exist in each community +for which it is intended. On or near the Indian reservations there is +usually very little demand for labor, and if the Indians are to earn +their living and when work can not be furnished from outside (which is +always preferable), then it must be furnished by the Government. +Practical instruction of this kind would in a few years result in the +forming of habits of regular industry, which would render the Indian a +producer and would effect a great reduction in the cost of his +maintenance. +</p> + +<p> +It is commonly declared that the slow advance of the Indians is due to +the unsatisfactory character of the men appointed to take immediate +charge of them, and to some extent this is true. While the standard of +the employees in the Indian Service shows great improvement over that +of bygone years, and while actual corruption or flagrant dishonesty is +now the rare exception, it is nevertheless the fact that the salaries +paid Indian agents are not large enough to attract the best men to that +field of work. To achieve satisfactory results the official in charge +of an Indian tribe should possess the high qualifications which are +required in the manager of a large business, but only in exceptional +cases is it possible to secure men of such a type for these positions. +Much better service, however, might be obtained from those now holding +the places were it practicable to get out of them the best that is in +them, and this should be done by bringing them constantly into closer +touch with their superior officers. An agent who has been content to +draw his salary, giving in return the least possible equivalent in +effort and service, may, by proper treatment, by suggestion and +encouragement, or persistent urging, be stimulated to greater effort +and induced to take a more active personal interest in his work. +</p> + +<p> +Under existing conditions an Indian agent in the distant West may be +wholly out of touch with the office of the Indian Bureau. He may very +well feel that no one takes a personal interest in him or his efforts. +Certain routine duties in the way of reports and accounts are required +of him, but there is no one with whom he may intelligently consult on +matters vital to his work, except after long delay. Such a man would be +greatly encouraged and aided by personal contact with some one whose +interest in Indian affairs and whose authority in the Indian Bureau +were greater than his own, and such contact would be certain to arouse +and constantly increase the interest he takes in his work. +</p> + +<p> +The distance which separates the agents--the workers in the field--from +the Indian Office in Washington is a chief obstacle to Indian progress. +Whatever shall more closely unite these two branches of the Indian +Service, and shall enable them to co-operate more heartily and more +effectively, will be for the increased efficiency of the work and the +betterment of the race for whose improvement the Indian Bureau was +established. The appointment of a field assistant to the Commissioner +of Indian Affairs would be certain to insure this good end. Such an +official, if possessed of the requisite energy and deep interest in the +work, would be a most efficient factor in bringing into closer +relationship and a more direct union of effort the Bureau in Washington +and its agents in the field; and with the co-operation of its branches +thus secured the Indian Bureau would, in measure fuller than ever +before, lift up the savage toward that self-help and self-reliance +which constitute the man. +</p> + +<p> +In 1907 there will be held at Hampton Roads the tricentennial +celebration of the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, with which the +history of what has now become the United States really begins. I +commend this to your favorable consideration. It is an event of prime +historic significance, in which all the people of the United States +should feel, and should show, great and general interest. +</p> + +<p> +In the Post-Office Department the service has increased in efficiency, +and conditions as to revenue and expenditure continue satisfactory. The +increase of revenue during the year was $9,358,181.10, or 6.9 per cent, +the total receipts amounting to $143,382,624.34. The expenditures were +$152,362,116.70, an increase of about 9 per cent over the previous +year, being thus $8,979,492.36 in excess of the current revenue. +Included in these expenditures was a total appropriation of +$152,956,637.35 for the continuation and extension of the rural +free-delivery service, which was an increase of $4,902,237.35 over the +amount expended for this purpose in the preceding fiscal year. Large as +this expenditure has been the beneficent results attained in extending +the free distribution of mails to the residents of rural districts have +justified the wisdom of the outlay. Statistics brought down to the 1st +of October, 1904, show that on that date there were 27,138 rural routes +established, serving approximately 12,000,000 of people in rural +districts remote from post-offices, and that there were pending at that +time 3,859 petitions for the establishment of new rural routes. +Unquestionably some part of the general increase in receipts is due to +the increased postal facilities which the rural service has afforded. +The revenues have also been aided greatly by amendments in the +classification of mail matter, and the curtailment of abuses of the +second-class mailing privilege. The average increase in the volume of +mail matter for the period beginning with 1902 and ending June, 1905 +(that portion for 1905 being estimated), is 40.47 per cent, as compared +with 25.46 per cent for the period immediately preceding, and 15.92 for +the four-year period immediately preceding that. +</p> + +<p> +Our consular system needs improvement. Salaries should be substituted +for fees, and the proper classification, grading, and transfer of +consular officers should be provided. I am not prepared to say that a +competitive system of examinations for appointment would work well; but +by law it should be provided that consuls should be familiar, according +to places for which they apply, with the French, German, or Spanish +languages, and should possess acquaintance with the resources of the +United States. +</p> + +<p> +The collection of objects of art contemplated in section 5586 of the +Revised Statutes should be designated and established as a National +Gallery of Art; and the Smithsonian Institution should be authorized to +accept any additions to said collection that may be received by gift, +bequest, or devise. +</p> + +<p> +It is desirable to enact a proper National quarantine law. It is most +undesirable that a State should on its own initiative enforce +quarantine regulations which are in effect a restriction upon +interstate and international commerce. The question should properly be +assumed by the Government alone. The Surgeon-General of the National +Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service has repeatedly and +convincingly set forth the need for such legislation. +</p> + +<p> +I call your attention to the great extravagance in printing and binding +Government publications, and especially to the fact that altogether too +many of these publications are printed. There is a constant tendency to +increase their number and their volume. It is an understatement to say +that no appreciable harm would be caused by, and substantial benefit +would accrue from, decreasing the amount of printing now done by at +least one-half. Probably the great majority of the Government reports +and the like now printed are never read at all, and furthermore the +printing of much of the material contained in many of the remaining +ones serves no useful purpose whatever. +</p> + +<p> +The attention of the Congress should be especially given to the +currency question, and that the standing committees on the matter in +the two Houses charged with the duty, take up the matter of our +currency and see whether it is not possible to secure an agreement in +the business world for bettering the system; the committees should +consider the question of the retirement of the greenbacks and the +problem of securing in our currency such elasticity as is consistent +with safety. Every silver dollar should be made by law redeemable in +gold at the option of the holder. +</p> + +<p> +I especially commend to your immediate attention the encouragement of +our merchant marine by appropriate legislation. +</p> + +<p> +The growing importance of the Orient as a field for American exports +drew from my predecessor, President McKinley, an urgent request for its +special consideration by the Congress. In his message of 1898 he +stated: +</p> + +<p> +"In this relation, as showing the peculiar volume and value of our +trade with China and the peculiarly favorable conditions which exist +for their expansion in the normal course of trade, I refer to the +communication addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives +by the Secretary of the Treasury on the 14th of last June, with its +accompanying letter of the Secretary of State, recommending an +appropriation for a commission to study the industrial and commercial +conditions in the Chinese Empire and to report as to the opportunities +for and the obstacles to the enlargement of markets in China for the +raw products and manufactures of the United States. Action was not +taken thereon during the last session. I cordially urge that the +recommendation receive at your hands the consideration which its +importance and timeliness merit." +</p> + +<p> +In his annual message of 1889 he again called attention to this +recommendation, quoting it, and stated further: +</p> + +<p> +"I now renew this recommendation, as the importance of the subject has +steadily grown since it was first submitted to you, and no time should +be lost in studying for ourselves the resources of this great field for +American trade and enterprise." +</p> + +<p> +The importance of securing proper information and data with a view to +the enlargement of our trade with Asia is undiminished. Our consular +representatives in China have strongly urged a place for permanent +display of American products in some prominent trade center of that +Empire, under Government control and management, as an effective means +of advancing our export trade therein. I call the attention of the +Congress to the desirability of carrying out these suggestions. +</p> + +<p> +In dealing with the questions of immigration and naturalization it is +indispensable to keep certain facts ever before the minds of those who +share in enacting the laws. First and foremost, let us remember that +the question of being a good American has nothing whatever to do with a +man's birthplace any more than it has to do with his creed. In every +generation from the time this Government was founded men of foreign +birth have stood in the very foremost rank of good citizenship, and +that not merely in one but in every field of American activity; while +to try to draw a distinction between the man whose parents came to this +country and the man whose ancestors came to it several generations back +is a mere absurdity. Good Americanism is a matter of heart, of +conscience, of lofty aspiration, of sound common sense, but not of +birthplace or of creed. The medal of honor, the highest prize to be won +by those who serve in the Army and the Navy of the United States +decorates men born here, and it also decorates men born in Great +Britain and Ireland, in Germany, in Scandinavia, in France, and +doubtless in other countries also. In the field of statesmanship, in +the field of business, in the field of philanthropic endeavor, it is +equally true that among the men of whom we are most proud as Americans +no distinction whatever can be drawn between those who themselves or +whose parents came over in sailing ship or steamer from across the +water and those whose ancestors stepped ashore into the wooded +wilderness at Plymouth or at the mouth of the Hudson, the Delaware, or +the James nearly three centuries ago. No fellow-citizen of ours is +entitled to any peculiar regard because of the way in which he worships +his Maker, or because of the birthplace of himself or his parents, nor +should he be in any way discriminated against therefor. Each must stand +on his worth as a man and each is entitled to be judged solely thereby. +</p> + +<p> +There is no danger of having too many immigrants of the right kind. It +makes no difference from what country they come. If they are sound in +body and in mind, and, above all, if they are of good character, so +that we can rest assured that their children and grandchildren will be +worthy fellow-citizens of our children and grandchildren, then we +should welcome them with cordial hospitality. +</p> + +<p> +But the citizenship of this country should not be debased. It is vital +that we should keep high the standard of well-being among our +wage-workers, and therefore we should not admit masses of men whose +standards of living and whose personal customs and habits are such that +they tend to lower the level of the American wage-worker; and above all +we should not admit any man of an unworthy type, any man concerning +whom we can say that he will himself be a bad citizen, or that his +children and grandchildren will detract from instead of adding to the +sum of the good citizenship of the country. Similarly we should take +the greatest care about naturalization. Fraudulent naturalization, the +naturalization of improper persons, is a curse to our Government; and +it is the affair of every honest voter, wherever born, to see that no +fraudulent voting is allowed, that no fraud in connection with +naturalization is permitted. +</p> + +<p> +In the past year the cases of false, fraudulent, and improper +naturalization of aliens coming to the attention of the executive +branches of the Government have increased to an alarming degree. +Extensive sales of forged certificates of naturalization have been +discovered, as well as many cases of naturalization secured by perjury +and fraud; and in addition, instances have accumulated showing that +many courts issue certificates of naturalization carelessly and upon +insufficient evidence. +</p> + +<p> +Under the Constitution it is in the power of the Congress "to establish +a uniform rule of naturalization," and numerous laws have from time to +time been enacted for that purpose, which have been supplemented in a +few States by State laws having special application. The Federal +statutes permit naturalization by any court of record in the United +States having common-law jurisdiction and a seal and clerk, except the +police court of the District of Columbia, and nearly all these courts +exercise this important function. It results that where so many courts +of such varying grades have jurisdiction, there is lack of uniformity +in the rules applied in conferring naturalization. Some courts are +strict and others lax. An alien who may secure naturalization in one +place might be denied it in another, and the intent of the +constitutional provision is in fact defeated. Furthermore, the +certificates of naturalization issued by the courts differ widely in +wording and appearance, and when they are brought into use in foreign +countries, are frequently subject to suspicion. +</p> + +<p> +There should be a comprehensive revision of the naturalization laws. +The courts having power to naturalize should be definitely named by +national authority; the testimony upon which naturalization may be +conferred should be definitely prescribed; publication of impending +naturalization applications should be required in advance of their +hearing in court; the form and wording of all certificates issued +should be uniform throughout the country, and the courts should be +required to make returns to the Secretary of State at stated periods of +all naturalizations conferred. +</p> + +<p> +Not only are the laws relating to naturalization now defective, but +those relating to citizenship of the United States ought also to be +made the subject of scientific inquiry with a view to probable further +legislation. By what acts expatriation may be assumed to have been +accomplished, how long an American citizen may reside abroad and +receive the protection of our passport, whether any degree of +protection should be extended to one who has made the declaration of +intention to become a citizen of the United States but has not secured +naturalization, are questions of serious import, involving personal +rights and often producing friction between this Government and foreign +governments. Yet upon these question our laws are silent. I recommend +that an examination be made into the subjects of citizenship, +expatriation, and protection of Americans abroad, with a view to +appropriate legislation. +</p> + +<p> +The power of the Government to protect the integrity of the elections +of its own officials is inherent and has been recognized and affirmed +by repeated declarations of the Supreme Court. There is no enemy of +free government more dangerous and none so insidious as the corruption +of the electorate. No one defends or excuses corruption, and it would +seem to follow that none would oppose vigorous measures to eradicate +it. I recommend the enactment of a law directed against bribery and +corruption in Federal elections. The details of such a law may be +safely left to the wise discretion of the Congress, but it should go as +far as under the Constitution it is possible to go, and should include +severe penalties against him who gives or receives a bribe intended to +influence his act or opinion as an elector; and provisions for the +publication not only of the expenditures for nominations and elections +of all candidates but also of all contributions received and +expenditures made by political committees. +</p> + +<p> +No subject is better worthy the attention of the Congress than that +portion of the report of the Attorney-General dealing with the long +delays and the great obstruction to justice experienced in the cases of +Beavers, Green and Gaynor, and Benson. Were these isolated and special +cases, I should not call your attention to them; but the difficulties +encountered as regards these men who have been indicted for criminal +practices are not exceptional; they are precisely similar in kind to +what occurs again and again in the case of criminals who have +sufficient means to enable them to take advantage of a system of +procedure which has grown up in the Federal courts and which amounts in +effect to making the law easy of enforcement against the man who has no +money, and difficult of enforcement, even to the point of sometimes +securing immunity, as regards the man who has money. In criminal cases +the writ of the United States should run throughout its borders. The +wheels of justice should not be clogged, as they have been clogged in +the cases above mentioned, where it has proved absolutely impossible to +bring the accused to the place appointed by the Constitution for his +trial. Of recent years there has been grave and increasing complaint of +the difficulty of bringing to justice those criminals whose +criminality, instead of being against one person in the Republic, is +against all persons in the Republic, because it is against the Republic +itself. Under any circumstance and from the very nature of the case it +is often exceedingly difficult to secure proper punishment of those who +have been guilty of wrongdoing against the Government. By the time the +offender can be brought into court the popular wrath against him has +generally subsided; and there is in most instances very slight danger +indeed of any prejudice existing in the minds of the jury against him. +At present the interests of the innocent man are amply safeguarded; but +the interests of the Government, that is, the interests of honest +administration, that is the interests of the people, are not recognized +as they should be. No subject better warrants the attention of the +Congress. Indeed, no subject better warrants the attention of the bench +and the bar throughout the United States. +</p> + +<p> +Alaska, like all our Territorial acquisitions, has proved resourceful +beyond the expectations of those who made the purchase. It has become +the home of many hardy, industrious, and thrifty American citizens. +Towns of a permanent character have been built. The extent of its +wealth in minerals, timber, fisheries, and agriculture, while great, is +probably not comprehended yet in any just measure by our people. We do +know, however, that from a very small beginning its products have grown +until they are a steady and material contribution to the wealth of the +nation. Owing to the immensity of Alaska and its location in the far +north, it is a difficult matter to provide many things essential to its +growth and to the happiness and comfort of its people by private +enterprise alone. It should, therefore, receive reasonable aid from the +Government. The Government has already done excellent work for Alaska +in laying cables and building telegraph lines. This work has been done +in the most economical and efficient way by the Signal Corps of the +Army. +</p> + +<p> +In some respects it has outgrown its present laws, while in others +those laws have been found to be inadequate. In order to obtain +information upon which I could rely I caused an official of the +Department of Justice, in whose judgment I have confidence, to visit +Alaska during the past summer for the purpose of ascertaining how +government is administered there and what legislation is actually +needed at present. A statement of the conditions found to exist, +together with some recommendations and the reasons therefor, in which I +strongly concur, will be found in the annual report of the +Attorney-General. In some instances I feel that the legislation +suggested is so imperatively needed that I am moved briefly to +emphasize the Attorney-General's proposals. +</p> + +<p> +Under the Code of Alaska as it now stands many purely administrative +powers and duties, including by far the most important, devolve upon +the district judges or upon the clerks of the district court acting +under the direction of the judges, while the governor, upon whom these +powers and duties should logically fall, has nothing specific to do +except to make annual reports, issue Thanksgiving Day proclamations, +and appoint Indian policemen and notaries public. I believe it +essential to good government in Alaska, and therefore recommend, that +the Congress divest the district judges and the clerks of their courts +of the administrative or executive functions that they now exercise and +cast them upon the governor. This would not be an innovation; it would +simply conform the government of Alaska to fundamental principles, +making the governorship a real instead of a merely nominal office, and +leaving the judges free to give their entire attention to their +judicial duties and at the same time removing them from a great deal of +the strife that now embarrasses the judicial office in Alaska. +</p> + +<p> +I also recommend that the salaries of the district judges and district +attorneys in Alaska be increased so as to make them equal to those +received by corresponding officers in the United States after deducting +the difference in the cost of living; that the district attorneys +should be prohibited from engaging in private practice; that United +States commissioners be appointed by the governor of the Territory +instead of by the district judges, and that a fixed salary be provided +for them to take the place of the discredited "fee system," which +should be abolished in all offices; that a mounted constabulary be +created to police the territory outside the limits of incorporated +towns--a vast section now wholly without police protection; and that +some provision be made to at least lessen the oppressive delays and +costs that now attend the prosecution of appeals from the district +court of Alaska. There should be a division of the existing judicial +districts, and an increase in the number of judges. +</p> + +<p> +Alaska should have a Delegate in the Congress. Where possible, the +Congress should aid in the construction of needed wagon roads. +Additional light-houses should be provided. In my judgment, it is +especially important to aid in such manner as seems just and feasible +in the construction of a trunk line of railway to connect the Gulf of +Alaska with the Yukon River through American territory. This would be +most beneficial to the development of the resources of the Territory, +and to the comfort and welfare of its people. +</p> + +<p> +Salmon hatcheries should be established in many different streams, so +as to secure the preservation of this valuable food fish. Salmon +fisheries and canneries should be prohibited on certain of the rivers +where the mass of those Indians dwell who live almost exclusively on +fish. +</p> + +<p> +The Alaskan natives are kindly, intelligent, anxious to learn, and +willing to work. Those who have come under the influence of +civilization, even for a limited period, have proved their capability +of becoming self-supporting, self-respecting citizens, and ask only for +the just enforcement of law and intelligent instruction and +supervision. Others, living in more remote regions, primitive, simple +hunters and fisher folk, who know only the life of the woods and the +waters, are daily being confronted with twentieth-century civilization +with all of its complexities. Their country is being overrun by +strangers, the game slaughtered and driven away, the streams depleted +of fish, and hitherto unknown and fatal diseases brought to them, all +of which combine to produce a state of abject poverty and want which +must result in their extinction. Action in their interest is demanded +by every consideration of justice and humanity. +</p> + +<p> +The needs of these people are: +</p> + +<p> +The abolition of the present fee system, whereby the native is +degraded, imposed upon, and taught the injustice of law. +</p> + +<p> +The establishment of hospitals at central points, so that contagious +diseases that are brought to them continually by incoming whites may be +localized and not allowed to become epidemic, to spread death and +destitution over great areas. +</p> + +<p> +The development of the educational system in the form of practical +training in such industries as will assure the Indians self-support +under the changed conditions in which they will have to live. +</p> + +<p> +The duties of the office of the governor should be extended to include +the supervision of Indian affairs, with necessary assistants in +different districts. He should be provided with the means and the power +to protect and advise the native people, to furnish medical treatment +in time of epidemics, and to extend material relief in periods of +famine and extreme destitution. +</p> + +<p> +The Alaskan natives should be given the right to acquire, hold, and +dispose of property upon the same conditions as given other +inhabitants; and the privilege of citizenship should be given to such +as may be able to meet certain definite requirements. In Hawaii +Congress should give the governor power to remove all the officials +appointed under him. The harbor of Honolulu should be dredged. The +Marine-Hospital Service should be empowered to study leprosy in the +islands. I ask special consideration for the report and recommendation +of the governor of Porto Rico. +</p> + +<p> +In treating of our foreign policy and of the attitude that this great +Nation should assume in the world at large, it is absolutely necessary +to consider the Army and the Navy, and the Congress, through which the +thought of the Nation finds its expression, should keep ever vividly in +mind the fundamental fact that it is impossible to treat our foreign +policy, whether this policy takes shape in the effort to secure justice +for others or justice for ourselves, save as conditioned upon the +attitude we are willing to take toward our Army, and especially toward +our Navy. It is not merely unwise, it is contemptible, for a nation, as +for an individual, to use high-sounding language to proclaim its +purposes, or to take positions which are ridiculous if unsupported by +potential force, and then to refuse to provide this force. If there is +no intention of providing and of keeping the force necessary to back up +a strong attitude, then it is far better not to assume such an +attitude. +</p> + +<p> +The steady aim of this Nation, as of all enlightened nations, should be +to strive to bring ever nearer the day when there shall prevail +throughout the world the peace of justice. There are kinds of peace +which are highly undesirable, which are in the long run as destructive +as any war. Tyrants and oppressors have many times made a wilderness +and called it peace. Many times peoples who were slothful or timid or +shortsighted, who had been enervated by ease or by luxury, or misled by +false teachings, have shrunk in unmanly fashion from doing duty that +was stern and that needed self-sacrifice, and have sought to hide from +their own minds their shortcomings, their ignoble motives, by calling +them love of peace. The peace of tyrannous terror, the peace of craven +weakness, the peace of injustice, all these should be shunned as we +shun unrighteous war. The goal to set before us as a nation, the goal +which should be set before all mankind, is the attainment of the peace +of justice, of the peace which comes when each nation is not merely +safe-guarded in its own rights, but scrupulously recognizes and +performs its duty toward others. Generally peace tells for +righteousness; but if there is conflict between the two, then our +fealty is due-first to the cause of righteousness. Unrighteous wars are +common, and unrighteous peace is rare; but both should be shunned. The +right of freedom and the responsibility for the exercise of that right +can not be divorced. One of our great poets has well and finely said +that freedom is not a gift that tarries long in the hands of cowards. +Neither does it tarry long in the hands of those too slothful, too +dishonest, or too unintelligent to exercise it. The eternal vigilance +which is the price of liberty must be exercised, sometimes to guard +against outside foes; although of course far more often to guard +against our own selfish or thoughtless shortcomings. +</p> + +<p> +If these self-evident truths are kept before us, and only if they are +so kept before us, we shall have a clear idea of what our foreign +policy in its larger aspects should be. It is our duty to remember that +a nation has no more right to do injustice to another nation, strong or +weak, than an individual has to do injustice to another individual; +that the same moral law applies in one case as in the other. But we +must also remember that it is as much the duty of the Nation to guard +its own rights and its own interests as it is the duty of the +individual so to do. Within the Nation the individual has now delegated +this right to the State, that is, to the representative of all the +individuals, and it is a maxim of the law that for every wrong there is +a remedy. But in international law we have not advanced by any means as +far as we have advanced in municipal law. There is as yet no judicial +way of enforcing a right in international law. When one nation wrongs +another or wrongs many others, there is no tribunal before which the +wrongdoer can be brought. Either it is necessary supinely to acquiesce +in the wrong, and thus put a premium upon brutality and aggression, or +else it is necessary for the aggrieved nation valiantly to stand up for +its rights. Until some method is devised by which there shall be a +degree of international control over offending nations, it would be a +wicked thing for the most civilized powers, for those with most sense +of international obligations and with keenest and most generous +appreciation of the difference between right and wrong, to disarm. If +the great civilized nations of the present day should completely +disarm, the result would mean an immediate recrudescence of barbarism +in one form or another. Under any circumstances a sufficient armament +would have to be kept up to serve the purposes of international police; +and until international cohesion and the sense of international duties +and rights are far more advanced than at present, a nation desirous +both of securing respect for itself and of doing good to others must +have a force adequate for the work which it feels is allotted to it as +its part of the general world duty. Therefore it follows that a +self-respecting, just, and far-seeing nation should on the one hand +endeavor by every means to aid in the development of the various +movements which tend to provide substitutes for war, which tend to +render nations in their actions toward one another, and indeed toward +their own peoples, more responsive to the general sentiment of humane +and civilized mankind; and on the other hand that it should keep +prepared, while scrupulously avoiding wrongdoing itself, to repel any +wrong, and in exceptional cases to take action which in a more advanced +stage of international relations would come under the head of the +exercise of the international police. A great free people owes it to +itself and to all mankind not to sink into helplessness before the +powers of evil. +</p> + +<p> +We are in every way endeavoring to help on, with cordial good will, +every movement which will tend to bring us into more friendly relations +with the rest of mankind. In pursuance of this policy I shall shortly +lay before the Senate treaties of arbitration with all powers which are +willing to enter into these treaties with us. It is not possible at +this period of the world's development to agree to arbitrate all +matters, but there are many matters of possible difference between us +and other nations which can be thus arbitrated. Furthermore, at the +request of the Interparliamentary Union, an eminent body composed of +practical statesmen from all countries, I have asked the Powers to join +with this Government in a second Hague conference, at which it is hoped +that the work already so happily begun at The Hague may be carried some +steps further toward completion. This carries out the desire expressed +by the first Hague conference itself. +</p> + +<p> +It is not true that the United States feels any land hunger or +entertains any projects as regards the other nations of the Western +Hemisphere save such as are for their welfare. All that this country +desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and +prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count +upon our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act +with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, +if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no +interference from the United States. Chronic wrongdoing, or an +impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized +society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention +by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence +of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United +States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or +impotence, to the exercise of an international police power. If every +country washed by the Caribbean Sea would show the progress in stable +and just civilization which with the aid of the Platt amendment Cuba +has shown since our troops left the island, and which so many of the +republics in both Americas are constantly and brilliantly showing, all +question of interference by this Nation with their affairs would be at +an end. Our interests and those of our southern neighbors are in +reality identical. They have great natural riches, and if within their +borders the reign of law and justice obtains, prosperity is sure to +come to them. While they thus obey the primary laws of civilized +society they may rest assured that they will be treated by us in a +spirit of cordial and helpful sympathy. We would interfere with them +only in the last resort, and then only if it became evident that their +inability or unwillingness to do justice at home and abroad had +violated the rights of the United States or had invited foreign +aggression to the detriment of the entire body of American nations. It +is a mere truism to say that every nation, whether in America or +anywhere else, which desires to maintain its freedom, its independence, +must ultimately realize that the right of such independence can not be +separated from the responsibility of making good use of it. +</p> + +<p> +In asserting the Monroe Doctrine, in taking such steps as we have taken +in regard to Cuba, Venezuela, and Panama, and in endeavoring to +circumscribe the theater of war in the Far East, and to secure the open +door in China, we have acted in our own interest as well as in the +interest of humanity at large. There are, however, cases in which, +while our own interests are not greatly involved, strong appeal is made +to our sympathies. Ordinarily it is very much wiser and more useful for +us to concern ourselves with striving for our own moral and material +betterment here at home than to concern ourselves with trying to better +the condition of things in other nations. We have plenty of sins of our +own to war against, and under ordinary circumstances we can do more for +the general uplifting of humanity by striving with heart and soul to +put a stop to civic corruption, to brutal lawlessness and violent race +prejudices here at home than by passing resolutions about wrongdoing +elsewhere. Nevertheless there are occasional crimes committed on so +vast a scale and of such peculiar horror as to make us doubt whether it +is not our manifest duty to endeavor at least to show our disapproval +of the deed and our sympathy with those who have suffered by it. The +cases must be extreme in which such a course is justifiable. There must +be no effort made to remove the mote from our brother's eye if we +refuse to remove the beam from our own. But in extreme cases action may +be justifiable and proper. What form the action shall take must depend +upon the circumstances of the case; that is, upon the degree of the +atrocity and upon our power to remedy it. The cases in which we could +interfere by force of arms as we interfered to put a stop to +intolerable conditions in Cuba are necessarily very few. Yet it is not +to be expected that a people like ours, which in spite of certain very +obvious shortcomings, nevertheless as a whole shows by its consistent +practice its belief in the principles of civil and religious liberty +and of orderly freedom, a people among whom even the worst crime, like +the crime of lynching, is never more than sporadic, so that individuals +and not classes are molested in their fundamental rights--it is +inevitable that such a nation should desire eagerly to give expression +to its horror on an occasion like that of the massacre of the Jews in +Kishenef, or when it witnesses such systematic and long-extended +cruelty and oppression as the cruelty and oppression of which the +Armenians have been the victims, and which have won for them the +indignant pity of the civilized world. +</p> + +<p> +Even where it is not possible to secure in other nations the observance +of the principles which we accept as axiomatic, it is necessary for us +firmly to insist upon the rights of our own citizens without regard to +their creed or race; without regard to whether they were born here or +born abroad. It has proved very difficult to secure from Russia the +right for our Jewish fellow-citizens to receive passports and travel +through Russian territory. Such conduct is not only unjust and +irritating toward us, but it is difficult to see its wisdom from +Russia's standpoint. No conceivable good is accomplished by it. If an +American Jew or an American Christian misbehaves himself in Russia he +can at once be driven out; but the ordinary American Jew, like the +ordinary American Christian, would behave just about as he behaves +here, that is, behave as any good citizen ought to behave; and where +this is the case it is a wrong against which we are entitled to protest +to refuse him his passport without regard to his conduct and character, +merely on racial and religious grounds. In Turkey our difficulties +arise less from the way in which our citizens are sometimes treated +than from the indignation inevitably excited in seeing such fearful +misrule as has been witnessed both in Armenia and Macedonia. +</p> + +<p> +The strong arm of the Government in enforcing respect for its just +rights in international matters is the Navy of the United States. I +most earnestly recommend that there be no halt in the work of +upbuilding the American Navy. There is no more patriotic duty before us +a people than to keep the Navy adequate to the needs of this country's +position. We have undertaken to build the Isthmian Canal. We have +undertaken to secure for ourselves our just share in the trade of the +Orient. We have undertaken to protect our citizens from proper +treatment in foreign lands. We continue steadily to insist on the +application of the Monroe Doctrine to the Western Hemisphere. Unless +our attitude in these and all similar matters is to be a mere boastful +sham we can not afford to abandon our naval programme. Our voice is now +potent for peace, and is so potent because we are not afraid of war. +But our protestations upon behalf of peace would neither receive nor +deserve the slightest attention if we were impotent to make them good. +</p> + +<p> +The war which now unfortunately rages in the far East has emphasized in +striking fashion the new possibilities of naval warfare. The lessons +taught are both strategic and tactical, and are political as well as +military. The experiences of the war have shown in conclusive fashion +that while sea-going and sea-keeping torpedo destroyers are +indispensable, and fast lightly armed and armored cruisers very useful, +yet that the main reliance, the main standby, in any navy worthy the +name must be the great battle ships, heavily armored and heavily +gunned. Not a Russian or Japanese battle ship has been sunk by a +torpedo boat, or by gunfire, while among the less protected ships, +cruiser after cruiser has been destroyed whenever the hostile squadrons +have gotten within range of one another's weapons. There will always be +a large field of usefulness for cruisers, especially of the more +formidable type. We need to increase the number of torpedo-boat +destroyers, paying less heed to their having a knot or two extra speed +than to their capacity to keep the seas for weeks, and, if necessary, +for months at a time. It is wise to build submarine torpedo boats, as +under certain circumstances they might be very useful. But most of all +we need to continue building our fleet of battle ships, or ships so +powerfully armed that they can inflict the maximum of damage upon our +opponents, and so well protected that they can suffer a severe +hammering in return without fatal impairment of their ability to fight +and maneuver. Of course ample means must be provided for enabling the +personnel of the Navy to be brought to the highest point of efficiency. +Our great fighting ships and torpedo boats must be ceaselessly trained +and maneuvered in squadrons. The officers and men can only learn their +trade thoroughly by ceaseless practice on the high seas. In the event +of war it would be far better to have no ships at all than to have +ships of a poor and ineffective type, or ships which, however good, +were yet manned by untrained and unskillful crews. The best officers +and men in a poor ship could do nothing against fairly good opponents; +and on the other hand a modern war ship is useless unless the officers +and men aboard her have become adepts in their duties. The marksmanship +in our Navy has improved in an extraordinary degree during the last +three years, and on the whole the types of our battleships are +improving; but much remains to be done. Sooner or later we shall have +to provide for some method by which there will be promotions for merit +as well as for seniority, or else retirement all those who after a +certain age have not advanced beyond a certain grade; while no effort +must be spared to make the service attractive to the enlisted men in +order that they may be kept as long as possible in it. Reservation +public schools should be provided wherever there are navy-yards. +</p> + +<p> +Within the last three years the United States has set an example in +disarmament where disarmament was proper. By law our Army is fixed at a +maximum of one hundred thousand and a minimum of sixty thousand men. +When there was insurrection in the Philippines we kept the Army at the +maximum. Peace came in the Philippines, and now our Army has been +reduced to the minimum at which it is possible to keep it with due +regard to its efficiency. The guns now mounted require twenty-eight +thousand men, if the coast fortifications are to be adequately manned. +Relatively to the Nation, it is not now so large as the police force of +New York or Chicago relatively to the population of either city. We +need more officers; there are not enough to perform the regular army +work. It is very important that the officers of the Army should be +accustomed to handle their men in masses, as it is also important that +the National Guard of the several States should be accustomed to actual +field maneuvering, especially in connection with the regulars. For this +reason we are to be congratulated upon the success of the field +maneuvers at Manassas last fall, maneuvers in which a larger number of +Regulars and National Guard took part than was ever before assembled +together in time of peace. No other civilized nation has, relatively to +its population, such a diminutive Army as ours; and while the Army is +so small we are not to be excused if we fail to keep it at a very high +grade of proficiency. It must be incessantly practiced; the standard +for the enlisted men should be kept very high, while at the same time +the service should be made as attractive as possible; and the standard +for the officers should be kept even higher--which, as regards the +upper ranks, can best be done by introducing some system of selection +and rejection into the promotions. We should be able, in the event of +some sudden emergency, to put into the field one first-class army +corps, which should be, as a whole, at least the equal of any body of +troops of like number belonging to any other nation. +</p> + +<p> +Great progress has been made in protecting our coasts by adequate +fortifications with sufficient guns. We should, however, pay much more +heed than at present to the development of an extensive system of +floating mines for use in all our more important harbors. These mines +have been proved to be a most formidable safeguard against hostile +fleets. +</p> + +<p> +I earnestly call the attention of the Congress to the need of amending +the existing law relating to the award of Congressional medals of honor +in the Navy so as to provide that they may be awarded to commissioned +officers and warrant officers as well as to enlisted men. These justly +prized medals are given in the Army alike to the officers and the +enlisted men, and it is most unjust that the commissioned officers and +warrant officers of the Navy should not in this respect have the same +rights as their brethren in the Army and as the enlisted men of the +Navy. +</p> + +<p> +In the Philippine Islands there has been during the past year a +continuation of the steady progress which has obtained ever since our +troops definitely got the upper hand of the insurgents. The Philippine +people, or, to speak more accurately, the many tribes, and even races, +sundered from one another more or less sharply, who go to make up the +people of the Philippine Islands, contain many elements of good, and +some elements which we have a right to hope stand for progress. At +present they are utterly incapable of existing in independence at all +or of building up a civilization of their own. I firmly believe that we +can help them to rise higher and higher in the scale of civilization +and of capacity for self-government, and I most earnestly hope that in +the end they will be able to stand, if not entirely alone, yet in some +such relation to the United States as Cuba now stands. This end is not +yet in sight, and it may be indefinitely postponed if our people are +foolish enough to turn the attention of the Filipinos away from the +problems of achieving moral and material prosperity, of working for a +stable, orderly, and just government, and toward foolish and dangerous +intrigues for a complete independence for which they are as yet totally +unfit. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand our people must keep steadily before their minds the +fact that the justification for our stay in the Philippines must +ultimately rest chiefly upon the good we are able to do in the islands. +I do not overlook the fact that in the development of our interests in +the Pacific Ocean and along its coasts, the Philippines have played and +will play an important part; and that our interests have been served in +more than one way by the possession of the islands. But our chief +reason for continuing to hold them must be that we ought in good faith +to try to do our share of the world's work, and this particular piece +of work has been imposed upon us by the results of the war with Spain. +The problem presented to us in the Philippine Islands is akin to, but +not exactly like, the problems presented to the other great civilized +powers which have possessions in the Orient. There are points of +resemblance in our work to the work which is being done by the British +in India and Egypt, by the French in Algiers, by the Dutch in Java, by +the Russians in Turkestan, by the Japanese in Formosa; but more +distinctly than any of these powers we are endeavoring to develop the +natives themselves so that they shall take an ever-increasing share in +their own government, and as far as is prudent we are already admitting +their representatives to a governmental equality with our own. There +are commissioners, judges, and governors in the islands who are +Filipinos and who have exactly the same share in the government of the +islands as have their colleagues who are Americans, while in the lower +ranks, of course, the great majority of the public servants are +Filipinos. Within two years we shall be trying the experiment of an +elective lower house in the Philippine legislature. It may be that the +Filipinos will misuse this legislature, and they certainly will misuse +it if they are misled by foolish persons here at home into starting an +agitation for their own independence or into any factious or improper +action. In such case they will do themselves no good and will stop for +the time being all further effort to advance them and give them a +greater share in their own government. But if they act with wisdom and +self-restraint, if they show that they are capable of electing a +legislature which in its turn is capable of taking a sane and efficient +part in the actual work of government, they can rest assured that a +full and increasing measure of recognition will be given them. Above +all they should remember that their prime needs are moral and +industrial, not political. It is a good thing to try the experiment of +giving them a legislature; but it is a far better thing to give them +schools, good roads, railroads which will enable them to get their +products to market, honest courts, an honest and efficient +constabulary, and all that tends to produce order, peace, fair dealing +as between man and man, and habits of intelligent industry and thrift. +If they are safeguarded against oppression, and if their real wants, +material and spiritual, are studied intelligently and in a spirit of +friendly sympathy, much more good will be done them than by any effort +to give them political power, though this effort may in its own proper +time and place be proper enough. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile our own people should remember that there is need for the +highest standard of conduct among the Americans sent to the Philippine +Islands, not only among the public servants but among the private +individuals who go to them. It is because I feel this so deeply that in +the administration of these islands I have positively refused to permit +any discrimination whatsoever for political reasons and have insisted +that in choosing the public servants consideration should be paid +solely to the worth of the men chosen and to the needs of the islands. +There is no higher body of men in our public service than we have in +the Philippine Islands under Governor Wright and his associates. So far +as possible these men should be given a free hand, and their +suggestions should receive the hearty backing both of the Executive and +of the Congress. There is need of a vigilant and disinterested support +of our public servants in the Philippines by good citizens here in the +United States. Unfortunately hitherto those of our people here at home +who have specially claimed to be the champions of the Filipinos have in +reality been their worst enemies. This will continue to be the case as +long as they strive to make the Filipinos independent, and stop all +industrial development of the islands by crying out against the laws +which would bring it on the ground that capitalists must not "exploit" +the islands. Such proceedings are not only unwise, but are most harmful +to the Filipinos, who do not need independence at all, but who do need +good laws, good public servants, and the industrial development that +can only come if the investment, of American and foreign capital in the +islands is favored in all legitimate ways. +</p> + +<p> +Every measure taken concerning the islands should be taken primarily +with a view to their advantage. We should certainly give them lower +tariff rates on their exports to the United States; if this is not done +it will be a wrong to extend our shipping laws to them. I earnestly +hope for the immediate enactment into law of the legislation now +pending to encourage American capital to seek investment in the islands +in railroads, in factories, in plantations, and in lumbering and +mining. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3"> +*** +</p> + +<p><a id="dec1905"></a></p> + +<p class="noindent"> +State of the Union Address<br /> +Theodore Roosevelt<br /> +December 5, 1905<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To the Senate and House of Representatives: +</p> + +<p> +The people of this country continue to enjoy great prosperity. +Undoubtedly there will be ebb and flow in such prosperity, and this ebb +and flow will be felt more or less by all members of the community, +both by the deserving and the undeserving. Against the wrath of the +Lord the wisdom of man cannot avail; in time of flood or drought human +ingenuity can but partially repair the disaster. A general failure of +crops would hurt all of us. Again, if the folly of man mars the general +well-being, then those who are innocent of the folly will have to pay +part of the penalty incurred by those who are guilty of the folly. A +panic brought on by the speculative folly of part of the business +community would hurt the whole business community. But such stoppage of +welfare, though it might be severe, would not be lasting. In the long +run the one vital factor in the permanent prosperity of the country is +the high individual character of the average American worker, the +average American citizen, no matter whether his work be mental or +manual, whether he be farmer or wage-worker, business man or +professional man. +</p> + +<p> +In our industrial and social system the interests of all men are so +closely intertwined that in the immense majority of cases a +straight-dealing man who by his efficiency, by his ingenuity and +industry, benefits himself must also benefit others. Normally the man +of great productive capacity who becomes rich by guiding the labor of +many other men does so by enabling them to produce more than they could +produce without his guidance; and both he and they share in the +benefit, which comes also to the public at large. The superficial fact +that the sharing may be unequal must never blind us to the underlying +fact that there is this sharing, and that the benefit comes in some +degree to each man concerned. Normally the wage-worker, the man of +small means, and the average consumer, as well as the average producer, +are all alike helped by making conditions such that the man of +exceptional business ability receives an exceptional reward for his +ability. Something can be done by legislation to help the general +prosperity; but no such help of a permanently beneficial character can +be given to the less able and less fortunate, save as the results of a +policy which shall inure to the advantage of all industrious and +efficient people who act decently; and this is only another way of +saying that any benefit which comes to the less able and less fortunate +must of necessity come even more to the more able and more fortunate. +If, therefore, the less fortunate man is moved by envy of his more +fortunate brother to strike at the conditions under which they have +both, though unequally, prospered, the result will assuredly be that +while danger may come to the one struck at, it will visit with an even +heavier load the one who strikes the blow. Taken as a whole we must all +go up or down together. +</p> + +<p> +Yet, while not merely admitting, but insisting upon this, it is also +true that where there is no governmental restraint or supervision some +of the exceptional men use their energies not in ways that are for the +common good, but in ways which tell against this common good. The +fortunes amassed through corporate organization are now so large, and +vest such power in those that wield them, as to make it a matter of +necessity to give to the sovereign--that is, to the Government, which +represents the people as a whole--some effective power of supervision +over their corporate use. In order to insure a healthy social and +industrial life, every big corporation should be held responsible by, +and be accountable to, some sovereign strong enough to control its +conduct. I am in no sense hostile to corporations. This is an age of +combination, and any effort to prevent all combination will be not only +useless, but in the end vicious, because of the contempt for law which +the failure to enforce law inevitably produces. We should, moreover, +recognize in cordial and ample fashion the immense good effected by +corporate agencies in a country such as ours, and the wealth of +intellect, energy, and fidelity devoted to their service, and therefore +normally to the service of the public, by their officers and directors. +The corporation has come to stay, just as the trade union has come to +stay. Each can do and has done great good. Each should be favored so +long as it does good. But each should be sharply checked where it acts +against law and justice. +</p> + +<p> +So long as the finances of the Nation are kept upon an honest basis no +other question of internal economy with which the Congress has the +power to deal begins to approach in importance the matter of +endeavoring to secure proper industrial conditions under which the +individuals--and especially the great corporations--doing an interstate +business are to act. The makers of our National Constitution provided +especially that the regulation of interstate commerce should come +within the sphere of the General Government. The arguments in favor of +their taking this stand were even then overwhelming. But they are far +stronger today, in view of the enormous development of great business +agencies, usually corporate in form. Experience has shown conclusively +that it is useless to try to get any adequate regulation and +supervision of these great corporations by State action. Such +regulation and supervision can only be effectively exercised by a +sovereign whose jurisdiction is coextensive with the field of work of +the corporations--that is, by the National Government. I believe that +this regulation and supervision can be obtained by the enactment of law +by the Congress. If this proves impossible, it will certainly be +necessary ultimately to confer in fullest form such power upon the +National Government by a proper amendment of the Constitution. It would +obviously be unwise to endeavor to secure such an amendment until it is +certain that the result cannot be obtained under the Constitution as it +now is. The laws of the Congress and of the several States hitherto, as +passed upon by the courts, have resulted more often in showing that the +States have no power in the matter than that the National Government +has power; so that there at present exists a very unfortunate condition +of things, under which these great corporations doing an interstate +business occupy the position of subjects without a sovereign, neither +any State Government nor the National Government having effective +control over them. Our steady aim should be by legislation, cautiously +and carefully undertaken, but resolutely persevered in, to assert the +sovereignty of the National Government by affirmative action. +</p> + +<p> +This is only in form an innovation. In substance it is merely a +restoration; for from the earliest time such regulation of industrial +activities has been recognized in the action of the lawmaking bodies; +and all that I propose is to meet the changed conditions in such manner +as will prevent the Commonwealth abdicating the power it has always +possessed not only in this country, but also in England before and +since this country became a separate Nation. +</p> + +<p> +It has been a misfortune that the National laws on this subject have +hitherto been of a negative or prohibitive rather than an affirmative +kind, and still more that they have in part sought to prohibit what +could not be effectively prohibited, and have in part in their +prohibitions confounded what should be allowed and what should not be +allowed. It is generally useless to try to prohibit all restraint on +competition, whether this restraint be reasonable or unreasonable; and +where it is not useless it is generally hurtful. Events have shown that +it is not possible adequately to secure the enforcement of any law of +this kind by incessant appeal to the courts. The Department of Justice +has for the last four years devoted more attention to the enforcement +of the anti-trust legislation than to anything else. Much has been +accomplished, particularly marked has been the moral effect of the +prosecutions; but it is increasingly evident that there will be a very +insufficient beneficial result in the way of economic change. The +successful prosecution of one device to evade the law immediately +develops another device to accomplish the same purpose. What is needed +is not sweeping prohibition of every arrangement, good or bad, which +may tend to restrict competition, but such adequate supervision and +regulation as will prevent any restriction of competition from being to +the detriment of the public--as well as such supervision and regulation +as will prevent other abuses in no way connected with restriction of +competition. Of these abuses, perhaps the chief, although by no means +the only one, is overcapitalization--generally itself the result of +dishonest promotion--because of the myriad evils it brings in its +train; for such overcapitalization often means an inflation that +invites business panic; it always conceals the true relation of the +profit earned to the capital actually invested, and it creates a burden +of interest payments which is a fertile cause of improper reduction in +or limitation of wages; it damages the small investor, discourages +thrift, and encourages gambling and speculation; while perhaps worst of +all is the trickiness and dishonesty which it implies--for harm to +morals is worse than any possible harm to material interests, and the +debauchery of politics and business by great dishonest corporations is +far worse than any actual material evil they do the public. Until the +National Government obtains, in some manner which the wisdom of the +Congress may suggest, proper control over the big corporations engaged +in interstate commerce--that is, over the great majority of the big +corporations--it will be impossible to deal adequately with these +evils. +</p> + +<p> +I am well aware of the difficulties of the legislation that I am +suggesting, and of the need of temperate and cautious action in +securing it. I should emphatically protest against improperly radical +or hasty action. The first thing to do is to deal with the great +corporations engaged in the business of interstate transportation. As I +said in my message of December 6 last, the immediate and most pressing +need, so far as legislation is concerned, is the enactment into law of +some scheme to secure to the agents of the Government such supervision +and regulation of the rates charged by the railroads of the country +engaged in interstate traffic as shall summarily and effectively +prevent the imposition of unjust or unreasonable rates. It must include +putting a complete stop to rebates in every shape and form. This power +to regulate rates, like all similar powers over the business world, +should be exercised with moderation, caution, and self-restraint; but +it should exist, so that it can be effectively exercised when the need +arises. +</p> + +<p> +The first consideration to be kept in mind is that the power should be +affirmative and should be given to some administrative body created by +the Congress. If given to the present Interstate Commerce Commission, +or to a reorganized Interstate Commerce Commission, such commission +should be made unequivocally administrative. I do not believe in the +Government interfering with private business more than is necessary. I +do not believe in the Government undertaking any work which can with +propriety be left in private hands. But neither do I believe in the +Government flinching from overseeing any work when it becomes evident +that abuses are sure to obtain therein unless there is governmental +supervision. It is not my province to indicate the exact terms of the +law which should be enacted; but I call the attention of the Congress +to certain existing conditions with which it is desirable to deal, In +my judgment the most important provision which such law should contain +is that conferring upon some competent administrative body the power to +decide, upon the case being brought before it, whether a given rate +prescribed by a railroad is reasonable and just, and if it is found to +be unreasonable and unjust, then, after full investigation of the +complaint, to prescribe the limit of rate beyond which it shall not be +lawful to go--the maximum reasonable rate, as it is commonly +called--this decision to go into effect within a reasonable time and to +obtain from thence onward, subject to review by the courts. It +sometimes happens at present not that a rate is too high but that a +favored shipper is given too low a rate. In such case the commission +would have the right to fix this already established minimum rate as +the maximum; and it would need only one or two such decisions by the +commission to cure railroad companies of the practice of giving +improper minimum rates. I call your attention to the fact that my +proposal is not to give the commission power to initiate or originate +rates generally, but to regulate a rate already fixed or originated by +the roads, upon complaint and after investigation. A heavy penalty +should be exacted from any corporation which fails to respect an order +of the commission. I regard this power to establish a maximum rate as +being essential to any scheme of real reform in the matter of railway +regulation. The first necessity is to secure it; and unless it is +granted to the commission there is little use in touching the subject +at all. +</p> + +<p> +Illegal transactions often occur under the forms of law. It has often +occurred that a shipper has been told by a traffic officer to buy a +large quantity of some commodity and then after it has been bought an +open reduction is made in the rate to take effect immediately, the +arrangement resulting to the profit of one shipper and the one railroad +and to the damage of all their competitors; for it must not be +forgotten that the big shippers are at least as much to blame as any +railroad in the matter of rebates. The law should make it clear so that +nobody can fail to understand that any kind of commission paid on +freight shipments, whether in this form or in the form of fictitious +damages, or of a concession, a free pass, reduced passenger rate, or +payment of brokerage, is illegal. It is worth while considering whether +it would not be wise to confer on the Government the right of civil +action against the beneficiary of a rebate for at least twice the value +of the rebate; this would help stop what is really blackmail. Elevator +allowances should be stopped, for they have now grown to such an extent +that they are demoralizing and are used as rebates. +</p> + +<p> +The best possible regulation of rates would, of course, be that +regulation secured by an honest agreement among the railroads +themselves to carry out the law. Such a general agreement would, for +instance, at once put a stop to the efforts of any one big shipper or +big railroad to discriminate against or secure advantages over some +rival; and such agreement would make the railroads themselves agents +for enforcing the law. The power vested in the Government to put a stop +to agreements to the detriment of the public should, in my judgment, be +accompanied by power to permit, under specified conditions and careful +supervision, agreements clearly in the interest of the public. But, in +my judgment, the necessity for giving this further power is by no means +as great as the necessity for giving the commission or administrative +body the other powers I have enumerated above; and it may well be +inadvisable to attempt to vest this particular power in the commission +or other administrative body until it already possesses and is +exercising what I regard as by far the most important of all the powers +I recommend--as indeed the vitally important power--that to fix a given +maximum rate, which rate, after the lapse of a reasonable time, goes +into full effect, subject to review by the courts. +</p> + +<p> +All private-car lines, industrial roads, refrigerator charges, and the +like should be expressly put under the supervision of the Interstate +Commerce Commission or some similar body so far as rates, and +agreements practically affecting rates, are concerned. The private car +owners and the owners of industrial railroads are entitled to a fair +and reasonable compensation on their investment, but neither private +cars nor industrial railroads nor spur tracks should be utilized as +devices for securing preferential rates. A rebate in icing charges, or +in mileage, or in a division of the rate for refrigerating charges is +just as pernicious as a rebate in any other way. No lower rate should +apply on goods imported than actually obtains on domestic goods from +the American seaboard to destination except in cases where water +competition is the controlling influence. There should be publicity of +the accounts of common carriers; no common carrier engaged in +interstate business should keep any books or memoranda other than those +reported pursuant to law or regulation, and these books or memoranda +should be open to the inspection of the Government. Only in this way +can violations or evasions of the law be surely detected. A system of +examination of railroad accounts should be provided similar to that now +conducted into the National banks by the bank examiners; a few +first-class railroad accountants, if they had proper direction and +proper authority to inspect books and papers, could accomplish much in +preventing willful violations of the law. It would not be necessary for +them to examine into the accounts of any railroad unless for good +reasons they were directed to do so by the Interstate Commerce +Commission. It is greatly to be desired that some way might be found by +which an agreement as to transportation within a State intended to +operate as a fraud upon the Federal interstate commerce laws could be +brought under the jurisdiction of the Federal authorities. At present +it occurs that large shipments of interstate traffic are controlled by +concessions on purely State business, which of course amounts to an +evasion of the law. The commission should have power to enforce fair +treatment by the great trunk lines of lateral and branch lines. +</p> + +<p> +I urge upon the Congress the need of providing for expeditious action +by the Interstate Commerce Commission in all these matters, whether in +regulating rates for transportation or for storing or for handling +property or commodities in transit. The history of the cases litigated +under the present commerce act shows that its efficacy has been to a +great degree destroyed by the weapon of delay, almost the most +formidable weapon in the hands of those whose purpose it is to violate +the law. +</p> + +<p> +Let me most earnestly say that these recommendations are not made in +any spirit of hostility to the railroads. On ethical grounds, on +grounds of right, such hostility would be intolerable; and on grounds +of mere National self-interest we must remember that such hostility +would tell against the welfare not merely of some few rich men, but of +a multitude of small investors, a multitude of railway employes, wage +workers, and most severely against the interest of the public as a +whole. I believe that on the whole our railroads have done well and not +ill; but the railroad men who wish to do well should not be exposed to +competition with those who have no such desire, and the only way to +secure this end is to give to some Government tribunal the power to see +that justice is done by the unwilling exactly as it is gladly done by +the willing. Moreover, if some Government body is given increased power +the effect will be to furnish authoritative answer on behalf of the +railroad whenever irrational clamor against it is raised, or whenever +charges made against it are disproved. I ask this legislation not only +in the interest of the public but in the interest of the honest +railroad man and the honest shipper alike, for it is they who are +chiefly jeoparded by the practices of their dishonest competitors. This +legislation should be enacted in a spirit as remote as possible from +hysteria and rancor. If we of the American body politic are true to the +traditions we have inherited we shall always scorn any effort to make +us hate any man because he is rich, just as much as we should scorn any +effort to make us look down upon or treat contemptuously any man +because he is poor. We judge a man by his conduct--that is, by his +character--and not by his wealth or intellect. If he makes his fortune +honestly, there is no just cause of quarrel with him. Indeed, we have +nothing but the kindliest feelings of admiration for the successful +business man who behaves decently, whether he has made his success by +building or managing a railroad or by shipping goods over that +railroad. The big railroad men and big shippers are simply Americans of +the ordinary type who have developed to an extraordinary degree certain +great business qualities. They are neither better nor worse than their +fellow-citizens of smaller means. They are merely more able in certain +lines and therefore exposed to certain peculiarly strong temptations. +These temptations have not sprung newly into being; the exceptionally +successful among mankind have always been exposed to them; but they +have grown amazingly in power as a result of the extraordinary +development of industrialism along new lines, and under these new +conditions, which the law-makers of old could not foresee and therefore +could not provide against, they have become so serious and menacing as +to demand entirely new remedies. It is in the interest of the best type +of railroad man and the best type of shipper no less than of the public +that there should be Governmental supervision and regulation of these +great business operations, for the same reason that it is in the +interest of the corporation which wishes to treat its employes aright +that there should be an effective Employers' Liability act, or an +effective system of factory laws to prevent the abuse of women and +children. All such legislation frees the corporation that wishes to do +well from being driven into doing ill, in order to compete with its +rival, which prefers to do ill. We desire to set up a moral standard. +There can be no delusion more fatal to the Nation than the delusion +that the standard of profits, of business prosperity, is sufficient in +judging any business or political question--from rate legislation to +municipal government. Business success, whether for the individual or +for the Nation, is a good thing only so far as it is accompanied by and +develops a high standard of conduct--honor, integrity, civic courage. +The kind of business prosperity that blunts the standard of honor, that +puts an inordinate value on mere wealth, that makes a man ruthless and +conscienceless in trade, and weak and cowardly in citizenship, is not a +good thing at all, but a very bad thing for the Nation. This Government +stands for manhood first and for business only as an adjunct of +manhood. +</p> + +<p> +The question of transportation lies at the root of all industrial +success, and the revolution in transportation which has taken place +during the last half century has been the most important factor in the +growth of the new industrial conditions. Most emphatically we do not +wish to see the man of great talents refused the reward for his +talents. Still less do we wish to see him penalized but we do desire to +see the system of railroad transportation so handled that the strong +man shall be given no advantage over the weak man. We wish to insure as +fair treatment for the small town as for the big city; for the small +shipper as for the big shipper. In the old days the highway of +commerce, whether by water or by a road on land, was open to all; it +belonged to the public and the traffic along it was free. At present +the railway is this highway, and we must do our best to see that it is +kept open to all on equal terms. Unlike the old highway it is a very +difficult and complex thing to manage, and it is far better that it +should be managed by private individuals than by the Government. But it +can only be so managed on condition that justice is done the public. It +is because, in my judgment, public ownership of railroads is highly +undesirable and would probably in this country entail far-reaching +disaster, but I wish to see such supervision and regulation of them in +the interest of the public as will make it evident that there is no +need for public ownership. The opponents of Government regulation dwell +upon the difficulties to be encountered and the intricate and involved +nature of the problem. Their contention is true. It is a complicated +and delicate problem, and all kinds of difficulties are sure to arise +in connection with any plan of solution, while no plan will bring all +the benefits hoped for by its more optimistic adherents. Moreover, +under any healthy plan, the benefits will develop gradually and not +rapidly. Finally, we must clearly understand that the public servants +who are to do this peculiarly responsible and delicate work must +themselves be of the highest type both as regards integrity and +efficiency. They must be well paid, for otherwise able men cannot in +the long run be secured; and they must possess a lofty probity which +will revolt as quickly at the thought of pandering to any gust of +popular prejudice against rich men as at the thought of anything even +remotely resembling subserviency to rich men. But while I fully admit +the difficulties in the way, I do not for a moment admit that these +difficulties warrant us in stopping in our effort to secure a wise and +just system. They should have no other effect than to spur us on to the +exercise of the resolution, the even-handed justice, and the fertility +of resource, which we like to think of as typically American, and which +will in the end achieve good results in this as in other fields of +activity. The task is a great one and underlies the task of dealing +with the whole industrial problem. But the fact that it is a great +problem does not warrant us in shrinking from the attempt to solve it. +At present we face such utter lack of supervision, such freedom from +the restraints of law, that excellent men have often been literally +forced into doing what they deplored because otherwise they were left +at the mercy of unscrupulous competitors. To rail at and assail the men +who have done as they best could under such conditions accomplishes +little. What we need to do is to develop an orderly system, and such a +system can only come through the gradually increased exercise of the +right of efficient Government control. +</p> + +<p> +In my annual message to the Fifty-eighth Congress, at its third +session, I called attention to the necessity for legislation requiring +the use of block signals upon railroads engaged in interstate commerce. +The number of serious collisions upon unblocked roads that have +occurred within the past year adds force to the recommendation then +made. The Congress should provide, by appropriate legislation, for the +introduction of block signals upon all railroads engaged in interstate +commerce at the earliest practicable date, as a measure of increased +safety to the traveling public. +</p> + +<p> +Through decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States and the +lower Federal courts in cases brought before them for adjudication the +safety appliance law has been materially strengthened, and the +Government has been enabled to secure its effective enforcement in +almost all cases, with the result that the condition of railroad +equipment throughout the country is much improved and railroad employes +perform their duties under safer conditions than heretofore. The +Government's most effective aid in arriving at this result has been its +inspection service, and that these improved conditions are not more +general is due to the insufficient number of inspectors employed. The +inspection service has fully demonstrated its usefulness, and in +appropriating for its maintenance the Congress should make provision +for an increase in the number of inspectors. +</p> + +<p> +The excessive hours of labor to which railroad employes in train +service are in many cases subjected is also a matter which may well +engage the serious attention of the Congress. The strain, both mental +and physical, upon those who are engaged in the movement and operation +of railroad trains under modern conditions is perhaps greater than that +which exists in any other industry, and if there are any reasons for +limiting by law the hours of labor in any employment, they certainly +apply with peculiar force to the employment of those upon whose +vigilance and alertness in the performance of their duties the safety +of all who travel by rail depends. +</p> + +<p> +In my annual message to the Fifty-seventh Congress, at its second +session, I recommended the passage of an employers' liability law for +the District of Columbia and in our navy yards. I renewed that +recommendation in my message to the Fifty-eighth Congress, at its +second session, and further suggested the appointment of a commission +to make a comprehensive study of employers' liability, with a view to +the enactment of a wise and Constitutional law covering the subject, +applicable to all industries within the scope of the Federal power. I +hope that such a law will be prepared and enacted as speedily as +possible. +</p> + +<p> +The National Government has, as a rule, but little occasion to deal +with the formidable group of problems connected more or less directly +with what is known as the labor question, for in the great majority of +cases these problems must be dealt with by the State and municipal +authorities, and not by the National Government. The National +Government has control of the District of Columbia, however, and it +should see to it that the City of Washington is made a model city in +all respects, both as regards parks, public playgrounds, proper +regulation of the system of housing, so as to do away with the evils of +alley tenements, a proper system of education, a proper system of +dealing with truancy and juvenile offenders, a proper handling of the +charitable work of the District. Moreover, there should be proper +factory laws to prevent all abuses in the employment of women and +children in the District. These will be useful chiefly as object +lessons, but even this limited amount of usefulness would be of real +National value. +</p> + +<p> +There has been demand for depriving courts of the power to issue +injunctions in labor disputes. Such special limitation of the equity +powers of our courts would be most unwise. It is true that some judges +have misused this power; but this does not justify a denial of the +power any more than an improper exercise of the power to call a strike +by a labor leader would justify the denial of the right to strike. The +remedy is to regulate the procedure by requiring the judge to give due +notice to the adverse parties before granting the writ, the hearing to +be ex parte if the adverse party does not appear at the time and place +ordered. What is due notice must depend upon the facts of the case; it +should not be used as a pretext to permit violation of law or the +jeopardizing of life or property. Of course, this would not authorize +the issuing of a restraining order or injunction in any case in which +it is not already authorized by existing law. +</p> + +<p> +I renew the recommendation I made in my last annual message for an +investigation by the Department of Commerce and Labor of general labor +conditions, especial attention to be paid to the conditions of child +labor and child-labor legislation in the several States. Such an +investigation should take into account the various problems with which +the question of child labor is connected. It is true that these +problems can be actually met in most cases only by the States +themselves, but it would be well for the Nation to endeavor to secure +and publish comprehensive information as to the conditions of the labor +of children in the different States, so as to spur up those that are +behindhand and to secure approximately uniform legislation of a high +character among the several States. In such a Republic as ours the one +thing that we cannot afford to neglect is the problem of turning out +decent citizens. The future of the Nation depends upon the citizenship +of the generations to come; the children of today are those who +tomorrow will shape the destiny of our land, and we cannot afford to +neglect them. The Legislature of Colorado has recommended that the +National Government provide some general measure for the protection +from abuse of children and dumb animals throughout the United States. I +lay the matter before you for what I trust will be your favorable +consideration. +</p> + +<p> +The Department of Commerce and Labor should also make a thorough +investigation of the conditions of women in industry. Over five million +American women are now engaged in gainful occupations; yet there is an +almost complete dearth of data upon which to base any trustworthy +conclusions as regards a subject as important as it is vast and +complicated. There is need of full knowledge on which to base action +looking toward State and municipal legislation for the protection of +working women. The introduction of women into industry is working +change and disturbance in the domestic and social life of the Nation. +The decrease in marriage, and especially in the birth rate, has been +coincident with it. We must face accomplished facts, and the adjustment +of factory conditions must be made, but surely it can be made with less +friction and less harmful effects on family life than is now the case. +This whole matter in reality forms one of the greatest sociological +phenomena of our time; it is a social question of the first importance, +of far greater importance than any merely political or economic +question can be, and to solve it we need ample data, gathered in a sane +and scientific spirit in the course of an exhaustive investigation. +</p> + +<p> +In any great labor disturbance not only are employer and employe +interested, but a third party--the general public. Every considerable +labor difficulty in which interstate commerce is involved should be +investigated by the Government and the facts officially reported to the +public. +</p> + +<p> +The question of securing a healthy, self-respecting, and mutually +sympathetic attitude as between employer and employe, capitalist and +wage-worker, is a difficult one. All phases of the labor problem prove +difficult when approached. But the underlying principles, the root +principles, in accordance with which the problem must be solved are +entirely simple. We can get justice and right dealing only if we put as +of paramount importance the principle of treating a man on his worth as +a man rather than with reference to his social position, his occupation +or the class to which he belongs. There are selfish and brutal men in +all ranks of life. If they are capitalists their selfishness and +brutality may take the form of hard indifference to suffering, greedy +disregard of every moral restraint which interferes with the +accumulation of wealth, and cold-blooded exploitation of the weak; or, +if they are laborers, the form of laziness, of sullen envy of the more +fortunate, and of willingness to perform deeds of murderous violence. +Such conduct is just as reprehensible in one case as in the other, and +all honest and farseeing men should join in warring against it wherever +it becomes manifest. Individual capitalist and individual wage-worker, +corporation and union, are alike entitled to the protection of the law, +and must alike obey the law. Moreover, in addition to mere obedience to +the law, each man, if he be really a good citizen, must show broad +sympathy for his neighbor and genuine desire to look at any question +arising between them from the standpoint of that neighbor no less than +from his own, and to this end it is essential that capitalist and +wage-worker should consult freely one with the other, should each +strive to bring closer the day when both shall realize that they are +properly partners and not enemies. To approach the questions which +inevitably arise between them solely from the standpoint which treats +each side in the mass as the enemy of the other side in the mass is +both wicked and foolish. In the past the most direful among the +influences which have brought about the downfall of republics has ever +been the growth of the class spirit, the growth of the spirit which +tends to make a man subordinate the welfare of the public as a whole to +the welfare of the particular class to which he belongs, the +substitution of loyalty to a class for loyalty to the Nation. This +inevitably brings about a tendency to treat each man not on his merits +as an individual, but on his position as belonging to a certain class +in the community. If such a spirit grows up in this Republic it will +ultimately prove fatal to us, as in the past it has proved fatal to +every community in which it has become dominant. Unless we continue to +keep a quick and lively sense of the great fundamental truth that our +concern is with the individual worth of the individual man, this +Government cannot permanently hold the place which it has achieved +among the nations. The vital lines of cleavage among our people do not +correspond, and indeed run at right angles to, the lines of cleavage +which divide occupation from occupation, which divide wage-workers from +capitalists, farmers from bankers, men of small means from men of large +means, men who live in the towns from men who live in the country; for +the vital line of cleavage is the line which divides the honest man who +tries to do well by his neighbor from the dishonest man who does ill by +his neighbor. In other words, the standard we should establish is the +standard of conduct, not the standard of occupation, of means, or of +social position. It is the man's moral quality, his attitude toward the +great questions which concern all humanity, his cleanliness of life, +his power to do his duty toward himself and toward others, which really +count; and if we substitute for the standard of personal judgment which +treats each man according to his merits, another standard in accordance +with which all men of one class are favored and all men of another +class discriminated against, we shall do irreparable damage to the body +politic. I believe that our people are too sane, too self-respecting, +too fit for self-government, ever to adopt such an attitude. This +Government is not and never shall be government by a plutocracy. This +Government is not and never shall be government by a mob. It shall +continue to be in the future what it has been in the past, a Government +based on the theory that each man, rich or poor, is to be treated +simply and solely on his worth as a man, that all his personal and +property rights are to be safeguarded, and that he is neither to wrong +others nor to suffer wrong from others. +</p> + +<p> +The noblest of all forms of government is self-government; but it is +also the most difficult. We who possess this priceless boon, and who +desire to hand it on to our children and our children's children, +should ever bear in mind the thought so finely expressed by Burke: "Men +are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their +disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion +as they are disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good in +preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a +controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the +less of it there be within the more there must be without. It is +ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate +minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." +</p> + +<p> +The great insurance companies afford striking examples of corporations +whose business has extended so far beyond the jurisdiction of the +States which created them as to preclude strict enforcement of +supervision and regulation by the parent States. In my last annual +message I recommended "that the Congress carefully consider whether the +power of the Bureau of Corporations cannot constitutionally be extended +to cover interstate transactions in insurance." +</p> + +<p> +Recent events have emphasized the importance of an early and exhaustive +consideration of this question, to see whether it is not possible to +furnish better safeguards than the several States have been able to +furnish against corruption of the flagrant kind which has been exposed. +It has been only too clearly shown that certain of the men at the head +of these large corporations take but small note of the ethical +distinction between honesty and dishonesty; they draw the line only +this side of what may be called law-honesty, the kind of honesty +necessary in order to avoid falling into the clutches of the law. Of +course the only complete remedy for this condition must be found in an +aroused public conscience, a higher sense of ethical conduct in the +community at large, and especially among business men and in the great +profession of the law, and in the growth of a spirit which condemns all +dishonesty, whether in rich man or in poor man, whether it takes the +shape of bribery or of blackmail. But much can be done by legislation +which is not only drastic but practical. There is need of a far +stricter and more uniform regulation of the vast insurance interests of +this country. The United States should in this respect follow the +policy of other nations by providing adequate national supervision of +commercial interests which are clearly national in character. My +predecessors have repeatedly recognized that the foreign business of +these companies is an important part of our foreign commercial +relations. During the administrations of Presidents Cleveland, +Harrison, and McKinley the State Department exercised its influence, +through diplomatic channels, to prevent unjust discrimination by +foreign countries against American insurance companies. These +negotiations illustrated the propriety of the Congress recognizing the +National character of insurance, for in the absence of Federal +legislation the State Department could only give expression to the +wishes of the authorities of the several States, whose policy was +ineffective through want of uniformity. +</p> + +<p> +I repeat my previous recommendation that the Congress should also +consider whether the Federal Government has any power or owes any duty +with respect to domestic transactions in insurance of an interstate +character. That State supervision has proved inadequate is generally +conceded. The burden upon insurance companies, and therefore their +policy holders, of conflicting regulations of many States, is +unquestioned, while but little effective check is imposed upon any able +and unscrupulous man who desires to exploit the company in his own +interest at the expense of the policy holders and of the public. The +inability of a State to regulate effectively insurance corporations +created under the laws of other States and transacting the larger part +of their business elsewhere is also clear. As a remedy for this evil of +conflicting, ineffective, and yet burdensome regulations there has been +for many years a widespread demand for Federal supervision. The +Congress has already recognized that interstate insurance may be a +proper subject for Federal legislation, for in creating the Bureau of +Corporations it authorized it to publish and supply useful information +concerning interstate corporations, "including corporations engaged in +insurance." It is obvious that if the compilation of statistics be the +limit of the Federal power it is wholly ineffective to regulate this +form of commercial intercourse between the States, and as the insurance +business has outgrown in magnitude the possibility of adequate State +supervision, the Congress should carefully consider whether further +legislation can be bad. What is said above applies with equal force to +fraternal and benevolent organizations which contract for life +insurance. +</p> + +<p> +There is more need of stability than of the attempt to attain an ideal +perfection in the methods of raising revenue; and the shock and strain +to the business world certain to attend any serious change in these +methods render such change inadvisable unless for grave reason. It is +not possible to lay down any general rule by which to determine the +moment when the reasons for will outweigh the reasons against such a +change. Much must depend, not merely on the needs, but on the desires, +of the people as a whole; for needs and desires are not necessarily +identical. Of course, no change can be made on lines beneficial to, or +desired by, one section or one State only. There must be something like +a general agreement among the citizens of the several States, as +represented in the Congress, that the change is needed and desired in +the interest of the people, as a whole; and there should then be a +sincere, intelligent, and disinterested effort to make it in such shape +as will combine, so far as possible, the maximum of good to the people +at large with the minimum of necessary disregard for the special +interests of localities or classes. But in time of peace the revenue +must on the average, taking a series of years together, equal the +expenditures or else the revenues must be increased. Last year there +was a deficit. Unless our expenditures can be kept within the revenues +then our revenue laws must be readjusted. It is as yet too early to +attempt to outline what shape such a readjustment should take, for it +is as yet too early to say whether there will be need for it. It should +be considered whether it is not desirable that the tariff laws should +provide for applying as against or in favor of any other nation maximum +and minimum tariff rates established by the Congress, so as to secure a +certain reciprocity of treatment between other nations and ourselves. +Having in view even larger considerations of policy than those of a +purely economic nature, it would, in my judgment, be well to endeavor +to bring about closer commercial connections with the other peoples of +this continent. I am happy to be able to announce to you that Russia +now treats us on the most-favored-nation basis. +</p> + +<p> +I earnestly recommend to 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 the United States Land Office. 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +In my message of December 2, 1902, to the Congress I said: +</p> + +<p> +"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." +</p> + +<p> +Every consideration of prudence demands the addition of the element of +elasticity to our currency system. The evil does not consist in an +inadequate volume of money, but in the rigidity of this volume, which +does not respond as it should to the varying needs of communities and +of seasons. Inflation must be avoided; but some provision should be +made that will insure a larger volume of money during the Fall and +Winter months than in the less active seasons of the year; so that the +currency will contract against speculation, and will expand for the +needs of legitimate business. At present the Treasury Department is at +irregularly recurring intervals obliged, in the interest of the +business world--that is, in the interests of the American public--to +try to avert financial crises by providing a remedy which should be +provided by Congressional action. +</p> + +<p> +At various times I have instituted investigations into the organization +and conduct of the business of the executive departments. While none of +these inquiries have yet progressed far enough to warrant final +conclusions, they have already confirmed and emphasized the general +impression that the organization of the departments is often faulty in +principle and wasteful in results, while many of their business methods +are antiquated and inefficient. There is every reason why our executive +governmental machinery should be at least as well planned, economical, +and efficient as the best machinery of the great business +organizations, which at present is not the case. To make it so is a +task of complex detail and essentially executive in its nature; +probably no legislative body, no matter how wise and able, could +undertake it with reasonable prospect of success. I recommend that the +Congress consider this subject with a view to provide by legislation +for the transfer, distribution, consolidation, and assignment of duties +and executive organizations or parts of organizations, and for the +changes in business methods, within or between the several departments, +that will best promote the economy, efficiency, and high character of +the Government work. +</p> + +<p> +In my last annual message I said: +</p> + +<p> +"The power of the Government to protect the integrity of the elections +of its own officials is inherent and has been recognized and affirmed +by repeated declarations of the Supreme Court. There is no enemy of +free government more dangerous and none so insidious as the corruption +of the electorate. No one defends or excuses corruption, and it would +seem to follow that none would oppose vigorous measures to eradicate +it. I recommend the enactment of a law directed against bribery and +corruption in Federal elections. The details of such a law may be +safely left to the wise discretion of the Congress, but it should go as +far as under the Constitution it is possible to go, and should include +severe penalties against him who gives or receives a bribe intended to +influence his act or opinion as an elector; and provisions for the +publication not only of the expenditures for nominations and elections +of all candidates, but also of all contributions received and +expenditures made by political committees." +</p> + +<p> +I desire to repeat this recommendation. In political campaigns in a +country as large and populous as ours it is inevitable that there +should be much expense of an entirely legitimate kind. This, of course, +means that many contributions, and some of them of large size, must be +made, and, as a matter of fact, in any big political contest such +contributions are always made to both sides. It is entirely proper both +to give and receive them, unless there is an improper motive connected +with either gift or reception. If they are extorted by any kind of +pressure or promise, express or implied, direct or indirect, in the way +of favor or immunity, then the giving or receiving becomes not only +improper but criminal. It will undoubtedly be difficult, as a matter of +practical detail, to shape an act which shall guard with reasonable +certainty against such misconduct; but if it is possible to secure by +law the full and verified publication in detail of all the sums +contributed to and expended by the candidates or committees of any +political parties, the result cannot but be wholesome. All +contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any +political purpose should be forbidden by law; directors should not be +permitted to use stockholders' money for such purposes; and, moreover, +a prohibition of this kind would be, as far as it went, an effective +method of stopping the evils aimed at in corrupt practices acts. Not +only should both the National and the several State Legislatures forbid +any officer of a corporation from using the money of the corporation in +or about any election, but they should also forbid such use of money in +connection with any legislation save by the employment of counsel in +public manner for distinctly legal services. +</p> + +<p> +The first conference of nations held at The Hague in 1899, being unable +to dispose of all the business before it, recommended the consideration +and settlement of a number of important questions by another conference +to be called subsequently and at an early date. These questions were +the following: (1) The rights and duties of neutrals; (2) the +limitation of the armed forces on land and sea, and of military +budgets; (3) the use of new types and calibres of military and naval +guns; (4) the inviolability of private property at sea in times of war; +(5) the bombardment of ports, cities, and villages by naval forces. In +October, 1904, at the instance of the Interparliamentary Union, which, +at a conference held in the United States, and attended by the +lawmakers of fifteen different nations, had reiterated the demand for a +second conference of nations, I issued invitations to all the powers +signatory to The Hague Convention to send delegates to such a +conference, and suggested that it be again held at The Hague. In its +note of December 16, 1904, the United States Government communicated to +the representatives of foreign governments its belief that the +conference could be best arranged under the provisions of the present +Hague treaty. +</p> + +<p> +From all the powers acceptance was received, coupled in some cases with +the condition that we should wait until the end of the war then waging +between Russia and Japan. The Emperor of Russia, immediately after the +treaty of peace which so happily terminated this war, in a note +presented to the President on September 13, through Ambassador Rosen, +took the initiative in recommending that the conference be now called. +The United States Government in response expressed its cordial +acquiescence, and stated that it would, as a matter of course, take +part in the new conference and endeavor to further its aims. We assume +that all civilized governments will support the movement, and that the +conference is now an assured fact. This Government will do everything +in its power to secure the success of the conference, to the end that +substantial progress may be made in the cause of international peace, +justice, and good will. +</p> + +<p> +This renders it proper at this time to say something as to the general +attitude of this Government toward peace. More and more war is coming +to be looked upon as in itself a lamentable and evil thing. A wanton or +useless war, or a war of mere aggression--in short, any war begun or +carried on in a conscienceless spirit, is to be condemned as a +peculiarly atrocious crime against all humanity. We can, however, do +nothing of permanent value for peace unless we keep ever clearly in +mind the ethical element which lies at the root of the problem. Our aim +is righteousness. Peace is normally the hand-maiden of rightousness; +but when peace and righteousness conflict then a great and upright +people can never for a moment hesitate to follow the path which leads +toward righteousness, even though that path also leads to war. There +are persons who advocate peace at any price; there are others who, +following a false analogy, think that because it is no longer necessary +in civilized countries for individuals to protect their rights with a +strong hand, it is therefore unnecessary for nations to be ready to +defend their rights. These persons would do irreparable harm to any +nation that adopted their principles, and even as it is they seriously +hamper the cause which they advocate by tending to render it absurd in +the eyes of sensible and patriotic men. There can be no worse foe of +mankind in general, and of his own country in particular, than the +demagogue of war, the man who in mere folly or to serve his own selfish +ends continually rails at and abuses other nations, who seeks to excite +his countrymen against foreigners on insufficient pretexts, who excites +and inflames a perverse and aggressive national vanity, and who may on +occasions wantonly bring on conflict between his nation and some other +nation. But there are demagogues of peace just as there are demagogues +of war, and in any such movement as this for The Hague conference it is +essential not to be misled by one set of extremists any more than by +the other. Whenever it is possible for a nation or an individual to +work for real peace, assuredly it is failure of duty not so to strive, +but if war is necessary and righteous then either the man or the nation +shrinking from it forfeits all title to self-respect. We have scant +sympathy with the sentimentalist who dreads oppression less than +physical suffering, who would prefer a shameful peace to the pain and +toil sometimes lamentably necessary in order to secure a righteous +peace. As yet there is only a partial and imperfect analogy between +international law and internal or municipal law, because there is no +sanction of force for executing the former while there is in the case +of the latter. The private citizen is protected in his rights by the +law, because the law rests in the last resort upon force exercised +through the forms of law. A man does not have to defend his rights with +his own hand, because he can call upon the police, upon the sheriff's +posse, upon the militia, or in certain extreme cases upon the army, to +defend him. But there is no such sanction of force for international +law. At present there could be no greater calamity than for the free +peoples, the enlightened, independent, and peace-loving peoples, to +disarm while yet leaving it open to any barbarism or despotism to +remain armed. So long as the world is as unorganized as now the armies +and navies of those peoples who on the whole stand for justice, offer +not only the best, but the only possible, security for a just peace. +For instance, if the United States alone, or in company only with the +other nations that on the whole tend to act justly, disarmed, we might +sometimes avoid bloodshed, but we would cease to be of weight in +securing the peace of justice--the real peace for which the most +law-abiding and high-minded men must at times be willing to fight. As +the world is now, only that nation is equipped for peace that knows how +to fight, and that will not shrink from fighting if ever the conditions +become such that war is demanded in the name of the highest morality. +</p> + +<p> +So much it is emphatically necessary to say in order both that the +position of the United States may not be misunderstood, and that a +genuine effort to bring nearer the day of the peace of justice among +the nations may not be hampered by a folly which, in striving to +achieve the impossible, would render it hopeless to attempt the +achievement of the practical. But, while recognizing most clearly all +above set forth, it remains our clear duty to strive in every +practicable way to bring nearer the time when the sword shall not be +the arbiter among nations. At present the practical thing to do is to +try to minimize the number of cases in which it must be the arbiter, +and to offer, at least to all civilized powers, some substitute for war +which will be available in at least a considerable number of instances. +Very much can be done through another Hague conference in this +direction, and I most earnestly urge that this Nation do all in its +power to try to further the movement and to make the result of the +decisions of The Hague conference effective. I earnestly hope that the +conference may be able to devise some way to make arbitration between +nations the customary way of settling international disputes in all +save a few classes of cases, which should themselves be as sharply +defined and rigidly limited as the present governmental and social +development of the world will permit. If possible, there should be a +general arbitration treaty negotiated among all the nations represented +at the conference. Neutral rights and property should be protected at +sea as they are protected on land. There should be an international +agreement to this purpose and a similar agreement defining contraband +of war. +</p> + +<p> +During the last century there has been a distinct diminution in the +number of wars between the most civilized nations. International +relations have become closer and the development of The Hague tribunal +is not only a symptom of this growing closeness of relationship, but is +a means by which the growth can be furthered. Our aim should be from +time to time to take such steps as may be possible toward creating +something like an organization of the civilized nations, because as the +world becomes more highly organized the need for navies and armies will +diminish. It is not possible to secure anything like an immediate +disarmament, because it would first be necessary to settle what peoples +are on the whole a menace to the rest of mankind, and to provide +against the disarmament of the rest being turned into a movement which +would really chiefly benefit these obnoxious peoples; but it may be +possible to exercise some check upon the tendency to swell indefinitely +the budgets for military expenditure. Of course such an effort could +succeed only if it did not attempt to do too much; and if it were +undertaken in a spirit of sanity as far removed as possible from a +merely hysterical pseudo-philanthropy. It is worth while pointing out +that since the end of the insurrection in the Philippines this Nation +has shown its practical faith in the policy of disarmament by reducing +its little army one-third. But disarmament can never be of prime +importance; there is more need to get rid of the causes of war than of +the implements of war. +</p> + +<p> +I have dwelt much on the dangers to be avoided by steering clear of any +mere foolish sentimentality because my wish for peace is so genuine and +earnest; because I have a real and great desire that this second Hague +conference may mark a long stride forward in the direction of securing +the peace of justice throughout the world. No object is better worthy +the attention of enlightened statesmanship than the establishment of a +surer method than now exists of securing justice as between nations, +both for the protection of the little nations and for the prevention of +war between the big nations. To this aim we should endeavor not only to +avert bloodshed, but, above all, effectively to strengthen the forces +of right. The Golden Rule should be, and as the world grows in morality +it will be, the guiding rule of conduct among nations as among +individuals; though the Golden Rule must not be construed, in fantastic +manner, as forbidding the exercise of the police power. This mighty and +free Republic should ever deal with all other States, great or small, +on a basis of high honor, respecting their rights as jealously as it +safeguards its own. +</p> + +<p> +One of the most effective instruments for peace is the Monroe Doctrine +as it has been and is being gradually developed by this Nation and +accepted by other nations. No other policy could have been as efficient +in promoting peace in the Western Hemisphere and in giving to each +nation thereon the chance to develop along its own lines. If we had +refused to apply the doctrine to changing conditions it would now be +completely outworn, would not meet any of the needs of the present day, +and, indeed, would probably by this time have sunk into complete +oblivion. It is useful at home, and is meeting with recognition abroad +because we have adapted our application of it to meet the growing and +changing needs of the hemisphere. When we announce a policy such as the +Monroe Doctrine we thereby commit ourselves to the consequences of the +policy, and those consequences from time to time alter. It is out of +the question to claim a right and yet shirk the responsibility for its +exercise. Not only we, but all American republics who are benefited by +the existence of the doctrine, must recognize the obligations each +nation is under as regards foreign peoples no less than its duty to +insist upon its own rights. +</p> + +<p> +That our rights and interests are deeply concerned in the maintenance +of the doctrine is so clear as hardly to need argument. This is +especially true in view of the construction of the Panama Canal. As a +mere matter of self-defense we must exercise a close watch over the +approaches to this canal; and this means that we must be thoroughly +alive to our interests in the Caribbean Sea. +</p> + +<p> +There are certain essential points which must never be forgotten as +regards the Monroe Doctrine. In the first place we must as a Nation +make it evident that we do not intend to treat it in any shape or way +as an excuse for aggrandizement on our part at the expense of the +republics to the south. We must recognize the fact that in some South +American countries there has been much suspicion lest we should +interpret the Monroe Doctrine as in some way inimical to their +interests, and we must try to convince all the other nations of this +continent once and for all that no just and orderly Government has +anything to fear from us. There are certain republics to the south of +us which have already reached such a point of stability, order, and +prosperity that they themselves, though as yet hardly consciously, are +among the guarantors of this doctrine. These republics we now meet not +only on a basis of entire equality, but in a spirit of frank and +respectful friendship, which we hope is mutual. If all of the republics +to the south of us will only grow as those to which I allude have +already grown, all need for us to be the especial champions of the +doctrine will disappear, for no stable and growing American Republic +wishes to see some great non-American military power acquire territory +in its neighborhood. All that this country desires is that the other +republics on this continent shall be happy and prosperous; and they +cannot be happy and prosperous unless they maintain order within their +boundaries and behave with a just regard for their obligations toward +outsiders. It must be understood that under no circumstances will the +United States use the Monroe Doctrine as a cloak for territorial +aggression. We desire peace with all the world, but perhaps most of all +with the other peoples of the American Continent. There are, of course, +limits to the wrongs which any self-respecting nation can endure. It is +always possible that wrong actions toward this Nation, or toward +citizens of this Nation, in some State unable to keep order among its +own people, unable to secure justice from outsiders, and unwilling to +do justice to those outsiders who treat it well, may result in our +having to take action to protect our rights; but such action will not +be taken with a view to territorial aggression, and it will be taken at +all only with extreme reluctance and when it has become evident that +every other resource has been exhausted. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, we must make it evident that we do not intend to permit the +Monroe Doctrine to be used by any nation on this Continent as a shield +to protect it from the consequences of its own misdeeds against foreign +nations. If a republic to the south of us commits a tort against a +foreign nation, such as an outrage against a citizen of that nation, +then the Monroe Doctrine does not force us to interfere to prevent +punishment of the tort, save to see that the punishment does not assume +the form of territorial occupation in any shape. The case is more +difficult when it refers to a contractual obligation. Our own +Government has always refused to enforce such contractual obligations +on behalf, of its citizens by an appeal to arms. It is much to be +wished that all foreign governments would take the same view. But they +do not; and in consequence we are liable at any time to be brought face +to face with disagreeable alternatives. On the one hand, this country +would certainly decline to go to war to prevent a foreign government +from collecting a just debt; on the other hand, it is very inadvisable +to permit any foreign power to take possession, even temporarily, of +the custom houses of an American Republic in order to enforce the +payment of its obligations; for such temporary occupation might turn +into a permanent occupation. The only escape from these alternatives +may at any time be that we must ourselves undertake to bring about some +arrangement by which so much as possible of a just obligation shall be +paid. It is far better that this country should put through such an +arrangement, rather than allow any foreign country to undertake it. To +do so insures the defaulting republic from having to pay debt of an +improper character under duress, while it also insures honest creditors +of the republic from being passed by in the interest of dishonest or +grasping creditors. Moreover, for the United States to take such a +position offers the only possible way of insuring us against a clash +with some foreign power. The position is, therefore, in the interest of +peace as well as in the interest of justice. It is of benefit to our +people; it is of benefit to foreign peoples; and most of all it is +really of benefit to the people of the country concerned. +</p> + +<p> +This brings me to what should be one of the fundamental objects of the +Monroe Doctrine. We must ourselves in good faith try to help upward +toward peace and order those of our sister republics which need such +help. Just as there has been a gradual growth of the ethical element in +the relations of one individual to another, so we are, even though +slowly, more and more coming to recognize the duty of bearing one +another's burdens, not only as among individuals, but also as among +nations. +</p> + +<p> +Santo Domingo, in her turn, has now made an appeal to us to help her, +and not only every principle of wisdom but every generous instinct +within us bids us respond to the appeal. It is not of the slightest +consequence whether we grant the aid needed by Santo Domingo as an +incident to the wise development of the Monroe Doctrine or because we +regard the case of Santo Domingo as standing wholly by itself, and to +be treated as such, and not on general principles or with any reference +to the Monroe Doctrine. The important point is to give the needed aid, +and the case is certainly sufficiently peculiar to deserve to be judged +purely on its own merits. The conditions in Santo Domingo have for a +number of years grown from bad to worse until a year ago all society +was on the verge of dissolution. Fortunately, just at this time a ruler +sprang up in Santo Domingo, who, with his colleagues, saw the dangers +threatening their country and appealed to the friendship of the only +great and powerful neighbor who possessed the power, and as they hoped +also the will to help them. There was imminent danger of foreign +intervention. The previous rulers of Santo Domingo had recklessly +incurred debts, and owing to her internal disorders she had ceased to +be able to provide means of paying the debts. The patience of her +foreign creditors had become exhausted, and at least two foreign +nations were on the point of intervention, and were only prevented from +intervening by the unofficial assurance of this Government that it +would itself strive to help Santo Domingo in her hour of need. In the +case of one of these nations, only the actual opening of negotiations +to this end by our Government prevented the seizure of territory in +Santo Domingo by a European power. Of the debts incurred some were +just, while some were not of a character which really renders it +obligatory on or proper for Santo Domingo to pay them in full. But she +could not pay any of them unless some stability was assured her +Government and people. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly, the Executive Department of our Government negotiated a +treaty under which we are to try to help the Dominican people to +straighten out their finances. This treaty is pending before the +Senate. In the meantime a temporary arrangement has been made which +will last until the Senate has had time to take action upon the treaty. +Under this arrangement the Dominican Government has appointed Americans +to all the important positions in the customs service and they are +seeing to the honest collection of the revenues, turning over 45 per +cent. to the Government for running expenses and putting the other 55 +per cent. into a safe depository for equitable division in case the +treaty shall be ratified, among the various creditors, whether European +or American. +</p> + +<p> +The Custom Houses offer well-nigh the only sources of revenue in Santo +Domingo, and the different revolutions usually have as their real aim +the obtaining of these Custom Houses. The mere fact that the Collectors +of Customs are Americans, that they are performing their duties with +efficiency and honesty, and that the treaty is pending in the Senate +gives a certain moral power to the Government of Santo Domingo which it +has not had before. This has completely discouraged all revolutionary +movement, while it has already produced such an increase in the +revenues that the Government is actually getting more from the 45 per +cent. that the American Collectors turn over to it than it got formerly +when it took the entire revenue. It is enabling the poor, harassed +people of Santo Domingo once more to turn their attention to industry +and to be free from the cure of interminable revolutionary disturbance. +It offers to all bona-fide creditors, American and European, the only +really good chance to obtain that to which they are justly entitled, +while it in return gives to Santo Domingo the only opportunity of +defense against claims which it ought not to pay, for now if it meets +the views of the Senate we shall ourselves thoroughly examine all these +claims, whether American or foreign, and see that none that are +improper are paid. There is, of course, opposition to the treaty from +dishonest creditors, foreign and American, and from the professional +revolutionists of the island itself. We have already reason to believe +that some of the creditors who do not dare expose their claims to +honest scrutiny are endeavoring to stir up sedition in the island and +opposition to the treaty. In the meantime, I have exercised the +authority vested in me by the joint resolution of the Congress to +prevent the introduction of arms into the island for revolutionary +purposes. +</p> + +<p> +Under the course taken, stability and order and all the benefits of +peace are at last coming to Santo Domingo, danger of foreign +intervention has been suspended, and there is at last a prospect that +all creditors will get justice, no more and no less. If the arrangement +is terminated by the failure of the treaty chaos will follow; and if +chaos follows, sooner or later this Government may be involved in +serious difficulties with foreign Governments over the island, or else +may be forced itself to intervene in the island in some unpleasant +fashion. Under the proposed treaty the independence of the island is +scrupulously respected, the danger of violation of the Monroe Doctrine +by the intervention of foreign powers vanishes, and the interference of +our Government is minimized, so that we shall only act in conjunction +with the Santo Domingo authorities to secure the proper administration +of the customs, and therefore to secure the payment of just debts and +to secure the Dominican Government against demands for unjust debts. +The proposed method will give the people of Santo Domingo the same +chance to move onward and upward which we have already given to the +people of Cuba. It will be doubly to our discredit as a Nation if we +fail to take advantage of this chance; for it will be of damage to +ourselves, and it will be of incalculable damage to Santo Domingo. +Every consideration of wise policy, and, above all, every consideration +of large generosity, bids us meet the request of Santo Domingo as we +are now trying to meet it. +</p> + +<p> +We cannot consider the question of our foreign policy without at the +same time treating of the Army and the Navy. We now have a very small +army indeed, one well-nigh infinitesimal when compared With the army of +any other large nation. Of course the army we do have should be as +nearly perfect of its kind and for its size as is possible. I do not +believe that any army in the world has a better average of enlisted men +or a better type of junior officer; but the army should be trained to +act effectively in a mass. Provision should be made by sufficient +appropriations for manoeuvers of a practical kind, so that the troops +may learn how to take care of themselves under actual service +conditions; every march, for instance, being made with the soldier +loaded exactly as he would be in active campaign. The Generals and +Colonels would thereby have opportunity of handling regiments, +brigades, and divisions, and the commissary and medical departments +would be tested in the field. Provision should be made for the exercise +at least of a brigade and by preference of a division in marching and +embarking at some point on our coast and disembarking at some other +point and continuing its march. The number of posts in which the army +is kept in time of peace should be materially diminished and the posts +that are left made correspondingly larger. No local interests should be +allowed to stand in the way of assembling the greater part of the +troops which would at need form our field armies in stations of such +size as will permit the best training to be given to the personnel of +all grades, including the high officers and staff officers. To +accomplish this end we must have not company or regimental garrisons, +but brigade and division garrisons. Promotion by mere seniority can +never result in a thoroughly efficient corps of officers in the higher +ranks unless there accompanies it a vigorous weeding-out process. Such +a weeding-out process--that is, such a process of selection--is a chief +feature of the four years' course of the young officer at West Point. +There is no good reason why it should stop immediately upon his +graduation. While at West Point he is dropped unless he comes up to a +certain standard of excellence, and when he graduates he takes rank in +the army according to his rank of graduation. The results are good at +West Point; and there should be in the army itself something that will +achieve the same end. After a certain age has been reached the average +officer is unfit to do good work below a certain grade. Provision +should be made for the promotion of exceptionally meritorious men over +the heads of their comrades and for the retirement of all men who have +reached a given age without getting beyond a given rank; this age of +retirement of course changing from rank to rank. In both the army and +the navy there should be some principle of selection, that is, of +promotion for merit, and there should be a resolute effort to eliminate +the aged officers of reputable character who possess no special +efficiency. +</p> + +<p> +There should be an increase in the coast artillery force, so that our +coast fortifications can be in some degree adequately manned. There is +special need for an increase and reorganization of the Medical +Department of the army. In both the army and navy there must be the +same thorough training for duty in the staff corps as in the fighting +line. Only by such training in advance can we be sure that in actual +war field operations and those at sea will be carried on successfully. +The importance of this was shown conclusively in the Spanish-American +and the Russo-Japanese wars. The work of the medical departments in the +Japanese army and navy is especially worthy of study. I renew my +recommendation of January 9, 1905, as to the Medical Department of the +army and call attention to the equal importance of the needs of the +staff corps of the navy. In the Medical Department of the navy the +first in importance is the reorganization of the Hospital Corps, on the +lines of the Gallinger bill, (S. 3,984, February 1, 1904), and the +reapportionment of the different grades of the medical officers to meet +service requirements. It seems advisable also that medical officers of +the army and navy should have similar rank and pay in their respective +grades, so that their duties can be carried on without friction when +they are brought together. The base hospitals of the navy should be put +in condition to meet modern requirements and hospital ships be +provided. Unless we now provide with ample forethought for the medical +needs of the army and navy appalling suffering of a preventable kind is +sure to occur if ever the country goes to war. It is not reasonable to +expect successful administration in time of war of a department which +lacks a third of the number of officers necessary to perform the +medical service in time of peace. We need men who are not merely +doctors; they must be trained in the administration of military medical +service. +</p> + +<p> +Our navy must, relatively to the navies of other nations, always be of +greater size than our army. We have most wisely continued for a number +of years to build up our navy, and it has now reached a fairly high +standard of efficiency. This standard of efficiency must not only be +maintained, but increased. It does not seem to be necessary, however, +that the navy should--at least in the immediate future--be increased +beyond the present number of units. What is now clearly necessary is to +substitute efficient for inefficient units as the latter become worn +out or as it becomes apparent that they are useless. Probably the +result would be attained by adding a single battleship to our navy each +year, the superseded or outworn vessels being laid up or broken up as +they are thus replaced. The four single-turret monitors built +immediately after the close of the Spanish war, for instance, are +vessels which would be of but little use in the event of war. The money +spent upon them could have been more usefully spent in other ways. Thus +it would have been far better never to have built a single one of these +monitors and to have put the money into an ample supply of reserve +guns. Most of the smaller cruisers and gunboats, though they serve a +useful purpose so far as they are needed for international police work, +would not add to the strength of our navy in a conflict with a serious +foe. There is urgent need of providing a large increase in the number +of officers, and especially in the number of enlisted men. +</p> + +<p> +Recent naval history has emphasized certain lessons which ought not to, +but which do, need emphasis. Seagoing torpedo boats or destroyers are +indispensable, not only for making night attacks by surprise upon an +enemy, but even in battle for finishing already crippled ships. Under +exceptional circumstances submarine boats would doubtless be of use. +Fast scouts are needed. The main strength of the navy, however, lies, +and can only lie, in the great battleships, the heavily armored, +heavily gunned vessels which decide the mastery of the seas. +Heavy-armed cruisers also play a most useful part, and unarmed +cruisers, if swift enough, are very useful as scouts. Between +antagonists of approximately equal prowess the comparative perfection +of the instruments of war will ordinarily determine the fight. But it +is, of course, true that the man behind the gun, the man in the engine +room, and the man in the conning tower, considered not only +individually, but especially with regard to the way in which they work +together, are even more important than the weapons with which they +work. The most formidable battleship is, of course, helpless against +even a light cruiser if the men aboard it are unable to hit anything +with their guns, and thoroughly well-handled cruisers may count +seriously in an engagement with much superior vessels, if the men +aboard the latter are ineffective, whether from lack of training or +from any other cause. Modern warships are most formidable mechanisms +when well handled, but they are utterly useless when not well handled, +and they cannot be handled at all without long and careful training. +This training can under no circumstance be given when once war has +broken out. No fighting ship of the first class should ever be laid up +save for necessary repairs, and her crew should be kept constantly +exercised on the high seas, so that she may stand at the highest point +of perfection. To put a new and untrained crew upon the most powerful +battleship and send it out to meet a formidable enemy is not only to +invite, but to insure, disaster and disgrace. To improvise crews at the +outbreak of a war, so far as the serious fighting craft are concerned, +is absolutely hopeless. If the officers and men are not thoroughly +skilled in, and have not been thoroughly trained to, their duties, it +would be far better to keep the ships in port during hostilities than +to send them against a formidable opponent, for the result could only +be that they would be either sunk or captured. The marksmanship of our +navy is now on the whole in a gratifying condition, and there has been +a great improvement in fleet practice. We need additional seamen; we +need a large store of reserve guns; we need sufficient money for ample +target practice, ample practice of every kind at sea. We should +substitute for comparatively inefficient types--the old third-class +battleship Texas, the single-turreted monitors above mentioned, and, +indeed, all the monitors and some of the old cruisers--efficient, +modern seagoing vessels. Seagoing torpedo-boat destroyers should be +substituted for some of the smaller torpedo boats. During the present +Congress there need be no additions to the aggregate number of units of +the navy. Our navy, though very small relatively to the navies of other +nations, is for the present sufficient in point of numbers for our +needs, and while we must constantly strive to make its efficiency +higher, there need be no additions to the total of ships now built and +building, save in the way of substitution as above outlined. I +recommend the report of the Secretary of the Navy to the careful +consideration of the Congress, especially with a view to the +legislation therein advocated. +</p> + +<p> +During the past year evidence has accumulated to confirm the +expressions contained in my last two annual messages as to the +importance of revising by appropriate legislation our system of +naturalizing aliens. I appointed last March a commission to make a +careful examination of our naturalization laws, and to suggest +appropriate measures to avoid the notorious abuses resulting from the +improvident of unlawful granting of citizenship. This commission, +composed of an officer of the Department of State, of the Department of +Justice, and of the Department of Commerce and Labor, has discharged +the duty imposed upon it, and has submitted a report, which will be +transmitted to the Congress for its consideration, and, I hope, for its +favor, able action. +</p> + +<p> +The distinguishing recommendations of the commission are: +</p> + +<p> +First--A Federal Bureau of Naturalization, to be established in the +Department of Commerce and Labor, to supervise the administration of +the naturalization laws and to receive returns of naturalizations +pending and accomplished. +</p> + +<p> +Second--Uniformity of naturalization certificates, fees to be charged, +and procedure. +</p> + +<p> +Third--More exacting qualifications for citizenship. +</p> + +<p> +Fourth--The preliminary declaration of intention to be abolished and no +alien to be naturalized until at least ninety days after the filing of +his petition. +</p> + +<p> +Fifth--Jurisdiction to naturalize aliens to be confined to United +States district courts and to such State courts as have jurisdiction in +civil actions in which the amount in controversy is unlimited; in +cities of over 100,000 inhabitants the United States district courts to +have exclusive jurisdiction in the naturalization of the alien +residents of such cities. +</p> + +<p> +In my last message I asked the attention of the Congress to the urgent +need of action to make our criminal law more effective; and I most +earnestly request that you pay heed to the report of the Attorney +General on this subject. Centuries ago it was especially needful to +throw every safeguard round the accused. The danger then was lest he +should be wronged by the State. The danger is now exactly the reverse. +Our laws and customs tell immensely in favor of the criminal and +against the interests of the public he has wronged. Some antiquated and +outworn rules which once safeguarded the threatened rights of private +citizens, now merely work harm to the general body politic. The +criminal law of the United States stands in urgent need of revision. +The criminal process of any court of the United States should run +throughout the entire territorial extent of our country. The delays of +the criminal law, no less than of the civil, now amount to a very great +evil. +</p> + +<p> +There seems to be no statute of the United States which provides for +the punishment of a United States Attorney or other officer of the +Government who corruptly agrees to wrongfully do or wrongfully refrain +from doing any act when the consideration for such corrupt agreement is +other than one possessing money value. This ought to be remedied by +appropriate legislation. Legislation should also be enacted to cover +explicitly, unequivocally, and beyond question breach of trust in the +shape of prematurely divulging official secrets by an officer or +employe of the United States, and to provide a suitable penalty +therefor. Such officer or employe owes the duty to the United States to +guard carefully and not to divulge or in any manner use, prematurely, +information which is accessible to the officer or employe by reason of +his official position. Most breaches of public trust are already +covered by the law, and this one should be. It is impossible, no matter +how much care is used, to prevent the occasional appointment to the +public service of a man who when tempted proves unfaithful; but every +means should be provided to detect and every effort made to punish the +wrongdoer. So far as in my power see each and every such wrongdoer +shall be relentlessly hunted down; in no instance in the past has he +been spared; in no instance in the future shall he be spared. His crime +is a crime against every honest man in the Nation, for it is a crime +against the whole body politic. Yet in dwelling on such misdeeds it is +unjust not to add that they are altogether exceptional, and that on the +whole the employes of the Government render upright and faithful +service to the people. There are exceptions, notably in one or two +branches of the service, but at no time in the Nation's history has the +public service of the Nation taken as a whole stood on a higher plane +than now, alike as regards honesty and as regards efficiency. +</p> + +<p> +Once again I call your attention to the condition of the public land +laws. Recent developments have given new urgency to the need for such +changes as will fit these laws to actual present conditions. The honest +disposal and right use of the remaining public lands is of fundamental +importance. The iniquitous methods by which the monopolizing of the +public lands is being brought about under the present laws are becoming +more generally known, but the existing laws do not furnish effective +remedies. The recommendations of the Public Lands Commission upon this +subject are wise and should be given effect. +</p> + +<p> +The creation of small irrigated farms under the Reclamation act is a +powerful offset to the tendency of certain other laws to foster or +permit monopoly of the land. Under that act the construction of great +irrigation works has been proceeding rapidly and successfully, the +lands reclaimed are eagerly taken up, and the prospect that the policy +of National irrigation will accomplish all that was expected of it is +bright. The act should be extended to include the State of Texas. +</p> + +<p> +The Reclamation act derives much of its value from the fact that it +tends to secure the greatest possible number of homes on the land, and +to create communities of freeholders, in part by settlement on public +lands, in part by forcing the subdivision of large private holdings +before they can get water from Government irrigation works. The law +requires that no right to the use of water for land in private +ownership shall be sold for a tract exceeding 160 acres to any one land +owner. This provision has excited active and powerful hostility, but +the success of the law itself depends on the wise and firm enforcement +of it. We cannot afford to substitute tenants for freeholders on the +public domain. +</p> + +<p> +The greater part of the remaining public lands can not be irrigated. +They are at present and will probably always be of greater value for +grazing than for any other purpose. This fact has led to the grazing +homestead of 640 acres in Nebraska and to the proposed extension of it +to other States. It is argued that a family can not be supported on 160 +acres of arid grazing land. This is obviously true, but neither can a +family be supported on 640 acres of much of the land to which it is +proposed to apply the grazing homestead. To establish universally any +such arbitrary limit would be unwise at the present time. It would +probably result on the one hand in enlarging the holdings of some of +the great land owners, and on the other in needless suffering and +failure on the part of a very considerable proportion of the bona fide +settlers who give faith to the implied assurance of the Government that +such an area is sufficient. The best use of the public grazing lands +requires the careful examination and classification of these lands in +order to give each settler land enough to support his family and no +more. While this work is being done, and until the lands are settled, +the Government should take control of the open range, under reasonable +regulations suited to local needs, following the general policy already +in successful operation on the forest reserves. It is probable that the +present grazing value of the open public range is scarcely more than +half what it once was or what it might easily be again under careful +regulation. +</p> + +<p> +The forest policy of the Administration appears to enjoy the unbroken +support of the people. The great users of timber are themselves +forwarding the movement for forest preservation. All organized +opposition to the forest preserves in the West has disappeared. Since +the consolidation of all Government forest work in the National Forest +Service there has been a rapid and notable gain in the usefulness of +the forest reserves to the people and in public appreciation of their +value. The National parks within or adjacent to forest reserves should +be transferred to the charge of the Forest Service also. +</p> + +<p> +The National Government already does something in connection with the +construction and maintenance of the great system of levees along the +lower course of the Mississippi; in my judgment it should do much more. +</p> + +<p> +To the spread of our trade in peace and the defense of our flag in war +a great and prosperous merchant marine is indispensable. We should have +ships of our own and seamen of our own to convey our goods to neutral +markets, and in case of need to reinforce our battle line. It cannot +but be a source of regret and uneasiness to us that the lines of +communication with our sister republics of South America should be +chiefly under foreign control. It is not a good thing that American +merchants and manufacturers should have to send their goods and letters +to South America via Europe if they wish security and dispatch. Even on +the Pacific, where our ships have held their own better than on the +Atlantic, our merchant flag is now threatened through the liberal aid +bestowed by other Governments on their own steam lines. I ask your +earnest consideration of the report with which the Merchant Marine +Commission has followed its long and careful inquiry. +</p> + +<p> +I again heartily commend to your favorable consideration the +tercentennial celebration at Jamestown, Va. Appreciating the +desirability of this commemoration, the Congress passed an act, March +3, 1905, authorizing in the year 1907, on and near the waters of +Hampton Roads, in the State of Virginia, an international naval, +marine, and military celebration in honor of this event. By the +authority vested in me by this act, I have made proclamation of said +celebration, and have issued, in conformity with its instructions, +invitations to all the nations of the earth to participate, by sending +their naval vessels and such military organizations as may be +practicable. This celebration would fail of its full purpose unless it +were enduring in its results and commensurate with the importance of +the event to be celebrated, the event from which our Nation dates its +birth. I earnestly hope that this celebration, already indorsed by the +Congress of the United States, and by the Legislatures of sixteen +States since the action of the Congress, will receive such additional +aid at your hands as will make it worthy of the great event it is +intended to celebrate, and thereby enable the Government of the United +States to make provision for the exhibition of its own resources, and +likewise enable our people who have undertaken the work of such a +celebration to provide suitable and proper entertainment and +instruction in the historic events of our country for all who may visit +the exposition and to whom we have tendered our hospitality. +</p> + +<p> +It is a matter of unmixed satisfaction once more to call attention to +the excellent work of the Pension Bureau; for the veterans of the civil +war have a greater claim upon us than any other class of our citizens. +To them, first of all among our people, honor is due. +</p> + +<p> +Seven years ago my lamented predecessor, President McKinley, stated +that the time had come for the Nation to care for the graves of the +Confederate dead. I recommend that the Congress take action toward this +end. The first need is to take charge of the graves of the Confederate +dead who died in Northern prisons. +</p> + +<p> +The question of immigration is of vital interest to this country. In +the year ending June 30, 1905, there came to the United States +1,026,000 alien immigrants. In other words, in the single year that has +just elapsed there came to this country a greater number of people than +came here during the one hundred and sixty-nine years of our Colonial +life which intervened between the first landing at Jamestown and the +Declaration of Independence. It is clearly shown in the report of the +Commissioner General of Immigration that while much of this enormous +immigration is undoubtedly healthy and natural, a considerable +proportion is undesirable from one reason or another; moreover, a +considerable proportion of it, probably a very large proportion, +including most of the undesirable class, does not come here of its own +initiative, but because of the activity of the agents of the great +transportation companies. These agents are distributed throughout +Europe, and by the offer of all kinds of inducements they wheedle and +cajole many immigrants, often against their best interest, to come +here. The most serious obstacle we have to encounter in the effort to +secure a proper regulation of the immigration to these shores arises +from the determined opposition of the foreign steamship lines who have +no interest whatever in the matter save to increase the returns on +their capital by carrying masses of immigrants hither in the steerage +quarters of their ships. +</p> + +<p> +As I said in my last message to the Congress, we cannot have too much +immigration of the right sort and we should have none whatever of the +wrong sort. Of course, it is desirable that even the right kind of +immigration should be properly distributed in this country. We need +more of such immigration for the South; and special effort should be +made to secure it. Perhaps it would be possible to limit the number of +immigrants allowed to come in any one year to New York and other +Northern cities, while leaving unlimited the number allowed to come to +the South; always provided, however, that a stricter effort is made to +see that only immigrants of the right kind come to our country +anywhere. In actual practice it has proved so difficult to enforce the +migration laws where long stretches of frontier marked by an imaginary +line alone intervene between us and our neighbors that I recommend that +no immigrants be allowed to come in from Canada and Mexico save natives +of the two countries themselves. As much as possible should be done to +distribute the immigrants upon the land and keep them away from the +contested tenement-house districts of the great cities. But +distribution is a palliative, not a cure. The prime need is to keep out +all immigrants who will not make good American citizens. The laws now +existing for the exclusion of undesirable immigrants should be +strengthened. Adequate means should be adopted, enforced by sufficient +penalties, to compel steamship companies engaged in the passenger +business to observe in good faith the law which forbids them to +encourage or solicit immigration to the United States. Moreover, there +should be a sharp limitation imposed upon all vessels coming to our +ports as to the number of immigrants in ratio to the tonnage which each +vessel can carry. This ratio should be high enough to insure the coming +hither of as good a class of aliens as possible. Provision should be +made for the surer punishment of those who induce aliens to come to +this country under promise or assurance of employment. It should be +made possible to inflict a sufficiently heavy penalty on any employer +violating this law to deter him from taking the risk. It seems to me +wise that there should be an international conference held to deal with +this question of immigration, which has more than a merely National +significance; such a conference could, among other things, enter at +length into the method for securing a thorough inspection of would-be +immigrants at the ports from which they desire to embark before +permitting them to embark. +</p> + +<p> +In dealing with this question it is unwise to depart from the old +American tradition and to discriminate for or against any man who +desires to come here and become a citizen, save on the ground of that +man's fitness for citizenship. It is our right and duty to consider his +moral and social quality. His standard of living should be such that he +will not, by pressure of competition, lower the standard of living of +our own wage-workers; for it must ever be a prime object of our +legislation to keep high their standard of living. If the man who seeks +to come here is from the moral and social standpoint of such a +character as to bid fair to add value to the community he should be +heartily welcomed. We cannot afford to pay heed to whether he is of one +creed or another, of one nation, or another. We cannot afford to +consider whether he is Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile; whether +he is Englishman or Irishman, Frenchman or German, Japanese, Italian, +Scandinavian, Slav, or Magyar. What we should desire to find out is the +individual quality of the individual man. In my judgment, with this end +in view, we shall have to prepare through our own agents a far more +rigid inspection in the countries from which the immigrants come. It +will be a great deal better to have fewer immigrants, but all of the +right kind, than a great number of immigrants, many of whom are +necessarily of the wrong kind. As far as possible we wish to limit the +immigration to this country to persons who propose to become citizens +of this country, and we can well afford to insist upon adequate +scrutiny of the character of those who are thus proposed for future +citizenship. There should be an increase in the stringency of the laws +to keep out insane, idiotic, epileptic, and pauper immigrants. But this +is by no means enough. Not merely the Anarchist, but every man of +Anarchistic tendencies, all violent and disorderly people, all people +of bad character, the incompetent, the lazy, the vicious, the +physically unfit, defective, or degenerate should be kept out. The +stocks out of which American citizenship is to be built should be +strong and healthy, sound in body, mind, and character. If it be +objected that the Government agents would not always select well, the +answer is that they would certainly select better than do the agents +and brokers of foreign steamship companies, the people who now do +whatever selection is done. +</p> + +<p> +The questions arising in connection with Chinese immigration stand by +themselves. The conditions in China are such that the entire Chinese +coolie class, that is, the class of Chinese laborers, skilled and +unskilled, legitimately come under the head of undesirable immigrants +to this country, because of their numbers, the low wages for which they +work, and their low standard of living. Not only is it to the interest +of this country to keep them out, but the Chinese authorities do not +desire that they should be admitted. At present their entrance is +prohibited by laws amply adequate to accomplish this purpose. These +laws have been, are being, and will be, thoroughly enforced. The +violations of them are so few in number as to be infinitesimal and can +be entirely disregarded. This is no serious proposal to alter the +immigration law as regards the Chinese laborer, skilled or unskilled, +and there is no excuse for any man feeling or affecting to feel the +slightest alarm on the subject. +</p> + +<p> +But in the effort to carry out the policy of excluding Chinese +laborers, Chinese coolies, grave injustice and wrong have been done by +this Nation to the people of China, and therefore ultimately to this +Nation itself. Chinese students, business and professional men of all +kinds--not only merchants, but bankers, doctors, manufacturers, +professors, travelers, and the like--should be encouraged to come here, +and treated on precisely the same footing that we treat students, +business men, travelers, and the like of other nations. Our laws and +treaties should be framed, not so as to put these people in the +excepted classes, but to state that we will admit all Chinese, except +Chinese of the coolie class, Chinese skilled or unskilled laborers. +There would not be the least danger that any such provision would +result in any relaxation of the law about laborers. These will, under +all conditions, be kept out absolutely. But it will be more easy to see +that both justice and courtesy are shown, as they ought to be shown, to +other Chinese, if the law or treaty is framed as above suggested. +Examinations should be completed at the port of departure from China. +For this purpose there should be provided a more adequate Consular +Service in China than we now have. The appropriations both for the +offices of the Consuls and for the office forces in the consulates +should be increased. +</p> + +<p> +As a people we have talked much of the open door in China, and we +expect, and quite rightly intend to insist upon, justice being shown us +by the Chinese. But we cannot expect to receive equity unless we do +equity. We cannot ask the Chinese to do to us what we are unwilling to +do to them. They would have a perfect right to exclude our laboring men +if our laboring men threatened to come into their country in such +numbers as to jeopardize the well-being of the Chinese population; and +as, mutatis mutandis, these were the conditions with which Chinese +immigration actually brought this people face to face, we had and have +a perfect right, which the Chinese Government in no way contests, to +act as we have acted in the matter of restricting coolie immigration. +That this right exists for each country was explicitly acknowledged in +the last treaty between the two countries. But we must treat the +Chinese student, traveler, and business man in a spirit of the broadest +justice and courtesy if we expect similar treatment to be accorded to +our own people of similar rank who go to China. Much trouble has come +during the past Summer from the organized boycott against American +goods which has been started in China. The main factor in producing +this boycott has been the resentment felt by the students and business +people of China, by all the Chinese leaders, against the harshness of +our law toward educated Chinamen of the professional and business +classes. This Government has the friendliest feeling for China and +desires China's well-being. We cordially sympathize with the announced +purpose of Japan to stand for the integrity of China. Such an attitude +tends to the peace of the world. +</p> + +<p> +The civil service law has been on the statute books for twenty-two +years. Every President and a vast majority of heads of departments who +have been in office during that period have favored a gradual extension +of the merit system. The more thoroughly its principles have been +understood, the greater has been the favor with which the law has been +regarded by administration officers. Any attempt to carry on the great +executive departments of the Government without this law would +inevitably result in chaos. The Civil Service Commissioners are doing +excellent work, and their compensation is inadequate considering the +service they perform. +</p> + +<p> +The statement that the examinations are not practical in character is +based on a misapprehension of the practice of the Commission. The +departments are invariably consulted as to the requirements desired and +as to the character of questions that shall be asked. General +invitations are frequently sent out to all heads of departments asking +whether any changes in the scope or character of examinations are +required. In other words, the departments prescribe the requirements +and qualifications desired, and the Civil Service Commission +co-operates with them in securing persons with these qualifications and +insuring open and impartial competition. In a large number of +examinations (as, for example, those for trades positions), there are +no educational requirements whatever, and a person who can neither read +nor write may pass with a high average. Vacancies in the service are +filled with reasonable expedition, and the machinery of the Commission, +which reaches every part of the country, is the best agency that has +yet been devised for finding people with the most suitable +qualifications for the various offices to be filled. Written +competitive examinations do not make an ideal method for filling +positions, but they do represent an immeasurable advance upon the +"spoils" method, under which outside politicians really make the +appointments nominally made by the executive officers, the appointees +being chosen by the politicians in question, in the great majority of +cases, for reasons totally unconnected with the needs of the service or +of the public. +</p> + +<p> +Statistics gathered by the Census Bureau show that the tenure of office +in the Government service does not differ materially from that enjoyed +by employes of large business corporations. Heads of executive +departments and members of the Commission have called my attention to +the fact that the rule requiring a filing of charges and three days' +notice before an employe could be separated from the service for +inefficiency has served no good purpose whatever, because that is not a +matter upon which a hearing of the employe found to be inefficient can +be of any value, and in practice the rule providing for such notice and +hearing has merely resulted in keeping in a certain number of +incompetents, because of the reluctance of the heads of departments and +bureau chiefs to go through the required procedure. Experience has +shown that this rule is wholly ineffective to save any man, if a +superior for improper reasons wishes to remove him, and is mischievous +because it sometimes serves to keep in the service incompetent men not +guilty of specific wrongdoing. Having these facts in view the rule has +been amended by providing that where the inefficiency or incapacity +comes within the personal knowledge of the head of a department the +removal may be made without notice, the reasons therefor being filed +and made a record of the department. The absolute right of the removal +rests where it always has rested, with the head of a department; any +limitation of this absolute right results in grave injury to the public +service. The change is merely one of procedure; it was much needed, and +it is producing good results. +</p> + +<p> +The civil service law is being energetically and impartially enforced, +and in the large majority of cases complaints of violations of either +the law or rules are discovered to be unfounded. In this respect this +law compares very favorably with any other Federal statute. The +question of politics in the appointment and retention of the men +engaged in merely ministerial work has been practically eliminated in +almost the entire field of Government employment covered by the civil +service law. The action of the Congress in providing the commission +with its own force instead of requiring it to rely on detailed clerks +has been justified by the increased work done at a smaller cost to the +Government. I urge upon the Congress a careful consideration of the +recommendations contained in the annual report of the commission. +</p> + +<p> +Our copyright laws urgently need revision. They are imperfect in +definition, confused and inconsistent in expression; they omit +provision for many articles which, under modern reproductive processes +are entitled to protection; they impose hardships upon the copyright +proprietor which are not essential to the fair protection of the +public; they are difficult for the courts to interpret and impossible +for the Copyright Office to administer with satisfaction to the public. +Attempts to improve them by amendment have been frequent, no less than +twelve acts for the purpose having been passed since the Revised +Statutes. To perfect them by further amendment seems impracticable. A +complete revision of them is essential. Such a revision, to meet modern +conditions, has been found necessary in Germany, Austria, Sweden, and +other foreign countries, and bills embodying it are pending in England +and the Australian colonies. It has been urged here, and proposals for +a commission to undertake it have, from time to time, been pressed upon +the Congress. The inconveniences of the present conditions being so +great, an attempt to frame appropriate legislation has been made by the +Copyright Office, which has called conferences of the various interests +especially and practically concerned with the operation of the +copyright laws. It has secured from them suggestions as to the changes +necessary; it has added from its own experience and investigations, and +it has drafted a bill which embodies such of these changes and +additions as, after full discussion and expert criticism, appeared to +be sound and safe. In form this bill would replace the existing +insufficient and inconsistent laws by one general copyright statute. It +will be presented to the Congress at the coming session. It deserves +prompt consideration. +</p> + +<p> +I recommend that a law be enacted to regulate inter-State commerce in +misbranded and adulterated foods, drinks, and drugs. Such law would +protect legitimate manufacture and commerce, and would tend to secure +the health and welfare of the consuming public. Traffic in food-stuffs +which have been debased or adulterated so as to injure health or to +deceive purchasers should be forbidden. +</p> + +<p> +The law forbidding the emission of dense black or gray smoke in the +city of Washington has been sustained by the courts. Something has been +accomplished under it, but much remains to be done if we would preserve +the capital city from defacement by the smoke nuisance. Repeated +prosecutions under the law have not had the desired effect. I recommend +that it be made more stringent by increasing both the minimum and +maximum fine; by providing for imprisonment in cases of repeated +violation, and by affording the remedy of injunction against the +continuation of the operation of plants which are persistent offenders. +I recommend, also, an increase in the number of inspectors, whose duty +it shall be to detect violations of the act. +</p> + +<p> +I call your attention to the generous act of the State of California in +conferring upon the United States Government the ownership of the +Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove. There should be no +delay in accepting the gift, and appropriations should be made for the +including thereof in the Yosemite National Park, and for the care and +policing of the park. California has acted most wisely, as well as with +great magnanimity, in the matter. There are certain mighty natural +features of our land which should be preserved in perpetuity for our +children and our children's children. In my judgment, the Grand Canyon +of the Colorado should be made into a National park. It is greatly to +be wished that the State of New York should copy as regards Niagara +what the State of California has done as regards the Yosemite. Nothing +should be allowed to interfere with the preservation of Niagara Falls +in all their beauty and majesty. If the State cannot see to this, then +it is earnestly to be wished that she should be willing to turn it over +to the National Government, which should in such case (if possible, in +conjunction with the Canadian Government) assume the burden and +responsibility of preserving unharmed Niagara Falls; just as it should +gladly assume a similar burden and responsibility for the Yosemite +National Park, and as it has already assumed them for the Yellowstone +National Park. Adequate provision should be made by the Congress for +the proper care and supervision of all these National parks. The +boundaries of the Yellowstone National Park should be extended to the +south and east, to take in such portions of the abutting forest +reservations as will enable the Government to protect the elk on their +Winter range. +</p> + +<p> +The most characteristic animal of the Western plains was the great, +shaggy-maned wild ox, the bison, commonly known as buffalo. Small +fragments of herds exist in a domesticated state here and there, a few +of them in the Yellowstone Park. Such a herd as that on the Flat-head +Reservation should not be allowed to go out of existence. Either on +some reservation or on some forest reserve like the Wichita reserve and +game refuge provision should be made for the preservation of such a +herd. I believe that the scheme would be of economic advantage, for the +robe of the buffalo is of high market value, and the same is true of +the robe of the crossbred animals. +</p> + +<p> +I call your especial attention to the desirability of giving to the +members of the Life Saving Service pensions such as are given to +firemen and policemen in all our great cities. The men in the Life +Saving Service continually and in the most matter of fact way do deeds +such as make Americans proud of their country. They have no political +influence, and they live in such remote places that the really heroic +services they continually render receive the scantiest recognition from +the public. It is unjust for a great nation like this to permit these +men to become totally disabled or to meet death in the performance of +their hazardous duty and yet to give them no sort of reward. If one of +them serves thirty years of his life in such a position he should +surely be entitled to retire on half pay, as a fireman or policeman +does, and if he becomes totally incapacitated through accident or +sickness, or loses his health in the discharge of his duty, he or his +family should receive a pension just as any soldier should. I call your +attention with especial earnestness to this matter because it appeals +not only to our judgment but to our sympathy; for the people on whose +behalf I ask it are comparatively few in number, render incalculable +service of a particularly dangerous kind, and have no one to speak for +them. +</p> + +<p> +During the year just past, the phase of the Indian question which has +been most sharply brought to public attention is the larger legal +significance of the Indian's induction into citizenship. This has made +itself manifest not only in a great access of litigation in which the +citizen Indian figures as a party defendant and in a more widespread +disposition to levy local taxation upon his personalty, but in a +decision of the United States Supreme Court which struck away the main +prop on which has hitherto rested the Government's benevolent effort to +protect him against the evils of intemperance. The court holds, in +effect, that when an Indian becomes, by virtue of an allotment of land +to him, a citizen of the State in which his land is situated, he passes +from under Federal control in such matters as this, and the acts of the +Congress prohibiting the sale or gift to him of intoxicants become +substantially inoperative. It is gratifying to note that the States and +municipalities of the West which have most at stake in the welfare of +the Indians are taking up this subject and are trying to supply, in a +measure at least, the abdication of its trusteeship forced upon the +Federal Government. Nevertheless, I would urgently press upon the +attention of the Congress the question whether some amendment of the +internal revenue laws might not be of aid in prosecuting those +malefactors, known in the Indian country as "bootleggers," who are +engaged at once in defrauding the United States Treasury of taxes and, +what is far more important, in debauching the Indians by carrying +liquors illicitly into territory still completely under Federal +jurisdiction. +</p> + +<p> +Among the crying present needs of the Indians are more day schools +situated in the midst of their settlements, more effective instruction +in the industries pursued on their own farms, and a more liberal +tension of the field-matron service, which means the education of the +Indian women in the arts of home making. Until the mothers are well +started in the right direction we cannot reasonably expect much from +the children who are soon to form an integral part of our American +citizenship. Moreover the excuse continually advanced by male adult +Indians for refusing offers of remunerative employment at a distance +from their homes is that they dare not leave their families too long +out of their sight. One effectual remedy for this state of things is to +employ the minds and strengthen the moral fibre of the Indian +women--the end to which the work of the field matron is especially +directed. I trust that the Congress will make its appropriations for +Indian day schools and field matrons as generous as may consist with +the other pressing demands upon its providence. +</p> + +<p> +During the last year the Philippine Islands have been slowly recovering +from the series of disasters which, since American occupation, have +greatly reduced the amount of agricultural products below what was +produced in Spanish times. The war, the rinderpest, the locusts, the +drought, and the cholera have been united as causes to prevent a return +of the prosperity much needed in the islands. The most serious is the +destruction by the rinderpest of more than 75 per cent of the draught +cattle, because it will take several years of breeding to restore the +necessary number of these indispensable aids to agriculture. The +commission attempted to supply by purchase from adjoining countries the +needed cattle, but the experiments made were unsuccessful. Most of the +cattle imported were unable to withstand the change of climate and the +rigors of the voyage and died from other diseases than rinderpest. +</p> + +<p> +The income of the Philippine Government has necessarily been reduced by +reason of the business and agricultural depression in the islands, and +the Government has been obliged to exercise great economy to cut down +its expenses, to reduce salaries, and in every way to avoid a deficit. +It has adopted an internal revenue law, imposing taxes on cigars, +cigarettes, and distilled liquors, and abolishing the old Spanish +industrial taxes. The law has not operated as smoothly as was hoped, +and although its principle is undoubtedly correct, it may need +amendments for the purpose of reconciling the people to its provisions. +The income derived from it has partly made up for the reduction in +customs revenue. +</p> + +<p> +There has been a marked increase in the number of Filipinos employed in +the civil service, and a corresponding decrease in the number of +Americans. The Government in every one of its departments has been +rendered more efficient by elimination of undesirable material and the +promotion of deserving public servants. +</p> + +<p> +Improvements of harbors, roads, and bridges continue, although the +cutting down of the revenue forbids the expenditure of any great amount +from current income for these purposes. Steps are being taken, by +advertisement for competitive bids, to secure the construction and +maintenance of 1,000 miles of railway by private corporations under the +recent enabling legislation of the Congress. The transfer of the friar +lands, in accordance with the contract made some two years ago, has +been completely effected, and the purchase money paid. Provision has +just been made by statute for the speedy settlement in a special +proceeding in the Supreme Court of controversies over the possession +and title of church buildings and rectories arising between the Roman +Catholic Church and schismatics claiming under ancient municipalities. +Negotiations and hearings for the settlement of the amount due to the +Roman Catholic Church for rent and occupation of churches and rectories +by the army of the United States are in progress, and it is hoped a +satisfactory conclusion may be submitted to the Congress before the end +of the session. +</p> + +<p> +Tranquillity has existed during the past year throughout the +Archipelago, except in the Province of Cavite, the Province of Batangas +and the Province of Samar, and in the Island of Jolo among the Moros. +The Jolo disturbance was put an end to by several sharp and short +engagements, and now peace prevails in the Moro Province, Cavite, the +mother of ladrones in the Spanish times, is so permeated with the +traditional sympathy of the people for ladronism as to make it +difficult to stamp out the disease. Batangas was only disturbed by +reason of the fugitive ladrones from Cavite, Samar was thrown into +disturbance by the uneducated and partly savage peoples living in the +mountains, who, having been given by the municipal code more power than +they were able to exercise discreetly, elected municipal officers who +abused their trusts, compelled the people raising hemp to sell it at a +much less price than it was worth, and by their abuses drove their +people into resistance to constituted authority. Cavite and Samar are +instances of reposing too much confidence in the self-governing power +of a people. The disturbances have all now been suppressed, and it is +hoped that with these lessons local governments can be formed which +will secure quiet and peace to the deserving inhabitants. The incident +is another proof of the fact that if there has been any error as +regards giving self-government in the Philippines it has been in the +direction of giving it too quickly, not too slowly. A year from next +April the first legislative assembly for the islands will be held. On +the sanity and self-restraint of this body much will depend so far as +the future self-government of the islands is concerned. +</p> + +<p> +The most encouraging feature of the whole situation has been the very +great interest taken by the common people in education and the great +increase in the number of enrolled students in the public schools. The +increase was from 300,000 to half a million pupils. The average +attendance is about 70 per cent. The only limit upon the number of +pupils seems to be the capacity of the government to furnish teachers +and school houses. +</p> + +<p> +The agricultural conditions of the islands enforce more strongly than +ever the argument in favor of reducing the tariff on the products of +the Philippine Islands entering the United States. I earnestly +recommend that the tariff now imposed by the Dingley bill upon the +products of the Philippine Islands be entirely removed, except the +tariff on sugar and tobacco, and that that tariff be reduced to 25 per +cent of the present rates under the Dingley act; that after July 1, +1909, the tariff upon tobacco and sugar produced in the Philippine +Islands be entirely removed, and that free trade between the islands +and the United States in the products of each country then be provided +for by law. +</p> + +<p> +A statute in force, enacted April 15, 1904, suspends the operation of +the coastwise laws of the United States upon the trade between the +Philippine Islands and the United States until July 1, 1906. I +earnestly recommend that this suspension be postponed until July 1, +1909. I think it of doubtful utility to apply the coastwise laws to the +trade between the United States and the Philippines under any +circumstances, because I am convinced that it will do no good whatever +to American bottoms, and will only interfere and be an obstacle to the +trade between the Philippines and the United States, but if the +coastwise law must be thus applied, certainly it ought not to have +effect until free trade is enjoyed between the people of the United +States and the people of the Philippine Islands in their respective +products. +</p> + +<p> +I do not anticipate that free trade between the islands and the United +States will produce a revolution in the sugar and tobacco production of +the Philippine Islands. So primitive are the methods of agriculture in +the Philippine Islands, so slow is capital in going to the islands, so +many difficulties surround a large agricultural enterprise in the +islands, that it will be many, many years before the products of those +islands will have any effect whatever upon the markets of the United +States. The problem of labor is also a formidable one with the sugar +and tobacco producers in the islands. The best friends of the Filipino +people and the people themselves are utterly opposed to the admission +of Chinese coolie labor. Hence the only solution is the training of +Filipino labor, and this will take a long time. The enactment of a law +by the Congress of the United States making provision for free trade +between the islands and the United States, however, will be of great +importance from a political and sentimental standpoint; and, while its +actual benefit has doubtless been exaggerated by the people of the +islands, they will accept this measure of justice as an indication that +the people of the United States are anxious to aid the people of the +Philippine Islands in every way, and especially in the agricultural +development of their archipelago. It will aid the Filipinos without +injuring interests in America. +</p> + +<p> +In my judgment immediate steps should be taken for the fortification of +Hawaii. This is the most important point in the Pacific to fortify in +order to conserve the interests of this country. It would be hard to +overstate the importance of this need. Hawaii is too heavily taxed. +Laws should be enacted setting aside for a period of, say, twenty years +75 per cent of the internal revenue and customs receipts from Hawaii as +a special fund to be expended in the islands for educational and public +buildings, and for harbor improvements and military and naval defenses. +It cannot be too often repeated that our aim must be to develop the +territory of Hawaii on traditional American lines. That territory has +serious commercial and industrial problems to reckon with; but no +measure of relief can be considered which looks to legislation +admitting Chinese and restricting them by statute to field labor and +domestic service. The status of servility can never again be tolerated +on American soil. We cannot concede that the proper solution of its +problems is special legislation admitting to Hawaii a class of laborers +denied admission to the other States and Territories. There are +obstacles, and great obstacles, in the way of building up a +representative American community in the Hawaiian Islands; but it is +not in the American character to give up in the face of difficulty. +Many an American Commonwealth has been built up against odds equal to +those that now confront Hawaii. +</p> + +<p> +No merely half-hearted effort to meet its problems as other American +communities have met theirs can be accepted as final. Hawaii shall +never become a territory in which a governing class of rich planters +exists by means of coolie labor. Even if the rate of growth of the +Territory is thereby rendered slower, the growth must only take place +by the admission of immigrants fit in the end to assume the duties and +burdens of full American citizenship. Our aim must be to develop the +Territory on the same basis of stable citizenship as exists on this +continent. +</p> + +<p> +I earnestly advocate the adoption of legislation which will explicitly +confer American citizenship on all citizens of Porto Rico. There is, in +my judgment, no excuse for failure to do this. The harbor of San Juan +should be dredged and improved. The expenses of the Federal Court of +Porto Rico should be met from the Federal Treasury and not from the +Porto Rican treasury. The elections in Porto Rico should take place +every four years, and the Legislature should meet in session every two +years. The present form of government in Porto Rico, which provides for +the appointment by the President of the members of the Executive +Council or upper house of the Legislature, has proved satisfactory and +has inspired confidence in property owners and investors. I do not deem +it advisable at the present time to change this form in any material +feature. The problems and needs of the island are industrial and +commercial rather than political. +</p> + +<p> +I wish to call the attention of the Congress to one question which +affects our insular possessions generally; namely, the need of an +increased liberality in the treatment of the whole franchise question +in these islands. In the proper desire to prevent the islands being +exploited by speculators and to have them develop in the interests of +their own people an error has been made in refusing to grant +sufficiently liberal terms to induce the investment of American capital +in the Philippines and in Porto Rico. Elsewhere in this message I have +spoken strongly against the jealousy of mere wealth, and especially of +corporate wealth as such. But it is particularly regrettable to allow +any such jealousy to be developed when we are dealing either with our +insular or with foreign affairs. The big corporation has achieved its +present position in the business world simply because it is the most +effective instrument in business competition. In foreign affairs we +cannot afford to put our people at a disadvantage with their +competitors by in any way discriminating against the efficiency of our +business organizations. In the same way we cannot afford to allow our +insular possessions to lag behind in industrial development from any +twisted jealousy of business success. It is, of course, a mere truism +to say that the business interests of the islands will only be +developed if it becomes the financial interest of somebody to develop +them. Yet this development is one of the things most earnestly to be +wished for in the interest of the islands themselves. We have been +paying all possible heed to the political and educational interests of +the islands, but, important though these objects are, it is not less +important that we should favor their industrial development. The +Government can in certain ways help this directly, as by building good +roads; but the fundamental and vital help must be given through the +development of the industries of the islands, and a most efficient +means to this end is to encourage big American corporations to start +industries in them, and this means to make it advantageous for them to +do so. To limit the ownership of mining claims, as has been done in the +Philippines, is absurd. In both the Philippines and Porto Rico the +limit of holdings of land should be largely raised. +</p> + +<p> +I earnestly ask that Alaska be given an elective delegate. Some person +should be chosen who can speak with authority of the needs of the +Territory. The Government should aid in the construction of a railroad +from the Gulf of Alaska to the Yukon River, in American territory. In +my last two messages I advocated certain additional action on behalf of +Alaska. I shall not now repeat those recommendations, but I shall lay +all my stress upon the one recommendation of giving to Alaska some one +authorized to speak for it. I should prefer that the delegate was made +elective, but if this is not deemed wise, then make him appointive. At +any rate, give Alaska some person whose business it shall be to speak +with authority on her behalf to the Congress. The natural resources of +Alaska are great. Some of the chief needs of the peculiarly energetic, +self-reliant, and typically American white population of Alaska were +set forth in my last message. I also earnestly ask your attention to +the needs of the Alaskan Indians. All Indians who are competent should +receive the full rights of American citizenship. It is, for instance, a +gross and indefensible wrong to deny to such hard-working, +decent-living Indians as the Metlakahtlas the right to obtain licenses +as captains, pilots, and engineers; the right to enter mining claims, +and to profit by the homestead law. These particular Indians are +civilized and are competent and entitled to be put on the same basis +with the white men round about them. +</p> + +<p> +I recommend that Indian Territory and Oklahoma be admitted as one State +and that New Mexico and Arizona be admitted as one State. There is no +obligation upon us to treat territorial subdivisions, which are matters +of convenience only, as binding us on the question of admission to +Statehood. Nothing has taken up more time in the Congress during the +past few years than the question as to the Statehood to be granted to +the four Territories above mentioned, and after careful consideration +of all that has been developed in the discussions of the question, I +recommend that they be immediately admitted as two States. There is no +justification for further delay; and the advisability of making the +four Territories into two States has been clearly established. +</p> + +<p> +In some of the Territories the legislative assemblies issue licenses +for gambling. The Congress should by law forbid this practice, the +harmful results of which are obvious at a glance. +</p> + +<p> +The treaty between the United States and the Republic of Panama, under +which the construction of the Panama Canal was made possible, went into +effect with its ratification by the United States Senate on February +23, 1904. The canal properties of the French Canal Company were +transferred to the United States on April 23, 1904, on payment of +$40,000,000 to that company. On April 1, 1905, the Commission was +reorganized, and it now consists of Theodore P. Shonts, Chairman; +Charles E. Magoon, Benjamin M. Harrod, Rear Admiral Mordecai T. +Endicott, Brig. Gen. Peter C. Hains, and Col. Oswald H. Ernst. John F. +Stevens was appointed Chief Engineer on July 1 last. Active work in +canal construction, mainly preparatory, has been in progress for less +than a year and a half. During that period two points about the canal +have ceased to be open to debate: First, the question of route; the +canal will be built on the Isthmus of Panama. Second, the question of +feasibility; there are no physical obstacles on this route that +American engineering skill will not be able to overcome without serious +difficulty, or that will prevent the completion of the canal within a +reasonable time and at a reasonable cost. This is virtually the +unanimous testimony of the engineers who have investigated the matter +for the Government. +</p> + +<p> +The point which remains unsettled is the question of type, whether the +canal shall be one of several locks above sea level, or at sea level +with a single tide lock. On this point I hope to lay before the +Congress at an early day the findings of the Advisory Board of American +and European Engineers, that at my invitation have been considering the +subject, together with the report of the Commission thereon, and such +comments thereon or recommendations in reference thereto as may seem +necessary. +</p> + +<p> +The American people is pledged to the speediest possible construction +of a canal adequate to meet the demands which the commerce of the world +will make upon it, and I appeal most earnestly to the Congress to aid +in the fulfillment of the pledge. Gratifying progress has been made +during the past year, and especially during the past four months. The +greater part of the necessary preliminary work has been done. Actual +work of excavation could be begun only on a limited scale till the +Canal Zone was made a healthful place to live in and to work in. The +Isthmus had to be sanitated first. This task has been so thoroughly +accomplished that yellow fever has been virtually extirpated from the +Isthmus and general health conditions vastly improved. The same methods +which converted the island of Cuba from a pest hole, which menaced the +health of the world, into a healthful place of abode, have been applied +on the Isthmus with satisfactory results. There is no reason to doubt +that when the plans for water supply, paving, and sewerage of Panama +and Colon and the large labor camps have been fully carried out, the +Isthmus will be, for the tropics, an unusually healthy place of abode. +The work is so far advanced now that the health of all those employed +in canal work is as well guarded as it is on similar work in this +country and elsewhere. +</p> + +<p> +In addition to sanitating the Isthmus, satisfactory quarters are being +provided for employes and an adequate system of supplying them with +wholesome food at reasonable prices has been created. Hospitals have +been established and equipped that are without their superiors of their +kind anywhere. The country has thus been made fit to work in, and +provision has been made for the welfare and comfort of those who are to +do the work. During the past year a large portion of the plant with +which the work is to be done has been ordered. It is confidently +believed that by the middle of the approaching year a sufficient +proportion of this plant will have been installed to enable us to +resume the work of excavation on a large scale. +</p> + +<p> +What is needed now and without delay is an appropriation by the +Congress to meet the current and accruing expenses of the commission. +The first appropriation of $10,000,000, out of the $135,000,000 +authorized by the Spooner act, was made three years ago. It is nearly +exhausted. There is barely enough of it remaining to carry the +commission to the end of the year. Unless the Congress shall +appropriate before that time all work must cease. To arrest progress +for any length of time now, when matters are advancing so +satisfactorily, would be deplorable. There will be no money with which +to meet pay roll obligations and none with which to meet bills coming +due for materials and supplies; and there will be demoralization of the +forces, here and on the Isthmus, now working so harmoniously and +effectively, if there is delay in granting an emergency appropriation. +Estimates of the amount necessary will be found in the accompanying +reports of the Secretary of War and the commission. +</p> + +<p> +I recommend more adequate provision than has been made heretofore for +the work of the Department of State. Within a few years there has been +a very great increase in the amount and importance of the work to be +done by that department, both in Washington and abroad. This has been +caused by the great increase of our foreign trade, the increase of +wealth among our people, which enables them to travel more generally +than heretofore, the increase of American capital which is seeking +investment in foreign countries, and the growth of our power and weight +in the councils of the civilized world. There has been no corresponding +increase of facilities for doing the work afforded to the department +having charge of our foreign relations. +</p> + +<p> +Neither at home nor abroad is there a sufficient working force to do +the business properly. In many respects the system which was adequate +to the work of twenty-five years or even ten years ago, is inadequate +now, and should be changed. Our Consular force should be classified, +and appointments should be made to the several classes, with authority +to the Executive to assign the members of each class to duty at such +posts as the interests of the service require, instead of the +appointments being made as at present to specified posts. There should +be an adequate inspection service, so that the department may be able +to inform itself how the business of each Consulate is being done, +instead of depending upon casual private information or rumor. The fee +system should be entirely abolished, and a due equivalent made in +salary to the officers who now eke out their subsistence by means of +fees. Sufficient provision should be made for a clerical force in every +Consulate composed entirely of Americans, instead of the insufficient +provision now made, which compels the employment of great numbers of +citizens of foreign countries whose services can be obtained for less +money. At a large part of our Consulates the office quarters and the +clerical force are inadequate to the performance of the onerous duties +imposed by the recent provisions of our immigration laws as well as by +our increasing trade. In many parts of the world the lack of suitable +quarters for our embassies, legations, and Consulates detracts from the +respect in which our officers ought to be held, and seriously impairs +their weight and influence. +</p> + +<p> +Suitable provision should be made for the expense of keeping our +diplomatic officers more fully informed of what is being done from day +to day in the progress of our diplomatic affairs with other countries. +The lack of such information, caused by insufficient appropriations +available for cable tolls and for clerical and messenger service, +frequently puts our officers at a great disadvantage and detracts from +their usefulness. The salary list should be readjusted. It does not now +correspond either to the importance of the service to be rendered and +the degrees of ability and experience required in the different +positions, or to the differences in the cost of living. In many cases +the salaries are quite inadequate. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3"> +*** +</p> + +<p><a id="dec1906"></a></p> + +<p class="noindent"> +State of the Union Address<br /> +Theodore Roosevelt<br /> +December 3, 1906<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To the Senate and House of Representatives: +</p> + +<p> +As a nation we still continue to enjoy a literally unprecedented +prosperity; and it is probable that only reckless speculation and +disregard of legitimate business methods on the part of the business +world can materially mar this prosperity. +</p> + +<p> +No Congress in our time has done more good work of importance than the +present Congress. There were several matters left unfinished at your +last session, however, which I most earnestly hope you will complete +before your adjournment. +</p> + +<p> +I again recommend a law prohibiting all corporations from contributing +to the campaign expenses of any party. Such a bill has already past one +House of Congress. Let individuals contribute as they desire; but let +us prohibit in effective fashion all corporations from making +contributions for any political purpose, directly or indirectly. +</p> + +<p> +Another bill which has just past one House of the Congress and which it +is urgently necessary should be enacted into law is that conferring +upon the Government the right of appeal in criminal cases on questions +of law. This right exists in many of the States; it exists in the +District of Columbia by act of the Congress. It is of course not +proposed that in any case a verdict for the defendant on the merits +should be set aside. Recently in one district where the Government had +indicted certain persons for conspiracy in connection with rebates, the +court sustained the defendant's demurrer; while in another jurisdiction +an indictment for conspiracy to obtain rebates has been sustained by +the court, convictions obtained under it, and two defendants sentenced +to imprisonment. The two cases referred to may not be in real conflict +with each other, but it is unfortunate that there should even be an +apparent conflict. At present there is no way by which the Government +can cause such a conflict, when it occurs, to be solved by an appeal to +a higher court; and the wheels of justice are blocked without any real +decision of the question. I can not too strongly urge the passage of +the bill in question. A failure to pass it will result in seriously +hampering the Government in its effort to obtain justice, especially +against wealthy individuals or corporations who do wrong; and may also +prevent the Government from obtaining justice for wage-workers who are +not themselves able effectively to contest a case where the judgment of +an inferior court has been against them. I have specifically in view a +recent decision by a district judge leaving railway employees without +remedy for violation of a certain so-called labor statute. It seems an +absurdity to permit a single district judge, against what may be the +judgment of the immense majority of his colleagues on the bench, +to declare a law solemnly enacted by the Congress to be +"unconstitutional," and then to deny to the Government the right to +have the Supreme Court definitely decide the question. +</p> + +<p> +It is well to recollect that the real efficiency of the law often +depends not upon the passage of acts as to which there is great public +excitement, but upon the passage of acts of this nature as to which +there is not much public excitement, because there is little public +understanding of their importance, while the interested parties are +keenly alive to the desirability of defeating them. The importance of +enacting into law the particular bill in question is further increased +by the fact that the Government has now definitely begun a policy of +resorting to the criminal law in those trust and interstate commerce +cases where such a course offers a reasonable chance of success. At +first, as was proper, every effort was made to enforce these laws by +civil proceedings; but it has become increasingly evident that the +action of the Government in finally deciding, in certain cases, to +undertake criminal proceedings was justifiable; and though there have +been some conspicuous failures in these cases, we have had many +successes, which have undoubtedly had a deterrent effect upon +evil-doers, whether the penalty inflicted was in the shape of fine or +imprisonment--and penalties of both kinds have already been inflicted +by the courts. Of course, where the judge can see his way to inflict +the penalty of imprisonment the deterrent effect of the punishment on +other offenders is increased; but sufficiently heavy fines accomplish +much. Judge Holt, of the New York district court, in a recent decision +admirably stated the need for treating with just severity offenders of +this kind. His opinion runs in part as follows: +</p> + +<p> +'The Government's evidence to establish the defendant's guilt was +clear, conclusive, and undisputed. The case was a flagrant one. The +transactions which took place under this illegal contract were very +large; the amounts of rebates returned were considerable; and the +amount of the rebate itself was large, amounting to more than one-fifth +of the entire tariff charge for the transportation of merchandise from +this city to Detroit. It is not too much to say, in my opinion, that if +this business was carried on for a considerable time on that +basis--that is, if this discrimination in favor of this particular +shipper was made with an 18 instead of a 23 cent rate and the tariff +rate was maintained as against their competitors--the result might be +and not improbably would be that their competitors would be driven out +of business. This crime is one which in its nature is deliberate and +premeditated. I think over a fortnight elapsed between the date of +Palmer's letter requesting the reduced rate and the answer of the +railroad company deciding to grant it, and then for months afterwards +this business was carried on and these claims for rebates submitted +month after month and checks in payment of them drawn month after +month. Such a violation of the law, in my opinion, in its essential +nature, is a very much more heinous act than the ordinary common, +vulgar crimes which come before criminal courts constantly for +punishment and which arise from sudden passion or temptation. This +crime in this case was committed by men of education and of large +business experience, whose standing in the community was such that they +might have been expected to set an example of obedience to law upon the +maintenance of which alone in this country the security of their +property depends. It was committed on behalf of a great railroad +corporation, which, like other railroad corporations, has received +gratuitously from the State large and valuable privileges for the +public's convenience and its own, which performs quasi public functions +and which is charged with the highest obligation in the transaction of +its business to treat the citizens of this country alike, and not to +carry on its business with unjust discriminations between different +citizens or different classes of citizens. This crime in its nature is +one usually done with secrecy, and proof of which it is very difficult +to obtain. The interstate commerce act was past in 1887, nearly twenty +years ago. Ever since that time complaints of the granting of rebates +by railroads have been common, urgent, and insistent, and although the +Congress has repeatedly past legislation endeavoring to put a stop to +this evil, the difficulty of obtaining proof upon which to bring +prosecution in these cases is so great that this is the first case that +has ever been brought in this court, and, as I am formed, this case and +one recently brought in Philadelphia are the only cases that have ever +been brought in the eastern part of this country. In fact, but few +cases of this kind have ever been brought in this country, East or +West. Now, under these circumstances, I am forced to the conclusion, in +a case in which the proof is so clear and the facts are so flagrant, it +is the duty of the court to fix a penalty which shall in some degree be +commensurate with the gravity of the offense. As between the two +defendants, in my opinion, the principal penalty should be imposed on +the corporation. The traffic manager in this case, presumably, acted +without any advantage to himself and without any interest in the +transaction, either by the direct authority or in accordance with what +he understood to be the policy or the wishes of his employer. +</p> + +<p> +"The sentence of this court in this case is, that the defendant +Pomeroy, for each of the six offenses upon which he has been convicted, +be fined the sum of $1,000, making six fines, amounting in all to the +sum of $6,000; and the defendant, The New York Central and Hudson River +Railroad Company, for each of the six crimes of which it has been +convicted, be fined the sum of $18,000, making six fines amounting in +the aggregate to the sum of $108,000, and judgment to that effect will +be entered in this case." +</p> + +<p> +In connection with this matter, I would like to call attention to the +very unsatisfactory state of our criminal law, resulting in large part +from the habit of setting aside the judgments of inferior courts on +technicalities absolutely unconnected with the merits of the case, and +where there is no attempt to show that there has been any failure of +substantial justice. It would be well to enact a law providing +something to the effect that: +</p> + +<p> +No judgment shall be set aside or new trial granted in any cause, civil +or criminal, on the ground of misdirection of the jury or the improper +admission or rejection of evidence, or for error as to any matter of +pleading or procedure unless, in the opinion of the court to which the +application is made, after an examination of the entire cause, it shall +affirmatively appear that the error complained of has resulted in a +miscarriage of justice. +</p> + +<p> +In my last message I suggested the enactment of a law in connection +with the issuance of injunctions, attention having been sharply drawn +to the matter by the demand that the right of applying injunctions in +labor cases should be wholly abolished. It is at least doubtful whether +a law abolishing altogether the use of injunctions in such cases would +stand the test of the courts; in which case of course the legislation +would be ineffective. Moreover, I believe it would be wrong altogether +to prohibit the use of injunctions. It is criminal to permit sympathy +for criminals to weaken our hands in upholding the law; and if men seek +to destroy life or property by mob violence there should be no +impairment of the power of the courts to deal with them in the most +summary and effective way possible. But so far as possible the abuse of +the power should be provided against by some such law as I advocated +last year. +</p> + +<p> +In this matter of injunctions there is lodged in the hands of the +judiciary a necessary power which is nevertheless subject to the +possibility of grave abuse. It is a power that should be exercised with +extreme care and should be subject to the jealous scrutiny of all men, +and condemnation should be meted out as much to the judge who fails to +use it boldly when necessary as to the judge who uses it wantonly or +oppressively. Of course a judge strong enough to be fit for his office +will enjoin any resort to violence or intimidation, especially by +conspiracy, no matter what his opinion may be of the rights of the +original quarrel. There must be no hesitation in dealing with disorder. +But there must likewise be no such abuse of the injunctive power as is +implied in forbidding laboring men to strive for their own betterment +in peaceful and lawful ways; nor must the injunction be used merely to +aid some big corporation in carrying out schemes for its own +aggrandizement. It must be remembered that a preliminary injunction in +a labor case, if granted without adequate proof (even when authority +can be found to support the conclusions of law on which it is founded), +may often settle the dispute between the parties; and therefore if +improperly granted may do irreparable wrong. Yet there are many judges +who assume a matter-of-course granting of a preliminary injunction to +be the ordinary and proper judicial disposition of such cases; and +there have undoubtedly been flagrant wrongs committed by judges in +connection with labor disputes even within the last few years, although +I think much less often than in former years. Such judges by their +unwise action immensely strengthen the hands of those who are striving +entirely to do away with the power of injunction; and therefore such +careless use of the injunctive process tends to threaten its very +existence, for if the American people ever become convinced that this +process is habitually abused, whether in matters affecting labor or in +matters affecting corporations, it will be well-nigh impossible to +prevent its abolition. +</p> + +<p> +It may be the highest duty of a judge at any given moment to disregard, +not merely the wishes of individuals of great political or financial +power, but the overwhelming tide of public sentiment; and the judge who +does thus disregard public sentiment when it is wrong, who brushes +aside the plea of any special interest when the pleading is not rounded +on righteousness, performs the highest service to the country. Such a +judge is deserving of all honor; and all honor can not be paid to this +wise and fearless judge if we permit the growth of an absurd convention +which would forbid any criticism of the judge of another type, who +shows himself timid in the presence of arrogant disorder, or who on +insufficient grounds grants an injunction that does grave injustice, or +who in his capacity as a construer, and therefore in part a maker, of +the law, in flagrant fashion thwarts the cause of decent government. +The judge has a power over which no review can be exercised; he himself +sits in review upon the acts of both the executive and legislative +branches of the Government; save in the most extraordinary cases he is +amenable only at the bar of public opinion; and it is unwise to +maintain that public opinion in reference to a man with such power +shall neither be exprest nor led. +</p> + +<p> +The best judges have ever been foremost to disclaim any immunity from +criticism. This has been true since the days of the great English Lord +Chancellor Parker, who said: "Let all people be at liberty to know what +I found my judgment upon; that, so when I have given it in any cause, +others may be at liberty to judge of me." The proprieties of the case +were set forth with singular clearness and good temper by Judge W. H. +Taft, when a United States circuit judge, eleven years ago, in 1895: +</p> + +<p> +"The opportunity freely and publicly to criticize judicial action is of +vastly more importance to the body politic than the immunity of courts +and judges from unjust aspersions and attack. Nothing tends more to +render judges careful in their decisions and anxiously solicitous to do +exact justice than the consciousness that every act of theirs is to be +subjected to the intelligent scrutiny and candid criticism of their +fellow-men. Such criticism is beneficial in proportion as it is fair, +dispassionate, discriminating, and based on a knowledge of sound legal +principles. The comments made by learned text writers and by the acute +editors of the various law reviews upon judicial decisions are +therefore highly useful. Such critics constitute more or less impartial +tribunals of professional opinion before which each judgment is made to +stand or fall on its merits, and thus exert a strong influence to +secure uniformity of decision. But non-professional criticism also is +by no means without its uses, even if accompanied, as it often is, by a +direct attack upon the judicial fairness and motives of the occupants +of the bench; for if the law is but the essence of common sense, the +protest of many average men may evidence a defect in a judicial +conclusion, though based on the nicest legal reasoning and profoundest +learning. The two important elements of moral character in a judge are +an earnest desire to reach a just conclusion and courage to enforce it. +In so far as fear of public comment does not affect the courage of a +judge, but only spurs him on to search his conscience and to reach the +result which approves itself to his inmost heart such comment serves a +useful purpose. There are few men, whether they are judges for life or +for a shorter term, who do not prefer to earn and hold the respect of +all, and who can not be reached and made to pause and deliberate by +hostile public criticism. In the case of judges having a life tenure, +indeed their very independence makes the right freely to comment on +their decisions of greater importance, because it is the only practical +and available instrument in the hands of a free people to keep such +judges alive to the reasonable demands of those they serve. +</p> + +<p> +"On the other hand, the danger of destroying the proper influence of +judicial decisions by creating unfounded prejudices against the courts +justifies and requires that unjust attacks shall be met and answered. +Courts must ultimately rest their defense upon the inherent strength of +the opinions they deliver as the ground for their conclusions and must +trust to the calm and deliberate judgment of all the people as their +best vindication." +</p> + +<p> +There is one consideration which should be taken into account by the +good people who carry a sound proposition to an excess in objecting to +any criticism of a judge's decision. The instinct of the American +people as a whole is sound in this matter. They will not subscribe to +the doctrine that any public servant is to be above all criticism. If +the best citizens, those most competent to express their judgment in +such matters, and above all those belonging to the great and honorable +profession of the bar, so profoundly influential in American life, take +the position that there shall be no criticism of a judge under any +circumstances, their view will not be accepted by the American people +as a whole. In such event the people will turn to, and tend to accept +as justifiable, the intemperate and improper criticism uttered by +unworthy agitators. Surely it is a misfortune to leave to such critics +a function, right, in itself, which they are certain to abuse. Just and +temperate criticism, when necessary, is a safeguard against the +acceptance by the people as a whole of that intemperate antagonism +towards the judiciary which must be combated by every right-thinking +man, and which, if it became widespread among the people at large, +would constitute a dire menace to the Republic. +</p> + +<p> +In connection with the delays of the law, I call your attention and the +attention of the Nation to the prevalence of crime among us, and above +all to the epidemic of lynching and mob violence that springs up, now +in one part of our country, now in another. Each section, North, South, +East, or West, has its own faults; no section can with wisdom spend its +time jeering at the faults of another section; it should be busy trying +to amend its own shortcomings. To deal with the crime of corruption It +is necessary to have an awakened public conscience, and to supplement +this by whatever legislation will add speed and certainty in the +execution of the law. When we deal with lynching even mote is +necessary. A great many white men are lynched, but the crime is +peculiarly frequent in respect to black men. The greatest existing +cause of lynching is the perpetration, especially by black men, of the +hideous crime of rape--the most abominable in all the category of +crimes, even worse than murder. Mobs frequently avenge the commission +of this crime by themselves torturing to death the man committing it; +thus avenging in bestial fashion a bestial deed, and reducing +themselves to a level with the criminal. +</p> + +<p> +Lawlessness grows by what it feeds upon; and when mobs begin to lynch +for rape they speedily extend the sphere of their operations and lynch +for many other kinds of crimes, so that two-thirds of the lynchings are +not for rape at all; while a considerable proportion of the individuals +lynched are innocent of all crime. Governor Candler, of Georgia, stated +on one occasion some years ago: "I can say of a verity that I have, +within the last month, saved the lives of half a dozen innocent Negroes +who were pursued by the mob, and brought them to trial in a court of +law in which they were acquitted." As Bishop Galloway, of Mississippi, +has finely said: "When the rule of a mob obtains, that which +distinguishes a high civilization is surrendered. The mob which lynches +a negro charged with rape will in a little while lynch a white man +suspected of crime. Every Christian patriot in America needs to lift up +his voice in loud and eternal protest against the mob spirit that is +threatening the integrity of this Republic." Governor Jelks, of +Alabama, has recently spoken as follows: "The lynching of any person +for whatever crime is inexcusable anywhere--it is a defiance of orderly +government; but the killing of innocent people under any provocation is +infinitely more horrible; and yet innocent people are likely to die +when a mob's terrible lust is once aroused. The lesson is this: No good +citizen can afford to countenance a defiance of the statutes, no matter +what the provocation. The innocent frequently suffer, and, it is my +observation, more usually suffer than the guilty. The white people of +the South indict the whole colored race on the ground that even the +better elements lend no assistance whatever in ferreting out criminals +of their own color. The respectable colored people must learn not to +harbor their criminals, but to assist the officers in bringing them to +justice. This is the larger crime, and it provokes such atrocious +offenses as the one at Atlanta. The two races can never get on until +there is an understanding on the part of both to make common cause with +the law-abiding against criminals of any color." +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, where any crime committed by a member of one race against a +member of another race is avenged in such fashion that it seems as if +not the individual criminal, but the whole race, is attacked, the +result is to exasperate to the highest degree race feeling. There is +but one safe rule in dealing with black men as with white men; it is +the same rule that must be applied in dealing with rich men and poor +men; that is, to treat each man, whatever his color, his creed, or his +social position, with even-handed justice on his real worth as a man. +White people owe it quite as much to themselves as to the colored race +to treat well the colored man who shows by his life that he deserves +such treatment; for it is surely the highest wisdom to encourage in the +colored race all those individuals who are honest, industrious, +law-abiding, and who therefore make good and safe neighbors and +citizens. Reward or punish the individual on his merits as an +individual. Evil will surely come in the end to both races if we +substitute for this just rule the habit of treating all the members of +the race, good and bad, alike. There is no question of "social +equality" or "negro domination" involved; only the question of +relentlessly punishing bad men, and of securing to the good man the +right to his life, his liberty, and the pursuit of his happiness as his +own qualities of heart, head, and hand enable him to achieve it. +</p> + +<p> +Every colored man should realize that the worst enemy of his race is +the negro criminal, and above all the negro criminal who commits the +dreadful crime of rape; and it should be felt as in the highest degree +an offense against the whole country, and against the colored race in +particular, for a colored man to fail to help the officers of the law +in hunting down with all possible earnestness and zeal every such +infamous offender. Moreover, in my judgment, the crime of rape should +always be punished with death, as is the case with murder; assault with +intent to commit rape should be made a capital crime, at least in the +discretion of the court; and provision should be made by which the +punishment may follow immediately upon the heels of the offense; while +the trial should be so conducted that the victim need not be wantonly +shamed while giving testimony, and that the least possible publicity +shall be given to the details. +</p> + +<p> +The members of the white race on the other hand should understand that +every lynching represents by just so much a loosening of the bands of +civilization; that the spirit of lynching inevitably throws into +prominence in the community all the foul and evil creatures who dwell +therein. No man can take part in the torture of a human being without +having his own moral nature permanently lowered. Every lynching means +just so much moral deterioration in all the children who have any +knowledge of it, and therefore just so much additional trouble for the +next generation of Americans. +</p> + +<p> +Let justice be both sure and swift; but let it be justice under the +law, and not the wild and crooked savagery of a mob. +</p> + +<p> +There is another matter which has a direct bearing upon this matter of +lynching and of the brutal crime which sometimes calls it forth and at +other times merely furnishes the excuse for its existence. It is out of +the question for our people as a whole permanently to rise by treading +down any of their own number. Even those who themselves for the moment +profit by such maltreatment of their fellows will in the long run also +suffer. No more shortsighted policy can be imagined than, in the +fancied interest of one class, to prevent the education of another +class. The free public school, the chance for each boy or girl to get a +good elementary education, lies at the foundation of our whole +political situation. In every community the poorest citizens, those who +need the schools most, would be deprived of them if they only received +school facilities proportioned to the taxes they paid. This is as true +of one portion of our country as of another. It is as true for the +negro as for the white man. The white man, if he is wise, will decline +to allow the Negroes in a mass to grow to manhood and womanhood without +education. Unquestionably education such as is obtained in our public +schools does not do everything towards making a man a good citizen; but +it does much. The lowest and most brutal criminals, those for instance +who commit the crime of rape, are in the great majority men who have +had either no education or very little; just as they are almost +invariably men who own no property; for the man who puts money by out +of his earnings, like the man who acquires education, is usually lifted +above mere brutal criminality. Of course the best type of education for +the colored man, taken as a whole, is such education as is conferred in +schools like Hampton and Tuskegee; where the boys and girls, the young +men and young women, are trained industrially as well as in the +ordinary public school branches. The graduates of these schools turn +out well in the great majority of cases, and hardly any of them become +criminals, while what little criminality there is never takes the form +of that brutal violence which invites lynch law. Every graduate of +these schools--and for the matter of that every other colored man or +woman--who leads a life so useful and honorable as to win the good will +and respect of those whites whose neighbor he or she is, thereby helps +the whole colored race as it can be helped in no other way; for next to +the negro himself, the man who can do most to help the negro is his +white neighbor who lives near him; and our steady effort should be to +better the relations between the two. Great though the benefit of these +schools has been to their colored pupils and to the colored people, it +may well be questioned whether the benefit, has not been at least as +great to the white people among whom these colored pupils live after +they graduate. +</p> + +<p> +Be it remembered, furthermore, that the individuals who, whether from +folly, from evil temper, from greed for office, or in a spirit of mere +base demagogy, indulge in the inflammatory and incendiary speeches and +writings which tend to arouse mobs and to bring about lynching, not +only thus excite the mob, but also tend by what criminologists call +"suggestion," greatly to increase the likelihood of a repetition of the +very crime against which they are inveighing. When the mob is composed +of the people of one race and the man lynched is of another race, the +men who in their speeches and writings either excite or justify the +action tend, of course, to excite a bitter race feeling and to cause +the people of the opposite race to lose sight of the abominable act of +the criminal himself; and in addition, by the prominence they give to +the hideous deed they undoubtedly tend to excite in other brutal and +depraved natures thoughts of committing it. Swift, relentless, and +orderly punishment under the law is the only way by which criminality +of this type can permanently be supprest. +</p> + +<p> +In dealing with both labor and capital, with the questions affecting +both corporations and trades unions, there is one matter more important +to remember than aught else, and that is the infinite harm done by +preachers of mere discontent. These are the men who seek to excite a +violent class hatred against all men of wealth. They seek to turn wise +and proper movements for the better control of corporations and for +doing away with the abuses connected with wealth, into a campaign of +hysterical excitement and falsehood in which the aim is to inflame to +madness the brutal passions of mankind. The sinister demagogs and +foolish visionaries who are always eager to undertake such a campaign +of destruction sometimes seek to associate themselves with those +working for a genuine reform in governmental and social methods, and +sometimes masquerade as such reformers. In reality they are the worst +enemies of the cause they profess to advocate, just as the purveyors of +sensational slander in newspaper or magazine are the worst enemies of +all men who are engaged in an honest effort to better what is bad in +our social and governmental conditions. To preach hatred of the rich +man as such, to carry on a campaign of slander and invective against +him, to seek to mislead and inflame to madness honest men whose lives +are hard and who have not the kind of mental training which will permit +them to appreciate the danger in the doctrines preached--all this is to +commit a crime against the body politic and to be false to every worthy +principle and tradition of American national life. Moreover, while such +preaching and such agitation may give a livelihood and a certain +notoriety to some of those who take part in it, and may result in the +temporary political success of others, in the long run every such +movement will either fail or else will provoke a violent reaction, +which will itself result not merely in undoing the mischief wrought by +the demagog and the agitator, but also in undoing the good that the +honest reformer, the true upholder of popular rights, has painfully and +laboriously achieved. Corruption is never so rife as in communities +where the demagog and the agitator bear full sway, because in such +communities all moral bands become loosened, and hysteria and +sensationalism replace the spirit of sound judgment and fair dealing as +between man and man. In sheer revolt against the squalid anarchy thus +produced men are sure in the end to turn toward any leader who can +restore order, and then their relief at being free from the intolerable +burdens of class hatred, violence, and demagogy is such that they can +not for some time be aroused to indignation against misdeeds by men of +wealth; so that they permit a new growth of the very abuses which were +in part responsible for the original outbreak. The one hope for success +for our people lies in a resolute and fearless, but sane and +cool-headed, advance along the path marked out last year by this very +Congress. There must be a stern refusal to be misled into following +either that base creature who appeals and panders to the lowest +instincts and passions in order to arouse one set of Americans against +their fellows, or that other creature, equally base but no baser, who +in a spirit of greed, or to accumulate or add to an already huge +fortune, seeks to exploit his fellow Americans with callous disregard +to their welfare of soul and body. The man who debauches others in +order to obtain a high office stands on an evil equality of corruption +with the man who debauches others for financial profit; and when hatred +is sown the crop which springs up can only be evil. +</p> + +<p> +The plain people who think--the mechanics, farmers, merchants, workers +with head or hand, the men to whom American traditions are dear, who +love their country and try to act decently by their neighbors, owe it +to themselves to remember that the most damaging blow that can be given +popular government is to elect an unworthy and sinister agitator on a +platform of violence and hypocrisy. Whenever such an issue is raised in +this country nothing can be gained by flinching from it, for in such +case democracy is itself on trial, popular self-government under +republican forms is itself on trial. The triumph of the mob is just as +evil a thing as the triumph of the plutocracy, and to have escaped one +danger avails nothing whatever if we succumb to the other. In the end +the honest man, whether rich or poor, who earns his own living and +tries to deal justly by his fellows, has as much to fear from the +insincere and unworthy demagog, promising much and performing nothing, +or else performing nothing but evil, who would set on the mob to +plunder the rich, as from the crafty corruptionist, who, for his own +ends, would permit the common people to be exploited by the very +wealthy. If we ever let this Government fall into the hands of men of +either of these two classes, we shall show ourselves false to America's +past. Moreover, the demagog and the corruptionist often work hand in +hand. There are at this moment wealthy reactionaries of such obtuse +morality that they regard the public servant who prosecutes them when +they violate the law, or who seeks to make them bear their proper share +of the public burdens, as being even more objectionable than the +violent agitator who hounds on the mob to plunder the rich. There is +nothing to choose between such a reactionary and such an agitator; +fundamentally they are alike in their selfish disregard of the rights +of others; and it is natural that they should join in opposition to any +movement of which the aim is fearlessly to do exact and even justice to +all. +</p> + +<p> +I call your attention to the need of passing the bill limiting the +number of hours of employment of railroad employees. The measure is a +very moderate one and I can conceive of no serious objection to it. +Indeed, so far as it is in our power, it should be our aim steadily to +reduce the number of hours of labor, with as a goal the general +introduction of an eight-hour day. There are industries in which it is +not possible that the hours of labor should be reduced; just as there +are communities not far enough advanced for such a movement to be for +their good, or, if in the Tropics, so situated that there is no analogy +between their needs and ours in this matter. On the Isthmus of Panama, +for instance, the conditions are in every way so different from what +they are here that an eight-hour day would be absurd; just as it is +absurd, so far as the Isthmus is concerned, where white labor can not +be employed, to bother as to whether the necessary work is done by +alien black men or by alien yellow men. But the wageworkers of the +United States are of so high a grade that alike from the merely +industrial standpoint and from the civic standpoint it should be our +object to do what we can in the direction of securing the general +observance of an eight-hour day. Until recently the eight-hour law on +our Federal statute books has been very scantily observed. Now, +however, largely through the instrumentality of the Bureau of Labor, it +is being rigidly enforced, and I shall speedily be able to say whether +or not there is need of further legislation in reference thereto; .for +our purpose is to see it obeyed in spirit no less than in letter. Half +holidays during summer should be established for Government employees; +it is as desirable for wageworkers who toil with their hands as for +salaried officials whose labor is mental that there should be a +reasonable amount of holiday. +</p> + +<p> +The Congress at its last session wisely provided for a truant court for +the District of Columbia; a marked step in advance on the path of +properly caring for the children. Let me again urge that the Congress +provide for a thorough investigation of the conditions of child labor +and of the labor of women in the United States. More and more our +people are growing to recognize the fact that the questions which are +not merely of industrial but of social importance outweigh all others; +and these two questions most emphatically come in the category of those +which affect in the most far-reaching way the home life of the Nation. +The horrors incident to the employment of young children in factories +or at work anywhere are a blot on our civilization. It is true that +each. State must ultimately settle the question in its own way; but a +thorough official investigation of the matter, with the results +published broadcast, would greatly help toward arousing the public +conscience and securing unity of State action in the matter. There is, +however, one law on the subject which should be enacted immediately, +because there is no need for an investigation in reference thereto, and +the failure to enact it is discreditable to the National Government. A +drastic and thoroughgoing child-labor law should be enacted for the +District of Columbia and the Territories. +</p> + +<p> +Among the excellent laws which the Congress past at the last session +was an employers' liability law. It was a marked step in advance to get +the recognition of employers' liability on the statute books; but the +law did not go far enough. In spite of all precautions exercised by +employers there are unavoidable accidents and even deaths involved in +nearly every line of business connected with the mechanic arts. This +inevitable sacrifice of life may be reduced to a minimum, but it can +not be completely eliminated. It is a great social injustice to compel +the employee, or rather the family of the killed or disabled victim, to +bear the entire burden of such an inevitable sacrifice. In other words, +society shirks its duty by laying the whole cost on the victim, whereas +the injury comes from what may be called the legitimate risks of the +trade. Compensation for accidents or deaths due in any line of industry +to the actual conditions under which that industry is carried on, +should be paid by that portion of the community for the benefit of +which the industry is carried on--that is, by those who profit by the +industry. If the entire trade risk is placed upon the employer he will +promptly and properly add it to the legitimate cost of production and +assess it proportionately upon the consumers of his commodity. It is +therefore clear to my mind that the law should place this entire "risk +of a trade" upon the employer. Neither the Federal law, nor, as far as +I am informed, the State laws dealing with the question of employers' +liability are sufficiently thoroughgoing. The Federal law should of +course include employees in navy-yards, arsenals, and the like. +</p> + +<p> +The commission appointed by the President October 16, 1902, at the +request of both the anthracite coal operators and miners, to inquire +into, consider, and pass upon the questions in controversy in +connection with the strike in the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania +and the causes out of which the controversy arose, in their report, +findings, and award exprest the belief "that the State and Federal +governments should provide the machinery for what may be called the +compulsory investigation of controversies between employers and +employees when they arise." This expression of belief is deserving of +the favorable consideration of the Congress and the enactment of its +provisions into law. A bill has already been introduced to this end. +</p> + +<p> +Records show that during the twenty years from January 1, 1881, to, +December 31, 1900, there were strikes affecting 117,509 establishments, +and 6,105,694 employees were thrown out of employment. During the same +period there were 1,005 lockouts, involving nearly 10,000 +establishments, throwing over one million people out of employment. +These strikes and lockouts involved an estimated loss to employees of +$307,000,000 and to employers of $143,000,000, a total of $450,000,000. +The public suffered directly and indirectly probably as great +additional loss. But the money loss, great as it was, did not measure +the anguish and suffering endured by the wives and children of +employees whose pay stopt when their work stopt, or the disastrous +effect of the strike or lockout upon the business of employers, or the +increase in the cost of products and the inconvenience and loss to the +public. +</p> + +<p> +Many of these strikes and lockouts would not have occurred had the +parties to the dispute been required to appear before an unprejudiced +body representing the nation and, face to face, state the reasons for +their contention. In most instances the dispute would doubtless be +found to be due to a misunderstanding by each of the other's rights, +aggravated by an unwillingness of either party to accept as true the +statements of the other as to the justice or injustice of the matters +in dispute. The exercise of a judicial spirit by a disinterested body +representing the Federal Government, such as would be provided by a +commission on conciliation and arbitration, would tend to create an +atmosphere of friendliness and conciliation between contending parties; +and the giving each side an equal opportunity to present fully its case +in the presence of the other would prevent many disputes from +developing into serious strikes or lockouts, and, in other cases, would +enable the commission to persuade the opposing parties to come to +terms. +</p> + +<p> +In this age of great corporate and labor combinations, neither +employers nor employees should be left completely at the mercy of the +stronger party to a dispute, regardless of the righteousness of their +respective claims. The proposed measure would be in the line of +securing recognition of the fact that in many strikes the public has +itself an interest which can not wisely be disregarded; an interest not +merely of general convenience, for the question of a just and proper +public policy must also be considered. In all legislation of this kind +it is well to advance cautiously, testing each step by the actual +results; the step proposed can surely be safely taken, for the +decisions of the commission would not bind the parties in legal +fashion, and yet would give a chance for public opinion to crystallize +and thus to exert its full force for the right. +</p> + +<p> +It is not wise that the Nation should alienate its remaining coal +lands. I have temporarily withdrawn from settlement all the lands which +the Geological Survey has indicated as containing, or in all +probability containing, coal. The question, however, can be properly +settled only by legislation, which in my judgment should provide for +the withdrawal of these lands from sale or from entry, save in certain +especial circumstances. The ownership would then remain in the United +States, which should not, however, attempt to work them, but permit +them to be worked by private individuals under a royalty system, the +Government keeping such control as to permit it to see that no +excessive price was charged consumers. It would, of course, be as +necessary to supervise the rates charged by the common carriers to +transport the product as the rates charged by those who mine it; and +the supervision must extend to the conduct of the common carriers, so +that they shall in no way favor one competitor at the expense of +another. The withdrawal of these coal lands would constitute a policy +analogous to that which has been followed in withdrawing the forest +lands from ordinary settlement. The coal, like the forests, should be +treated as the property of the public and its disposal should be under +conditions which would inure to the benefit of the public as a whole. +</p> + +<p> +The present Congress has taken long strides in the direction of +securing proper supervision and control by the National Government over +corporations engaged in interstate business and the enormous majority +of corporations of any size are engaged in interstate business. The +passage of the railway rate bill, and only to a less degree the passage +of the pure food bill, and the provision for increasing and rendering +more effective national control over the beef-packing industry, mark an +important advance in the proper direction. In the short session it will +perhaps be difficult to do much further along this line; and it may be +best to wait until the laws have been in operation for a number of +months before endeavoring to increase their scope, because only +operation will show with exactness their merits and their shortcomings +and thus give opportunity to define what further remedial legislation +is needed. Yet in my judgment it will in the end be advisable in +connection with the packing house inspection law to provide for putting +a date on the label and for charging the cost of inspection to the +packers. All these laws have already justified their enactment. The +interstate commerce law, for instance, has rather amusingly falsified +the predictions, both of those who asserted that it would ruin the +railroads and of those who asserted that it did not go far enough and +would accomplish nothing. During the last five months the railroads +have shown increased earnings and some of them unusual dividends; while +during the same period the mere taking effect of the law has produced +an unprecedented, a hitherto unheard of, number of voluntary reductions +in freights and fares by the railroads. Since the founding of the +Commission there has never been a time of equal length in which +anything like so many reduced tariffs have been put into effect. On +August 27, for instance, two days before the new law went into effect, +the Commission received notices of over five thousand separate tariffs +which represented reductions from previous rates. +</p> + +<p> +It must not be supposed, however, that with the passage of these laws +it will be possible to stop progress along the line of increasing the +power of the National Government over the use of capital interstate +commerce. For example, there will ultimately be need of enlarging the +powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission along several different +lines, so as to give it a larger and more efficient control over the +railroads. +</p> + +<p> +It can not too often be repeated that experience has conclusively shown +the impossibility of securing by the actions of nearly half a hundred +different State legislatures anything but ineffective chaos in the way +of dealing with the great corporations which do not operate exclusively +within the limits of any one State. In some method, whether by a +national license law or in other fashion, we must exercise, and that at +an early date, a far more complete control than at present over these +great corporations--a control that will among other things prevent the +evils of excessive overcapitalization, and that will compel the +disclosure by each big corporation of its stockholders and of its +properties and business, whether owned directly or through subsidiary +or affiliated corporations. This will tend to put a stop to the +securing of inordinate profits by favored individuals at the expense +whether of the general public, the stockholders, or the wageworkers. +Our effort should be not so much to prevent consolidation as such, but +so to supervise and control it as to see that it results in no harm to +the people. The reactionary or ultraconservative apologists for the +misuse of wealth assail the effort to secure such control as a step +toward socialism. As a matter of fact it is these reactionaries and +ultraconservatives who are themselves most potent in increasing +socialistic feeling. One of the most efficient methods of averting the +consequences of a dangerous agitation, which is 80 per cent wrong, is +to remedy the 20 per cent of evil as to which the agitation is well +rounded. The best way to avert the very undesirable move for the +government ownership of railways is to secure by the Government on +behalf of the people as a whole such adequate control and regulation of +the great interstate common carriers as will do away with the evils +which give rise to the agitation against them. So the proper antidote +to the dangerous and wicked agitation against the men of wealth as such +is to secure by proper legislation and executive action the abolition +of the grave abuses which actually do obtain in connection with the +business use of wealth under our present system--or rather no +system--of failure to exercise any adequate control at all. Some +persons speak as if the exercise of such governmental control would do +away with the freedom of individual initiative and dwarf individual +effort. This is not a fact. It would be a veritable calamity to fail to +put a premium upon individual initiative, individual capacity and +effort; upon the energy, character, and foresight which it is so +important to encourage in the individual. But as a matter of fact the +deadening and degrading effect of pure socialism, and especially of its +extreme form communism, and the destruction of individual character +which they would bring about, are in part achieved by the wholly +unregulated competition which results in a single individual or +corporation rising at the expense of all others until his or its rise +effectually checks all competition and reduces former competitors to a +position of utter inferiority and subordination. +</p> + +<p> +In enacting and enforcing such legislation as this Congress already has +to its credit, we are working on a coherent plan, with the steady +endeavor to secure the needed reform by the joint action of the +moderate men, the plain men who do not wish anything hysterical or +dangerous, but who do intend to deal in resolute common-sense fashion +with the real and great evils of the present system. The reactionaries +and the violent extremists show symptoms of joining hands against us. +Both assert, for instance, that, if logical, we should go to government +ownership of railroads and the like; the reactionaries, because on such +an issue they think the people would stand with them, while the +extremists care rather to preach discontent and agitation than to +achieve solid results. As a matter of fact, our position is as remote +from that of the Bourbon reactionary as from that of the impracticable +or sinister visionary. We hold that the Government should not conduct +the business of the nation, but that it should exercise such +supervision as will insure its being conducted in the interest of the +nation. Our aim is, so far as may be, to secure, for all decent, hard +working men, equality of opportunity and equality of burden. +</p> + +<p> +The actual working of our laws has shown that the effort to prohibit +all combination, good or bad, is noxious where it is not ineffective. +Combination of capital like combination of labor is a necessary element +of our present industrial system. It is not possible completely to +prevent it; and if it were possible, such complete prevention would do +damage to the body politic. What we need is not vainly to try to +prevent all combination, but to secure such rigorous and adequate +control and supervision of the combinations as to prevent their +injuring the public, or existing in such form as inevitably to threaten +injury--for the mere fact that a combination has secured practically +complete control of a necessary of life would under any circumstances +show that such combination was to be presumed to be adverse to the +public interest. It is unfortunate that our present laws should forbid +all combinations, instead of sharply discriminating between those +combinations which do good and those combinations which do evil. +Rebates, for instance, are as often due to the pressure of big shippers +(as was shown in the investigation of the Standard Oil Company and as +has been shown since by the investigation of the tobacco and sugar +trusts) as to the initiative of big railroads. Often railroads would +like to combine for the purpose of preventing a big shipper from +maintaining improper advantages at the expense of small shippers and of +the general public. Such a combination, instead of being forbidden by +law, should be favored. In other words, it should be permitted to +railroads to make agreements, provided these agreements were sanctioned +by the Interstate Commerce Commission and were published. With these +two conditions complied with it is impossible to see what harm such a +combination could do to the public at large. It is a public evil to +have on the statute books a law incapable of full enforcement because +both judges and juries realize that its full enforcement would destroy +the business of the country; for the result is to make decent railroad +men violators of the law against their will, and to put a premium on +the behavior of the wilful wrongdoers. Such a result in turn tends to +throw the decent man and the wilful wrongdoer into close association, +and in the end to drag down the former to the latter's level; for the +man who becomes a lawbreaker in one way unhappily tends to lose all +respect for law and to be willing to break it in many ways. No more +scathing condemnation could be visited upon a law than is contained in +the words of the Interstate Commerce Commission when, in commenting +upon the fact that the numerous joint traffic associations do +technically violate the law, they say: "The decision of the United +States Supreme Court in the Trans-Missouri case and the Joint Traffic +Association case has produced no practical effect upon the railway +operations of the country. Such associations, in fact, exist now as +they did before these decisions, and with the same general effect. In +justice to all parties, we ought probably to add that it is difficult +to see how our interstate railways could be operated with due regard to +the interest of the shipper and the railway without concerted action of +the kind afforded through these associations." +</p> + +<p> +This means that the law as construed by the Supreme Court is such that +the business of the country can not be conducted without breaking it. I +recommend that you give careful and early consideration to this +subject, and if you find the opinion of the Interstate Commerce +Commission justified, that you amend the law so as to obviate the evil +disclosed. +</p> + +<p> +The question of taxation is difficult in any country, but it is +especially difficult in ours with its Federal system of government. +Some taxes should on every ground be levied in a small district for use +in that district. Thus the taxation of real estate is peculiarly one +for the immediate locality in which the real estate is found. Again, +there is no more legitimate tax for any State than a tax on the +franchises conferred by that State upon street railroads and similar +corporations which operate wholly within the State boundaries, +sometimes in one and sometimes in several municipalities or other minor +divisions of the State. But there are many kinds of taxes which can +only be levied by the General Government so as to produce the best +results, because, among other reasons, the attempt to impose them in +one particular State too often results merely in driving the +corporation or individual affected to some other locality or other +State. The National Government has long derived its chief revenue from +a tariff on imports and from an internal or excise tax. In addition to +these there is every reason why, when next our system of taxation is +revised, the National Government should impose a graduated inheritance +tax, and, if possible, a graduated income tax. The man of great wealth +owes a peculiar obligation to the State, because he derives special +advantages from the mere existence of government. Not only should he +recognize this obligation in the way he leads his daily life and in the +way he earns and spends his money, but it should also be recognized by +the way in which he pays for the protection the State gives him. On the +one hand, it is desirable that he should assume his full and proper +share of the burden of taxation; on the other hand, it is quite as +necessary that in this kind of taxation, where the men who vote the tax +pay but little of it, there should be clear recognition of the danger +of inaugurating any such system save in a spirit of entire justice and +moderation. Whenever we, as a people, undertake to remodel our taxation +system along the lines suggested, we must make it clear beyond +peradventure that our aim is to distribute the burden of supporting the +Government more equitably than at present; that we intend to treat rich +man and poor man on a basis of absolute equality, and that we regard it +as equally fatal to true democracy to do or permit injustice to the one +as to do or permit injustice to the other. +</p> + +<p> +I am well aware that such a subject as this needs long and careful +study in order that the people may become familiar with what is +proposed to be done, may clearly see the necessity of proceeding with +wisdom and self-restraint, and may make up their minds just how far +they are willing to go in the matter; while only trained legislators +can work out the project in necessary detail. But I feel that in the +near future our national legislators should enact a law providing for a +graduated inheritance tax by which a steadily increasing rate of duty +should be put upon all moneys or other valuables coming by gift, +bequest, or devise to any individual or corporation. It may be well to +make the tax heavy in proportion as the individual benefited is remote +of kin. In any event, in my judgment the pro rata of the tax should +increase very heavily with the increase of the amount left to any one +individual after a certain point has been reached. It is most desirable +to encourage thrift and ambition, and a potent source of thrift and +ambition is the desire on the part of the breadwinner to leave his +children well off. This object can be attained by making the tax very +small on moderate amounts of property left; because the prime object +should be to put a constantly increasing burden on the inheritance of +those swollen fortunes which it is certainly of no benefit to this +country to perpetuate. +</p> + +<p> +There can be no question of the ethical propriety of the Government +thus determining the conditions upon which any gift or inheritance +should be received. Exactly how far the inheritance tax would, as an +incident, have the effect of limiting the transmission by devise or +gift of the enormous fortunes in question it is not necessary at +present to discuss. It is wise that progress in this direction should +be gradual. At first a permanent national inheritance tax, while it +might be more substantial than any such tax has hitherto been, need not +approximate, either in amount or in the extent of the increase by +graduation, to what such a tax should ultimately be. +</p> + +<p> +This species of tax has again and again been imposed, although only +temporarily, by the National Government. It was first imposed by the +act of July 6, 1797, when the makers of the Constitution were alive and +at the head of affairs. It was a graduated tax; though small in amount, +the rate was increased with the amount left to any individual, +exceptions being made in the case of certain close kin. A similar tax +was again imposed by the act of July 1, 1862; a minimum sum of one +thousand dollars in personal property being excepted from taxation, the +tax then becoming progressive according to the remoteness of kin. The +war-revenue act of June 13, 1898, provided for an inheritance tax on +any sum exceeding the value of ten thousand dollars, the rate of the +tax increasing both in accordance with the amounts left and in +accordance with the legatee's remoteness of kin. The Supreme Court has +held that the succession tax imposed at the time of the Civil War was +not a direct tax but an impost or excise which was both constitutional +and valid. More recently the Court, in an opinion delivered by Mr. +Justice White, which contained an exceedingly able and elaborate +discussion of the powers of the Congress to impose death duties, +sustained the constitutionality of the inheritance-tax feature of the +war-revenue act of 1898. +</p> + +<p> +In its incidents, and apart from the main purpose of raising revenue, +an income tax stands on an entirely different footing from an +inheritance tax; because it involves no question of the perpetuation of +fortunes swollen to an unhealthy size. The question is in its essence a +question of the proper adjustment of burdens to benefits. As the law +now stands it is undoubtedly difficult to devise a national income tax +which shall be constitutional. But whether it is absolutely impossible +is another question; and if possible it is most certainly desirable. +The first purely income-tax law was past by the Congress in 1861, but +the most important law dealing with the subject was that of 1894. This +the court held to be unconstitutional. +</p> + +<p> +The question is undoubtedly very intricate, delicate, and troublesome. +The decision of the court was only reached by one majority. It is the +law of the land, and of course is accepted as such and loyally obeyed +by all good citizens. Nevertheless, the hesitation evidently felt by +the court as a whole in coming to a conclusion, when considered +together with the previous decisions on the subject, may perhaps +indicate the possibility of devising a constitutional income-tax law +which shall substantially accomplish the results aimed at. The +difficulty of amending the Constitution is so great that only real +necessity can justify a resort thereto. Every effort should be made in +dealing with this subject, as with the subject of the proper control by +the National Government over the use of corporate wealth in interstate +business, to devise legislation which without such action shall attain +the desired end; but if this fails, there will ultimately be no +alternative to a constitutional amendment. +</p> + +<p> +It would be impossible to overstate (though it is of course difficult +quantitatively to measure) the effect upon a nation's growth to +greatness of what may be called organized patriotism, which necessarily +includes the substitution of a national feeling for mere local pride; +with as a resultant a high ambition for the whole country. No country +can develop its full strength so long as the parts which make up the +whole each put a feeling of loyalty to the part above the feeling of +loyalty to the whole. This is true of sections and it is just as true +of classes. The industrial and agricultural classes must work together, +capitalists and wageworkers must work together, if the best work of +which the country is capable is to be done. It is probable that a +thoroughly efficient system of education comes next to the influence of +patriotism in bringing about national success of this kind. Our federal +form of government, so fruitful of advantage to our people in certain +ways, in other ways undoubtedly limits our national effectiveness. It +is not possible, for instance, for the National Government to take the +lead in technical industrial education, to see that the public school +system of this country develops on all its technical, industrial, +scientific, and commercial sides. This must be left primarily to the +several States. Nevertheless, the National Government has control of +the schools of the District of Columbia, and it should see that these +schools promote and encourage the fullest development of the scholars +in both commercial and industrial training. The commercial training +should in one of its branches deal with foreign trade. The industrial +training is even more important. It should be one of our prime objects +as a Nation, so far as feasible, constantly to work toward putting the +mechanic, the wageworker who works with his hands, on a higher plane of +efficiency and reward, so as to increase his effectiveness in the +economic world, and the dignity, the remuneration, and the power of his +position in the social world. Unfortunately, at present the effect of +some of the work in the public schools is in the exactly opposite +direction. If boys and girls are trained merely in literary +accomplishments, to the total exclusion of industrial, manual, and +technical training, the tendency is to unfit them for industrial work +and to make them reluctant to go into it, or unfitted to do well if +they do go into it. This is a tendency which should be strenuously +combated. Our industrial development depends largely upon technical +education, including in this term all industrial education, from that +which fits a man to be a good mechanic, a good carpenter, or +blacksmith, to that which fits a man to do the greatest engineering +feat. The skilled mechanic, the skilled workman, can best become such +by technical industrial education. The far-reaching usefulness of +institutes of technology and schools of mines or of engineering is now +universally acknowledged, and no less far--reaching is the effect of a +good building or mechanical trades school, a textile, or watch-making, +or engraving school. All such training must develop not only manual +dexterity but industrial intelligence. In international rivalry this +country does not have to fear the competition of pauper labor as much +as it has to fear the educated labor of specially trained competitors; +and we should have the education of the hand, eye, and brain which will +fit us to meet such competition. +</p> + +<p> +In every possible way we should help the wageworker who toils with his +hands and who must (we hope in a constantly increasing measure) also +toil with his brain. Under the Constitution the National Legislature +can do but little of direct importance for his welfare save where he is +engaged in work which permits it to act under the interstate commerce +clause of the Constitution; and this is one reason why I so earnestly +hope that both the legislative and judicial branches of the Government +will construe this clause of the Constitution in the broadest possible +manner. We can, however, in such a matter as industrial training, in +such a matter as child labor and factory laws, set an example to the +States by enacting the most advanced legislation that can wisely be +enacted for the District of Columbia. +</p> + +<p> +The only other persons whose welfare is as vital to the welfare of the +whole country as is the welfare of the wageworkers are the tillers of +the soil, the farmers. It is a mere truism to say that no growth of +cities, no growth of wealth, no industrial development can atone for +any falling off in the character and standing of the farming +population. During the last few decades this fact has been recognized +with ever-increasing clearness. There is no longer any failure to +realize that farming, at least in certain branches, must become a +technical and scientific profession. This means that there must be open +to farmers the chance for technical and scientific training, not +theoretical merely but of the most severely practical type. The farmer +represents a peculiarly high type of American citizenship, and he must +have the same chance to rise and develop as other American citizens +have. Moreover, it is exactly as true of the farmer, as it is of the +business man and the wageworker, that the ultimate success of the +Nation of which he forms a part must be founded not alone on material +prosperity but upon high moral, mental, and physical development. This +education of the farmer--self-education by preference but also +education from the outside, as with all other men--is peculiarly +necessary here in the United States, where the frontier conditions even +in the newest States have now nearly vanished, where there must be a +substitution of a more intensive system of cultivation for the old +wasteful farm management, and where there must be a better business +organization among the farmers themselves. +</p> + +<p> +Several factors must cooperate in the improvement of the farmer's +condition. He must have the chance to be educated in the widest +possible sense--in the sense which keeps ever in view the intimate +relationship between the theory of education and the facts of life. In +all education we should widen our aims. It is a good thing to produce a +certain number of trained scholars and students; but the education +superintended by the State must seek rather to produce a hundred good +citizens than merely one scholar, and it must be turned now and then +from the class book to the study of the great book of nature itself. +This is especially true of the farmer, as has been pointed out again +and again by all observers most competent to pass practical judgment on +the problems of our country life. All students now realize that +education must seek to train the executive powers of young people and +to confer more real significance upon the phrase "dignity of labor," +and to prepare the pupils so that, in addition to each developing in +the highest degree his individual capacity for work, they may together +help create a right public opinion, and show in many ways social and +cooperative spirit. Organization has become necessary in the business +world; and it has accomplished much for good in the world of labor. It +is no less necessary for farmers. Such a movement as the grange +movement is good in itself and is capable of a well-nigh infinite +further extension for good so long as it is kept to its own legitimate +business. The benefits to be derived by the association of farmers for +mutual advantage are partly economic and partly sociological. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, while in the long run voluntary efforts will prove more +efficacious than government assistance, while the farmers must +primarily do most for themselves, yet the Government can also do much. +The Department of Agriculture has broken new ground in many directions, +and year by year it finds how it can improve its methods and develop +fresh usefulness. Its constant effort is to give the governmental +assistance in the most effective way; that is, through associations of +farmers rather than to or through individual farmers. It is also +striving to coordinate its work with the agricultural departments of +the several States, and so far as its own work is educational to +coordinate it with the work of other educational authorities. +Agricultural education is necessarily based upon general education, but +our agricultural educational institutions are wisely specializing +themselves, making their courses relate to the actual teaching of the +agricultural and kindred sciences to young country people or young city +people who wish to live in the country. +</p> + +<p> +Great progress has already been made among farmers by the creation of +farmers' institutes, of dairy associations, of breeders' associations, +horticultural associations, and the like. A striking example of how the +Government and the farmers can cooperate is shown in connection with +the menace offered to the cotton growers of the Southern States by the +advance of the boll weevil. The Department is doing all it can to +organize the farmers in the threatened districts, just as it has been +doing all it can to organize them in aid of its work to eradicate the +cattle fever tick in the South. The Department can and will cooperate +with all such associations, and it must have their help if its own work +is to be done in the most efficient style. +</p> + +<p> +Much is now being done for the States of the Rocky Mountains and Great +Plains through the development of the national policy of irrigation and +forest preservation; no Government policy for the betterment of our +internal conditions has been more fruitful of good than this. The +forests of the White Mountains and Southern Appalachian regions should +also be preserved; and they can not be unless the people of the States +in which they lie, through their representatives in the Congress, +secure vigorous action by the National Government. +</p> + +<p> +I invite the attention of the Congress to the estimate of the Secretary +of War for an appropriation to enable him to begin the preliminary work +for the construction of a memorial amphitheater at Arlington. The Grand +Army of the Republic in its national encampment has urged the erection +of such an amphitheater as necessary for the proper observance Of +Memorial Day and as a fitting monument to the soldier and sailor dead +buried there. In this I heartily concur and commend the matter to the +favorable consideration of the Congress. +</p> + +<p> +I am well aware of how difficult it is to pass a constitutional +amendment. Nevertheless in my judgment the whole question of marriage +and divorce should be relegated to the authority of the National +Congress. At present the wide differences in the laws of the different +States on this subject result in scandals and abuses; and surely there +is nothing so vitally essential to the welfare of the nation, nothing +around which the nation should so bend itself to throw every safeguard, +as the home life of the average citizen. The change would be good from +every standpoint. In particular it would be good because it would +confer on the Congress the power at once to deal radically and +efficiently with polygamy; and this should be done whether or not +marriage and divorce are dealt with. It is neither safe nor proper to +leave the question of polygamy to be dealt with by the several States. +Power to deal with it should be conferred on the National Government. +</p> + +<p> +When home ties are loosened; when men and women cease to regard a +worthy family life, with all its duties fully performed, and all its +responsibilities lived up to, as the life best worth living; then evil +days for the commonwealth are at hand. There are regions in our land, +and classes of our population, where the birth rate has sunk below the +death rate. Surely it should need no demonstration to show that wilful +sterility is, from the standpoint of the nation, from the standpoint of +the human race, the one sin for which the penalty is national death, +race death; a sin for which there is no atonement; a sin which is the +more dreadful exactly in proportion as the men and women guilty thereof +are in other respects, in character, and bodily and mental powers, +those whom for the sake of the state it would be well to see the +fathers and mothers of many healthy children, well brought up in homes +made happy by their presence. No man, no woman, can shirk the primary +duties of life, whether for love of ease and pleasure, or for any other +cause, and retain his or her self-respect. +</p> + +<p> +Let me once again call the attention of the Congress to two subjects +concerning which I have frequently before communicated with them. One +is the question of developing American shipping. I trust that a law +embodying in substance the views, or a major part of the views, exprest +in the report on this subject laid before the House at its last session +will be past. I am well aware that in former years objectionable +measures have been proposed in reference to the encouragement of +American shipping; but it seems to me that the proposed measure is as +nearly unobjectionable as any can be. It will of course benefit +primarily our seaboard States, such as Maine, Louisiana, and +Washington; but what benefits part of our people in the end benefits +all; just as Government aid to irrigation and forestry in the West is +really of benefit, not only to the Rocky Mountain States, but to all +our country. If it prove impracticable to enact a law for the +encouragement of shipping generally, then at least provision should be +made for better communication with South America, notably for fast mail +lines to the chief South American ports. It is discreditable to us that +our business people, for lack of direct communication in the shape of +lines of steamers with South America, should in that great sister +continent be at a disadvantage compared to the business people of +Europe. +</p> + +<p> +I especially call your attention to the second subject, the condition +of our currency laws. The national bank act has ably served a great +purpose in aiding the enormous business development of the country; and +within ten years there has been an increase in circulation per capita +from $21.41 to $33.08. For several years evidence has been accumulating +that additional legislation is needed. The recurrence of each crop +season emphasizes the defects of the present laws. There must soon be a +revision of them, because to leave them as they are means to incur +liability of business disaster. Since your body adjourned there has +been a fluctuation in the interest on call money from 2 per cent to 30 +per cent; and the fluctuation was even greater during the preceding six +months. The Secretary of the Treasury had to step in and by wise action +put a stop to the most violent period of oscillation. Even worse than +such fluctuation is the advance in commercial rates and the uncertainty +felt in the sufficiency of credit even at high rates. All commercial +interests suffer during each crop period. Excessive rates for call +money in New York attract money from the interior banks into the +speculative field; this depletes the fund that would otherwise be +available for commercial uses, and commercial borrowers are forced to +pay abnormal rates; so that each fall a tax, in the shape of increased +interest charges, is placed on the whole commerce of the country. +</p> + +<p> +The mere statement of these has shows that our present system is +seriously defective. There is need of a change. Unfortunately, however, +many of the proposed changes must be ruled from consideration because +they are complicated, are not easy of comprehension, and tend to, +disturb existing rights and interests. We must also rule out any plan +which would materially impair the value of the United States 2 per cent +bonds now pledged to secure circulations, the issue of which was made +under conditions peculiarly creditable to the Treasury. I do not press +any especial plan. Various plans have recently been proposed by expert +committees of bankers. Among the plans which are possibly feasible and +which certainly should receive your consideration is that repeatedly +brought to your attention by the present Secretary of the Treasury, the +essential features of which have been approved by many prominent +bankers and business men. According to this plan national banks should +be permitted to issue a specified proportion of their capital in notes +of a given kind, the issue to be taxed at so high a rate as to drive +the notes back when not wanted in legitimate trade. This plan would not +permit the issue of currency to give banks additional profits, but to +meet the emergency presented by times of stringency. +</p> + +<p> +I do not say that this is the right system. I only advance it to +emphasize my belief that there is need for the adoption of some system +which shall be automatic and open to all sound banks, so as to avoid +all possibility of discrimination and favoritism. Such a plan would +tend to prevent the spasms of high money and speculation which now +obtain in the New York market; for at present there is too much +currency at certain seasons of the year, and its accumulation at New +York tempts bankers to lend it at low rates for speculative purposes; +whereas at other times when the crops are being moved there is urgent +need for a large but temporary increase in the currency supply. It must +never be forgotten that this question concerns business men generally +quite as much as bankers; especially is this true of stockmen, farmers, +and business men in the West; for at present at certain seasons of the +year the difference in interest rates between the East and the West is +from 6 to 10 per cent, whereas in Canada the corresponding difference +is but 2 per cent. Any plan must, of course, guard the interests of +western and southern bankers as carefully as it guards the interests of +New York or Chicago bankers; and must be drawn from the standpoints of +the farmer and the merchant no less than from the standpoints of the +city banker and the country banker. +</p> + +<p> +The law should be amended so as specifically to provide that the funds +derived from customs duties may be treated by the Secretary of the +Treasury as he treats funds obtained under the internal-revenue laws. +There should be a considerable increase in bills of small +denominations. Permission should be given banks, if necessary under +settled restrictions, to retire their circulation to a larger amount +than three millions a month. +</p> + +<p> +I most earnestly hope that the bill to provide a lower tariff for or +else absolute free trade in Philippine products will become a law. No +harm will come to any American industry; and while there will be some +small but real material benefit to the Filipinos, the main benefit will +come by the showing made as to our purpose to do all in our power for +their welfare. So far our action in the Philippines has been abundantly +justified, not mainly and indeed not primarily because of the added +dignity it has given us as a nation by proving that we are capable +honorably and efficiently to bear the international burdens which a +mighty people should bear, but even more because of the immense benefit +that has come to the people of the Philippine Islands. In these islands +we are steadily introducing both liberty and order, to a greater degree +than their people have ever before known. We have secured justice. We +have provided an efficient police force, and have put down ladronism. +Only in the islands of Leyte and Samar is the authority of our +Government resisted and this by wild mountain tribes under the +superstitious inspiration of fakirs and pseudo-religions leaders. We +are constantly increasing the measure of liberty accorded the +islanders, and next spring, if conditions warrant, we shall take a +great stride forward in testing their capacity for self-government by +summoning the first Filipino legislative assembly; and the way in which +they stand this test will largely determine whether the self-government +thus granted will be increased or decreased; for if we have erred at +all in the Philippines it has been in proceeding too rapidly in the +direction of granting a large measure of self-government. We are +building roads. We have, for the immeasurable good of the people, +arranged for the building of railroads. Let us also see to it that they +are given free access to our markets. This nation owes no more +imperative duty to itself and mankind than the duty of managing the +affairs of all the islands under the American flag--the Philippines, +Porto Rico, and Hawaii--so as to make it evident that it is in every +way to their advantage that the flag should fly over them. +</p> + +<p> +American citizenship should be conferred on the citizens of Porto Rico. +The harbor of San Juan in Porto Rico should be dredged and improved. +The expenses of the federal court of Porto Rico should be met from the +Federal Treasury. The administration of the affairs of Porto Rico, +together with those of the Philippines, Hawaii, and our other insular +possessions, should all be directed under one executive department; by +preference the Department of State or the Department of War. +</p> + +<p> +The needs of Hawaii are peculiar; every aid should be given the +islands; and our efforts should be unceasing to develop them along the +lines of a community of small freeholders, not of great planters with +coolie-tilled estates. Situated as this Territory is, in the middle of +the Pacific, there are duties imposed upon this small community which +do not fall in like degree or manner upon any other American community. +This warrants our treating it differently from the way in which we +treat Territories contiguous to or surrounded by sister Territories or +other States, and justifies the setting aside of a portion of our +revenues to be expended for educational and internal improvements +therein. Hawaii is now making an effort to secure immigration fit in +the end to assume the duties and burdens of full American citizenship, +and whenever the leaders in the various industries of those islands +finally adopt our ideals and heartily join our administration in +endeavoring to develop a middle class of substantial citizens, a way +will then be found to deal with the commercial and industrial problems +which now appear to them so serious. The best Americanism is that which +aims for stability and permanency of prosperous citizenship, rather +than immediate returns on large masses of capital. +</p> + +<p> +Alaska's needs have been partially met, but there must be a complete +reorganization of the governmental system, as I have before indicated +to you. I ask your especial attention to this. Our fellow-citizens who +dwell on the shores of Puget Sound with characteristic energy are +arranging to hold in Seattle the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition. Its +special aims include the upbuilding of Alaska and the development of +American commerce on the Pacific Ocean. This exposition, in its +purposes and scope, should appeal not only to the people of the Pacific +slope, but to the people of the United States at large. Alaska since it +was bought has yielded to the Government eleven millions of dollars of +revenue, and has produced nearly three hundred millions of dollars in +gold, furs, and fish. When properly developed it will become in large +degree a land of homes. The countries bordering the Pacific Ocean have +a population more numerous than that of all the countries of Europe; +their annual foreign commerce amounts to over three billions of +dollars, of which the share of the United States is some seven hundred +millions of dollars. If this trade were thoroughly understood and +pushed by our manufacturers and producers, the industries not only of +the Pacific slope, but of all our country, and particularly of our +cotton-growing States, would be greatly benefited. Of course, in order +to get these benefits, we must treat fairly the countries with which we +trade. +</p> + +<p> +It is a mistake, and it betrays a spirit of foolish cynicism, to +maintain that all international governmental action is, and must ever +be, based upon mere selfishness, and that to advance ethical reasons +for such action is always a sign of hypocrisy. This is no more +necessarily true of the action of governments than of the action of +individuals. It is a sure sign of a base nature always to ascribe base +motives for the actions of others. Unquestionably no nation can afford +to disregard proper considerations of self-interest, any more than a +private individual can so do. But it is equally true that the average +private individual in any really decent community does many actions +with reference to other men in which he is guided, not by +self-interest, but by public spirit, by regard for the rights of +others, by a disinterested purpose to do good to others, and to raise +the tone of the community as a whole. Similarly, a really great nation +must often act, and as a matter of fact often does act, toward other +nations in a spirit not in the least of mere self-interest, but paying +heed chiefly to ethical reasons; and as the centuries go by this +disinterestedness in international action, this tendency of the +individuals comprising a nation to require that nation to act with +justice toward its neighbors, steadily grows and strengthens. It is +neither wise nor right for a nation to disregard its own needs, and it +is foolish--and may be wicked--to think that other nations will +disregard theirs. But it is wicked for a nation only to regard its own +interest, and foolish to believe that such is the sole motive that +actuates any other nation. It should be our steady aim to raise the +ethical standard of national action just as we strive to raise the +ethical standard of individual action. +</p> + +<p> +Not only must we treat all nations fairly, but we must treat with +justice and good will all immigrants who come here under the law. +Whether they are Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile; whether they +come from England or Germany, Russia, Japan, or Italy, matters nothing. +All we have a right to question is the man's conduct. If he is honest +and upright in his dealings with his neighbor and with the State, then +he is entitled to respect and good treatment. Especially do we need to +remember our duty to the stranger within our gates. It is the sure mark +of a low civilization, a low morality, to abuse or discriminate against +or in any way humiliate such stranger who has come here lawfully and +who is conducting himself properly. To remember this is incumbent on +every American citizen, and it is of course peculiarly incumbent on +every Government official, whether of the nation or of the several +States. +</p> + +<p> +I am prompted to say this by the attitude of hostility here and there +assumed toward the Japanese in this country. This hostility is sporadic +and is limited to a very few places. Nevertheless, it is most +discreditable to us as a people, and it may be fraught with the gravest +consequences to the nation. The friendship between the United States +and Japan has been continuous since the time, over half a century ago, +when Commodore Perry, by his expedition to Japan, first opened the +islands to western civilization. Since then the growth of Japan has +been literally astounding. There is not only nothing to parallel it, +but nothing to approach it in the history of civilized mankind. Japan +has a glorious and ancient past. Her civilization is older than that of +the nations of northern Europe--the nations from whom the people of the +United States have chiefly sprung. But fifty years ago Japan's +development was still that of the Middle Ages. During that fifty years +the progress of the country in every walk in life has been a marvel to +mankind, and she now stands as one of the greatest of civilized +nations; great in the arts of war and in the arts of peace; great in +military, in industrial, in artistic development and achievement. +Japanese soldiers and sailors have shown themselves equal in combat to +any of whom history makes note. She has produced great generals and +mighty admirals; her fighting men, afloat and ashore, show all the +heroic courage, the unquestioning, unfaltering loyalty, the splendid +indifference to hardship and death, which marked the Loyal Ronins; and +they show also that they possess the highest ideal of patriotism. +Japanese artists of every kind see their products eagerly sought for in +all lands. The industrial and commercial development of Japan has been +phenomenal; greater than that of any other country during the same +period. At the same time the advance in science and philosophy is no +less marked. The admirable management of the Japanese Red Cross during +the late war, the efficiency and humanity of the Japanese officials, +nurses, and doctors, won the respectful admiration of all acquainted +with the facts. Through the Red Cross the Japanese people sent over +$100,000 to the sufferers of San Francisco, and the gift was accepted +with gratitude by our people. The courtesy of the Japanese, nationally +and individually, has become proverbial. To no other country has there +been such an increasing number of visitors from this land as to Japan. +In return, Japanese have come here in great numbers. They are welcome, +socially and intellectually, in all our colleges and institutions of +higher learning, in all our professional and social bodies. The +Japanese have won in a single generation the right to stand abreast of +the foremost and most enlightened peoples of Europe and America; they +have won on their own merits and by their own exertions the right to +treatment on a basis of full and frank equality. The overwhelming mass +of our people cherish a lively regard and respect for the people of +Japan, and in almost every quarter of the Union the stranger from Japan +is treated as he deserves; that is, he is treated as the stranger from +any part of civilized Europe is and deserves to be treated. But here +and there a most unworthy feeling has manifested itself toward the +Japanese--the feeling that has been shown in shutting them out from the +common schools in San Francisco, and in mutterings against them in one +or two other places, because of their efficiency as workers. To shut +them out from the public schools is a wicked absurdity, when there are +no first-class colleges in the land, including the universities and +colleges of California, which do not gladly welcome Japanese students +and on which Japanese students do not reflect credit. We have as much +to learn from Japan as Japan has to learn from us; and no nation is fit +to teach unless it is also willing to learn. Throughout Japan Americans +are well treated, and any failure on the part of Americans at home to +treat the Japanese with a like courtesy and consideration is by just so +much a confession of inferiority in our civilization. +</p> + +<p> +Our nation fronts on the Pacific, just as it fronts on the Atlantic. We +hope to play a constantly growing part in the great ocean of the +Orient. We wish, as we ought to wish, for a great commercial +development in our dealings with Asia; and it is out of the question +that we should permanently have such development unless we freely and +gladly extend to other nations the same measure of justice and good +treatment which we expect to receive in return. It is only a very small +body of our citizens that act badly. Where the Federal Government has +power it will deal summarily with any such. Where the several States +have power I earnestly ask that they also deal wisely and promptly with +such conduct, or else this small body of wrongdoers may bring shame +upon the great mass of their innocent and right-thinking fellows--that +is, upon our nation as a whole. Good manners should be an international +no less than an individual attribute. I ask fair treatment for the +Japanese as I would ask fair treatment for Germans or Englishmen, +Frenchmen, Russians, or Italians. I ask it as due to humanity and +civilization. I ask it as due to ourselves because we must act +uprightly toward all men. +</p> + +<p> +I recommend to the Congress that an act be past specifically providing +for the naturalization of Japanese who come here intending to become +American citizens. One of the great embarrassments attending the +performance of our international obligations is the fact that the +Statutes of the United States are entirely inadequate. They fail to +give to the National Government sufficiently ample power, through +United States courts and by the use of the Army and Navy, to protect +aliens in the rights secured to them under solemn treaties which are +the law of the land. I therefore earnestly recommend that the criminal +and civil statutes of the United States be so amended and added to as +to enable the President, acting for the United States Government, which +is responsible in our international relations, to enforce the rights of +aliens under treaties. Even as the law now is something can be done by +the Federal Government toward this end, and in the matter now before me +affecting the Japanese everything that it is in my power to do will be +done, and all of the forces, military and civil, of the United States +which I may lawfully employ will be so employed. There should, however, +be no particle of doubt as to the power of the National Government +completely to perform and enforce its own obligations to other nations. +The mob of a single city may at any time perform acts of lawless +violence against some class of foreigners which would plunge us into +war. That city by itself would be powerless to make defense against the +foreign power thus assaulted, and if independent of this Government it +would never venture to perform or permit the performance of the acts +complained of. The entire power and the whole duty to protect the +offending city or the offending community lies in the hands of the +United States Government. It is unthinkable that we should continue a +policy under which a given locality may be allowed to commit a crime +against a friendly nation, and the United States Government limited, +not to preventing the commission of the crime, but, in the last resort, +to defending the people who have committed it against the consequences +of their own wrongdoing. +</p> + +<p> +Last August an insurrection broke out in Cuba which it speedily grew +evident that the existing Cuban Government was powerless to quell. This +Government was repeatedly asked by the then Cuban Government to +intervene, and finally was notified by the President of Cuba that he +intended to resign; that his decision was irrevocable; that none of the +other constitutional officers would consent to carry on the Government, +and that he was powerless to maintain order. It was evident that chaos +was impending, and there was every probability that if steps were not +immediately taken by this Government to try to restore order the +representatives of various European nations in the island would apply +to their respective governments for armed intervention in order to +protect the lives and property of their citizens. Thanks to the +preparedness of our Navy, I was able immediately to send enough ships +to Cuba to prevent the situation from becoming hopeless; and I +furthermore dispatched to Cuba the Secretary of War and the Assistant +Secretary of State, in order that they might grapple with the situation +on the ground. All efforts to secure an agreement between the +contending factions, by which they should themselves come to an +amicable understanding and settle upon some modus vivendi--some +provisional government of their own--failed. Finally the President of +the Republic resigned. The quorum of Congress assembled failed by +deliberate purpose of its members, so that there was no power to act on +his resignation, and the Government came to a halt. In accordance with +the so-called Platt amendment, which was embodied in the constitution +of Cuba, I thereupon proclaimed a provisional government for the +island, the Secretary of War acting as provisional governor until he +could be replaced by Mr. Magoon, the late minister to Panama and +governor of the Canal Zone on the Isthmus; troops were sent to support +them and to relieve the Navy, the expedition being handled with most +satisfactory speed and efficiency. The insurgent chiefs immediately +agreed that their troops should lay down their arms and disband; and +the agreement was carried out. The provisional government has left the +personnel of the old government and the old laws, so far as might be, +unchanged, and will thus administer the island for a few months until +tranquillity can be restored, a new election properly held, and a new +government inaugurated. Peace has come in the island; and the +harvesting of the sugar-cane crop, the great crop of the island, is +about to proceed. +</p> + +<p> +When the election has been held and the new government inaugurated in +peaceful and orderly fashion the provisional government will come to an +end. I take this opportunity of expressing upon behalf of the American +people, with all possible solemnity, our most earnest hope that the +people of Cuba will realize the imperative need of preserving justice +and keeping order in the Island. The United States wishes nothing of +Cuba except that it shall prosper morally and materially, and wishes +nothing of the Cubans save that they shall be able to preserve order +among themselves and therefore to preserve their independence. If the +elections become a farce, and if the insurrectionary habit becomes +confirmed in the Island, it is absolutely out of the question that the +Island should continue independent; and the United States, which has +assumed the sponsorship before the civilized world for Cuba's career as +a nation, would again have to intervene and to see that the government +was managed in such orderly fashion as to secure the safety of life and +property. The path to be trodden by those who exercise self-government +is always hard, and we should have every charity and patience with the +Cubans as they tread this difficult path. I have the utmost sympathy +with, and regard for, them; but I most earnestly adjure them solemnly +to weigh their responsibilities and to see that when their new +government is started it shall run smoothly, and with freedom from +flagrant denial of right on the one hand, and from insurrectionary +disturbances on the other. +</p> + +<p> +The Second International Conference of American Republics, held in +Mexico in the years 1901-2, provided for the holding of the third +conference within five years, and committed the fixing of the time and +place and the arrangements for the conference to the governing board of +the Bureau of American Republics, composed of the representatives of +all the American nations in Washington. That board discharged the duty +imposed upon it with marked fidelity and painstaking care, and upon the +courteous invitation of the United States of Brazil the conference was +held at Rio de Janeiro, continuing from the 23d of July to the 29th of +August last. Many subjects of common interest to all the American +nations were discust by the conference, and the conclusions reached, +embodied in a series of resolutions and proposed conventions, will be +laid before you upon the coming in of the final report of the American +delegates. They contain many matters of importance relating to the +extension of trade, the increase of communication, the smoothing away +of barriers to free intercourse, and the promotion of a better +knowledge and good understanding between the different countries +represented. The meetings of the conference were harmonious and the +conclusions were reached with substantial unanimity. It is interesting +to observe that in the successive conferences which have been held the +representatives of the different American nations have been learning to +work together effectively, for, while the First Conference in +Washington in 1889, and the Second Conference in Mexico in 1901-2, +occupied many months, with much time wasted in an unregulated and +fruitless discussion, the Third Conference at Rio exhibited much of the +facility in the practical dispatch of business which characterizes +permanent deliberative bodies, and completed its labors within the +period of six weeks originally allotted for its sessions. +</p> + +<p> +Quite apart from the specific value of the conclusions reached by the +conference, the example of the representatives of all the American +nations engaging in harmonious and kindly consideration and discussion +of subjects of common interest is itself of great and substantial value +for the promotion of reasonable and considerate treatment of all +international questions. The thanks of this country are due to the +Government of Brazil and to the people of Rio de Janeiro for the +generous hospitality with which our delegates, in common with the +others, were received, entertained, and facilitated in their work. +</p> + +<p> +Incidentally to the meeting of the conference, the Secretary of State +visited the city of Rio de Janeiro and was cordially received by the +conference, of which he was made an honorary president. The +announcement of his intention to make this visit was followed by most +courteous and urgent invitations from nearly all the countries of South +America to visit them as the guest of their Governments. It was deemed +that by the acceptance of these invitations we might appropriately +express the real respect and friendship in which we hold our sister +Republics of the southern continent, and the Secretary, accordingly, +visited Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Panama, and Colombia. +He refrained from visiting Paraguay, Bolivia, and Ecuador only because +the distance of their capitals from the seaboard made it impracticable +with the time at his disposal. He carried with him a message of peace +and friendship, and of strong desire for good understanding and mutual +helpfulness; and he was everywhere received in the spirit of his +message. The members of government, the press, the learned professions, +the men of business, and the great masses of the people united +everywhere in emphatic response to his friendly expressions and in +doing honor to the country and cause which he represented. +</p> + +<p> +In many parts of South America there has been much misunderstanding of +the attitude and purposes of the United States towards the other +American Republics. An idea had become prevalent that our assertion of +the Monroe Doctrine implied, or carried with it, an assumption of +superiority, and of a right to exercise some kind of protectorate over +the countries to whose territory that doctrine applies. Nothing could +be farther from the truth. Yet that impression continued to be a +serious barrier to good understanding, to friendly intercourse, to the +introduction of American capital and the extension of American trade. +The impression was so widespread that apparently it could not be +reached by any ordinary means. +</p> + +<p> +It was part of Secretary Root's mission to dispel this unfounded +impression, and there is just cause to believe that he has succeeded. +In an address to the Third Conference at Rio on the 31st of July--an +address of such note that I send it in, together with this message--he +said: +</p> + +<p> +"We wish for no victories but those of peace; for no territory except +our own; for no sovereignty except the sovereignty over ourselves. We +deem the independence and equal rights of the smallest and weakest +member of the family of nations entitled to as much respect as those of +the greatest empire, and we deem the observance of that respect the +chief guaranty of the weak against the oppression of the strong. We +neither claim nor desire any rights or privileges or powers that we do +not freely concede to every American Republic. We wish to increase our +prosperity, to extend our trade, to grow in wealth, in wisdom, and in +spirit, but our conception of the true way to accomplish this is not to +pull down others and profit by their ruin, but to help all friends to a +common prosperity and a common growth, that we may all become greater +and stronger together. Within a few months for the first time the +recognized possessors of every foot of soil upon the American +continents can be and I hope will be represented with the acknowledged +rights of equal sovereign states in the great World Congress at The +Hague. This will be the world's formal and final acceptance of the +declaration that no part of the American continents is to be deemed +subject to colonization. Let us pledge ourselves to aid each other in +the full performance of the duty to humanity which that accepted +declaration implies, so that in time the weakest and most unfortunate +of our Republics may come to march with equal step by the side of the +stronger and more fortunate. Let us help each other to show that for +all the races of men the liberty for which we have fought and labored +is the twin sister of justice and peace. Let us unite in creating and +maintaining and making effective an all-American public opinion, whose +power shall influence international conduct and prevent international +wrong, and narrow the causes of war, and forever preserve our free +lands from the burden of such armaments as are massed behind the +frontiers of Europe, and bring us ever nearer to the perfection of +ordered liberty. So shall come security and prosperity, production and +trade, wealth, learning, the arts, and happiness for us all." +</p> + +<p> +These words appear to have been received with acclaim in every part of +South America. They have my hearty approval, as I am sure they will +have yours, and I can not be wrong in the conviction that they +correctly represent the sentiments of the whole American people. I can +not better characterize the true attitude of the United States in its +assertion of the Monroe Doctrine than in the words of the distinguished +former minister of foreign affairs of Argentina, Doctor Drago, in his +speech welcoming Mr. Root at Buenos Ayres. He spoke of-- +</p> + +<p> +"The traditional policy of the United States (which) without +accentuating superiority or seeking preponderance, condemned the +oppression of the nations of this part of the world and the control of +their destinies by the great Powers of Europe." +</p> + +<p> +It is gratifying to know that in the great city of Buenos Ayres, upon +the arches which spanned the streets, entwined with Argentine and +American flags for the reception of our representative, there were +emblazoned not' only the names of Washington and Jefferson and +Marshall, but also, in appreciative recognition of their services to +the cause of South American independence, the names of James Monroe, +John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Richard Rush. We take especial +pleasure in the graceful courtesy of the Government of Brazil, which +has given to the beautiful and stately building first used for the +meeting of the conference the name of "Palacio Monroe." Our grateful +acknowledgments are due to the Governments and the people of all the +countries visited by the Secretary of State for the courtesy, the +friendship, and the honor shown to our country in their generous +hospitality to him. +</p> + +<p> +In my message to you on the 5th of December, 1905, I called your +attention to the embarrassment that might be caused to this Government +by the assertion by foreign nations of the right to collect by force of +arms contract debts due by American republics to citizens of the +collecting nation, and to the danger that the process of compulsory +collection might result in the occupation of territory tending to +become permanent. I then said: +</p> + +<p> +"Our own Government has always refused to enforce such contractual +obligations on behalf of its citizens by an appeal to arms. It is much +to be wisht that all foreign governments would take the same view." +</p> + +<p> +This subject was one of the topics of consideration at the conference +at Rio and a resolution was adopted by that conference recommending to +the respective governments represented "to consider the advisability of +asking the Second Peace Conference at The Hague to examine the question +of the compulsory collection of public debts, and, in general, means +tending to diminish among nations conflicts of purely pecuniary +origin." +</p> + +<p> +This resolution was supported by the representatives of the United +States in accordance with the following instructions: +</p> + +<p> +"It has long been the established policy of the United States not to +use its armed forces for the collection of ordinary contract debts due +to its citizens by other governments. We have not considered the use of +force for such a purpose consistent with that respect for the +independent sovereignty of other members of the family of nations which +is the most important principle of international law and the chief +protection of weak nations against the oppression of the strong. It +seems to us that the practise is injurious in its general effect upon +the relations of nations and upon the welfare of weak and disordered +states, whose development ought to be encouraged in the interests of +civilization; that it offers frequent temptation to bullying and +oppression and to unnecessary and unjustifiable warfare. We regret that +other powers, whose opinions and sense of justice we esteem highly, +have at times taken a different view and have permitted themselves, +though we believe with reluctance, to collect such debts by force. It +is doubtless true that the non-payment of public debts may be +accompanied by such circumstances of fraud and wrongdoing or violation +of treaties as to justify the use of force. This Government would be +glad to see an international consideration of the subject which shall +discriminate between such cases and the simple nonperformance of a +contract with a private person, and a resolution in favor of reliance +upon peaceful means in cases of the latter class. +</p> + +<p> +"It is not felt, however, that the conference at Rio should undertake +to make such a discrimination or to resolve upon such a rule. Most of +the American countries are still debtor nations, while the countries of +Europe are the creditors. If the Rio conference, therefore, were to +take such action it would have the appearance of a meeting of debtors +resolving how their creditors should act, and this would not inspire +respect. The true course is indicated by the terms of the program, +which proposes to request the Second Hague Conference, where both +creditors and debtors will be assembled, to consider the subject." +</p> + +<p> +Last June trouble which had existed for some time between the Republics +of Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras culminated in war--a war which +threatened to be ruinous to the countries involved and very destructive +to the commercial interests of Americans, Mexicans, and other +foreigners who are taking an important part in the development of these +countries. The thoroughly good understanding which exists between the +United States and Mexico enabled this Government and that of Mexico to +unite in effective mediation between the warring Republics; which +mediation resulted, not without long-continued and patient effort, in +bringing about a meeting of the representatives of the hostile powers +on board a United States warship as neutral territory, and peace was +there concluded; a peace which resulted in the saving of thousands of +lives and in the prevention of an incalculable amount of misery and the +destruction of property and of the means of livelihood. The Rio +Conference past the following resolution in reference to this action: +</p> + +<p> +"That the Third International American Conference shall address to the +Presidents of the United States of America and of the United States of +Mexico a note in which the conference which is being held at Rio +expresses its satisfaction at the happy results of their mediation for +the celebration of peace between the Republics of Guatemala, Honduras, +and Salvador." +</p> + +<p> +This affords an excellent example of one way in which the influence of +the United States can properly be exercised for the benefit of the +peoples of the Western Hemisphere; that is, by action taken in concert +with other American republics and therefore free from those suspicions +and prejudices which might attach if the action were taken by one +alone. In this way it is possible to exercise a powerful influence +toward the substitution of considerate action in the spirit of justice +for the insurrectionary or international violence which has hitherto +been so great a hindrance to the development of many of our neighbors. +Repeated examples of united action by several or many American +republics in favor of peace, by urging cool and reasonable, instead of +excited and belligerent, treatment of international controversies, can +not fail to promote the growth of a general public opinion among the +American nations which will elevate the standards of international +action, strengthen the sense of international duty among governments, +and tell in favor of the peace of mankind. +</p> + +<p> +I have just returned from a trip to Panama and shall report to you at +length later on the whole subject of the Panama Canal. +</p> + +<p> +The Algeciras Convention, which was signed by the United States as well +as by most of the powers of Europe, supersedes the previous convention +of 1880, which was also signed both by the United States and a majority +of the European powers. This treaty confers upon us equal commercial +rights with all European countries and does not entail a single +obligation of any kind upon us, and I earnestly hope it may be speedily +ratified. To refuse to ratify it would merely mean that we forfeited +our commercial rights in Morocco and would not achieve another object +of any kind. In the event of such refusal we would be left for the +first time in a hundred and twenty years without any commercial treaty +with Morocco; and this at a time when we are everywhere seeking new +markets and outlets for trade. +</p> + +<p> +The destruction of the Pribilof Islands fur seals by pelagic sealing +still continues. The herd which, according to the surveys made in 1874 +by direction of the Congress, numbered 4,700,000, and which, according +to the survey of both American and Canadian commissioners in 1891, +amounted to 1,000,000, has now been reduced to about 180,000. This +result has been brought about by Canadian and some other sealing +vessels killing the female seals while in the water during their annual +pilgrimage to and from the south, or in search of food. As a rule the +female seal when killed is pregnant, and also has an unweaned pup on +land, so that, for each skin taken by pelagic sealing, as a rule, three +lives are destroyed--the mother, the unborn offspring, and the nursing +pup, which is left to starve to death. No damage whatever is done to +the herd by the carefully regulated killing on land; the custom of +pelagic sealing is solely responsible for all of the present evil, and +is alike indefensible from the economic standpoint and from the +standpoint of humanity. +</p> + +<p> +In 1896 over 16,000 young seals were found dead from starvation on the +Pribilof Islands. In 1897 it was estimated that since pelagic sealing +began upward of 400,000 adult female seals had been killed at sea, and +over 300,000 young seals had died of starvation as the result. The +revolting barbarity of such a practise, as well as the wasteful +destruction which it involves, needs no demonstration and is its own +condemnation. The Bering Sea Tribunal, which sat in Paris in 1893, and +which decided against the claims of the United States to exclusive +jurisdiction in the waters of Bering Sea and to a property right in the +fur seals when outside of the three-mile limit, determined also upon +certain regulations which the Tribunal considered sufficient for the +proper protection and preservation of the fur seal in, or habitually +resorting to, the Bering Sea. The Tribunal by its regulations +established a close season, from the 1st of May to the 31st of July, +and excluded all killing in the waters within 60 miles around the +Pribilof Islands. They also provided that the regulations which they +had determined upon, with a view to the protection and preservation of +the seals, should be submitted every five years to new examination, so +as to enable both interested Governments to consider whether, in the +light of past experience, there was occasion for any modification +thereof. +</p> + +<p> +The regulations have proved plainly inadequate to accomplish the object +of protection and preservation of the fur seals, and for a long time +this Government has been trying in vain to secure from Great Britain +such revision and modification of the regulations as were contemplated +and provided for by the award of the Tribunal of Paris. +</p> + +<p> +The process of destruction has been accelerated during recent years by +the appearance of a number of Japanese vessels engaged in pelagic +sealing. As these vessels have not been bound even by the inadequate +limitations prescribed by the Tribunal of Paris, they have paid no +attention either to the close season or to the sixty-mile limit imposed +upon the Canadians, and have prosecuted their work up to the very +islands themselves. On July 16 and 17 the crews from several Japanese +vessels made raids upon the island of St. Paul, and before they were +beaten off by the very meager and insufficiently armed guard, they +succeeded in killing several hundred seals and carrying off the skins +of most of them. Nearly all the seals killed were females and the work +was done with frightful barbarity. Many of the seals appear to have +been skinned alive and many were found half skinned and still alive. +The raids were repelled only by the use of firearms, and five of the +raiders were killed, two were wounded, and twelve captured, including +the two wounded. Those captured have since been tried and sentenced to +imprisonment. An attack of this kind had been wholly unlookt for, but +such provision of vessels, arms, and ammunition will now be made that +its repetition will not be found profitable. +</p> + +<p> +Suitable representations regarding the incident have been made to the +Government of Japan, and we are assured that all practicable measures +will be taken by that country to prevent any recurrence of the outrage. +On our part, the guard on the island will be increased and better +equipped and organized, and a better revenue-cutter patrol service +about the islands will be established; next season a United States war +vessel will also be sent there. +</p> + +<p> +We have not relaxed our efforts to secure an agreement with Great +Britain for adequate protection of the seal herd, and negotiations with +Japan for the same purpose are in progress. +</p> + +<p> +The laws for the protection of the seals within the jurisdiction of the +United States need revision and amendment. Only the islands of St. Paul +and St. George are now, in terms, included in the Government +reservation, and the other islands are also to be included. The landing +of aliens as well as citizens upon the islands, without a permit from +the Department of Commerce and Labor, for any purpose except in case of +stress of weather or for water, should be prohibited under adequate +penalties. The approach of vessels for the excepted purposes should be +regulated. The authority of the Government agents on the islands should +be enlarged, and the chief agent should have the powers of a committing +magistrate. The entrance of a vessel into the territorial waters +surrounding the islands with intent to take seals should be made a +criminal offense and cause of forfeiture. Authority for seizures in +such cases should be given and the presence on any such vessel of seals +or sealskins, or the paraphernalia for taking them, should be made +prima facie evidence of such intent. I recommend what legislation is +needed to accomplish these ends; and I commend to your attention the +report of Mr. Sims, of the Department of Commerce and Labor, on this +subject. +</p> + +<p> +In case we are compelled to abandon the hope of making arrangements +with other governments to put an end to the hideous cruelty now +incident to pelagic sealing, it will be a question for your serious +consideration how far we should continue to protect and maintain the +seal herd on land with the result of continuing such a practise, and +whether it is not better to end the practice by exterminating the herd +ourselves in the most humane way possible. +</p> + +<p> +In my last message I advised you that the Emperor of Russia had taken +the initiative in bringing about a second peace conference at The +Hague. Under the guidance of Russia the arrangement of the +preliminaries for such a conference has been progressing during the +past year. Progress has necessarily been slow, owing to the great +number of countries to be consulted upon every question that has +arisen. It is a matter of satisfaction that all of the American +Republics have now, for the first time, been invited to join in the +proposed conference. +</p> + +<p> +The close connection between the subjects to be taken up by the Red +Cross Conference held at Geneva last summer and the subjects which +naturally would come before The Hague Conference made it apparent that +it was desirable to have the work of the Red Cross Conference completed +and considered by the different powers before the meeting at The Hague. +The Red Cross Conference ended its labors on the 6th day of July, and +the revised and amended convention, which was signed by the American +delegates, will be promptly laid before the Senate. +</p> + +<p> +By the special and highly appreciated courtesy of the Governments of +Russia and the Netherlands, a proposal to call The Hague Conference +together at a time which would conflict with the Conference of the +American Republics at Rio de Janeiro in August was laid aside. No other +date has yet been suggested. A tentative program for the conference has +been proposed by the Government of Russia, and the subjects which it +enumerates are undergoing careful examination and consideration in +preparation for the conference. +</p> + +<p> +It must ever be kept in mind that war is not merely justifiable, but +imperative, upon honorable men, upon an honorable nation, where peace +can only be obtained by the sacrifice of conscientious conviction or of +national welfare. Peace is normally a great good, and normally it +coincides with righteousness; but it is righteousness and not peace +which should bind the conscience of a nation as it should bind the +conscience of an individual; and neither a nation nor an individual can +surrender conscience to another's keeping. Neither can a nation, which +is an entity, and which does not die as individuals die, refrain from +taking thought for the interest of the generations that are to come, no +less than for the interest of the generation of to-day; and no public +men have a right, whether from shortsightedness, from selfish +indifference, or from sentimentality, to sacrifice national interests +which are vital in character. A just war is in the long run far better +for a nation's soul than the most prosperous peace obtained by +acquiescence in wrong or injustice. Moreover, though it is criminal for +a nation not to prepare for war, so that it may escape the dreadful +consequences of being defeated in war, yet it must always be remembered +that even to be defeated in war may be far better than not to have +fought at all. As has been well and finely said, a beaten nation is not +necessarily a disgraced nation; but the nation or man is disgraced if +the obligation to defend right is shirked. +</p> + +<p> +We should as a nation do everything in our power for the cause of +honorable peace. It is morally as indefensible for a nation to commit a +wrong upon another nation, strong or weak, as for an individual thus to +wrong his fellows. We should do all in our power to hasten the day when +there shall be peace among the nations--a peace based upon justice and +not upon cowardly submission to wrong. We can accomplish a good deal in +this direction, but we can not accomplish everything, and the penalty +of attempting to do too much would almost inevitably be to do worse +than nothing; for it must be remembered that fantastic extremists are +not in reality leaders of the causes which they espouse, but are +ordinarily those who do most to hamper the real leaders of the cause +and to damage the cause itself. As yet there is no likelihood of +establishing any kind of international power, of whatever sort, which +can effectively check wrongdoing, and in these circumstances it would +be both a foolish and an evil thing for a great and free nation to +deprive itself of the power to protect its own rights and even in +exceptional cases to stand up for the rights of others. Nothing would +more promote iniquity, nothing would further defer the reign upon earth +of peace and righteousness, than for the free and enlightened peoples +which, though with much stumbling and many shortcomings, nevertheless +strive toward justice, deliberately to render themselves powerless +while leaving every despotism and barbarism armed and able to work +their wicked will. The chance for the settlement of disputes +peacefully, by arbitration, now depends mainly upon the possession by +the nations that mean to do right of sufficient armed strength to make +their purpose effective. +</p> + +<p> +The United States Navy is the surest guarantor of peace which this +country possesses. It is earnestly to be wisht that we would profit by +the teachings of history in this matter. A strong and wise people will +study its own failures no less than its triumphs, for there is wisdom +to be learned from the study of both, of the mistake as well as of the +success. For this purpose nothing could be more instructive than a +rational study of the war of 1812, as it is told, for instance, by +Captain Mahan. There was only one way in which that war could have been +avoided. If during the preceding twelve years a navy relatively as +strong as that which this country now has had been built up, and an +army provided relatively as good as that which the country now has, +there never would have been the slightest necessity of fighting the +war; and if the necessity had arisen the war would under such +circumstances have ended with our speedy and overwhelming triumph. But +our people during those twelve years refused to make any preparations +whatever, regarding either the Army or the Navy. They saved a million +or two of dollars by so doing; and in mere money paid a hundredfold for +each million they thus saved during the three years of war which +followed--a war which brought untold suffering upon our people, which +at one time threatened the gravest national disaster, and which, in +spite of the necessity of waging it, resulted merely in what was in +effect a drawn battle, while the balance of defeat and triumph was +almost even. +</p> + +<p> +I do not ask that we continue to increase our Navy. I ask merely that +it be maintained at its present strength; and this can be done only if +we replace the obsolete and outworn ships by new and good ones, the +equals of any afloat in any navy. To stop building ships for one year +means that for that year the Navy goes back instead of forward. The old +battle ship Texas, for instance, would now be of little service in a +stand-up fight with a powerful adversary. The old double-turret +monitors have outworn their usefulness, while it was a waste of money +to build the modern single-turret monitors. All these ships should be +replaced by others; and this can be done by a well-settled program of +providing for the building each year of at least one first-class battle +ship equal in size and speed to any that any nation is at the same time +building; the armament presumably to consist of as large a number as +possible of very heavy guns of one caliber, together with smaller guns +to repel torpedo attack; while there should be heavy armor, turbine +engines, and in short, every modern device. Of course, from time to +time, cruisers, colliers, torpedo-boat destroyers or torpedo boats, +Will have to be built also. All this, be it remembered, would not +increase our Navy, but would merely keep it at its present strength. +Equally of course, the ships will be absolutely useless if the men +aboard them are not so trained that they can get the best possible +service out of the formidable but delicate and complicated mechanisms +intrusted to their care. The marksmanship of our men has so improved +during the last five years that I deem it within bounds to say that the +Navy is more than twice as efficient, ship for ship, as half a decade +ago. The Navy can only attain proper efficiency if enough officers and +men are provided, and if these officers and men are given the chance +(and required to take advantage of it) to stay continually at sea and +to exercise the fleets singly and above all in squadron, the exercise +to be of every kind and to include unceasing practise at the guns, +conducted under conditions that will test marksmanship in time of war. +</p> + +<p> +In both the Army and the Navy there is urgent need that everything +possible should be done to maintain the highest standard for the +personnel, alike as regards the officers and the enlisted men. I do not +believe that in any service there is a finer body of enlisted men and +of junior officer than we have in both the Army and the Navy, including +the Marine Corps. All possible encouragement to the enlisted men should +be given, in pay and otherwise, and everything practicable done to +render the service attractive to men of the right type. They should be +held to the strictest discharge of their duty, and in them a spirit +should be encouraged which demands not the mere performance of duty, +but the performance of far more than duty, if it conduces to the honor +and the interest of the American nation; and in return the amplest +consideration should be theirs. +</p> + +<p> +West Point and Annapolis already turn out excellent officers. We do not +need to have these schools made more scholastic. On the contrary we +should never lose sight of the fact that the aim of each school is to +turn out a man who shall be above everything else a fighting man. In +the Army in particular it is not necessary that either the cavalry or +infantry officer should have special mathematical ability. Probably in +both schools the best part of the education is the high standard of +character and of professional morale which it confers. +</p> + +<p> +But in both services there is urgent need for the establishment of a +principle of selection which will eliminate men after a certain age if +they can not be promoted from the subordinate ranks, and which will +bring into the higher ranks fewer men, and these at an earlier age. +This principle of selection will be objected to by good men of mediocre +capacity, who are fitted to do well while young in the lower positions, +but who are not fitted to do well when at an advanced age they come +into positions of command and of great responsibility. But the desire +of these men to be promoted to positions which they are not competent +to fill should not weigh against the interest of the Navy and the +country. At present our men, especially in the Navy, are kept far too +long in the junior grades, and then, at much too advanced an age, are +put quickly through the senior grades, often not attaining to these +senior grades until they are too old to be of real use in them; and if +they are of real use, being put through them so quickly that little +benefit to the Navy comes from their having been in them at all. +</p> + +<p> +The Navy has one great advantage over the Army in the fact that the +officers of high rank are actually trained in the continual performance +of their duties; that is, in the management of the battle ships and +armored cruisers gathered into fleets. This is not true of the army +officers, who rarely have corresponding chances to exercise command +over troops under service conditions. The conduct of the Spanish war +showed the lamentable loss of life, the useless extravagance, and the +inefficiency certain to result, if during peace the high officials of +the War and Navy Departments are praised and rewarded only if they save +money at no matter what cost to the efficiency of the service, and if +the higher officers are given no chance whatever to exercise and +practise command. For years prior to the Spanish war the Secretaries of +War were praised chiefly if they practised economy; which economy, +especially in connection with the quartermaster, commissary, and +medical departments, was directly responsible for most of the +mismanagement that occurred in the war itself--and parenthetically be +it observed that the very people who clamored for the misdirected +economy in the first place were foremost to denounce the mismanagement, +loss, and suffering which were primarily due to this same misdirected +economy and to the lack of preparation it involved. There should soon +be an increase in the number of men for our coast defenses; these men +should be of the right type and properly trained; and there should +therefore be an increase of pay for certain skilled grades, especially +in the coast artillery. Money should be appropriated to permit troops +to be massed in body and exercised in maneuvers, particularly in +marching. Such exercise during the summer just past has been of +incalculable benefit to the Army and should under no circumstances be +discontinued. If on these practise marches and in these maneuvers +elderly officers prove unable to bear the strain, they should be +retired at once, for the fact is conclusive as to their unfitness for +war; that is, for the only purpose because of which they should be +allowed to stay in the service. It is a real misfortune to have scores +of small company or regimental posts scattered throughout the country; +the Army should be gathered in a few brigade or division posts; and the +generals should be practised in handling the men in masses. Neglect to +provide for all of this means to incur the risk of future disaster and +disgrace. +</p> + +<p> +The readiness and efficiency of both the Army and Navy in dealing with +the recent sudden crisis in Cuba illustrate afresh their value to the +Nation. This readiness and efficiency would have been very much less +had it not been for the existence of the General Staff in the Army and +the General Board in the Navy; both are essential to the proper +development and use of our military forces afloat and ashore. The +troops that were sent to Cuba were handled flawlessly. It was the +swiftest mobilization and dispatch of troops over sea ever accomplished +by our Government. The expedition landed completely equipped and ready +for immediate service, several of its organizations hardly remaining in +Havana over night before splitting up into detachments and going to +their several posts, It was a fine demonstration of the value and +efficiency of the General Staff. Similarly, it was owing in large part +to the General Board that the Navy was able at the outset to meet the +Cuban crisis with such instant efficiency; ship after ship appearing on +the shortest notice at any threatened point, while the Marine Corps in +particular performed indispensable service. The Army and Navy War +Colleges are of incalculable value to the two services, and they +cooperate with constantly increasing efficiency and importance. +</p> + +<p> +The Congress has most wisely provided for a National Board for the +promotion of rifle practise. Excellent results have already come from +this law, but it does not go far enough. Our Regular Army is so small +that in any great war we should have to trust mainly to volunteers; and +in such event these volunteers should already know how to shoot; for if +a soldier has the fighting edge, and ability to take care of himself in +the open, his efficiency on the line of battle is almost directly +Proportionate to excellence in marksmanship. We should establish +shooting galleries in all the large public and military schools, should +maintain national target ranges in different parts of the country, and +should in every way encourage the formation of rifle clubs throughout +all parts of the land. The little Republic of Switzerland offers us an +excellent example in all matters connected with building up an +efficient citizen soldiery. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3"> +*** +</p> + +<p><a id="dec1907"></a></p> + +<p class="noindent"> +State of the Union Address<br /> +Theodore Roosevelt<br /> +December 3, 1907<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To the Senate and House of Representatives: +</p> + +<p> +No nation has greater resources than ours, and I think it can be +truthfully said that the citizens of no nation possess greater energy +and industrial ability. In no nation are the fundamental business +conditions sounder than in ours at this very moment; and it is foolish, +when such is the case, for people to hoard money instead of keeping it +in sound banks; for it is such hoarding that is the immediate occasion +of money stringency. Moreover, as a rule, the business of our people is +conducted with honesty and probity, and this applies alike to farms and +factories, to railroads and banks, to all our legitimate commercial +enterprises. +</p> + +<p> +In any large body of men, however, there are certain to be some who are +dishonest, and if the conditions are such that these men prosper or +commit their misdeeds with impunity, their example is a very evil thing +for the community. Where these men are business men of great sagacity +and of temperament both unscrupulous and reckless, and where the +conditions are such that they act without supervision or control and at +first without effective check from public opinion, they delude many +innocent people into making investments or embarking in kinds of +business that are really unsound. When the misdeeds of these +successfully dishonest men are discovered, suffering comes not only +upon them, but upon the innocent men whom they have misled. It is a +painful awakening, whenever it occurs; and, naturally, when it does +occur those who suffer are apt to forget that the longer it was +deferred the more painful it would be. In the effort to punish the +guilty it is both wise and proper to endeavor so far as possible to +minimize the distress of those who have been misled by the guilty. Yet +it is not possible to refrain because of such distress from striving to +put an end to the misdeeds that are the ultimate causes of the +suffering, and, as a means to this end, where possible to punish those +responsible for them. There may be honest differences of opinion as to +many governmental policies; but surely there can be no such differences +as to the need of unflinching perseverance in the war against +successful dishonesty. +</p> + +<p> +In my Message to the Congress on December 5, 1905, I said: +</p> + +<p> +"If the folly of man mars the general well-being, then those who are +innocent of the folly will have to pay part of the penalty incurred by +those who are guilty of the folly. A panic brought on by the +speculative folly of part of the business community would hurt the +whole business community; but such stoppage of welfare, though it might +be severe, would not be lasting. In the long run, the one vital factor +in the permanent prosperity of the country is the high individual +character of the average American worker, the average American citizen, +no matter whether his work be mental or manual, whether he be farmer or +wage-worker, business man or professional man. +</p> + +<p> +"In our industrial and social system the interests of all men are so +closely intertwined that in the immense majority of cases a +straight-dealing man, who by his efficiency, by his ingenuity and +industry, benefits himself, must also benefit others. Normally, the man +of great productive capacity who becomes rich by guiding the labor of +many other men does so by enabling them to produce more than they could +produce without his guidance; and both he and they share in the +benefit, which comes also to the public at large. The superficial fact +that the sharing may be unequal must never blind us to the underlying +fact that there is this sharing, and that the benefit comes in some +degree to each man concerned.. Normally, the wageworker, the man of +small means, and the average consumer, as well as the average producer, +are all alike helped by making conditions such that the man of +exceptional business ability receives an exceptional reward for his +ability Something can be done by legislation to help the general +prosperity; but no such help of a permanently beneficial character can +be given to the less able and less fortunate save as the results of a +policy which shall inure to the advantage of all industrious and +efficient people who act decently; and this is only another way of +saying that any benefit which comes to the less able and less fortunate +must of necessity come even more to the more able and more fortunate. +If, therefore, the less fortunate man is moved by envy of his more +fortunate brother to strike at the conditions under which they have +both, though unequally, prospered, the result will assuredly be that +while damage may come to the one struck at, it will visit with an even +heavier load the one who strikes the blow. Taken as a whole, we must +all go up or go down together. +</p> + +<p> +"Yet, while not merely admitting, but insisting upon this, it is also +true that where there is no governmental restraint or supervision some +of the exceptional men use their energies, not in ways that are for the +common good, but in ways which tell against this common good. The +fortunes amassed through corporate organization are now so large, and +vest such power in those that wield them, as to make it a matter of +necessity to give to the sovereign--that is, to the Government, which +represents the people as a whole--some effective power of supervision +over their corporate use. In order to insure a healthy social and +industrial life, every big corporation should be held responsible by, +and be accountable to, some sovereign strong enough to control its +conduct. I am in no sense hostile to corporations. This is an age of +combination, and any effort to prevent all combination will be not only +useless, but in the end vicious, because of the contempt for law which +the failure to enforce law inevitably produces. We should, moreover, +recognize in cordial and ample fashion the immense good effected by +corporate agencies in a country such as ours, and the wealth of +intellect, energy, and fidelity devoted to their service, and therefore +normally to the service of the public, by their officers and directors. +The corporation has come to stay, just as the trade union has come to +stay. Each can do and has done great good. Each should be favored so +long as it does good. But each should be sharply checked where it acts +against law and justice. +</p> + +<p> +"The makers of our National Constitution provided especially that the +regulation of interstate commerce should come within the sphere of the +General Government. The arguments in favor of their taking this stand +were even then overwhelming. But they are far stronger to-day, in view +of the enormous development of great business agencies, usually +corporate in form. Experience has shown conclusively that it is useless +to try to get any adequate regulation and supervision of these great +corporations by State action. Such regulation and supervision can only +be effectively exercised by a sovereign whose jurisdiction is +coextensive with the field of work of the corporations--that is, by the +National Government. I believe that this regulation and supervision can +be obtained by the enactment of law by the Congress. Our steady aim +should be by legislation, cautiously and carefully undertaken, but +resolutely persevered in, to assert the sovereignty of the National +Government by affirmative action. +</p> + +<p> +"This is only in form an innovation. In substance it is merely a +restoration; for from the earliest time such regulation of industrial +activities has been recognized in the action of the lawmaking bodies; +and all that I propose is to meet the changed conditions in such manner +as will prevent the Commonwealth abdicating the power it has always +possessed, not only in this country, but also in England before and +since this country became a separate nation. +</p> + +<p> +"It has been a misfortune that the National laws on this subject have +hitherto been of a negative or prohibitive rather than an affirmative +kind, and still more that they have in part sought to prohibit what +could not be effectively prohibited, and have in part in their +prohibitions confounded what should be allowed and what should not be +allowed. It is generally useless to try to prohibit all restraint on +competition, whether this restraint be reasonable or unreasonable; and +where it is not useless it is generally hurtful. The successful +prosecution of one device to evade the law immediately develops another +device to accomplish the same purpose. What is needed is not sweeping +prohibition of every arrangement, good or bad, which may tend to +restrict competition, but such adequate supervision and regulation as +will prevent any restriction of competition from being to the detriment +of the public, as well as such supervision and regulation as will +prevent other abuses in no way connected with restriction of +competition." +</p> + +<p> +I have called your attention in these quotations to what I have already +said because I am satisfied that it is the duty of the National +Government to embody in action the principles thus expressed. +</p> + +<p> +No small part of the trouble that we have comes from carrying to an +extreme the national virtue of self-reliance, of independence in +initiative and action. It is wise to conserve this virtue and to +provide for its fullest exercise, compatible with seeing that liberty +does not become a liberty to wrong others. Unfortunately, this is the +kind of liberty that the lack of all effective regulation inevitably +breeds. The founders of the Constitution provided that the National +Government should have complete and sole control of interstate +commerce. There was then practically no interstate business save such +as was conducted by water, and this the National Government at once +proceeded to regulate in thoroughgoing and effective fashion. +Conditions have now so wholly changed that the interstate commerce by +water is insignificant compared with the amount that goes by land, and +almost all big business concerns are now engaged in interstate +commerce. As a result, it can be but partially and imperfectly +controlled or regulated by the action of any one of the several States; +such action inevitably tending to be either too drastic or else too +lax, and in either case ineffective for purposes of justice. Only the +National Government can in thoroughgoing fashion exercise the needed +control. This does not mean that there should be any extension of +Federal authority, for such authority already exists under the +Constitution in amplest and most far-reaching form; but it does mean +that there should be an extension of Federal activity. This is not +advocating centralization. It is merely looking facts in the face, and +realizing that centralization in business has already come and can not +be avoided or undone, and that the public at large can only protect +itself from certain evil effects of this business centralization by +providing better methods for the exercise of control through the +authority already centralized in the National Government by the +Constitution itself. There must be no ball in the healthy constructive +course of action which this Nation has elected to pursue, and has +steadily pursued, during the last six years, as shown both in the +legislation of the Congress and the administration of the law by the +Department of Justice. The most vital need is in connection with the +railroads. As to these, in my judgment there should now be either a +national incorporation act or a law licensing railway companies to +engage in interstate commerce upon certain conditions. The law should +be so framed as to give to the Interstate Commerce Commission power to +pass upon the future issue of securities, while ample means should be +provided to enable the Commission, whenever in its judgment it is +necessary, to make a physical valuation of any railroad. As I stated in +my Message to the Congress a year ago, railroads should be given power +to enter into agreements, subject to these agreements being made public +in minute detail and to the consent of the Interstate Commerce +Commission being first obtained. Until the National Government assumes +proper control of interstate commerce, in the exercise of the authority +it already possesses, it will be impossible either to give to or to get +from the railroads full justice. The railroads and all other great +corporations will do well to recognize that this control must come; the +only question is as to what governmental body can most wisely exercise +it. The courts will determine the limits within which the Federal +authority can exercise it, and there will still remain ample work +within each State for the railway commission of that State; and the +National Interstate Commerce Commission will work in harmony with the +several State commissions, each within its own province, to achieve the +desired end. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, in my judgment there should be additional legislation looking +to the proper control of the great business concerns engaged in +interstate business, this control to be exercised for their own benefit +and prosperity no less than for the protection of investors and of the +general public. As I have repeatedly said in Messages to the Congress +and elsewhere, experience has definitely shown not merely the unwisdom +but the futility of endeavoring to put a stop to all business +combinations. Modern industrial conditions are such that combination is +not only necessary but inevitable. It is so in the world of business +just as it is so in the world of labor, and it is as idle to desire to +put an end to all corporations, to all big combinations of capital, as +to desire to put an end to combinations of labor. Corporation and labor +union alike have come to stay. Each if properly managed is a source of +good and not evil. Whenever in either there is evil, it should be +promptly held to account; but it should receive hearty encouragement so +long as it is properly managed. It is profoundly immoral to put or keep +on the statute books a law, nominally in the interest of public +morality that really puts a premium upon public immorality, by +undertaking to forbid honest men from doing what must be done under +modern business conditions, so that the law itself provides that its +own infraction must be the condition precedent upon business success. +To aim at the accomplishment of too much usually means the +accomplishment of too little, and often the doing of positive damage. +In my Message to the Congress a year ago, in speaking of the antitrust +laws, I said: +</p> + +<p> +"The actual working of our laws has shown that the effort to prohibit +all combination, good or bad, is noxious where it is not ineffective. +Combination of capital, like combination of labor, is a necessary +element in our present industrial system. It is not possible completely +to prevent it; and if it were possible, such complete prevention would +do damage to the body politic. What we need is not vainly to try to +prevent all combination, but to secure such rigorous and adequate +control and supervision of the combinations as to prevent their +injuring the public, or existing in such forms as inevitably to +threaten injury. It is unfortunate that our present laws should forbid +all combinations instead of sharply discriminating between those +combinations which do evil. Often railroads would like to combine for +the purpose of preventing a big shipper from maintaining improper +advantages at the expense of small shippers and of the general public. +Such a combination, instead of being forbidden by law, should be +favored. It is a public evil to have on the statute books a law +incapable of full enforcement, because both judges and juries realize +that its full enforcement would destroy the business of the country; +for the result is to make decent men violators of the law against their +will, and to put a premium on the behavior of the willful wrongdoers. +Such a result in turn tends to throw the decent man and the willful +wrongdoer into close association, and in the end to drag down the +former to the latter's level; for the man who becomes a lawbreaker in +one way unhappily tends to lose all respect for law and to be willing +to break it in many ways. No more scathing condemnation could be +visited upon a law than is contained in the words of the Interstate +Commerce Commission when, in commenting upon the fact that the numerous +joint traffic associations do technically violate the law, they say: +The decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Trans-Missouri +case and the Joint Traffic Association case has produced no practical +effect upon the railway operations of the country. Such associations, +in fact, exist now as they did before these decisions, and with the +same general effect. In justice to all parties, we ought probably to +add that it is difficult to see how our interstate railways could be +operated with due regard to the interest of the shipper and the railway +without concerted action of the kind afforded through these +associations. +</p> + +<p> +"This means that the law as construed by the Supreme Court is such that +the business of the country can not be conducted without breaking it." +</p> + +<p> +As I have elsewhere said: +</p> + +<p> +"All this is substantially what I have said over and over again. Surely +it ought not to be necessary to say that it in no shape or way +represents any hostility to corporations as such. On the contrary, it +means a frank recognition of the fact that combinations of capital, +like combinations of labor, are a natural result of modern conditions +and of our National development. As far as in my ability lies my +endeavor is and will be to prevent abuse of power by either and to +favor both so long as they do well. The aim of the National Government +is quite as much to favor and protect honest corporations, honest +business men of wealth, as to bring to justice those individuals and +corporations representing dishonest methods. Most certainly there will +be no relaxation by the Government authorities in the effort to get at +any great railroad wrecker--any man who by clever swindling devices +robs investors, oppresses wage-workers, and does injustice to the +general public. But any such move as this is in the interest of honest +railway operators, of honest corporations, and of those who, when they +invest their small savings in stocks and bonds, wish to be assured that +these will represent money honestly expended for legitimate business +purposes. To confer upon the National Government the power for which I +ask would be a check upon overcapitalization and upon the clever +gamblers who benefit by overcapitalization. But it alone would mean an +increase in the value, an increase in the safety of the stocks and +bonds of law-abiding, honestly managed railroads, and would render it +far easier to market their securities. I believe in proper publicity. +There has been complaint of some of the investigations recently carried +on, but those who complain should put the blame where it belongs--upon +the misdeeds which are done in darkness and not upon the investigations +which brought them to light. The Administration is responsible for +turning on the light, but it is not responsible for what the light +showed. I ask for full power to be given the Federal Government, +because no single State can by legislation effectually cope with these +powerful corporations engaged in interstate commerce, and, while doing +them full justice, exact from them in return full justice to others. +The conditions of railroad activity, the conditions of our immense +interstate commerce, are such as to make the Central Government alone +competent to exercise full supervision and control. +</p> + +<p> +"The grave abuses in individual cases of railroad management in the +past represent wrongs not merely to the general public, but, above all, +wrongs to fair-dealing and honest corporations and men of wealth, +because they excite a popular anger and distrust which from the very +nature of the case tends to include in the sweep of its resentment good +and bad alike. From the standpoint of the public I can not too +earnestly say that as soon as the natural and proper resentment aroused +by these abuses becomes indiscriminate and unthinking, it also becomes +not merely unwise and unfair, but calculated to defeat the very ends +which those feeling it have in view. There has been plenty of dishonest +work by corporations in the past. There will not be the slightest +let-up in the effort to hunt down and punish every dishonest man. But +the bulk of our business is honestly done. In the natural indignation +the people feel over the dishonesty, it is essential that they should +not lose their heads and get drawn into an indiscriminate raid upon all +corporations, all people of wealth, whether they do well or ill. Out of +any such wild movement good will not come, can not come, and never has +come. On the contrary, the surest way to invite reaction is to follow +the lead of either demagogue or visionary in a sweeping assault upon +property values and upon public confidence, which would work +incalculable damage in the business world and would produce such +distrust of the agitators that in the revulsion the distrust would +extend to honest men who, in sincere and same fashion, are trying to +remedy the evils." +</p> + +<p> +The antitrust law should not be repealed; but it should be made both +more efficient and more in harmony with actual conditions. It should be +so amended as to forbid only the kind of combination which does harm to +the general public, such amendment to be accompanied by, or to be an +incident of, a grant of supervisory power to the Government over these +big concerns engaged in interstate business. This should be accompanied +by provision for the compulsory publication of accounts and the +subjection of books and papers to the inspection of the Government +officials. A beginning has already been made for such supervision by +the establishment of the Bureau of Corporations. +</p> + +<p> +The antitrust law should not prohibit combinations that do no injustice +to the public, still less those the existence of which is on the whole +of benefit to the public. But even if this feature of the law were +abolished, there would remain as an equally objectionable feature the +difficulty and delay now incident to its enforcement. The Government +must now submit to irksome and repeated delay before obtaining a final +decision of the courts upon proceedings instituted, and even a +favorable decree may mean an empty victory. Moreover, to attempt to +control these corporations by lawsuits means to impose upon both the +Department of Justice and the courts an impossible burden; it is not +feasible to carry on more than a limited number of such suits. Such a +law to be really effective must of course be administered by an +executive body, and not merely by means of lawsuits. The design should +be to prevent the abuses incident to the creation of unhealthy and +improper combinations, instead of waiting until they are in existence +and then attempting to destroy them by civil or criminal proceedings. +</p> + +<p> +A combination should not be tolerated if it abuse the power acquired by +combination to the public detriment. No corporation or association of +any kind should be permitted to engage in foreign or interstate +commerce that is formed for the purpose of, or whose operations create, +a monopoly or general control of the production, sale, or distribution +of any one or more of the prime necessities of life or articles of +general use and necessity. Such combinations are against public policy; +they violate the common law; the doors of the courts are closed to +those who are parties to them, and I believe the Congress can close the +channels of interstate commerce against them for its protection. The +law should make its prohibitions and permissions as clear and definite +as possible, leaving the least possible room for arbitrary action, or +allegation of such action, on the part of the Executive, or of +divergent interpretations by the courts. Among the points to be aimed +at should be the prohibition of unhealthy competition, such as by +rendering service at an actual loss for the purpose of crushing out +competition, the prevention of inflation of capital, and the +prohibition of a corporation's making exclusive trade with itself a +condition of having any trade with itself. Reasonable agreements +between, or combinations of, corporations should be permitted, provided +they are submitted to and approved by some appropriate Government body. +</p> + +<p> +The Congress has the power to charter corporations to engage in +interstate and foreign commerce, and a general law can be enacted under +the provisions of which existing corporations could take out Federal +charters and new Federal corporations could be created. An essential +provision of such a law should be a method of predetermining by some +Federal board or commission whether the applicant for a Federal charter +was an association or combination within the restrictions of the +Federal law. Provision should also be made for complete publicity in +all matters affecting the public and complete protection to the +investing public and the shareholders in the matter of issuing +corporate securities. If an incorporation law is not deemed advisable, +a license act for big interstate corporations might be enacted; or a +combination of the two might be tried. The supervision established +might be analogous to that now exercised over national banks. At least, +the antitrust act should be supplemented by specific prohibitions of +the methods which experience has shown have been of most service in +enabling monopolistic combinations to crush out competition. The real +owners of a corporation should be compelled to do business in their own +name. The right to hold stock in other corporations should hereafter be +denied to interstate corporations, unless on approval by the Government +officials, and a prerequisite to such approval should be the listing +with the Government of all owners and stockholders, both by the +corporation owning such stock and by the corporation in which such +stock is owned. +</p> + +<p> +To confer upon the National Government, in connection with the +amendment I advocate in the antitrust law, power of supervision over +big business concerns engaged in interstate commerce, would benefit +them as it has benefited the national banks. In the recent business +crisis it is noteworthy that the institutions which failed were +institutions which were not under the supervision and control of the +National Government. Those which were under National control stood the +test. +</p> + +<p> +National control of the kind above advocated would be to the benefit of +every well-managed railway. From the standpoint of the public there is +need for additional tracks, additional terminals, and improvements in +the actual handling of the railroads, and all this as rapidly as +possible. Ample, safe, and speedy transportation facilities are even +more necessary than cheap transportation. Therefore, there is need for +the investment of money which will provide for all these things while +at the same time securing as far as is possible better wages and +shorter hours for their employees. Therefore, while there must be just +and reasonable regulation of rates, we should be the first to protest +against any arbitrary and unthinking movement to cut them down without +the fullest and most careful consideration of all interests concerned +and of the actual needs of the situation. Only a special body of men +acting for the National Government under authority conferred upon it by +the Congress is competent to pass judgment on such a matter. +</p> + +<p> +Those who fear, from any reason, the extension of Federal activity will +do well to study the history not only of the national banking act but +of the pure-food law, and notably the meat inspection law recently +enacted. The pure-food law was opposed so violently that its passage +was delayed for a decade; yet it has worked unmixed and immediate good. +The meat inspection law was even more violently assailed; and the same +men who now denounce the attitude of the National Government in seeking +to oversee and control the workings of interstate common carriers and +business concerns, then asserted that we were "discrediting and ruining +a great American industry." Two years have not elapsed, and already it +has become evident that the great benefit the law confers upon the +public is accompanied by an equal benefit to the reputable packing +establishments. The latter are better off under the law than they were +without it. The benefit to interstate common carriers and business +concerns from the legislation I advocate would be equally marked. +</p> + +<p> +Incidentally, in the passage of the pure-food law the action of the +various State food and dairy commissioners showed in striking fashion +how much good for the whole people results from the hearty cooperation +of the Federal and State officials in securing a given reform. It is +primarily to the action of these State commissioners that we owe the +enactment of this law; for they aroused the people, first to demand the +enactment and enforcement of State laws on the subject, and then the +enactment of the Federal law, without which the State laws were largely +ineffective. There must be the closest cooperation between the National +and State governments in administering these laws. +</p> + +<p> +In my Message to the Congress a year ago I spoke as follows of the +currency: +</p> + +<p> +"I especially call your attention to the condition of our currency +laws. The national-bank act has ably served a great purpose in aiding +the enormous business development of the country, and within ten years +there has been an increase in circulation per capita from $21.41 to +$33.08. For several years evidence has been accumulating that +additional legislation is needed. The recurrence of each crop season +emphasizes the defects of the present laws. There must soon be a +revision of them, because to leave them as they are means to incur +liability of business disaster. Since your body adjourned there has +been a fluctuation in the interest on call money from 2 per cent to 30 +percent, and the fluctuation was even greater during the preceding six +months. The Secretary of the Treasury had to step in and by wise action +put a stop to the most violent period of oscillation. Even worse than +such fluctuation is the advance in commercial rates and the uncertainty +felt in the sufficiency of credit even at high rates. All commercial +interests suffer during each crop period. Excessive rates for call +money in New York attract money from the interior banks into the +speculative field. This depletes the fund that would otherwise be +available for commercial uses, and commercial borrowers are forced to +pay abnormal rates, so that each fall a tax, in the shape of increased +interest charges, is placed on the whole commerce of the country. +</p> + +<p> +"The mere statement of these facts shows that our present system is +seriously defective. There is need of a change. Unfortunately, however, +many of the proposed changes must be ruled from consideration because +they are complicated, are not easy of comprehension, and tend to +disturb existing rights and interests. We must also rule out any plan +which would materially impair the value of the United States 2 per cent +bonds now pledged to secure circulation, the issue of which was made +under conditions peculiarly creditable to the Treasury. I do not press +any especial plan. Various plans have recently been proposed by expert +committees of bankers. Among the plans which are possibly feasible and +which certainly should receive your consideration is that repeatedly +brought to your attention by the present Secretary of the Treasury, the +essential features of which have been approved by many prominent +bankers and business men. According to this plan national banks should +be permitted to issue a specified proportion of their capital in notes +of a given kind, the issue to be taxed at so high a rate as to drive +the notes back when not wanted in legitimate trade. This plan would not +permit the issue of currency to give banks additional profits, but to +meet the emergency presented by times of stringency. +</p> + +<p> +"I do not say that this is the right system. I only advance it to +emphasize my belief that there is need for the adoption of some system +which shall be automatic and open to all sound banks, so as to avoid +all possibility of discrimination and favoritism. Such a plan would +tend to prevent the spasms of high money and speculation which now +obtain in the New York market; for at present there is too much +currency at certain seasons of the year, and its accumulation at New +York tempts bankers to lend it at low rates for speculative purposes; +whereas at other times when the crops are being moved there is urgent +need for a large but temporary increase in the currency supply. It must +never be forgotten that this question concerns business men generally +quite as much as bankers; especially is this true of stockmen, farmers, +and business men in the West; for at present at certain seasons of the +year the difference in interest rates between the East and the West is +from 6 to 10 per cent, whereas in Canada the corresponding difference +is but 2 per cent. Any plan must, of course, guard the interests of +western and southern bankers as carefully as it guards the interests of +New York or Chicago bankers, and must be drawn from the standpoints of +the farmer and the merchant no less than from the standpoints of the +city banker and the country banker." +</p> + +<p> +I again urge on the Congress the need of immediate attention to this +matter. We need a greater elasticity in our currency; provided, of +course, that we recognize the even greater need of a safe and secure +currency. There must always be the most rigid examination by the +National authorities. Provision should be made for an emergency +currency. The emergency issue should, of course, be made with an +effective guaranty, and upon conditions carefully prescribed by the +Government. Such emergency issue must be based on adequate securities +approved by the Government, and must be issued under a heavy tax. This +would permit currency being issued when the demand for it was urgent, +while securing its requirement as the demand fell off. It is worth +investigating to determine whether officers and directors of national +banks should ever be allowed to loan to themselves. Trust companies +should be subject to the same supervision as banks; legislation to this +effect should be enacted for the District of Columbia and the +Territories. +</p> + +<p> +Yet we must also remember that even the wisest legislation on the +subject can only accomplish a certain amount. No legislation can by any +possibility guarantee the business community against the results of +speculative folly any more than it can guarantee an individual against +the results of his extravagance. When an individual mortgages his house +to buy an automobile he invites disaster; and when wealthy men, or men +who pose as such, or are unscrupulously or foolishly eager to become +such, indulge in reckless speculation--especially if it is accompanied +by dishonesty--they jeopardize not only their own future but the future +of all their innocent fellow-citizens, for the expose the whole +business community to panic and distress. +</p> + +<p> +The income account of the Nation is in a most satisfactory condition. +For the six fiscal years ending with the 1st of July last, the total +expenditures and revenues of the National Government, exclusive of the +postal revenues and expenditures, were, in round numbers, revenues, +$3,465,000,0000, and expenditures, $3,275,000,000. The net excess of +income over expenditures, including in the latter the fifty millions +expended for the Panama Canal, was one hundred and ninety million +dollars for the six years, an average of about thirty-one millions a +year. This represents an approximation between income and outgo which +it would be hard to improve. The satisfactory working of the present +tariff law has been chiefly responsible for this excellent showing. +Nevertheless, there is an evident and constantly growing feeling among +our people that the time is rapidly approaching when our system of +revenue legislation must be revised. +</p> + +<p> +This country is definitely committed to the protective system and any +effort to uproot it could not but cause widespread industrial disaster. +In other words, the principle of the present tariff law could not with +wisdom be changed. But in a country of such phenomenal growth as ours +it is probably well that every dozen years or so the tariff laws should +be carefully scrutinized so as to see that no excessive or improper +benefits are conferred thereby, that proper revenue is provided, and +that our foreign trade is encouraged. There must always be as a minimum +a tariff which will not only allow for the collection of an ample +revenue but which will at least make good the difference in cost of +production here and abroad; that is, the difference in the labor cost +here and abroad, for the well-being of the wage-worker must ever be a +cardinal point of American policy. The question should be approached +purely from a business standpoint; both the time and the manner of the +change being such as to arouse the minimum of agitation and disturbance +in the business world, and to give the least play for selfish and +factional motives. The sole consideration should be to see that the sum +total of changes represents the public good. This means that the +subject can not with wisdom be dealt with in the year preceding a +Presidential election, because as a matter of fact experience has +conclusively shown that at such a time it is impossible to get men to +treat it from the standpoint of the public good. In my judgment the +wise time to deal with the matter is immediately after such election. +</p> + +<p> +When our tax laws are revised the question of an income tax and an +inheritance tax should receive the careful attention of our +legislators. In my judgment both of these taxes should be part of our +system of Federal taxation. I speak diffidently about the income tax +because one scheme for an income tax was declared unconstitutional by +the Supreme Court; while in addition it is a difficult tax to +administer in its practical working, and great care would have to be +exercised to see that it was not evaded by the very men whom it was +most desirable to have taxed, for if so evaded it would, of course, be +worse than no tax at all; as the least desirable of all taxes is the +tax which bears heavily upon the honest as compared with the dishonest +man. Nevertheless, a graduated income tax of the proper type would be a +desirable feature of Federal taxation, and it is to be hoped that one +may be devised which the Supreme Court will declare constitutional. The +inheritance tax, however, is both a far better method of taxation, and +far more important for the purpose of having the fortunes of the +country bear in proportion to their increase in size a corresponding +increase and burden of taxation. The Government has the absolute right +to decide as to the terms upon which a man shall receive a bequest or +devise from another, and this point in the devolution of property is +especially appropriate for the imposition of a tax. Laws imposing such +taxes have repeatedly been placed upon the National statute books and +as repeatedly declared constitutional by the courts; and these laws +contained the progressive principle, that is, after a certain amount is +reached the bequest or gift, in life or death, is increasingly burdened +and the rate of taxation is increased in proportion to the remoteness +of blood of the man receiving the bequest. These principles are +recognized already in the leading civilized nations of the world. In +Great Britain all the estates worth $5,000 or less are practically +exempt from death duties, while the increase is such that when an +estate exceeds five millions of dollars in value and passes to a +distant kinsman or stranger in blood the Government receives all told +an amount equivalent to nearly a fifth of the whole estate. In France +so much of an inheritance as exceeds $10,000,000 pays over a fifth to +the State if it passes to a distant relative. The German law is +especially interesting to us because it makes the inheritance tax an +imperial measure while allotting to the individual States of the Empire +a portion of the proceeds and permitting them to impose taxes in +addition to those imposed by the Imperial Government. Small +inheritances are exempt, but the tax is so sharply progressive that +when the inheritance is still not very large, provided it is not an +agricultural or a forest land, it is taxed at the rate of 25 per cent +if it goes to distant relatives. There is no reason why in the United +States the National Government should not impose inheritance taxes in +addition to those imposed by the States, and when we last had an +inheritance tax about one-half of the States levied such taxes +concurrently with the National Government, making a combined maximum +rate, in some cases as high as 25 per cent. The French law has one +feature which is to be heartily commended. The progressive principle is +so applied that each higher rate is imposed only on the excess above +the amount subject to the next lower rate; so that each increase of +rate will apply only to a certain amount above a certain maximum. The +tax should if possible be made to bear more heavily upon those residing +without the country than within it. A heavy progressive tax upon a very +large fortune is in no way such a tax upon thrift or industry as a like +would be on a small fortune. No advantage comes either to the country +as a whole or to the individuals inheriting the money by permitting the +transmission in their entirety of the enormous fortunes which would be +affected by such a tax; and as an incident to its function of revenue +raising, such a tax would help to preserve a measurable equality of +opportunity for the people of the generations growing to manhood. We +have not the slightest sympathy with that socialistic idea which would +try to put laziness, thriftlessness and inefficiency on a par with +industry, thrift and efficiency; which would strive to break up not +merely private property, but what is far more important, the home, the +chief prop upon which our whole civilization stands. Such a theory, if +ever adopted, would mean the ruin of the entire country--a ruin which +would bear heaviest upon the weakest, upon those least able to shift +for themselves. But proposals for legislation such as this herein +advocated are directly opposed to this class of socialistic theories. +Our aim is to recognize what Lincoln pointed out: The fact that there +are some respects in which men are obviously not equal; but also to +insist that there should be an equality of self-respect and of mutual +respect, an equality of rights before the law, and at least an +approximate equality in the conditions under which each man obtains the +chance to show the stuff that is in him when compared to his fellows. +</p> + +<p> +A few years ago there was loud complaint that the law could not be +invoked against wealthy offenders. There is no such complaint now. The +course of the Department of Justice during the last few years has been +such as to make it evident that no man stands above the law, that no +corporation is so wealthy that it can not be held to account. The +Department of Justice has been as prompt to proceed against the +wealthiest malefactor whose crime was one of greed and cunning as to +proceed against the agitator who incites to brutal violence. Everything +that can be done under the existing law, and with the existing state of +public opinion, which so profoundly influences both the courts and +juries, has been done. But the laws themselves need strengthening in +more than one important point; they should be made more definite, so +that no honest man can be led unwittingly to break them, and so that +the real wrongdoer can be readily punished. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, there must be the public opinion back of the laws or the laws +themselves will be of no avail. At present, while the average juryman +undoubtedly wishes to see trusts broken up, and is quite ready to fine +the corporation itself, he is very reluctant to find the facts proven +beyond a reasonable doubt when it comes to sending to jail a member of +the business community for indulging in practices which are profoundly +unhealthy, but which, unfortunately, the business community has grown +to recognize as well-nigh normal. Both the present condition of the law +and the present temper of juries render it a task of extreme difficulty +to get at the real wrongdoer in any such case, especially by +imprisonment. Yet it is from every standpoint far preferable to punish +the prime offender by imprisonment rather than to fine the corporation, +with the attendant damage to stockholders. +</p> + +<p> +The two great evils in the execution of our criminal laws to-day are +sentimentality and technicality. For the latter the remedy must come +from the hands of the legislatures, the courts, and the lawyers. The +other must depend for its cure upon the gradual growth of a sound +public opinion which shall insist that regard for the law and the +demands of reason shall control all other influences and emotions in +the jury box. Both of these evils must be removed or public discontent +with the criminal law will continue. +</p> + +<p> +Instances of abuse in the granting of injunctions in labor disputes +continue to occur, and the resentment in the minds of those who feel +that their rights are being invaded and their liberty of action and of +speech unwarrantably restrained continues likewise to grow. Much of the +attack on the use of the process of injunction is wholly without +warrant; but I am constrained to express the belief that for some of it +there is warrant. This question is becoming more and more one of prime +importance, and unless the courts will themselves deal with it in +effective manner, it is certain ultimately to demand some form of +legislative action. It would be most unfortunate for our social welfare +if we should permit many honest and law-abiding citizens to feel that +they had just cause for regarding our courts with hostility. I +earnestly commend to the attention of the Congress this matter, so that +some way may be devised which will limit the abuse of injunctions and +protect those rights which from time to time it unwarrantably invades. +Moreover, discontent is often expressed with the use of the process of +injunction by the courts, not only in labor disputes, but where State +laws are concerned. I refrain from discussion of this question as I am +informed that it will soon receive the consideration of the Supreme +Court. +</p> + +<p> +The Federal courts must of course decide ultimately what are the +respective spheres of State and Nation in connection with any law, +State or National, and they must decide definitely and finally in +matters affecting individual citizens, not only as to the rights and +wrongs of labor but as to the rights and wrongs of capital; and the +National Government must always see that the decision of the court is +put into effect. The process of injunction is an essential adjunct of +the court's doing its work well; and as preventive measures are always +better than remedial, the wise use of this process is from every +standpoint commendable. But where it is recklessly or unnecessarily +used, the abuse should he censured, above all by the very men who are +properly anxious to prevent any effort to shear the courts of this +necessary power. The court's decision must be final; the protest is +only against the conduct of individual judges in needlessly +anticipating such final decision, or in the tyrannical use of what is +nominally a temporary injunction to accomplish what is in fact a +permanent decision. +</p> + +<p> +The loss of life and limb from railroad accidents in this country has +become appalling. It is a subject of which the National Government +should take supervision. It might be well to begin by providing for a +Federal inspection of interstate railroads somewhat along the lines of +Federal inspection of steamboats, although not going so far; perhaps at +first all that it would be necessary to have would be some officer +whose duty would be to investigate all accidents on interstate +railroads and report in detail the causes thereof. Such an officer +should make it his business to get into close touch with railroad +operating men so as to become thoroughly familiar with every side of +the question, the idea being to work along the lines of the present +steamboat inspection law. +</p> + +<p> +The National Government should be a model employer. It should demand +the highest quality of service from each of its employees and it should +care for all of them properly in return. Congress should adopt +legislation providing limited but definite compensation for accidents +to all workmen within the scope of the Federal power, including +employees of navy yards and arsenals. In other words, a model +employers' liability act, far-reaching and thoroughgoing, should be +enacted which should apply to all positions, public and private, over +which the National Government has jurisdiction. The number of accidents +to wage-workers, including those that are preventable and those that +are not, has become appalling in the mechanical, manufacturing, and +transportation operations of the day. It works grim hardship to the +ordinary wage-worker and his family to have the effect of such an +accident fall solely upon him; and, on the other hand, there are whole +classes of attorneys who exist only by inciting men who may or may not +have been wronged to undertake suits for negligence. As a matter of +fact a suit for negligence is generally an inadequate remedy for the +person injured, while it often causes altogether disproportionate +annoyance to the employer. The law should be made such that the payment +for accidents by the employer would be automatic instead of being a +matter for lawsuits. Workmen should receive certain and definite +compensation for all accidents in industry irrespective of negligence. +The employer is the agent of the public and on his own responsibility +and for his own profit he serves the public. When he starts in motion +agencies which create risks for others, he should take all the ordinary +and extraordinary risks involved; and the risk he thus at the moment +assumes will ultimately be assumed, as it ought to be, by the general +public. Only in this way can the shock of the accident be diffused, +instead of falling upon the man or woman least able to bear it, as is +now the case. The community at large should share the burdens as well +as the benefits of industry. By the proposed law, employers would gain +a desirable certainty of obligation and get rid of litigation to +determine it, while the workman and his family would be relieved from a +crushing load. With such a policy would come increased care, and +accidents would be reduced in number. The National laws providing for +employers' liability on railroads engaged in interstate commerce and +for safety appliances, as well as for diminishing the hours any +employee of a railroad should be permitted to work, should all be +strengthened wherever in actual practice they have shown weakness; they +should be kept on the statute books in thoroughgoing form. +</p> + +<p> +The constitutionality of the employers' liability act passed by the +preceding Congress has been carried before the courts. In two +jurisdictions the law has been declared unconstitutional, and in three +jurisdictions its constitutionality has been affirmed. The question has +been carried to the Supreme Court, the case has been heard by that +tribunal, and a decision is expected at an early date. In the event +that the court should affirm the constitutionality of the act, I urge +further legislation along the lines advocated in my Message to the +preceding Congress. The practice of putting the entire burden of loss +to life or limb upon the victim or the victim's family is a form of +social injustice in which the United States stands in unenviable +prominence. In both our Federal and State legislation we have, with few +exceptions, scarcely gone farther than the repeal of the fellow-servant +principle of the old law of liability, and in some of our States even +this slight modification of a completely outgrown principle has not yet +been secured. The legislation of the rest of the industrial world +stands out in striking contrast to our backwardness in this respect. +Since 1895 practically every country of Europe, together with Great +Britain, New Zealand, Australia, British Columbia, and the Cape of Good +Hope has enacted legislation embodying in one form or another the +complete recognition of the principle which places upon the employer +the entire trade risk in the various lines of industry. I urge upon the +Congress the enactment of a law which will at the same time bring +Federal legislation up to the standard already established by all the +European countries, and which will serve as a stimulus to the various +States to perfect their legislation in this regard. +</p> + +<p> +The Congress should consider the extension of the eight-hour law. The +constitutionality of the present law has recently been called into +question, and the Supreme Court has decided that the existing +legislation is unquestionably within the powers of the Congress. The +principle of the eight-hour day should as rapidly and as far as +practicable be extended to the entire work carried on by the +Government; and the present law should be amended to embrace contracts +on those public works which the present wording of the act has been +construed to exclude. The general introduction of the eight-hour day +should be the goal toward which we should steadily tend, and the +Government should set the example in this respect. +</p> + +<p> +Strikes and lockouts, with their attendant loss and suffering, continue +to increase. For the five years ending December 31, 1905, the number of +strikes was greater than those in any previous ten years and was double +the number in the preceding five years. These figures indicate the +increasing need of providing some machinery to deal with this class of +disturbance in the interest alike of the employer, the employee, and +the general public. I renew my previous recommendation that the +Congress favorably consider the matter of creating the machinery for +compulsory investigation of such industrial controversies as are of +sufficient magnitude and of sufficient concern to the people of the +country as a whole to warrant the Federal Government in taking action. +</p> + +<p> +The need for some provision for such investigation was forcibly +illustrated during the past summer. A strike of telegraph operators +seriously interfered with telegraphic communication, causing great +damage to business interests and serious inconvenience to the general +public. Appeals were made to me from many parts of the country, from +city councils, from boards of trade, from chambers of commerce, and +from labor organizations, urging that steps be taken to terminate the +strike. Everything that could with any propriety be done by a +representative of the Government was done, without avail, and for weeks +the public stood by and suffered without recourse of any kind. Had the +machinery existed and had there been authority for compulsory +investigation of the dispute, the public would have been placed in +possession of the merits of the controversy, and public opinion would +probably have brought about a prompt adjustment. +</p> + +<p> +Each successive step creating machinery for the adjustment of labor +difficulties must be taken with caution, but we should endeavor to make +progress in this direction. +</p> + +<p> +The provisions of the act of 1898 creating the chairman of the +Interstate Commerce Commission and the Commissioner of Labor a board of +mediation in controversies between interstate railroads and their +employees has, for the first time, been subjected to serious tests +within the past year, and the wisdom of the experiment has been fully +demonstrated. The creation of a board for compulsory investigation in +cases where mediation fails and arbitration is rejected is the next +logical step in a progressive program. +</p> + +<p> +It is certain that for some time to come there will be a constant +increase absolutely, and perhaps relatively, of those among our +citizens who dwell in cities or towns of some size and who work for +wages. This means that there will be an ever-increasing need to +consider the problems inseparable from a great industrial civilization. +Where an immense and complex business, especially in those branches +relating to manufacture and transportation, is transacted by a large +number of capitalists who employ a very much larger number of +wage-earners, the former tend more and more to combine into +corporations and the latter into unions. The relations of the +capitalist and wage-worker to one another, and of each to the general +public, are not always easy to adjust; and to put them and keep them on +a satisfactory basis is one of the most important and one of the most +delicate tasks before our whole civilization. Much of the work for the +accomplishment of this end must be done by the individuals concerned +themselves, whether singly or in combination; and the one fundamental +fact that must never be lost track of is that the character of the +average man, whether he be a man of means or a man who works with his +hands, is the most important factor in solving the problem aright. But +it is almost equally important to remember that without good laws it is +also impossible to reach the proper solution. It is idle to hold that +without good laws evils such as child labor, as the over-working of +women, as the failure to protect employees from loss of life or limb, +can be effectively reached, any more than the evils of rebates and +stock-watering can be reached without good laws. To fail to stop these +practices by legislation means to force honest men into them, because +otherwise the dishonest who surely will take advantage of them will +have everything their own way. If the States will correct these evils, +well and good; but the Nation must stand ready to aid them. +</p> + +<p> +No question growing out of our rapid and complex industrial development +is more important than that of the employment of women and children. +The presence of women in industry reacts with extreme directness upon +the character of the home and upon family life, and the conditions +surrounding the employment of children bear a vital relation to our +future citizenship. Our legislation in those areas under the control of +the Congress is very much behind the legislation of our more +progressive States. A thorough and comprehensive measure should be +adopted at this session of the Congress relating to the employment of +women and children in the District of Columbia and the Territories. The +investigation into the condition of women and children wage-earners +recently authorized and directed by the Congress is now being carried +on in the various States, and I recommend that the appropriation made +last year for beginning this work be renewed, in order that we may have +the thorough and comprehensive investigation which the subject demands. +The National Government has as an ultimate resort for control of child +labor the use of the interstate commerce clause to prevent the products +of child labor from entering into interstate commerce. But before using +this it ought certainly to enact model laws on the subject for the +Territories under its own immediate control. +</p> + +<p> +There is one fundamental proposition which can be laid down as regards +all these matters, namely: While honesty by itself will not solve the +problem, yet the insistence upon honesty--not merely technical honesty, +but honesty in purpose and spirit--is an essential element in arriving +at a right conclusion. Vice in its cruder and more archaic forms shocks +everybody; but there is very urgent need that public opinion should be +just as severe in condemnation of the vice which hides itself behind +class or professional loyalty, or which denies that it is vice if it +can escape conviction in the courts. The public and the representatives +of the public, the high officials, whether on the bench or in executive +or legislative positions, need to remember that often the most +dangerous criminals, so far as the life of the Nation is concerned, are +not those who commit the crimes known to and condemned by the popular +conscience for centuries, but those who commit crimes only rendered +possible by the complex conditions of our modern industrial life. It +makes not a particle of difference whether these crimes are committed +by a capitalist or by a laborer, by a leading banker or manufacturer or +railroad man, or by a leading representative of a labor union. +Swindling in stocks, corrupting legislatures, making fortunes by the +inflation of securities, by wrecking railroads, by destroying +competitors through rebates--these forms of wrongdoing in the +capitalist, are far more infamous than any ordinary form of +embezzlement or forgery; yet it is a matter of extreme difficulty to +secure the punishment of the man most guilty of them, most responsible +for them. The business man who condones such conduct stands on a level +with the labor man who deliberately supports a corrupt demagogue and +agitator, whether head of a union or head of some municipality, because +he is said to have "stood by the union." The members of the business +community, the educators, or clergymen, who condone and encourage the +first kind of wrongdoing, are no more dangerous to the community, but +are morally even worse, than the labor men who are guilty of the second +type of wrongdoing, because less is to be pardoned those who have no +such excuse as is furnished either by ignorance or by dire need. When +the Department of Agriculture was founded there was much sneering as to +its usefulness. No Department of the Government, however, has more +emphatically vindicated its usefulness, and none save the Post-Office +Department comes so continually and intimately into touch with the +people. The two citizens whose welfare is in the aggregate most vital +to the welfare of the Nation, and therefore to the welfare of all other +citizens, are the wage-worker who does manual labor and the tiller of +the soil, the farmer. There are, of course, kinds of labor where the +work must be purely mental, and there are other kinds of labor where, +under existing conditions, very little demand indeed is made upon the +mind, though I am glad to say that the proportion of men engaged in +this kind of work is diminishing. But in any community with the solid, +healthy qualities which make up a really great nation the bulk of the +people should do work which calls for the exercise of both body and +mind. Progress can not permanently exist in the abandonment of physical +labor, but in the development of physical labor, so that it shall +represent more and more the work of the trained mind in the trained +body. Our school system is gravely defective in so far as it puts a +premium upon mere literary training and tends therefore to train the +boy away from the farm and the workshop. Nothing is more needed than +the best type of industrial school, the school for mechanical +industries in the city, the school for practically teaching agriculture +in the country. The calling of the skilled tiller of the soil, the +calling of the skilled mechanic, should alike be recognized as +professions, just as emphatically as the callings of lawyer, doctor, +merchant, or clerk. The schools recognize this fact and it should +equally be recognized in popular opinion. The young man who has the +farsightedness and courage to recognize it and to get over the idea +that it makes a difference whether what he earns is called salary or +wages, and who refuses to enter the crowded field of the so-called +professions, and takes to constructive industry instead, is reasonably +sure of an ample reward in earnings, in health, in opportunity to marry +early, and to establish a home with a fair amount of freedom from +worry. It should be one of our prime objects to put both the farmer and +the mechanic on a higher plane of efficiency and reward, so as to +increase their effectiveness in the economic world, and therefore the +dignity, the remuneration, and the power of their positions in the +social world. +</p> + +<p> +No growth of cities, no growth of wealth, can make up for any loss in +either the number or the character of the farming population. We of the +United States should realize this above almost all other peoples. We +began our existence as a nation of farmers, and in every great crisis +of the past a peculiar dependence has had to be placed upon the farming +population; and this dependence has hitherto been justified. But it can +not be justified in the future if agriculture is permitted to sink in +the scale as compared with other employments. We can not afford to lose +that preeminently typical American, the farmer who owns his own +medium-sized farm. To have his place taken by either a class of small +peasant proprietors, or by a class of great landlords with +tenant-farmed estates would be a veritable calamity. The growth of our +cities is a good thing but only in so far as it does not mean a growth +at the expense of the country farmer. We must welcome the rise of +physical sciences in their application to agricultural practices, and +we must do all we can to render country conditions more easy and +pleasant. There are forces which now tend to bring about both these +results, but they are, as yet, in their infancy. The National +Government through the Department of Agriculture should do all it can +by joining with the State governments and with independent associations +of farmers to encourage the growth in the open farming country of such +institutional and social movements as will meet the demand of the best +type of farmers, both for the improvement of their farms and for the +betterment of the life itself. The Department of Agriculture has in +many places, perhaps especially in certain districts of the South, +accomplished an extraordinary amount by cooperating with and teaching +the farmers through their associations, on their own soil, how to +increase their income by managing their farms better than they were +hitherto managed. The farmer must not lose his independence, his +initiative, his rugged self-reliance, yet he must learn to work in the +heartiest cooperation with his fellows, exactly as the business man has +learned to work; and he must prepare to use to constantly better +advantage the knowledge that can be obtained from agricultural +colleges, while he must insist upon a practical curriculum in the +schools in which his children are taught. The Department of Agriculture +and the Department of Commerce and Labor both deal with the fundamental +needs of our people in the production of raw material and its +manufacture and distribution, and, therefore, with the welfare of those +who produce it in the raw state, and of those who manufacture and +distribute it. The Department of Commerce and Labor has but recently +been founded but has already justified its existence; while the +Department of Agriculture yields to no other in the Government in the +practical benefits which it produces in proportion to the public money +expended. It must continue in the future to deal with growing crops as +it has dealt in the past, but it must still further extend its field of +usefulness hereafter by dealing with live men, through a far-reaching +study and treatment of the problems of farm life alike from the +industrial and economic and social standpoint. Farmers must cooperate +with one another and with the Government, and the Government can best +give its aid through associations of farmers, so as to deliver to the +farmer the large body of agricultural knowledge which has been +accumulated by the National and State governments and by the +agricultural colleges and schools. +</p> + +<p> +The grain producing industry of the country, one of the most important +in the United States, deserves special consideration at the hands of +the Congress. Our grain is sold almost exclusively by grades. To secure +satisfactory results in our home markets and to facilitate our trade +abroad, these grades should approximate the highest degree of +uniformity and certainty. The present diverse methods of inspection and +grading throughout the country under different laws and boards, result +in confusion and lack of uniformity, destroying that confidence which +is necessary for healthful trade. Complaints against the present +methods have continued for years and they are growing in volume and +intensity, not only in this country but abroad. I therefore suggest to +the Congress the advisability of a National system of inspection and +grading of grain entering into interstate and foreign commerce as a +remedy for the present evils. +</p> + +<p> +The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use +constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other +problem of our National life. We must maintain for our civilization the +adequate material basis without which that civilization can not exist. +We must show foresight, we must look ahead. As a nation we not only +enjoy a wonderful measure of present prosperity but if this prosperity +is used aright it is an earnest of future success such as no other +nation will have. The reward of foresight for this Nation is great and +easily foretold. But there must be the look ahead, there must be a +realization of the fact that to waste, to destroy, our natural +resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to +increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our +children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to +them amplified and developed. For the last few years, through several +agencies, the Government has been endeavoring to get our people to look +ahead and to substitute a planned and orderly development of our +resources in place of a haphazard striving for immediate profit. Our +great river systems should be developed as National water highways, the +Mississippi, with its tributaries, standing first in importance, and +the Columbia second, although there are many others of importance on +the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Gulf slopes. The National Government +should undertake this work, and I hope a beginning will be made in the +present Congress; and the greatest of all our rivers, the Mississippi, +should receive especial attention. From the Great Lakes to the mouth of +the Mississippi there should be a deep waterway, with deep waterways +leading from it to the East and the West. Such a waterway would +practically mean the extension of our coast line into the very heart of +our country. It would be of incalculable benefit to our people. If +begun at once it can be carried through in time appreciably to relieve +the congestion of our great freight-carrying lines of railroads. The +work should be systematically and continuously carried forward in +accordance with some well-conceived plan. The main streams should be +improved to the highest point of efficiency before the improvement of +the branches is attempted; and the work should be kept free from every +faint of recklessness or jobbery. The inland waterways which lie just +back of the whole eastern and southern coasts should likewise be +developed. Moreover, the development of our waterways involves many +other important water problems, all of which should be considered as +part of the same general scheme. The Government dams should be used to +produce hundreds of thousands of horsepower as an incident to improving +navigation; for the annual value of the unused water-power of the +United States perhaps exceeds the annual value of the products of all +our mines. As an incident to creating the deep waterways down the +Mississippi, the Government should build along its whole lower length +levees which taken together with the control of the headwaters, will at +once and forever put a complete stop to all threat of floods in the +immensely fertile Delta region. The territory lying adjacent to the +Mississippi along its lower course will thereby become one of the most +prosperous and populous, as it already is one of the most fertile, +farming regions in all the world. I have appointed an Inland Waterways +Commission to study and outline a comprehensive scheme of development +along all the lines indicated. Later I shall lay its report before the +Congress. +</p> + +<p> +Irrigation should be far more extensively developed than at present, +not only in the States of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, but +in many others, as, for instance, in large portions of the South +Atlantic and Gulf States, where it should go hand in hand with the +reclamation of swamp land. The Federal Government should seriously +devote itself to this task, realizing that utilization of waterways and +water-power, forestry, irrigation, and the reclamation of lands +threatened with overflow, are all interdependent parts of the same +problem. The work of the Reclamation Service in developing the larger +opportunities of the western half of our country for irrigation is more +important than almost any other movement. The constant purpose of the +Government in connection with the Reclamation Service has been to use +the water resources of the public lands for the ultimate greatest good +of the greatest number; in other words, to put upon the land permanent +home-makers, to use and develop it for themselves and for their +children and children's children. There has been, of course, opposition +to this work; opposition from some interested men who desire to exhaust +the land for their own immediate profit without regard to the welfare +of the next generation, and opposition from honest and well-meaning men +who did not fully understand the subject or who did not look far enough +ahead. This opposition is, I think, dying away, and our people are +understanding that it would be utterly wrong to allow a few individuals +to exhaust for their own temporary personal profit the resources which +ought to be developed through use so as to be conserved for the +permanent common advantage of the people as a whole. +</p> + +<p> +The effort of the Government to deal with the public land has been +based upon the same principle as that of the Reclamation Service. The +land law system which was designed to meet the needs of the fertile and +well-watered regions of the Middle West has largely broken down when +applied to the dryer regions of the Great Plains, the mountains, and +much of the Pacific slope, where a farm of 160 acres is inadequate for +self-support. In these regions the system lent itself to fraud, and +much land passed out of the hands of the Government without passing +into the hands of the home-maker. The Department of the Interior and +the Department of Justice joined in prosecuting the offenders against +the law; and they have accomplished much, while where the +administration of the law has been defective it has been changed. But +the laws themselves are defective. Three years ago a public lands +commission was appointed to scrutinize the law, and defects, and +recommend a remedy. Their examination specifically showed the existence +of great fraud upon the public domain, and their recommendations for +changes in the law were made with the design of conserving the natural +resources of every part of the public lands by putting it to its best +use. Especial attention was called to the prevention of settlement by +the passage of great areas of public land into the hands of a few men, +and to the enormous waste caused by unrestricted grazing upon the open +range. The recommendations of the Public Lands Commission are sound, +for they are especially in the interest of the actual homemaker; and +where the small home-maker can not at present utilize the land they +provide that the Government shall keep control of it so that it may not +be monopolized by a few men. The Congress has not yet acted upon these +recommendations; but they are so just and proper, so essential to our +National welfare, that I feel confident, if the Congress will take time +to consider them, that they will ultimately be adopted. +</p> + +<p> +Some such legislation as that proposed is essential in order to +preserve the great stretches of public grazing land which are unfit for +cultivation under present methods and are valuable only for the forage +which they supply. These stretches amount in all to some 300,000,000 +acres, and are open to the free grazing of cattle, sheep, horses and +goats, without restriction. Such a system, or lack of system, means +that the range is not so much used as wasted by abuse. As the West +settles the range becomes more and more over-grazed. Much of it can not +be used to advantage unless it is fenced, for fencing is the only way +by which to keep in check the owners of nomad flocks which roam hither +and thither, utterly destroying the pastures and leaving a waste behind +so that their presence is incompatible with the presence of +home-makers. The existing fences are all illegal. Some of them +represent the improper exclusion of actual settlers, actual +home-makers, from territory which is usurped by great cattle companies. +Some of them represent what is in itself a proper effort to use the +range for those upon the land, and to prevent its use by nomadic +outsiders. All these fences, those that are hurtful and those that are +beneficial, are alike illegal and must come down. But it is an outrage +that the law should necessitate such action on the part of the +Administration. The unlawful fencing of public lands for private +grazing must be stopped, but the necessity which occasioned it must be +provided for. The Federal Government should have control of the range, +whether by permit or lease, as local necessities may determine. Such +control could secure the great benefit of legitimate fencing, while at +the same time securing and promoting the settlement of the country. In +some places it may be that the tracts of range adjacent to the +homesteads of actual settlers should be allotted to them severally or +in common for the summer grazing of their stock. Elsewhere it may be +that a lease system would serve the purpose; the leases to be temporary +and subject to the rights of settlement, and the amount charged being +large enough merely to permit of the efficient and beneficial control +of the range by the Government, and of the payment to the county of the +equivalent of what it would otherwise receive in taxes. The destruction +of the public range will continue until some such laws as these are +enacted. Fully to prevent the fraud in the public lands which, through +the joint action of the Interior Department and the Department of +Justice, we have been endeavoring to prevent, there must be further +legislation, and especially a sufficient appropriation to permit the +Department of the Interior to examine certain classes of entries on the +ground before they pass into private ownership. The Government should +part with its title only to the actual home-maker, not to the +profit-maker who does not care to make a home. Our prime object is to +secure the rights and guard the interests of the small ranchman, the +man who plows and pitches hay for himself. It is this small ranchman, +this actual settler and homemaker, who in the long run is most hurt by +permitting thefts of the public land in whatever form. +</p> + +<p> +Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess it +becomes foolishness. We are prone to speak of the resources of this +country as inexhaustible; this is not so. The mineral wealth of the +country, the coal, iron, oil, gas, and the like, does not reproduce +itself, and therefore is certain to be exhausted ultimately; and +wastefulness in dealing with it to-day means that our descendants will +feel the exhaustion a generation or two before they otherwise would. +But there are certain other forms of waste which could be entirely +stopped--the waste of soil by washing, for instance, which is among the +most dangerous of all wastes now in progress in the United States, is +easily preventable, so that this present enormous loss of fertility is +entirely unnecessary. The preservation or replacement of the forests is +one of the most important means of preventing this loss. We have made a +beginning in forest preservation, but it is only a beginning. At +present lumbering is the fourth greatest industry in the United States; +and yet, so rapid has been the rate of exhaustion of timber in the +United States in the past, and so rapidly is the remainder being +exhausted, that the country is unquestionably on the verge of a timber +famine which will be felt in every household in the land. There has +already been a rise in the price of lumber, but there is certain to be +a more rapid and heavier rise in the future. The present annual +consumption of lumber is certainly three times as great as the annual +growth; and if the consumption and growth continue unchanged, +practically all our lumber will be exhausted in another generation, +while long before the limit to complete exhaustion is reached the +growing scarcity will make itself felt in many blighting ways upon our +National welfare. About 20 per cent of our forested territory is now +reserved in National forests; but these do not include the most +valuable timber lauds, and in any event the proportion is too small to +expect that the reserves can accomplish more than a mitigation of the +trouble which is ahead for the nation. Far more drastic action is +needed. Forests can be lumbered so as to give to the public the full +use of their mercantile timber without the slightest detriment to the +forest, any more than it is a detriment to a farm to furnish a harvest; +so that there is no parallel between forests and mines, which can only +be completely used by exhaustion. But forests, if used as all our +forests have been used in the past and as most of them are still used, +will be either wholly destroyed, or so damaged that many decades have +to pass before effective use can be made of them again. All these facts +are so obvious that it is extraordinary that it should be necessary to +repeat them. Every business man in the land, every writer in the +newspapers, every man or woman of an ordinary school education, ought +to be able to see that immense quantities of timber are used in the +country, that the forests which supply this timber are rapidly being +exhausted, and that, if no change takes place, exhaustion will come +comparatively soon, and that the effects of it will be felt severely in +the every-day life of our people. Surely, when these facts are so +obvious, there should be no delay in taking preventive measures. Yet we +seem as a nation to be willing to proceed in this matter with +happy-go-lucky indifference even to the immediate future. It is this +attitude which permits the self-interest of a very few persons to weigh +for more than the ultimate interest of all our people. There are +persons who find it to their immense pecuniary benefit to destroy the +forests by lumbering. They are to be blamed for thus sacrificing the +future of the Nation as a whole to their own self-interest of the +moment; but heavier blame attaches to the people at large for +permitting such action, whether in the White Mountains, in the southern +Alleghenies, or in the Rockies and Sierras. A big lumbering company, +impatient for immediate returns and not caring to look far enough +ahead, will often deliberately destroy all the good timber in a region, +hoping afterwards to move on to some new country. The shiftless man of +small means, who does not care to become an actual home-maker but would +like immediate profit, will find it to his advantage to take up timber +land simply to turn it over to such a big company, and leave it +valueless for future settlers. A big mine owner, anxious only to +develop his mine at the moment, will care only to cut all the timber +that he wishes without regard to the future--probably net looking ahead +to the condition of the country when the forests are exhausted, any +more than he does to the condition when the mine is worked out. I do +not blame these men nearly as much as I blame the supine public +opinion, the indifferent public opinion, which permits their action to +go unchecked. Of course to check the waste of timber means that there +must be on the part of the public the acceptance of a temporary +restriction in the lavish use of the timber, in order to prevent the +total loss of this use in the future. There are plenty of men in public +and private life who actually advocate the continuance of the present +system of unchecked and wasteful extravagance, using as an argument the +fact that to check it will of course mean interference with the ease +and comfort of certain people who now get lumber at less cost than they +ought to pay, at the expense of the future generations. Some of these +persons actually demand that the present forest reserves be thrown open +to destruction, because, forsooth, they think that thereby the price of +lumber could be put down again for two or three or more years. Their +attitude is precisely like that of an agitator protesting against the +outlay of money by farmers on manure and in taking care of their farms +generally. Undoubtedly, if the average farmer were content absolutely +to ruin his farm, he could for two or three years avoid spending any +money on it, and yet make a good deal of money out of it. But only a +savage would, in his private affairs, show such reckless disregard of +the future; yet it is precisely this reckless disregard of the future +which the opponents of the forestry system are now endeavoring to get +the people of the United States to show. The only trouble with the +movement for the preservation of our forests is that it has not gone +nearly far enough, and was not begun soon enough. It is a most +fortunate thing, however, that we began it when we did. We should +acquire in the Appalachian and White Mountain regions all the forest +lands that it is possible to acquire for the use of the Nation. These +lands, because they form a National asset, are as emphatically national +as the rivers which they feed, and which flow through so many States +before they reach the ocean. +</p> + +<p> +There should be no tariff on any forest product grown in this country; +and, in especial, there should be no tariff on wood pulp; due notice of +the change being of course given to those engaged in the business so as +to enable them to adjust themselves to the new conditions. The repeal +of the duty on wood pulp should if possible be accompanied by an +agreement with Canada that there shall be no export duty on Canadian +pulp wood. +</p> + +<p> +In the eastern United States the mineral fuels have already passed into +the hands of large private owners, and those of the West are rapidly +following. It is obvious that these fuels should be conserved and not +wasted, and it would be well to protect the people against unjust and +extortionate prices, so far as that can still be done. What has been +accomplished in the great oil fields of the Indian Territory by the +action of the Administration, offers a striking example of the good +results of such a policy. In my judgment the Government should have the +right to keep the fee of the coal, oil, and gas fields in its own +possession and to lease the rights to develop them under proper +regulations; or else, if the Congress will not adopt this method, the +coal deposits should be sold under limitations, to conserve them as +public utilities, the right to mine coal being separated from the title +to the soil. The regulations should permit coal lands to be worked in +sufficient quantity by the several corporations. The present +limitations have been absurd, excessive, and serve no useful purpose, +and often render it necessary that there should be either fraud or +close abandonment of the work of getting out the coal. +</p> + +<p> +Work on the Panama Canal is proceeding in a highly satisfactory manner. +In March last, John F. Stevens, chairman of the Commission and chief +engineer, resigned, and the Commission was reorganized and constituted +as follows: Lieut. Col. George W. Goethals, Corps. of Engineers, U. S. +Army, chairman and chief engineer; Maj. D. D. Gall-lard, Corps of +Engineers, U. S. Army; Maj. William L. Sibert, Corps of Engineers, U. +S. Army; Civil Engineer H. H. Rousseau, U. S. Navy; Mr. J. C. S. +Blackburn; Col. W. C. Gorgas, U. S. Army, and Mr. Jackson Smith, +Commissioners. This change of authority and direction went into effect +on April 1, without causing a perceptible check to the progress of the +work. In March the total excavation in the Culebra Cut, where effort +was chiefly concentrated, was 815,270 cubic yards. In April this was +increased to 879,527 cubic yards. There was a considerable decrease in +the output for May and June owing partly to the advent of the rainy +season and partly to temporary trouble with the steam shovel men over +the question of wages. This trouble was settled satisfactorily to all +parties and in July the total excavation advanced materially and in +August the grand total from all points in the canal prism by steam +shovels and dredges exceeded all previous United States records, +reaching 1,274,404 cubic yards. In September this record was eclipsed +and a total of 1,517,412 cubic yards was removed. Of this amount +1,481,307 cubic yards were from the canal prism and 36,105 cubic yards +were from accessory works. These results were achieved in the rainy +season with a rainfall in August of 11.89 inches and in September of +11.65 inches. Finally, in October, the record was again eclipsed, the +total excavation being 1,868,729 cubic yards; a truly extraordinary +record, especially in view of the heavy rainfall, which was 17.1 +inches. In fact, experience during the last two rainy seasons +demonstrates that the rains are a less serious obstacle to progress +than has hitherto been supposed. +</p> + +<p> +Work on the locks and dams at Gatun, which began actively in March +last, has advanced so far that it is thought that masonry work on the +locks can be begun within fifteen months. In order to remove all doubt +as to the satisfactory character of the foundations for the locks of +the Canal, the Secretary of War requested three eminent civil +engineers, of special experience in such construction, Alfred Noble, +Frederic P. Stearns and John R. Freeman, to visit the Isthmus and make +thorough personal investigations of the sites. These gentlemen went to +the Isthmus in April and by means of test pits which had been dug for +the purpose, they inspected the proposed foundations, and also examined +the borings that had been made. In their report to the Secretary of +War, under date of May 2, 1907, they said: "We found that all of the +locks, of the dimensions now proposed, will rest upon rock of such +character that it will furnish a safe and stable foundation." +Subsequent new borings, conducted by the present Commission, have fully +confirmed this verdict. They show that the locks will rest on rock for +their entire length. The cross section of the dam and method of +construction will be such as to insure against any slip or sloughing +off. Similar examination of the foundations of the locks and dams on +the Pacific side are in progress. I believe that the locks should be +made of a width of 120 feet. +</p> + +<p> +Last winter bids were requested and received for doing the work of +canal construction by contract. None of them was found to be +satisfactory and all were rejected. It is the unanimous opinion of the +present Commission that the work can be done better, more cheaply, and +more quickly by the Government than by private contractors. Fully 80 +per cent of the entire plant needed for construction has been purchased +or contracted for; machine shops have been erected and equipped for +making all needed repairs to the plant; many thousands of employees +have been secured; an effective organization has been perfected; a +recruiting system is in operation which is capable of furnishing more +labor than can be used advantageously; employees are well sheltered and +well fed; salaries paid are satisfactory, and the work is not only +going forward smoothly, but it is producing results far in advance of +the most sanguine anticipations. Under these favorable conditions, a +change in the method of prosecuting the work would be unwise and +unjustifiable, for it would inevitably disorganize existing conditions, +check progress, and increase the cost and lengthen the time of +completing the Canal. +</p> + +<p> +The chief engineer and all his professional associates are firmly +convinced that the 85 feet level lock canal which they are constructing +is the best that could be desired. Some of them had doubts on this +point when they went to the Isthmus. As the plans have developed under +their direction their doubts have been dispelled. While they may decide +upon changes in detail as construction advances they are in hearty +accord in approving the general plan. They believe that it provides a +canal not only adequate to all demands that will be made upon it but +superior in every way to a sea level canal. I concur in this belief. +</p> + +<p> +I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress a postal +savings bank system, as recommended by the Postmaster-General. The +primary object is to encourage among our people economy and thrift and +by the use of postal savings banks to give them an opportunity to +husband their resources, particularly those who have not the facilities +at hand for depositing their money in savings banks. Viewed, however, +from the experience of the past few weeks, it is evident that the +advantages of such an institution are till more far-reaching. Timid +depositors have withdrawn their savings for the time being from +national banks, trust companies, and savings banks; individuals have +hoarded their cash and the workingmen their earnings; all of which +money has been withheld and kept in hiding or in safe deposit box to +the detriment of prosperity. Through the agency of the postal savings +banks such money would be restored to the channels of trade, to the +mutual benefit of capital and labor. +</p> + +<p> +I further commend to the Congress the consideration of the +Postmaster-General's recommendation for an extension of the parcel +post, especially on the rural routes. There are now 38,215 rural +routes, serving nearly 15,000,000 people who do not have the advantages +of the inhabitants of cities in obtaining their supplies. These +recommendations have been drawn up to benefit the farmer and the +country storekeeper; otherwise, I should not favor them, for I believe +that it is good policy for our Government to do everything possible to +aid the small town and the country district. It is desirable that the +country merchant should not be crushed out. +</p> + +<p> +The fourth-class postmasters' convention has passed a very strong +resolution in favor of placing the fourth-class postmasters under the +civil-service law. The Administration has already put into effect the +policy of refusing to remove any fourth-class postmasters save for +reasons connected with the good of the service; and it is endeavoring +so far as possible to remove them from the domain of partisan politics. +It would be a most desirable thing to put the fourth-class postmasters +in the classified service. It is possible that this might be done +without Congressional action, but, as the matter is debatable, I +earnestly recommend that the Congress enact a law providing that they +be included under the civil-service law and put in the classified +service. +</p> + +<p> +Oklahoma has become a State, standing on a full equality with her elder +sisters, and her future is assured by her great natural resources. The +duty of the National Government to guard the personal and property +rights of the Indians within her borders remains of course unchanged. +</p> + +<p> +I reiterate my recommendations of last year as regards Alaska. Some +form of local self-government should be provided, as simple and +inexpensive as possible; it is impossible for the Congress to devote +the necessary time to all the little details of necessary Alaskan +legislation. Road building and railway building should be encouraged. +The Governor of Alaska should be given an ample appropriation wherewith +to organize a force to preserve the public peace. Whisky selling to the +natives should be made a felony. The coal land laws should be changed +so as to meet the peculiar needs of the Territory. This should be +attended to at once; for the present laws permit individuals to locate +large areas of the public domain for speculative purposes; and cause an +immense amount of trouble, fraud, and litigation. There should be +another judicial division established. As early as possible lighthouses +and buoys should be established as aids to navigation, especially in +and about Prince William Sound, and the survey of the coast completed. +There is need of liberal appropriations for lighting and buoying the +southern coast and improving the aids to navigation in southeastern +Alaska. One of the great industries of Alaska, as of Puget Sound and +the Columbia, is salmon fishing. Gradually, by reason of lack of proper +laws, this industry is being ruined; it should now be taken in charge, +and effectively protected, by the United States Government. +</p> + +<p> +The courage and enterprise of the citizens of the far north-west in +their projected Alaskan-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, to be held in 1909, +should receive liberal encouragement. This exposition is not +sentimental in its conception, but seeks to exploit the natural +resources of Alaska and to promote the commerce, trade, and industry of +the Pacific States with their neighboring States and with our insular +possessions and the neighboring countries of the Pacific. The +exposition asks no loan from the Congress but seeks appropriations for +National exhibits and exhibits of the western dependencies of the +General Government. The State of Washington and the city of Seattle +have shown the characteristic western enterprise in large donations for +the conduct of this exposition in which other States are lending +generous assistance. +</p> + +<p> +The unfortunate failure of the shipping bill at the last session of the +last Congress was followed by the taking off of certain Pacific +steamships, which has greatly hampered the movement of passengers +between Hawaii and the mainland. Unless the Congress is prepared by +positive encouragement to secure proper facilities in the way of +shipping between Hawaii and the mainland, then the coastwise shipping +laws should be so far relaxed as to prevent Hawaii suffering as it is +now suffering. I again call your attention to the capital importance +from every standpoint of making Pearl Harbor available for the largest +deep water vessels, and of suitably fortifying the island. +</p> + +<p> +The Secretary of War has gone to the Philippines. On his return I shall +submit to you his report on the islands. +</p> + +<p> +I again recommend that the rights of citizenship be conferred upon the +people of Porto Rico. +</p> + +<p> +A bureau of mines should be created under the control and direction of +the Secretary of the Interior; the bureau to have power to collect +statistics and make investigations in all matters pertaining to mining +and particularly to the accidents and dangers of the industry. If this +can not now be done, at least additional appropriations should be given +the Interior Department to be used for the study of mining conditions, +for the prevention of fraudulent mining schemes, for carrying on the +work of mapping the mining districts, for studying methods for +minimizing the accidents and dangers in the industry; in short, to aid +in all proper ways the development of the mining industry. +</p> + +<p> +I strongly recommend to the Congress to provide funds for keeping up +the Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson; these funds to be used +through the existing Hermitage Association for the preservation of a +historic building which should ever be dear to Americans. +</p> + +<p> +I further recommend that a naval monument be established in the +Vicksburg National Park. This national park gives a unique opportunity +for commemorating the deeds of those gallant men who fought on water, +no less than of those who fought on land, in the great civil War. +</p> + +<p> +Legislation should be enacted at the present session of the Congress +for the Thirteenth Census. The establishment of the permanent Census +Bureau affords the opportunity for a better census than we have ever +had, but in order to realize the full advantage of the permanent +organization, ample time must be given for preparation. +</p> + +<p> +There is a constantly growing interest in this country in the question +of the public health. At last the public mind is awake to the fact that +many diseases, notably tuberculosis, are National scourges. The work of +the State and city boards of health should be supplemented by a +constantly increasing interest on the part of the National Government. +The Congress has already provided a bureau of public health and has +provided for a hygienic laboratory. There are other valuable laws +relating to the public health connected with the various departments. +This whole branch of the Government should be strengthened and aided in +every way. +</p> + +<p> +I call attention to two Government commissions which I have appointed +and which have already done excellent work. The first of these has to +do with the organization of the scientific work of the Government, +which has grown up wholly without plan and is in consequence so +unwisely distributed among the Executive Departments that much of its +effect is lost for the lack of proper coordination. This commission's +chief object is to introduce a planned and orderly development and +operation in the place of the ill-assorted and often ineffective +grouping and methods of work which have prevailed. This can not be done +without legislation, nor would it be feasible to deal in detail with so +complex an administrative problem by specific provisions of law. I +recommend that the President be given authority to concentrate related +lines of work and reduce duplication by Executive order through +transfer and consolidation of lines of work. +</p> + +<p> +The second committee, that on Department methods, was instructed to +investigate and report upon the changes needed to place the conduct of +the executive force of the Government on the most economical and +effective basis in the light of the best modern business practice. The +committee has made very satisfactory progress. Antiquated practices and +bureaucratic ways have been abolished, and a general renovation of +departmental methods has been inaugurated. All that can be done by +Executive order has already been accomplished or will be put into +effect in the near future. The work of the main committee and its +several assistant committees has produced a wholesome awakening on the +part of the great body of officers and employees engaged in Government +work. In nearly every Department and office there has been a careful +self-inspection for the purpose of remedying any defects before they +could be made the subject of adverse criticism. This has led +individuals to a wider study of the work on which they were engaged, +and this study has resulted in increasing their efficiency in their +respective lines of work. There are recommendations of special +importance from the committee on the subject of personnel and the +classification of salaries which will require legislative action before +they can be put into effect. It is my intention to submit to the +Congress in the near future a special message on those subjects. +</p> + +<p> +Under our form of government voting is not merely a right but a duty, +and, moreover, a fundamental and necessary duty if a man is to be a +good citizen. It is well to provide that corporations shall not +contribute to Presidential or National campaigns, and furthermore to +provide for the publication of both contributions and expenditures. +There is, however, always danger in laws of this kind, which from their +very nature are difficult of enforcement; the danger being lest they be +obeyed only by the honest, and disobeyed by the unscrupulous, so as to +act only as a penalty upon honest men. Moreover, no such law would +hamper an unscrupulous man of unlimited means from buying his own way +into office. There is a very radical measure which would, I believe, +work a substantial improvement in our system of conducting a campaign, +although I am well aware that it will take some time for people so to +familiarize themselves with such a proposal as to be willing to +consider its adoption. The need for collecting large campaign funds +would vanish if Congress provided an appropriation for the proper and +legitimate expenses of each of the great national parties, an +appropriation ample enough to meet the necessity for thorough +organization and machinery, which requires a large expenditure of +money. Then the stipulation should be made that no party receiving +campaign funds from the Treasury should accept more than a fixed amount +from any individual subscriber or donor; and the necessary publicity +for receipts and expenditures could without difficulty be provided. +</p> + +<p> +There should be a National gallery of art established in the capital +city of this country. This is important not merely to the artistic but +to the material welfare of the country; and the people are to be +congratulated on the fact that the movement to establish such a gallery +is taking definite form under the guidance of the Smithsonian +Institution. So far from there being a tariff on works of art brought +into the country, their importation should be encouraged in every way. +There have been no sufficient collections of objects of art by the +Government, and what collections have been acquired are scattered and +are generally placed in unsuitable and imperfectly lighted galleries. +</p> + +<p> +The Biological Survey is quietly working for the good of our +agricultural interests, and is an excellent example of a Government +bureau which conducts original scientific research the findings of +which are of much practical utility. For more than twenty years it has +studied the food habits of birds and mammals that are injurious or +beneficial to agriculture, horticulture, and forestry; has distributed +illustrated bulletins on the subject, and has labored to secure +legislative protection for the beneficial species. The cotton +boll-weevil, which has recently overspread the cotton belt of Texas and +is steadily extending its range, is said to cause an annual loss of +about $3,000,000. The Biological Survey has ascertained and gives wide +publicity to the fact that at least 43 kinds of birds prey upon this +destructive insect. It has discovered that 57 species of birds feed +upon scale-insects--dreaded enemies of the fruit grower. It has shown +that woodpeckers as a class, by destroying the larvae of wood-boring +insects, are so essential to tree life that it is doubtful if our +forests could exist without them. It has shown that cuckoos and orioles +are the natural enemies of the leaf-eating caterpillars that destroy +our shade and fruit trees; that our quails and sparrows consume +annually hundreds of tons of seeds of noxious weeds; that hawks and +owls as a class (excepting the few that kill poultry and game birds) +are markedly beneficial, spending their lives in catching grasshoppers, +mice, and other pests that prey upon the products of husbandry. It has +conducted field experiments for the purpose of devising and perfecting +simple methods for holding in check the hordes of destructive +rodents--rats, mice, rabbits, gophers, prairie dogs, and ground +squirrels--which annually destroy crops worth many millions of dollars; +and it has published practical directions for the destruction of wolves +and coyotes on the stock ranges of the West, resulting during the past +year in an estimated saving of cattle and sheep valued at upwards of a +million dollars. +</p> + +<p> +It has inaugurated a system of inspection at the principal ports of +entry on both Atlantic and Pacific coasts by means of which the +introduction of noxious mammals and birds is prevented, thus keeping +out the mongoose and certain birds which are as much to be dreaded as +the previously introduced English sparrow and the house rats and mice. +</p> + +<p> +In the interest of game protection it has cooperated with local +officials in every State in the Union, has striven to promote uniform +legislation in the several States, has rendered important service in +enforcing the Federal law regulating interstate traffic in game, and +has shown how game protection may be made to yield a large revenue to +the State--a revenue amounting in the case of Illinois to $128,000 in a +single year. +</p> + +<p> +The Biological Survey has explored the faunas and floras of America +with reference to the distribution of animals and plants; it has +defined and mapped the natural life areas--areas in which, by reason of +prevailing climatic conditions, certain kinds of animals and plants +occur--and has pointed out the adaptability of these areas to the +cultivation of particular crops. The results of these investigations +are not only of high educational value but are worth each year to the +progressive farmers of the country many times the cost of maintaining +the Survey, which, it may be added, is exceedingly small. I recommend +to Congress that this bureau, whose usefulness is seriously handicapped +by lack of funds, be granted an appropriation in some degree +commensurate with the importance of the work it is doing. +</p> + +<p> +I call your especial attention to the unsatisfactory condition of our +foreign mail service, which, because of the lack of American steamship +lines is now largely done through foreign lines, and which, +particularly so far as South and Central America are concerned, is done +in a manner which constitutes a serious barrier to the extension of our +commerce. +</p> + +<p> +The time has come, in my judgment, to set to work seriously to make our +ocean mail service correspond more closely with our recent commercial +and political development. A beginning was made by the ocean mail act +of March 3, 1891, but even at that time the act was known to be +inadequate in various particulars. Since that time events have moved +rapidly in our history. We have acquired Hawaii, the Philippines, and +lesser islands in the Pacific. We are steadily prosecuting the great +work of uniting at the Isthmus the waters of the Atlantic and the +Pacific. To a greater extent than seemed probable even a dozen years +ago, we may look to an American future on the sea worthy of the +traditions of our past. As the first step in that direction, and the +step most feasible at the present time, I recommend the extension of +the ocean mail act of 1891. This act has stood for some years free from +successful criticism of its principle and purpose. It was based on +theories of the obligations of a great maritime nation, undisputed in +our own land and followed by other nations since the beginning of steam +navigation. Briefly those theories are, that it is the duty of a +first-class Power so far as practicable to carry its ocean mails under +its own flag; that the fast ocean steamships and their crews, required +for such mail service, are valuable auxiliaries to the sea power of a +nation. Furthermore, the construction of such steamships insures the +maintenance in an efficient condition of the shipyards in which our +battleships must be built. +</p> + +<p> +The expenditure of public money for the Performance of such necessary +functions of government is certainly warranted, nor is it necessary to +dwell upon the incidental benefits to our foreign commerce, to the +shipbuilding industry, and to ship owning and navigation which will +accompany the discharge of these urgent public duties, though they, +too, should have weight. +</p> + +<p> +The only serious question is whether at this time we can afford to +improve our ocean mail service as it should be improved. All doubt on +this subject is removed by the reports of the Post-Office Department. +For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1907, that Department estimates that +the postage collected on the articles exchanged with foreign countries +other than Canada and Mexico amounted to $6,579,043.48, or +$3,637,226.81 more than the net cost of the service exclusive of the +cost of transporting the articles between the United States exchange +post-offices and the United States post-offices at which they were +mailed or delivered. In other words, the Government of the United +States, having assumed a monopoly of carrying the mails for the people, +making a profit of over $3,600,000 by rendering a cheap and inefficient +service. That profit I believe should be devoted to strengthening +maritime power in those directions where it will best promote our +prestige. The country is familiar with the facts of our maritime +impotence in the harbors of the great and friendly Republics of South +America. Following the failure of the shipbuilding bill we lost our +only American line of steamers to Australasia, and that loss on the +Pacific has become a serious embarrassment to the people of Hawaii, and +has wholly cut off the Samoan islands from regular communication with +the Pacific coast. Puget Sound, in the year, has lost over half (four +out of seven) of its American steamers trading with the Orient. +</p> + +<p> +We now pay under the act of 1891 $4 a statute mile outward to 20-knot +American mail steamships, built according to naval plans, available as +cruisers, and manned by Americans. Steamships of that speed are +confined exclusively to trans-Atlantic trade with New York. To +steamships of 16 knots or over only $2 a mile can be paid, and it is +steamships of this speed and type which are needed to meet the +requirements of mail service to South America, Asia (including the +Philippines), and Australia. I strongly recommend, therefore, a simple +amendment to the ocean mail act of 1891 which shall authorize the +Postmaster-General in his discretion to enter into contracts for the +transportation of mails to the Republics of South America, to Asia, the +Philippines, and Australia at a rate not to exceed $4 a mile for +steamships of 16 knots speed or upwards, subject to the restrictions +and obligations of the act of 1891. The profit of $3,600,000 which has +been mentioned will fully cover the maximum annual expenditure involved +in this recommendation, and it is believed will in time establish the +lines so urgently needed. The proposition involves no new principle, +but permits the efficient discharge of public functions now +inadequately performed or not performed at all. +</p> + +<p> +Not only there is not now, but there never has been, any other nation +in the world so wholly free from the evils of militarism as is ours. +There never has been any other large nation, not even China, which for +so long a period has had relatively to its numbers so small a regular +army as has ours. Never at any time in our history has this Nation +suffered from militarism or been in the remotest danger of suffering +from militarism. Never at any time of our history has the Regular Army +been of a size which caused the slightest appreciable tax upon the +tax-paying citizens of the Nation. Almost always it has been too small +in size and underpaid. Never in our entire history has the Nation +suffered in the least particular because too much care has been given +to the Army, too much prominence given it, too much money spent upon +it, or because it has been too large. But again and again we have +suffered because enough care has not been given to it, because it has +been too small, because there has not been sufficient preparation in +advance for possible war. Every foreign war in which we have engaged +has cost us many times the amount which, if wisely expended during the +preceding years of peace on the Regular Army, would have insured the +war ending in but a fraction of the time and but for a fraction of the +cost that was actually the case. As a Nation we have always been +shortsighted in providing for the efficiency of the Army in time of +peace. It is nobody's especial interest to make such provision and no +one looks ahead to war at any period, no matter how remote, as being a +serious possibility; while an improper economy, or rather +niggardliness, can be practiced at the expense of the Army with the +certainty that those practicing it will not be called to account +therefor, but that the price will be paid by the unfortunate persons +who happen to be in office when a war does actually come. +</p> + +<p> +I think it is only lack of foresight that troubles us, not any +hostility to the Army. There are, of course, foolish people who +denounce any care of the Army or Navy as "militarism," but I do not +think that these people are numerous. This country has to contend now, +and has had to contend in the past, with many evils, and there is ample +scope for all who would work for reform. But there is not one evil that +now exists, or that ever has existed in this country, which is, or ever +has been, owing in the smallest part to militarism. Declamation against +militarism has no more serious place in an earnest and intelligent +movement for righteousness in this country than declamation against the +worship of Baal or Astaroth. It is declamation against a non-existent +evil, one which never has existed in this country, and which has not +the slightest chance of appearing here. We are glad to help in any +movement for international peace, but this is because we sincerely +believe that it is our duty to help all such movements provided they +are sane and rational, and not because there is any tendency toward +militarism on our part which needs to be cured. The evils we have to +fight are those in connection with industrialism, not militarism. +Industry is always necessary, just as war is sometimes necessary. Each +has its price, and industry in the United States now exacts, and has +always exacted, a far heavier toll of death than all our wars put +together. The statistics of the railroads of this country for the year +ended June 30, 1906, the last contained in the annual statistical +report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, show in that one year a +total of 108,324 casualties to persons, of which 10,618 represent the +number of persons killed. In that wonderful hive of human activity, +Pittsburg, the deaths due to industrial accidents in 1906 were 919, all +the result of accidents in mills, mines or on railroads. For the entire +country, therefore, it is safe to say that the deaths due to industrial +accidents aggregate in the neighborhood of twenty thousand a year. Such +a record makes the death rate in all our foreign wars utterly trivial +by comparison. The number of deaths in battle in all the foreign wars +put together, for the last century and a quarter, aggregate +considerably less than one year's death record for our industries. A +mere glance at these figures is sufficient to show the absurdity of the +outcry against militarism. +</p> + +<p> +But again and again in the past our little Regular Army has rendered +service literally vital to the country, and it may at any time have to +do so in the future. Its standard of efficiency and instruction is +higher now than ever in the past. But it is too small. There are not +enough officers; and it is impossible to secure enough enlisted men. We +should maintain in peace a fairly complete skeleton of a large army. A +great and long-continued war would have to be fought by volunteers. But +months would pass before any large body of efficient volunteers could +be put in the field, and our Regular Army should be large enough to +meet any immediate need. In particular it is essential that we should +possess a number of extra officers trained in peace to perform +efficiently the duties urgently required upon the breaking out of war. +</p> + +<p> +The Medical Corps should be much larger than the needs of our Regular +Army in war. Yet at present it is smaller than the needs of the service +demand even in peace. The Spanish war occurred less than ten years ago. +The chief loss we suffered in it was by disease among the regiments +which never left the country. At the moment the Nation seemed deeply +impressed by this fact; yet seemingly it has already been forgotten, +for not the slightest effort has been made to prepare a medical corps +of sufficient size to prevent the repetition of the same disaster on a +much larger scale if we should ever be engaged in a serious conflict. +The trouble in the Spanish war was not with the then existing officials +of the War Department; it was with the representatives of the people as +a whole who, for the preceding thirty years, had declined to make the +necessary provision for the Army. Unless ample provision is now made by +Congress to put the Medical Corps where it should be put disaster in +the next war is inevitable, and the responsibility will not lie with +those then in charge of the War Department, but with those who now +decline to make the necessary provision. A well organized medical +corps, thoroughly trained before the advent of war in all the important +administrative duties of a military sanitary corps, is essential to the +efficiency of any large army, and especially of a large volunteer army. +Such knowledge of medicine and surgery as is possessed by the medical +profession generally will not alone suffice to make an efficient +military surgeon. He must have, in addition, knowledge of the +administration and sanitation of large field hospitals and camps, in +order to safeguard the health and lives of men intrusted in great +numbers to his care. A bill has long been pending before the Congress +for the reorganization of the Medical Corps; its passage is urgently +needed. +</p> + +<p> +But the Medical Department is not the only department for which +increased provision should be made. The rate of pay for the officers +should be greatly increased; there is no higher type of citizen than +the American regular officer, and he should have a fair reward for his +admirable work. There should be a relatively even greater increase in +the pay for the enlisted men. In especial provision should be made for +establishing grades equivalent to those of warrant officers in the Navy +which should be open to the enlisted men who serve sufficiently long +and who do their work well. Inducements should be offered sufficient to +encourage really good men to make the Army a life occupation. The prime +needs of our present Army is to secure and retain competent +noncommissioned officers. This difficulty rests fundamentally on the +question of pay. The noncommissioned officer does not correspond with +an unskilled laborer; he corresponds to the best type of skilled +workman or to the subordinate official in civil institutions. Wages +have greatly increased in outside occupations in the last forty years +and the pay of the soldier, like the pay of the officers, should be +proportionately increased. The first sergeant of a company, if a good +man, must be one of such executive and administrative ability, and such +knowledge of his trade, as to be worth far more than we at present pay +him. The same is true of the regimental sergeant major. These men +should be men who had fully resolved to make the Army a life occupation +and they should be able to look forward to ample reward; while only men +properly qualified should be given a chance to secure these final +rewards. The increase over the present pay need not be great in the +lower grades for the first one or two enlistments, but the increase +should be marked for the noncommissioned officers of the upper grades +who serve long enough to make it evident that they intend to stay +permanently in the Army, while additional pay should be given for high +qualifications in target practice. The position of warrant officer +should be established and there should be not only an increase of pay, +but an increase of privileges and allowances and dignity, so as to make +the grade open to noncommissioned officers capable of filling them +desirably from every standpoint. The rate of desertion in our Army now +in time of peace is alarming. The deserter should be treated by public +opinion as a man guilty of the greatest crime; while on the other hand +the man who serves steadily in the Army should be treated as what he +is, that is, as preeminently one of the best citizens of this Republic. +After twelve years' service in the Army, my own belief is that the man +should be given a preference according to his ability for certain types +of office over all civilian applicants without examination. This should +also apply, of course, to the men who have served twelve years in the +Navy. A special corps should be provided to do the manual labor now +necessarily demanded of the privates themselves. +</p> + +<p> +Among the officers there should be severe examinations to weed out the +unfit up to the grade of major. From that position on appointments +should be solely by selection and it should be understood that a man of +merely average capacity could never get beyond the position of major, +while every man who serves in any grade a certain length of time prior +to promotion to the next grade without getting the promotion to the +next grade should be forthwith retired. The practice marches and field +maneuvers of the last two or three years have been invaluable to the +Army. They should be continued and extended. A rigid and not a +perfunctory examination of physical capacity has been provided for the +higher grade officers. This will work well. Unless an officer has a +good physique, unless he can stand hardship, ride well, and walk +fairly, he is not fit for any position, even after he has become a +colonel. Before he has become a colonel the need for physical fitness +in the officers is almost as great as in the enlisted man. I hope +speedily to see introduced into the Army a far more rigid and +thoroughgoing test of horsemanship for all field officers than at +present. There should be a Chief of Cavalry just as there is a Chief of +Artillery. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps the most important of all legislation needed for the benefit of +the Army is a law to equalize and increase the pay of officers and +enlisted men of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Revenue-Cutter +Service. Such a bill has been prepared, which it is hoped will meet +with your favorable consideration. The next most essential measure is +to authorize a number of extra officers as mentioned above. To make the +Army more attractive to enlisted men, it is absolutely essential to +create a service corps, such as exists in nearly every modern army in +the world, to do the skilled and unskilled labor, inseparably connected +with military administration, which is now exacted, without just +compensation, of enlisted men who voluntarily entered the Army to do +service of an altogether different kind. There are a number of other +laws necessary to so organize the Army as to promote its efficiency and +facilitate its rapid expansion in time of war; but the above are the +most important. +</p> + +<p> +It was hoped The Hague Conference might deal with the question of the +limitation of armaments. But even before it had assembled informal +inquiries had developed that as regards naval armaments, the only ones +in which this country had any interest, it was hopeless to try to +devise any plan for which there was the slightest possibility of +securing the assent of the nations gathered at The Hague. No plan was +even proposed which would have had the assent of more than one first +class Power outside of the United States. The only plan that seemed at +all feasible, that of limiting the size of battleships, met with no +favor at all. It is evident, therefore, that it is folly for this +Nation to base any hope of securing peace on any international +agreement as to the limitations of armaments. Such being the fact it +would be most unwise for us to stop the upbuilding of our Navy. To +build one battleship of the best and most advanced type a year would +barely keep our fleet up to its present force. This is not enough. In +my judgment, we should this year provide for four battleships. But it +is idle to build battleships unless in addition to providing the men, +and the means for thorough training, we provide the auxiliaries for +them, unless we provide docks, the coaling stations, the colliers and +supply ships that they need. We are extremely deficient in coaling +stations and docks on the Pacific, and this deficiency should not +longer be permitted to exist. Plenty of torpedo boats and destroyers +should be built. Both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, +fortifications of the best type should be provided for all our greatest +harbors. +</p> + +<p> +We need always to remember that in time of war the Navy is not to be +used to defend harbors and sea-coast cities; we should perfect our +system of coast fortifications. The only efficient use for the Navy is +for offense. The only way in which it can efficiently protect our own +coast against the possible action of a foreign navy is by destroying +that foreign navy. For defense against a hostile fleet which actually +attacks them, the coast cities must depend upon their forts, mines, +torpedoes, submarines, and torpedo boats and destroyers. All of these +together are efficient for defensive purposes, but they in no way +supply the place of a thoroughly efficient navy capable of acting on +the offensive; for parrying never yet won a fight. It can only be won +by hard hitting, and an aggressive sea-going navy alone can do this +hard hitting of the offensive type. But the forts and the like are +necessary so that the Navy may be footloose. In time of war there is +sure to be demand, under pressure, of fright, for the ships to be +scattered so as to defend all kind of ports. Under penalty of terrible +disaster, this demand must be refused. The ships must be kept together, +and their objective made the enemies' fleet. If fortifications are +sufficiently strong, no modern navy will venture to attack them, so +long as the foe has in existence a hostile navy of anything like the +same size or efficiency. But unless there exists such a navy then the +fortifications are powerless by themselves to secure the victory. For +of course the mere deficiency means that any resolute enemy can at his +leisure combine all his forces upon one point with the certainty that +he can take it. +</p> + +<p> +Until our battle fleet is much larger than at present it should never +be split into detachments so far apart that they could not in event of +emergency be speedily united. Our coast line is on the Pacific just as +much as on the Atlantic. The interests of California, Oregon, and +Washington are as emphatically the interests of the whole Union as +those of Maine and New York, of Louisiana and Texas. The battle fleet +should now and then be moved to the Pacific, just as at other times it +should be kept in the Atlantic. When the Isthmian Canal is built the +transit of the battle fleet from one ocean to the other will be +comparatively easy. Until it is built I earnestly hope that the battle +fleet will be thus shifted between the two oceans every year or two. +The marksmanship on all our ships has improved phenomenally during the +last five years. Until within the last two or three years it was not +possible to train a battle fleet in squadron maneuvers under service +conditions, and it is only during these last two or three years that +the training under these conditions has become really effective. +Another and most necessary stride in advance is now being taken. The +battle fleet is about starting by the Straits of Magellan to visit the +Pacific coast.. Sixteen battleships are going under the command of +Rear-Admiral Evans, while eight armored cruisers and two other +battleships will meet him at San Francisco, whither certain torpedo +destroyers are also going. No fleet of such size has ever made such a +voyage, and it will be of very great educational use to all engaged in +it. The only way by which to teach officers and men how to handle the +fleet so as to meet every possible strain and emergency in time of war +is to have them practice under similar conditions in time of peace. +Moreover, the only way to find out our actual needs is to perform in +time of peace whatever maneuvers might be necessary in time of war. +After war is declared it is too late to find out the needs; that means +to invite disaster. This trip to the Pacific will show what some of our +needs are and will enable us to provide for them. The proper place for +an officer to learn his duty is at sea, and the only way in which a +navy can ever be made efficient is by practice at sea, under all the +conditions which would have to be met if war existed. +</p> + +<p> +I bespeak the most liberal treatment for the officers and enlisted men +of the Navy. It is true of them, as likewise of the officers and +enlisted men of the Army, that they form a body whose interests should +be close to the heart of every good American. In return the most rigid +performance of duty should be exacted from them. The reward should be +ample when they do their best; and nothing less than their best should +be tolerated. It is idle to hope for the best results when the men in +the senior grades come to those grades late in life and serve too short +a time in them. Up to the rank of lieutenant-commander promotion in the +Navy should be as now, by seniority, subject, however, to such +rigid tests as would eliminate the unfit. After the grade of +lieutenant-commander, that is, when we come to the grade of command +rank, the unfit should be eliminated in such manner that only the +conspicuously fit would remain, and sea service should be a principal +test of fitness. Those who are passed by should, after a certain length +of service in their respective grades, be retired. Of a given number of +men it may well be that almost all would make good lieutenants and most +of them good lieutenant-commanders, while only a minority be fit to be +captains, and but three or four to be admirals. Those who object to +promotion otherwise than by mere seniority should reflect upon the +elementary fact that no business in private life could be successfully +managed if those who enter at the lowest rungs of the ladder should +each in turn, if he lived, become the head of the firm, its active +director, and retire after he had held the position a few months. On +its face such a scheme is an absurdity. Chances for improper favoritism +can be minimized by a properly formed board; such as the board of last +June, which did such conscientious and excellent work in elimination. +</p> + +<p> +If all that ought to be done can not now be done, at least let a +beginning be made. In my last three annual Messages, and in a special +Message to the last Congress, the necessity for legislation that will +cause officers of the line of the Navy to reach the grades of captain +and rear-admiral at less advanced ages and which will cause them to +have more sea training and experience in the highly responsible duties +of those grades, so that they may become thoroughly skillful in +handling battleships, divisions, squadrons, and fleets in action, has +been fully explained and urgently recommended. Upon this subject the +Secretary of the Navy has submitted detailed and definite +recommendations which have received my approval, and which, if enacted +into law, will accomplish what is immediately necessary, and will, as +compared with existing law, make a saving of more than five millions of +dollars during the next seven years. The navy personnel act of 1899 has +accomplished all that was expected of it in providing satisfactory +periods of service in the several subordinate grades, from the grade of +ensign to the grade of lieutenant-commander, but the law is inadequate +in the upper grades and will continue to be inadequate on account of +the expansion of the personnel since its enactment. Your attention is +invited to the following quotations from the report of the personnel +board of 1906, of which the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was +president: +</p> + +<p> +"Congress has authorized a considerable increase in the number of +midshipmen at the Naval Academy, and these midshipmen upon graduation +are promoted to ensign and lieutenant (junior-grade). But no provision +has been made for a corresponding increase in the upper grades, the +result being that the lower grades will become so congested that a +midshipman now in one of the lowest classes at Annapolis may possibly +not be promoted to lieutenant until he is between 45 and 50 years of +age. So it will continue under the present law, congesting at the top +and congesting at the bottom. The country fails to get from the +officers of the service the best that is in them by not providing +opportunity for their normal development and training. The board +believes that this works a serious detriment to the efficiency of the +Navy and is a real menace to the public safety." +</p> + +<p> +As stated in my special Message to the last Congress: "I am firmly of +the opinion that unless the present conditions of the higher +commissioned personnel is rectified by judicious legislation the future +of our Navy will be gravely compromised." It is also urgently necessary +to increase the efficiency of the Medical Corps of the Navy. Special +legislation to this end has already been proposed; and I trust it may +be enacted without delay. +</p> + +<p> +It must be remembered that everything done in the Navy to fit it to do +well in time of war must be done in time of peace. Modern wars are +short; they do not last the length of time requisite to build a +battleship; and it takes longer to train the officers and men to do +well on a battleship than it takes to build it. Nothing effective can +be done for the Navy once war has begun, and the result of the war, if +the combatants are otherwise equally matched, will depend upon which +power has prepared best in time of peace. The United States Navy is the +best guaranty the Nation has that its honor and interest will not be +neglected; and in addition it offers by far the best insurance for +peace that can by human ingenuity be devised. +</p> + +<p> +I call attention to the report of the official Board of Visitors to the +Naval Academy at Annapolis which has been forwarded to the Congress. +The report contains this paragraph: +</p> + +<p> +"Such revision should be made of the courses of study and methods of +conducting and marking examinations as will develop and bring out the +average all-round ability of the midshipman rather than to give him +prominence in any one particular study. The fact should be kept in mind +that the Naval Academy is not a university but a school, the primary +object of which is to educate boys to be efficient naval officers. +Changes in curriculum, therefore, should be in the direction of making +the course of instruction less theoretical and more practical. No +portion of any future class should be graduated in advance of the full +four years' course, and under no circumstances should the standard of +instruction be lowered. The Academy in almost all of its departments is +now magnificently equipped, and it would be very unwise to make the +course of instruction less exacting than it is to-day." +</p> + +<p> +Acting upon this suggestion I designated three seagoing officers, Capt. +Richard Wainwright, Commander Robert S. Griffin, and Lieut. Commander +Albert L. Key, all graduates of the Academy, to investigate conditions +and to recommend to me the best method of carrying into effect this +general recommendation. These officers performed the duty promptly and +intelligently, and, under the personal direction of Capt. Charles J. +Badger, Superintendent of the Academy, such of the proposed changes as +were deemed to be at present advisable were put into effect at the +beginning of the academic year, October 1, last. The results, I am +confident, will be most beneficial to the Academy, to the midshipmen, +and to the Navy. +</p> + +<p> +In foreign affairs this country's steady policy is to behave toward +other nations as a strong and self-respecting man should behave toward +the other men with whom he is brought into contact. In other words, our +aim is disinterestedly to help other nations where such help can be +wisely given without the appearance of meddling with what does not +concern us; to be careful to act as a good neighbor; and at the same +time, in good-natured fashion, to make it evident that we do not intend +to be imposed upon. +</p> + +<p> +The Second International Peace Conference was convened at The Hague on +the 15th of June last and remained in session until the 18th of +October. For the first time the representatives of practically all the +civilized countries of the world united in a temperate and kindly +discussion of the methods by which the causes of war might be narrowed +and its injurious effects reduced. +</p> + +<p> +Although the agreements reached in the Conference did not in any +direction go to the length hoped for by the more sanguine, yet in many +directions important steps were taken, and upon every subject on the +programme there was such full and considerate discussion as to justify +the belief that substantial progress has been made toward further +agreements in the future. Thirteen conventions were agreed upon +embodying the definite conclusions which had been reached, and +resolutions were adopted marking the progress made in matters upon +which agreement was not yet sufficiently complete to make conventions +practicable. +</p> + +<p> +The delegates of the United States were instructed to favor an +agreement for obligatory arbitration, the establishment of a permanent +court of arbitration to proceed judicially in the hearing and decision +of international causes, the prohibition of force for the collection of +contract debts alleged to be due from governments to citizens of other +countries until after arbitration as to the justice and amount of the +debt and the time and manner of payment, the immunity of private +property at sea, the better definition of the rights of neutrals, and, +in case any measure to that end should be introduced, the limitation of +armaments. +</p> + +<p> +In the field of peaceful disposal of international differences several +important advances were made. First, as to obligatory arbitration. +Although the Conference failed to secure a unanimous agreement upon the +details of a convention for obligatory arbitration, it did resolve as +follows; +</p> + +<p> +"It is unanimous: (1) In accepting the principle for obligatory +arbitration; (2) In declaring that certain differences, and notably +those relating to the interpretation and application of international +conventional stipulations are susceptible of being submitted to +obligatory arbitration without any restriction." +</p> + +<p> +In view of the fact that as a result of the discussion the vote upon +the definite treaty of obligatory arbitration, which was proposed, +stood 32 in favor to 9 against the adoption of the treaty, there can be +little doubt that the great majority of the countries of the world have +reached a point where they are now ready to apply practically the +principles thus unanimously agreed upon by the Conference. +</p> + +<p> +The second advance, and a very great one, is the agreement which +relates to the use of force for the collection of contract debts. Your +attention is invited to the paragraphs upon this subject in my Message +of December, 1906, and to the resolution of the Third American +Conference at Rio in the summer of 1906. The convention upon this +subject adopted by the Conference substantially as proposed by the +American delegates is as follows: +</p> + +<p> +"In order to avoid between nations armed conflicts of a purely +pecuniary origin arising from contractual debts claimed of the +government of one country by the government of another country to be +due to its nationals, the signatory Powers agree not to have recourse +to armed force for the collection of such contractual debts. +</p> + +<p> +"However, this stipulation shall not be applicable when the debtor +State refuses or leaves unanswered an offer to arbitrate, or, in case +of acceptance, makes it impossible to formulate the terms of +submission, or, after arbitration, fails to comply with the award +rendered. +</p> + +<p> +"It is further agreed that arbitration here contemplated shall be in +conformity, as to procedure, with Chapter III of the Convention for the +Pacific Settlement of International Disputes adopted at The Hague, and +that it shall determine, in so far as there shall be no agreement +between the parties, the justice and the amount of the debt, the time +and mode of payment thereof." +</p> + +<p> +Such a provision would have prevented much injustice and extortion in +the past, and I cannot doubt that its effect in the future will be most +salutary. +</p> + +<p> +A third advance has been made in amending and perfecting the convention +of 1899 for the voluntary settlement of international disputes, and +particularly the extension of those parts of that convention which +relate to commissions of inquiry. The existence of those provisions +enabled the Governments of Great Britain and Russia to avoid war, +notwithstanding great public excitement, at the time of the Dogger Bank +incident, and the new convention agreed upon by the Conference gives +practical effect to the experience gained in that inquiry. +</p> + +<p> +Substantial progress was also made towards the creation of a permanent +judicial tribunal for the determination of international causes. There +was very full discussion of the proposal for such a court and a general +agreement was finally reached in favor of its creation. The Conference +recommended to the signatory Powers the adoption of a draft upon which +it agreed for the organization of the court, leaving to be determined +only the method by which the judges should be selected. This remaining +unsettled question is plainly one which time and good temper will +solve. +</p> + +<p> +A further agreement of the first importance was that for the creation +of an international prize court. The constitution, organization and +procedure of such a tribunal were provided for in detail. Anyone who +recalls the injustices under which this country suffered as a neutral +power during the early part of the last century can not fail to see in +this provision for an international prize court the great advance which +the world is making towards the substitution of the rule of reason and +justice in place of simple force. Not only will the international prize +court be the means of protecting the interests of neutrals, but it is +in itself a step towards the creation of the more general court for the +hearing of international controversies to which reference has just been +made. The organization and action of such a prize court can not fail to +accustom the different countries to the submission of international +questions to the decision of an international tribunal, and we may +confidently expect the results of such submission to bring about a +general agreement upon the enlargement of the practice. +</p> + +<p> +Numerous provisions were adopted for reducing the evil effects of war +and for defining the rights and duties of neutrals. +</p> + +<p> +The Conference also provided for the holding of a third Conference +within a period similar to that which elapsed between the First and +Second Conferences. +</p> + +<p> +The delegates of the United States worthily represented the spirit of +the American people and maintained with fidelity and ability the policy +of our Government upon all the great questions discussed in the +Conference. +</p> + +<p> +The report of the delegation, together with authenticated copies of the +conventions signed, when received, will be laid before the Senate for +its consideration. +</p> + +<p> +When we remember how difficult it is for one of our own legislative +bodies, composed of citizens of the same country, speaking the same +language, living under the same laws, and having the same customs, to +reach an agreement, or even to secure a majority upon any difficult and +important subject which is proposed for legislation, it becomes plain +that the representatives of forty-five different countries, speaking +many different languages, accustomed to different methods of procedure, +with widely diverse interests, who discussed so many different subjects +and reached agreements upon so many, are entitled to grateful +appreciation for the wisdom, patience, and moderation with which they +have discharged their duty. The example of this temperate discussion, +and the agreements and the efforts to agree, among representatives of +all the nations of the earth, acting with universal recognition of the +supreme obligation to promote peace, can not fail to be a powerful +influence for good in future international relations. +</p> + +<p> +A year ago in consequence of a revolutionary movement in Cuba which +threatened the immediate return to chaos of the island, the United +States intervened, sending down an army and establishing a provisional +government under Governor Magoon. Absolute quiet and prosperity have +returned to the island because of this action. We are now taking steps +to provide for elections in the island and our expectation is within +the coming year to be able to turn the island over again to government +chosen by the people thereof. Cuba is at our doors. It is not possible +that this Nation should permit Cuba again to sink into the condition +from which we rescued it. All that we ask of the Cuban people is that +they be prosperous, that they govern themselves so as to bring content, +order and progress to their island, the Queen of the Antilles; and our +only interference has been and will be to help them achieve these +results. +</p> + +<p> +An invitation has been extended by Japan to the Government and people +of the United States to participate in a great national exposition to +be held at Tokyo from April 1 to October 31, 1912, and in which the +principal countries of the world are to be invited to take part. This +is an occasion of special interest to all the nations of the world, and +peculiarly so to us; for it is the first instance in which such a great +national exposition has been held by a great power dwelling on the +Pacific; and all the nations of Europe and America will, I trust, join +in helping to success this first great exposition ever held by a great +nation of Asia. The geographical relations of Japan and the United +States as the possessors of such large portions of the coasts of the +Pacific, the intimate trade relations already existing between the two +countries, the warm friendship which has been maintained between them +without break since the opening of Japan to intercourse with the +western nations, and her increasing wealth and production, which we +regard with hearty goodwill and wish to make the occasion of mutually +beneficial commerce, all unite in making it eminently desirable that +this invitation should be accepted. I heartily recommend such +legislation as will provide in generous fashion for the representation +of this Government and its people in the proposed exposition. Action +should be taken now. We are apt to underestimate the time necessary for +preparation in such cases. The invitation to the French Exposition of +1900 was brought to the attention of the Congress by President +Cleveland in December, 1895; and so many are the delays necessary to +such proceedings that the period of font years and a half which then +intervened before the exposition proved none too long for the proper +preparation of the exhibits. +</p> + +<p> +The adoption of a new tariff by Germany, accompanied by conventions for +reciprocal tariff concessions between that country and most of the +other countries of continental Europe, led the German Government to +give the notice necessary to terminate the reciprocal commercial +agreement with this country proclaimed July 13, 1900. The notice was to +take effect on the 1st of March, 1906, and in default of some other +arrangements this would have left the exports from the United States to +Germany subject to the general German tariff duties, from 25 to 50 per +cent higher than the conventional duties imposed upon the goods of most +of our competitors for German trade. +</p> + +<p> +Under a special agreement made between the two Governments in February, +1906, the German Government postponed the operation of their notice +until the 30th of June, 1907. In the meantime, deeming it to be my duty +to make every possible effort to prevent a tariff war between the +United States and Germany arising from misunderstanding by either +country of the conditions existing in the other, and acting upon the +invitation of the German Government, I sent to Berlin a commission +composed of competent experts in the operation and administration of +the customs tariff, from the Departments of the Treasury and Commerce +and Labor. This commission was engaged for several mouths in conference +with a similar commission appointed by the German Government, under +instructions, so far as practicable, to reach a common understanding as +to all the facts regarding the tariffs of the United States and Germany +material and relevant to the trade relations between the two countries. +The commission reported, and upon the basis of the report, a further +temporary commercial agreement was entered into by the two countries, +pursuant to which, in the exercise of the authority conferred upon the +President by the third section of the tariff act of July 24, 1897, I +extended the reduced tariff rates provided for in that section to +champagne and all other sparkling wines, and pursuant to which the +German conventional or minimum tariff rates were extended to about 96 +1/2 per cent of all the exports from the United States to Germany. This +agreement is to remain in force until the 30th of June, 1908, and until +six months after notice by either party to terminate it. +</p> + +<p> +The agreement and the report of the commission on which it is based +will be laid before the Congress for its information. +</p> + +<p> +This careful examination into the tariff relations between the United +States and Germany involved an inquiry into certain of our methods of +administration which had been the cause of much complaint on the part +of German exporters. In this inquiry I became satisfied that certain +vicious and unjustifiable practices had grown up in our customs +administration, notably the practice of determining values of imports +upon detective reports never disclosed to the persons whose interests +were affected. The use of detectives, though often necessary, tends +towards abuse, and should be carefully guarded. Under our practice as I +found it to exist in this case, the abuse had become gross and +discreditable. Under it, instead of seeking information as to the +market value of merchandise from the well-known and respected members +of the commercial community in the country of its production, secret +statements were obtained from informers and discharged employees and +business rivals, and upon this kind of secret evidence the values of +imported goods were frequently raised and heavy penalties were +frequently imposed upon importers who were never permitted to know what +the evidence was and who never had an opportunity to meet it. It is +quite probable that this system tended towards an increase of the +duties collected upon imported goods, but I conceive it to be a +violation of law to exact more duties than the law provides, just as it +is a violation to admit goods upon the payment of less than the legal +rate of duty. This practice was repugnant to the spirit of American law +and to American sense of justice. In the judgment of the most competent +experts of the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce and +Labor it was wholly unnecessary for the due collection of the customs +revenues, and the attempt to defend it merely illustrates the +demoralization which naturally follows from a long continued course of +reliance upon such methods. I accordingly caused the regulations +governing this branch of the customs service to be modified so that +values are determined upon a hearing in which all the parties +interested have an opportunity to be heard and to know the evidence +against them. Moreover our Treasury agents are accredited to the +government of the country in which they seek information, and in +Germany receive the assistance of the quasi-official chambers of +commerce in determining the actual market value of goods, in accordance +with what I am advised to be the true construction of the law. +</p> + +<p> +These changes of regulations were adapted to the removal of such +manifest abuses that I have not felt that they ought to be confined to +our relations with Germany; and I have extended their operation to all +other countries which have expressed a desire to enter into similar +administrative relations. +</p> + +<p> +I ask for authority to reform the agreement with China under which the +indemnity of 1900 was fixed, by remitting and cancelling the obligation +of China for the payment of all that part of the stipulated indemnity +which is in excess of the sum of eleven million, six hundred and +fifty-five thousand, four hundred and ninety-two dollars and sixty-nine +cents, and interest at four per cent. After the rescue of the foreign +legations in Peking during the Boxer troubles in 1900 the Powers +required from China the payment of equitable indemnities to the several +nations, and the final protocol under which the troops were withdrawn, +signed at Peking, September 7, 1901, fixed the amount of this indemnity +allotted to the United States at over $20,000,000, and China paid, up +to and including the 1st day of June last, a little over $6,000,000. It +was the first intention of this Government at the proper time, when all +claims had been presented and all expenses ascertained as fully as +possible, to revise the estimates and account, and as a proof of +sincere friendship for China voluntarily to release that country from +its legal liability for all payments in excess of the sum which should +prove to be necessary for actual indemnity to the United States and its +citizens. +</p> + +<p> +This Nation should help in every practicable way in the education of +the Chinese people, so that the vast and populous Empire of China may +gradually adapt itself to modern conditions. One way of doing this is +by promoting the coming of Chinese students to this country and making +it attractive to them to take courses at our universities and higher +educational institutions. Our educators should, so far as possible, +take concerted action toward this end. +</p> + +<p> +On the courteous invitation of the President of Mexico, the Secretary +of State visited that country in September and October and was received +everywhere with the greatest kindness and hospitality. +</p> + +<p> +He carried from the Government of the United States to our southern +neighbor a message of respect and good will and of desire for better +acquaintance and increasing friendship. The response from the +Government and the people of Mexico was hearty and sincere. No pains +were spared to manifest the most friendly attitude and feeling toward +the United States. +</p> + +<p> +In view of the close neighborhood of the two countries the relations +which exist between Mexico and the United States are just cause for +gratification. We have a common boundary of over 1,500 miles from the +Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. Much of it is marked only by the +shifting waters of the Rio Grande. Many thousands of Mexicans are +residing upon our side of the line and it is estimated that over 40,000 +Americans are resident in Mexican territory and that American +investments in Mexico amount to over seven hundred million dollars. The +extraordinary industrial and commercial prosperity of Mexico has been +greatly promoted by American enterprise, and Americans are sharing +largely in its results. The foreign trade of the Republic already +exceeds $240,000,000 per annum, and of this two-thirds both of exports +and imports are exchanged with the United States. Under these +circumstances numerous questions necessarily arise between the two +countries. These questions are always approached and disposed of in a +spirit of mutual courtesy and fair dealing. Americans carrying on +business in Mexico testify uniformly to the kindness and consideration +with which they are treated and their sense of the security of their +property and enterprises under the wise administration of the great +statesman who has so long held the office of Chief Magistrate of that +Republic. +</p> + +<p> +The two Governments have been uniting their efforts for a considerable +time past to aid Central America in attaining the degree of peace and +order which have made possible the prosperity of the northern ports of +the Continent. After the peace between Guatemala, Honduras, and +Salvador, celebrated under the circumstances described in my last +Message, a new war broke out between the Republics of Nicaragua, +Honduras, and Salvador. The effort to compose this new difficulty has +resulted in the acceptance of the joint suggestion of the Presidents of +Mexico and of the United States for a general peace conference between +all the countries of Central America. On the 17th day of September last +a protocol was signed between the representatives of the five Central +American countries accredited to this Government agreeing upon a +conference to be held in the City of Washington "in order to devise the +means of preserving the good relations among said Republics and +bringing about permanent peace in those countries." The protocol +includes the expression of a wish that the Presidents of the United +States and Mexico should appoint "representatives to lend their good +and impartial offices in a purely friendly way toward the realization +of the objects of the conference." The conference is now in session and +will have our best wishes and, where it is practicable, our friendly +assistance. +</p> + +<p> +One of the results of the Pan American Conference at Rio Janeiro in the +summer of 1906 has been a great increase in the activity and usefulness +of the International Bureau of American Republics. That institution, +which includes all the American Republics in its membership and brings +all their representatives together, is doing a really valuable work in +informing the people of the United States about the other Republics and +in making the United States known to them. Its action is now limited by +appropriations determined when it was doing a work on a much smaller +scale and rendering much less valuable service. I recommend that the +contribution of this Government to the expenses of the Bureau be made +commensurate with its increased work. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3"> +*** +</p> + +<p><a id="dec1908"></a></p> + +<p class="noindent"> +State of the Union Address<br /> +Theodore Roosevelt<br /> +December 8, 1908<br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +To the Senate and House of Representatives: +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +FINANCES. +</p> + +<p> +The financial standing of the Nation at the present time is excellent, +and the financial management of the Nation's interests by the +Government during the last seven years has shown the most satisfactory +results. But our currency system is imperfect, and it is earnestly to +be hoped that the Currency Commission will be able to propose a +thoroughly good system which will do away with the existing defects. +</p> + +<p> +During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, there was +an increase in the amount of money in circulation of $902,991,399. The +increase in the per capita during this period was $7.06. Within this +time there were several occasions when it was necessary for the +Treasury Department to come to the relief of the money market by +purchases or redemptions of United States bonds; by increasing deposits +in national banks; by stimulating additional issues of national bank +notes, and by facilitating importations from abroad of gold. Our +imperfect currency system has made these proceedings necessary, and +they were effective until the monetary disturbance in the fall of 1907 +immensely increased the difficulty of ordinary methods of relief. By +the middle of November the available working balance in the Treasury +had been reduced to approximately $5,000,000. Clearing house +associations throughout the country had been obliged to resort to the +expedient of issuing clearing house certificates, to be used as money. +In this emergency it was determined to invite subscriptions for +$50,000,000 Panama Canal bonds, and $100,000,000 three per cent +certificates of indebtedness authorized by the act of June 13, 1898. It +was proposed to re-deposit in the national banks the proceeds of these +issues, and to permit their use as a basis for additional circulating +notes of national banks. The moral effect of this procedure was so +great that it was necessary to issue only $24,631,980 of the Panama +Canal bonds and $15,436,500 of the certificates of indebtedness. +</p> + +<p> +During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, the balance +between the net ordinary receipts and the net ordinary expenses of the +Government showed a surplus in the four years 1902, 1903, 1906 and +1907, and a deficit in the years 1904, 1905, 1908 and a fractional part +of the fiscal year 1909. The net result was a surplus of +$99,283,413.54. The financial operations of the Government during this +period, based upon these differences between receipts and expenditures, +resulted in a net reduction of the interest-bearing debt of the United +States from $987,141,040 to $897,253,990, notwithstanding that there +had been two sales of Panama Canal bonds amounting in the aggregate to +$54,631,980, and an issue of three per cent certificates of +indebtedness under the act of June 13, 1998, amounting to $15,436,500. +Refunding operations of the Treasury Department under the act of March +14, 1900, resulted in the conversion into two per cent consols of 1930 +of $200,309,400 bonds bearing higher rates of interest. A decrease of +$8,687,956 in the annual interest charge resulted from these +operations. +</p> + +<p> +In short, during the seven years and three months there has been a net +surplus of nearly one hundred millions of receipts over expenditures, a +reduction of the interest-bearing debt by ninety millions, in spite of +the extraordinary expense of the Panama Canal, and a saving of nearly +nine millions on the annual interest charge. This is an exceedingly +satisfactory showing, especially in view of the fact that during this +period the Nation has never hesitated to undertake any expenditure that +it regarded as necessary. There have been no new taxes and no increase +of taxes; on the contrary, some taxes have been taken off; there has +been a reduction of taxation. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +CORPORATIONS. +</p> + +<p> +As regards the great corporations engaged in interstate business, and +especially the railroad, I can only repeat what I have already again +and again said in my messages to the Congress, I believe that under the +interstate clause of the Constitution the United States has complete +and paramount right to control all agencies of interstate commerce, and +I believe that the National Government alone can exercise this right +with wisdom and effectiveness so as both to secure justice from, and to +do justice to, the great corporations which are the most important +factors in modern business. I believe that it is worse than folly to +attempt to prohibit all combinations as is done by the Sherman +anti-trust law, because such a law can be enforced only imperfectly and +unequally, and its enforcement works almost as much hardship as good. I +strongly advocate that instead of an unwise effort to prohibit all +combinations there shall be substituted a law which shall expressly +permit combinations which are in the interest of the public, but shall +at the same time give to some agency of the National Government full +power of control and supervision over them. One of the chief features +of this control should be securing entire publicity in all matters +which the public has a right to know, and furthermore, the power, not +by judicial but by executive action, to prevent or put a stop to every +form of improper favoritism or other wrongdoing. +</p> + +<p> +The railways of the country should be put completely under the +Interstate Commerce Commission and removed from the domain of the +anti-trust law. The power of the Commission should be made +thoroughgoing, so that it could exercise complete supervision and +control over the issue of securities as well as over the raising and +lowering of rates. As regards rates, at least, this power should be +summary. The power to investigate the financial operations and accounts +of the railways has been one of the most valuable features in recent +legislation. Power to make combinations and traffic agreements should +be explicitly conferred upon the railroads, the permission of the +Commission being first gained and the combination or agreement being +published in all its details. In the interest of the public the +representatives of the public should have complete power to see that +the railroads do their duty by the public, and as a matter of course +this power should also be exercised so as to see that no injustice is +done to the railroads. The shareholders, the employees and the shippers +all have interests that must be guarded. It is to the interest of all +of them that no swindling stock speculation should be allowed, and that +there should be no improper issuance of securities. The guiding +intelligences necessary for the successful building and successful +management of railroads should receive ample remuneration; but no man +should be allowed to make money in connection with railroads out of +fraudulent over-capitalization and kindred stock-gambling performances; +there must be no defrauding of investors, oppression of the farmers and +business men who ship freight, or callous disregard of the rights and +needs of the employees. In addition to this the interests of the +shareholders, of the employees, and of the shippers should all be +guarded as against one another. To give any one of them undue and +improper consideration is to do injustice to the others. Rates must be +made as low as is compatible with giving proper returns to all the +employees of the railroad, from the highest to the lowest, and proper +returns to the shareholders; but they must not, for instance, be +reduced in such fashion as to necessitate a cut in the wages of the +employees or the abolition of the proper and legitimate profits of +honest shareholders. +</p> + +<p> +Telegraph and telephone companies engaged in interstate business should +be put under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission. +</p> + +<p> +It is very earnestly to be wished that our people, through their +representatives, should act in this matter. It is hard to say whether +most damage to the country at large would come from entire failure on +the part of the public to supervise and control the actions of the +great corporations, or from the exercise of the necessary governmental +power in a way which would do injustice and wrong to the corporations. +Both the preachers of an unrestricted individualism, and the preachers +of an oppression which would deny to able men of business the just +reward of their initiative and business sagacity, are advocating +policies that would be fraught with the gravest harm to the whole +country. To permit every lawless capitalist, every law-defying +corporation, to take any action, no matter how iniquitous, in the +effort to secure an improper profit and to build up privilege, would be +ruinous to the Republic and would mark the abandonment of the effort to +secure in the industrial world the spirit of democratic fair dealing. +On the other hand, to attack these wrongs in that spirit of demagogy +which can see wrong only when committed by the man of wealth, and is +dumb and blind in the presence of wrong committed against men of +property or by men of no property, is exactly as evil as corruptly to +defend the wrongdoing of men of wealth. The war we wage must be waged +against misconduct, against wrongdoing wherever it is found; and we +must stand heartily for the rights of every decent man, whether he be a +man of great wealth or a man who earns his livelihood as a wage-worker +or a tiller of the soil. +</p> + +<p> +It is to the interest of all of us that there should be a premium put +upon individual initiative and individual capacity, and an ample reward +for the great directing intelligences alone competent to manage the +great business operations of to-day. It is well to keep in mind that +exactly as the anarchist is the worst enemy of liberty and the +reactionary the worst enemy of order, so the men who defend the rights +of property have most to fear from the wrongdoers of great wealth, and +the men who are championing popular rights have most to fear from the +demagogues who in the name of popular rights would do wrong to and +oppress honest business men, honest men of wealth; for the success of +either type of wrongdoer necessarily invites a violent reaction against +the cause the wrongdoer nominally upholds. In point of danger to the +Nation there is nothing to choose between on the one hand the +corruptionist, the bribe-giver, the bribe-taker, the man who employs +his great talent to swindle his fellow-citizens on a large scale, and, +on the other hand, the preacher of class hatred, the man who, whether +from ignorance or from willingness to sacrifice his country to his +ambition, persuades well-meaning but wrong-headed men to try to destroy +the instruments upon which our prosperity mainly rests. Let each group +of men beware of and guard against the shortcomings to which that group +is itself most liable. Too often we see the business community in a +spirit of unhealthy class consciousness deplore the effort to hold to +account under the law the wealthy men who in their management of great +corporations, whether railroads, street railways, or other industrial +enterprises, have behaved in a way that revolts the conscience of the +plain, decent people. Such an attitude can not be condemned too +severely, for men of property should recognize that they jeopardize the +rights of property when they fail heartily to join in the effort to do +away with the abuses of wealth. On the other hand, those who advocate +proper control on behalf of the public, through the State, of these +great corporations, and of the wealth engaged on a giant scale in +business operations, must ever keep in mind that unless they do +scrupulous justice to the corporation, unless they permit ample profit, +and cordially encourage capable men of business so long as they act +with honesty, they are striking at the root of our national well-being; +for in the long run, under the mere pressure of material distress, the +people as a whole would probably go back to the reign of an +unrestricted individualism rather than submit to a control by the State +so drastic and so foolish, conceived in a spirit of such unreasonable +and narrow hostility to wealth, as to prevent business operations from +being profitable, and therefore to bring ruin upon the entire business +community, and ultimately upon the entire body of citizens. +</p> + +<p> +The opposition to Government control of these great corporations makes +its most effective effort in the shape of an appeal to the old doctrine +of State's rights. Of course there are many sincere men who now believe +in unrestricted individualism in business, just as there were formerly +many sincere men who believed in slavery--that is, in the unrestricted +right of an individual to own another individual. These men do not by +themselves have great weight, however. The effective fight against +adequate Government control and supervision of individual, and +especially of corporate, wealth engaged in interstate business is +chiefly done under cover; and especially under cover of an appeal to +State's rights. It is not at all infrequent to read in the same speech +a denunciation of predatory wealth fostered by special privilege and +defiant of both the public welfare and law of the land, and a +denunciation of centralization in the Central Government of the power +to deal with this centralized and organized wealth. Of course the +policy set forth in such twin denunciations amounts to absolutely +nothing, for the first half is nullified by the second half. The chief +reason, among the many sound and compelling reasons, that led to the +formation of the National Government was the absolute need that the +Union, and not the several States, should deal with interstate and +foreign commerce; and the power to deal with interstate commerce was +granted absolutely and plenarily to the Central Government and was +exercised completely as regards the only instruments of interstate +commerce known in those days--the waterways, the highroads, as well as +the partnerships of individuals who then conducted all of what business +there was. Interstate commerce is now chiefly conducted by railroads; +and the great corporation has supplanted the mass of small partnerships +or individuals. The proposal to make the National Government supreme +over, and therefore to give it complete control over, the railroads and +other instruments of interstate commerce is merely a proposal to carry +out to the letter one of the prime purposes, if not the prime purpose, +for which the Constitution was rounded. It does not represent +centralization. It represents merely the acknowledgment of the patent +fact that centralization has already come in business. If this +irresponsible outside business power is to be controlled in the +interest of the general public it can only be controlled in one way--by +giving adequate power of control to the one sovereignty capable of +exercising such power--the National Government. Forty or fifty separate +state governments can not exercise that power over corporations doing +business in most or all of them; first, because they absolutely lack +the authority to deal with interstate business in any form; and second, +because of the inevitable conflict of authority sure to arise in the +effort to enforce different kinds of state regulation, often +inconsistent with one another and sometimes oppressive in themselves. +Such divided authority can not regulate commerce with wisdom and +effect. The Central Government is the only power which, without +oppression, can nevertheless thoroughly and adequately control and +supervise the large corporations. To abandon the effort for National +control means to abandon the effort for all adequate control and yet to +render likely continual bursts of action by State legislatures, which +can not achieve the purpose sought for, but which can do a great deal +of damage to the corporation without conferring any real benefit on the +public. +</p> + +<p> +I believe that the more farsighted corporations are themselves coming +to recognize the unwisdom of the violent hostility they have displayed +during the last few years to regulation and control by the National +Government of combinations engaged in interstate business. The truth is +that we who believe in this movement of asserting and exercising a +genuine control, in the public interest, over these great corporations +have to contend against two sets of enemies, who, though nominally +opposed to one another, are really allies in preventing a proper +solution of the problem. There are, first, the big corporation men, and +the extreme individualists among business men, who genuinely believe in +utterly unregulated business that is, in the reign of plutocracy; and, +second, the men who, being blind to the economic movements of the day, +believe in a movement of repression rather than of regulation of +corporations, and who denounce both the power of the railroads and the +exercise of the Federal power which alone can really control the +railroads. Those who believe in efficient national control, on the +other hand, do not in the least object to combinations; do not in the +least object to concentration in business administration. On the +contrary, they favor both, with the all important proviso that there +shall be such publicity about their workings, and such thoroughgoing +control over them, as to insure their being in the interest, and not +against the interest, of the general public. We do not object to the +concentration of wealth and administration; but we do believe in the +distribution of the wealth in profits to the real owners, and in +securing to the public the full benefit of the concentrated +administration. We believe that with concentration in administration +there can come both be advantage of a larger ownership and of a more +equitable distribution of profits, and at the same time a better +service to the commonwealth. We believe that the administration should +be for the benefit of the many; and that greed and rascality, practiced +on a large scale, should be punished as relentlessly as if practiced on +a small scale. +</p> + +<p> +We do not for a moment believe that the problem will be solved by any +short and easy method. The solution will come only by pressing various +concurrent remedies. Some of these remedies must lie outside the domain +of all government. Some must lie outside the domain of the Federal +Government. But there is legislation which the Federal Government alone +can enact and which is absolutely vital in order to secure the +attainment of our purpose. Many laws are needed. There should be +regulation by the National Government of the great interstate +corporations, including a simple method of account keeping, publicity, +supervision of the issue securities, abolition of rebates, and of +special privileges. There should be short time franchises for all +corporations engaged in public business; including the corporations +which get power from water rights. There should be National as well as +State guardianship of mines and forests. The labor legislation +hereinafter referred to should concurrently be enacted into law. +</p> + +<p> +To accomplish this, means of course a certain increase in the use +of--not the creation of--power, by the Central Government. The power +already exists; it does not have to be created; the only question is +whether it shall be used or left idle--and meanwhile the corporations +over which the power ought to be exercised will not remain idle. Let +those who object to this increase in the use of the only power +available, the national power, be frank, and admit openly that they +propose to abandon any effort to control the great business +corporations and to exercise supervision over the accumulation and +distribution of wealth; for such supervision and control can only come +through this particular kind of increase of power. We no more believe +in that empiricism which demand, absolutely unrestrained individualism +than we do in that empiricism which clamors for a deadening socialism +which would destroy all individual initiative and would ruin the +country with a completeness that not even an unrestrained individualism +itself could achieve. The danger to American democracy lies not in the +least in the concentration of administrative power in responsible and +accountable hands. It lies in having the power insufficiently +concentrated, so that no one can be held responsible to the people for +its use. Concentrated power is palpable, visible, responsible, easily +reached, quickly held to account. Power scattered through many +administrators, many legislators, many men who work behind and through +legislators and administrators, is impalpable, is unseen, is +irresponsible, can not be reached, can not be held to account. +Democracy is in peril wherever the administration of political power is +scattered among a variety of men who work in secret, whose very names +are unknown to the common people. It is not in peril from any man who +derives authority from the people, who exercises it in sight of the +people, and who is from time to time compelled to give an account of +its exercise to the people. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +LABOR. +</p> + +<p> +There are many matters affecting labor and the status of the +wage-worker to which I should like to draw your attention, but an +exhaustive discussion of the problem in all its aspects is not now +necessary. This administration is nearing its end; and, moreover, under +our form of government the solution of the problem depends upon the +action of the States as much as upon the action of the Nation. +Nevertheless, there are certain considerations which I wish to set +before you, because I hope that our people will more and more keep them +in mind. A blind and ignorant resistance to every effort for the reform +of abuses and for the readjustment of society to modern industrial +conditions represents not true conservatism, but an incitement to the +wildest radicalism; for wise radicalism and wise conservatism go hand +in hand, one bent on progress, the other bent on seeing that no change +is made unless in the right direction. I believe in a steady effort, or +perhaps it would be more accurate to say in steady efforts in many +different directions, to bring about a condition of affairs under which +the men who work with hand or with brain, the laborers, the +superintendents, the men who produce for the market and the men who +find a market for the articles produced, shall own a far greater share +than at present of the wealth they produce, and be enabled to invest it +in the tools and instruments by which all work is carried on. As far as +possible I hope to see a frank recognition of the advantages conferred +by machinery, organization, and division of labor, accompanied by an +effort to bring about a larger share in the ownership by wage-worker of +railway, mill and factory. In farming, this simply means that we wish +to see the farmer own his own land; we do not wish to see the farms so +large that they become the property of absentee landlords who farm them +by tenants, nor yet so small that the farmer becomes like a European +peasant. Again, the depositors in our savings banks now number over +one-tenth of our entire population. These are all capitalists, who +through the savings banks loan their money to the workers--that is, in +many cases to themselves--to carry on their various industries. The +more we increase their number, the more we introduce the principles of +cooperation into our industry. Every increase in the number of small +stockholders in corporations is a good thing, for the same reasons; and +where the employees are the stockholders the result is particularly +good. Very much of this movement must be outside of anything that can +be accomplished by legislation; but legislation can do a good deal. +Postal savings banks will make it easy for the poorest to keep their +savings in absolute safety. The regulation of the national highways +must be such that they shall serve all people with equal justice. +Corporate finances must be supervised so as to make it far safer than +at present for the man of small means to invest his money in stocks. +There must be prohibition of child labor, diminution of woman labor, +shortening of hours of all mechanical labor; stock watering should be +prohibited, and stock gambling so far as is possible discouraged. There +should be a progressive inheritance tax on large fortunes. Industrial +education should be encouraged. As far as possible we should lighten +the burden of taxation on the small man. We should put a premium upon +thrift, hard work, and business energy; but these qualities cease to be +the main factors in accumulating a fortune long before that fortune +reaches a point where it would be seriously affected by any inheritance +tax such as I propose. It is eminently right that the Nation should fix +the terms upon which the great fortunes are inherited. They rarely do +good and they often do harm to those who inherit them in their +entirety. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +PROTECTION FOR WAGEWORKERS. +</p> + +<p> +The above is the merest sketch, hardly even a sketch in outline, of the +reforms for which we should work. But there is one matter with which +the Congress should deal at this session. There should no longer be any +paltering with the question of taking care of the wage-workers who, +under our present industrial system, become killed, crippled, or worn +out as part of the regular incidents of a given business. The majority +of wageworkers must have their rights secured for them by State action; +but the National Government should legislate in thoroughgoing and +far-reaching fashion not only for all employees of the National +Government, but for all persons engaged in interstate commerce. The +object sought for could be achieved to a measurable degree, as far as +those killed or crippled are concerned, by proper employers' liability +laws. As far as concerns those who have been worn out, I call your +attention to the fact that definite steps toward providing old-age +pensions have been taken in many of our private industries. These may +be indefinitely extended through voluntary association and contributory +schemes, or through the agency of savings banks, as under the recent +Massachusetts plan. To strengthen these practical measures should be +our immediate duty; it is not at present necessary to consider the +larger and more general governmental schemes that most European +governments have found themselves obliged to adopt. +</p> + +<p> +Our present system, or rather no system, works dreadful wrong, and is +of benefit to only one class of people--the lawyers. When a workman is +injured what he needs is not an expensive and doubtful lawsuit, but the +certainty of relief through immediate administrative action. The number +of accidents which result in the death or crippling of wageworkers, in +the Union at large, is simply appalling; in a very few years it runs up +a total far in excess of the aggregate of the dead and wounded in any +modern war. No academic theory about "freedom of contract" or +"constitutional liberty to contract" should be permitted to interfere +with this and similar movements. Progress in civilization has +everywhere meant a limitation and regulation of contract. I call your +especial attention to the bulletin of the Bureau of Labor which gives a +statement of the methods of treating the unemployed in European +countries, as this is a subject which in Germany, for instance, is +treated in connection with making provision for worn-out and crippled +workmen. +</p> + +<p> +Pending a thoroughgoing investigation and action there is certain +legislation which should be enacted at once. The law, passed at the +last session of the Congress, granting compensation to certain classes +of employees of the Government, should be extended to include all +employees of the Government and should be made more liberal in its +terms. There is no good ground for the distinction made in the law +between those engaged in hazardous occupations and those not so +engaged. If a man is injured or killed in any line of work, it was +hazardous in his case. Whether 1 per cent or 10 per cent of those +following a given occupation actually suffer injury or death ought not +to have any bearing on the question of their receiving compensation. It +is a grim logic which says to an injured employee or to the dependents +of one killed that he or they are entitled to no compensation because +very few people other than he have been injured or killed in that +occupation. Perhaps one of the most striking omissions in the law is +that it does not embrace peace officers and others whose lives may be +sacrificed in enforcing the laws of the United States. The terms of the +act providing compensation should be made more liberal than in the +present act. A year's compensation is not adequate for a wage-earner's +family in the event of his death by accident in the course of his +employment. And in the event of death occurring, say, ten or eleven +months after the accident, the family would only receive as +compensation the equivalent of one or two months' earnings. In this +respect the generosity of the United States towards its employees +compares most unfavorably with that of every country in Europe--even +the poorest. +</p> + +<p> +The terms of the act are also a hardship in prohibiting payment in +cases where the accident is in any way due to the negligence of the +employee. It is inevitable that daily familiarity with danger will lead +men to take chances that can be construed into negligence. So well is +this recognized that in practically all countries in the civilized +world, except the United States, only a great degree of negligence acts +as a bar to securing compensation. Probably in no other respect is our +legislation, both State and National, so far behind practically the +entire civilized world as in the matter of liability and compensation +for accidents in industry. It is humiliating that at European +international congresses on accidents the United States should be +singled out as the most belated among the nations in respect to +employers' liability legislation. This Government is itself a large +employer of labor, and in its dealings with its employees it should set +a standard in this country which would place it on a par with the most +progressive countries in Europe. The laws of the United States in this +respect and the laws of European countries have been summarized in a +recent Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, and no American who reads this +summary can fail to be struck by the great contrast between our +practices and theirs--a contrast not in any sense to our credit. +</p> + +<p> +The Congress should without further delay pass a model employers' +liability law for the District of Columbia. The employers' liability +act recently declared unconstitutional, on account of apparently +including in its provisions employees engaged in intrastate commerce as +well as those engaged in interstate commerce, has been held by the +local courts to be still in effect so far as its provisions apply to +District of Columbia. There should be no ambiguity on this point. If +there is any doubt on the subject, the law should be reenacted with +special reference to the District of Columbia. This act, however, +applies only to employees of common carriers. In all other occupations +the liability law of the District is the old common law. The severity +and injustice of the common law in this matter has been in some degree +or another modified in the majority of our States, and the only +jurisdiction under the exclusive control of the Congress should be +ahead and not behind the States of the Union in this respect. A +comprehensive employers' liability law should be passed for the +District of Columbia. +</p> + +<p> +I renew my recommendation made in a previous message that half-holidays +be granted during summer to all wageworkers in Government employ. +</p> + +<p> +I also renew my recommendation that the principle of the eight-hour day +should as rapidly and as far as practicable be extended to the entire +work being carried on by the Government; the present law should be +amended to embrace contracts on those public works which the present +wording of the act seems to exclude. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +THE COURTS. +</p> + +<p> +I most earnestly urge upon the Congress the duty of increasing the +totally inadequate salaries now given to our Judges. On the whole there +is no body of public servants who do as valuable work, nor whose +moneyed reward is so inadequate compared to their work. Beginning with +the Supreme Court, the Judges should have their salaries doubled. It is +not befitting the dignity of the Nation that its most honored public +servants should be paid sums so small compared to what they would earn +in private life that the performance of public service by them implies +an exceedingly heavy pecuniary sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +It is earnestly to be desired that some method should be devised for +doing away with the long delays which now obtain in the administration +of justice, and which operate with peculiar severity against persons of +small means, and favor only the very criminals whom it is most +desirable to punish. These long delays in the final decisions of cases +make in the aggregate a crying evil; and a remedy should be devised. +Much of this intolerable delay is due to improper regard paid to +technicalities which are a mere hindrance to justice. In some noted +recent cases this over-regard for technicalities has resulted in a +striking denial of justice, and flagrant wrong to the body politic. +</p> + +<p> +At the last election certain leaders of organized labor made a violent +and sweeping attack upon the entire judiciary of the country, an attack +couched in such terms as to include the most upright, honest and +broad-minded judges, no less than those of narrower mind and more +restricted outlook. It was the kind of attack admirably fitted to +prevent any successful attempt to reform abuses of the judiciary, +because it gave the champions of the unjust judge their eagerly desired +opportunity to shift their ground into a championship of just judges +who were unjustly assailed. Last year, before the House Committee on +the Judiciary, these same labor leaders formulated their demands, +specifying the bill that contained them, refusing all compromise, +stating they wished the principle of that bill or nothing. They +insisted on a provision that in a labor dispute no injunction should +issue except to protect a property right, and specifically provided +that the right to carry on business should not be construed as a +property right; and in a second provision their bill made legal in a +labor dispute any act or agreement by or between two or more persons +that would not have been unlawful if done by a single person. In other +words, this bill legalized blacklisting and boycotting in every form, +legalizing, for instance, those forms of the secondary boycott which +the anthracite coal strike commission so unreservedly condemned; while +the right to carry on a business was explicitly taken out from under +that protection which the law throws over property. The demand was made +that there should be trial by jury in contempt cases, thereby most +seriously impairing the authority of the courts. All this represented a +course of policy which, if carried out, would mean the enthronement of +class privilege in its crudest and most brutal form, and the +destruction of one of the most essential functions of the judiciary in +all civilized lands. +</p> + +<p> +The violence of the crusade for this legislation, and its complete +failure, illustrate two truths which it is essential our people should +learn. In the first place, they ought to teach the workingman, the +laborer, the wageworker, that by demanding what is improper and +impossible he plays into the hands of his foes. Such a crude and +vicious attack upon the courts, even if it were temporarily successful, +would inevitably in the end cause a violent reaction and would band the +great mass of citizens together, forcing them to stand by all the +judges, competent and incompetent alike, rather than to see the wheels +of justice stopped. A movement of this kind can ultimately result in +nothing but damage to those in whose behalf it is nominally undertaken. +This is a most healthy truth, which it is wise for all our people to +learn. Any movement based on that class hatred which at times assumes +the name of "class consciousness" is certain ultimately to fail, and if +it temporarily succeeds, to do far-reaching damage. "Class +consciousness," where it is merely another name for the odious vice of +class selfishness, is equally noxious whether in an employer's +association or in a workingman's association. The movement in question +was one in which the appeal was made to all workingmen to vote +primarily, not as American citizens, but as individuals of a certain +class in society. Such an appeal in the first place revolts the more +high-minded and far-sighted among the persons to whom it is addressed, +and in the second place tends to arouse a strong antagonism among all +other classes of citizens, whom it therefore tends to unite against the +very organization on whose behalf it is issued. The result is therefore +unfortunate from every standpoint. This healthy truth, by the way, will +be learned by the socialists if they ever succeed in establishing in +this country an important national party based on such class +consciousness and selfish class interest. +</p> + +<p> +The wageworkers, the workingmen, the laboring men of the country, by +the way in which they repudiated the effort to get them to cast their +votes in response to an appeal to class hatred, have emphasized their +sound patriotism and Americanism. The whole country has cause to fell +pride in this attitude of sturdy independence, in this uncompromising +insistence upon acting simply as good citizens, as good Americans, +without regard to fancied--and improper--class interests. Such an +attitude is an object-lesson in good citizenship to the entire nation. +</p> + +<p> +But the extreme reactionaries, the persons who blind themselves to the +wrongs now and then committed by the courts on laboring men, should +also think seriously as to what such a movement as this portends. The +judges who have shown themselves able and willing effectively to check +the dishonest activity of the very rich man who works iniquity by the +mismanagement of corporations, who have shown themselves alert to do +justice to the wageworker, and sympathetic with the needs of the mass +of our people, so that the dweller in the tenement houses, the man who +practices a dangerous trade, the man who is crushed by excessive hours +of labor, feel that their needs are understood by the courts--these +judges are the real bulwark of the courts; these judges, the judges of +the stamp of the president-elect, who have been fearless in opposing +labor when it has gone wrong, but fearless also in holding to strict +account corporations that work iniquity, and far-sighted in seeing that +the workingman gets his rights, are the men of all others to whom we +owe it that the appeal for such violent and mistaken legislation has +fallen on deaf ears, that the agitation for its passage proved to be +without substantial basis. The courts are jeopardized primarily by the +action of those Federal and State judges who show inability or +unwillingness to put a stop to the wrongdoing of very rich men under +modern industrial conditions, and inability or unwillingness to give +relief to men of small means or wageworkers who are crushed down by +these modern industrial conditions; who, in other words, fail to +understand and apply the needed remedies for the new wrongs produced by +the new and highly complex social and industrial civilization which has +grown up in the last half century. +</p> + +<p> +The rapid changes in our social and industrial life which have attended +this rapid growth have made it necessary that, in applying to concrete +cases the great rule of right laid down in our Constitution, there +should be a full understanding and appreciation of the new conditions +to which the rules are to be applied. What would have been an +infringement upon liberty half a century ago may be the necessary +safeguard of liberty to-day. What would have been an injury to property +then may be necessary to the enjoyment of property now. Every judicial +decision involves two terms--one, as interpretation of the law; the +other, the understanding of the facts to which it is to be applied. The +great mass of our judicial officers are, I believe, alive to those +changes of conditions which so materially affect the performance of +their judicial duties. Our judicial system is sound and effective at +core, and it remains, and must ever be maintained, as the safeguard of +those principles of liberty and justice which stand at the foundation +of American institutions; for, as Burke finely said, when liberty and +justice are separated, neither is safe. There are, however, some +members of the judicial body who have lagged behind in their +understanding of these great and vital changes in the body politic, +whose minds have never been opened to the new applications of the old +principles made necessary by the new conditions. Judges of this stamp +do lasting harm by their decisions, because they convince poor men in +need of protection that the courts of the land are profoundly ignorant +of and out of sympathy with their needs, and profoundly indifferent or +hostile to any proposed remedy. To such men it seems a cruel mockery to +have any court decide against them on the ground that it desires to +preserve "liberty" in a purely technical form, by withholding liberty +in any real and constructive sense. It is desirable that the +legislative body should possess, and wherever necessary exercise, the +power to determine whether in a given case employers and employees are +not on an equal footing, so that the necessities of the latter compel +them to submit to such exactions as to hours and conditions of labor as +unduly to tax their strength; and only mischief can result when such +determination is upset on the ground that there must be no +"interference with the liberty to contract"--often a merely academic +"liberty," the exercise of which is the negation of real liberty. +</p> + +<p> +There are certain decisions by various courts which have been +exceedingly detrimental to the rights of wageworkers. This is true of +all the decisions that decide that men and women are, by the +Constitution, "guaranteed their liberty" to contract to enter a +dangerous occupation, or to work an undesirable or improper number of +hours, or to work in unhealthy surroundings; and therefore can not +recover damages when maimed in that occupation and can not be forbidden +to work what the legislature decides is an excessive number of hours, +or to carry on the work under conditions which the legislature decides +to be unhealthy. The most dangerous occupations are often the poorest +paid and those where the hours of work are longest; and in many cases +those who go into them are driven by necessity so great that they have +practically no alternative. Decisions such as those alluded to above +nullify the legislative effort to protect the wage-workers who most +need protection from those employers who take advantage of their +grinding need. They halt or hamper the movement for securing better and +more equitable conditions of labor. The talk about preserving to the +misery-hunted beings who make contracts for such service their +"liberty" to make them, is either to speak in a spirit of heartless +irony or else to show an utter lack of knowledge of the conditions of +life among the great masses of our fellow-countrymen, a lack which +unfits a judge to do good service just as it would unfit any executive +or legislative officer. +</p> + +<p> +There is also, I think, ground for the belief that substantial +injustice is often suffered by employees in consequence of the custom +of courts issuing temporary injunctions without notice to them, and +punishing them for contempt of court in instances where, as a matter of +fact, they have no knowledge of any proceedings. Outside of organized +labor there is a widespread feeling that this system often works great +injustice to wageworkers when their efforts to better their working +condition result in industrial disputes. A temporary injunction +procured ex parte may as a matter of fact have all the effect of a +permanent injunction in causing disaster to the wageworkers' side in +such a dispute. Organized labor is chafing under the unjust restraint +which comes from repeated resort to this plan of procedure. Its +discontent has been unwisely expressed, and often improperly expressed, +but there is a sound basis for it, and the orderly and law-abiding +people of a community would be in a far stronger position for upholding +the courts if the undoubtedly existing abuses could be provided +against. +</p> + +<p> +Such proposals as those mentioned above as advocated by the extreme +labor leaders contain the vital error of being class legislation of the +most offensive kind, and even if enacted into law I believe that the +law would rightly be held unconstitutional. Moreover, the labor people +are themselves now beginning to invoke the use of the power of +injunction. During the last ten years, and within my own knowledge, at +least fifty injunctions have been obtained by labor unions in New York +City alone, most of them being to protect the union label (a "property +right"), but some being obtained for other reasons against employers. +The power of injunction is a great equitable remedy, which should on no +account be destroyed. But safeguards should be erected against its +abuse. I believe that some such provisions as those I advocated a year +ago for checking the abuse of the issuance of temporary injunctions +should be adopted. In substance, provision should be made that no +injunction or temporary restraining order issue otherwise than on +notice, except where irreparable injury would otherwise result; and in +such case a hearing on the merits of the order should be had within a +short fixed period, and, if not then continued after hearing, it should +forthwith lapse. Decisions should be rendered immediately, and the +chance of delay minimized in every way. Moreover, I believe that the +procedure should be sharply defined, and the judge required minutely to +state the particulars both of his action and of his reasons therefor, +so that the Congress can, if it desires, examine and investigate the +same. +</p> + +<p> +The chief lawmakers in our country may be, and often are, the judges, +because they are the final seat of authority. Every time they interpret +contract, property, vested rights, due process of law, liberty, they +necessarily enact into law parts of a system of social philosophy, and +as such interpretation is fundamental, they give direction to all +law-making. The decisions of the courts on economic and social +questions depend upon their economic and social philosophy; and for the +peaceful progress of our people during the twentieth century we shall +owe most to those judges who hold to a twentieth century economic and +social philosophy and not to a long outgrown philosophy, which was +itself the product of primitive economic conditions. Of course a +judge's views on progressive social philosophy are entirely second in +importance to his possession of a high and fine character; which means +the possession of such elementary virtues as honesty, courage, and +fair-mindedness. The judge who owes his election to pandering to +demagogic sentiments or class hatreds and prejudices, and the judge who +owes either his election or his appointment to the money or the favor +of a great corporation, are alike unworthy to sit on the bench, are +alike traitors to the people; and no profundity of legal learning, or +correctness of abstract conviction on questions of public policy, can +serve as an offset to such shortcomings. But it is also true that +judges, like executives and legislators, should hold sound views on the +questions of public policy which are of vital interest to the people. +</p> + +<p> +The legislators and executives are chosen to represent the people in +enacting and administering the laws. The judges are not chosen to +represent the people in this sense. Their function is to interpret the +laws. The legislators are responsible for the laws; the judges for the +spirit in which they interpret and enforce the laws. We stand aloof +from the reckless agitators who would make the judges mere pliant tools +of popular prejudice and passion; and we stand aloof from those equally +unwise partisans of reaction and privilege who deny the proposition +that, inasmuch as judges are chosen to serve the interests of the whole +people, they should strive to find out what those interests are, and, +so far as they conscientiously can, should strive to give effect to +popular conviction when deliberately and duly expressed by the +lawmaking body. The courts are to be highly commended and staunchly +upheld when they set their faces against wrongdoing or tyranny by a +majority; but they are to be blamed when they fail to recognize under a +government like ours the deliberate judgment of the majority as to a +matter of legitimate policy, when duly expressed by the legislature. +Such lawfully expressed and deliberate judgment should be given effect +by the courts, save in the extreme and exceptional cases where there +has been a clear violation of a constitutional provision. Anything like +frivolity or wantonness in upsetting such clearly taken governmental +action is a grave offense against the Republic. To protest against +tyranny, to protect minorities from oppression, to nullify an act +committed in a spasm of popular fury, is to render a service to the +Republic. But for the courts to arrogate to themselves functions which +properly belong to the legislative bodies is all wrong, and in the end +works mischief. The people should not be permitted to pardon evil and +slipshod legislation on the theory that the court will set it right; +they should be taught that the right way to get rid of a bad law is to +have the legislature repeal it, and not to have the courts by ingenious +hair-splitting nullify it. A law may be unwise and improper; but it +should not for these reasons be declared unconstitutional by a strained +interpretation, for the result of such action is to take away from the +people at large their sense of responsibility and ultimately to destroy +their capacity for orderly self restraint and self government. Under +such a popular government as ours, rounded on the theory that in the +long run the will of the people is supreme, the ultimate safety of the +Nation can only rest in training and guiding the people so that what +they will shall be right, and not in devising means to defeat their +will by the technicalities of strained construction. +</p> + +<p> +For many of the shortcomings of justice in our country our people as a +whole are themselves to blame, and the judges and juries merely bear +their share together with the public as a whole. It is discreditable to +us as a people that there should be difficulty in convicting murderers, +or in bringing to justice men who as public servants have been guilty +of corruption, or who have profited by the corruption of public +servants. The result is equally unfortunate, whether due to +hairsplitting technicalities in the interpretation of law by judges, to +sentimentality and class consciousness on the part of juries, or to +hysteria and sensationalism in the daily press. For much of this +failure of justice no responsibility whatever lies on rich men as such. +We who make up the mass of the people can not shift the responsibility +from our own shoulders. But there is an important part of the failure +which has specially to do with inability to hold to proper account men +of wealth who behave badly. +</p> + +<p> +The chief breakdown is in dealing with the new relations that arise +from the mutualism, the interdependence of our time. Every new social +relation begets a new type of wrongdoing--of sin, to use an +old-fashioned word--and many years always elapse before society is able +to turn this sin into crime which can be effectively punished at law. +During the lifetime of the older men now alive the social relations +have changed far more rapidly than in the preceding two centuries. The +immense growth of corporations, of business done by associations, and +the extreme strain and pressure of modern life, have produced +conditions which render the public confused as to who its really +dangerous foes are; and among the public servants who have not only +shared this confusion, but by some of their acts have increased it, are +certain judges. Marked inefficiency has been shown in dealing with +corporations and in re-settling the proper attitude to be taken by the +public not only towards corporations, but towards labor and towards the +social questions arising out of the factory system and the enormous +growth of our great cities. +</p> + +<p> +The huge wealth that has been accumulated by a few individuals of +recent years, in what has amounted to a social and industrial +revolution, has been as regards some of these individuals made possible +only by the improper use of the modern corporation. A certain type of +modern corporation, with its officers and agents, its many issues of +securities, and its constant consolidation with allied undertakings, +finally becomes an instrument so complex as to contain a greater number +of elements that, under various judicial decisions, lend themselves to +fraud and oppression than any device yet evolved in the human brain. +Corporations are necessary instruments of modern business. They have +been permitted to become a menace largely because the governmental +representatives of the people have worked slowly in providing for +adequate control over them. +</p> + +<p> +The chief offender in any given case may be an executive, a +legislature, or a judge. Every executive head who advises violent, +instead of gradual, action, or who advocates ill-considered and +sweeping measures of reform (especially if they are tainted with +vindictiveness and disregard for the rights of the minority) is +particularly blameworthy. The several legislatures are responsible for +the fact that our laws are often prepared with slovenly haste and lack +of consideration. Moreover, they are often prepared, and still more +frequently amended during passage, at the suggestion of the very +parties against whom they are afterwards enforced. Our great clusters +of corporations, huge trusts and fabulously wealthy multi-millionaires, +employ the very best lawyers they can obtain to pick flaws in these +statutes after their passage; but they also employ a class of secret +agents who seek, under the advice of experts, to render hostile +legislation innocuous by making it unconstitutional, often through the +insertion of what appear on their face to be drastic and sweeping +provisions against the interests of the parties inspiring them; while +the demagogues, the corrupt creatures who introduce blackmailing +schemes to "strike" corporations, and all who demand extreme, and +undesirably radical, measures, show themselves to be the worst enemies +of the very public whose loud-mouthed champions they profess to be. A +very striking illustration of the consequences of carelessness in the +preparation of a statute was the employers' liability law of 1906. In +the cases arising under that law, four out of six courts of first +instance held it unconstitutional; six out of nine justices of the +Supreme Court held that its subject-matter was within the province of +congressional action; and four of the nine justices held it valid. It +was, however, adjudged unconstitutional by a bare majority of the +court--five to four. It was surely a very slovenly piece of work to +frame the legislation in such shape as to leave the question open at +all. +</p> + +<p> +Real damage has been done by the manifold and conflicting +interpretations of the interstate commerce law. Control over the great +corporations doing interstate business can be effective only if it is +vested with full power in an administrative department, a branch of the +Federal executive, carrying out a Federal law; it can never be +effective if a divided responsibility is left in both the States and +the Nation; it can never be effective if left in the hands of the +courts to be decided by lawsuits. +</p> + +<p> +The courts hold a place of peculiar and deserved sanctity under our +form of government. Respect for the law is essential to the permanence +of our institutions; and respect for the law is largely conditioned +upon respect for the courts. It is an offense against the Republic to +say anything which can weaken this respect, save for the gravest reason +and in the most carefully guarded manner. Our judges should be held in +peculiar honor; and the duty of respectful and truthful comment and +criticism, which should be binding when we speak of anybody, should be +especially binding when we speak of them. On an average they stand +above any other servants of the community, and the greatest judges have +reached the high level held by those few greatest patriots whom the +whole country delights to honor. But we must face the fact that there +are wise and unwise judges, just as there are wise and unwise +executives and legislators. When a president or a governor behaves +improperly or unwisely, the remedy is easy, for his term is short; the +same is true with the legislator, although not to the same degree, for +he is one of many who belong to some given legislative body, and it is +therefore less easy to fix his personal responsibility and hold him +accountable therefor. With a judge, who, being human, is also likely to +err, but whose tenure is for life, there is no similar way of holding +him to responsibility. Under ordinary conditions the only forms of +pressure to which he is in any way amenable are public opinion and the +action of his fellow judges. It is the last which is most immediately +effective, and to which we should look for the reform of abuses. Any +remedy applied from without is fraught with risk. It is far better, +from every standpoint, that the remedy should come from within. In no +other nation in the world do the courts wield such vast and +far-reaching power as in the United States. All that is necessary is +that the courts as a whole should exercise this power with the +farsighted wisdom already shown by those judges who scan the future +while they act in the present. Let them exercise this great power not +only honestly and bravely, but with wise insight into the needs and +fixed purposes of the people, so that they may do justice and work +equity, so that they may protect all persons in their rights, and yet +break down the barriers of privilege, which is the foe of right. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +FORESTS. +</p> + +<p> +If there is any one duty which more than another we owe it to our +children and our children's children to perform at once, it is to save +the forests of this country, for they constitute the first and most +important element in the conservation of the natural resources of the +country. There are of course two kinds of natural resources, One is the +kind which can only be used as part of a process of exhaustion; this is +true of mines, natural oil and gas wells, and the like. The other, and +of course ultimately by far the most important, includes the resources +which can be improved in the process of wise use; the soil, the rivers, +and the forests come under this head. Any really civilized nation will +so use all of these three great national assets that the nation will +have their benefit in the future. Just as a farmer, after all his life +making his living from his farm, will, if he is an expert farmer, leave +it as an asset of increased value to his son, so we should leave our +national domain to our children, increased in value and not worn out. +There are small sections of our own country, in the East and the West, +in the Adriondacks, the White Mountains, and the Appalachians, and in +the Rocky Mountains, where we can already see for ourselves the damage +in the shape of permanent injury to the soil and the river systems +which comes from reckless deforestation. It matters not whether this +deforestation is due to the actual reckless cutting of timber, to the +fires that inevitably follow such reckless cutting of timber, or to +reckless and uncontrolled grazing, especially by the great migratory +bands of sheep, the unchecked wandering of which over the country means +destruction to forests and disaster to the small home makers, the +settlers of limited means. +</p> + +<p> +Shortsighted persons, or persons blinded to the future by desire to +make money in every way out of the present, sometimes speak as if no +great damage would be done by the reckless destruction of our forests. +It is difficult to have patience with the arguments of these persons. +Thanks to our own recklessness in the use of our splendid forests, we +have already crossed the verge of a timber famine in this country, and +no measures that we now take can, at least for many years, undo the +mischief that has already been done. But we can prevent further +mischief being done; and it would be in the highest degree +reprehensible to let any consideration of temporary convenience or +temporary cost interfere with such action, especially as regards the +National Forests which the nation can now, at this very moment, +control. +</p> + +<p> +All serious students of the question are aware of the great damage that +has been done in the Mediterranean countries of Europe, Asia, and +Africa by deforestation. The similar damage that has been done in +Eastern Asia is less well known. A recent investigation into conditions +in North China by Mr. Frank N. Meyer, of the Bureau of Plant Industry +of the United States Department of Agriculture, has incidentally +furnished in very striking fashion proof of the ruin that comes from +reckless deforestation of mountains, and of the further fact that the +damage once done may prove practically irreparable. So important are +these investigations that I herewith attach as an appendix to my +message certain photographs showing present conditions in China. They +show in vivid fashion the appalling desolation, taking the shape of +barren mountains and gravel and sand-covered plains, which immediately +follows and depends upon the deforestation of the mountains. Not many +centuries ago the country of northern China was one of the most fertile +and beautiful spots in the entire world, and was heavily forested. We +know this not only from the old Chinese records, but from the accounts +given by the traveler, Marco Polo. He, for instance, mentions that in +visiting the provinces of Shansi and Shensi he observed many +plantations of mulberry trees. Now there is hardly a single mulberry +tree in either of these provinces, and the culture of the silkworm has +moved farther south, to regions of atmospheric moisture. As an +illustration of the complete change in the rivers, we may take Polo's +statement that a certain river, the Hun Ho, was so large and deep that +merchants ascended it from the sea with heavily laden boats; today this +river is simply a broad sandy bed, with shallow, rapid currents +wandering hither and thither across it, absolutely unnavigable. But we +do not have to depend upon written records. The dry wells, and the +wells with water far below the former watermark, bear testimony to the +good days of the past and the evil days of the present. Wherever the +native vegetation has been allowed to remain, as, for instance, here +and there around a sacred temple or imperial burying ground, there are +still huge trees and tangled jungle, fragments of the glorious ancient +forests. The thick, matted forest growth formerly covered the mountains +to their summits. All natural factors favored this dense forest growth, +and as long as it was permitted to exist the plains at the foot of the +mountains were among the most fertile on the globe, and the whole +country was a garden. Not the slightest effort was made, however, to +prevent the unchecked cutting of the trees, or to secure reforestation. +Doubtless for many centuries the tree-cutting by the inhabitants of the +mountains worked but slowly in bringing about the changes that have now +come to pass; doubtless for generations the inroads were scarcely +noticeable. But there came a time when the forest had shrunk +sufficiently to make each year's cutting a serious matter, and from +that time on the destruction proceeded with appalling rapidity; for of +course each year of destruction rendered the forest less able to +recuperate, less able to resist next year's inroad. Mr. Meyer describes +the ceaseless progress of the destruction even now, when there is so +little left to destroy. Every morning men and boys go out armed with +mattox or axe, scale the steepest mountain sides, and cut down and grub +out, root and branch, the small trees and shrubs still to be found. The +big trees disappeared centuries ago, so that now one of these is never +seen save in the neighborhood of temples, where they are artificially +protected; and even here it takes all the watch and care of the +tree-loving priests to prevent their destruction. Each family, each +community, where there is no common care exercised in the interest of +all of them to prevent deforestation, finds its profit in the immediate +use of the fuel which would otherwise be used by some other family or +some other community. In the total absence of regulation of the matter +in the interest of the whole people, each small group is inevitably +pushed into a policy of destruction which can not afford to take +thought for the morrow. This is just one of those matters which it is +fatal to leave to unsupervised individual control. The forest can only +be protected by the State, by the Nation; and the liberty of action of +individuals must be conditioned upon what the State or Nation +determines to be necessary for the common safety. +</p> + +<p> +The lesson of deforestation in China is a lesson which mankind should +have learned many times already from what has occurred in other places. +Denudation leaves naked soil; then gullying cuts down to the bare rock; +and meanwhile the rock-waste buries the bottomlands. When the soil is +gone, men must go; and the process does not take long. +</p> + +<p> +This ruthless destruction of the forests in northern China has brought +about, or has aided in bringing about, desolation, just as the +destruction of the forests in central Asia aid in bringing ruin to the +once rich central Asian cities; just as the destruction of the forest +in northern Africa helped towards the ruin of a region that was a +fertile granary in Roman days. Shortsighted man, whether barbaric, +semi-civilized, or what he mistakenly regards as fully civilized, when +he has destroyed the forests, has rendered certain the ultimate +destruction of the land itself. In northern China the mountains are now +such as are shown by the accompanying photographs, absolutely barren +peaks. Not only have the forests been destroyed, but because of their +destruction the soil has been washed off the naked rock. The terrible +consequence is that it is impossible now to undo the damage that has +been done. Many centuries would have to pass before soil would again +collect, or could be made to collect, in sufficient quantity once more +to support the old-time forest growth. In consequence the Mongol Desert +is practically extending eastward over northern China. The climate has +changed and is still changing. It has changed even within the last half +century, as the work of tree destruction has been consummated. The +great masses of arboreal vegetation on the mountains formerly absorbed +the heat of the sun and sent up currents of cool air which brought the +moisture-laden clouds lower and forced them to precipitate in rain a +part of their burden of water. Now that there is no vegetation, the +barren mountains, scorched by the sun, send up currents of heated air +which drive away instead of attracting the rain clouds, and cause their +moisture to be disseminated. In consequence, instead of the regular and +plentiful rains which existed in these regions of China when the +forests were still in evidence, the unfortunate inhabitants of the +deforested lands now see their crops wither for lack of rainfall, while +the seasons grow more and more irregular; and as the air becomes dryer +certain crops refuse longer to grow at all. That everything dries out +faster than formerly is shown by the fact that the level of the wells +all over the land has sunk perceptibly, many of them having become +totally dry. In addition to the resulting agricultural distress, the +watercourses have changed. Formerly they were narrow and deep, with an +abundance of clear water the year around; for the roots and humus of +the forests caught the rainwater and let it escape by slow, regular +seepage. They have now become broad, shallow stream beds, in which +muddy water trickles in slender currents during the dry seasons, while +when it rains there are freshets, and roaring muddy torrents come +tearing down, bringing disaster and destruction everywhere. Moreover, +these floods and freshets, which diversify the general dryness, wash +away from the mountain sides, and either wash away or cover in the +valleys, the rich fertile soil which it took tens of thousands of years +for Nature to form; and it is lost forever, and until the forests grow +again it can not be replaced. The sand and stones from the mountain +sides are washed loose and come rolling down to cover the arable lands, +and in consequence, throughout this part of China, many formerly rich +districts are now sandy wastes, useless for human cultivation and even +for pasture. The cities have been of course seriously affected, for the +streams have gradually ceased to be navigable. There is testimony that +even within the memory of men now living there has been a serious +diminution of the rainfall of northeastern China. The level of the +Sungari River in northern Manchuria has been sensibly lowered during +the last fifty years, at least partly as the result of the +indiscriminate rutting of the forests forming its watershed. Almost all +the rivers of northern China have become uncontrollable, and very +dangerous to the dwellers along their banks, as a direct result of the +destruction of the forests. The journey from Pekin to Jehol shows in +melancholy fashion how the soil has been washed away from whole +valleys, so that they have been converted into deserts. +</p> + +<p> +In northern China this disastrous process has gone on so long and has +proceeded so far that no complete remedy could be applied. There are +certain mountains in China from which the soil is gone so utterly that +only the slow action of the ages could again restore it; although of +course much could be done to prevent the still further eastward +extension of the Mongolian Desert if the Chinese Government would act +at once. The accompanying cuts from photographs show the inconceivable +desolation of the barren mountains in which certain of these rivers +rise--mountains, be it remembered, which formerly supported dense +forests of larches and firs, now unable to produce any wood, and +because of their condition a source of danger to the whole country. The +photographs also show the same rivers after they have passed through +the mountains, the beds having become broad and sandy because of the +deforestation of the mountains. One of the photographs shows a caravan +passing through a valley. Formerly, when the mountains were forested, +it was thickly peopled by prosperous peasants. Now the floods have +carried destruction all over the land and the valley is a stony desert. +Another photograph shows a mountain road covered with the stones and +rocks that are brought down in the rainy season from the mountains +which have already been deforested by human hands. Another shows a +pebbly river-bed in southern Manchuria where what was once a great +stream has dried up owing to the deforestation in the mountains. Only +some scrub wood is left, which will disappear within a half century. +Yet another shows the effect of one of the washouts, destroying an +arable mountain side, these washouts being due to the removal of all +vegetation; yet in this photograph the foreground shows that +reforestation is still a possibility in places. +</p> + +<p> +What has thus happened in northern China, what has happened in Central +Asia, in Palestine, in North Africa, in parts of the Mediterranean +countries of Europe, will surely happen in our country if we do not +exercise that wise forethought which should be one of the chief marks +of any people calling itself civilized. Nothing should be permitted to +stand in the way of the preservation of the forests, and it is criminal +to permit individuals to purchase a little gain for themselves through +the destruction of forests when this destruction is fatal to the +well-being of the whole country in the future. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +INLAND WATERWAYS. +</p> + +<p> +Action should be begun forthwith, during the present session of the +Congress, for the improvement of our inland waterways--action which +will result in giving us not only navigable but navigated rivers. We +have spent hundreds of millions of dollars upon these waterways, yet +the traffic on nearly all of them is steadily declining. This condition +is the direct result of the absence of any comprehensive and far-seeing +plan of waterway improvement, Obviously we can not continue thus to +expend the revenues of the Government without return. It is poor +business to spend money for inland navigation unless we get it. +</p> + +<p> +Inquiry into the condition of the Mississippi and its principal +tributaries reveals very many instances of the utter waste caused by +the methods which have hitherto obtained for the so-called +"improvement" of navigation. A striking instance is supplied by the +"improvement" of the Ohio, which, begun in 1824, was continued under a +single plan for half a century. In 1875 a new plan was adopted and +followed for a quarter of a century. In 1902 still a different plan was +adopted and has since been pursued at a rate which only promises a +navigable river in from twenty to one hundred years longer. +</p> + +<p> +Such shortsighted, vacillating, and futile methods are accompanied by +decreasing water-borne commerce and increasing traffic congestion on +land, by increasing floods, and by the waste of public money. The +remedy lies in abandoning the methods which have so signally failed and +adopting new ones in keeping with the needs and demands of our people. +</p> + +<p> +In a report on a measure introduced at the first session of the present +Congress, the Secretary of War said: "The chief defect in the methods +hitherto pursued lies in the absence of executive authority for +originating comprehensive plans covering the country or natural +divisions thereof." In this opinion I heartily concur. The present +methods not only fail to give us inland navigation, but they are +injurious to the army as well. What is virtually a permanent detail of +the corps of engineers to civilian duty necessarily impairs the +efficiency of our military establishment. The military engineers have +undoubtedly done efficient work in actual construction, but they are +necessarily unsuited by their training and traditions to take the broad +view, and to gather and transmit to the Congress the commercial and +industrial information and forecasts, upon which waterway improvement +must always so largely rest. Furthermore, they have failed to grasp the +great underlying fact that every stream is a unit from its source to +its mouth, and that all its uses are interdependent. Prominent officers +of the Engineer Corps have recently even gone so far as to assert in +print that waterways are not dependent upon the conservation of the +forests about their headwaters. This position is opposed to all the +recent work of the scientific bureaus of the Government and to the +general experience of mankind. A physician who disbelieved in +vaccination would not be the right man to handle an epidemic of +smallpox, nor should we leave a doctor skeptical about the transmission +of yellow fever by the Stegomyia mosquito in charge of sanitation at +Havana or Panama. So with the improvement of our rivers; it is no +longer wise or safe to leave this great work in the hands of men who +fail to grasp the essential relations between navigation and general +development and to assimilate and use the central facts about our +streams. +</p> + +<p> +Until the work of river improvement is undertaken in a modern way it +can not have results that will meet the needs of this modern nation. +These needs should be met without further dilly-dallying or delay. The +plan which promises the best and quickest results is that of a +permanent commission authorized to coordinate the work of all the +Government departments relating to waterways, and to frame and +supervise the execution of a comprehensive plan. Under such a +commission the actual work of construction might be entrusted to the +reclamation service; or to the military engineers acting with a +sufficient number of civilians to continue the work in time of war; or +it might be divided between the reclamation service and the corps of +engineers. Funds should be provided from current revenues if it is +deemed wise--otherwise from the sale of bonds. The essential thing is +that the work should go forward under the best possible plan, and with +the least possible delay. We should have a new type of work and a new +organization for planning and directing it. The time for playing with +our waterways is past. The country demands results. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +NATIONAL PARKS. +</p> + +<p> +I urge that all our National parks adjacent to National forests be +placed completely under the control of the forest service of the +Agricultural Department, instead of leaving them as they now are, under +the Interior Department and policed by the army. The Congress should +provide for superintendents with adequate corps of first-class civilian +scouts, or rangers, and, further, place the road construction under the +superintendent instead of leaving it with the War Department. Such a +change in park management would result in economy and avoid the +difficulties of administration which now arise from having the +responsibility of care and protection divided between different +departments. The need for this course is peculiarly great in the +Yellowstone Park. This, like the Yosemite, is a great wonderland, and +should be kept as a national playground. In both, all wild things +should be protected and the scenery kept wholly unmarred. +</p> + +<p> +I am happy to say that I have been able to set aside in various parts +of the country small, well-chosen tracts of ground to serve as +sanctuaries and nurseries for wild creatures. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +DENATURED ALCOHOL. +</p> + +<p> +I had occasion in my message of May 4, 1906, to urge the passage of +some law putting alcohol, used in the arts, industries, and +manufactures, upon the free list--that is, to provide for the +withdrawal free of tax of alcohol which is to be denatured for those +purposes. The law of June 7, 1906, and its amendment of March 2, 1907, +accomplished what was desired in that respect, and the use of denatured +alcohol, as intended, is making a fair degree of progress and is +entitled to further encouragement and support from the Congress. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +PURE FOOD. +</p> + +<p> +The pure food legislation has already worked a benefit difficult to +overestimate. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +INDIAN SERVICE. +</p> + +<p> +It has been my purpose from the beginning of my administration to take +the Indian Service completely out of the atmosphere of political +activity, and there has been steady progress toward that end. The last +remaining stronghold of politics in that service was the agency system, +which had seen its best days and was gradually falling to pieces from +natural or purely evolutionary causes, but, like all such survivals, +was decaying slowly in its later stages. It seems clear that its +extinction had better be made final now, so that the ground can be +cleared for larger constructive work on behalf of the Indians, +preparatory to their induction into the full measure of responsible +citizenship. On November 1 only eighteen agencies were left on the +roster; with two exceptions, where some legal questions seemed to stand +temporarily in the way, these have been changed to superintendencies, +and their heads brought into the classified civil service. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +SECRET SERVICE. +</p> + +<p> +Last year an amendment was incorporated in the measure providing for +the Secret Service, which provided that there should be no detail from +the Secret Service and no transfer therefrom. It is not too much to say +that this amendment has been of benefit only, and could be of benefit +only, to the criminal classes. If deliberately introduced for the +purpose of diminishing the effectiveness of war against crime it could +not have been better devised to this end. It forbade the practices that +had been followed to a greater or less extent by the executive heads of +various departments for twenty years. To these practices we owe the +securing of the evidence which enabled us to drive great lotteries out +of business and secure a quarter of a million of dollars in fines from +their promoters. These practices have enabled us to get some of the +evidence indispensable in order in connection with the theft of +government land and government timber by great corporations and by +individuals. These practices have enabled us to get some of the +evidence indispensable in order to secure the conviction of the +wealthiest and most formidable criminals with whom the Government has +to deal, both those operating in violation of the anti-trust law and +others. The amendment in question was of benefit to no one excepting to +these criminals, and it seriously hampers the Government in the +detection of crime and the securing of justice. Moreover, it not only +affects departments outside of the Treasury, but it tends to hamper the +Secretary of the Treasury himself in the effort to utilize the +employees of his department so as to best meet the requirements of the +public service. It forbids him from preventing frauds upon the customs +service, from investigating irregularities in branch mints and assay +offices, and has seriously crippled him. It prevents the promotion of +employees in the Secret Service, and this further discourages good +effort. In its present form the restriction operates only to the +advantage of the criminal, of the wrongdoer. The chief argument in +favor of the provision was that the Congressmen did not themselves wish +to be investigated by Secret Service men. Very little of such +investigation has been done in the past; but it is true that the work +of the Secret Service agents was partly responsible for the indictment +and conviction of a Senator and a Congressman for land frauds in +Oregon. I do not believe that it is in the public interest to protect +criminally in any branch of the public service, and exactly as we have +again and again during the past seven years prosecuted and convicted +such criminals who were in the executive branch of the Government, so +in my belief we should be given ample means to prosecute them if found +in the legislative branch. But if this is not considered desirable a +special exception could be made in the law prohibiting the use of the +Secret Service force in investigating members of the Congress. It would +be far better to do this than to do what actually was done, and strive +to prevent or at least to hamper effective action against criminals by +the executive branch of the Government. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS. +</p> + +<p> +I again renew my recommendation for postal savings hanks, for +depositing savings with the security of the Government behind them. The +object is to encourage thrift and economy in the wage-earner and person +of moderate means. In 14 States the deposits in savings banks as +reported to the Comptroller of the Currency amount to $3,590,245,402, +or 98.4 per cent of the entire deposits, while in the remaining 32 +States there are only $70,308,543, or 1.6 per cent, showing +conclusively that there are many localities in the United States where +sufficient opportunity is not given to the people to deposit their +savings. The result is that money is kept in hiding and unemployed. It +is believed that in the aggregate vast sums of money would be brought +into circulation through the instrumentality of the postal savings +banks. While there are only 1,453 savings banks reporting to the +Comptroller there are more than 61,000 post-offices, 40,000 of which +are money order offices. Postal savings banks are now in operation in +practically all of the great civilized countries with the exception of +the United States. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +PARCEL POST. +</p> + +<p> +In my last annual message I commended the Postmaster-General's +recommendation for an extension of the parcel post on the rural routes. +The establishment of a local parcel post on rural routes would be to +the mutual benefit of the farmer and the country storekeeper, and it is +desirable that the routes, serving more than 15,000,000 people, should +be utilized to the fullest practicable extent. An amendment was +proposed in the Senate at the last session, at the suggestion of the +Postmaster-General, providing that, for the purpose of ascertaining the +practicability of establishing a special local parcel post system on +the rural routes throughout the United States, the Postmaster-General +be authorized and directed to experiment and report to the Congress the +result of such experiment by establishing a special local parcel post +system on rural delivery routes in not to exceed four counties in the +United States for packages of fourth-class matter originating on a +rural route or at the distributing post office for delivery by rural +carriers. It would seem only proper that such an experiment should be +tried in order to demonstrate the practicability of the proposition, +especially as the Postmaster-General estimates that the revenue derived +from the operation of such a system on all the rural routes would +amount to many million dollars. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +EDUCATION. +</p> + +<p> +The share that the National Government should take in the broad work of +education has not received the attention and the care it rightly +deserves. The immediate responsibility for the support and improvement +of our educational systems and institutions rests and should always +rest with the people of the several States acting through their state +and local governments, but the Nation has an opportunity in educational +work which must not be lost and a duty which should no longer be +neglected. +</p> + +<p> +The National Bureau of Education was established more than forty years +ago. Its purpose is to collect and diffuse such information "as shall +aid the people of the United States in the establishment and +maintenance of efficient school systems and otherwise promote the cause +of education throughout the country." This purpose in no way conflicts +with the educational work of the States, but may be made of great +advantage to the States by giving them the fullest, most accurate, and +hence the most helpful information and suggestion regarding the best +educational systems. The Nation, through its broader field of +activities, its wider opportunity for obtaining information from all +the States and from foreign countries, is able to do that which not +even the richest States can do, and with the distinct additional +advantage that the information thus obtained is used for the immediate +benefit of all our people. +</p> + +<p> +With the limited means hitherto provided, the Bureau of Education has +rendered efficient service, but the Congress has neglected to +adequately supply the bureau with means to meet the educational growth +of the country. The appropriations for the general work of the bureau, +outside education in Alaska, for the year 1909 are but $87,500--an +amount less than they were ten years ago, and some of the important +items in these appropriations are less than they were thirty years ago. +It is an inexcusable waste of public money to appropriate an amount +which is so inadequate as to make it impossible properly to do the work +authorized, and it is unfair to the great educational interests of the +country to deprive them of the value of the results which can be +obtained by proper appropriations. +</p> + +<p> +I earnestly recommend that this unfortunate state of affairs as regards +the national educational office be remedied by adequate appropriations. +This recommendation is urged by the representatives of our common +schools and great state universities and the leading educators, who all +unite in requesting favorable consideration and action by the Congress +upon this subject. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +CENSUS. +</p> + +<p> +I strongly urge that the request of the Director of the Census in +connection with the decennial work so soon to be begun be complied with +and that the appointments to the census force be placed under the civil +service law, waiving the geographical requirements as requested by the +Director of the Census. The supervisors and enumerators should not be +appointed under the civil service law, for the reasons given by the +Director. I commend to the Congress the careful consideration of the +admirable report of the Director of the Census, and I trust that his +recommendations will be adopted and immediate action thereon taken. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +PUBLIC HEALTH. +</p> + +<p> +It is highly advisable that there should be intelligent action on the +part of the Nation on the question of preserving the health of the +country. Through the practical extermination in San Francisco of +disease-bearing rodents our country has thus far escaped the bubonic +plague. This is but one of the many achievements of American health +officers; and it shows what can be accomplished with a better +organization than at present exists. The dangers to public health from +food adulteration and from many other sources, such as the menace to +the physical, mental and moral development of children from child +labor, should be met and overcome. There are numerous diseases, which +are now known to be preventable, which are, nevertheless, not +prevented. The recent International Congress on Tuberculosis has made +us painfully aware of the inadequacy of American public health +legislation. This Nation can not afford to lag behind in the world-wide +battle now being waged by all civilized people with the microscopic +foes of mankind, nor ought we longer to ignore the reproach that this +Government takes more pains to protect the lives of hogs and of cattle +than of human beings. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +REDISTRIBUTION OF BUREAUS. +</p> + +<p> +The first legislative step to be taken is that for the concentration of +the proper bureaus into one of the existing departments. I therefore +urgently recommend the passage of a bill which shall authorize a +redistribution of the bureaus which shall best accomplish this end. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. +</p> + +<p> +I recommend that legislation be enacted placing under the jurisdiction +of the Department of Commerce and Labor the Government Printing Office. +At present this office is under the combined control, supervision, and +administrative direction of the President and of the Joint Committee on +Printing of the two Houses of the Congress. The advantage of having the +4,069 employees in this office and the expenditure of the $5,761,377.57 +appropriated therefor supervised by an executive department is obvious, +instead of the present combined supervision. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +SOLDIERS' HOMES. +</p> + +<p> +All Soldiers' Homes should be placed under the complete jurisdiction +and control of the War Department. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +INDEPENDENT BUREAUS AND COMMISSIONS. +</p> + +<p> +Economy and sound business policy require that all existing independent +bureaus and commissions should be placed under the jurisdiction of +appropriate executive departments. It is unwise from every standpoint, +and results only in mischief, to have any executive work done save by +the purely executive bodies, under the control of the President; and +each such executive body should be under the immediate supervision of a +Cabinet Minister. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +STATEHOOD. +</p> + +<p> +I advocate the immediate admission of New Mexico and Arizona as States. +This should be done at the present session of the Congress. The people +of the two Territories have made it evident by their votes that they +will not come in as one State. The only alternative is to admit them as +two, and I trust that this will be done without delay. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +INTERSTATE FISHERIES. +</p> + +<p> +I call the attention of the Congress to the importance of the problem +of the fisheries in the interstate waters. On the Great Lakes we are +now, under the very wise treaty of April 11th of this year, endeavoring +to come to an international agreement for the preservation and +satisfactory use of the fisheries of these waters which can not +otherwise be achieved. Lake Erie, for example, has the richest fresh +water fisheries in the world; but it is now controlled by the statutes +of two Nations, four States, and one Province, and in this Province by +different ordinances in different counties. All these political +divisions work at cross purposes, and in no case can they achieve +protection to the fisheries, on the one hand, and justice to the +localities and individuals on the other. The case is similar in Puget +Sound. +</p> + +<p> +But the problem is quite as pressing in the interstate waters of the +United States. The salmon fisheries of the Columbia River are now but a +fraction of what they were twenty-five years ago, and what they would +be now if the United States Government had taken complete charge of +them by intervening between Oregon and Washington. During these +twenty-five years the fishermen of each State have naturally tried to +take all they could get, and the two legislatures have never been able +to agree on joint action of any kind adequate in degree for the +protection of the fisheries. At the moment the fishing on the Oregon +side is practically closed, while there is no limit on the Washington +side of any kind, and no one can tell what the courts will decide as to +the very statutes under which this action and non-action result. +Meanwhile very few salmon reach the spawning grounds, and probably four +years hence the fisheries will amount to nothing; and this comes from a +struggle between the associated, or gill-net, fishermen on the one +hand, and the owners of the fishing wheels up the river. The fisheries +of the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Potomac are also in a bad way. +For this there is no remedy except for the United States to control and +legislate for the interstate fisheries as part of the business of +interstate commerce. In this case the machinery for scientific +investigation and for control already exists in the United States +Bureau of Fisheries. In this as in similar problems the obvious and +simple rule should be followed of having those matters which no +particular State can manage taken in hand by the United States; +problems which in the seesaw of conflicting State legislatures are +absolutely unsolvable are easy enough for Congress to control. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +FISHERIES AND FUR SEALS. +</p> + +<p> +The federal statute regulating interstate traffic in game should be +extended to include fish. New federal fish hatcheries should be +established. The administration of the Alaskan fur-seal service should +be vested in the Bureau of Fisheries. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +FOREIGN AFFAIRS. +</p> + +<p> +This Nation's foreign policy is based on the theory that right must be +done between nations precisely as between individuals, and in our +actions for the last ten years we have in this matter proven our faith +by our deeds. We have behaved, and are behaving, towards other nations +as in private life an honorable man would behave towards his fellows. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +LATIN-AMERICAN REPUBLICS. +</p> + +<p> +The commercial and material progress of the twenty Latin-American +Republics is worthy of the careful attention of the Congress. No other +section of the world has shown a greater proportionate development of +its foreign trade during the last ten years and none other has more +special claims on the interest of the United States. It offers to-day +probably larger opportunities for the legitimate expansion of our +commerce than any other group of countries. These countries will want +our products in greatly increased quantities, and we shall +correspondingly need theirs. The International Bureau of the American +Republics is doing a useful work in making these nations and their +resources better known to us, and in acquainting them not only with us +as a people and with our purposes towards them, but with what we have +to exchange for their goods. It is an international institution +supported by all the governments of the two Americas. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +PANAMA CANAL. +</p> + +<p> +The work on the Panama Canal is being done with a speed, efficiency and +entire devotion to duty which make it a model for all work of the kind. +No task of such magnitude has ever before been undertaken by any +nation; and no task of the kind has ever been better performed. The men +on the isthmus, from Colonel Goethals and his fellow commissioners +through the entire list of employees who are faithfully doing their +duty, have won their right to the ungrudging respect and gratitude of +the American people. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +OCEAN MAIL LINERS. +</p> + +<p> +I again recommend the extension of the ocean mail act of 1891 so that +satisfactory American ocean mail lines to South America, Asia, the +Philippines, and Australasia may be established. The creation of such +steamship lines should be the natural corollary of the voyage of the +battle fleet. It should precede the opening of the Panama Canal. Even +under favorable conditions several years must elapse before such lines +can be put into operation. Accordingly I urge that the Congress act +promptly where foresight already shows that action sooner or later will +be inevitable. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +HAWAII. +</p> + +<p> +I call particular attention to the Territory of Hawaii. The importance +of those islands is apparent, and the need of improving their condition +and developing their resources is urgent. In recent years industrial +conditions upon the islands have radically changed, The importation of +coolie labor has practically ceased, and there is now developing such a +diversity in agricultural products as to make possible a change in the +land conditions of the Territory, so that an opportunity may be given +to the small land owner similar to that on the mainland. To aid these +changes, the National Government must provide the necessary harbor +improvements on each island, so that the agricultural products can be +carried to the markets of the world. The coastwise shipping laws should +be amended to meet the special needs of the islands, and the alien +contract labor law should be so modified in its application to Hawaii +as to enable American and European labor to be brought thither. +</p> + +<p> +We have begun to improve Pearl Harbor for a naval base and to provide +the necessary military fortifications for the protection of the +islands, but I can not too strongly emphasize the need of +appropriations for these purposes of such an amount as will within the +shortest possible time make those islands practically impregnable. It +is useless to develop the industrial conditions of the islands and +establish there bases of supply for our naval and merchant fleets +unless we insure, as far as human ingenuity can, their safety from +foreign seizure. +</p> + +<p> +One thing to be remembered with all our fortifications is that it is +almost useless to make them impregnable from the sea if they are left +open to land attack. This is true even of our own coast, but it is +doubly true of our insular possessions. In Hawaii, for instance, it is +worse than useless to establish a naval station unless we establish it +behind fortifications so strong that no landing force can take them +save by regular and long-continued siege operations. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +THE PHILIPPINES. +</p> + +<p> +Real progress toward self-government is being made in the Philippine +Islands. The gathering of a Philippine legislative body and Philippine +assembly marks a process absolutely new in Asia, not only as regards +Asiatic colonies of European powers but as regards Asiatic possessions +of other Asiatic powers; and, indeed, always excepting the striking and +wonderful example afforded by the great Empire of Japan, it opens an +entirely new departure when compared with anything which has happened +among Asiatic powers which are their own masters. Hitherto this +Philippine legislature has acted with moderation and self-restraint, +and has seemed in practical fashion to realize the eternal truth that +there must always be government, and that the only way in which any +body of individuals can escape the necessity of being governed by +outsiders is to show that they are able to restrain themselves, to keep +down wrongdoing and disorder. The Filipino people, through their +officials, are therefore making real steps in the direction of +self-government. I hope and believe that these steps mark the beginning +of a course which will continue till the Filipinos become fit to decide +for themselves whether they desire to be an independent nation. But it +is well for them (and well also for those Americans who during the past +decade have done so much damage to the Filipinos by agitation for an +immediate independence for which they were totally unfit) to remember +that self-government depends, and must depend, upon the Filipinos +themselves. All we can do is to give them the opportunity to develop +the capacity for self-government. If we had followed the advice of the +foolish doctrinaires who wished us at any time during the last ten +years to turn the Filipino people adrift, we should have shirked the +plainest possible duty and have inflicted a lasting wrong upon the +Filipino people. We have acted in exactly the opposite spirit. We have +given the Filipinos constitutional government--a government based upon +justice--and we have shown that we have governed them for their good +and not for our aggrandizement. At the present time, as during the past +ten years, the inexorable logic of facts shows that this government +must be supplied by us and not by them. We must be wise and generous; +we must help the Filipinos to master the difficult art of self-control, +which is simply another name for self-government. But we can not give +them self-government save in the sense of governing them so that +gradually they may, if they are able, learn to govern themselves. Under +the present system of just laws and sympathetic administration, we have +every reason to believe that they are gradually acquiring the character +which lies at the basis of self-government, and for which, if it be +lacking, no system of laws, no paper constitution, will in any wise +serve as a substitute. Our people in the Philippines have achieved what +may legitimately be called a marvelous success in giving to them a +government which marks on the part of those in authority both the +necessary understanding of the people and the necessary purpose to +serve them disinterestedly and in good faith. I trust that within a +generation the time will arrive when the Philippines can decide for +themselves whether it is well for them to become independent, or to +continue under the protection of a strong and disinterested power, able +to guarantee to the islands order at home and protection from foreign +invasion. But no one can prophesy the exact date when it will be wise +to consider independence as a fixed and definite policy. It would be +worse than folly to try to set down such a date in advance, for it must +depend upon the way in which the Philippine people themselves develop +the power of self-mastery. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +PORTO RICO. +</p> + +<p> +I again recommend that American citizenship be conferred upon the +people of Porto Rico. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +CUBA. +</p> + +<p> +In Cuba our occupancy will cease in about two months' time, the Cubans +have in orderly manner elected their own governmental authorities, and +the island will be turned over to them. Our occupation on this occasion +has lasted a little over two years, and Cuba has thriven and prospered +under it. Our earnest hope and one desire is that the people of the +island shall now govern themselves with justice, so that peace and +order may be secure. We will gladly help them to this end; but I would +solemnly warn them to remember the great truth that the only way a +people can permanently avoid being governed from without is to show +that they both can and will govern themselves from within. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +JAPANESE EXPOSITION. +</p> + +<p> +The Japanese Government has postponed until 1917 the date of the great +international exposition, the action being taken so as to insure ample +time in which to prepare to make the exposition all that it should be +made. The American commissioners have visited Japan and the +postponement will merely give ampler opportunity for America to be +represented at the exposition. Not since the first international +exposition has there been one of greater importance than this will be, +marking as it does the fiftieth anniversary of the ascension to the +throne of the Emperor of Japan. The extraordinary leap to a foremost +place among the nations of the world made by Japan during this half +century is something unparalleled in all previous history. This +exposition will fitly commemorate and signalize the giant progress that +has been achieved. It is the first exposition of its kind that has ever +been held in Asia. The United States, because of the ancient friendship +between the two peoples, because each of us fronts on the Pacific, and +because of the growing commercial relations between this country and +Asia, takes a peculiar interest in seeing the exposition made a success +in every way. +</p> + +<p> +I take this opportunity publicly to state my appreciation of the way in +which in Japan, in Australia, in New Zealand, and in all the States of +South America, the battle fleet has been received on its practice +voyage around the world. The American Government can not too strongly +express its appreciation of the abounding and generous hospitality +shown our ships in every port they visited. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +THE ARMY. +</p> + +<p> +As regards the Army I call attention to the fact that while our junior +officers and enlisted men stand very high, the present system of +promotion by seniority results in bringing into the higher grades many +men of mediocre capacity who have but a short time to serve. No man +should regard it as his vested right to rise to the highest rank in the +Army any more than in any other profession. It is a curious and by no +means creditable fact that there should be so often a failure on the +part of the public and its representatives to understand the great +need, from the standpoint of the service and the Nation, of refusing to +promote respectable, elderly incompetents. The higher places should be +given to the most deserving men without regard to seniority; at least +seniority should be treated as only one consideration. In the stress of +modern industrial competition no business firm could succeed if those +responsible for its management were chosen simply on the ground that +they were the oldest people in its employment; yet this is the course +advocated as regards the Army, and required by law for all grades +except those of general officer. As a matter of fact, all of the best +officers in the highest ranks of the Army are those who have attained +their present position wholly or in part by a process of selection. +</p> + +<p> +The scope of retiring boards should be extended so that they could +consider general unfitness to command for any cause, in order to secure +a far more rigid enforcement than at present in the elimination of +officers for mental, physical or temperamental disabilities. But this +plan is recommended only if the Congress does not see fit to provide +what in my judgment is far better; that is, for selection in promotion, +and for elimination for age. Officers who fail to attain a certain rank +by a certain age should be retired--for instance, if a man should not +attain field rank by the time he is 45 he should of course be placed on +the retired list. General officers should be selected as at present, +and one-third of the other promotions should be made by selection, the +selection to be made by the President or the Secretary of War from a +list of at least two candidates proposed for each vacancy by a board of +officers from the arm of the service from which the promotion is to be +made. A bill is now before the Congress having for its object to secure +the promotion of officers to various grades at reasonable ages through +a process of selection, by boards of officers, of the least efficient +for retirement with a percentage of their pay depending upon length of +service. The bill, although not accomplishing all that should be done, +is a long step in the right direction; and I earnestly recommend its +passage, or that of a more completely effective measure. +</p> + +<p> +The cavalry arm should be reorganized upon modern lines. This is an arm +in which it is peculiarly necessary that the field officers should not +be old. The cavalry is much more difficult to form than infantry, and +it should be kept up to the maximum both in efficiency and in strength, +for it can not be made in a hurry. At present both infantry and +artillery are too few in number for our needs. Especial attention +should be paid to development of the machine gun. A general service +corps should be established. As things are now the average soldier has +far too much labor of a nonmilitary character to perform. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +NATIONAL GUARD. +</p> + +<p> +Now that the organized militia, the National Guard, has been +incorporated with the Army as a part of the national forces, it +behooves the Government to do every reasonable thing in its power to +perfect its efficiency. It should be assisted in its instruction and +otherwise aided more liberally than heretofore. The continuous services +of many well-trained regular officers will be essential in this +connection. Such officers must be specially trained at service schools +best to qualify them as instructors of the National Guard. But the +detailing of officers for training at the service schools and for duty +with the National Guard entails detaching them from their regiments +which are already greatly depleted by detachment of officers for +assignment to duties prescribed by acts of the Congress. +</p> + +<p> +A bill is now pending before the Congress creating a number of extra +officers in the Army, which if passed, as it ought to be, will enable +more officers to be trained as instructors of the National Guard and +assigned to that duty. In case of war it will be of the utmost +importance to have a large number of trained officers to use for +turning raw levies into good troops. +</p> + +<p> +There should be legislation to provide a complete plan for organizing +the great body of volunteers behind the Regular Army and National Guard +when war has come. Congressional assistance should be given those who +are endeavoring to promote rifle practice so that our men, in the +services or out of them, may know how to use the rifle. While teams +representing the United States won the rifle and revolver championships +of the world against all comers in England this year, it is +unfortunately true that the great body of our citizens shoot less and +less as time goes on. To meet this we should encourage rifle practice +among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the +military services, by every means in our power. Thus, and not +otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving the peace of the +world. Fit to hold our own against the strong nations of the earth, our +voice for peace will carry to the ends of the earth. Unprepared, and +therefore unfit, we must sit dumb and helpless to defend ourselves, +protect others, or preserve peace. The first step--in the direction of +preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it +should come--is to teach our men to shoot. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +THE NAVY. +</p> + +<p> +I approve the recommendations of the General Board for the increase of +the Navy, calling especial attention to the need of additional +destroyers and colliers, and above all, of the four battleships. It is +desirable to complete as soon as possible a squadron of eight +battleships of the best existing type. The North Dakota, Delaware, +Florida, and Utah will form the first division of this squadron. The +four vessels proposed will form the second division. It will be an +improvement on the first, the ships being of the heavy, single caliber, +all big gun type. All the vessels should have the same tactical +qualities--that is, speed and turning circle--and as near as possible +these tactical qualities should be the same as in the four vessels +before named now being built. +</p> + +<p> +I most earnestly recommend that the General Board be by law turned into +a General Staff. There is literally no excuse whatever for continuing +the present bureau organization of the Navy. The Navy should be treated +as a purely military organization, and everything should be +subordinated to the one object of securing military efficiency. Such +military efficiency can only be guaranteed in time of war if there is +the most thorough previous preparation in time of peace--a preparation, +I may add, which will in all probability prevent any need of war. The +Secretary must be supreme, and he should have as his official advisers +a body of line officers who should themselves have the power to pass +upon and coordinate all the work and all the proposals of the several +bureaus. A system of promotion by merit, either by selection or by +exclusion, or by both processes, should be introduced. It is out of the +question, if the present principle of promotion by mere seniority is +kept, to expect to get the best results from the higher officers. Our +men come too old, and stay for too short a time, in the high command +positions. +</p> + +<p> +Two hospital ships should be provided. The actual experience of the +hospital ship with the fleet in the Pacific has shown the invaluable +work which such a ship does, and has also proved that it is well to +have it kept under the command of a medical officer. As was to be +expected, all of the anticipations of trouble from such a command have +proved completely baseless. It is as absurd to put a hospital ship +under a line officer as it would be to put a hospital on shore under +such a command. This ought to have been realized before, and there is +no excuse for failure to realize it now. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing better for the Navy from every standpoint has ever occurred +than the cruise of the battle fleet around the world. The improvement +of the ships in every way has been extraordinary, and they have gained +far more experience in battle tactics than they would have gained if +they had stayed in the Atlantic waters. The American people have cause +for profound gratification, both in view of the excellent condition of +the fleet as shown by this cruise, and in view of the improvement the +cruise has worked in this already high condition. I do not believe that +there is any other service in the world in which the average of +character and efficiency in the enlisted men is as high as is now the +case in our own. I believe that the same statement can be made as to +our officers, taken as a whole; but there must be a reservation made in +regard to those in the highest ranks--as to which I have already +spoken--and in regard to those who have just entered the service; +because we do not now get full benefit from our excellent naval school +at Annapolis. It is absurd not to graduate the midshipmen as ensigns; +to keep them for two years in such an anomalous position as at present +the law requires is detrimental to them and to the service. In the +academy itself, every first classman should be required in turn to +serve as petty officer and officer; his ability to discharge his duties +as such should be a prerequisite to his going into the line, and his +success in commanding should largely determine his standing at +graduation. The Board of Visitors should be appointed in January, and +each member should be required to give at least six days' service, only +from one to three days' to be performed during June week, which is the +least desirable time for the board to be at Annapolis so far as +benefiting the Navy by their observations is concerned. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +THE WHITE HOUSE, +<br /> +Tuesday, December 8, 1908. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of State of the Union Addresses of +Theodore Roosevelt, by Theodore Roosevelt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESSES *** + +***** This file should be named 5032-h.htm or 5032-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/3/5032/ + +Produced by James Linden. 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Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + + +</pre> + +</body> + +</html> + diff --git a/5032.txt b/5032.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..26158d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/5032.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15370 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of State of the Union Addresses of Theodore +Roosevelt, by Theodore Roosevelt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: State of the Union Addresses of Theodore Roosevelt + +Author: Theodore Roosevelt + +Posting Date: December 3, 2014 [EBook #5032] +Release Date: February, 2004 +First Posted: April 11, 2002 +Last Updated: December 16, 2004 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESSES *** + + + + +Produced by James Linden. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + +State of the Union Addresses of Theodore Roosevelt + + + +The addresses are separated by three asterisks: *** + +Dates of addresses by Theodore Roosevelt in this eBook: + + December 3, 1901 + December 2, 1902 + December 7, 1903 + December 6, 1904 + December 5, 1905 + December 3, 1906 + December 3, 1907 + December 8, 1908 + + + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 3, 1901 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +The Congress assembles this year under the shadow of a great calamity. +On the sixth of September, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist +while attending the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, and died in +that city on the fourteenth of that month. + +Of the last seven elected Presidents, he is the third who has been +murdered, and the bare recital of this fact is sufficient to justify +grave alarm among all loyal American citizens. Moreover, the +circumstances of this, the third assassination of an American +President, have a peculiarly sinister significance. Both President +Lincoln and President Garfield were killed by assassins of types +unfortunately not uncommon in history; President Lincoln falling a +victim to the terrible passions aroused by four years of civil war, and +President Garfield to the revengeful vanity of a disappointed +office-seeker. President McKinley was killed by an utterly depraved +criminal belonging to that body of criminals who object to all +governments, good and bad alike, who are against any form of popular +liberty if it is guaranteed by even the most just and liberal laws, and +who are as hostile to the upright exponent of a free people's sober +will as to the tyrannical and irresponsible despot. + +It is not too much to say that at the time of President McKinley's +death he was the most widely loved man in all the United States; while +we have never had any public man of his position who has been so wholly +free from the bitter animosities incident to public life. His political +opponents were the first to bear the heartiest and most generous +tribute to the broad kindliness of nature, the sweetness and gentleness +of character which so endeared him to his close associates. To a +standard of lofty integrity in public life he united the tender +affections and home virtues which are all-important in the make-up of +national character. A gallant soldier in the great war for the Union, +he also shone as an example to all our people because of his conduct in +the most sacred and intimate of home relations. There could be no +personal hatred of him, for he never acted with aught but consideration +for the welfare of others. No one could fail to respect him who knew +him in public or private life. The defenders of those murderous +criminals who seek to excuse their criminality by asserting that it is +exercised for political ends, inveigh against wealth and irresponsible +power. But for this assassination even this base apology cannot be +urged. + +President McKinley was a man of moderate means, a man whose stock +sprang from the sturdy tillers of the soil, who had himself belonged +among the wage-workers, who had entered the Army as a private soldier. +Wealth was not struck at when the President was assassinated, but the +honest toil which is content with moderate gains after a lifetime of +unremitting labor, largely in the service of the public. Still less was +power struck at in the sense that power is irresponsible or centered in +the hands of any one individual. The blow was not aimed at tyranny or +wealth. It was aimed at one of the strongest champions the wage-worker +has ever had; at one of the most faithful representatives of the system +of public rights and representative government who has ever risen to +public office. President McKinley filled that political office for +which the entire people vote, and no President not even Lincoln +himself--was ever more earnestly anxious to represent the well +thought-out wishes of the people; his one anxiety in every crisis was +to keep in closest touch with the people--to find out what they thought +and to endeavor to give expression to their thought, after having +endeavored to guide that thought aright. He had just been reelected to +the Presidency because the majority of our citizens, the majority of +our farmers and wage-workers, believed that he had faithfully upheld +their interests for four years. They felt themselves in close and +intimate touch with him. They felt that he represented so well and so +honorably all their ideals and aspirations that they wished him to +continue for another four years to represent them. + +And this was the man at whom the assassin struck That there might be +nothing lacking to complete the Judas-like infamy of his act, he took +advantage of an occasion when the President was meeting the people +generally; and advancing as if to take the hand out-stretched to him in +kindly and brotherly fellowship, he turned the noble and generous +confidence of the victim into an opportunity to strike the fatal blow. +There is no baser deed in all the annals of crime. + +The shock, the grief of the country, are bitter in the minds of all who +saw the dark days, while the President yet hovered between life and +death. At last the light was stilled in the kindly eyes and the breath +went from the lips that even in mortal agony uttered no words save of +forgiveness to his murderer, of love for his friends, and of faltering +trust in the will of the Most High. Such a death, crowning the glory of +such a life, leaves us with infinite sorrow, but with such pride in +what he had accomplished and in his own personal character, that we +feel the blow not as struck at him, but as struck at the Nation We +mourn a good and great President who is dead; but while we mourn we are +lifted up by the splendid achievements of his life and the grand +heroism with which he met his death. + +When we turn from the man to the Nation, the harm done is so great as +to excite our gravest apprehensions and to demand our wisest and most +resolute action. This criminal was a professed anarchist, inflamed by +the teachings of professed anarchists, and probably also by the +reckless utterances of those who, on the stump and in the public press, +appeal to the dark and evil spirits of malice and greed, envy and +sullen hatred. The wind is sowed by the men who preach such doctrines, +and they cannot escape their share of responsibility for the whirlwind +that is reaped. This applies alike to the deliberate demagogue, to the +exploiter of sensationalism, and to the crude and foolish visionary +who, for whatever reason, apologizes for crime or excites aimless +discontent. + +The blow was aimed not at this President, but at all Presidents; at +every symbol of government. President McKinley was as emphatically the +embodiment of the popular will of the Nation expressed through the +forms of law as a New England town meeting is in similar fashion the +embodiment of the law-abiding purpose and practice of the people of the +town. On no conceivable theory could the murder of the President be +accepted as due to protest against "inequalities in the social order," +save as the murder of all the freemen engaged in a town meeting could +be accepted as a protest against that social inequality which puts a +malefactor in jail. Anarchy is no more an expression of "social +discontent" than picking pockets or wife-beating. + +The anarchist, and especially the anarchist in the United States, is +merely one type of criminal, more dangerous than any other because he +represents the same depravity in a greater degree. The man who +advocates anarchy directly or indirectly, in any shape or fashion, or +the man who apologizes for anarchists and their deeds, makes himself +morally accessory to murder before the fact. The anarchist is a +criminal whose perverted instincts lead him to prefer confusion and +chaos to the most beneficent form of social order. His protest of +concern for workingmen is outrageous in its impudent falsity; for if +the political institutions of this country do not afford opportunity to +every honest and intelligent son of toil, then the door of hope is +forever closed against him. The anarchist is everywhere not merely the +enemy of system and of progress, but the deadly foe of liberty. If ever +anarchy is triumphant, its triumph will last for but one red moment, to +be succeeded, for ages by the gloomy night of despotism. + +For the anarchist himself, whether he preaches or practices his +doctrines, we need not have one particle more concern than for any +ordinary murderer. He is not the victim of social or political +injustice. There are no wrongs to remedy in his case. The cause of his +criminality is to be found in his own evil passions and in the evil +conduct of those who urge him on, not in any failure by others or by +the State to do justice to him or his. He is a malefactor and nothing +else. He is in no sense, in no shape or way, a "product of social +conditions," save as a highwayman is "produced" by the fact than an +unarmed man happens to have a purse. It is a travesty upon the great +and holy names of liberty and freedom to permit them to be invoked in +such a cause. No man or body of men preaching anarchistic doctrines +should be allowed at large any more than if preaching the murder of +some specified private individual. Anarchistic speeches, writings, and +meetings are essentially seditious and treasonable. + +I earnestly recommend to the Congress that in the exercise of its wise +discretion it should take into consideration the coming to this country +of anarchists or persons professing principles hostile to all +government and justifying the murder of those placed in authority. Such +individuals as those who not long ago gathered in open meeting to +glorify the murder of King Humbert of Italy perpetrate a crime, and the +law should ensure their rigorous punishment. They and those like them +should be kept out of this country; and if found here they should be +promptly deported to the country whence they came; and far-reaching +provision should be made for the punishment of those who stay. No +matter calls more urgently for the wisest thought of the Congress. + +The Federal courts should be given jurisdiction over any man who kills +or attempts to kill the President or any man who by the Constitution or +by law is in line of succession for the Presidency, while the +punishment for an unsuccessful attempt should be proportioned to the +enormity of the offense against our institutions. + +Anarchy is a crime against the whole human race; and all mankind should +band against the anarchist. His crime should be made an offense against +the law of nations, like piracy and that form of man-stealing known as +the slave trade; for it is of far blacker infamy than either. It should +be so declared by treaties among all civilized powers. Such treaties +would give to the Federal Government the power of dealing with the +crime. + +A grim commentary upon the folly of the anarchist position was afforded +by the attitude of the law toward this very criminal who had just taken +the life of the President. The people would have torn him limb from +limb if it had not been that the law he defied was at once invoked in +his behalf. So far from his deed being committed on behalf of the +people against the Government, the Government was obliged at once to +exert its full police power to save him from instant death at the hands +of the people. Moreover, his deed worked not the slightest dislocation +in our governmental system, and the danger of a recurrence of such +deeds, no matter how great it might grow, would work only in the +direction of strengthening and giving harshness to the forces of order. +No man will ever be restrained from becoming President by any fear as +to his personal safety. If the risk to the President's life became +great, it would mean that the office would more and more come to be +filled by men of a spirit which would make them resolute and merciless +in dealing with every friend of disorder. This great country will not +fall into anarchy, and if anarchists should ever become a serious +menace to its institutions, they would not merely be stamped out, but +would involve in their own ruin every active or passive sympathizer +with their doctrines. The American people are slow to wrath, but when +their wrath is once kindled it burns like a consuming flame. + +During the last five years business confidence has been restored, and +the nation is to be congratulated because of its present abounding +prosperity. Such prosperity can never be created by law alone, although +it is easy enough to destroy it by mischievous laws. If the hand of the +Lord is heavy upon any country, if flood or drought comes, human wisdom +is powerless to avert the calamity. Moreover, no law can guard us +against the consequences of our own folly. The men who are idle or +credulous, the men who seek gains not by genuine work with head or hand +but by gambling in any form, are always a source of menace not only to +themselves but to others. If the business world loses its head, it +loses what legislation cannot supply. Fundamentally the welfare of each +citizen, and therefore the welfare of the aggregate of citizens which +makes the nation, must rest upon individual thrift and energy, +resolution, and intelligence. Nothing can take the place of this +individual capacity; but wise legislation and honest and intelligent +administration can give it the fullest scope, the largest opportunity +to work to good effect. + +The tremendous and highly complex industrial development which went on +with ever accelerated rapidity during the latter half of the nineteenth +century brings us face to face, at the beginning of the twentieth, with +very serious social problems. The old laws, and the old customs which +had almost the binding force of law, were once quite sufficient to +regulate the accumulation and distribution of wealth. Since the +industrial changes which have so enormously increased the productive +power of mankind, they are no longer sufficient. + +The growth of cities has gone on beyond comparison faster than the +growth of the country, and the upbuilding of the great industrial +centers has meant a startling increase, not merely in the aggregate of +wealth, but in the number of very large individual, and especially of +very large corporate, fortunes. The creation of these great corporate +fortunes has not been due to the tariff nor to any other governmental +action, but to natural causes in the business world, operating in other +countries as they operate in our own. + +The process has aroused much antagonism, a great part of which is +wholly without warrant. It is not true that as the rich have grown +richer the poor have grown poorer. On the contrary, never before has +the average man, the wage-worker, the farmer, the small trader, been so +well off as in this country and at the present time. There have been +abuses connected with the accumulation of wealth; yet it remains true +that a fortune accumulated in legitimate business can be accumulated by +the person specially benefited only on condition of conferring immense +incidental benefits upon others. Successful enterprise, of the type +which benefits all mankind, can only exist if the conditions are such +as to offer great prizes as the rewards of success. + +The captains of industry who have driven the railway systems across +this continent, who have built up our commerce, who have developed our +manufactures, have on the whole done great good to our people. Without +them the material development of which we are so justly proud could +never have taken place. Moreover, we should recognize the immense +importance of this material development of leaving as unhampered as is +compatible with the public good the strong and forceful men upon whom +the success of business operations inevitably rests. The slightest +study of business conditions will satisfy anyone capable of forming a +judgment that the personal equation is the most important factor in a +business operation; that the business ability of the man at the head of +any business concern, big or little, is usually the factor which fixes +the gulf between striking success and hopeless failure. + +An additional reason for caution in dealing with corporations is to be +found in the international commercial conditions of to-day. The same +business conditions which have produced the great aggregations of +corporate and individual wealth have made them very potent factors in +international Commercial competition. Business concerns which have the +largest means at their disposal and are managed by the ablest men are +naturally those which take the lead in the strife for commercial +supremacy among the nations of the world. America has only just begun +to assume that commanding position in the international business world +which we believe will more and more be hers. It is of the utmost +importance that this position be not jeoparded, especially at a time +when the overflowing abundance of our own natural resources and the +skill, business energy, and mechanical aptitude of our people make +foreign markets essential. Under such conditions it would be most +unwise to cramp or to fetter the youthful strength of our Nation. + +Moreover, it cannot too often be pointed out that to strike with +ignorant violence at the interests of one set of men almost inevitably +endangers the interests of all. The fundamental rule in our national +life--the rule which underlies all others--is that, on the whole, and +in the long run, we shall go up or down together. There are exceptions; +and in times of prosperity some will prosper far more, and in times of +adversity, some will suffer far more, than others; but speaking +generally, a period of good times means that all share more or less in +them, and in a period of hard times all feel the stress to a greater or +less degree. It surely ought not to be necessary to enter into any +proof of this statement; the memory of the lean years which began in +1893 is still vivid, and we can contrast them with the conditions in +this very year which is now closing. Disaster to great business +enterprises can never have its effects limited to the men at the top. +It spreads throughout, and while it is bad for everybody, it is worst +for those farthest down. The capitalist may be shorn of his luxuries; +but the wage-worker may be deprived of even bare necessities. + +The mechanism of modern business is so delicate that extreme care must +be taken not to interfere with it in a spirit of rashness or ignorance. +Many of those who have made it their vocation to denounce the great +industrial combinations which are popularly, although with technical +inaccuracy, known as "trusts," appeal especially to hatred and fear. +These are precisely the two emotions, particularly when combined with +ignorance, which unfit men for the exercise of cool and steady +judgment. In facing new industrial conditions, the whole history of the +world shows that legislation will generally be both unwise and +ineffective unless undertaken after calm inquiry and with sober +self-restraint. Much of the legislation directed at the trusts would +have been exceedingly mischievous had it not also been entirely +ineffective. In accordance with a well-known sociological law, the +ignorant or reckless agitator has been the really effective friend of +the evils which he has been nominally opposing. In dealing with +business interests, for the Government to undertake by crude and +ill-considered legislation to do what may turn out to be bad, would be +to incur the risk of such far-reaching national disaster that it would +be preferable to undertake nothing at all. The men who demand the +impossible or the undesirable serve as the allies of the forces with +which they are nominally at war, for they hamper those who would +endeavor to find out in rational fashion what the wrongs really are and +to what extent and in what manner it is practicable to apply remedies. + +All this is true; and yet it is also true that there are real and grave +evils, one of the chief being over-capitalization because of its many +baleful consequences; and a resolute and practical effort must be made +to correct these evils. + +There is a widespread conviction in the minds of the American people +that the great corporations known as trusts are in certain of their +features and tendencies hurtful to the general welfare. This springs +from no spirit of envy or uncharitableness, nor lack of pride in the +great industrial achievements that have placed this country at the head +of the nations struggling for commercial supremacy. It does not rest +upon a lack of intelligent appreciation of the necessity of meeting +changing and changed conditions of trade with new methods, nor upon +ignorance of the fact that combination of capital in the effort to +accomplish great things is necessary when the world's progress demands +that great things be done. It is based upon sincere conviction that +combination and concentration should be, not prohibited, but supervised +and within reasonable limits controlled; and in my judgment this +conviction is right. + +It is no limitation upon property rights or freedom of contract to +require that when men receive from Government the privilege of doing +business under corporate form, which frees them from individual +responsibility, and enables them to call into their enterprises the +capital of the public, they shall do so upon absolutely truthful +representations as to the value of the property in which the capital is +to be invested. Corporations engaged in interstate commerce should be +regulated if they are found to exercise a license working to the public +injury. It should be as much the aim of those who seek for social +betterment to rid the business world of crimes of cunning as to rid the +entire body politic of crimes of violence. Great corporations exist +only because they are created and safeguarded by our institutions; and +it is therefore our right and our duty to see that they work in harmony +with these institutions. + +The first essential in determining how to deal with the great +industrial combinations is knowledge of the facts--publicity. In the +interest of the public, the Government should have the right to inspect +and examine the workings of the great corporations engaged in +interstate business. Publicity is the only sure remedy which we can now +invoke. What further remedies are needed in the way of governmental +regulation, or taxation, can only be determined after publicity has +been obtained, by process of law, and in the course of administration. +The first requisite is knowledge, full and complete--knowledge which +may be made public to the world. + +Artificial bodies, such as corporations and joint stock or other +associations, depending upon any statutory law for their existence or +privileges, should be subject to proper governmental supervision, and +full and accurate information as to their operations should be made +public regularly at reasonable intervals. + +The large corporations, commonly called trusts, though organized in one +State, always do business in many States, often doing very little +business in the State where they are incorporated. There is utter lack +of uniformity in the State laws about them; and as no State has any +exclusive interest in or power over their acts, it has in practice +proved impossible to get adequate regulation through State action. +Therefore, in the interest of the whole people, the Nation should, +without interfering with the power of the States in the matter itself, +also assume power of supervision and regulation over all corporations +doing an interstate business. This is especially true where the +corporation derives a portion of its wealth from the existence of some +monopolistic element or tendency in its business. There would be no +hardship in such supervision; banks are subject to it, and in their +case it is now accepted as a simple matter of course. Indeed, it is +probable that supervision of corporations by the National Government +need not go so far as is now the case with the supervision exercised +over them by so conservative a State as Massachusetts, in order to +produce excellent results. + +When the Constitution was adopted, at the end of the eighteenth +century, no human wisdom could foretell the sweeping changes, alike in +industrial and political conditions, which were to take place by the +beginning of the twentieth century. At that time it was accepted as a +matter of course that the several States were the proper authorities to +regulate, so far as was then necessary, the comparatively insignificant +and strictly localized corporate bodies of the day. The conditions are +now wholly different and wholly different action is called for. I +believe that a law can be framed which will enable the National +Government to exercise control along the lines above indicated; +profiting by the experience gained through the passage and +administration of the Interstate-Commerce Act. If, however, the +judgment of the Congress is that it lacks the constitutional power to +pass such an act, then a constitutional amendment should be submitted +to confer the power. + +There should be created a Cabinet officer, to be known as Secretary of +Commerce and Industries, as provided in the bill introduced at the last +session of the Congress. It should be his province to deal with +commerce in its broadest sense; including among many other things +whatever concerns labor and all matters affecting the great business +corporations and our merchant marine. + +The course proposed is one phase of what should be a comprehensive and +far-reaching scheme of constructive statesmanship for the purpose of +broadening our markets, securing our business interests on a safe +basis, and making firm our new position in the international industrial +world; while scrupulously safeguarding the rights of wage-worker and +capitalist, of investor and private citizen, so as to secure equity as +between man and man in this Republic. + +With the sole exception of the farming interest, no one matter is of +such vital moment to our whole people as the welfare of the +wage-workers. If the farmer and the wage-worker are well off, it is +absolutely certain that all others will be well off too. It is +therefore a matter for hearty congratulation that on the whole wages +are higher to-day in the United States than ever before in our history, +and far higher than in any other country. The standard of living is +also higher than ever before. Every effort of legislator and +administrator should be bent to secure the permanency of this condition +of things and its improvement wherever possible. Not only must our +labor be protected by the tariff, but it should also be protected so +far as it is possible from the presence in this country of any laborers +brought over by contract, or of those who, coming freely, yet represent +a standard of living so depressed that they can undersell our men in +the labor market and drag them to a lower level. I regard it as +necessary, with this end in view, to re-enact immediately the law +excluding Chinese laborers and to strengthen it wherever necessary in +order to make its enforcement entirely effective. + +The National Government should demand the highest quality of service +from its employees; and in return it should be a good employer. If +possible legislation should be passed, in connection with the +Interstate Commerce Law, which will render effective the efforts of +different States to do away with the competition of convict contract +labor in the open labor market. So far as practicable under the +conditions of Government work, provision should be made to render the +enforcement of the eight-hour law easy and certain. In all industries +carried on directly or indirectly for the United States Government +women and children should be protected from excessive hours of labor, +from night work, and from work under unsanitary conditions. The +Government should provide in its contracts that all work should be done +under "fair" conditions, and in addition to setting a high standard +should uphold it by proper inspection, extending if necessary to the +subcontractors. The Government should forbid all night work for women +and children, as well as excessive overtime. For the District of +Columbia a good factory law should be passed; and, as a powerful +indirect aid to such laws, provision should be made to turn the +inhabited alleys, the existence of which is a reproach to our Capital +city, into minor streets, where the inhabitants can live under +conditions favorable to health and morals. + +American wage-workers work with their heads as well as their hands. +Moreover, they take a keen pride in what they are doing; so that, +independent of the reward, they wish to turn out a perfect job. This is +the great secret of our success in competition with the labor of +foreign countries. + +The most vital problem with which this country, and for that matter the +whole civilized world, has to deal, is the problem which has for one +side the betterment of social conditions, moral and physical, in large +cities, and for another side the effort to deal with that tangle of +far-reaching questions which we group together when we speak of +"labor." The chief factor in the success of each man--wage-worker, +farmer, and capitalist alike--must ever be the sum total of his own +individual qualities and abilities. Second only to this comes the power +of acting in combination or association with others. Very great good +has been and will be accomplished by associations or unions of +wage-workers, when managed with forethought, and when they combine +insistence upon their own rights with law-abiding respect for the +rights of others. The display of these qualities in such bodies is a +duty to the nation no less than to the associations themselves. +Finally, there must also in many cases be action by the Government in +order to safeguard the rights and interests of all. Under our +Constitution there is much more scope for such action by the State and +the municipality than by the nation. But on points such as those +touched on above the National Government can act. + +When all is said and done, the rule of brotherhood remains as the +indispensable prerequisite to success in the kind of national life for +which we strive. Each man must work for himself, and unless he so works +no outside help can avail him; but each man must remember also that he +is indeed his brother's keeper, and that while no man who refuses to +walk can be carried with advantage to himself or anyone else, yet that +each at times stumbles or halts, that each at times needs to have the +helping hand outstretched to him. To be permanently effective, aid must +always take the form of helping a man to help himself; and we can all +best help ourselves by joining together in the work that is of common +interest to all. + +Our present immigration laws are unsatisfactory. We need every honest +and efficient immigrant fitted to become an American citizen, every +immigrant who comes here to stay, who brings here a strong body, a +stout heart, a good head, and a resolute purpose to do his duty well in +every way and to bring up his children as law-abiding and God-fearing +members of the community. But there should be a comprehensive law +enacted with the object of working a threefold improvement over our +present system. First, we should aim to exclude absolutely not only all +persons who are known to be believers in anarchistic principles or +members of anarchistic societies, but also all persons who are of a low +moral tendency or of unsavory reputation. This means that we should +require a more thorough system of inspection abroad and a more rigid +system of examination at our immigration ports, the former being +especially necessary. + +The second object of a proper immigration law ought to be to secure by +a careful and not merely perfunctory educational test some intelligent +capacity to appreciate American institutions and act sanely as American +citizens. This would not keep out all anarchists, for many of them +belong to the intelligent criminal class. But it would do what is also +in point, that is, tend to decrease the sum of ignorance, so potent in +producing the envy, suspicion, malignant passion, and hatred of order, +out of which anarchistic sentiment inevitably springs. Finally, all +persons should be excluded who are below a certain standard of economic +fitness to enter our industrial field as competitors with American +labor. There should be proper proof of personal capacity to earn an +American living and enough money to insure a decent start under +American conditions. This would stop the influx of cheap labor, and the +resulting competition which gives rise to so much of bitterness in +American industrial life; and it would dry up the springs of the +pestilential social conditions in our great cities, where anarchistic +organizations have their greatest possibility of growth. + +Both the educational and economic tests in a wise immigration law +should be designed to protect and elevate the general body politic and +social. A very close supervision should be exercised over the steamship +companies which mainly bring over the immigrants, and they should be +held to a strict accountability for any infraction of the law. + +There is general acquiescence in our present tariff system as a +national policy. The first requisite to our prosperity is the +continuity and stability of this economic policy. Nothing could be more +unwise than to disturb the business interests of the country by any +general tariff change at this time. Doubt, apprehension, uncertainty +are exactly what we most wish to avoid in the interest of our +commercial and material well-being. Our experience in the past has +shown that sweeping revisions of the tariff are apt to produce +conditions closely approaching panic in the business world. Yet it is +not only possible, but eminently desirable, to combine with the +stability of our economic system a supplementary system of reciprocal +benefit and obligation with other nations. Such reciprocity is an +incident and result of the firm establishment and preservation of our +present economic policy. It was specially provided for in the present +tariff law. + +Reciprocity must be treated as the handmaiden of protection. Our first +duty is to see that the protection granted by the tariff in every case +where it is needed is maintained, and that reciprocity be sought for so +far as it can safely be done without injury to our home industries. +Just how far this is must be determined according to the individual +case, remembering always that every application of our tariff policy to +meet our shifting national needs must be conditioned upon the cardinal +fact that the duties must never be reduced below the point that will +cover the difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The +well-being of the wage-worker is a prime consideration of our entire +policy of economic legislation. + +Subject to this proviso of the proper protection necessary to our +industrial well-being at home, the principle of reciprocity must +command our hearty support. The phenomenal growth of our export trade +emphasizes the urgency of the need for wider markets and for a liberal +policy in dealing with foreign nations. Whatever is merely petty and +vexatious in the way of trade restrictions should be avoided. The +customers to whom we dispose of our surplus products in the long run, +directly or indirectly, purchase those surplus products by giving us +something in return. Their ability to purchase our products should as +far as possible be secured by so arranging our tariff as to enable us +to take from them those products which we can use without harm to our +own industries and labor, or the use of which will be of marked benefit +to us. + +It is most important that we should maintain the high level of our +present prosperity. We have now reached the point in the development of +our interests where we are not only able to supply our own markets but +to produce a constantly growing surplus for which we must find markets +abroad. To secure these markets we can utilize existing duties in any +case where they are no longer needed for the purpose of protection, or +in any case where the article is not produced here and the duty is no +longer necessary for revenue, as giving us something to offer in +exchange for what we ask. The cordial relations with other nations +which are so desirable will naturally be promoted by the course thus +required by our own interests. + +The natural line of development for a policy of reciprocity will be in +connection with those of our productions which no longer require all of +the support once needed to establish them upon a sound basis, and with +those others where either because of natural or of economic causes we +are beyond the reach of successful competition. + +I ask the attention of the Senate to the reciprocity treaties laid +before it by my predecessor. + +The condition of the American merchant marine is such as to call for +immediate remedial action by the Congress. It is discreditable to us as +a Nation that our merchant marine should be utterly insignificant in +comparison to that of other nations which we overtop in other forms of +business. We should not longer submit to conditions under which only a +trifling portion of our great commerce is carried in our own ships. To +remedy this state of things would not .merely serve to build up our +shipping interests, but it would also result in benefit to all who are +interested in the permanent establishment of a wider market for +American products, and would provide an auxiliary force for the Navy. +Ships work for their own countries just as railroads work for their +terminal points. Shipping lines, if established to the principal +countries with which we have dealings, would be of political as well as +commercial benefit. From every standpoint it is unwise for the United +States to continue to rely upon the ships of competing nations for the +distribution of our goods. It should be made advantageous to carry +American goods in American-built ships. + +At present American shipping is under certain great disadvantages when +put in competition with the shipping of foreign countries. Many of the +fast foreign steamships, at a speed of fourteen knots or above, are +subsidized; and all our ships, sailing vessels and steamers alike, +cargo carriers of slow speed and mail carriers of high speed, have to +meet the fact that the original cost of building American ships is +greater than is the case abroad; that the wages paid American officers +and seamen are very much higher than those paid the officers and seamen +of foreign competing countries; and that the standard of living on our +ships is far superior to the standard of living on the ships of our +commercial rivals. + +Our Government should take such action as will remedy these +inequalities. The American merchant marine should be restored to the +ocean. + +The Act of March 14, 1900, intended unequivocally to establish gold as +the standard money and to maintain at a parity therewith all forms of +money medium in use with us, has been shown to be timely and judicious. +The price of our Government bonds in the world's market, when compared +with the price of similar obligations issued by other nations, is a +flattering tribute to our public credit. This condition it is evidently +desirable to maintain. + +In many respects the National Banking Law furnishes sufficient liberty +for the proper exercise of the banking function; but there seems to be +need of better safeguards against the deranging influence of commercial +crises and financial panics. Moreover, the currency of the country +should be made responsive to the demands of our domestic trade and +commerce. + +The collections from duties on imports and internal taxes continue to +exceed the ordinary expenditures of the Government, thanks mainly to +the reduced army expenditures. The utmost care should be taken not to +reduce the revenues so that there will be any possibility of a deficit; +but, after providing against any such contingency, means should be +adopted which will bring the revenues more nearly within the limit of +our actual needs. In his report to the Congress the Secretary of the +Treasury considers all these questions at length, and I ask your +attention to the report and recommendations. + +I call special attention to the need of strict economy in expenditures. +The fact that our national needs forbid us to be niggardly in providing +whatever is actually necessary to our well-being, should make us doubly +careful to husband our national resources, as each of us husbands his +private resources, by scrupulous avoidance of anything like wasteful or +reckless expenditure. Only by avoidance of spending money on what is +needless or unjustifiable can we legitimately keep our income to the +point required to meet our needs that are genuine. + +In 1887 a measure was enacted for the regulation of interstate +railways, commonly known as the Interstate Commerce Act. The cardinal +provisions of that act were that railway rates should be just and +reasonable and that all shippers, localities, and commodities should be +accorded equal treatment. A commission was created and endowed with +what were supposed to be the necessary powers to execute the provisions +of this act. That law was largely an experiment. Experience has shown +the wisdom of its purposes, but has also shown, possibly that some of +its requirements are wrong, certainly that the means devised for the +enforcement of its provisions are defective. Those who complain of the +management of the railways allege that established rates are not +maintained; that rebates and similar devices are habitually resorted +to; that these preferences are usually in favor of the large shipper; +that they drive out of business the smaller competitor; that while many +rates are too low, many others are excessive; and that gross +preferences are made, affecting both localities and commodities. Upon +the other hand, the railways assert that the law by its very terms +tends to produce many of these illegal practices by depriving carriers +of that right of concerted action which they claim is necessary to +establish and maintain non-discriminating rates. + +The act should be amended. The railway is a public servant. Its rates +should be just to and open to all shippers alike. The Government should +see to it that within its jurisdiction this is so and should provide a +speedy, inexpensive, and effective remedy to that end. At the same time +it must not be forgotten that our railways are the arteries through +which the commercial lifeblood of this Nation flows. Nothing could be +more foolish than the enactment of legislation which would +unnecessarily interfere with the development and operation of these +commercial agencies. The subject is one of great importance and calls +for the earnest attention of the Congress. + +The Department of Agriculture during the past fifteen years has +steadily broadened its work on economic lines, and has accomplished +results of real value in upbuilding domestic and foreign trade. It has +gone into new fields until it is now in touch with all sections of our +country and with two of the island groups that have lately come under +our jurisdiction, whose people must look to agriculture as a +livelihood. It is searching the world for grains, grasses, fruits, and +vegetables specially fitted for introduction into localities in the +several States and Territories where they may add materially to our +resources. By scientific attention to soil survey and possible new +crops, to breeding of new varieties of plants, to experimental +shipments, to animal industry and applied chemistry, very practical aid +has been given our farming and stock-growing interests. The products of +the farm have taken an unprecedented place in our export trade during +the year that has just closed. + +Public opinion throughout the United States has moved steadily toward a +just appreciation of the value of forests, whether planted or of +natural growth. The great part played by them in the creation and +maintenance of the national wealth is now more fully realized than ever +before. + +Wise forest protection does not mean the withdrawal of forest +resources, whether of wood, water, or grass, from contributing their +full share to the welfare of the people, but, on the contrary, gives +the assurance of larger and more certain supplies. The fundamental idea +of forestry is the perpetuation of forests by use. Forest protection is +not an end of itself; it is a means to increase and sustain the +resources of our country and the industries which depend upon them. The +preservation of our forests is an imperative business necessity. We +have come to see clearly that whatever destroys the forest, except to +make way for agriculture, threatens our well being. + +The practical usefulness of the national forest reserves to the mining, +grazing, irrigation, and other interests of the regions in which the +reserves lie has led to a widespread demand by the people of the West +for their protection and extension. The forest reserves will inevitably +be of still greater use in the future than in the past. Additions +should be made to them whenever practicable, and their usefulness +should be increased by a thoroughly business-like management. + +At present the protection of the forest reserves rests with the General +Land Office, the mapping and description of their timber with the +United States Geological Survey, and the preparation of plans for their +conservative use with the Bureau of Forestry, which is also charged +with the general advancement of practical forestry in the United +States. These various functions should be united in the Bureau of +Forestry, to which they properly belong. The present diffusion of +responsibility is bad from every standpoint. It prevents that effective +co-operation between the Government and the men who utilize the +resources of the reserves, without which the interests of both must +suffer. The scientific bureaus generally should be put under the +Department of Agriculture. The President should have by law the power +of transferring lands for use as forest reserves to the Department of +Agriculture. He already has such power in the case of lands needed by +the Departments of War and the Navy. + +The wise administration of the forest reserves will be not less helpful +to the interests which depend on water than to those which depend on +wood and grass. The water supply itself depends upon the forest. In the +arid region it is water, not land, which measures production. The +western half of the United States would sustain a population greater +than that of our whole country to-day if the waters that now run to +waste were saved and used for irrigation. The forest and water problems +are perhaps the most vital internal questions of the United States. + +Certain of the forest reserves should also be made preserves for the +wild forest creatures. All of the reserves should be better protected +from fires. Many of them need special protection because of the great +injury done by live stock, above all by sheep. The increase in deer, +elk, and other animals in the Yellowstone Park shows what may be +expected when other mountain forests are properly protected by law and +properly guarded. Some of these areas have been so denuded of surface +vegetation by overgrazing that the ground breeding birds, including +grouse and quail, and many mammals, including deer, have been +exterminated or driven away. At the same time the water-storing +capacity of the surface has been decreased or destroyed, thus promoting +floods in times of rain and diminishing the flow of streams between +rains. + +In cases where natural conditions have been restored for a few years, +vegetation has again carpeted the ground, birds and deer are coming +back, and hundreds of persons, especially from the immediate +neighborhood, come each summer to enjoy the privilege of camping. Some +at least of the forest reserves should afford perpetual protection to +the native fauna and flora, safe havens of refuge to our rapidly +diminishing wild animals of the larger kinds, and free camping grounds +for the ever-increasing numbers of men and women who have learned to +find rest, health, and recreation in the splendid forests and +flower-clad meadows of our mountains. The forest reserves should be set +apart forever for the use and benefit of our people as a whole and not +sacrificed to the shortsighted greed of a few. + +The forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the streams in flood +and replenishing them in drought they make possible the use of waters +otherwise wasted. They prevent the soil from washing, and so protect +the storage reservoirs from filling up with silt. Forest conservation +is therefore an essential condition of water conservation. + +The forests alone cannot, however, fully regulate and conserve the +waters of the arid region. Great storage works are necessary to +equalize the flow of streams and to save the flood waters. Their +construction has been conclusively shown to be an undertaking too vast +for private effort. Nor can it be best accomplished by the individual +States acting alone. Far-reaching interstate problems are involved; and +the resources of single States would often be inadequate. It is +properly a national function, at least in some of its features. It is +as right for the National Government to make the streams and rivers of +the arid region useful by engineering works for water storage as to +make useful the rivers and harbors of the humid region by engineering +works of another kind. The storing of the floods in reservoirs at the +headwaters of our rivers is but an enlargement of our present policy of +river control, under which levees are built on the lower reaches of the +same streams. + +The Government should construct and maintain these reservoirs as it +does other public works. Where their purpose is to regulate the flow of +streams, the water should be turned freely into the channels in the dry +season to take the same course under the same laws as the natural flow. + +The reclamation of the unsettled arid public lands presents a different +problem. Here it is not enough to regulate the flow of streams. The +object of the Government is to dispose of the land to settlers who will +build homes upon it. To accomplish this object water must be brought +within their reach. + +The pioneer settlers on the arid public domain chose their homes along +streams from which they could themselves divert the water to reclaim +their holdings. Such opportunities are practically gone. There remain, +however, vast areas of public land which can be made available for +homestead settlement, but only by reservoirs and main-line canals +impracticable for private enterprise. These irrigation works should be +built by the National Government. The lands reclaimed by them should be +reserved by the Government for actual settlers, and the cost of +construction should so far as possible be repaid by the land reclaimed. +The distribution of the water, the division of the streams among +irrigators, should be left to the settlers themselves in conformity +with State laws and without interference with those laws or with vested +fights. The policy of the National Government should be to aid +irrigation in the several States and Territories in such manner as will +enable the people in the local communities to help themselves, and as +will stimulate needed reforms in the State laws and regulations +governing irrigation. + +The reclamation and settlement of the arid lands will enrich every +portion of our country, just as the settlement of the Ohio and +Mississippi valleys brought prosperity to the Atlantic States. The +increased demand for manufactured articles will stimulate industrial +production, while wider home markets and the trade of Asia will consume +the larger food supplies and effectually prevent Western competition +with Eastern agriculture. Indeed, the products of irrigation will be +consumed chiefly in upbuilding local centers of mining and other +industries, which would otherwise not come into existence at all. Our +people as a whole will profit, for successful home-making is but +another name for the upbuilding of the nation. + +The necessary foundation has already been laid for the inauguration of +the policy just described. It would be unwise to begin by doing too +much, for a great deal will doubtless be learned, both as to what can +and what cannot be safely attempted, by the early efforts, which must +of necessity be partly experimental in character. At the very beginning +the Government should make clear, beyond shadow of doubt, its intention +to pursue this policy on lines of the broadest public interest. No +reservoir or canal should ever be built to satisfy selfish personal or +local interests; but only in accordance with the advice of trained +experts, after long investigation has shown the locality where all the +conditions combine to make the work most needed and fraught with the +greatest usefulness to the community as a whole. There should be no +extravagance, and the believers in the need of irrigation will most +benefit their cause by seeing to it that it is free from the least +taint of excessive or reckless expenditure of the public moneys. + +Whatever the nation does for the extension of irrigation should +harmonize with, and tend to improve, the condition of those now living +on irrigated land. We are not at the starting point of this +development. Over two hundred millions of private capital has already +been expended in the construction of irrigation works, and many million +acres of arid land reclaimed. A high degree of enterprise and ability +has been shown in the work itself; but as much cannot be said in +reference to the laws relating thereto. The security and value of the +homes created depend largely on the stability of titles to water; but +the majority of these rest on the uncertain foundation of court +decisions rendered in ordinary suits at law. With a few creditable +exceptions, the arid States have failed to provide for the certain and +just division of streams in times of scarcity. Lax and uncertain laws +have made it possible to establish rights to water in excess of actual +uses or necessities, and many streams have already passed into private +ownership, or a control equivalent to ownership. + +Whoever controls a stream practically controls the land it renders +productive, and the doctrine of private ownership of water apart from +land cannot prevail without causing enduring wrong. The recognition of +such ownership, which has been permitted to grow up in the arid +regions, should give way to a more enlightened and larger recognition +of the rights of the public in the control and disposal of the public +water supplies. Laws founded upon conditions obtaining in humid +regions, where water is too abundant to justify hoarding it, have no +proper application in a dry country. + +In the arid States the only right to water which should be recognized +is that of use. In irrigation this right should attach to the land +reclaimed and be inseparable therefrom. Granting perpetual water rights +to others than users, without compensation to the public, is open to +all the objections which apply to giving away perpetual franchises to +the public utilities of cities. A few of the Western States have +already recognized this, and have incorporated in their constitutions +the doctrine of perpetual State ownership of water. + +The benefits which have followed the unaided development of the past +justify the nation's aid and co-operation in the more difficult and +important work yet to be accomplished. Laws so vitally affecting homes +as those which control the water supply will only be effective when +they have the sanction of the irrigators; reforms can only be final and +satisfactory when they come through the enlightenment of the people +most concerned. The larger development which national aid insures +should, however, awaken in every arid State the determination to make +its irrigation system equal in justice and effectiveness that of any +country in the civilized world. Nothing could be more unwise than for +isolated communities to continue to learn everything experimentally, +instead of profiting by what is already known elsewhere. We are dealing +with a new and momentous question, in the pregnant years while +institutions are forming, and what we do will affect not only the +present but future generations. + +Our aim should be not simply to reclaim the largest area of land and +provide homes for the largest number of people, but to create for this +new industry the best possible social and industrial conditions; and +this requires that we not only understand the existing situation, but +avail ourselves of the best experience of the time in the solution of +its problems. A careful study should be made, both by the Nation and +the States, of the irrigation laws and conditions here and abroad. +Ultimately it will probably be necessary for the Nation to co-operate +with the several arid States in proportion as these States by their +legislation and administration show themselves fit to receive it. + +In Hawaii our aim must be to develop the Territory on the traditional +American lines. We do not wish a region of large estates tilled by +cheap labor; we wish a healthy American community of men who themselves +till the farms they own. All our legislation for the islands should be +shaped with this end in view; the well-being of the average home-maker +must afford the true test of the healthy development of the islands. +The land policy should as nearly as possible be modeled on our +homestead system. + +It is a pleasure to say that it is hardly more necessary to report as +to Puerto Rico than as to any State or Territory within our continental +limits. The island is thriving as never before, and it is being +administered efficiently and honestly. Its people are now enjoying +liberty and order under the protection of the United States, and upon +this fact we congratulate them and ourselves. Their material welfare +must be as carefully and jealously considered as the welfare of any +other portion of our country. We have given them the great gift of free +access for their products to the markets of the United States. I ask +the attention of the Congress to the need of legislation concerning the +public lands of Puerto Rico. + +In Cuba such progress has been made toward putting the independent +government of the island upon a firm footing that before the present +session of the Congress closes this will be an accomplished fact. Cuba +will then start as her own mistress; and to the beautiful Queen of the +Antilles, as she unfolds this new page of her destiny, we extend our +heartiest greetings and good wishes. Elsewhere I have discussed the +question of reciprocity. In the case of Cuba, however, there are +weighty reasons of morality and of national interest why the policy +should be held to have a peculiar application, and I most earnestly ask +your attention to the wisdom, indeed to the vital need, of providing +for a substantial reduction in the tariff duties on Cuban imports into +the United States. Cuba has in her constitution affirmed what we +desired: that she should stand, in international matters, in closer and +more friendly relations with us than with any other power; and we are +bound by every consideration of honor and expediency to pass commercial +measures in the interest of her material well-being. + +In the Philippines our problem is larger. They are very rich tropical +islands, inhabited by many varying tribes, representing widely +different stages of progress toward civilization. Our earnest effort is +to help these people upward along the stony and difficult path that +leads to self-government. We hope to make our administration of the +islands honorable to our Nation by making it of the highest benefit to +the Filipinos themselves; and as an earnest of what we intend to do, we +point to what we have done. Already a greater measure of material +prosperity and of governmental honesty and efficiency has been attained +in the Philippines than ever before in their history. + +It is no light task for a nation to achieve the temperamental qualities +without which the institutions of free government are but an empty +mockery. Our people are now successfully governing themselves, because +for more than a thousand years they have been slowly fitting +themselves, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, toward this +end. What has taken us thirty generations to achieve, we cannot expect +to have another race accomplish out of hand, especially when large +portions of that race start very far behind the point which our +ancestors had reached even thirty generations ago. In dealing with the +Philippine people we must show both patience and strength, forbearance +and steadfast resolution. Our aim is high. We do not desire to do for +the islanders merely what has elsewhere been done for tropic peoples by +even the best foreign governments. We hope to do for them what has +never before been done for any people of the tropics--to make them fit +for self-government after the fashion of the really free nations. + +History may safely be challenged to show a single instance in which a +masterful race such as ours, having been forced by the exigencies of +war to take possession of an alien land, has behaved to its inhabitants +with the disinterested zeal for their progress that our people have +shown in the Philippines. To leave the islands at this time would mean +that they would fall into a welter of murderous anarchy. Such desertion +of duty on our part would be a crime against humanity. The character of +Governor Taft and of his associates and subordinates is a proof, if +such be needed, of the sincerity of our effort to give the islanders a +constantly increasing measure of self-government, exactly as fast as +they show themselves fit to exercise it. Since the civil government was +established not an appointment has been made in the islands with any +reference to considerations of political influence, or to aught else +Save the fitness of the man and the needs of the service. + +In our anxiety for the welfare and progress of the Philippines, may be +that here and there we have gone too rapidly in giving them local +self-government. It is on this side that our error, if any, has been +committed. No competent observer, sincerely desirous of finding out the +facts and influenced only by a desire for the welfare of the natives, +can assert that we have not gone far enough. We have gone to the very +verge of safety in hastening the process. To have taken a single step +farther or faster in advance would have been folly and weakness, and +might well have been crime. We are extremely anxious that the natives +shall show the power of governing themselves. We are anxious, first for +their sakes, and next, because it relieves us of a great burden. There +need not be the slightest fear of our not continuing to give them all +the liberty for which they are fit. + +The only fear is test in our overanxiety we give them a degree of +independence for which they are unfit, thereby inviting reaction and +disaster. As fast as there is any reasonable hope that in a given +district the people can govern themselves, self-government has been +given in that district. There is not a locality fitted for +self-government which has not received it. But it may well be that in +certain cases it will have to be withdrawn because the inhabitants show +themselves unfit to exercise it; such instances have already occurred. +In other words, there is not the slightest chance of our failing to +show a sufficiently humanitarian spirit. The danger comes in the +opposite direction. + +There are still troubles ahead in the islands. The insurrection has +become an affair of local banditti and marauders, who deserve no higher +regard than the brigands of portions of the Old World. Encouragement, +direct or indirect, to these insurrectors stands on the same footing as +encouragement to hostile Indians in the days when we still had Indian +wars. Exactly as our aim is to give to the Indian who remains peaceful +the fullest and amplest consideration, but to have it understood that +we will show no weakness if he goes on the warpath, so we must make it +evident, unless we are false to our own traditions and to the demands +of civilization and humanity, that while we will do everything in our +power for the Filipino who is peaceful, we will take the sternest +measures with the Filipino who follows the path of the insurrecto and +the ladrone. + +The heartiest praise is due to large numbers of the natives of the +islands for their steadfast loyalty. The Macabebes have been +conspicuous for their courage and devotion to the flag. I recommend +that the Secretary of War be empowered to take some systematic action +in the way of aiding those of these men who are crippled in the service +and the families of those who are killed. + +The time has come when there should be additional legislation for the +Philippines. Nothing better can be done for the islands than to +introduce industrial enterprises. Nothing would benefit them so much as +throwing them open to industrial development. The connection between +idleness and mischief is proverbial, and the opportunity to do +remunerative work is one of the surest preventatives of war. Of course +no business man will go into the Philippines unless it is to his +interest to do so; and it is immensely to the interest of the islands +that he should go in. It is therefore necessary that the Congress +should pass laws by which the resources of the islands can be +developed; so that franchises (for limited terms of years) can be +granted to companies doing business in them, and every encouragement be +given to the incoming of business men of every kind. + +Not to permit this is to do a wrong to the Philippines. The franchises +must be granted and the business permitted only under regulations which +will guarantee the islands against any kind of improper exploitation. +But the vast natural wealth of the islands must be developed, and the +capital willing to develop it must be given the opportunity. The field +must be thrown open to individual enterprise, which has been the real +factor in the development of every region over which our flag has +flown. It is urgently necessary to enact suitable laws dealing with +general transportation, mining, banking, currency, homesteads, and the +use and ownership of the lands and timber. These laws will give free +play to industrial enterprise; and the commercial development which +will surely follow will accord to the people of the islands the best +proofs of the sincerity of our desire to aid them. + +I call your attention most earnestly to the crying need of a cable to +Hawaii and the Philippines, to be continued from the Philippines to +points in Asia. We should not defer a day longer than necessary the +construction of such a cable. It is demanded not merely for commercial +but for political and military considerations. + +Either the Congress should immediately provide for the construction of +a Government cable, or else an arrangement should be made by which like +advantages to those accruing from a Government cable may be secured to +the Government by contract with a private cable company. + +No single great material work which remains to be undertaken on this +continent is of such consequence to the American people as the building +of a canal across the Isthmus connecting North and South America. Its +importance to the Nation is by no means limited merely to its material +effects upon our business prosperity; and yet with view to these +effects alone it would be to the last degree important for us +immediately to begin it. While its beneficial effects would perhaps be +most marked upon the Pacific Coast and the Gulf and South Atlantic +States, it would also greatly benefit other sections. It is +emphatically a work which it is for the interest of the entire country +to begin and complete as soon as possible; it is one of those great +works which only a great nation can undertake with prospects of +success, and which when done are not only permanent assets in the +nation's material interests, but standing monuments to its constructive +ability. + +I am glad to be able to announce to you that our negotiations on this +subject with Great Britain, conducted on both sides in a spirit of +friendliness and mutual good will and respect, have resulted in my +being able to lay before the Senate a treaty which if ratified will +enable us to begin preparations for an Isthmian canal at any time, and +which guarantees to this Nation every right that it has ever asked in +connection with the canal. In this treaty, the old Clayton-Bulwer +treaty, so long recognized as inadequate to supply the base for the +construction and maintenance of a necessarily American ship canal, is +abrogated. It specifically provides that the United States alone shall +do the work of building and assume the responsibility of safeguarding +the canal and shall regulate its neutral use by all nations on terms of +equality without the guaranty or interference of any outside nation +from any quarter. The signed treaty will at once be laid before the +Senate, and if approved the Congress can then proceed to give effect to +the advantages it secures us by providing for the building of the +canal. + +The true end of every great and free people should be self-respecting +peace; and this Nation most earnestly desires sincere and cordial +friendship with all others. Over the entire world, of recent years, +wars between the great civilized powers have become less and less +frequent. Wars with barbarous or semi-barbarous peoples come in an +entirely different category, being merely a most regrettable but +necessary international police duty which must be performed for the +sake of the welfare of mankind. Peace can only be kept with certainty +where both sides wish to keep it; but more and more the civilized +peoples are realizing the wicked folly of war and are attaining that +condition of just and intelligent regard for the rights of others which +will in the end, as we hope and believe, make world-wide peace +possible. The peace conference at The Hague gave definite expression to +this hope and belief and marked a stride toward their attainment. + +This same peace conference acquiesced in our statement of the Monroe +Doctrine as compatible with the purposes and aims of the conference. + +The Monroe Doctrine should be the cardinal feature of the foreign +policy of all the nations of the two Americas, as it is of the United +States. Just seventy-eight years have passed since President Monroe in +his Annual Message announced that "The American continents are +henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by +any European power." In other words, the Monroe Doctrine is a +declaration that there must be no territorial aggrandizement by any +non-American power at the expense of any American power on American +soil. It is in no wise intended as hostile to any nation in the Old +World. Still less is it intended to give cover to any aggression by one +New World power at the expense of any other. It is simply a step, and a +long step, toward assuring the universal peace of the world by securing +the possibility of permanent peace on this hemisphere. + +During the past century other influences have established the +permanence and independence of the smaller states of Europe. Through +the Monroe Doctrine we hope to be able to safeguard like independence +and secure like permanence for the lesser among the New World nations. + +This doctrine has nothing to do with the commercial relations of any +American power, save that it in truth allows each of them to form such +as it desires. In other words, it is really a guaranty of the +commercial independence of the Americas. We do not ask under this +doctrine for any exclusive commercial dealings with any other American +state. We do not guarantee any state against punishment if it +misconducts itself, provided that punishment does not take the form of +the acquisition of territory by any non-American power. + +Our attitude in Cuba is a sufficient guaranty of our own good faith. We +have not the slightest desire to secure any territory at the expense of +any of our neighbors. We wish to work with them hand in hand, so that +all of us may be uplifted together, and we rejoice over the good +fortune of any of them, we gladly hail their material prosperity and +political stability, and are concerned and alarmed if any of them fall +into industrial or political chaos. We do not wish to see any Old World +military power grow up on this continent, or to be compelled to become +a military power ourselves. The peoples of the Americas can prosper +best if left to work out their own salvation in their own way. + +The work of upbuilding the Navy must be steadily continued. No one +point of our policy, foreign or domestic, is more important than this +to the honor and material welfare, and above all to the peace, of our +nation in the future. Whether we desire it or not, we must henceforth +recognize that we have international duties no less than international +rights. Even if our flag were hauled down in the Philippines and Puerto +Rico, even if we decided not to build the Isthmian Canal, we should +need a thoroughly trained Navy of adequate size, or else be prepared +definitely and for all time to abandon the idea that our nation is +among those whose sons go down to the sea in ships. Unless our commerce +is always to be carried in foreign bottoms, we must have war craft to +protect it. + +Inasmuch, however, as the American people have no thought of abandoning +the path upon which they have entered, and especially in view of the +fact that the building of the Isthmian Canal is fast becoming one of +the matters which the whole people are united in demanding, it is +imperative that our Navy should be put and kept in the highest state of +efficiency, and should be made to answer to our growing needs. So far +from being in any way a provocation to war, an adequate and highly +trained navy is the best guaranty against war, the cheapest and most +effective peace insurance. The cost of building and maintaining such a +navy represents the very lightest premium for insuring peace which this +nation can possibly pay. + +Probably no other great nation in the world is so anxious for peace as +we are. There is not a single civilized power which has anything +whatever to fear from aggressiveness on our part. All we want is peace; +and toward this end we wish to be able to secure the same respect for +our rights from others which we are eager and anxious to extend to +their rights in return, to insure fair treatment to us commercially, +and to guarantee the safety of the American people. + +Our people intend to abide by the Monroe Doctrine and to insist upon it +as the one sure means of securing the peace of the Western Hemisphere. +The Navy offers us the only means of making our insistence upon the +Monroe Doctrine anything but a subject of derision to whatever nation +chooses to disregard it. We desire the peace which comes as of right to +the just man armed; not the peace granted on terms of ignominy to the +craven and the weakling. + +It is not possible to improvise a navy after war breaks out. The ships +must be built and the men trained long in advance. Some auxiliary +vessels can be turned into makeshifts which will do in default of any +better for the minor work, and a proportion of raw men can be mixed +with the highly trained, their shortcomings being made good by the +skill of their fellows; but the efficient fighting force of the Navy +when pitted against an equal opponent will be found almost exclusively +in the war ships that have been regularly built and in the officers and +men who through years of faithful performance of sea duty have been +trained to handle their formidable but complex and delicate weapons +with the highest efficiency. In the late war with Spain the ships that +dealt the decisive blows at Manila and Santiago had been launched from +two to fourteen years, and they were able to do as they did because the +men in the conning towers, the gun turrets, and the engine-rooms had +through long years of practice at sea learned how to do their duty. + +Our present Navy was begun in 1882. At that period our Navy consisted +of a collection of antiquated wooden ships, already almost as out of +place against modern war vessels as the galleys of Alcibiades and +Hamilcar--certainly as the ships of Tromp and Blake. Nor at that time +did we have men fit to handle a modern man-of-war. Under the wise +legislation of the Congress and the successful administration of a +succession of patriotic Secretaries of the Navy, belonging to both +political parties, the work of upbuilding the Navy went on, and ships +equal to any in the world of their kind were continually added; and +what was even more important, these ships were exercised at sea singly +and in squadrons until the men aboard them were able to get the best +possible service out of them. The result was seen in the short war with +Spain, which was decided with such rapidity because of the infinitely +greater preparedness of our Navy than of the Spanish Navy. + +While awarding the fullest honor to the men who actually commanded and +manned the ships which destroyed the Spanish sea forces in the +Philippines and in Cuba, we must not forget that an equal meed of +praise belongs to those without whom neither blow could have been +struck. The Congressmen who voted years in advance the money to lay +down the ships, to build the guns, to buy the armor-plate; the +Department officials and the business men and wage-workers who +furnished what the Congress had authorized; the Secretaries of the Navy +who asked for and expended the appropriations; and finally the officers +who, in fair weather and foul, on actual sea service, trained and +disciplined the crews of the ships when there was no war in sight--all +are entitled to a full share in the glory of Manila and Santiago, and +the respect accorded by every true American to those who wrought such +signal triumph for our country. It was forethought and preparation +which secured us the overwhelming triumph of 1898. If we fail to show +forethought and preparation now, there may come a time when disaster +will befall us instead of triumph; and should this time come, the fault +will rest primarily, not upon those whom the accident of events puts in +supreme command at the moment, but upon those who have failed to +prepare in advance. + +There should be no cessation in the work of completing our Navy. So far +ingenuity has been wholly unable to devise a substitute for the great +war craft whose hammering guns beat out the mastery of the high seas. +It is unsafe and unwise not to provide this year for several additional +Battle ships and heavy armored cruisers, with auxiliary and lighter +craft in proportion; for the exact numbers and character I refer you to +the report of the Secretary of the Navy. But there is something we need +even more than additional ships, and this is additional officers and +men. To provide battle ships and cruisers and then lay them up, with +the expectation of leaving them unmanned until they are needed in +actual war, would be worse than folly; it would be a crime against the +Nation. + +To send any war ship against a competent enemy unless those aboard it +have been trained by years of actual sea service, including incessant +gunnery practice, would be to invite not merely disaster, but the +bitterest shame and humiliation. Four thousand additional seamen and +one thousand additional marines should be provided; and an increase in +the officers should be provided by making a large addition to the +classes at Annapolis. There is one small matter which should be +mentioned in connection with Annapolis. The pretentious and unmeaning +title of "naval cadet" should be abolished; the title of "midshipman," +full of historic association, should be restored. + +Even in time of peace a war ship should be used until it wears out, for +only so can it be kept fit to respond to any emergency. The officers +and men alike should be kept as much as possible on blue water, for it +is there only they can learn their duties as they should be learned. +The big vessels should be manoeuvred in squadrons containing not merely +battle ships, but the necessary proportion of cruisers and scouts. The +torpedo boats should be handled by the younger officers in such manner +as will best fit the latter to take responsibility and meet the +emergencies of actual warfare. + +Every detail ashore which can be performed by a civilian should be so +performed, the officer being kept for his special duty in the sea +service. Above all, gunnery practice should be unceasing. It is +important to have our Navy of adequate size, but it is even more +important that ship for ship it should equal in efficiency any navy in +the world. This is possible only with highly drilled crews and +officers, and this in turn imperatively demands continuous and +progressive instruction in target practice, ship handling, squadron +tactics, and general discipline. Our ships must be assembled in +squadrons actively cruising away from harbors and never long at anchor. +The resulting wear upon engines and hulls must be endured; a battle +ship worn out in long training of officers and men is well paid for by +the results, while, on the other hand, no matter in how excellent +condition, it is useless if the crew be not expert. + +We now have seventeen battle ships appropriated for, of which nine are +completed and have been commissioned for actual service. The remaining +eight will be ready in from two to four years, but it will take at +least that time to recruit and train the men to fight them. It is of +vast concern that we have trained crews ready for the vessels by the +time they are commissioned. Good ships and good guns are simply good +weapons, and the best weapons are useless save in the hands of men who +know how to fight with them. The men must be trained and drilled under +a thorough and well-planned system of progressive instruction, while +the recruiting must be carried on with still greater vigor. Every +effort must be made to exalt the main function of the officer--the +command of men. The leading graduates of the Naval Academy should be +assigned to the combatant branches, the line and marines. + +Many of the essentials of success are already recognized by the General +Board, which, as the central office of a growing staff, is moving +steadily toward a proper war efficiency and a proper efficiency of the +whole Navy, under the Secretary. This General Board, by fostering the +creation of a general staff, is providing for the official and then the +general recognition of our altered conditions as a Nation and of the +true meaning of a great war fleet, which meaning is, first, the best +men, and, second, the best ships. + +Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, vol. 9, +p.6667 + +The Naval Militia forces are State organizations, and are trained for +coast service, and in event of war they will constitute the inner line +of defense. They should receive hearty encouragement from the General +Government. + +But in addition we should at once provide for a National Naval Reserve, +organized and trained under the direction of the Navy Department, and +subject to the call of the Chief Executive whenever war becomes +imminent. It should be a real auxiliary to the naval seagoing peace +establishment, and offer material to be drawn on at once for manning +our ships in time of war. It should be composed of graduates of the +Naval Academy, graduates of the Naval Militia, officers and crews of +coast-line steamers, longshore schooners, fishing vessels, and steam +yachts, together with the coast population about such centers as +lifesaving stations and light-houses. + +The American people must either build and maintain an adequate navy or +else make up their minds definitely to accept a secondary position in +international affairs, not merely in political, but in commercial, +matters. It has been well said that there is no surer way of courting +national disaster than to be "opulent, aggressive, and unarmed." + +It is not necessary to increase our Army beyond its present size at +this time. But it is necessary to keep it at the highest point of +efficiency. The individual units who as officers and enlisted men +compose this Army, are, we have good reason to believe, at least as +efficient as those of any other army in the entire world. It is our +duty to see that their training is of a kind to insure the highest +possible expression of power to these units when acting in combination. + +The conditions of modern war are such as to make an infinitely heavier +demand than ever before upon the individual character and capacity of +the officer and the enlisted man, and to make it far more difficult for +men to act together with effect. At present the fighting must be done +in extended order, which means that each man must act for himself and +at the same time act in combination with others with whom he is no +longer in the old-fashioned elbow-to-elbow touch. Under such conditions +a few men of the highest excellence are worth more than many men +without the special skill which is only found as the result of special +training applied to men of exceptional physique and morale. But +nowadays the most valuable fighting man and the most difficult to +perfect is the rifleman who is also a skillful and daring rider. + +The proportion of our cavalry regiments has wisely been increased. The +American cavalryman, trained to manoeuvre and fight with equal facility +on foot and on horseback, is the best type of soldier for general +purposes now to be found in the world. The ideal cavalryman of the +present day is a man who can fight on foot as effectively as the best +infantryman, and who is in addition unsurpassed in the care and +management of his horse and in his ability to fight on horseback. + +A general staff should be created. As for the present staff and supply +departments, they should be filled by details from the line, the men so +detailed returning after a while to their line duties. It is very +undesirable to have the senior grades of the Army composed of men who +have come to fill the positions by the mere fact of seniority. A system +should be adopted by which there shall be an elimination grade by grade +of those who seem unfit to render the best service in the next grade. +Justice to the veterans of the Civil War who are still in the Army +would seem to require that in the matter of retirements they be given +by law the same privileges accorded to their comrades in the Navy. + +The process of elimination of the least fit should be conducted in a +manner that would render it practically impossible to apply political +or social pressure on behalf of any candidate, so that each man may be +judged purely on his own merits. Pressure for the promotion of civil +officials for political reasons is bad enough, but it is tenfold worse +where applied on behalf of officers of the Army or Navy. Every +promotion and every detail under the War Department must be made solely +with regard to the good of the service and to the capacity and merit of +the man himself. No pressure, political, social, or personal, of any +kind, will be permitted to exercise the least effect in any question of +promotion or detail; and if there is reason to believe that such +pressure is exercised at the instigation of the officer concerned, it +will be held to militate against him. In our Army we cannot afford to +have rewards or duties distributed save on the simple ground that those +who by their own merits are entitled to the rewards get them, and that +those who are peculiarly fit to do the duties are chosen to perform +them. + +Every effort should be made to bring the Army to a constantly +increasing state of efficiency. When on actual service no work save +that directly in the line of such service should be required. The paper +work in the Army, as in the Navy, should be greatly reduced. What is +needed is proved power of command and capacity to work well in the +field. Constant care is necessary to prevent dry rot in the +transportation and commissary departments. + +Our Army is so small and so much scattered that it is very difficult to +give the higher officers (as well as the lower officers and the +enlisted men) a chance to practice manoeuvres in mass and on a +comparatively large scale. In time of need no amount of individual +excellence would avail against the paralysis which would follow +inability to work as a coherent whole, under skillful and daring +leadership. The Congress should provide means whereby it will be +possible to have field exercises by at least a division of regulars, +and if possible also a division of national guardsmen, once a year. +These exercises might take the form of field manoeuvres; or, if on the +Gulf Coast or the Pacific or Atlantic Seaboard, or in the region of the +Great Lakes, the army corps when assembled could be marched from some +inland point to some point on the water, there embarked, disembarked +after a couple of days' journey at some other point, and again marched +inland. Only by actual handling and providing for men in masses while +they are marching, camping, embarking, and disembarking, will it be +possible to train the higher officers to perform their duties well and +smoothly. + +A great debt is owing from the public to the men of the Army and Navy. +They should be so treated as to enable them to reach the highest point +of efficiency, so that they may be able to respond instantly to any +demand made upon them to sustain the interests of the Nation and the +honor of the flag. The individual American enlisted man is probably on +the whole a more formidable fighting man than the regular of any other +army. Every consideration should be shown him, and in return the +highest standard of usefulness should be exacted from him. It is well +worth while for the Congress to consider whether the pay of enlisted +men upon second and subsequent enlistments should not be increased to +correspond with the increased value of the veteran soldier. + +Much good has already come from the act reorganizing the Army, passed +early in the present year. The three prime reforms, all of them of +literally inestimable value, are, first, the substitution of four-year +details from the line for permanent appointments in the so-called staff +divisions; second, the establishment of a corps of artillery with a +chief at the head; third, the establishment of a maximum and minimum +limit for the Army. It would be difficult to overestimate the +improvement in the efficiency of our Army which these three reforms are +making, and have in part already effected. + +The reorganization provided for by the act has been substantially +accomplished. The improved conditions in the Philippines have enabled +the War Department materially to reduce the military charge upon our +revenue and to arrange the number of soldiers so as to bring this +number much nearer to the minimum than to the maximum limit established +by law. There is, however, need of supplementary legislation. Thorough +military education must be provided, and in addition to the regulars +the advantages of this education should be given to the officers of the +National Guard and others in civil life who desire intelligently to fit +themselves for possible military duty. The officers should be given the +chance to perfect themselves by study in the higher branches of this +art. At West Point the education should be of the kind most apt to turn +out men who are good in actual field service; too much stress should +not be laid on mathematics, nor should proficiency therein be held to +establish the right of entry to a corps d'elite. The typical American +officer of the best kind need not be a good mathematician; but he must +be able to master himself, to control others, and to show boldness and +fertility of resource in every emergency. + +Action should be taken in reference to the militia and to the raising +of volunteer forces. Our militia law is obsolete and worthless. The +organization and armament of the National Guard of the several States, +which are treated as militia in the appropriations by the Congress, +should be made identical with those provided for the regular forces. +The obligations and duties of the Guard in time of war should be +carefully defined, and a system established by law under which the +method of procedure of raising volunteer forces should be prescribed in +advance. It is utterly impossible in the excitement and haste of +impending war to do this satisfactorily if the arrangements have not +been made long beforehand. Provision should be made for utilizing in +the first volunteer organizations called out the training of those +citizens who have already had experience under arms, and especially for +the selection in advance of the officers of any force which may be +raised; for careful selection of the kind necessary is impossible after +the outbreak of war. + +That the Army is not at all a mere instrument of destruction has been +shown during the last three years. In the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto +Rico it has proved itself a great constructive force, a most potent +implement for the upbuilding of a peaceful civilization. + +No other citizens deserve so well of the Republic as the veterans, the +survivors of those who saved the Union. They did the one deed which if +left undone would have meant that all else in our history went for +nothing. But for their steadfast prowess in the greatest crisis of our +history, all our annals would be meaningless, and our great experiment +in popular freedom and self-government a gloomy failure. Moreover, they +not only left us a united Nation, but they left us also as a heritage +the memory of the mighty deeds by which the Nation was kept united. We +are now indeed one Nation, one in fact as well as in name; we are +united in our devotion to the flag which is the symbol of national +greatness and unity; and the very completeness of our union enables us +all, in every part of the country, to glory in the valor shown alike by +the sons of the North and the sons of the South in the times that tried +men's souls. + +The men who in the last three years have done so well in the East and +the West Indies and on the mainland of Asia have shown that this +remembrance is not lost. In any serious crisis the United States must +rely for the great mass of its fighting men upon the volunteer soldiery +who do not make a permanent profession of the military career; and +whenever such a crisis arises the deathless memories of the Civil War +will give to Americans the lift of lofty purpose which comes to those +whose fathers have stood valiantly in the forefront of the battle. + +The merit system of making appointments is in its essence as democratic +and American as the common school system itself. It simply means that +in clerical and other positions where the duties are entirely +non-political, all applicants should have a fair field and no favor, +each standing on his merits as he is able to show them by practical +test. Written competitive examinations offer the only available means +in many cases for applying this system. In other cases, as where +laborers are employed, a system of registration undoubtedly can be +widely extended. There are, of course, places where the written +competitive examination cannot be applied, and others where it offers +by no means an ideal solution, but where under existing political +conditions it is, though an imperfect means, yet the best present means +of getting satisfactory results. + +Wherever the conditions have permitted the application of the merit +system in its fullest and widest sense, the gain to the Government has +been immense. The navy-yards and postal service illustrate, probably +better than any other branches of the Government, the great gain in +economy, efficiency, and honesty due to the enforcement of this +principle. + +I recommend the passage of a law which will extend the classified +service to the District of Columbia, or will at least enable the +President thus to extend it. In my judgment all laws providing for the +temporary employment of clerks should hereafter contain a provision +that they be selected under the Civil Service Law. + +It is important to have this system obtain at home, but it is even more +important to have it applied rigidly in our insular possessions. Not an +office should be filled in the Philippines or Puerto Rico with any +regard to the man's partisan affiliations or services, with any regard +to the political, social, or personal influence which he may have at +his command; in short, heed should be paid to absolutely nothing save +the man's own character and capacity and the needs of the service. + +The administration of these islands should be as wholly free from the +suspicion of partisan politics as the administration of the Army and +Navy. All that we ask from the public servant in the Philippines or +Puerto Rico is that he reflect honor on his country by the way in which +he makes that country's rule a benefit to the peoples who have come +under it. This is all that we should ask, and we cannot afford to be +content with less. + +The merit system is simply one method of securing honest and efficient +administration of the Government; and in the long run the sole +justification of any type of government lies in its proving itself both +honest and efficient. + +The consular service is now organized under the provisions of a law +passed in 1856, which is entirely inadequate to existing conditions. +The interest shown by so many commercial bodies throughout the country +in the reorganization of the service is heartily commended to your +attention. Several bills providing for a new consular service have in +recent years been submitted to the Congress. They are based upon the +just principle that appointments to the service should be made only +after a practical test of the applicant's fitness, that promotions +should be governed by trustworthiness, adaptability, and zeal in the +performance of duty, and that the tenure of office should be unaffected +by partisan considerations. + +The guardianship and fostering of our rapidly expanding foreign +commerce, the protection of American citizens resorting to foreign +countries in lawful pursuit of their affairs, and the maintenance of +the dignity of the nation abroad, combine to make it essential that our +consuls should be men of character, knowledge and enterprise. It is +true that the service is now, in the main, efficient, but a standard of +excellence cannot be permanently maintained until the principles set +forth in the bills heretofore submitted to the Congress on this subject +are enacted into law. + +In my judgment the time has arrived when we should definitely make up +our minds to recognize the Indian as an individual and not as a member +of a tribe. The General Allotment Act is a mighty pulverizing engine to +break up the tribal mass. It acts directly upon the family and the +individual. Under its provisions some sixty thousand Indians have +already become citizens of the United States. We should now break up +the tribal funds, doing for them what allotment does for the tribal +lands; that is, they should be divided into individual holdings. There +will be a transition period during which the funds will in many cases +have to be held in trust. This is the case also with the lands. A stop +should be put upon the indiscriminate permission to Indians to lease +their allotments. The effort should be steadily to make the Indian work +like any other man on his own ground. The marriage laws of the Indians +should be made the same as those of the whites. + +In the schools the education should be elementary and largely +industrial. The need of higher education among the Indians is very, +very limited. On the reservations care should be taken to try to suit +the teaching to the needs of the particular Indian. There is no use in +attempting to induce agriculture in a country suited only for cattle +raising, where the Indian should be made a stock grower. The ration +system, which is merely the corral and the reservation system, is +highly detrimental to the Indians. It promotes beggary, perpetuates +pauperism, and stifles industry. It is an effectual barrier to +progress. It must continue to a greater or less degree as long as +tribes are herded on reservations and have everything in common. The +Indian should be treated as an individual--like the white man. During +the change of treatment inevitable hardships will occur; every effort +should be made to minimize these hardships; but we should not because +of them hesitate to make the change. There should be a continuous +reduction in the number of agencies. + +In dealing with the aboriginal races few things are more important than +to preserve them from the terrible physical and moral degradation +resulting from the liquor traffic. We are doing all we can to save our +own Indian tribes from this evil. Wherever by international agreement +this same end can be attained as regards races where we do not possess +exclusive control, every effort should be made to bring it about. + +I bespeak the most cordial support from the Congress and the people for +the St. Louis Exposition to commemorate the One Hundredth Anniversary +of the Louisiana Purchase. This purchase was the greatest instance of +expansion in our history. It definitely decided that we were to become +a great continental republic, by far the foremost power in the Western +Hemisphere. It is one of three or four great landmarks in our +history--the great turning points in our development. It is eminently +fitting that all our people should join with heartiest good will in +commemorating it, and the citizens of St. Louis, of Missouri, of all +the adjacent region, are entitled to every aid in making the +celebration a noteworthy event in our annals. We earnestly hope that +foreign nations will appreciate the deep interest our country takes in +this Exposition, and our view of its importance from every standpoint, +and that they will participate in securing its success. The National +Government should be represented by a full and complete set of +exhibits. + +The people of Charleston, with great energy and civic spirit, are +carrying on an Exposition which will continue throughout most of the +present session of the Congress. I heartily commend this Exposition to +the good will of the people. It deserves all the encouragement that can +be given it. The managers of the Charleston Exposition have requested +the Cabinet officers to place thereat the Government exhibits which +have been at Buffalo, promising to pay the necessary expenses. I have +taken the responsibility of directing that this be done, for I feel +that it is due to Charleston to help her in her praiseworthy effort. In +my opinion the management should not be required to pay all these +expenses. I earnestly recommend that the Congress appropriate at once +the small sum necessary for this purpose. + +The Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo has just closed. Both from the +industrial and the artistic standpoint this Exposition has been in a +high degree creditable and useful, not merely to Buffalo but to the +United States. The terrible tragedy of the President's assassination +interfered materially with its being a financial success. The +Exposition was peculiarly in harmony with the trend of our public +policy, because it represented an effort to bring into closer touch all +the peoples of the Western Hemisphere, and give them an increasing +sense of unity. Such an effort was a genuine service to the entire +American public. + +The advancement of the highest interests of national science and +learning and the custody of objects of art and of the valuable results +of scientific expeditions conducted by the United States have been +committed to the Smithsonian Institution. In furtherance of its +declared purpose--for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge among +men"--the Congress has from time to time given it other important +functions. Such trusts have been executed by the Institution with +notable fidelity. There should be no halt in the work of the +Institution, in accordance with the plans which its Secretary has +presented, for the preservation of the vanishing races of great North +American animals in the National Zoological Park. The urgent needs of +the National Museum are recommended to the favorable consideration of +the Congress. + +Perhaps the most characteristic educational movement of the past fifty +years is that which has created the modern public library and developed +it into broad and active service. There are now over five thousand +public libraries in the United States, the product of this period. In +addition to accumulating material, they are also striving by +organization, by improvement in method, and by co-operation, to give +greater efficiency to the material they hold, to make it more widely +useful, and by avoidance of unnecessary duplication in process to +reduce the cost of its administration. + +In these efforts they naturally look for assistance to the Federal +library, which, though still the Library of Congress, and so entitled, +is the one national library of the United States. Already the largest +single collection of books on the Western Hemisphere, and certain to +increase more rapidly than any other through purchase, exchange, and +the operation of the copyright law, this library has a unique +opportunity to render to the libraries of this country--to American +scholarship--service of the highest importance. It is housed in a +building which is the largest and most magnificent yet erected for +library uses. Resources are now being provided which will develop the +collection properly, equip it with the apparatus and service necessary +to its effective use, render its bibliographic work widely available, +and enable it to become, not merely a center of research, but the chief +factor in great co-operative efforts for the diffusion of knowledge and +the advancement of learning. + +For the sake of good administration, sound economy, and the advancement +of science, the Census Office as now constituted should be made a +permanent Government bureau. This would insure better, cheaper, and +more satisfactory work, in the interest not only of our business but of +statistic, economic, and social science. + +The remarkable growth of the postal service is shown in the fact that +its revenues have doubled and its expenditures have nearly doubled +within twelve years. Its progressive development compels constantly +increasing outlay, but in this period of business energy and prosperity +its receipts grow so much faster than its expenses that the annual +deficit has been steadily reduced from $11,411,779 in 1897 to +$3,923,727 in 1901. Among recent postal advances the success of rural +free delivery wherever established has been so marked, and actual +experience has made its benefits so plain, that the demand for its +extension is general and urgent. + +It is just that the great agricultural population should share in the +improvement of the service. The number of rural routes now in operation +is 6,009, practically all established within three years, and there are +6,000 applications awaiting action. It is expected that the number in +operation at the close of the current fiscal year will reach 8,600. The +mail will then be daily carried to the doors of 5,700,000 of our people +who have heretofore been dependent upon distant offices, and one-third +of all that portion of the country which is adapted to it will be +covered by this kind of service. + +The full measure of postal progress which might be realized has long +been hampered and obstructed by the heavy burden imposed on the +Government through the intrenched and well-understood abuses which have +grown up in connection with second-class mail matter. The extent of +this burden appears when it is stated that while the second-class +matter makes nearly three-fifths of the weight of all the mail, it paid +for the last fiscal year only $4,294,445 of the aggregate postal +revenue of $111,631,193. If the pound rate of postage, which produces +the large loss thus entailed, and which was fixed by the Congress with +the purpose of encouraging the dissemination of public information, +were limited to the legitimate newspapers and periodicals actually +contemplated by the law, no just exception could be taken. That expense +would be the recognized and accepted cost of a liberal public policy +deliberately adopted for a justifiable end. But much of the matter +which enjoys the privileged rate is wholly outside of the intent of the +law, and has secured admission only through an evasion of its +requirements or through lax construction. The proportion of such +wrongly included matter is estimated by postal experts to be one-half +of the whole volume of second-class mail. If it be only one-third or +one-quarter, the magnitude of the burden is apparent. The Post-Office +Department has now undertaken to remove the abuses so far as is +possible by a stricter application of the law; and it should be +sustained in its effort. + +Owing to the rapid growth of our power and our interests on the +Pacific, whatever happens in China must be of the keenest national +concern to us. + +The general terms of the settlement of the questions growing out of the +antiforeign uprisings in China of 1900, having been formulated in a +joint note addressed to China by the representatives of the injured +powers in December last, were promptly accepted by the Chinese +Government. After protracted conferences the plenipotentiaries of the +several powers were able to sign a final protocol with the Chinese +plenipotentiaries on the 7th of last September, setting forth the +measures taken by China in compliance with the demands of the joint +note, and expressing their satisfaction therewith. It will be laid +before the Congress, with a report of the plenipotentiary on behalf of +the United States, Mr. William Woodville Rockhill, to whom high praise +is due for the tact, good judgment, and energy he has displayed in +performing an exceptionally difficult and delicate task. + +The agreement reached disposes in a manner satisfactory to the powers +of the various grounds of complaint, and will contribute materially to +better future relations between China and the powers. Reparation has +been made by China for the murder of foreigners during the uprising and +punishment has been inflicted on the officials, however high in rank, +recognized as responsible for or having participated in the outbreak. +Official examinations have been forbidden for a period of five years in +all cities in which foreigners have been murdered or cruelly treated, +and edicts have been issued making all officials directly responsible +for the future safety of foreigners and for the suppression of violence +against them. + +Provisions have been made for insuring the future safety of the foreign +representatives in Peking by setting aside for their exclusive use a +quarter of the city which the powers can make defensible and in which +they can if necessary maintain permanent military guards; by +dismantling the military works between the capital and the sea; and by +allowing the temporary maintenance of foreign military posts along this +line. An edict has been issued by the Emperor of China prohibiting for +two years the importation of arms and ammunition into China. China has +agreed to pay adequate indemnities to the states, societies, and +individuals for the losses sustained by them and for the expenses of +the military expeditions sent by the various powers to protect life and +restore order. + +Under the provisions of the joint note of December, 1900, China has +agreed to revise the treaties of commerce and navigation and to take +such other steps for the purpose of facilitating foreign trade as the +foreign powers may decide to be needed. + +The Chinese Government has agreed to participate financially in the +work of bettering the water approaches to Shanghai and to Tientsin, the +centers of foreign trade in central and northern China, and an +international conservancy board, in which the Chinese Government is +largely represented, has been provided for the improvement of the +Shanghai River and the control of its navigation. In the same line of +commercial advantages a revision of the present tariff on imports has +been assented to for the purpose of substituting specific for ad +valorem duties, and an expert has been sent abroad on the part of the +United States to assist in this work. A list of articles to remain free +of duty, including flour, cereals, and rice, gold and silver coin and +bullion, has also been agreed upon in the settlement. + +During these troubles our Government has unswervingly advocated +moderation, and has materially aided in bringing about an adjustment +which tends to enhance the welfare of China and to lead to a more +beneficial intercourse between the Empire and the modern world; while +in the critical period of revolt and massacre we did our full share in +safe-guarding life and property, restoring order, and vindicating the +national interest and honor. It behooves us to continue in these paths, +doing what lies in our power to foster feelings of good will, and +leaving no effort untried to work out the great policy of full and fair +intercourse between China and the nations, on a footing of equal rights +and advantages to all. We advocate the "open door" with all that it +implies; not merely the procurement of enlarged commercial +opportunities on the coasts, but access to the interior by the +waterways with which China has been so extraordinarily favored. Only by +bringing the people of China into peaceful and friendly community of +trade with all the peoples of the earth can the work now auspiciously +begun be carried to fruition. In the attainment of this purpose we +necessarily claim parity of treatment, under the conventions, +throughout the Empire for our trade and our citizens with those of all +other powers. + +We view with lively interest and keen hopes of beneficial results the +proceedings of the Pan-American Congress, convoked at the invitation of +Mexico, and now sitting at the Mexican capital. The delegates of the +United States are under the most liberal instructions to cooperate with +their colleagues in all matters promising advantage to the great family +of American commonwealths, as well in their relations among themselves +as in their domestic advancement and in their intercourse with the +world at large. + +My predecessor communicated to the Congress the fact that the Weil and +La Abra awards against Mexico have been adjudged by the highest courts +of our country to have been obtained through fraud and perjury on the +part of the claimants, and that in accordance with the acts of the +Congress the money remaining in the hands of the Secretary of State on +these awards has been returned to Mexico. A considerable portion of the +money received from Mexico on these awards had been paid by this +Government to the claimants before the decision of the courts was +rendered. My judgment is that the Congress should return to Mexico an +amount equal to the sums thus already paid to the claimants. + +The death of Queen Victoria caused the people of the United States deep +and heartfelt sorrow, to which the Government gave full expression. +When President McKinley died, our Nation in turn received from every +quarter of the British Empire expressions of grief and sympathy no less +sincere. The death of the Empress Dowager Frederick of Germany also +aroused the genuine sympathy of the American people; and this sympathy +was cordially reciprocated by Germany when the President was +assassinated. Indeed, from every quarter of the civilized world we +received, at the time of the President's death, assurances of such +grief and regard as to touch the hearts of our people. In the midst of +our affliction we reverently thank the Almighty that we are at peace +with the nations of mankind; and we firmly intend that our policy shall +be such as to continue unbroken these international relations of mutual +respect and good will. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 2, 1902 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +We still continue in a period of unbounded prosperity. This prosperity +is not the creature of law, but undoubtedly the laws under which we +work have been instrumental in creating the conditions which made it +possible, and by unwise legislation it would be easy enough to destroy +it. There will undoubtedly be periods of depression. The wave will +recede; but the tide will advance. This Nation is seated on a continent +flanked by two great oceans. It is composed of men the descendants of +pioneers, or, in a sense, pioneers themselves; of men winnowed out from +among the nations of the Old World by the energy, boldness, and love of +adventure found in their own eager hearts. Such a Nation, so placed, +will surely wrest success from fortune. + +As a people we have played a large part in the world, and we are bent +upon making our future even larger than the past. In particular, the +events of the last four years have definitely decided that, for woe or +for weal, our place must be great among the nations. We may either fall +greatly or succeed greatly; but we can not avoid the endeavor from +which either great failure or great success must come. Even if we +would, we can not play a small part. If we should try, all that would +follow would be that we should play a large part ignobly and +shamefully. + +But our people, the sons of the men of the Civil War, the sons of the +men who had iron in their blood, rejoice in the present and face the +future high of heart and resolute of will. Ours is not the creed of the +weakling and the coward; ours is the gospel of hope and of triumphant +endeavor. We do not shrink from the struggle before us. There are many +problems for us to face at the outset of the twentieth century--grave +problems abroad and still graver at home; but we know that we can solve +them and solve them well, provided only that we bring to the solution +the qualities of head and heart which were shown by the men who, in the +days of Washington, rounded this Government, and, in the days of +Lincoln, preserved it. + +No country has ever occupied a higher plane of material well-being than +ours at the present moment. This well-being is due to no sudden or +accidental causes, but to the play of the economic forces in this +country for over a century; to our laws, our sustained and continuous +policies; above all, to the high individual average of our citizenship. +Great fortunes have been won by those who have taken the lead in this +phenomenal industrial development, and most of these fortunes have been +won not by doing evil, but as an incident to action which has benefited +the community as a whole. Never before has material well-being been so +widely diffused among our people. Great fortunes have been accumulated, +and yet in the aggregate these fortunes are small Indeed when compared +to the wealth of the people as a whole. The plain people are better off +than they have ever been before. The insurance companies, which are +practically mutual benefit societies--especially helpful to men of +moderate means--represent accumulations of capital which are among the +largest in this country. There are more deposits in the savings banks, +more owners of farms, more well-paid wage-workers in this country now +than ever before in our history. Of course, when the conditions have +favored the growth of so much that was good, they have also favored +somewhat the growth of what was evil. It is eminently necessary that we +should endeavor to cut out this evil, but let us keep a due sense of +proportion; let us not in fixing our gaze upon the lesser evil forget +the greater good. The evils are real and some of them are menacing, but +they are the outgrowth, not of misery or decadence, but of +prosperity--of the progress of our gigantic industrial development. +This industrial development must not be checked, but side by side with +it should go such progressive regulation as will diminish the evils. We +should fail in our duty if we did not try to remedy the evils, but we +shall succeed only if we proceed patiently, with practical common sense +as well as resolution, separating the good from the bad and holding on +to the former while endeavoring to get rid of the latter. + +In my Message to the present Congress at its first session I discussed +at length the question of the regulation of those big corporations +commonly doing an interstate business, often with some tendency to +monopoly, which are popularly known as trusts. The experience of the +past year has emphasized, in my opinion, the desirability of the steps +I then proposed. A fundamental requisite of social efficiency is a high +standard of individual energy and excellence; but this is in no wise +inconsistent with power to act in combination for aims which can not so +well be achieved by the individual acting alone. A fundamental base of +civilization is the inviolability of property; but this is in no wise +inconsistent with the right of society to regulate the exercise of the +artificial powers which it confers upon the owners of property, under +the name of corporate franchises, in such a way as to prevent the +misuse of these powers. Corporations, and especially combinations of +corporations, should be managed under public regulation. Experience has +shown that under our system of government the necessary supervision can +not be obtained by State action. It must therefore be achieved by +national action. Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the +contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of +modern industrialism, and the effort to destroy them would be futile +unless accomplished in ways that would work the utmost mischief to the +entire body politic. We can do nothing of good in the way of regulating +and supervising these corporations until we fix clearly in our minds +that we are not attacking the corporations, but endeavoring to do away +with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely +determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public +good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth. The +capitalist who, alone or in conjunction with his fellows, performs some +great industrial feat by which he wins money is a welldoer, not a +wrongdoer, provided only he works in proper and legitimate lines. We +wish to favor such a man when he does well. We wish to supervise and +control his actions only to prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can +do no harm to the honest corporation; and we need not be over tender +about sparing the dishonest corporation. In curbing and regulating the +combinations of capital which are, or may become, injurious to the +public we must be careful not to stop the great enterprises which have +legitimately reduced the cost of production, not to abandon the place +which our country has won in the leadership of the international +industrial world, not to strike down wealth with the result of closing +factories and mines, of turning the wage-worker idle in the streets and +leaving the farmer without a market for what he grows. Insistence upon +the impossible means delay in achieving the possible, exactly as, on +the other hand, the stubborn defense alike of what is good and what is +bad in the existing system, the resolute effort to obstruct any attempt +at betterment, betrays blindness to the historic truth that wise +evolution is the sure safeguard against revolution. + +No more important subject can come before the Congress than this of the +regulation of interstate business. This country can not afford to sit +supine on the plea that under our peculiar system of government we are +helpless in the presence of the new conditions, and unable to grapple +with them or to cut out whatever of evil has arisen in connection with +them. The power of the Congress to regulate interstate commerce is an +absolute and unqualified grant, and without limitations other than +those prescribed by the Constitution. The Congress has constitutional +authority to make all laws necessary and proper for executing this +power, and I am satisfied that this power has not been exhausted by any +legislation now on the statute books. It is evident, therefore, that +evils restrictive of commercial freedom and entailing restraint upon +national commerce fall within the regulative power of the Congress, and +that a wise and reasonable law would be a necessary and proper exercise +of Congressional authority to the end that such evils should be +eradicated. + +I believe that monopolies, unjust discriminations, which prevent or +cripple competition, fraudulent overcapitalization, and other evils in +trust organizations and practices which injuriously affect interstate +trade can be prevented under the power of the Congress to "regulate +commerce with foreign nations and among the several States" through +regulations and requirements operating directly upon such commerce, the +instrumentalities thereof, and those engaged therein. + +I earnestly recommend this subject to the consideration of the Congress +with a view to the passage of a law reasonable in its provisions and +effective in its operations, upon which the questions can be finally +adjudicated that now raise doubts as to the necessity of constitutional +amendment. If it prove impossible to accomplish the purposes above set +forth by such a law, then, assuredly, we should not shrink from +amending the Constitution so as to secure beyond peradventure the power +sought. + +The Congress has not heretofore made any appropriation for the better +enforcement of the antitrust law as it now stands. Very much has been +done by the Department of Justice in securing the enforcement of this +law, but much more could be done if the Congress would make a special +appropriation for this purpose, to be expended under the direction of +the Attorney-General. + +One proposition advocated has been the reduction of the tariff as a +means of reaching the evils of the trusts which fall within the +category I have described. Not merely would this be wholly ineffective, +but the diversion of our efforts in such a direction would mean the +abandonment of all intelligent attempt to do away with these evils. +Many of the largest corporations, many of those which should certainly +be included in any proper scheme of regulation, would not be affected +in the slightest degree by a change in the tariff, save as such change +interfered with the general prosperity of the country. The only +relation of the tariff to big corporations as a whole is that the +tariff makes manufactures profitable, and the tariff remedy proposed +would be in effect simply to make manufactures unprofitable. To remove +the tariff as a punitive measure directed against trusts would +inevitably result in ruin to the weaker competitors who are struggling +against them. Our aim should be not by unwise tariff changes to give +foreign products the advantage over domestic products, but by proper +regulation to give domestic competition a fair chance; and this end can +not be reached by any tariff changes which would affect unfavorably all +domestic competitors, good and bad alike. The question of regulation of +the trusts stands apart from the question of tariff revision. + +Stability of economic policy must always be the prime economic need of +this country. This stability should not be fossilization. The country +has acquiesced in the wisdom of the protective-tariff principle. It is +exceedingly undesirable that this system should be destroyed or that +there should be violent and radical changes therein. Our past +experience shows that great prosperity in this country has always come +under a protective tariff; and that the country can not prosper under +fitful tariff changes at short intervals. Moreover, if the tariff laws +as a whole work well, and if business has prospered under them and is +prospering, it is better to endure for a time slight inconveniences and +inequalities in some schedules than to upset business by too quick and +too radical changes. It is most earnestly to be wished that we could +treat the tariff from the standpoint solely of our business needs. It +is, perhaps, too much to hope that partisanship may be entirely +excluded from consideration of the subject, but at least it can be made +secondary to the business interests of the country--that is, to the +interests of our people as a whole. Unquestionably these business +interests will best be served if together with fixity of principle as +regards the tariff we combine a system which will permit us from time +to time to make the necessary reapplication of the principle to the +shifting national needs. We must take scrupulous care that the +reapplication shall be made in such a way that it will not amount to a +dislocation of our system, the mere threat of which (not to speak of +the performance) would produce paralysis in the business energies of +the community. The first consideration in making these changes would, +of course, be to preserve the principle which underlies our whole +tariff system--that is, the principle of putting American business +interests at least on a full equality with interests abroad, and of +always allowing a sufficient rate of duty to more than cover the +difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The well-being of +the wage-worker, like the well-being of the tiller of the soil, should +be treated as an essential in shaping our whole economic policy. There +must never be any change which will jeopardize the standard of comfort, +the standard of wages of the American wage-worker. + +One way in which the readjustment sought can be reached is by +reciprocity treaties. It is greatly to be desired that such treaties +may be adopted. They can be used to widen our markets and to give a +greater field for the activities of our producers on the one hand, and +on the other hand to secure in practical shape the lowering of duties +when they are no longer needed for protection among our own people, or +when the minimum of damage done may be disregarded for the sake of the +maximum of good accomplished. If it prove impossible to ratify the +pending treaties, and if there seem to be no warrant for the endeavor +to execute others, or to amend the pending treaties so that they can be +ratified, then the same end--to secure reciprocity--should be met by +direct legislation. + +Wherever the tariff conditions are such that a needed change can not +with advantage be made by the application of the reciprocity idea, then +it can be made outright by a lowering of duties on a given product. If +possible, such change should be made only after the fullest +consideration by practical experts, who should approach the subject +from a business standpoint, having in view both the particular +interests affected and the commercial well-being of the people as a +whole. The machinery for providing such careful investigation can +readily be supplied. The executive department has already at its +disposal methods of collecting facts and figures; and if the Congress +desires additional consideration to that which will be given the +subject by its own committees, then a commission of business experts +can be appointed whose duty it should be to recommend action by the +Congress after a deliberate and scientific examination of the various +schedules as they are affected by the changed and changing conditions. +The unhurried and unbiased report of this commission would show what +changes should be made in the various schedules, and how far these +changes could go without also changing the great prosperity which this +country is now enjoying, or upsetting its fixed economic policy. + +The cases in which the tariff can produce a monopoly are so few as to +constitute an inconsiderable factor in the question; but of course if +in any case it be found that a given rate of duty does promote a +monopoly which works ill, no protectionist would object to such +reduction of the duty as would equalize competition. + +In my judgment, the tariff on anthracite coal should be removed, and +anthracite put actually, where it now is nominally, on the free list. +This would have no effect at all save in crises; but in crises it might +be of service to the people. + +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. + +It would be both unwise and unnecessary at this time to attempt to +reconstruct our financial system, which has been the growth of a +century; but some additional legislation is, I think, desirable. The +mere outline of any plan sufficiently comprehensive to meet these +requirements would transgress the appropriate limits of this +communication. It is suggested, however, that all future legislation on +the subject should be with the view of encouraging the use of such +instrumentalities as will automatically supply every legitimate demand +of productive industries and of commerce, not only in the amount, but +in the character of circulation; and of making all kinds of money +interchangeable, and, at the will of the holder, convertible into the +established gold standard. + +I again call your attention to the need of passing a proper immigration +law, covering the points outlined in my Message to you at the first +session of the present Congress; substantially such a bill has already +passed the House. + +How to secure fair treatment alike for labor and for capital, how to +hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether employer or employee, +without weakening individual initiative, without hampering and cramping +the industrial development of the country, is a problem fraught with +great difficulties and one which it is of the highest importance to +solve on lines of sanity and far-sighted common sense as well as of +devotion to the right. This is an era of federation and combination. +Exactly as business men find they must often work through corporations, +and as it is a constant tendency of these corporations to grow larger, +so it is often necessary for laboring men to work in federations, and +these have become important factors of modern industrial life. Both +kinds of federation, capitalistic and labor, can do much good, and as a +necessary corollary they can both do evil. Opposition to each kind of +organization should take the form of opposition to whatever is bad in +the conduct of any given corporation or union--not of attacks upon +corporations as such nor upon unions as such; for some of the most +far-reaching beneficent work for our people has been accomplished +through both corporations and unions. Each must refrain from arbitrary +or tyrannous interference with the rights of others. Organized capital +and organized labor alike should remember that in the long run the +interest of each must be brought into harmony with the interest of the +general public; and the conduct of each must conform to the fundamental +rules of obedience to the law, of individual freedom, and of justice +and fair dealing toward all. Each should remember that in addition to +power it must strive after the realization of healthy, lofty, and +generous ideals. Every employer, every wage-worker, must be guaranteed +his liberty and his right to do as he likes with his property or his +labor so long as he does not infringe upon the rights of others. It is +of the highest importance that employer and employee alike should +endeavor to appreciate each the viewpoint of the other and the sure +disaster that will come upon both in the long run if either grows to +take as habitual an attitude of sour hostility and distrust toward the +other. Few people deserve better of the country than those +representatives both of capital and labor--and there are many such--who +work continually to bring about a good understanding of this kind, +based upon wisdom and upon broad and kindly sympathy between employers +and employed. Above all, we need to remember that any kind of class +animosity in the political world is, if possible, even more wicked, +even more destructive to national welfare, than sectional, race, or +religious animosity. We can get good government only upon condition +that we keep true to the principles upon which this Nation was founded, +and judge each man not as a part of a class, but upon his individual +merits. All that we have a right to ask of any man, rich or poor, +whatever his creed, his occupation, his birthplace, or his residence, +is that he shall act well and honorably by his neighbor and by, his +country. We are neither for the rich man as such nor for the poor man +as such; we are for the upright man, rich or poor. So far as the +constitutional powers of the National Government touch these matters of +general and vital moment to the Nation, they should be exercised in +conformity with the principles above set forth. + +It is earnestly hoped that a secretary of commerce may be created, with +a seat in the Cabinet. The rapid multiplication of questions affecting +labor and capital, the growth and complexity of the organizations +through which both labor and capital now find expression, the steady +tendency toward the employment of capital in huge corporations, and the +wonderful strides of this country toward leadership in the +international business world justify an urgent demand for the creation +of such a position. Substantially all the leading commercial bodies in +this country have united in requesting its creation. It is desirable +that some such measure as that which has already passed the Senate be +enacted into law. The creation of such a department would in itself be +an advance toward dealing with and exercising supervision over the +whole subject of the great corporations doing an interstate business; +and with this end in view, the Congress should endow the department +with large powers, which could be increased as experience might show +the need. + +I hope soon to submit to the Senate a reciprocity treaty with Cuba. On +May 20 last the United States kept its promise to the island by +formally vacating Cuban soil and turning Cuba over to those whom her +own people had chosen as the first officials of the new Republic. + +Cuba lies at our doors, and whatever affects her for good or for ill +affects us also. So much have our people felt this that in the Platt +amendment we definitely took the ground that Cuba must hereafter have +closer political relations with us than with any other power. Thus in a +sense Cuba has become a part of our international political system. +This makes it necessary that in return she should be given some of the +benefits of becoming part of our economic system. It is, from our own +standpoint, a short-sighted and mischievous policy to fail to recognize +this need. Moreover, it is unworthy of a mighty and generous nation, +itself the greatest and most successful republic in history, to refuse +to stretch out a helping hand to a young and weak sister republic just +entering upon its career of independence. We should always fearlessly +insist upon our rights in the face of the strong, and we should with +ungrudging hand do our generous duty by the weak. I urge the adoption +of reciprocity with Cuba not only because it is eminently for our own +interests to control the Cuban market and by every means to foster our +supremacy in the tropical lands and waters south of us, but also +because we, of the giant republic of the north, should make all our +sister nations of the American Continent feel that whenever they will +permit it we desire to show ourselves disinterestedly and effectively +their friend. + +A convention with Great Britain has been concluded, which will be at +once laid before the Senate for ratification, providing for reciprocal +trade arrangements between the United States and Newfoundland on +substantially the lines of the convention formerly negotiated by the +Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine. I believe reciprocal trade relations +will be greatly to the advantage of both countries. + +As civilization grows warfare becomes less and less the normal +condition of foreign relations. The last century has seen a marked +diminution of wars between civilized powers; wars with uncivilized +powers are largely mere matters of international police duty, essential +for the welfare of the world. Wherever possible, arbitration or some +similar method should be employed in lieu of war to settle difficulties +between civilized nations, although as yet the world has not progressed +sufficiently to render it possible, or necessarily desirable, to invoke +arbitration in every case. The formation of the international tribunal +which sits at The Hague is an event of good omen from which great +consequences for the welfare of all mankind may flow. It is far better, +where possible, to invoke such a permanent tribunal than to create +special arbitrators for a given purpose. + +It is a matter of sincere congratulation to our country that the United +States and Mexico should have been the first to use the good offices of +The Hague Court. This was done last summer with most satisfactory +results in the case of a claim at issue between us and our sister +Republic. It is earnestly to be hoped that this first case will serve +as a precedent for others, in which not only the United States but +foreign nations may take advantage of the machinery already in +existence at The Hague. + +I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the Hawaiian +fire claims, which were the subject of careful investigation during the +last session. + +The Congress has wisely provided that we shall build at once an +isthmian canal, if possible at Panama. The Attorney-General reports +that we can undoubtedly acquire good title from the French Panama Canal +Company. Negotiations are now pending with Colombia to secure her +assent to our building the canal. This canal will be one of the +greatest engineering feats of the twentieth century; a greater +engineering feat than has yet been accomplished during the history of +mankind. The work should be carried out as a continuing policy without +regard to change of Administration; and it should be begun under +circumstances which will make it a matter of pride for all +Administrations to continue the policy. + +The canal will be of great benefit to America, and of importance to all +the world. It will be of advantage to us industrially and also as +improving our military position. It will be of advantage to the +countries of tropical America. It is earnestly to be hoped that all of +these countries will do as some of them have already done with signal +success, and will invite to their shores commerce and improve their +material conditions by recognizing that stability and order are the +prerequisites of successful development. No independent nation in +America need have the slightest fear of aggression from the United +States. It behoves each one to maintain order within its own borders +and to discharge its just obligations to foreigners. When this is done, +they can rest assured that, be they strong or weak, they have nothing +to dread from outside interference. More and more the increasing +interdependence and complexity of international political and economic +relations render it incumbent on all civilized and orderly powers to +insist on the proper policing of the world. + +During the fall of 1901 a communication was addressed to the Secretary +of State, asking whether permission would be granted by the President +to a corporation to lay a cable from a point on the California coast to +the Philippine Islands by way of Hawaii. A statement of conditions or +terms upon which such corporation would undertake to lay and operate a +cable was volunteered. + +Inasmuch as the Congress was shortly to convene, and Pacific-cable +legislation had been the subject of consideration by the Congress for +several years, it seemed to me wise to defer action upon the +application until the Congress had first an opportunity to act. The +Congress adjourned without taking any action, leaving the matter in +exactly the same condition in which it stood when the Congress +convened. + +Meanwhile it appears that the Commercial Pacific Cable Company had +promptly proceeded with preparations for laying its cable. It also made +application to the President for access to and use of soundings taken +by the U. S. S. Nero, for the purpose of discovering a practicable +route for a trans-Pacific cable, the company urging that with access to +these soundings it could complete its cable much sooner than if it were +required to take soundings upon its own account. Pending consideration +of this subject, it appeared important and desirable to attach certain +conditions to the permission to examine and use the soundings, if it +should be granted. + +In consequence of this solicitation of the cable company, certain +conditions were formulated, upon which the President was willing to +allow access to these soundings and to consent to the landing and +laying of the cable, subject to any alterations or additions thereto +imposed by the Congress. This was deemed proper, especially as it was +clear that a cable connection of some kind with China, a foreign +country, was a part of the company's plan. This course was, moreover, +in accordance with a line of precedents, including President Grant's +action in the case of the first French cable, explained to the Congress +in his Annual Message of December, 1875, and the instance occurring in +1879 of the second French cable from Brest to St. Pierre, with a branch +to Cape Cod. + +These conditions prescribed, among other things, a maximum rate for +commercial messages and that the company should construct a line from +the Philippine Islands to China, there being at present, as is well +known, a British line from Manila to Hongkong. + +The representatives of the cable company kept these conditions long +under consideration, continuing, in the meantime, to prepare for laying +the cable. They have, however, at length acceded to them, and an +all-American line between our Pacific coast and the Chinese Empire, by +way of Honolulu and the Philippine Islands, is thus provided for, and +is expected within a few months to be ready for business. + +Among the conditions is one reserving the power of the Congress to +modify or repeal any or all of them. A copy of the conditions is +herewith transmitted. + +Of Porto Rico it is only necessary to say that the prosperity of the +island and the wisdom with which it has been governed have been such as +to make it serve as an example of all that is best in insular +administration. + +On July 4 last, on the one hundred and twenty-sixth anniversary of the +declaration of our independence, peace and amnesty were promulgated in +the Philippine Islands. Some trouble has since from time to time +threatened with the Mohammedan Moros, but with the late insurrectionary +Filipinos the war has entirely ceased. Civil government has now been +introduced. Not only does each Filipino enjoy such rights to life, +liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as he has never before known +during the recorded history of the islands, but the people taken as a +whole now enjoy a measure of self-government greater than that granted +to any other Orientals by any foreign power and greater than that +enjoyed by any other Orientals under their own governments, save the +Japanese alone. We have not gone too far in granting these rights of +liberty and self-government; but we have certainly gone to the limit +that in the interests of the Philippine people themselves it was wise +or just to go. To hurry matters, to go faster than we are now going, +would entail calamity on the people of the islands. No policy ever +entered into by the American people has vindicated itself in more +signal manner than the policy of holding the Philippines. The triumph +of our arms, above all the triumph of our laws and principles, has come +sooner than we had any right to expect. Too much praise can not be +given to the Army for what it has done in the Philippines both in +warfare and from an administrative standpoint in preparing the way for +civil government; and similar credit belongs to the civil authorities +for the way in which they have planted the seeds of self-government in +the ground thus made ready for them. The courage, the unflinching +endurance, the high soldierly efficiency; and the general +kind-heartedness and humanity of our troops have been strikingly +manifested. There now remain only some fifteen thousand troops in the +islands. All told, over one hundred thousand have been sent there. Of +course, there have been individual instances of wrongdoing among them. +They warred under fearful difficulties of climate and surroundings; and +under the strain of the terrible provocations which they continually +received from their foes, occasional instances of cruel retaliation +occurred. Every effort has been made to prevent such cruelties, and +finally these efforts have been completely successful. Every effort has +also been made to detect and punish the wrongdoers. After making all +allowance for these misdeeds, it remains true that few indeed have been +the instances in which war has been waged by a civilized power against +semicivilized or barbarous forces where there has been so little +wrongdoing by the victors as in the Philippine Islands. On the other +hand, the amount of difficult, important, and beneficent work which has +been done is well-nigh incalculable. + +Taking the work of the Army and the civil authorities together, it may +be questioned whether anywhere else in modern times the world has seen +a better example of real constructive statesmanship than our people +have given in the Philippine Islands. High praise should also be given +those Filipinos, in the aggregate very numerous, who have accepted the +new conditions and joined with our representatives to work with hearty +good will for the welfare of the islands. + +The Army has been reduced to the minimum allowed by law. It is very +small for the size of the Nation, and most certainly should be kept at +the highest point of efficiency. The senior officers are given scant +chance under ordinary conditions to exercise commands commensurate with +their rank, under circumstances which would fit them to do their duty +in time of actual war. A system of maneuvering our Army in bodies of +some little size has been begun and should be steadily continued. +Without such maneuvers it is folly to expect that in the event of +hostilities with any serious foe even a small army corps could be +handled to advantage. Both our officers and enlisted men are such that +we can take hearty pride in them. No better material can be found. But +they must be thoroughly trained, both as individuals and in the mass. +The marksmanship of the men must receive special attention. In the +circumstances of modern warfare the man must act far more on his own +individual responsibility than ever before, and the high individual +efficiency of the unit is of the utmost importance. Formerly this unit +was the regiment; it is now not the regiment, not even the troop or +company; it is the individual soldier. Every effort must be made to +develop every workmanlike and soldierly quality in both the officer and +the enlisted man. + +I urgently call your attention to the need of passing a bill providing +for a general staff and for the reorganization of the supply +departments on the lines of the bill proposed by the Secretary of War +last year. When the young officers enter the Army from West Point they +probably stand above their compeers in any other military service. +Every effort should be made, by training, by reward of merit, by +scrutiny into their careers and capacity, to keep them of the same high +relative excellence throughout their careers. + +The measure providing for the reorganization of the militia system and +for securing the highest efficiency in the National Guard, which has +already passed the House, should receive prompt attention and action. +It is of great importance that the relation of the National Guard to +the militia and volunteer forces of the United States should be +defined, and that in place of our present obsolete laws a practical and +efficient system should be adopted. + +Provision should be made to enable the Secretary of War to keep cavalry +and artillery horses, worn-out in long performance of duty. Such horses +fetch but a trifle when sold; and rather than turn them out to the +misery awaiting them when thus disposed of, it would be better to +employ them at light work around the posts, and when necessary to put +them painlessly to death. + +For the first time in our history naval maneuvers on a large scale are +being held under the immediate command of the Admiral of the Navy. +Constantly increasing attention is being paid to the gunnery of the +Navy, but it is yet far from what it should be. I earnestly urge that +the increase asked for by the Secretary of the Navy in the +appropriation for improving the markmanship be granted. In battle the +only shots that count are the shots that hit. It is necessary to +provide ample funds for practice with the great guns in time of peace. +These funds must provide not only for the purchase of projectiles, but +for allowances for prizes to encourage the gun crews, and especially +the gun pointers, and for perfecting an intelligent system under which +alone it is possible to get good practice. + +There should be no halt in the work of building up the Navy, providing +every year additional fighting craft. We are a very rich country, vast +in extent of territory and great in population; a country, moreover, +which has an Army diminutive indeed when compared with that of any +other first-class power. We have deliberately made our own certain +foreign policies which demand the possession of a first-class navy. The +isthmian canal will greatly increase the efficiency of our Navy if the +Navy is of sufficient size; but if we have an inadequate navy, then the +building of the canal would be merely giving a hostage to any power of +superior strength. The Monroe Doctrine should be treated as the +cardinal feature of American foreign policy; but it would be worse than +idle to assert it unless we intended to back it up, and it can be +backed up only by a thoroughly good navy. A good navy is not a +provocative of war. It is the surest guaranty of peace. + +Each individual unit of our Navy should be the most efficient of its +kind as regards both material and personnel that is to be found in the +world. I call your special attention to the need of providing for the +manning of the ships. Serious trouble threatens us if we can not do +better than we are now doing as regards securing the services of a +sufficient number of the highest type of sailormen, of sea mechanics. +The veteran seamen of our war ships are of as high a type as can be +found in any navy which rides the waters of the world; they are +unsurpassed in daring, in resolution, in readiness, in thorough +knowledge of their profession. They deserve every consideration that +can be shown them. But there are not enough of them. It is no more +possible to improvise a crew than it is possible to improvise a war +ship. To build the finest ship, with the deadliest battery, and to send +it afloat with a raw crew, no matter how brave they were individually, +would be to insure disaster if a foe of average capacity were +encountered. Neither ships nor men can be improvised when war has +begun. + +We need a thousand additional officers in order to properly man the +ships now provided for and under construction. The classes at the Naval +School at Annapolis should be greatly enlarged. At the same time that +we thus add the officers where we need them, we should facilitate the +retirement of those at the head of the list whose usefulness has become +impaired. Promotion must be fostered if the service is to be kept +efficient. + +The lamentable scarcity of officers, and the large number of recruits +and of unskilled men necessarily put aboard the new vessels as they +have been commissioned, has thrown upon our officers, and especially on +the lieutenants and junior grades, unusual labor and fatigue and has +gravely strained their powers of endurance. Nor is there sign of any +immediate let-up in this strain. It must continue for some time longer, +until more officers are graduated from Annapolis, and until the +recruits become trained and skillful in their duties. In these +difficulties incident upon the development of our war fleet the conduct +of all our officers has been creditable to the service, and the +lieutenants and junior grades in particular have displayed an ability +and a steadfast cheerfulness which entitles them to the ungrudging +thanks of all who realize the disheartening trials and fatigues to +which they are of necessity subjected. + +There is not a cloud on the horizon at present. There seems not the +slightest chance of trouble with a foreign power. We most earnestly +hope that this state of things may continue; and the way to insure its +continuance is to provide for a thoroughly efficient navy. The refusal +to maintain such a navy would invite trouble, and if trouble came would +insure disaster. Fatuous self-complacency or vanity, or +short-sightedness in refusing to prepare for danger, is both foolish +and wicked in such a nation as ours; and past experience has shown that +such fatuity in refusing to recognize or prepare for any crisis in +advance is usually succeeded by a mad panic of hysterical fear once the +crisis has actually arrived. + +The striking increase in the revenues of the Post-Office Department +shows clearly the prosperity of our people and the increasing activity +of the business of the country. + +The receipts of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending +June 30 last amounted to $121,848,047.26, an increase of $10,216,853.87 +over the preceding year, the largest increase known in the history of +the postal service. The magnitude of this increase will best appear +from the fact that the entire postal receipts for the year 1860 +amounted to but $8,518,067. + +Rural free-delivery service is no longer in the experimental stage; it +has become a fixed policy. The results following its introduction have +fully justified the Congress in the large appropriations made for its +establishment and extension. The average yearly increase in post-office +receipts in the rural districts of the country is about two per cent. +We are now able, by actual results, to show that where rural +free-delivery service has been established to such an extent as to +enable us to make comparisons the yearly increase has been upward of +ten per cent. + +On November 1, 1902, 11,650 rural free-delivery routes had been +established and were in operation, covering about one-third of the +territory of the United States available for rural free-delivery +service. There are now awaiting the action of the Department petitions +and applications for the establishment of 10,748 additional routes. +This shows conclusively the want which the establishment of the service +has met and the need of further extending it as rapidly as possible. It +is justified both by the financial results and by the practical +benefits to our rural population; it brings the men who live on the +soil into close relations with the active business world; it keeps the +farmer in daily touch with the markets; it is a potential educational +force; it enhances the value of farm property, makes farm life far +pleasanter and less isolated, and will do much to check the undesirable +current from country to city. + +It is to be hoped that the Congress will make liberal appropriations +for the continuance of the service already established and for its +further extension. + +Few subjects of more importance have been taken up by the Congress in +recent years than the inauguration of the system of nationally-aided +irrigation for the arid regions of the far West. A good beginning +therein has been made. Now that this policy of national irrigation has +been adopted, the need of thorough and scientific forest protection +will grow more rapidly than ever throughout the public-land States. + +Legislation should be provided for the protection of the game, and the +wild creatures generally, on the forest reserves. The senseless +slaughter of game, which can by judicious protection be permanently +preserved on our national reserves for the people as a whole, should be +stopped at once. It is, for instance, a serious count against our +national good sense to permit the present practice of butchering off +such a stately and beautiful creature as the elk for its antlers or +tusks. + +So far as they are available for agriculture, and to whatever extent +they may be reclaimed under the national irrigation law, the remaining +public lands should be held rigidly for the home builder, the settler +who lives on his land, and for no one else. In their actual use the +desert-land law, the timber and stone law, and the commutation clause +of the homestead law have been so perverted from the intention with +which they were enacted as to permit the acquisition of large areas of +the public domain for other than actual settlers and the consequent +prevention of settlement. Moreover, the approaching exhaustion of the +public ranges has of late led to much discussion as to the best manner +of using these public lands in the West which are suitable chiefly or +only for grazing. The sound and steady development of the West depends +upon the building up of homes therein. Much of our prosperity as a +nation has been due to the operation of the homestead law. On the other +hand, we should recognize the fact that in the grazing region the man +who corresponds to the homesteader may be unable to settle permanently +if only allowed to use the same amount of pasture land that his +brother, the homesteader, is allowed to use of arable land. One hundred +and sixty acres of fairly rich and well-watered soil, or a much smaller +amount of irrigated land, may keep a family in plenty, whereas no one +could get a living from one hundred and sixty acres of dry pasture land +capable of supporting at the outside only one head of cattle to every +ten acres. In the past great tracts of the public domain have been +fenced in by persons having no title thereto, in direct defiance of the +law forbidding the maintenance or construction of any such unlawful +inclosure of public land. For various reasons there has been little +interference with such inclosures in the past, but ample notice has now +been given the trespassers, and all the resources at the command of the +Government will hereafter be used to put a stop to such trespassing. + +In view of the capital importance of these matters, I commend them to +the earnest consideration of the Congress, and if the Congress finds +difficulty in dealing with them from lack of thorough knowledge of the +subject, I recommend that provision be made for a commission of experts +specially to investigate and report upon the complicated questions +involved. + +I especially urge upon the Congress the need of wise legislation for +Alaska. It is not to our credit as a nation that Alaska, which has been +ours for thirty-five years, should still have as poor a system Of laws +as is the case. No country has a more valuable possession--in mineral +wealth, in fisheries, furs, forests, and also in land available for +certain kinds of farming and stockgrowing. It is a territory of great +size and varied resources, well fitted to support a large permanent +population. Alaska needs a good land law and such provisions for +homesteads and pre-emptions as will encourage permanent settlement. We +should shape legislation with a view not to the exploiting and +abandoning of the territory, but to the building up of homes therein. +The land laws should be liberal in type, so as to hold out inducements +to the actual settler whom we most desire to see take possession of the +country. The forests of Alaska should be protected, and, as a secondary +but still important matter, the game also, and at the same time it is +imperative that the settlers should be allowed to cut timber, under +proper regulations, for their own use. Laws should be enacted to +protect the Alaskan salmon fisheries against the greed which would +destroy them. They should be preserved as a permanent industry and food +supply. Their management and control should be turned over to the +Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Alaska should have a Delegate in the +Congress. It would be well if a Congressional committee could visit +Alaska and investigate its needs on the ground. + +In dealing with the Indians our aim should be their ultimate absorption +into the body of our people. But in many cases this absorption must and +should be very slow. In portions of the Indian Territory the mixture of +blood has gone on at the same time with progress in wealth and +education, so that there are plenty of men with varying degrees of +purity of Indian blood who are absolutely indistinguishable in point of +social, political, and economic ability from their white associates. +There are other tribes which have as yet made no perceptible advance +toward such equality. To try to force such tribes too fast is to +prevent their going forward at all. Moreover, the tribes live under +widely different conditions. Where a tribe has made considerable +advance and lives on fertile farming soil it is possible to allot the +members lands in severalty much as is the case with white settlers. +There are other tribes where such a course is not desirable. On the +arid prairie lands the effort should be to induce the Indians to lead +pastoral rather than agricultural lives, and to permit them to settle +in villages rather than to force them into isolation. + +The large Indian schools situated remote from any Indian reservation do +a special and peculiar work of great importance. But, excellent though +these are, an immense amount of additional work must be done on the +reservations themselves among the old, and above all among the young, +Indians. + +The first and most important step toward the absorption of the Indian +is to teach him to earn his living; yet it is not necessarily to be +assumed that in each community all Indians must become either tillers +of the soil or stock raisers. Their industries may properly be +diversified, and those who show special desire or adaptability for +industrial or even commercial pursuits should be encouraged so far as +practicable to follow out each his own bent. + +Every effort should be made to develop the Indian along the lines of +natural aptitude, and to encourage the existing native industries +peculiar to certain tribes, such as the various kinds of basket +weaving, canoe building, smith work, and blanket work. Above all, the +Indian boys and girls should be given confident command of colloquial +English, and should ordinarily be prepared for a vigorous struggle with +the conditions under which their people live, rather than for immediate +absorption into some more highly developed community. + +The officials who represent the Government in dealing with the Indians +work under hard conditions, and also under conditions which render it +easy to do wrong and very difficult to detect wrong. Consequently they +should be amply paid on the one hand, and on the other hand a +particularly high standard of conduct should be demanded from them, and +where misconduct can be proved the punishment should be exemplary. + +In no department of governmental work in recent years has there been +greater success than in that of giving scientific aid to the farming +population, thereby showing them how most efficiently to help +themselves. There is no need of insisting upon its importance, for the +welfare of the farmer is fundamentally necessary to the welfare of the +Republic as a whole. In addition to such work as quarantine against +animal and vegetable plagues, and warring against them when here +introduced, much efficient help has been rendered to the farmer by the +introduction of new plants specially fitted for cultivation under the +peculiar conditions existing in different portions of the country. New +cereals have been established in the semi-arid West. For instance, the +practicability of producing the best types of macaroni wheats in +regions of an annual rainfall of only ten inches or thereabouts has +been conclusively demonstrated. Through the introduction of new rices +in Louisiana and Texas the production of rice in this country has been +made to about equal the home demand. In the South-west the possibility +of regrassing overstocked range lands has been demonstrated; in the +North many new forage crops have been introduced, while in the East it +has been shown that some of our choicest fruits can be stored and +shipped in such a way as to find a profitable market abroad. + +I again recommend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the +plans of the Smithsonian Institution for making the Museum under its +charge worthy of the Nation, and for preserving at the National Capital +not only records of the vanishing races of men but of the animals of +this continent which, like the buffalo, will soon become extinct unless +specimens from which their representatives may be renewed are sought in +their native regions and maintained there in safety. + +The District of Columbia is the only part of our territory in which the +National Government exercises local or municipal functions, and where +in consequence the Government has a free hand in reference to certain +types of social and economic legislation which must be essentially +local or municipal in their character. The Government should see to it, +for instance, that the hygienic and sanitary legislation affecting +Washington is of a high character. The evils of slum dwellings, whether +in the shape of crowded and congested tenement-house districts or of +the back-alley type, should never be permitted to grow up in +Washington. The city should be a model in every respect for all the +cities of the country. The charitable and correctional systems of the +District should receive consideration at the hands of the Congress to +the end that they may embody the results of the most advanced thought +in these fields. Moreover, while Washington is not a great industrial +city, there is some industrialism here, and our labor legislation, +while it would not be important in itself, might be made a model for +the rest of the Nation. We should pass, for instance, a wise +employer's-liability act for the District of Columbia, and we need such +an act in our navy-yards. Railroad companies in the District ought to +be required by law to block their frogs. + +The safety-appliance law, for the better protection of the lives and +limbs of railway employees, which was passed in 1893, went into full +effect on August 1, 1901. It has resulted in averting thousands of +casualties. Experience shows, however, the necessity of additional +legislation to perfect this law. A bill to provide for this passed the +Senate at the last session. It is to be hoped that some such measure +may now be enacted into law. + +There is a growing tendency to provide for the publication of masses of +documents for which there is no public demand and for the printing of +which there is no real necessity. Large numbers of volumes are turned +out by the Government printing presses for which there is no +justification. Nothing should be printed by any of the Departments +unless it contains something of permanent value, and the Congress could +with advantage cut down very materially on all the printing which it +has now become customary to provide. The excessive cost of Government +printing is a strong argument against the position of those who are +inclined on abstract grounds to advocate the Government's doing any +work which can with propriety be left in private hands. + +Gratifying progress has been made during the year in the extension of +the merit system of making appointments in the Government service. It +should be extended by law to the District of Columbia. It is much to be +desired that our consular system be established by law on a basis +providing for appointment and promotion only in consequence of proved +fitness. + +Through a wise provision of the Congress at its last session the White +House, which had become disfigured by incongruous additions and +changes, has now been restored to what it was planned to be by +Washington. In making the restorations the utmost care has been +exercised to come as near as possible to the early plans and to +supplement these plans by a careful study of such buildings as that of +the University of Virginia, which was built by Jefferson. The White +House is the property of the Nation, and so far as is compatible with +living therein it should be kept as it originally was, for the same +reasons that we keep Mount Vernon as it originally was. The stately +simplicity of its architecture is an expression of the character of the +period in which it was built, and is in accord with the purposes it was +designed to serve. It is a good thing to preserve such buildings as +historic monuments which keep alive our sense of continuity with the +Nation's past. + +The reports of the several Executive Departments are submitted to the +Congress with this communication. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 7, 1903 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +The country is to be congratulated on the amount of substantial +achievement which has marked the past year both as regards our foreign +and as regards our domestic policy. + +With a nation as with a man the most important things are those of the +household, and therefore the country is especially to be congratulated +on what has been accomplished in the direction of providing for the +exercise of supervision over the great corporations and combinations of +corporations engaged in interstate commerce. The Congress has created +the Department of Commerce and Labor, including the Bureau of +Corporations, with for the first time authority to secure proper +publicity of such proceedings of these great corporations as the public +has the right to know. It has provided for the expediting of suits for +the enforcement of the Federal anti-trust law; and by another law it +has secured equal treatment to all producers in the transportation of +their goods, thus taking a long stride forward in making effective the +work of the Interstate Commerce Commission. + +The establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor, with the +Bureau of Corporations thereunder, marks a real advance in the +direction of doing all that is possible for the solution of the +questions vitally affecting capitalists and wage-workers. The act +creating Department was approved on February 14, 1903, and two days +later the head of the Department was nominated and confirmed by the +Senate. Since then the work of organization has been pushed as rapidly +as the initial appropriations permitted, and with due regard to +thoroughness and the broad purposes which the Department is designed to +serve. After the transfer of the various bureaus and branches to the +Department at the beginning of the current fiscal year, as provided for +in the act, the personnel comprised 1,289 employees in Washington and +8,836 in the country at large. The scope of the Department's duty and +authority embraces the commercial and industrial interests of the +Nation. It is not designed to restrict or control the fullest liberty +of legitimate business action, but to secure exact and authentic +information which will aid the Executive in enforcing existing laws, +and which will enable the Congress to enact additional legislation, if +any should be found necessary, in order to prevent the few from +obtaining privileges at the expense of diminished opportunities for the +many. + +The preliminary work of the Bureau of Corporations in the Department +has shown the wisdom of its creation. Publicity in corporate affairs +will tend to do away with ignorance, and will afford facts upon which +intelligent action may be taken. Systematic, intelligent investigation +is already developing facts the knowledge of which is essential to a +right understanding of the needs and duties of the business world. The +corporation which is honestly and fairly organized, whose managers in +the conduct of its business recognize their obligation to deal squarely +with their stockholders, their competitors, and the public, has nothing +to fear from such supervision. The purpose of this Bureau is not to +embarrass or assail legitimate business, but to aid in bringing about a +better industrial condition--a condition under which there shall be +obedience to law and recognition of public obligation by all +corporations, great or small. The Department of Commerce and Labor will +be not only the clearing house for information regarding the business +transactions of the Nation, but the executive arm of the Government to +aid in strengthening our domestic and foreign markets, in perfecting +our transportation facilities, in building up our merchant marine, in +preventing the entrance of undesirable immigrants, in improving +commercial and industrial conditions, and in bringing together on +common ground those necessary partners in industrial progress--capital +and labor. Commerce between the nations is steadily growing in volume, +and the tendency of the times is toward closer trade relations. +Constant watchfulness is needed to secure to Americans the chance to +participate to the best advantage in foreign trade; and we may +confidently expect that the new Department will justify the expectation +of its creators by the exercise of this watchfulness, as well as by the +businesslike administration of such laws relating to our internal +affairs as are intrusted to its care. + +In enacting the laws above enumerated the Congress proceeded on sane +and conservative lines. Nothing revolutionary was attempted; but a +common-sense and successful effort was made in the direction of seeing +that corporations are so handled as to subserve the public good. The +legislation was moderate. It was characterized throughout by the idea +that we were not attacking corporations, but endeavoring to provide for +doing away with any evil in them; that we drew the line against +misconduct, not against wealth; gladly recognizing the great good done +by the capitalist who alone, or in conjunction with his fellows, does +his work along proper and legitimate lines. The purpose of the +legislation, which purpose will undoubtedly be fulfilled, was to favor +such a man when he does well, and to supervise his action only to +prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can do no harm to the honest +corporation. The only corporation that has cause to dread it is the +corporation which shrinks from the light, and about the welfare of such +corporations we need not be oversensitive. The work of the Department +of Commerce and Labor has been conditioned upon this theory, of +securing fair treatment alike for labor and for capital. + +The consistent policy of the National Government, so far as it has the +power, is to hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether employer or +employee; but to refuse to weaken individual initiative or to hamper or +cramp the industrial development of the country. We recognize that this +is an era of federation and combination, in which great capitalistic +corporations and labor unions have become factors of tremendous +importance in all industrial centers. Hearty recognition is given the +far-reaching, beneficent work which has been accomplished through both +corporations and unions, and the line as between different +corporations, as between different unions, is drawn as it is between +different individuals; that is, it is drawn on conduct, the effort +being to treat both organized capital and organized labor alike; asking +nothing save that the interest of each shall be brought into harmony +with the interest of the general public, and that the conduct of each +shall conform to the fundamental rules of obedience to law, of +individual freedom, and of justice and fair dealing towards all. +Whenever either corporation, labor union, or individual disregards the +law or acts in a spirit of arbitrary and tyrannous interference with +the rights of others, whether corporations or individuals, then where +the Federal Government has jurisdiction, it will see to it that the +misconduct is stopped, paying not the slightest heed to the position or +power of the corporation, the union or the individual, but only to one +vital fact--that is, the question whether or not the conduct of the +individual or aggregate of individuals is in accordance with the law of +the land. Every man must be guaranteed his liberty and his right to do +as he likes with his property or his labor, so long as he does not +infringe the rights of others. No man is above the law and no man is +below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to +obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a +favor. + +We have cause as a nation to be thankful for the steps that have been +so successfully taken to put these principles into effect. The progress +has been by evolution, not by revolution. Nothing radical has been +done; the action has been both moderate and resolute. Therefore the +work will stand. There shall be no backward step. If in the working of +the laws it proves desirable that they shall at any point be expanded +or amplified, the amendment can be made as its desirability is shown. +Meanwhile they are being administered with judgment, but with +insistence upon obedience to them, and their need has been emphasized +in signal fashion by the events of the past year. + +From all sources, exclusive of the postal service, the receipts of the +Government for the last fiscal year aggregated $560,396,674. The +expenditures for the same period were $506,099,007, the surplus for the +fiscal year being $54,297,667. The indications are that the surplus for +the present fiscal year will be very small, if indeed there be any +surplus. From July to November the receipts from customs were, +approximately, nine million dollars less than the receipts from the +same source for a corresponding portion of last year. Should this +decrease continue at the same ratio throughout the fiscal year, the +surplus would be reduced by, approximately, thirty million dollars. +Should the revenue from customs suffer much further decrease during the +fiscal year, the surplus would vanish. A large surplus is certainly +undesirable. Two years ago the war taxes were taken off with the +express intention of equalizing the governmental receipts and +expenditures, and though the first year thereafter still showed a +surplus, it now seems likely that a substantial equality of revenue and +expenditure will be attained. Such being the case it is of great moment +both to exercise care and economy in appropriations, and to scan +sharply any change in our fiscal revenue system which may reduce our +income. The need of strict economy in our expenditures is emphasized by +the fact that we can not afford to be parsimonious in providing for +what is essential to our national well-being. Careful economy wherever +possible will alone prevent our income from falling below the point +required in order to meet our genuine needs. + +The integrity of our currency is beyond question, and under present +conditions it would be unwise and unnecessary to attempt a +reconstruction of our entire monetary system. The same liberty should +be granted the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit customs receipts as +is granted him in the deposit of receipts from other sources. In my +Message of December 2, 1902, I called attention to certain needs of the +financial situation, and I again ask the consideration of the Congress +for these questions. + +During the last session of the Congress at the suggestion of a joint +note from the Republic of Mexico and the Imperial Government of China, +and in harmony with an act of the Congress appropriating $25,000 to pay +the expenses thereof, a commission was appointed to confer with the +principal European countries in the hope that some plan might be +devised whereby a fixed rate of exchange could be assured between the +gold-standard countries and the silver-standard countries. This +commission has filed its preliminary report, which has been made +public. I deem it important that the commission be continued, and that +a sum of money be appropriated sufficient to pay the expenses of its +further labors. + +A majority of our people desire that steps be taken in the interests of +American shipping, so that we may once more resume our former position +in the ocean carrying trade. But hitherto the differences of opinion as +to the proper method of reaching this end have been so wide that it has +proved impossible to secure the adoption of any particular scheme. +Having in view these facts, I recommend that the Congress direct the +Secretary of the Navy, the Postmaster-General, and the Secretary of +Commerce and Labor, associated with such a representation from the +Senate and House of Representatives as the Congress in its wisdom may +designate, to serve as a commission for the purpose of investigating +and reporting to the Congress at its next session what legislation is +desirable or necessary for the development of the American merchant +marine and American commerce, and incidentally of a national ocean mail +service of adequate auxiliary naval crusiers and naval reserves. While +such a measure is desirable in any event, it is especially desirable at +this time, in view of the fact that our present governmental contract +for ocean mail with the American Line will expire in 1905. Our ocean +mail act was passed in 1891. In 1895 our 20-knot transatlantic mail +line was equal to any foreign line. Since then the Germans have put on +23-knot, steamers, and the British have contracted for 24-knot +steamers. Our service should equal the best. If it does not, the +commercial public will abandon it. If we are to stay in the business it +ought to be with a full understanding of the advantages to the country +on one hand, and on the other with exact knowledge of the cost and +proper methods of carrying it on. Moreover, lines of cargo ships are of +even more importance than fast mail lines; save so far as the latter +can be depended upon to furnish swift auxiliary cruisers in time of +war. The establishment of new lines of cargo ships to South America, to +Asia, and elsewhere would be much in the interest of our commercial +expansion. + +We can not have too much immigration of the right kind, and we should +have none at all of the wrong kind. The need is to devise some system +by which undesirable immigrants shall be kept out entirely, while +desirable immigrants are properly distributed throughout the country. +At present some districts which need immigrants have none; and in +others, where the population is already congested, immigrants come in +such numbers as to depress the conditions of life for those already +there. During the last two years the immigration service at New York +has been greatly improved, and the corruption and inefficiency which +formerly obtained there have been eradicated. This service has just +been investigated by a committee of New York citizens of high standing, +Messrs. Arthur V. Briesen, Lee K. Frankel, Eugene A. Philbin, Thomas W. +Hynes, and Ralph Trautman. Their report deals with the whole situation +at length, and concludes with certain recommendations for +administrative and legislative action. It is now receiving the +attention of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. + +The special investigation of the subject of naturalization under the +direction of the Attorney-General, and the consequent prosecutions +reveal a condition of affairs calling for the immediate attention of +the Congress. Forgeries and perjuries of shameless and flagrant +character have been perpetrated, not only in the dense centers of +population, but throughout the country; and it is established beyond +doubt that very many so-called citizens of the United States have no +title whatever to that right, and are asserting and enjoying the +benefits of the same through the grossest frauds. It is never to be +forgotten that citizenship is, to quote the words recently used by the +Supreme Court of the United States, an "inestimable heritage," whether +it proceeds from birth within the country or is obtained by +naturalization; and we poison the sources of our national character and +strength at the fountain, if the privilege is claimed and exercised +without right, and by means of fraud and corruption. The body politic +can not be sound and healthy if many of its constituent members claim +their standing through the prostitution of the high right and calling +of citizenship. It should mean something to become a citizen of the +United States; and in the process no loophole whatever should be left +open to fraud. + +The methods by which these frauds--now under full investigation with a +view to meting out punishment and providing adequate remedies--are +perpetrated, include many variations of procedure by which false +certificates of citizenship are forged in their entirety; or genuine +certificates fraudulently or collusively obtained in blank are filled +in by the criminal conspirators; or certificates are obtained on +fraudulent statements as to the time of arrival and residence in this +country; or imposition and substitution of another party for the real +petitioner occur in court; or certificates are made the subject of +barter and sale and transferred from the rightful holder to those not +entitled to them; or certificates are forged by erasure of the original +names and the insertion of the names of other persons not entitled to +the same. + +It is not necessary for me to refer here at large to the causes leading +to this state of affairs. The desire for naturalization is heartily to +be commended where it springs from a sincere and permanent intention to +become citizens, and a real appreciation of the privilege. But it is a +source of untold evil and trouble where it is traceable to selfish and +dishonest motives, such as the effort by artificial and improper means, +in wholesale fashion to create voters who are ready-made tools of +corrupt politicians, or the desire to evade certain labor laws creating +discriminations against alien labor. All good citizens, whether +naturalized or native born, are equally interested in protecting our +citizenship against fraud in any form, and, on the other hand, in +affording every facility for naturalization to those who in good faith +desire to share alike our privileges and our responsibilities. + +The Federal grand jury lately in session in New York City dealt with +this subject and made a presentment which states the situation briefly +and forcibly and contains important suggestions for the consideration +of the Congress. This presentment is included as an appendix to the +report of the Attorney-General. + +In my last annual Message, in connection with the subject of the due +regulation of combinations of capital which are or may become injurious +to the public, I recommend a special appropriation for the better +enforcement of the antitrust law as it now stands, to be extended under +the direction of the Attorney-General. Accordingly (by the legislative, +executive, and judicial appropriation act of February 25, 1903, 32 +Stat., 854, 904), the Congress appropriated, for the purpose of +enforcing the various Federal trust and interstate-commerce laws, the +sum of five hundred thousand dollars, to be expended under the +direction of the Attorney-General in the employment of special counsel +and agents in the Department of Justice to conduct proceedings and +prosecutions under said laws in the courts of the United States. I now +recommend, as a matter of the utmost importance and urgency, the +extension of the purposes of this appropriation, so that it may be +available, under the direction of the Attorney-General, and until used, +for the due enforcement of the laws of the United States in general and +especially of the civil and criminal laws relating to public lands and +the laws relating to postal crimes and offenses and the subject of +naturalization. Recent investigations have shown a deplorable state of +affairs in these three matters of vital concern. By various frauds and +by forgeries and perjuries, thousands of acres of the public domain, +embracing lands of different character and extending through various +sections of the country, have been dishonestly acquired. It is hardly +necessary to urge the importance of recovering these dishonest +acquisitions, stolen from the people, and of promptly and duly +punishing the offenders. I speak in another part of this Message of the +widespread crimes by which the sacred right of citizenship is falsely +asserted and that "inestimable heritage" perverted to base ends. By +similar means--that is, through frauds, forgeries, and perjuries, and +by shameless briberies--the laws relating to the proper conduct of the +public service in general and to the due administration of the +Post-Office Department have been notoriously violated, and many +indictments have been found, and the consequent prosecutions are in +course of hearing or on the eve thereof. For the reasons thus +indicated, and so that the Government may be prepared to enforce +promptly and with the greatest effect the due penalties for such +violations of law, and to this end may be furnished with sufficient +instrumentalities and competent legal assistance for the investigations +and trials which will be necessary at many different points of the +country, I urge upon the Congress the necessity of making the said +appropriation available for immediate use for all such purposes, to be +expended under the direction of the Attorney-General. + +Steps have been taken by the State Department looking to the making of +bribery an extraditable offense with foreign powers. The need of more +effective treaties covering this crime is manifest. The exposures and +prosecutions of official corruption in St. Louis, Mo., and other cities +and States have resulted in a number of givers and takers of bribes +becoming fugitives in foreign lands. Bribery has not been included in +extradition treaties heretofore, as the necessity for it has not +arisen. While there may have been as much official corruption in former +years, there has been more developed and brought to light in the +immediate past than in the preceding century of our country's history. +It should be the policy of the United States to leave no place on earth +where a corrupt man fleeing from this country can rest in peace. There +is no reason why bribery should not be included in all treaties as +extraditable. The recent amended treaty with Mexico, whereby this crime +was put in the list of extraditable offenses, has established a +salutary precedent in this regard. Under this treaty the State +Department has asked, and Mexico has granted, the extradition of one of +the St. Louis bribe givers. + +There can be no crime more serious than bribery. Other offenses violate +one law while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law. Under +our form of Government all authority is vested in the people and by +them delegated to those who represent them in official capacity. There +can be no offense heavier than that of him in whom such a sacred trust +has been reposed, who sells it for his own gain and enrichment; and no +less heavy is the offense of the bribe giver. He is worse than the +thief, for the thief robs the individual, while the corrupt official +plunders an entire city or State. He is as wicked as the murderer, for +the murderer may only take one life against the law, while the corrupt +official and the man who corrupts the official alike aim at the +assassination of the commonwealth itself. Government of the people, by +the people, for the people will perish from the face of the earth if +bribery is tolerated. The givers and takers of bribes stand on an evil +pre-eminence of infamy. The exposure and punishment of public +corruption is an honor to a nation, not a disgrace. The shame lies in +toleration, not in correction. No city or State, still less the Nation, +can be injured by the enforcement of law. As long as public plunderers +when detected can find a haven of refuge in any foreign land and avoid +punishment, just so long encouragement is given them to continue their +practices. If we fail to do all that in us lies to stamp out corruption +we can not escape our share of responsibility for the guilt. The first +requisite of successful self-government is unflinching enforcement of +the law and the cutting out of corruption. + +For several years past the rapid development of Alaska and the +establishment of growing American interests in regions theretofore +unsurveyed and imperfectly known brought into prominence the urgent +necessity of a practical demarcation of the boundaries between the +jurisdictions of the United States and Great Britain. Although the +treaty of 1825 between Great Britain and Russia, the provisions of +which were copied in the treaty of 1867, whereby Russia conveyed Alaska +to the United States, was positive as to the control, first by Russia +and later by the United States, of a strip of territory along the +continental mainland from the western shore of Portland Canal to Mount +St. Elias, following and surrounding the indentations of the coast and +including the islands to the westward, its description of the landward +margin of the strip was indefinite, resting on the supposed existence +of a continuous ridge or range of mountains skirting the coast, as +figured in the charts of the early navigators. It had at no time been +possible for either party in interest to lay down, under the authority +of the treaty, a line so obviously exact according to its provisions as +to command the assent of the other. For nearly three-fourths of a +century the absence of tangible local interests demanding the exercise +of positive jurisdiction on either side of the border left the question +dormant. In 1878 questions of revenue administration on the Stikine +River led to the establishment of a provisional demarcation, crossing +the channel between two high peaks on either side about twenty-four +miles above the river mouth. In 1899 similar questions growing out of +the extraordinary development of mining interests in the region about +the head of Lynn Canal brought about a temporary modus vivendi, by +which a convenient separation was made at the watershed divides of the +White and Chilkoot passes and to the north of Klukwan, on the Klehini +River. These partial and tentative adjustments could not, in the very +nature of things, be satisfactory or lasting. A permanent disposition +of the matter became imperative. + +After unavailing attempts to reach an understanding through a Joint +High Commission, followed by prolonged negotiations, conducted in an +amicable spirit, a convention between the United States and Great +Britain was signed, January 24, 1903, providing for an examination of +the subject by a mixed tribunal of six members, three on a side, with a +view to its final disposition. Ratifications were exchanged on March 3 +last, whereupon the two Governments appointed their respective members. +Those on behalf of the United States were Elihu Root, Secretary of War, +Henry Cabot Lodge, a Senator of the United States, and George Turner, +an ex-Senator of the United States, while Great Britain named the Right +Honourable Lord Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir Louis +Amable Jette, K. C. M. G., retired judge of the Supreme Court of +Quebec, and A. B. Aylesworth, K. C., of Toronto. This Tribunal met in +London on September 3, under the Presidency of Lord Alverstone. The +proceedings were expeditious, and marked by a friendly and +conscientious spirit. The respective cases, counter cases, and +arguments presented the issues clearly and fully. On the 20th of +October a majority of the Tribunal reached and signed an agreement on +all the questions submitted by the terms of the Convention. By this +award the right of the United States to the control of a continuous +strip or border of the mainland shore, skirting all the tide-water +inlets and sinuosities of the coast, is confirmed; the entrance to +Portland Canal (concerning which legitimate doubt appeared) is defined +as passing by Tongass Inlet and to the northwestward of Wales and +Pearse islands; a line is drawn from the head of Portland Canal to the +fifty-sixth degree of north latitude; and the interior border line of +the strip is fixed by lines connecting certain mountain summits lying +between Portland Canal and Mount St. Elias, and running along the crest +of the divide separating the coast slope from the inland watershed at +the only part of the frontier where the drainage ridge approaches the +coast within the distance of ten marine leagues stipulated by the +treaty as the extreme width of the strip around the heads of Lynn Canal +and its branches. + +While the line so traced follows the provisional demarcation of 1878 at +the crossing of the Stikine River, and that of 1899 at the summits of +the White and Chilkoot passes, it runs much farther inland from the +Klehini than the temporary line of the later modus vivendi, and leaves +the entire mining district of the Porcupine River and Glacier Creek +within the jurisdiction of the United States. + +The result is satisfactory in every way. It is of great material +advantage to our people in the Far Northwest. It has removed from the +field of discussion and possible danger a question liable to become +more acutely accentuated with each passing year. Finally, it has +furnished a signal proof of the fairness and good will with which two +friendly nations can approach and determine issues involving national +sovereignty and by their nature incapable of submission to a third +power for adjudication. + +The award is self-executing on the vital points. To make it effective +as regards the others it only remains for the two Governments to +appoint, each on its own behalf, one or more scientific experts, who +shall, with all convenient speed, proceed together to lay down the +boundary line in accordance with the decision of the majority of the +Tribunal. I recommend that the Congress make adequate provision for the +appointment, compensation, and expenses of the members to serve on this +joint boundary commission on the part of the United States. + +It will be remembered that during the second session of the last +Congress Great Britain, Germany, and Italy formed an alliance for the +purpose of blockading the ports of Venezuela and using such other means +of pressure as would secure a settlement of claims due, as they +alleged, to certain of their subjects. Their employment of force for +the collection of these claims was terminated by an agreement brought +about through the offices of the diplomatic representatives of the +United States at Caracas and the Government at Washington, thereby +ending a situation which was bound to cause increasing friction, and +which jeoparded the peace of the continent. Under this agreement +Venezuela agreed to set apart a certain percentage of the customs +receipts of two of her ports to be applied to the payment of whatever +obligations might be ascertained by mixed commissions appointed for +that purpose to be due from her, not only to the three powers already +mentioned, whose proceedings against her had resulted in a state of +war, but also to the United States, France, Spain, Belgium, the +Netherland Sweden and Norway, and Mexico, who had not employed force +for the collection of the claims alleged to be due to certain of their +citizens. + +A demand was then made by the so-called blockading powers that the sums +ascertained to be due to their citizens by such mixed commissions +should be accorded payment in full before anything was paid upon the +claims of any of the so-called peace powers. Venezuela, on the other +hand, insisted that all her creditors should be paid upon a basis of +exact equality. During the efforts to adjust this dispute it was +suggested by the powers in interest that it should be referred to me +for decision, but I was clearly of the opinion that a far wiser course +would be to submit the question to the Permanent Court of Arbitration +at The Hague. It seemed to me to offer an admirable opportunity to +advance the practice of the peaceful settlement of disputes between +nations and to secure for the Hague Tribunal a memorable increase of +its practical importance. The nations interested in the controversy +were so numerous and in many instances so powerful as to make it +evident that beneficent results would follow from their appearance at +the same time before the bar of that august tribunal of peace. + +Our hopes in that regard have been realized. Russia and Austria are +represented in the persons of the learned and distinguished jurists who +compose the Tribunal, while Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, +Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, Mexico, the United +States, and Venezuela are represented by their respective agents and +counsel. Such an imposing concourse of nations presenting their +arguments to and invoking the decision of that high court of +international justice and international peace can hardly fail to secure +a like submission of many future controversies. The nations now +appearing there will find it far easier to appear there a second time, +while no nation can imagine its just pride will be lessened by +following the example now presented. This triumph of the principle of +international arbitration is a subject of warm congratulation and +offers a happy augury for the peace of the world. + +There seems good ground for the belief that there has been a real +growth among the civilized nations of a sentiment which will permit a +gradual substitution of other methods than the method of war in the +settlement of disputes. It is not pretended that as yet we are near a +position in which it will be possible wholly to prevent war, or that a +just regard for national interest and honor will in all cases permit of +the settlement of international disputes by arbitration; but by a +mixture of prudence and firmness with wisdom we think it is possible to +do away with much of the provocation and excuse for war, and at least +in many cases to substitute some other and more rational method for the +settlement of disputes. The Hague Court offers so good an example of +what can be done in the direction of such settlement that it should be +encouraged in every way. + +Further steps should be taken. In President McKinley's annual Message +of December 5, 1898, he made the following recommendation: + +"The experiences of the last year bring forcibly home to us a sense of +the burdens and the waste of war. We desire in common with most +civilized nations, to reduce to the lowest possible point the damage +sustained in time of war by peaceable trade and commerce. It is true we +may suffer in such cases less than other communities, but all nations +are damaged more or less by the state of uneasiness and apprehension +into which an outbreak of hostilities throws the entire commercial +world. It should be our object, therefore, to minimize, so far as +practicable, this inevitable loss and disturbance. This purpose can +probably best be accomplished by an international agreement to regard +all private property at sea as exempt from capture or destruction by +the forces of belligerent powers. The United States Government has for +many years advocated this humane and beneficent principle, and is now +in a position to recommend it to other powers without the imputation of +selfish motives. I therefore suggest for your consideration that the +Executive be authorized to correspond with the governments of the +principal maritime powers with a view of incorporating into the +permanent law of civilized nations the principle of the exemption of +all private property at sea, not contraband of war, from capture or +destruction by belligerent powers." + +I cordially renew this recommendation. + +The Supreme Court, speaking on December 11. 1899, through Peckham, J., +said: + +"It is, we think, historically accurate to say that this Government has +always been, in its views, among the most advanced of the governments +of the world in favor of mitigating, as to all non-combatants, the +hardships and horrors of war. To accomplish that object it has always +advocated those rules which would in most cases do away with the right +to capture the private property of an enemy on the high seas." + +I advocate this as a matter of humanity and morals. It is anachronistic +when private property is respected on land that it should not be +respected at sea. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that shipping +represents, internationally speaking, a much more generalized species +of private property than is the case with ordinary property on +land--that is, property found at sea is much less apt than is the case +with property found on land really to belong to any one nation. Under +the modern system of corporate ownership the flag of a vessel often +differs from the flag which would mark the nationality of the real +ownership and money control of the vessel; and the cargo may belong to +individuals of yet a different nationality. Much American capital is +now invested in foreign ships; and among foreign nations it often +happens that the capital of one is largely invested in the shipping of +another. Furthermore, as a practical matter, it may be mentioned that +while commerce destroying may cause serious loss and great annoyance, +it can never be more than a subsidiary factor in bringing to terms a +resolute foe. This is now well recognized by all of our naval experts. +The fighting ship, not the commerce destroyer, is the vessel whose +feats add renown to a nation's history, and establish her place among +the great powers of the world. + +Last year the Interparliamentary Union for International Arbitration +met at Vienna, six hundred members of the different legislatures of +civilized countries attending. It was provided that the next meeting +should be in 1904 at St. Louis, subject to our Congress extending an +invitation. Like the Hague Tribunal, this Interparliamentary Union is +one of the forces tending towards peace among the nations of the earth, +and it is entitled to our support. I trust the invitation can be +extended. + +Early in July, having received intelligence, which happily turned out +to be erroneous, of the assassination of our vice-consul at Beirut, I +dispatched a small squadron to that port for such service as might be +found necessary on arrival. Although the attempt on the life of our +vice-consul had not been successful, yet the outrage was symptomatic of +a state of excitement and disorder which demanded immediate attention. +The arrival of the vessels had the happiest result. A feeling of +security at once took the place of the former alarm and disquiet; our +officers were cordially welcomed by the consular body and the leading +merchants, and ordinary business resumed its activity. The Government +of the Sultan gave a considerate hearing to the representations of our +minister; the official who was regarded as responsible for the +disturbed condition of affairs was removed. Our relations with the +Turkish Government remain friendly; our claims rounded on inequitable +treatment of some of our schools and missions appear to be in process +of amicable adjustment. + +The signing of a new commercial treaty with China, which took place at +Shanghai on the 8th of October, is a cause for satisfaction. This act, +the result of long discussion and negotiation, places our commercial +relations with the great Oriental Empire on a more satisfactory footing +than they have ever heretofore enjoyed. It provides not only for the +ordinary rights and privileges of diplomatic and consular officers, but +also for an important extension of our commerce by increased facility +of access to Chinese ports, and for the relief of trade by the removal +of some of the obstacles which have embarrassed it in the past. The +Chinese Government engages, on fair and equitable conditions, which +will probably be accepted by the principal commercial nations, to +abandon the levy of "liken" and other transit dues throughout the +Empire, and to introduce other desirable administrative reforms. Larger +facilities are to be given to our citizens who desire to carry on +mining enterprises in China. We have secured for our missionaries a +valuable privilege, the recognition of their right to rent and lease in +perpetuity such property as their religious societies may need in all +parts of the Empire. And, what was an indispensable condition for the +advance and development of our commerce in Manchuria, China, by treaty +with us, has opened to foreign commerce the cities of Mukden, the +capital of the province of Manchuria, and An-tung, an important port on +the Yalu River, on the road to Korea. The full measure of development +which our commerce may rightfully expect can hardly be looked for until +the settlement of the present abnormal state of things in the Empire; +but the foundation for such development has at last been laid. + +I call your attention to the reduced cost in maintaining the consular +service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, as shown in the +annual report of the Auditor for the State and other Departments, as +compared with the year previous. For the year under consideration the +excess of expenditures over receipts on account of the consular service +amounted to $26,125.12, as against $96,972.50 for the year ending June +30, 1902, and $147,040.16 for the year ending June 30, 1901. This is +the best showing in this respect for the consular service for the past +fourteen years, and the reduction in the cost of the service to the +Government has been made in spite of the fact that the expenditures for +the year in question were more than $20,000 greater than for the +previous year. + +The rural free-delivery service has been steadily extended. The +attention of the Congress is asked to the question of the compensation +of the letter carriers and clerks engaged in the postal service, +especially on the new rural free-delivery routes. More routes have been +installed since the first of July last than in any like period in the +Department's history. While a due regard to economy must be kept in +mind in the establishment of new routes, yet the extension of the rural +free-delivery system must be continued, for reasons of sound public +policy. No governmental movement of recent years has resulted in +greater immediate benefit to the people of the country districts. Rural +free delivery, taken in connection with the telephone, the bicycle, and +the trolley, accomplishes much toward lessening the isolation of farm +life and making it brighter and more attractive. In the immediate past +the lack of just such facilities as these has driven many of the more +active and restless young men and women from the farms to the cities; +for they rebelled at loneliness and lack of mental companionship. It is +unhealthy and undesirable for the cities to grow at the expense of the +country; and rural free delivery is not only a good thing in itself, +but is good because it is one of the causes which check this +unwholesome tendency towards the urban concentration of our population +at the expense of the country districts. It is for the same reason that +we sympathize with and approve of the policy of building good roads. +The movement for good roads is one fraught with the greatest benefit to +the country districts. + +I trust that the Congress will continue to favor in all proper ways the +Louisiana Purchase Exposition. This Exposition commemorates the +Louisiana purchase, which was the first great step in the expansion +which made us a continental nation. The expedition of Lewis and Clark +across the continent followed thereon, and marked the beginning of the +process of exploration and colonization which thrust our national +boundaries to the Pacific. The acquisition of the Oregon country, +including the present States of Oregon and Washington, was a fact of +immense importance in our history; first giving us our place on the +Pacific seaboard, and making ready the way for our ascendency in the +commerce of the greatest of the oceans. The centennial of our +establishment upon the western coast by the expedition of Lewis and +Clark is to be celebrated at Portland, Oregon, by an exposition in the +summer of 1905, and this event should receive recognition and support +from the National Government. + +I call your special attention to the Territory of Alaska. The country +is developing rapidly, and it has an assured future. The mineral wealth +is great and has as yet hardly been tapped. The fisheries, if wisely +handled and kept under national control, will be a business as +permanent as any other, and of the utmost importance to the people. The +forests if properly guarded will form another great source of wealth. +Portions of Alaska are fitted for farming and stock raising, although +the methods must be adapted to the peculiar conditions of the country. +Alaska is situated in the far north; but so are Norway and Sweden and +Finland; and Alaska can prosper and play its part in the New World just +as those nations have prospered and played their parts in the Old +World. Proper land laws should be enacted; and the survey of the public +lands immediately begun. Coal-land laws should be provided whereby the +coal-land entryman may make his location and secure patent under +methods kindred to those now prescribed for homestead and mineral +entrymen. Salmon hatcheries, exclusively under Government control, +should be established. The cable should be extended from Sitka +westward. Wagon roads and trails should be built, and the building of +railroads promoted in all legitimate ways. Light-houses should be built +along the coast. Attention should be paid to the needs of the Alaska +Indians; provision should be made for an officer, with deputies, to +study their needs, relieve their immediate wants, and help them adapt +themselves to the new conditions. + +The commission appointed to investigate, during the season of 1903, the +condition and needs of the Alaskan salmon fisheries, has finished its +work in the field, and is preparing a detailed report thereon. A +preliminary report reciting the measures immediately required for the +protection and preservation of the salmon industry has already been +submitted to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for his attention and +for the needed action. + +I recommend that an appropriation be made for building light-houses in +Hawaii, and taking possession of those already built. The Territory +should be reimbursed for whatever amounts it has already expended for +light-houses. The governor should be empowered to suspend or remove any +official appointed by him, without submitting the matter to the +legislature. + +Of our insular possessions the Philippines and Porto Rico it is +gratifying to say that their steady progress has been such as to make +it unnecessary to spend much time in discussing them. Yet the Congress +should ever keep in mind that a peculiar obligation rests upon us to +further in every way the welfare of these communities. The Philippines +should be knit closer to us by tariff arrangements. It would, of +course, be impossible suddenly to raise the people of the islands to +the high pitch of industrial prosperity and of governmental efficiency +to which they will in the end by degrees attain; and the caution and +moderation shown in developing them have been among the main reasons +why this development has hitherto gone on so smoothly. Scrupulous care +has been taken in the choice of governmental agents, and the entire +elimination of partisan politics from the public service. The condition +of the islanders is in material things far better than ever before, +while their governmental, intellectual, and moral advance has kept pace +with their material advance. No one people ever benefited another +people more than we have benefited the Filipinos by taking possession +of the islands. + +The cash receipts of the General Land Office for the last fiscal year +were $11,024,743.65, an increase of $4,762,816.47 over the preceding +year. Of this sum, approximately, $8,461,493 will go to the credit of +the fund for the reclamation of arid land, making the total of this +fund, up to the 30th of June, 1903, approximately, $16,191,836. + +A gratifying disposition has been evinced by those having unlawful +inclosures of public land to remove their fences. Nearly two million +acres so inclosed have been thrown open on demand. In but comparatively +few cases has it been necessary to go into court to accomplish this +purpose. This work will be vigorously prosecuted until all unlawful +inclosures have been removed. + +Experience has shown that in the western States themselves, as well as +in the rest of the country, there is widespread conviction that certain +of the public-land laws and the resulting administrative practice no +longer meet the present needs. The character and uses of the remaining +public lands differ widely from those of the public lands which +Congress had especially in view when these laws were passed. The +rapidly increasing rate of disposal of the public lands is not followed +by a corresponding increase in home building. There is a tendency to +mass in large holdings public lands, especially timber and grazing +lands, and thereby to retard settlement. I renew and emphasize my +recommendation of last year that so far as they are available for +agriculture in its broadest sense, and to whatever extent they may be +reclaimed under the national irrigation law, the remaining public lands +should be held rigidly for the home builder. The attention of the +Congress is especially directed to the timber and stone law, the +desert-land law, and the commutation clause of the homestead law, which +in their operation have in many respects conflicted with wise +public-land policy. The discussions in the Congress and elsewhere have +made it evident that there is a wide divergence of opinions between +those holding opposite views on these subjects; and that the opposing +sides have strong and convinced representatives of weight both within +and without the Congress; the differences being not only as to matters +of opinion but as to matters of fact. In order that definite +information may be available for the use of the Congress, I have +appointed a commission composed of W. A. Richards, Commissioner of the +General Land Office; Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the Bureau of Forestry +of the Department of Agriculture, and F. H. Newell, Chief Hydrographer +of the Geological Survey, to report at the earliest practicable moment +upon the condition, operation, and effect of the present land laws and +on the use, condition, disposal, and settlement of the public lands. +The commission will report especially what changes in organization, +laws, regulations, and practice affecting the public lands are needed +to effect the largest practicable disposition of the public lands to +actual settlers who will build permanent homes upon them, and to secure +in permanence the fullest and most effective use of the resources of +the public lands; and it will make such other reports and +recommendations as its study of these questions may suggest. The +commission is to report immediately upon those points concerning which +its judgment is clear; on any point upon which it has doubt it will +take the time necessary to make investigation and reach a final +judgment. + +The work of reclamation of the arid lands of the West is progressing +steadily and satisfactorily under the terms of the law setting aside +the proceeds from the disposal of public lands. The corps of engineers +known as the Reclamation Service, which is conducting the surveys and +examinations, has been thoroughly organized, especial pains being taken +to secure under the civil-service rules a body of skilled, experienced, +and efficient men. Surveys and examinations are progressing throughout +the arid States and Territories, plans for reclaiming works being +prepared and passed upon by boards of engineers before approval by the +Secretary of the Interior. In Arizona and Nevada, in localities where +such work is pre-eminently needed, construction has already been begun. +In other parts of the arid West various projects are well advanced +towards the drawing up of contracts, these being delayed in part by +necessities of reaching agreements or understanding as regards rights +of way or acquisition of real estate. Most of the works contemplated +for construction are of national importance, involving interstate +questions or the securing of stable, self-supporting communities in the +midst of vast tracts of vacant land. The Nation as a whole is of course +the gainer by the creation of these homes, adding as they do to the +wealth and stability of the country, and furnishing a home market for +the products of the East and South. The reclamation law, while perhaps +not ideal, appears at present to answer the larger needs for which it +is designed. Further legislation is not recommended until the +necessities of change are more apparent. + +The study of the opportunities of reclamation of the vast extent of +arid land shows that whether this reclamation is done by individuals, +corporations, or the State, the sources of water supply must be +effectively protected and the reservoirs guarded by the preservation of +the forests at the headwaters of the streams. The engineers making the +preliminary examinations continually emphasize this need and urge that +the remaining public lands at the headwaters of the important streams +of the West be reserved to insure permanency of water supply for +irrigation. Much progress in forestry has been made during the past +year. The necessity for perpetuating our forest resources, whether in +public or private hands, is recognized now as never before. The demand +for forest reserves has become insistent in the West, because the West +must use the water, wood, and summer range which only such reserves can +supply. Progressive lumbermen are striving, through forestry, to give +their business permanence. Other great business interests are awakening +to the need of forest preservation as a business matter. The +Government's forest work should receive from the Congress hearty +support, and especially support adequate for the protection of the +forest reserves against fire. The forest-reserve policy of the +Government has passed beyond the experimental stage and has reached a +condition where scientific methods are essential to its successful +prosecution. The administrative features of forest reserves are at +present unsatisfactory, being divided between three Bureaus of two +Departments. It is therefore recommended that all matters pertaining to +forest reserves, except those involving or pertaining to land titles, +be consolidated in the Bureau of Forestry of the Department of +Agriculture. + +The cotton-growing States have recently been invaded by a weevil that +has done much damage and threatens the entire cotton industry. I +suggest to the Congress the prompt enactment of such remedial +legislation as its judgment may approve. + +In granting patents to foreigners the proper course for this country to +follow is to give the same advantages to foreigners here that the +countries in which these foreigners dwell extend in return to our +citizens; that is, to extend the benefits of our patent laws on +inventions and the like where in return the articles would be +patentable in the foreign countries concerned--where an American could +get a corresponding patent in such countries. + +The Indian agents should not be dependent for their appointment or +tenure of office upon considerations of partisan politics; the practice +of appointing, when possible, ex-army officers or bonded +superintendents to the vacancies that occur is working well. Attention +is invited to the widespread illiteracy due to lack of public schools +in the Indian Territory. Prompt heed should be paid to the need of +education for the children in this Territory. + +In my last annual Message the attention of the Congress was called to +the necessity of enlarging the safety-appliance law, and it is +gratifying to note that this law was amended in important respects. +With the increasing railway mileage of the country, the greater number +of men employed, and the use of larger and heavier equipment, the +urgency for renewed effort to prevent the loss of life and limb upon +the railroads of the country, particularly to employees, is apparent. +For the inspection of water craft and the Life-Saving Service upon the +water the Congress has built up an elaborate body of protective +legislation and a thorough method of inspection and is annually +spending large sums of money. It is encouraging to observe that the +Congress is alive to the interests of those who are employed upon our +wonderful arteries of commerce--the railroads--who so safely transport +millions of passengers and billions of tons of freight. The Federal +inspection, of safety appliances, for which the Congress is now making +appropriations, is a service analogous to that which the Government has +upheld for generations in regard to vessels, and it is believed will +prove of great practical benefit, both to railroad employees and the +traveling public. As the greater part of commerce is interstate and +exclusively under the control of the Congress the needed safety and +uniformity must be secured by national legislation. + +No other class of our citizens deserves so well of the Nation as those +to whom the Nation owes its very being, the veterans of the civil war. +Special attention is asked to the excellent work of the Pension Bureau +in expediting and disposing of pension claims. During the fiscal year +ending July 1, 1903, the Bureau settled 251,982 claims, an average of +825 claims for each working day of the year. The number of settlements +since July 1, 1903, has been in excess of last year's average, +approaching 1,000 claims for each working day, and it is believed that +the work of the Bureau will be current at the close of the present +fiscal year. + +During the year ended June 30 last 25,566 persons were appointed +through competitive examinations under the civil-service rules. This +was 12,672 more than during the preceding year, and 40 per cent of +those who passed the examinations. This abnormal growth was largely +occasioned by the extension of classification to the rural +free-delivery service and the appointment last year of over 9,000 rural +carriers. A revision of the civil-service rules took effect on April 15 +last, which has greatly improved their operation. The completion of the +reform of the civil service is recognized by good citizens everywhere +as a matter of the highest public importance, and the success of the +merit system largely depends upon the effectiveness of the rules and +the machinery provided for their enforcement. A very gratifying spirit +of friendly co-operation exists in all the Departments of the +Government in the enforcement and uniform observance of both the letter +and spirit of the civil-service act. Executive orders of July 3, 1902; +March 26, 1903, and July 8, 1903, require that appointments of all +unclassified laborers, both in the Departments at Washington and in the +field service, shall be made with the assistance of the United States +Civil Service Commission, under a system of registration to test the +relative fitness of applicants for appointment or employment. This +system is competitive, and is open to all citizens of the United States +qualified in respect to age, physical ability, moral character, +industry, and adaptability for manual labor; except that in case of +veterans of the Civil War the element of age is omitted. This system of +appointment is distinct from the classified service and does not +classify positions of mere laborer under the civil-service act and +rules. Regulations in aid thereof have been put in operation in several +of the Departments and are being gradually extended in other parts of +the service. The results have been very satisfactory, as extravagance +has been checked by decreasing the number of unnecessary positions and +by increasing the efficiency of the employees remaining. + +The Congress, as the result of a thorough investigation of the +charities and reformatory institutions in the District of Columbia, by +a joint select committee of the two Houses which made its report in +March, 1898, created in the act approved June 6, 1900, a board of +charities for the District of Columbia, to consist of five residents of +the District, appointed by the President of the United States, by and +with the advice and consent of the Senate, each for a term of three +years, to serve without compensation. President McKinley appointed five +men who had been active and prominent in the public charities in +Washington, all of whom upon taking office July 1, 1900, resigned from +the different charities with which they had been connected. The members +of the board have been reappointed in successive years. The board +serves under the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. The board +gave its first year to a careful and impartial study of the special +problems before it, and has continued that study every year in the +light of the best practice in public charities elsewhere. Its +recommendations in its annual reports to the Congress through the +Commissioners of the District of Columbia "for the economical and +efficient administration of the charities and reformatories of the +District of Columbia," as required by the act creating it, have been +based upon the principles commended by the joint select committee of +the Congress in its report of March, 1898, and approved by the best +administrators of public charities, and make for the desired +systematization and improvement of the affairs under its supervision. +They are worthy of favorable consideration by the Congress. + +The effect of the laws providing a General Staff for the Army and for +the more effective use of the National Guard has been excellent. Great +improvement has been made in the efficiency of our Army in recent +years. Such schools as those erected at Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley +and the institution of fall maneuver work accomplish satisfactory +results. The good effect of these maneuvers upon the National Guard is +marked, and ample appropriation should be made to enable the guardsmen +of the several States to share in the benefit. The Government should as +soon as possible secure suitable permanent camp sites for military +maneuvers in the various sections of the country. The service thereby +rendered not only to the Regular Army, but to the National Guard of the +several States, will be so great as to repay many times over the +relatively small expense. We should not rest satisfied with what has +been done, however. The only people who are contented with a system of +promotion by mere seniority are those who are contented with the +triumph of mediocrity over excellence. On the other hand, a system +which encouraged the exercise of social or political favoritism in +promotions would be even worse. But it would surely be easy to devise a +method of promotion from grade to grade in which the opinion of the +higher officers of the service upon the candidates should be decisive +upon the standing and promotion of the latter. Just such a system now +obtains at West Point. The quality of each year's work determines the +standing of that year's class, the man being dropped or graduated into +the next class in the relative position which his military superiors +decide to be warranted by his merit. In other words, ability, energy, +fidelity, and all other similar qualities determine the rank of a man +year after year in West Point, and his standing in the Army when he +graduates from West Point; but from that time on, all effort to find +which man is best or worst, and reward or punish him accordingly, is +abandoned; no brilliancy, no amount of hard work, no eagerness in the +performance of duty, can advance him, and no slackness or indifference +that falls short of a court-martial offense can retard him. Until this +system is changed we can not hope that our officers will be of as high +grade as we have a right to expect, considering the material upon which +we draw. Moreover, when a man renders such service as Captain Pershing +rendered last spring in the Moro campaign, it ought to be possible +to reward him without at once jumping him to the grade of +brigadier-general. + +Shortly after the enunciation of that famous principle of American +foreign policy now known as the "Monroe Doctrine," President Monroe, in +a special Message to Congress on January 30, 1824, spoke as follows: +"The Navy is the arm from which our Government will always derive most +aid in support of our rights. Every power engaged in war will know the +strength of our naval power, the number of our ships of each class, +their condition, and the promptitude with which we may bring them into +service, and will pay due consideration to that argument." + +I heartily congratulate the Congress upon the steady progress in +building up the American Navy. We can not afford a let-up in this great +work. To stand still means to go back. There should be no cessation in +adding to the effective units of the fighting strength of the fleet. +Meanwhile the Navy Department and the officers of the Navy are doing +well their part by providing constant service at sea under conditions +akin to those of actual warfare. Our officers and enlisted men are +learning to handle the battleships, cruisers, and torpedo boats with +high efficiency in fleet and squadron formations, and the standard of +marksmanship is being steadily raised. The best work ashore is +indispensable, but the highest duty of a naval officer is to exercise +command at sea. + +The establishment of a naval base in the Philippines ought not to be +longer postponed. Such a base is desirable in time of peace; in time of +war it would be indispensable, and its lack would be ruinous. Without +it our fleet would be helpless. Our naval experts are agreed that Subig +Bay is the proper place for the purpose. The national interests require +that the work of fortification and development of a naval station at +Subig Bay be begun at an early date; for under the best conditions it +is a work which will consume much time. + +It is eminently desirable, however, that there should be provided a +naval general staff on lines similar to those of the General Staff +lately created for the Army. Within the Navy Department itself the +needs of the service have brought about a system under which the duties +of a general staff are partially performed; for the Bureau of +Navigation has under its direction the War College, the Office of Naval +Intelligence, and the Board of Inspection, and has been in close touch +with the General Board of the Navy. But though under the excellent +officers at their head, these boards and bureaus do good work, they +have not the authority of a general staff, and have not sufficient +scope to insure a proper readiness for emergencies. We need the +establishment by law of a body of trained officers, who shall exercise +a systematic control of the military affairs of the Navy, and be +authorized advisers of the Secretary concerning it. + +By the act of June 28, 1902, the Congress authorized the President to +enter into treaty with Colombia for the building of the canal across +the Isthmus of Panama; it being provided that in the event of failure +to secure such treaty after the lapse of a reasonable time, recourse +should be had to building a canal through Nicaragua. It has not been +necessary to consider this alternative, as I am enabled to lay before +the Senate a treaty providing for the building of the canal across the +Isthmus of Panama. This was the route which commended itself to the +deliberate judgment of the Congress, and we can now acquire by treaty +the right to construct the canal over this route. The question now, +therefore, is not by which route the isthmian canal shall be built, for +that question has been definitely and irrevocably decided. The question +is simply whether or not we shall have an isthmian canal. + +When the Congress directed that we should take the Panama route under +treaty with Colombia, the essence of the condition, of course, referred +not to the Government which controlled that route, but to the route +itself; to the territory across which the route lay, not to the name +which for the moment the territory bore on the map. The purpose of the +law was to authorize the President to make a treaty with the power in +actual control of the Isthmus of Panama. This purpose has been +fulfilled. + +In the year 1846 this Government entered into a treaty with New +Granada, the predecessor upon the Isthmus of the Republic of Colombia +and of the present Republic of Panama, by which treaty it was provided +that the Government and citizens of the United States should always +have free and open right of way or transit across the Isthmus of Panama +by any modes of communication that might be constructed, while in turn +our Government guaranteed the perfect neutrality of the above-mentioned +Isthmus with the view that the free transit from the one to the other +sea might not be interrupted or embarrassed. The treaty vested in the +United States a substantial property right carved out of the rights of +sovereignty and property which New Granada then had and possessed over +the said territory. The name of New Granada has passed away and its +territory has been divided. Its successor, the Government of Colombia, +has ceased to own any property in the Isthmus. A new Republic, that of +Panama, which was at one time a sovereign state, and at another time a +mere department of the successive confederations known as New Granada +and Columbia, has now succeeded to the rights which first one and then +the other formerly exercised over the Isthmus. But as long as the +Isthmus endures, the mere geographical fact of its existence, and the +peculiar interest therein which is required by our position, perpetuate +the solemn contract which binds the holders of the territory to respect +our right to freedom of transit across it, and binds us in return to +safeguard for the Isthmus and the world the exercise of that +inestimable privilege. The true interpretation of the obligations upon +which the United States entered in this treaty of 1846 has been given +repeatedly in the utterances of Presidents and Secretaries of State. +Secretary Cuss in 1858 officially stated the position of this +Government as follows: + +"The progress of events has rendered the interoceanic route across the +narrow portion of Central America vastly important to the commercial +world, and especially to the United States, whose possessions extend +along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and demand the speediest and +easiest modes of communication. While the rights of sovereignty of the +states occupying this region should always be respected, we shall +expect that these rights be exercised in a spirit befitting the +occasion and the wants and circumstances that have arisen. Sovereignty +has its duties as well as its rights, and none of these local +governments, even if administered with more regard to the just demands +of other nations than they have been, would be permitted, in a spirit +of Eastern isolation, to close the gates of intercourse on the great +highways of the world, and justify the act by the pretension that these +avenues of trade and travel belong to them and that they choose to shut +them, or, what is almost equivalent, to encumber them with such unjust +relations as would prevent their general use." + +Seven years later, in 1865, Mr. Seward in different communications took +the following position: + +"The United States have taken and will take no interest in any question +of internal revolution in the State of Panama, or any State of the +United States of Colombia, but will maintain a perfect neutrality in +connection with such domestic altercations. The United States will, +nevertheless, hold themselves ready to protect the transit trade across +the Isthmus against invasion of either domestic or foreign disturbers +of the peace of the State of Panama. Neither the text nor the spirit of +the stipulation in that article by which the United States engages to +preserve the neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama, imposes an obligation +on this Government to comply with the requisition of the President of +the United States of Colombia for a force to protect the Isthmus of +Panama from a body of insurgents of that country. The purpose of the +stipulation was to guarantee the Isthmus against seizure or invasion by +a foreign power only." + +Attorney-General Speed, under date of November 7, 1865, advised +Secretary Seward as follows: + +"From this treaty it can not be supposed that New Granada invited the +United States to become a party to the intestine troubles of that +Government, nor did the United States become bound to take sides in the +domestic broils of New Granada. The United States did guarantee New +Granada in the sovereignty and property over the territory. This was as +against other and foreign governments." + +For four hundred years, ever since shortly after the discovery of this +hemisphere, the canal across the Isthmus has been planned. For two +score years it has been worked at. When made it is to last for the +ages. It is to alter the geography of a continent and the trade routes +of the world. We have shown by every treaty we have negotiated or +attempted to negotiate with the peoples in control of the Isthmus and +with foreign nations in reference thereto our consistent good faith in +observing our obligations; on the one hand to the peoples of the +Isthmus, and on the other hand to the civilized world whose commercial +rights we are safeguarding and guaranteeing by our action. We have done +our duty to others in letter and in spirit, and we have shown the +utmost forbearance in exacting our own rights. + +Last spring, under the act above referred to, a treaty concluded +between the representatives of the Republic of Colombia and of our +Government was ratified by the Senate. This treaty was entered into at +the urgent solicitation of the people of Colombia and after a body of +experts appointed by our Government especially to go into the matter of +the routes across the Isthmus had pronounced unanimously in favor of +the Panama route. In drawing up this treaty every concession was made +to the people and to the Government of Colombia. We were more than just +in dealing with them. Our generosity was such as to make it a serious +question whether we had not gone too far in their interest at the +expense of our own; for in our scrupulous desire to pay all possible +heed, not merely to the real but even to the fancied rights of our +weaker neighbor, who already owed so much to our protection and +forbearance, we yielded in all possible ways to her desires in drawing +up the treaty. Nevertheless the Government of Colombia not merely +repudiated the treaty, but repudiated it in such manner as to make it +evident by the time the Colombian Congress adjourned that not the +scantiest hope remained of ever getting a satisfactory treaty from +them. The Government of Colombia made the treaty, and yet when the +Colombian Congress was called to ratify it the vote against +ratification was unanimous. It does not appear that the Government made +any real effort to secure ratification. + +Immediately after the adjournment of the Congress a revolution broke +out in Panama. The people of Panama had long been discontented with the +Republic of Colombia, and they had been kept quiet only by the prospect +of the conclusion of the treaty, which was to them a matter of vital +concern. When it became evident that the treaty was hopelessly lost, +the people of Panama rose literally as one man. Not a shot was fired by +a single man on the Isthmus in the interest of the Colombian +Government. Not a life was lost in the accomplishment of the +revolution. The Colombian troops stationed on the Isthmus, who had long +been unpaid, made common cause with the people of Panama, and with +astonishing unanimity the new Republic was started. The duty of the +United States in the premises was clear. In strict accordance with the +principles laid down by Secretaries Cass and Seward in the official +documents above quoted, the United States gave notice that it would +permit the landing of no expeditionary force, the arrival of which +would mean chaos and destruction along the line of the railroad and of +the proposed Canal, and an interruption of transit as an inevitable +consequence. The de facto Government of Panama was recognized in the +following telegram to Mr. Ehrman: + +"The people of Panama have, by apparently unanimous movement, dissolved +their political connection with the Republic of Colombia and resumed +their independence. When you are satisfied that a de facto government, +republican in form and without substantial opposition from its own +people, has been established in the State of Panama, you will enter +into relations with it as the responsible government of the territory +and look to it for all due action to protect the persons and property +of citizens of the United States and to keep open the isthmian transit, +in accordance with the obligations of existing treaties governing the +relations of the United States to that Territory." + +The Government of Colombia was notified of our action by the following +telegram to Mr. Beaupre: + +"The people of Panama having, by an apparently unanimous movement, +dissolved their political connection with the Republic of Colombia and +resumed their independence, and having adopted a Government of their +own, republican in form, with which the Government of the United States +of America has entered into relations, the President of the United +States, in accordance with the ties of friendship which have so long +and so happily existed between the respective nations, most earnestly +commends to the Governments of Colombia and of Panama the peaceful and +equitable settlement of all questions at issue between them. He holds +that he is bound not merely by treaty obligations, but by the interests +of civilization, to see that the peaceful traffic of the world across +the Isthmus of Panama shall not longer be disturbed by a constant +succession of unnecessary and wasteful civil wars." + +When these events happened, fifty-seven years had elapsed since the +United States had entered into its treaty with New Granada. During that +time the Governments of New Granada and of its successor, Colombia, +have been in a constant state of flux. The following is a partial list +of the disturbances on the Isthmus of Panama during the period in +question as reported to us by our consuls. It is not possible to give a +complete list, and some of the reports that speak of "revolutions" must +mean unsuccessful revolutions. May 22, 1850.--Outbreak; two Americans +killed. War vessel demanded to quell outbreak. October, +1850.--Revolutionary plot to bring about independence of the Isthmus. +July 22, 1851.--Revolution in four southern provinces. November 14, +1851.--Outbreak at Chagres. Man-of-war requested for Chagres. June 27, +1853.--Insurrection at Bogota, and consequent disturbance on Isthmus. +War vessel demanded. May 23, 1854--Political disturbances; war vessel +requested. June 28, 1854.--Attempted revolution. October 24, +1854.--Independence of Isthmus demanded by provincial legislature. +April, 1856.--Riot, and massacre of Americans. May 4, 1856.--Riot. May +18, 1856.--Riot. June 3, 1856.--Riot. October 2, 1856.--Conflict +between two native parties. United States forces landed. December 18, +1858.--Attempted secession of Panama. April, 1859.--Riots. September, +1860.--Outbreak. October 4, 1860.--Landing of United States forces in +consequence. May 23, 1861.--Intervention of the United States forces +required by intendente. October 2, 1861.--Insurrection and civil war. +April 4, 1862.--Measures to prevent rebels crossing Isthmus. June 13, +1862.--Mosquera's troops refused admittance to Panama. March, +1865.--Revolution, and United States troops landed. August, +1865.--Riots; unsuccessful attempt to invade Panama. March, +1866.--Unsuccessful revolution. April, 1867.--Attempt to overthrow +Government. August, 1867.--Attempt at revolution. July 5, +1868.--Revolution; provisional government inaugurated. August 29, +1868.--Revolution; provisional government overthrown. April, +1871.--Revolution; followed apparently by counter revolution. April, +1873.--Revolution and civil war which lasted to October, 1875. August, +1876.--Civil war which lasted until April, 1877. July, +1878.--Rebellion. December, 1878.--Revolt. April, 1879.--Revolution. +June, 1879.--Revolution. March, 1883.--Riot. May, 1883.--Riot. June, +1884.--Revolutionary attempt. December, 1884.--Revolutionary attempt. +January, 1885.--Revolutionary disturbances. March, 1885.--Revolution. +April, 1887.--Disturbance on Panama Railroad. November, +1887.--Disturbance on line of canal. January, 1889.--Riot. January, +1895.--Revolution which lasted until April. March, 1895.--Incendiary +attempt. October, 1899.--Revolution. February, 1900, to July, +1900.--Revolution. January, 1901--Revolution. July, +1901.--Revolutionary disturbances. September, 1901.--City of Colon +taken by rebels. March, 1902.--Revolutionary disturbances. July, +1902.--Revolution. The above is only a partial list of the revolutions, +rebellions, insurrections, riots, and other outbreaks that have +occurred during the period in question; yet they number 53 for the 57 +years. It will be noted that one of them lasted for nearly three years +before it was quelled; another for nearly a year. In short, the +experience of over half a century has shown Colombia to be utterly +incapable of keeping order on the Isthmus. Only the active interference +of the United States has enabled her to preserve so much as a semblance +of sovereignty. Had it not been for the exercise by the United States +of the police power in her interest, her connection with the Isthmus +would have been sundered long ago. In 1856, in 1860, in 1873, in 1885, +in 1901, and again in 1902, sailors and marines from United States war +ships were forced to land in order to patrol the Isthmus, to protect +life and property, and to see that the transit across the Isthmus was +kept open. In 1861, in 1862, in 1885, and in 1900, the Colombian +Government asked that the United States Government would land troops to +protect its interests and maintain order on the Isthmus. Perhaps the +most extraordinary request is that which has just been received and +which runs as follows: + +"Knowing that revolution has already commenced in Panama [an eminent +Colombian] says that if the Government of the United States will land +troops to preserve Colombian sovereignty, and the transit, if requested +by Colombian charge d'affaires, this Government will declare martial +law; and, by virtue of vested constitutional authority, when public +order is disturbed, will approve by decree ratification of the canal +treaty as signed; or, if the Government of the United States prefers, +will call extra session of the Congress--with new and friendly +members--next May to approve the treaty. [An eminent Colombian] has the +perfect confidence of vice-president, he says, and if it became +necessary will go to the Isthmus or send representatives there to +adjust matters along above lines to the satisfaction of the people +there." + +This dispatch is noteworthy from two standpoints. Its offer of +immediately guaranteeing the treaty to us is in sharp contrast with the +positive and contemptuous refusal of the Congress which has just closed +its sessions to consider favorably such a treaty; it shows that the +Government which made the treaty really had absolute control over the +situation, but did not choose to exercise this control. The dispatch +further calls on us to restore order and secure Colombian supremacy in +the Isthmus from which the Colombian Government has just by its action +decided to bar us by preventing the construction of the canal. + +The control, in the interest of the commerce and traffic of the whole +civilized world, of the means of undisturbed transit across the Isthmus +of Panama has become of transcendent importance to the United States. +We have repeatedly exercised this control by intervening in the course +of domestic dissension, and by protecting the territory from foreign +invasion. In 1853 Mr. Everett assured the Peruvian minister that we +should not hesitate to maintain the neutrality of the Isthmus in the +case of war between Peru and Colombia. In 1864 Colombia, which has +always been vigilant to avail itself of its privileges conferred by the +treaty, expressed its expectation that in the event of war between Peru +and Spain the United States would carry into effect the guaranty of +neutrality. There have been few administrations of the State Department +in which this treaty has not, either by the one side or the other, been +used as a basis of more or less important demands. It was said by Mr. +Fish in 1871 that the Department of State had reason to believe that an +attack upon Colombian sovereignty on the Isthmus had, on several +occasions, been averted by warning from this Government. In 1886, when +Colombia was under the menace of hostilities from Italy in the Cerruti +case, Mr. Bayard expressed the serious concern that the United States +could not but feel, that a European power should resort to force +against a sister republic of this hemisphere, as to the sovereign and +uninterrupted use of a part of whose territory we are guarantors under +the solemn faith of a treaty. + +The above recital of facts establishes beyond question: First, that the +United States has for over half a century patiently and in good faith +carried out its obligations under the treaty of 1846; second, that when +for the first time it became possible for Colombia to do anything in +requital of the services thus repeatedly rendered to it for fifty-seven +years by the United States, the Colombian Government peremptorily and +offensively refused thus to do its part, even though to do so would +have been to its advantage and immeasurably to the advantage of the +State of Panama, at that time under its jurisdiction; third, that +throughout this period revolutions, riots, and factional disturbances +of every kind have occurred one after the other in almost uninterrupted +succession, some of them lasting for months and even for years, while +the central government was unable to put them down or to make peace +with the rebels; fourth, that these disturbances instead of showing any +sign of abating have tended to grow more numerous and more serious in +the immediate past; fifth, that the control of Colombia over the +Isthmus of Panama could not be maintained without the armed +intervention and assistance of the United States. In other words, the +Government of Colombia, though wholly unable to maintain order on the +Isthmus, has nevertheless declined to ratify a treaty the conclusion of +which opened the only chance to secure its own stability and to +guarantee permanent peace on, and the construction of a canal across, +the Isthmus. + +Under such circumstances the Government of the United States would have +been guilty of folly and weakness, amounting in their sum to a crime +against the Nation, had it acted otherwise than it did when the +revolution of November 3 last took place in Panama. This great +enterprise of building the interoceanic canal can not be held up to +gratify the whims, or out of respect to the governmental impotence, or +to the even more sinister and evil political peculiarities, of people +who, though they dwell afar off, yet, against the wish of the actual +dwellers on the Isthmus, assert an unreal supremacy over the territory. +The possession of a territory fraught with such peculiar capacities as +the Isthmus in question carries with it obligations to mankind. The +course of events has shown that this canal can not be built by private +enterprise, or by any other nation than our own; therefore it must be +built by the United States. + +Every effort has been made by the Government of the United States to +persuade Colombia to follow a course which was essentially not only to +our interests and to the interests of the world, but to the interests +of Colombia itself. These efforts have failed; and Colombia, by her +persistence in repulsing the advances that have been made, has forced +us, for the sake of our own honor, and of the interest and well-being, +not merely of our own people, but of the people of the Isthmus of +Panama and the people of the civilized countries of the world, to take +decisive steps to bring to an end a condition of affairs which had +become intolerable. The new Republic of Panama immediately offered to +negotiate a treaty with us. This treaty I herewith submit. By it our +interests are better safeguarded than in the treaty with Colombia which +was ratified by the Senate at its last session. It is better in its +terms than the treaties offered to us by the Republics of Nicaragua and +Costa Rica. At last the right to begin this great undertaking is made +available. Panama has done her part. All that remains is for the +American Congress to do its part, and forthwith this Republic will +enter upon the execution of a project colossal in its size and of +well-nigh incalculable possibilities for the good of this country and +the nations of mankind. + +By the provisions of the treaty the United States guarantees and will +maintain the independence of the Republic of Panama. There is granted +to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of +a strip ten miles wide and extending three nautical miles into the sea +at either terminal, with all lands lying outside of the zone necessary +for the construction of the canal or for its auxiliary works, and with +the islands in the Bay of Panama. The cities of Panama and Colon are +not embraced in the canal zone, but the United States assumes their +sanitation and, in case of need, the maintenance of order therein; the +United States enjoys within the granted limits all the rights, power, +and authority which it would possess were it the sovereign of the +territory to the exclusion of the exercise of sovereign rights by the +Republic. All railway and canal property rights belonging to Panama and +needed for the canal pass to the United States, including any property +of the respective companies in the cities of Panama and Colon; the +works, property, and personnel of the canal and railways are exempted +from taxation as well in the cities of Panama and Colon as in the canal +zone and its dependencies. Free immigration of the personnel and +importation of supplies for the construction and operation of the canal +are granted. Provision is made for the use of military force and the +building of fortifications by the United States for the protection of +the transit. In other details, particularly as to the acquisition of +the interests of the New Panama Canal Company and the Panama Railway by +the United States and the condemnation of private property for the uses +of the canal, the stipulations of the Hay-Herran treaty are closely +followed, while the compensation to be given for these enlarged grants +remains the same, being ten millions of dollars payable on exchange of +ratifications; and, beginning nine years from that date, an annual +payment of $250,000 during the life of the convention. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 6, 1904 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +The Nation continues to enjoy noteworthy prosperity. Such prosperity is +of course primarily due to the high individual average of our +citizenship, taken together with our great natural resources; but an +important factor therein is the working of our long-continued +governmental policies. The people have emphatically expressed their +approval of the principles underlying these policies, and their desire +that these principles be kept substantially unchanged, although of +course applied in a progressive spirit to meet changing conditions. + +The enlargement of scope of the functions of the National Government +required by our development as a nation involves, of course, increase +of expense; and the period of prosperity through which the country is +passing justifies expenditures for permanent improvements far greater +than would be wise in hard times. Battle ships and forts, public +buildings, and improved waterways are investments which should be made +when we have the money; but abundant revenues and a large surplus +always invite extravagance, and constant care should be taken to guard +against unnecessary increase of the ordinary expenses of government. +The cost of doing Government business should be regulated with the same +rigid scrutiny as the cost of doing a private business. + +In the vast and complicated mechanism of our modern civilized life the +dominant note is the note of industrialism; and the relations of +capital and labor, and especially of organized capital and organized +labor, to each other and to the public at large come second in +importance only to the intimate questions of family life. Our peculiar +form of government, with its sharp division of authority between the +Nation and the several States, has been on the whole far more +advantageous to our development than a more strongly centralized +government. But it is undoubtedly responsible for much of the +difficulty of meeting with adequate legislation the new problems +presented by the total change in industrial conditions on this +continent during the last half century. In actual practice it has +proved exceedingly difficult, and in many cases impossible, to get +unanimity of wise action among the various States on these subjects. +From the very nature of the case this is especially true of the laws +affecting the employment of capital in huge masses. + +With regard to labor the problem is no less important, but it is +simpler. As long as the States retain the primary control of the police +power the circumstances must be altogether extreme which require +interference by the Federal authorities, whether in the way of +safeguarding the rights of labor or in the way of seeing that wrong is +not done by unruly persons who shield themselves behind the name of +labor. If there is resistance to the Federal courts, interference with +the mails, or interstate commerce, or molestation of Federal property, +or if the State authorities in some crisis which they are unable to +face call for help, then the Federal Government may interfere; but +though such interference may be caused by a condition of things arising +out of trouble connected with some question of labor, the interference +itself simply takes the form of restoring order without regard to the +questions which have caused the breach of order--for to keep order is a +primary duty and in a time of disorder and violence all other questions +sink into abeyance until order has been restored. In the District of +Columbia and in the Territories the Federal law covers the entire field +of government; but the labor question is only acute in populous centers +of commerce, manufactures, or mining. Nevertheless, both in the +enactment and in the enforcement of law the Federal Government within +its restricted sphere should set an example to the State governments, +especially in a matter so vital as this affecting labor. I believe that +under modern industrial conditions it is often necessary, and even +where not necessary it is yet often wise, that there should be +organization of labor in order better to secure the rights of the +individual wage-worker. All encouragement should be given to any such +organization so long as it is conducted with a due and decent regard +for the rights of others. There are in this country some labor unions +which have habitually, and other labor unions which have often, been +among the most effective agents in working for good citizenship and for +uplifting the condition of those whose welfare should be closest to our +hearts. But when any labor union seeks improper ends, or seeks to +achieve proper ends by improper means, all good citizens and more +especially all honorable public servants must oppose the wrongdoing as +resolutely as they would oppose the wrongdoing of any great +corporation. Of course any violence, brutality, or corruption, should +not for one moment be tolerated. Wage-workers have an entire right to +organize and by all peaceful and honorable means to endeavor to +persuade their fellows to join with them in organizations. They have a +legal right, which, according to circumstances, may or may not be a +moral right, to refuse to work in company with men who decline to join +their organizations. They have under no circumstances the right to +commit violence upon these, whether capitalists or wage-workers, who +refuse to support their organizations, or who side with those with whom +they are at odds; for mob rule is intolerable in any form. + +The wage-workers are peculiarly entitled to the protection and the +encouragement of the law. From the very nature of their occupation +railroad men, for instance, are liable to be maimed in doing the +legitimate work of their profession, unless the railroad companies are +required by law to make ample provision for their safety. The +Administration has been zealous in enforcing the existing law for this +purpose. That law should be amended and strengthened. Wherever the +National Government has power there should be a stringent employer's +liability law, which should apply to the Government itself where the +Government is an employer of labor. + +In my Message to the Fifty-seventh Congress, at its second session, I +urged the passage of an employer's liability law for the District of +Columbia. I now renew that recommendation, and further recommend that +the Congress appoint a commission to make a comprehensive study of +employer's liability with the view of extending the provisions of a +great and constitutional law to all employments within the scope of +Federal power. + +The Government has recognized heroism upon the water, and bestows +medals of honor upon those persons who by extreme and heroic daring +have endangered their lives in saving, or endeavoring to save, lives +from the perils of the sea in the waters over which the United States +has jurisdiction, or upon an American vessel. This recognition should +be extended to cover cases of conspicuous bravery and self-sacrifice in +the saving of life in private employments under the jurisdiction of the +United States, and particularly in the land commerce of the Nation. + +The ever-increasing casualty list upon our railroads is a matter of +grave public concern, and urgently calls for action by the Congress. In +the matter of speed and comfort of railway travel our railroads give at +least as good service as those of any other nation, and there is no +reason why this service should not also be as safe as human ingenuity +can make it. Many of our leading roads have been foremost in the +adoption of the most approved safeguards for the protection of +travelers and employees, yet the list of clearly avoidable accidents +continues unduly large. The passage of a law requiring the adoption of +a block-signal system has been proposed to the Congress. I earnestly +concur in that recommendation, and would also point out to the Congress +the urgent need of legislation in the interest of the public safety +limiting the hours of labor for railroad employees in train service +upon railroads engaged in interstate commerce, and providing that only +trained and experienced persons be employed in positions of +responsibility connected with the operation of trains. Of course +nothing can ever prevent accidents caused by human weakness or +misconduct; and there should be drastic punishment for any railroad +employee, whether officer or man, who by issuance of wrong orders or by +disobedience of orders causes disaster. The law of 1901, requiring +interstate railroads to make monthly reports of all accidents to +passengers and employees on duty, should also be amended so as to +empower the Government to make a personal investigation, through proper +officers, of all accidents involving loss of life which seem to require +investigation, with a requirement that the results of such +investigation be made public. + +The safety-appliance law, as amended by the act of March 2, 1903, has +proved beneficial to railway employees, and in order that its +provisions may be properly carried out, the force of inspectors +provided for by appropriation should be largely increased. This service +is analogous to the Steamboat-Inspection Service, and deals with even +more important interests. It has passed the experimental stage and +demonstrated its utility, and should receive generous recognition by +the Congress. + +There is no objection to employees of the Government forming or +belonging to unions; but the Government can neither discriminate for +nor discriminate against nonunion men who are in its employment, or who +seek to be employed under it. Moreover, it is a very grave impropriety +for Government employees to band themselves together for the purpose of +extorting improperly high salaries from the Government. Especially is +this true of those within the classified service. The letter carriers, +both municipal and rural, are as a whole an excellent body of public +servants. They should be amply paid. But their payment must be obtained +by arguing their claims fairly and honorably before the Congress, and +not by banding together for the defeat of those Congressmen who refuse +to give promises which they can not in conscience give. The +Administration has already taken steps to prevent and punish abuses of +this nature; but it will be wise for the Congress to supplement this +action by legislation. + +Much can be done by the Government in labor matters merely by giving +publicity to certain conditions. The Bureau of Labor has done excellent +work of this kind in many different directions. I shall shortly lay +before you in a special message the full report of the investigation of +the Bureau of Labor into the Colorado mining strike, as this was a +strike in which certain very evil forces, which are more or less at +work everywhere under the conditions of modern industrialism, became +startlingly prominent. It is greatly to be wished that the Department +of Commerce and Labor, through the Labor Bureau, should compile and +arrange for the Congress a list of the labor laws of the various +States, and should be given the means to investigate and report to the +Congress upon the labor conditions in the manufacturing and mining +regions throughout the country, both as to wages, as to hours of labor, +as to the labor of women and children, and as to the effect in the +various labor centers of immigration from abroad. In this investigation +especial attention should be paid to the conditions of child labor and +child-labor legislation in the several States. Such an investigation +must necessarily take into account many of the problems with which this +question of child labor is connected. These problems can be actually +met, in most cases, only by the States themselves; but the lack of +proper legislation in one State in such a matter as child labor often +renders it excessively difficult to establish protective restriction +upon the work in another State having the same industries, so that the +worst tends to drag down the better. For this reason, it would be well +for the Nation at least to endeavor to secure comprehensive information +as to the conditions of labor of children in the different States. Such +investigation and publication by the National Government would tend +toward the securing of approximately uniform legislation of the proper +character among the several States. + +When we come to deal with great corporations the need for the +Government to act directly is far greater than in the case of labor, +because great corporations can become such only by engaging in +interstate commerce, and interstate commerce is peculiarly the field of +the General Government. It is an absurdity to expect to eliminate the +abuses in great corporations by State action. It is difficult to be +patient with an argument that such matters should be left to the States +because more than one State pursues the policy of creating on easy +terms corporations which are never operated within that State at all, +but in other States whose laws they ignore. The National Government +alone can deal adequately with these great corporations. To try to deal +with them in an intemperate, destructive, or demagogic spirit would, in +all probability, mean that nothing whatever would be accomplished, and, +with absolute certainty, that if anything were accomplished it would be +of a harmful nature. The American people need to continue to show the +very qualities that they have shown--that is, moderation, good sense, +the earnest desire to avoid doing any damage, and yet the quiet +determination to proceed, step by step, without halt and without hurry, +in eliminating or at least in minimizing whatever of mischief or evil +there is to interstate commerce in the conduct of great corporations. +They are acting in no spirit of hostility to wealth, either individual +or corporate. They are not against the rich man any more than against +the poor man. On the contrary, they are friendly alike toward rich man +and toward poor man, provided only that each acts in a spirit of +justice and decency toward his fellows. Great corporations are +necessary, and only men of great and singular mental power can manage +such corporations successfully, and such men must have great rewards. +But these corporations should be managed with due regard to the +interest of the public as a whole. Where this can be done under the +present laws it must be done. Where these laws come short others should +be enacted to supplement them. + +Yet we must never forget the determining factor in every kind of work, +of head or hand, must be the man's own good sense, courage, and +kindliness. More important than any legislation is the gradual growth +of a feeling of responsibility and forbearance among capitalists, and +wage-workers alike; a feeling of respect on the part of each man for +the rights of others; a feeling of broad community of interest, not +merely of capitalists among themselves, and of wage-workers among +themselves, but of capitalists and wage-workers in their relations to +each other, and of both in their relations to their fellows who with +them make up the body politic. There are many captains of industry, +many labor leaders, who realize this. A recent speech by the president +of one of our great railroad systems to the employees of that system +contains sound common sense. It rims in part as follows: + +"It is my belief we can better serve each other, better understand the +man as well as his business, when meeting face to face, exchanging +views, and realizing from personal contact we serve but one interest, +that of our mutual prosperity. + +"Serious misunderstandings can not occur where personal good will +exists and opportunity for personal explanation is present. + +"In my early business life I had experience with men of affairs of a +character to make me desire to avoid creating a like feeling of +resentment to myself and the interests in my charge, should fortune +ever place me in authority, and I am solicitous of a measure of +confidence on the part of the public and our employees that I shall +hope may be warranted by the fairness and good fellowship I intend +shall prevail in our relationship. + +"But do not feel I am disposed to grant unreasonable requests, spend +the money of our company unnecessarily or without value received, nor +expect the days of mistakes are disappearing, or that cause for +complaint will not continually occur; simply to correct such abuses as +may be discovered, to better conditions as fast as reasonably may be +expected, constantly striving, with varying success, for that +improvement we all desire, to convince you there is a force at work in +the right direction, all the time making progress--is the disposition +with which I have come among you, asking your good will and +encouragement. + +"The day has gone by when a corporation can be handled successfully in +defiance of the public will, even though that will be unreasonable and +wrong. A public may be led, but not driven, and I prefer to go with it +and shape or modify, in a measure, its opinion, rather than be swept +from my bearings, with loss to myself and the interests in my charge. + +"Violent prejudice exists towards corporate activity and capital today, +much of it founded in reason, more in apprehension, and a large measure +is due to the personal traits of arbitrary, unreasonable, incompetent, +and offensive men in positions of authority. The accomplishment of +results by indirection, the endeavor to thwart the intention, if not +the expressed letter of the law (the will of the people), a disregard +of the rights of others, a disposition to withhold what is due, to +force by main strength or inactivity a result not justified, depending +upon the weakness of the claimant and his indisposition to become +involved in litigation, has created a sentiment harmful in the extreme +and a disposition to consider anything fair that gives gain to the +individual at the expense of the company. + +"If corporations are to continue to do the world's work, as they are +best fitted to, these qualities in their representatives that have +resulted in the present prejudice against them must be relegated to the +background. The corporations must come out into the open and see and be +seen. They must take the public into their confidence and ask for what +they want, and no more, and be prepared to explain satisfactorily what +advantage will accrue to the public if they are given their desires; +for they are permitted to exist not that they may make money solely, +but that they may effectively serve those from whom they derive their +power. + +"Publicity, and not secrecy, will win hereafter, and laws be construed +by their intent and not by their letter, otherwise public utilities +will be owned and operated by the public which created them, even +though the service be less efficient and the result less satisfactory +from a financial standpoint." + +The Bureau of Corporations has made careful preliminary investigation +of many important corporations. It will make a special report on the +beef industry. + +The policy of the Bureau is to accomplish the purposes of its creation +by co-operation, not antagonism; by making constructive legislation, +not destructive prosecution, the immediate object of its inquiries; by +conservative investigation of law and fact, and by refusal to issue +incomplete and hence necessarily inaccurate reports. Its policy being +thus one of open inquiry into, and not attack upon, business, the +Bureau has been able to gain not only the confidence, but, better +still, the cooperation of men engaged in legitimate business. + +The Bureau offers to the Congress the means of getting at the cost of +production of our various great staples of commerce. + +Of necessity the careful investigation of special corporations will +afford the Commissioner knowledge of certain business facts, the +publication of which might be an improper infringement of private +rights. The method of making public the results of these investigations +affords, under the law, a means for the protection of private rights. +The Congress will have all facts except such as would give to another +corporation information which would injure the legitimate business of a +competitor and destroy the incentive for individual superiority and +thrift. + +The Bureau has also made exhaustive examinations into the legal +condition under which corporate business is carried on in the various +States; into all judicial decisions on the subject; and into the +various systems of corporate taxation in use. I call special attention +to the report of the chief of the Bureau; and I earnestly ask that the +Congress carefully consider the report and recommendations of the +Commissioner on this subject. + +The business of insurance vitally affects the great mass of the people +of the United States and is national and not local in its application. +It involves a multitude of transactions among the people of the +different States and between American companies and foreign +governments. I urge that the Congress carefully consider whether the +power of the Bureau of Corporations can not constitutionally be +extended to cover interstate transactions in insurance. + +Above all else, we must strive to keep the highways of commerce open to +all on equal terms; and to do this it is necessary to put a complete +stop to all rebates. Whether the shipper or the railroad is to blame +makes no difference; the rebate must be stopped, the abuses of the +private car and private terminal-track and side-track systems must be +stopped, and the legislation of the Fifty-eighth Congress which +declares it to be unlawful for any person or corporation to offer, +grant, give, solicit, accept, or receive any rebate, concession, or +discrimination in respect of the transportation of any property in +interstate or foreign commerce whereby such property shall by any +device whatever be transported at a less rate than that named in the +tariffs published by the carrier must be enforced. For some time after +the enactment of the Act to Regulate Commerce it remained a mooted +question whether that act conferred upon the Interstate Commerce +Commission the power, after it had found a challenged rate to be +unreasonable, to declare what thereafter should, prima facie, be the +reasonable maximum rate for the transportation in dispute. The Supreme +Court finally resolved that question in the negative, so that as the +law now stands the Commission simply possess the bare power to denounce +a particular rate as unreasonable. While I am of the opinion that at +present it would be undesirable, if it were not impracticable, finally +to clothe the Commission with general authority to fix railroad rates, +I do believe that, as a fair security to shippers, the Commission +should be vested with the power, where a given rate has been challenged +and after full hearing found to be unreasonable, to decide, subject to +judicial review, what shall be a reasonable rate to take its place; the +ruling of the Commission to take effect immediately, and to obtain +unless and until it is reversed by the court of review. The Government +must in increasing degree supervise and regulate the workings of the +railways engaged in interstate commerce; and such increased supervision +is the only alternative to an increase of the present evils on the one +hand or a still more radical policy on the other. In my judgment the +most important legislative act now needed as regards the regulation of +corporations is this act to confer on the Interstate Commerce +Commission the power to revise rates and regulations, the revised rate +to at once go into effect, and stay in effect unless and until the +court of review reverses it. + +Steamship companies engaged in interstate commerce and protected in our +coastwise trade should be held to a strict observance of the interstate +commerce act. + +In pursuing the set plan to make the city of Washington an example to +other American municipalities several points should be kept in mind by +the legislators. In the first place, the people of this country should +clearly understand that no amount of industrial prosperity, and above +all no leadership in international industrial competition, can in any +way atone for the sapping of the vitality of those who are usually +spoken of as the working classes. The farmers, the mechanics, the +skilled and unskilled laborers, the small shop keepers, make up the +bulk of the population of any country; and upon their well-being, +generation after generation, the well-being of the country and the race +depends. Rapid development in wealth and industrial leadership is a +good thing, but only if it goes hand in hand with improvement, and not +deterioration, physical and moral. The over-crowding of cities and the +draining of country districts are unhealthy and even dangerous symptoms +in our modern life. We should not permit overcrowding in cities. In +certain European cities it is provided by law that the population of +towns shall not be allowed to exceed a very limited density for a given +area, so that the increase in density must be continually pushed back +into a broad zone around the center of the town, this zone having great +avenues or parks within it. The death-rate statistics show a terrible +increase in mortality, and especially in infant mortality, in +overcrowded tenements. The poorest families in tenement houses live in +one room, and it appears that in these one-room tenements the average +death rate for a number of given cities at home and abroad is about +twice what it is in a two-room tenement, four times what it is in a +three-room tenement, and eight times what it is in a tenement +consisting of four rooms or over. These figures vary somewhat for +different cities, but they approximate in each city those given above; +and in all cases the increase of mortality, and especially of infant +mortality, with the decrease in the number of rooms used by the family +and with the consequent overcrowding is startling. The slum exacts a +heavy total of death from those who dwell therein; and this is the case +not merely in the great crowded slums of high buildings in New York and +Chicago, but in the alley slums of Washington. In Washington people can +not afford to ignore the harm that this causes. No Christian and +civilized community can afford to show a happy-go-lucky lack of concern +for the youth of to-day; for, if so, the community will have to pay a +terrible penalty of financial burden and social degradation in the +to-morrow. There should be severe child-labor and factory-inspection +laws. It is very desirable that married women should not work in +factories. The prime duty of the man is to work, to be the breadwinner; +the prime duty of the woman is to be the mother, the housewife. All +questions of tariff and finance sink into utter insignificance when +compared with the tremendous, the vital importance of trying to shape +conditions so that these two duties of the man and of the woman can be +fulfilled under reasonably favorable circumstances. If a race does not +have plenty of children, or if the children do not grow up, or if when +they grow up they are unhealthy in body and stunted or vicious in mind, +then that race is decadent, and no heaping up of wealth, no splendor of +momentary material prosperity, can avail in any degree as offsets. The +Congress has the same power of legislation for the District of Columbia +which the State legislatures have for the various States. The problems +incident to our highly complex modern industrial civilization, with its +manifold and perplexing tendencies both for good and for evil, are far +less sharply accentuated in the city of Washington than in most other +cities. For this very reason it is easier to deal with the various +phases of these problems in Washington, and the District of Columbia +government should be a model for the other municipal governments of the +Nation, in all such matters as supervision of the housing of the poor, +the creation of small parks in the districts inhabited by the poor, in +laws affecting labor, in laws providing for the taking care of the +children, in truant laws, and in providing schools. + +In the vital matter of taking care of children, much advantage could be +gained by a careful study of what has been accomplished in such States +as Illinois and Colorado by the juvenile courts. The work of the +juvenile court is really a work of character building. It is now +generally recognized that young boys and young girls who go wrong +should not be treated as criminals, not even necessarily as needing +reformation, but rather as needing to have their characters formed, and +for this end to have them tested and developed by a system of +probation. Much admirable work has been done in many of our +Commonwealths by earnest men and women who have made a special study of +the needs of those classes of children which furnish the greatest +number of juvenile offenders, and therefore the greatest number of +adult offenders; and by their aid, and by profiting by the experiences +of the different States and cities in these matters, it would be easy +to provide a good code for the District of Columbia. + +Several considerations suggest the need for a systematic investigation +into and improvement of housing conditions in Washington. The hidden +residential alleys are breeding grounds of vice and disease, and should +be opened into minor streets. For a number of years influential +citizens have joined with the District Commissioners in the vain +endeavor to secure laws permitting the condemnation of insanitary +dwellings. The local death rates, especially from preventable diseases, +are so unduly high as to suggest that the exceptional wholesomeness of +Washington's better sections is offset by bad conditions in her poorer +neighborhoods. A special "Commission on Housing and Health Conditions +in the National Capital" would not only bring about the reformation of +existing evils, but would also formulate an appropriate building code +to protect the city from mammoth brick tenements and other evils which +threaten to develop here as they have in other cities. That the +Nation's Capital should be made a model for other municipalities is an +ideal which appeals to all patriotic citizens everywhere, and such a +special Commission might map out and organize the city's future +development in lines of civic social service, just as Major L'Enfant +and the recent Park Commission planned the arrangement of her streets +and parks. + +It is mortifying to remember that Washington has no compulsory school +attendance law and that careful inquiries indicate the habitual absence +from school of some twenty per cent of all children between the ages of +eight and fourteen. It must be evident to all who consider the problems +of neglected child life or the benefits of compulsory education in +other cities that one of the most urgent needs of the National Capital +is a law requiring the school attendance of all children, this law to +be enforced by attendance agents directed by the board of education. + +Public play grounds are necessary means for the development of +wholesome citizenship in modern cities. It is important that the work +inaugurated here through voluntary efforts should be taken up and +extended through Congressional appropriation of funds sufficient to +equip and maintain numerous convenient small play grounds upon land +which can be secured without purchase or rental. It is also desirable +that small vacant places be purchased and reserved as small-park play +grounds in densely settled sections of the city which now have no +public open spaces and are destined soon to be built up solidly. All +these needs should be met immediately. To meet them would entail +expenses; but a corresponding saving could be made by stopping the +building of streets and levelling of ground for purposes largely +speculative in outlying parts of the city. + +There are certain offenders, whose criminality takes the shape of +brutality and cruelty towards the weak, who need a special type of +punishment. The wife-beater, for example, is inadequately punished by +imprisonment; for imprisonment may often mean nothing to him, while it +may cause hunger and want to the wife and children who have been the +victims of his brutality. Probably some form of corporal punishment +would be the most adequate way of meeting this kind of crime. + +The Department of Agriculture has grown into an educational institution +with a faculty of two thousand specialists making research into all the +sciences of production. The Congress appropriates, directly and +indirectly, six millions of dollars annually to carry on this work. It +reaches every State and Territory in the Union and the islands of the +sea lately come under our flag. Co-operation is had with the State +experiment stations, and with many other institutions and individuals. +The world is carefully searched for new varieties of grains, fruits, +grasses, vegetables, trees, and shrubs, suitable to various localities +in our country; and marked benefit to our producers has resulted. + +The activities of our age in lines of research have reached the tillers +of the soil and inspired them with ambition to know more of the +principles that govern the forces of nature with which they have to +deal. Nearly half of the people of this country devote their energies +to growing things from the soil. Until a recent date little has been +done to prepare these millions for their life work. In most lines of +human activity college-trained men are the leaders. The farmer had no +opportunity for special training until the Congress made provision for +it forty years ago. During these years progress has been made and +teachers have been prepared. Over five thousand students are in +attendance at our State agricultural colleges. The Federal Government +expends ten millions of dollars annually toward this education and for +research in Washington and in the several States and Territories. The +Department of Agriculture has given facilities for post-graduate work +to five hundred young men during the last seven years, preparing them +for advance lines of work in the Department and in the State +institutions. + +The facts concerning meteorology and its relations to plant and animal +life are being systematically inquired into. Temperature and moisture +are controlling factors in all agricultural operations. The seasons of +the cyclones of the Caribbean Sea and their paths are being forecasted +with increasing accuracy. The cold winds that come from the north are +anticipated and their times and intensity told to farmers, gardeners, +and fruiterers in all southern localities. + +We sell two hundred and fifty million dollars' worth of animals and +animal products to foreign countries every year, in addition to +supplying our own people more cheaply and abundantly than any other +nation is able to provide for its people. Successful manufacturing +depends primarily on cheap food, which accounts to a considerable +extent for our growth in this direction. The Department of Agriculture, +by careful inspection of meats, guards the health of our people and +gives clean bills of health to deserving exports; it is prepared to +deal promptly with imported diseases of animals, and maintain the +excellence of our flocks and herds in this respect. There should be an +annual census of the live stock of the Nation. + +We sell abroad about six hundred million dollars' worth of plants and +their products every year. Strenuous efforts are being made to import +from foreign countries such grains as are suitable to our varying +localities. Seven years ago we bought three-fourths of our rice; by +helping the rice growers on the Gulf coast to secure seeds from the +Orient suited to their conditions, and by giving them adequate +protection, they now supply home demand and export to the islands of +the Caribbean Sea and to other rice-growing countries. Wheat and other +grains have been imported from light-rainfall countries to our lands in +the West and Southwest that have not grown crops because of light +precipitation, resulting in an extensive addition to our cropping area +and our home-making territory that can not be irrigated. Ten million +bushels of first-class macaroni wheat were grown from these +experimental importations last year. Fruits suitable to our soils and +climates are being imported from all the countries of the Old +World--the fig from Turkey, the almond from Spain, the date from +Algeria, the mango from India. We are helping our fruit growers to get +their crops into European markets by studying methods of preservation +through refrigeration, packing, and handling, which have been quite +successful. We are helping our hop growers by importing varieties that +ripen earlier and later than the kinds they have been raising, thereby +lengthening the harvesting season. The cotton crop of the country is +threatened with root rot, the bollworm, and the boll weevil. Our +pathologists will find immune varieties that will resist the root +disease, and the bollworm can be dealt with, but the boll weevil is a +serious menace to the cotton crop. It is a Central American insect that +has become acclimated in Texas and has done great damage. A scientist +of the Department of Agriculture has found the weevil at home in +Guatemala being kept in check by an ant, which has been brought to our +cotton fields for observation. It is hoped that it may serve a good +purpose. + +The soils of the country are getting attention from the farmer's +standpoint, and interesting results are following. We have duplicates +of the soils that grow the wrapper tobacco in Sumatra and the filler +tobacco in Cuba. It will be only a question of time when the large +amounts paid to these countries will be paid to our own people. The +reclamation of alkali lands is progressing, to give object lessons to +our people in methods by which worthless lands may be made productive. + +The insect friends and enemies of the farmer are getting attention. The +enemy of the San Jose scale was found near the Great Wall of China, and +is now cleaning up all our orchards. The fig-fertilizing insect +imported from Turkey has helped to establish an industry in California +that amounts to from fifty to one hundred tons of dried figs annually, +and is extending over the Pacific coast. A parasitic fly from South +Africa is keeping in subjection the black scale, the worst pest of the +orange and lemon industry in California. + +Careful preliminary work is being done towards producing our own silk. +The mulberry is being distributed in large numbers, eggs are being +imported and distributed, improved reels were imported from Europe last +year, and two expert reelers were brought to Washington to reel the +crop of cocoons and teach the art to our own people. + +The crop-reporting system of the Department of Agriculture is being +brought closer to accuracy every year. It has two hundred and fifty +thousand reporters selected from people in eight vocations in life. It +has arrangements with most European countries for interchange of +estimates, so that our people may know as nearly as possible with what +they must compete. + +During the two and a half years that have elapsed since the passage of +the reclamation act rapid progress has been made in the surveys and +examinations of the opportunities for reclamation in the thirteen +States and three Territories of the arid West. Construction has already +been begun on the largest and most important of the irrigation works, +and plans are being completed for works which will utilize the funds +now available. The operations are being carried on by the Reclamation +Service, a corps of engineers selected through competitive +civil-service examinations. This corps includes experienced consulting +and constructing engineers as well as various experts in mechanical and +legal matters, and is composed largely of men who have spent most of +their lives in practical affairs connected with irrigation. The larger +problems have been solved and it now remains to execute with care, +economy, and thoroughness the work which has been laid out. All +important details are being carefully considered by boards of +consulting engineers, selected for their thorough knowledge and +practical experience. Each project is taken up on the ground by +competent men and viewed from the standpoint of the creation of +prosperous homes, and of promptly refunding to the Treasury the cost of +construction. The reclamation act has been found to be remarkably +complete and effective, and so broad in its provisions that a wide +range of undertakings has been possible under it. At the same time, +economy is guaranteed by the fact that the funds must ultimately be +returned to be used over again. + +It is the cardinal principle of the forest-reserve policy of this +Administration that the reserves are for use. Whatever interferes with +the use of their resources is to be avoided by every possible means. +But these resources must be used in such a way as to make them +permanent. + +The forest policy of the Government is just now a subject of vivid +public interest throughout the West and to the people of the United +States in general. The forest reserves themselves are of extreme value +to the present as well as to the future welfare of all the western +public-land States. They powerfully affect the use and disposal of the +public lands. They are of special importance because they preserve the +water supply and the supply of timber for domestic purposes, and so +promote settlement under the reclamation act. Indeed, they are +essential to the welfare of every one of the great interests of the +West. + +Forest reserves are created for two principal purposes. The first is to +preserve the water supply. This is their most important use. The +principal users of the water thus preserved are irrigation ranchers and +settlers, cities and towns to whom their municipal water supplies are +of the very first importance, users and furnishers of water power, and +the users of water for domestic, manufacturing, mining, and other +purposes. All these are directly dependent upon the forest reserves. + +The second reason for which forest reserves are created is to preserve +the timber supply for various classes of wood users. Among the more +important of these are settlers under the reclamation act and other +acts, for whom a cheap and accessible supply of timber for domestic +uses is absolutely necessary; miners and prospectors, who are in +serious danger of losing their timber supply by fire or through export +by lumber companies when timber lands adjacent to their mines pass into +private ownership; lumbermen, transportation companies, builders, and +commercial interests in general. + +Although the wisdom of creating forest reserves is nearly everywhere +heartily recognized, yet in a few localities there has been +misunderstanding and complaint. The following statement is therefore +desirable: + +The forest reserve policy can be successful only when it has the full +support of the people of the West. It can not safely, and should not in +any case, be imposed upon them against their will. But neither can we +accept the views of those whose only interest in the forest is +temporary; who are anxious to reap what they have not sown and then +move away, leaving desolation behind them. On the contrary, it is +everywhere and always the interest of the permanent settler and the +permanent business man, the man with a stake in the country, which must +be considered and which must decide. + +The making of forest reserves within railroad and wagon-road land-grant +limits will hereafter, as for the past three years, be so managed as to +prevent the issue, under the act of June 4, 1897, of base for exchange +or lieu selection (usually called scrip). In all cases where forest +reserves within areas covered by land grants appear to be essential to +the prosperity of settlers, miners, or others, the Government lands +within such proposed forest reserves will, as in the recent past, be +withdrawn from sale or entry pending the completion of such +negotiations with the owners of the land grants as will prevent the +creation of so-called scrip. + +It was formerly the custom to make forest reserves without first +getting definite and detailed information as to the character of land +and timber within their boundaries. This method of action often +resulted in badly chosen boundaries and consequent injustice to +settlers and others. Therefore this Administration adopted the present +method of first withdrawing the land from disposal, followed by careful +examination on the ground and the preparation of detailed maps and +descriptions, before any forest reserve is created. + +I have repeatedly called attention to the confusion which exists in +Government forest matters because the work is scattered among three +independent organizations. The United States is the only one of the +great nations in which the forest work of the Government is not +concentrated under one department, in consonance with the plainest +dictates of good administration and common sense. The present +arrangement is bad from every point of view. Merely to mention it is to +prove that it should be terminated at once. As I have repeatedly +recommended, all the forest work of the Government should be +concentrated in the Department of Agriculture, where the larger part of +that work is already done, where practically all of the trained +foresters of the Government are employed, where chiefly in Washington +there is comprehensive first-class knowledge of the problems of the +reserves acquired on the ground, where all problems relating to growth +from the soil are already gathered, and where all the sciences +auxiliary to forestry are at hand for prompt and effective +co-operation. These reasons are decisive in themselves, but it should +be added that the great organizations of citizens whose interests are +affected by the forest-reserves, such as the National Live Stock +Association, the National Wool Growers' Association, the American +Mining Congress, the national Irrigation Congress, and the National +Board of Trade, have uniformly, emphatically, and most of them +repeatedly, expressed themselves in favor of placing all Government +forest work in the Department of Agriculture because of the peculiar +adaptation of that Department for it. It is true, also, that the forest +services of nearly all the great nations of the world are under the +respective departments of agriculture, while in but two of the smaller +nations and in one colony are they under the department of the +interior. This is the result of long and varied experience and it +agrees fully with the requirements of good administration in our own +case. + +The creation of a forest service in the Department of Agriculture will +have for its important results: + +First. A better handling of all forest work; because it will be under a +single head, and because the vast and indispensable experience of the +Department in all matters pertaining to the forest reserves, to +forestry in general, and to other forms of production from the soil, +will be easily and rapidly accessible. + +Second. The reserves themselves, being handled from the point of view +of the man in the field, instead of the man in the office, will be more +easily and more widely useful to the people of the West than has been +the case hitherto. + +Third. Within a comparatively short time the reserves will become +self-supporting. This is important, because continually and rapidly +increasing appropriations will be necessary for the proper care of this +exceedingly important interest of the Nation, and they can and should +he offset by returns from the National forests. Under similar +circumstances the forest possessions of other great nations form an +important source of revenue to their governments. + +Every administrative officer concerned is convinced of the necessity +for the proposed consolidation of forest work in the Department of +Agriculture, and I myself have urged it more than once in former +messages. Again I commend it to the early and favorable consideration +of the Congress. The interests of the Nation at large and of the West +in particular have suffered greatly because of the delay. + +I call the attention of the Congress again to the report and +recommendation of the Commission on the Public Lands forwarded by me to +the second session of the present Congress. The Commission has +prosecuted its investigations actively during the past season, and a +second report is now in an advanced stage of preparation. + +In connection with the work of the forest reserves I desire again to +urge upon the Congress the importance of authorizing the President to +set aside certain portions of these reserves or other public lands as +game refuges for the preservation of the bison, the wapiti, and other +large beasts once so abundant in our woods and mountains and on our +great plains, and now tending toward extinction. Every support should +be given to the authorities of the Yellowstone Park in their successful +efforts at preserving the large creatures therein; and at very little +expense portions of the public domain in other regions which are wholly +unsuited to agricultural settlement could be similarly utilized. We owe +it to future generations to keep alive the noble and beautiful +creatures which by their presence add such distinctive character to the +American wilderness. The limits of the Yellowstone Park should be +extended southwards. The Canyon of the Colorado should be made a +national park; and the national-park system should include the Yosemite +and as many as possible of the groves of giant trees in California. + +The veterans of the Civil War have a claim upon the Nation such as no +other body of our citizens possess. The Pension Bureau has never in its +history been managed in a more satisfactory manner than is now the +case. + +The progress of the Indians toward civilization, though not rapid, is +perhaps all that could be hoped for in view of the circumstances. +Within the past year many tribes have shown, in a degree greater than +ever before, an appreciation of the necessity of work. This changed +attitude is in part due to the policy recently pursued of reducing the +amount of subsistence to the Indians, and thus forcing them, through +sheer necessity, to work for a livelihood. The policy, though severe, +is a useful one, but it is to be exercised only with judgment and with +a full understanding of the conditions which exist in each community +for which it is intended. On or near the Indian reservations there is +usually very little demand for labor, and if the Indians are to earn +their living and when work can not be furnished from outside (which is +always preferable), then it must be furnished by the Government. +Practical instruction of this kind would in a few years result in the +forming of habits of regular industry, which would render the Indian a +producer and would effect a great reduction in the cost of his +maintenance. + +It is commonly declared that the slow advance of the Indians is due to +the unsatisfactory character of the men appointed to take immediate +charge of them, and to some extent this is true. While the standard of +the employees in the Indian Service shows great improvement over that +of bygone years, and while actual corruption or flagrant dishonesty is +now the rare exception, it is nevertheless the fact that the salaries +paid Indian agents are not large enough to attract the best men to that +field of work. To achieve satisfactory results the official in charge +of an Indian tribe should possess the high qualifications which are +required in the manager of a large business, but only in exceptional +cases is it possible to secure men of such a type for these positions. +Much better service, however, might be obtained from those now holding +the places were it practicable to get out of them the best that is in +them, and this should be done by bringing them constantly into closer +touch with their superior officers. An agent who has been content to +draw his salary, giving in return the least possible equivalent in +effort and service, may, by proper treatment, by suggestion and +encouragement, or persistent urging, be stimulated to greater effort +and induced to take a more active personal interest in his work. + +Under existing conditions an Indian agent in the distant West may be +wholly out of touch with the office of the Indian Bureau. He may very +well feel that no one takes a personal interest in him or his efforts. +Certain routine duties in the way of reports and accounts are required +of him, but there is no one with whom he may intelligently consult on +matters vital to his work, except after long delay. Such a man would be +greatly encouraged and aided by personal contact with some one whose +interest in Indian affairs and whose authority in the Indian Bureau +were greater than his own, and such contact would be certain to arouse +and constantly increase the interest he takes in his work. + +The distance which separates the agents--the workers in the field--from +the Indian Office in Washington is a chief obstacle to Indian progress. +Whatever shall more closely unite these two branches of the Indian +Service, and shall enable them to co-operate more heartily and more +effectively, will be for the increased efficiency of the work and the +betterment of the race for whose improvement the Indian Bureau was +established. The appointment of a field assistant to the Commissioner +of Indian Affairs would be certain to insure this good end. Such an +official, if possessed of the requisite energy and deep interest in the +work, would be a most efficient factor in bringing into closer +relationship and a more direct union of effort the Bureau in Washington +and its agents in the field; and with the co-operation of its branches +thus secured the Indian Bureau would, in measure fuller than ever +before, lift up the savage toward that self-help and self-reliance +which constitute the man. + +In 1907 there will be held at Hampton Roads the tricentennial +celebration of the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, with which the +history of what has now become the United States really begins. I +commend this to your favorable consideration. It is an event of prime +historic significance, in which all the people of the United States +should feel, and should show, great and general interest. + +In the Post-Office Department the service has increased in efficiency, +and conditions as to revenue and expenditure continue satisfactory. The +increase of revenue during the year was $9,358,181.10, or 6.9 per cent, +the total receipts amounting to $143,382,624.34. The expenditures were +$152,362,116.70, an increase of about 9 per cent over the previous +year, being thus $8,979,492.36 in excess of the current revenue. +Included in these expenditures was a total appropriation of +$152,956,637.35 for the continuation and extension of the rural +free-delivery service, which was an increase of $4,902,237.35 over the +amount expended for this purpose in the preceding fiscal year. Large as +this expenditure has been the beneficent results attained in extending +the free distribution of mails to the residents of rural districts have +justified the wisdom of the outlay. Statistics brought down to the 1st +of October, 1904, show that on that date there were 27,138 rural routes +established, serving approximately 12,000,000 of people in rural +districts remote from post-offices, and that there were pending at that +time 3,859 petitions for the establishment of new rural routes. +Unquestionably some part of the general increase in receipts is due to +the increased postal facilities which the rural service has afforded. +The revenues have also been aided greatly by amendments in the +classification of mail matter, and the curtailment of abuses of the +second-class mailing privilege. The average increase in the volume of +mail matter for the period beginning with 1902 and ending June, 1905 +(that portion for 1905 being estimated), is 40.47 per cent, as compared +with 25.46 per cent for the period immediately preceding, and 15.92 for +the four-year period immediately preceding that. + +Our consular system needs improvement. Salaries should be substituted +for fees, and the proper classification, grading, and transfer of +consular officers should be provided. I am not prepared to say that a +competitive system of examinations for appointment would work well; but +by law it should be provided that consuls should be familiar, according +to places for which they apply, with the French, German, or Spanish +languages, and should possess acquaintance with the resources of the +United States. + +The collection of objects of art contemplated in section 5586 of the +Revised Statutes should be designated and established as a National +Gallery of Art; and the Smithsonian Institution should be authorized to +accept any additions to said collection that may be received by gift, +bequest, or devise. + +It is desirable to enact a proper National quarantine law. It is most +undesirable that a State should on its own initiative enforce +quarantine regulations which are in effect a restriction upon +interstate and international commerce. The question should properly be +assumed by the Government alone. The Surgeon-General of the National +Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service has repeatedly and +convincingly set forth the need for such legislation. + +I call your attention to the great extravagance in printing and binding +Government publications, and especially to the fact that altogether too +many of these publications are printed. There is a constant tendency to +increase their number and their volume. It is an understatement to say +that no appreciable harm would be caused by, and substantial benefit +would accrue from, decreasing the amount of printing now done by at +least one-half. Probably the great majority of the Government reports +and the like now printed are never read at all, and furthermore the +printing of much of the material contained in many of the remaining +ones serves no useful purpose whatever. + +The attention of the Congress should be especially given to the +currency question, and that the standing committees on the matter in +the two Houses charged with the duty, take up the matter of our +currency and see whether it is not possible to secure an agreement in +the business world for bettering the system; the committees should +consider the question of the retirement of the greenbacks and the +problem of securing in our currency such elasticity as is consistent +with safety. Every silver dollar should be made by law redeemable in +gold at the option of the holder. + +I especially commend to your immediate attention the encouragement of +our merchant marine by appropriate legislation. + +The growing importance of the Orient as a field for American exports +drew from my predecessor, President McKinley, an urgent request for its +special consideration by the Congress. In his message of 1898 he +stated: + +"In this relation, as showing the peculiar volume and value of our +trade with China and the peculiarly favorable conditions which exist +for their expansion in the normal course of trade, I refer to the +communication addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives +by the Secretary of the Treasury on the 14th of last June, with its +accompanying letter of the Secretary of State, recommending an +appropriation for a commission to study the industrial and commercial +conditions in the Chinese Empire and to report as to the opportunities +for and the obstacles to the enlargement of markets in China for the +raw products and manufactures of the United States. Action was not +taken thereon during the last session. I cordially urge that the +recommendation receive at your hands the consideration which its +importance and timeliness merit." + +In his annual message of 1889 he again called attention to this +recommendation, quoting it, and stated further: + +"I now renew this recommendation, as the importance of the subject has +steadily grown since it was first submitted to you, and no time should +be lost in studying for ourselves the resources of this great field for +American trade and enterprise." + +The importance of securing proper information and data with a view to +the enlargement of our trade with Asia is undiminished. Our consular +representatives in China have strongly urged a place for permanent +display of American products in some prominent trade center of that +Empire, under Government control and management, as an effective means +of advancing our export trade therein. I call the attention of the +Congress to the desirability of carrying out these suggestions. + +In dealing with the questions of immigration and naturalization it is +indispensable to keep certain facts ever before the minds of those who +share in enacting the laws. First and foremost, let us remember that +the question of being a good American has nothing whatever to do with a +man's birthplace any more than it has to do with his creed. In every +generation from the time this Government was founded men of foreign +birth have stood in the very foremost rank of good citizenship, and +that not merely in one but in every field of American activity; while +to try to draw a distinction between the man whose parents came to this +country and the man whose ancestors came to it several generations back +is a mere absurdity. Good Americanism is a matter of heart, of +conscience, of lofty aspiration, of sound common sense, but not of +birthplace or of creed. The medal of honor, the highest prize to be won +by those who serve in the Army and the Navy of the United States +decorates men born here, and it also decorates men born in Great +Britain and Ireland, in Germany, in Scandinavia, in France, and +doubtless in other countries also. In the field of statesmanship, in +the field of business, in the field of philanthropic endeavor, it is +equally true that among the men of whom we are most proud as Americans +no distinction whatever can be drawn between those who themselves or +whose parents came over in sailing ship or steamer from across the +water and those whose ancestors stepped ashore into the wooded +wilderness at Plymouth or at the mouth of the Hudson, the Delaware, or +the James nearly three centuries ago. No fellow-citizen of ours is +entitled to any peculiar regard because of the way in which he worships +his Maker, or because of the birthplace of himself or his parents, nor +should he be in any way discriminated against therefor. Each must stand +on his worth as a man and each is entitled to be judged solely thereby. + +There is no danger of having too many immigrants of the right kind. It +makes no difference from what country they come. If they are sound in +body and in mind, and, above all, if they are of good character, so +that we can rest assured that their children and grandchildren will be +worthy fellow-citizens of our children and grandchildren, then we +should welcome them with cordial hospitality. + +But the citizenship of this country should not be debased. It is vital +that we should keep high the standard of well-being among our +wage-workers, and therefore we should not admit masses of men whose +standards of living and whose personal customs and habits are such that +they tend to lower the level of the American wage-worker; and above all +we should not admit any man of an unworthy type, any man concerning +whom we can say that he will himself be a bad citizen, or that his +children and grandchildren will detract from instead of adding to the +sum of the good citizenship of the country. Similarly we should take +the greatest care about naturalization. Fraudulent naturalization, the +naturalization of improper persons, is a curse to our Government; and +it is the affair of every honest voter, wherever born, to see that no +fraudulent voting is allowed, that no fraud in connection with +naturalization is permitted. + +In the past year the cases of false, fraudulent, and improper +naturalization of aliens coming to the attention of the executive +branches of the Government have increased to an alarming degree. +Extensive sales of forged certificates of naturalization have been +discovered, as well as many cases of naturalization secured by perjury +and fraud; and in addition, instances have accumulated showing that +many courts issue certificates of naturalization carelessly and upon +insufficient evidence. + +Under the Constitution it is in the power of the Congress "to establish +a uniform rule of naturalization," and numerous laws have from time to +time been enacted for that purpose, which have been supplemented in a +few States by State laws having special application. The Federal +statutes permit naturalization by any court of record in the United +States having common-law jurisdiction and a seal and clerk, except the +police court of the District of Columbia, and nearly all these courts +exercise this important function. It results that where so many courts +of such varying grades have jurisdiction, there is lack of uniformity +in the rules applied in conferring naturalization. Some courts are +strict and others lax. An alien who may secure naturalization in one +place might be denied it in another, and the intent of the +constitutional provision is in fact defeated. Furthermore, the +certificates of naturalization issued by the courts differ widely in +wording and appearance, and when they are brought into use in foreign +countries, are frequently subject to suspicion. + +There should be a comprehensive revision of the naturalization laws. +The courts having power to naturalize should be definitely named by +national authority; the testimony upon which naturalization may be +conferred should be definitely prescribed; publication of impending +naturalization applications should be required in advance of their +hearing in court; the form and wording of all certificates issued +should be uniform throughout the country, and the courts should be +required to make returns to the Secretary of State at stated periods of +all naturalizations conferred. + +Not only are the laws relating to naturalization now defective, but +those relating to citizenship of the United States ought also to be +made the subject of scientific inquiry with a view to probable further +legislation. By what acts expatriation may be assumed to have been +accomplished, how long an American citizen may reside abroad and +receive the protection of our passport, whether any degree of +protection should be extended to one who has made the declaration of +intention to become a citizen of the United States but has not secured +naturalization, are questions of serious import, involving personal +rights and often producing friction between this Government and foreign +governments. Yet upon these question our laws are silent. I recommend +that an examination be made into the subjects of citizenship, +expatriation, and protection of Americans abroad, with a view to +appropriate legislation. + +The power of the Government to protect the integrity of the elections +of its own officials is inherent and has been recognized and affirmed +by repeated declarations of the Supreme Court. There is no enemy of +free government more dangerous and none so insidious as the corruption +of the electorate. No one defends or excuses corruption, and it would +seem to follow that none would oppose vigorous measures to eradicate +it. I recommend the enactment of a law directed against bribery and +corruption in Federal elections. The details of such a law may be +safely left to the wise discretion of the Congress, but it should go as +far as under the Constitution it is possible to go, and should include +severe penalties against him who gives or receives a bribe intended to +influence his act or opinion as an elector; and provisions for the +publication not only of the expenditures for nominations and elections +of all candidates but also of all contributions received and +expenditures made by political committees. + +No subject is better worthy the attention of the Congress than that +portion of the report of the Attorney-General dealing with the long +delays and the great obstruction to justice experienced in the cases of +Beavers, Green and Gaynor, and Benson. Were these isolated and special +cases, I should not call your attention to them; but the difficulties +encountered as regards these men who have been indicted for criminal +practices are not exceptional; they are precisely similar in kind to +what occurs again and again in the case of criminals who have +sufficient means to enable them to take advantage of a system of +procedure which has grown up in the Federal courts and which amounts in +effect to making the law easy of enforcement against the man who has no +money, and difficult of enforcement, even to the point of sometimes +securing immunity, as regards the man who has money. In criminal cases +the writ of the United States should run throughout its borders. The +wheels of justice should not be clogged, as they have been clogged in +the cases above mentioned, where it has proved absolutely impossible to +bring the accused to the place appointed by the Constitution for his +trial. Of recent years there has been grave and increasing complaint of +the difficulty of bringing to justice those criminals whose +criminality, instead of being against one person in the Republic, is +against all persons in the Republic, because it is against the Republic +itself. Under any circumstance and from the very nature of the case it +is often exceedingly difficult to secure proper punishment of those who +have been guilty of wrongdoing against the Government. By the time the +offender can be brought into court the popular wrath against him has +generally subsided; and there is in most instances very slight danger +indeed of any prejudice existing in the minds of the jury against him. +At present the interests of the innocent man are amply safeguarded; but +the interests of the Government, that is, the interests of honest +administration, that is the interests of the people, are not recognized +as they should be. No subject better warrants the attention of the +Congress. Indeed, no subject better warrants the attention of the bench +and the bar throughout the United States. + +Alaska, like all our Territorial acquisitions, has proved resourceful +beyond the expectations of those who made the purchase. It has become +the home of many hardy, industrious, and thrifty American citizens. +Towns of a permanent character have been built. The extent of its +wealth in minerals, timber, fisheries, and agriculture, while great, is +probably not comprehended yet in any just measure by our people. We do +know, however, that from a very small beginning its products have grown +until they are a steady and material contribution to the wealth of the +nation. Owing to the immensity of Alaska and its location in the far +north, it is a difficult matter to provide many things essential to its +growth and to the happiness and comfort of its people by private +enterprise alone. It should, therefore, receive reasonable aid from the +Government. The Government has already done excellent work for Alaska +in laying cables and building telegraph lines. This work has been done +in the most economical and efficient way by the Signal Corps of the +Army. + +In some respects it has outgrown its present laws, while in others +those laws have been found to be inadequate. In order to obtain +information upon which I could rely I caused an official of the +Department of Justice, in whose judgment I have confidence, to visit +Alaska during the past summer for the purpose of ascertaining how +government is administered there and what legislation is actually +needed at present. A statement of the conditions found to exist, +together with some recommendations and the reasons therefor, in which I +strongly concur, will be found in the annual report of the +Attorney-General. In some instances I feel that the legislation +suggested is so imperatively needed that I am moved briefly to +emphasize the Attorney-General's proposals. + +Under the Code of Alaska as it now stands many purely administrative +powers and duties, including by far the most important, devolve upon +the district judges or upon the clerks of the district court acting +under the direction of the judges, while the governor, upon whom these +powers and duties should logically fall, has nothing specific to do +except to make annual reports, issue Thanksgiving Day proclamations, +and appoint Indian policemen and notaries public. I believe it +essential to good government in Alaska, and therefore recommend, that +the Congress divest the district judges and the clerks of their courts +of the administrative or executive functions that they now exercise and +cast them upon the governor. This would not be an innovation; it would +simply conform the government of Alaska to fundamental principles, +making the governorship a real instead of a merely nominal office, and +leaving the judges free to give their entire attention to their +judicial duties and at the same time removing them from a great deal of +the strife that now embarrasses the judicial office in Alaska. + +I also recommend that the salaries of the district judges and district +attorneys in Alaska be increased so as to make them equal to those +received by corresponding officers in the United States after deducting +the difference in the cost of living; that the district attorneys +should be prohibited from engaging in private practice; that United +States commissioners be appointed by the governor of the Territory +instead of by the district judges, and that a fixed salary be provided +for them to take the place of the discredited "fee system," which +should be abolished in all offices; that a mounted constabulary be +created to police the territory outside the limits of incorporated +towns--a vast section now wholly without police protection; and that +some provision be made to at least lessen the oppressive delays and +costs that now attend the prosecution of appeals from the district +court of Alaska. There should be a division of the existing judicial +districts, and an increase in the number of judges. + +Alaska should have a Delegate in the Congress. Where possible, the +Congress should aid in the construction of needed wagon roads. +Additional light-houses should be provided. In my judgment, it is +especially important to aid in such manner as seems just and feasible +in the construction of a trunk line of railway to connect the Gulf of +Alaska with the Yukon River through American territory. This would be +most beneficial to the development of the resources of the Territory, +and to the comfort and welfare of its people. + +Salmon hatcheries should be established in many different streams, so +as to secure the preservation of this valuable food fish. Salmon +fisheries and canneries should be prohibited on certain of the rivers +where the mass of those Indians dwell who live almost exclusively on +fish. + +The Alaskan natives are kindly, intelligent, anxious to learn, and +willing to work. Those who have come under the influence of +civilization, even for a limited period, have proved their capability +of becoming self-supporting, self-respecting citizens, and ask only for +the just enforcement of law and intelligent instruction and +supervision. Others, living in more remote regions, primitive, simple +hunters and fisher folk, who know only the life of the woods and the +waters, are daily being confronted with twentieth-century civilization +with all of its complexities. Their country is being overrun by +strangers, the game slaughtered and driven away, the streams depleted +of fish, and hitherto unknown and fatal diseases brought to them, all +of which combine to produce a state of abject poverty and want which +must result in their extinction. Action in their interest is demanded +by every consideration of justice and humanity. + +The needs of these people are: + +The abolition of the present fee system, whereby the native is +degraded, imposed upon, and taught the injustice of law. + +The establishment of hospitals at central points, so that contagious +diseases that are brought to them continually by incoming whites may be +localized and not allowed to become epidemic, to spread death and +destitution over great areas. + +The development of the educational system in the form of practical +training in such industries as will assure the Indians self-support +under the changed conditions in which they will have to live. + +The duties of the office of the governor should be extended to include +the supervision of Indian affairs, with necessary assistants in +different districts. He should be provided with the means and the power +to protect and advise the native people, to furnish medical treatment +in time of epidemics, and to extend material relief in periods of +famine and extreme destitution. + +The Alaskan natives should be given the right to acquire, hold, and +dispose of property upon the same conditions as given other +inhabitants; and the privilege of citizenship should be given to such +as may be able to meet certain definite requirements. In Hawaii +Congress should give the governor power to remove all the officials +appointed under him. The harbor of Honolulu should be dredged. The +Marine-Hospital Service should be empowered to study leprosy in the +islands. I ask special consideration for the report and recommendation +of the governor of Porto Rico. + +In treating of our foreign policy and of the attitude that this great +Nation should assume in the world at large, it is absolutely necessary +to consider the Army and the Navy, and the Congress, through which the +thought of the Nation finds its expression, should keep ever vividly in +mind the fundamental fact that it is impossible to treat our foreign +policy, whether this policy takes shape in the effort to secure justice +for others or justice for ourselves, save as conditioned upon the +attitude we are willing to take toward our Army, and especially toward +our Navy. It is not merely unwise, it is contemptible, for a nation, as +for an individual, to use high-sounding language to proclaim its +purposes, or to take positions which are ridiculous if unsupported by +potential force, and then to refuse to provide this force. If there is +no intention of providing and of keeping the force necessary to back up +a strong attitude, then it is far better not to assume such an +attitude. + +The steady aim of this Nation, as of all enlightened nations, should be +to strive to bring ever nearer the day when there shall prevail +throughout the world the peace of justice. There are kinds of peace +which are highly undesirable, which are in the long run as destructive +as any war. Tyrants and oppressors have many times made a wilderness +and called it peace. Many times peoples who were slothful or timid or +shortsighted, who had been enervated by ease or by luxury, or misled by +false teachings, have shrunk in unmanly fashion from doing duty that +was stern and that needed self-sacrifice, and have sought to hide from +their own minds their shortcomings, their ignoble motives, by calling +them love of peace. The peace of tyrannous terror, the peace of craven +weakness, the peace of injustice, all these should be shunned as we +shun unrighteous war. The goal to set before us as a nation, the goal +which should be set before all mankind, is the attainment of the peace +of justice, of the peace which comes when each nation is not merely +safe-guarded in its own rights, but scrupulously recognizes and +performs its duty toward others. Generally peace tells for +righteousness; but if there is conflict between the two, then our +fealty is due-first to the cause of righteousness. Unrighteous wars are +common, and unrighteous peace is rare; but both should be shunned. The +right of freedom and the responsibility for the exercise of that right +can not be divorced. One of our great poets has well and finely said +that freedom is not a gift that tarries long in the hands of cowards. +Neither does it tarry long in the hands of those too slothful, too +dishonest, or too unintelligent to exercise it. The eternal vigilance +which is the price of liberty must be exercised, sometimes to guard +against outside foes; although of course far more often to guard +against our own selfish or thoughtless shortcomings. + +If these self-evident truths are kept before us, and only if they are +so kept before us, we shall have a clear idea of what our foreign +policy in its larger aspects should be. It is our duty to remember that +a nation has no more right to do injustice to another nation, strong or +weak, than an individual has to do injustice to another individual; +that the same moral law applies in one case as in the other. But we +must also remember that it is as much the duty of the Nation to guard +its own rights and its own interests as it is the duty of the +individual so to do. Within the Nation the individual has now delegated +this right to the State, that is, to the representative of all the +individuals, and it is a maxim of the law that for every wrong there is +a remedy. But in international law we have not advanced by any means as +far as we have advanced in municipal law. There is as yet no judicial +way of enforcing a right in international law. When one nation wrongs +another or wrongs many others, there is no tribunal before which the +wrongdoer can be brought. Either it is necessary supinely to acquiesce +in the wrong, and thus put a premium upon brutality and aggression, or +else it is necessary for the aggrieved nation valiantly to stand up for +its rights. Until some method is devised by which there shall be a +degree of international control over offending nations, it would be a +wicked thing for the most civilized powers, for those with most sense +of international obligations and with keenest and most generous +appreciation of the difference between right and wrong, to disarm. If +the great civilized nations of the present day should completely +disarm, the result would mean an immediate recrudescence of barbarism +in one form or another. Under any circumstances a sufficient armament +would have to be kept up to serve the purposes of international police; +and until international cohesion and the sense of international duties +and rights are far more advanced than at present, a nation desirous +both of securing respect for itself and of doing good to others must +have a force adequate for the work which it feels is allotted to it as +its part of the general world duty. Therefore it follows that a +self-respecting, just, and far-seeing nation should on the one hand +endeavor by every means to aid in the development of the various +movements which tend to provide substitutes for war, which tend to +render nations in their actions toward one another, and indeed toward +their own peoples, more responsive to the general sentiment of humane +and civilized mankind; and on the other hand that it should keep +prepared, while scrupulously avoiding wrongdoing itself, to repel any +wrong, and in exceptional cases to take action which in a more advanced +stage of international relations would come under the head of the +exercise of the international police. A great free people owes it to +itself and to all mankind not to sink into helplessness before the +powers of evil. + +We are in every way endeavoring to help on, with cordial good will, +every movement which will tend to bring us into more friendly relations +with the rest of mankind. In pursuance of this policy I shall shortly +lay before the Senate treaties of arbitration with all powers which are +willing to enter into these treaties with us. It is not possible at +this period of the world's development to agree to arbitrate all +matters, but there are many matters of possible difference between us +and other nations which can be thus arbitrated. Furthermore, at the +request of the Interparliamentary Union, an eminent body composed of +practical statesmen from all countries, I have asked the Powers to join +with this Government in a second Hague conference, at which it is hoped +that the work already so happily begun at The Hague may be carried some +steps further toward completion. This carries out the desire expressed +by the first Hague conference itself. + +It is not true that the United States feels any land hunger or +entertains any projects as regards the other nations of the Western +Hemisphere save such as are for their welfare. All that this country +desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and +prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count +upon our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act +with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, +if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no +interference from the United States. Chronic wrongdoing, or an +impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized +society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention +by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence +of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United +States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or +impotence, to the exercise of an international police power. If every +country washed by the Caribbean Sea would show the progress in stable +and just civilization which with the aid of the Platt amendment Cuba +has shown since our troops left the island, and which so many of the +republics in both Americas are constantly and brilliantly showing, all +question of interference by this Nation with their affairs would be at +an end. Our interests and those of our southern neighbors are in +reality identical. They have great natural riches, and if within their +borders the reign of law and justice obtains, prosperity is sure to +come to them. While they thus obey the primary laws of civilized +society they may rest assured that they will be treated by us in a +spirit of cordial and helpful sympathy. We would interfere with them +only in the last resort, and then only if it became evident that their +inability or unwillingness to do justice at home and abroad had +violated the rights of the United States or had invited foreign +aggression to the detriment of the entire body of American nations. It +is a mere truism to say that every nation, whether in America or +anywhere else, which desires to maintain its freedom, its independence, +must ultimately realize that the right of such independence can not be +separated from the responsibility of making good use of it. + +In asserting the Monroe Doctrine, in taking such steps as we have taken +in regard to Cuba, Venezuela, and Panama, and in endeavoring to +circumscribe the theater of war in the Far East, and to secure the open +door in China, we have acted in our own interest as well as in the +interest of humanity at large. There are, however, cases in which, +while our own interests are not greatly involved, strong appeal is made +to our sympathies. Ordinarily it is very much wiser and more useful for +us to concern ourselves with striving for our own moral and material +betterment here at home than to concern ourselves with trying to better +the condition of things in other nations. We have plenty of sins of our +own to war against, and under ordinary circumstances we can do more for +the general uplifting of humanity by striving with heart and soul to +put a stop to civic corruption, to brutal lawlessness and violent race +prejudices here at home than by passing resolutions about wrongdoing +elsewhere. Nevertheless there are occasional crimes committed on so +vast a scale and of such peculiar horror as to make us doubt whether it +is not our manifest duty to endeavor at least to show our disapproval +of the deed and our sympathy with those who have suffered by it. The +cases must be extreme in which such a course is justifiable. There must +be no effort made to remove the mote from our brother's eye if we +refuse to remove the beam from our own. But in extreme cases action may +be justifiable and proper. What form the action shall take must depend +upon the circumstances of the case; that is, upon the degree of the +atrocity and upon our power to remedy it. The cases in which we could +interfere by force of arms as we interfered to put a stop to +intolerable conditions in Cuba are necessarily very few. Yet it is not +to be expected that a people like ours, which in spite of certain very +obvious shortcomings, nevertheless as a whole shows by its consistent +practice its belief in the principles of civil and religious liberty +and of orderly freedom, a people among whom even the worst crime, like +the crime of lynching, is never more than sporadic, so that individuals +and not classes are molested in their fundamental rights--it is +inevitable that such a nation should desire eagerly to give expression +to its horror on an occasion like that of the massacre of the Jews in +Kishenef, or when it witnesses such systematic and long-extended +cruelty and oppression as the cruelty and oppression of which the +Armenians have been the victims, and which have won for them the +indignant pity of the civilized world. + +Even where it is not possible to secure in other nations the observance +of the principles which we accept as axiomatic, it is necessary for us +firmly to insist upon the rights of our own citizens without regard to +their creed or race; without regard to whether they were born here or +born abroad. It has proved very difficult to secure from Russia the +right for our Jewish fellow-citizens to receive passports and travel +through Russian territory. Such conduct is not only unjust and +irritating toward us, but it is difficult to see its wisdom from +Russia's standpoint. No conceivable good is accomplished by it. If an +American Jew or an American Christian misbehaves himself in Russia he +can at once be driven out; but the ordinary American Jew, like the +ordinary American Christian, would behave just about as he behaves +here, that is, behave as any good citizen ought to behave; and where +this is the case it is a wrong against which we are entitled to protest +to refuse him his passport without regard to his conduct and character, +merely on racial and religious grounds. In Turkey our difficulties +arise less from the way in which our citizens are sometimes treated +than from the indignation inevitably excited in seeing such fearful +misrule as has been witnessed both in Armenia and Macedonia. + +The strong arm of the Government in enforcing respect for its just +rights in international matters is the Navy of the United States. I +most earnestly recommend that there be no halt in the work of +upbuilding the American Navy. There is no more patriotic duty before us +a people than to keep the Navy adequate to the needs of this country's +position. We have undertaken to build the Isthmian Canal. We have +undertaken to secure for ourselves our just share in the trade of the +Orient. We have undertaken to protect our citizens from proper +treatment in foreign lands. We continue steadily to insist on the +application of the Monroe Doctrine to the Western Hemisphere. Unless +our attitude in these and all similar matters is to be a mere boastful +sham we can not afford to abandon our naval programme. Our voice is now +potent for peace, and is so potent because we are not afraid of war. +But our protestations upon behalf of peace would neither receive nor +deserve the slightest attention if we were impotent to make them good. + +The war which now unfortunately rages in the far East has emphasized in +striking fashion the new possibilities of naval warfare. The lessons +taught are both strategic and tactical, and are political as well as +military. The experiences of the war have shown in conclusive fashion +that while sea-going and sea-keeping torpedo destroyers are +indispensable, and fast lightly armed and armored cruisers very useful, +yet that the main reliance, the main standby, in any navy worthy the +name must be the great battle ships, heavily armored and heavily +gunned. Not a Russian or Japanese battle ship has been sunk by a +torpedo boat, or by gunfire, while among the less protected ships, +cruiser after cruiser has been destroyed whenever the hostile squadrons +have gotten within range of one another's weapons. There will always be +a large field of usefulness for cruisers, especially of the more +formidable type. We need to increase the number of torpedo-boat +destroyers, paying less heed to their having a knot or two extra speed +than to their capacity to keep the seas for weeks, and, if necessary, +for months at a time. It is wise to build submarine torpedo boats, as +under certain circumstances they might be very useful. But most of all +we need to continue building our fleet of battle ships, or ships so +powerfully armed that they can inflict the maximum of damage upon our +opponents, and so well protected that they can suffer a severe +hammering in return without fatal impairment of their ability to fight +and maneuver. Of course ample means must be provided for enabling the +personnel of the Navy to be brought to the highest point of efficiency. +Our great fighting ships and torpedo boats must be ceaselessly trained +and maneuvered in squadrons. The officers and men can only learn their +trade thoroughly by ceaseless practice on the high seas. In the event +of war it would be far better to have no ships at all than to have +ships of a poor and ineffective type, or ships which, however good, +were yet manned by untrained and unskillful crews. The best officers +and men in a poor ship could do nothing against fairly good opponents; +and on the other hand a modern war ship is useless unless the officers +and men aboard her have become adepts in their duties. The marksmanship +in our Navy has improved in an extraordinary degree during the last +three years, and on the whole the types of our battleships are +improving; but much remains to be done. Sooner or later we shall have +to provide for some method by which there will be promotions for merit +as well as for seniority, or else retirement all those who after a +certain age have not advanced beyond a certain grade; while no effort +must be spared to make the service attractive to the enlisted men in +order that they may be kept as long as possible in it. Reservation +public schools should be provided wherever there are navy-yards. + +Within the last three years the United States has set an example in +disarmament where disarmament was proper. By law our Army is fixed at a +maximum of one hundred thousand and a minimum of sixty thousand men. +When there was insurrection in the Philippines we kept the Army at the +maximum. Peace came in the Philippines, and now our Army has been +reduced to the minimum at which it is possible to keep it with due +regard to its efficiency. The guns now mounted require twenty-eight +thousand men, if the coast fortifications are to be adequately manned. +Relatively to the Nation, it is not now so large as the police force of +New York or Chicago relatively to the population of either city. We +need more officers; there are not enough to perform the regular army +work. It is very important that the officers of the Army should be +accustomed to handle their men in masses, as it is also important that +the National Guard of the several States should be accustomed to actual +field maneuvering, especially in connection with the regulars. For this +reason we are to be congratulated upon the success of the field +maneuvers at Manassas last fall, maneuvers in which a larger number of +Regulars and National Guard took part than was ever before assembled +together in time of peace. No other civilized nation has, relatively to +its population, such a diminutive Army as ours; and while the Army is +so small we are not to be excused if we fail to keep it at a very high +grade of proficiency. It must be incessantly practiced; the standard +for the enlisted men should be kept very high, while at the same time +the service should be made as attractive as possible; and the standard +for the officers should be kept even higher--which, as regards the +upper ranks, can best be done by introducing some system of selection +and rejection into the promotions. We should be able, in the event of +some sudden emergency, to put into the field one first-class army +corps, which should be, as a whole, at least the equal of any body of +troops of like number belonging to any other nation. + +Great progress has been made in protecting our coasts by adequate +fortifications with sufficient guns. We should, however, pay much more +heed than at present to the development of an extensive system of +floating mines for use in all our more important harbors. These mines +have been proved to be a most formidable safeguard against hostile +fleets. + +I earnestly call the attention of the Congress to the need of amending +the existing law relating to the award of Congressional medals of honor +in the Navy so as to provide that they may be awarded to commissioned +officers and warrant officers as well as to enlisted men. These justly +prized medals are given in the Army alike to the officers and the +enlisted men, and it is most unjust that the commissioned officers and +warrant officers of the Navy should not in this respect have the same +rights as their brethren in the Army and as the enlisted men of the +Navy. + +In the Philippine Islands there has been during the past year a +continuation of the steady progress which has obtained ever since our +troops definitely got the upper hand of the insurgents. The Philippine +people, or, to speak more accurately, the many tribes, and even races, +sundered from one another more or less sharply, who go to make up the +people of the Philippine Islands, contain many elements of good, and +some elements which we have a right to hope stand for progress. At +present they are utterly incapable of existing in independence at all +or of building up a civilization of their own. I firmly believe that we +can help them to rise higher and higher in the scale of civilization +and of capacity for self-government, and I most earnestly hope that in +the end they will be able to stand, if not entirely alone, yet in some +such relation to the United States as Cuba now stands. This end is not +yet in sight, and it may be indefinitely postponed if our people are +foolish enough to turn the attention of the Filipinos away from the +problems of achieving moral and material prosperity, of working for a +stable, orderly, and just government, and toward foolish and dangerous +intrigues for a complete independence for which they are as yet totally +unfit. + +On the other hand our people must keep steadily before their minds the +fact that the justification for our stay in the Philippines must +ultimately rest chiefly upon the good we are able to do in the islands. +I do not overlook the fact that in the development of our interests in +the Pacific Ocean and along its coasts, the Philippines have played and +will play an important part; and that our interests have been served in +more than one way by the possession of the islands. But our chief +reason for continuing to hold them must be that we ought in good faith +to try to do our share of the world's work, and this particular piece +of work has been imposed upon us by the results of the war with Spain. +The problem presented to us in the Philippine Islands is akin to, but +not exactly like, the problems presented to the other great civilized +powers which have possessions in the Orient. There are points of +resemblance in our work to the work which is being done by the British +in India and Egypt, by the French in Algiers, by the Dutch in Java, by +the Russians in Turkestan, by the Japanese in Formosa; but more +distinctly than any of these powers we are endeavoring to develop the +natives themselves so that they shall take an ever-increasing share in +their own government, and as far as is prudent we are already admitting +their representatives to a governmental equality with our own. There +are commissioners, judges, and governors in the islands who are +Filipinos and who have exactly the same share in the government of the +islands as have their colleagues who are Americans, while in the lower +ranks, of course, the great majority of the public servants are +Filipinos. Within two years we shall be trying the experiment of an +elective lower house in the Philippine legislature. It may be that the +Filipinos will misuse this legislature, and they certainly will misuse +it if they are misled by foolish persons here at home into starting an +agitation for their own independence or into any factious or improper +action. In such case they will do themselves no good and will stop for +the time being all further effort to advance them and give them a +greater share in their own government. But if they act with wisdom and +self-restraint, if they show that they are capable of electing a +legislature which in its turn is capable of taking a sane and efficient +part in the actual work of government, they can rest assured that a +full and increasing measure of recognition will be given them. Above +all they should remember that their prime needs are moral and +industrial, not political. It is a good thing to try the experiment of +giving them a legislature; but it is a far better thing to give them +schools, good roads, railroads which will enable them to get their +products to market, honest courts, an honest and efficient +constabulary, and all that tends to produce order, peace, fair dealing +as between man and man, and habits of intelligent industry and thrift. +If they are safeguarded against oppression, and if their real wants, +material and spiritual, are studied intelligently and in a spirit of +friendly sympathy, much more good will be done them than by any effort +to give them political power, though this effort may in its own proper +time and place be proper enough. + +Meanwhile our own people should remember that there is need for the +highest standard of conduct among the Americans sent to the Philippine +Islands, not only among the public servants but among the private +individuals who go to them. It is because I feel this so deeply that in +the administration of these islands I have positively refused to permit +any discrimination whatsoever for political reasons and have insisted +that in choosing the public servants consideration should be paid +solely to the worth of the men chosen and to the needs of the islands. +There is no higher body of men in our public service than we have in +the Philippine Islands under Governor Wright and his associates. So far +as possible these men should be given a free hand, and their +suggestions should receive the hearty backing both of the Executive and +of the Congress. There is need of a vigilant and disinterested support +of our public servants in the Philippines by good citizens here in the +United States. Unfortunately hitherto those of our people here at home +who have specially claimed to be the champions of the Filipinos have in +reality been their worst enemies. This will continue to be the case as +long as they strive to make the Filipinos independent, and stop all +industrial development of the islands by crying out against the laws +which would bring it on the ground that capitalists must not "exploit" +the islands. Such proceedings are not only unwise, but are most harmful +to the Filipinos, who do not need independence at all, but who do need +good laws, good public servants, and the industrial development that +can only come if the investment, of American and foreign capital in the +islands is favored in all legitimate ways. + +Every measure taken concerning the islands should be taken primarily +with a view to their advantage. We should certainly give them lower +tariff rates on their exports to the United States; if this is not done +it will be a wrong to extend our shipping laws to them. I earnestly +hope for the immediate enactment into law of the legislation now +pending to encourage American capital to seek investment in the islands +in railroads, in factories, in plantations, and in lumbering and +mining. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 5, 1905 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +The people of this country continue to enjoy great prosperity. +Undoubtedly there will be ebb and flow in such prosperity, and this ebb +and flow will be felt more or less by all members of the community, +both by the deserving and the undeserving. Against the wrath of the +Lord the wisdom of man cannot avail; in time of flood or drought human +ingenuity can but partially repair the disaster. A general failure of +crops would hurt all of us. Again, if the folly of man mars the general +well-being, then those who are innocent of the folly will have to pay +part of the penalty incurred by those who are guilty of the folly. A +panic brought on by the speculative folly of part of the business +community would hurt the whole business community. But such stoppage of +welfare, though it might be severe, would not be lasting. In the long +run the one vital factor in the permanent prosperity of the country is +the high individual character of the average American worker, the +average American citizen, no matter whether his work be mental or +manual, whether he be farmer or wage-worker, business man or +professional man. + +In our industrial and social system the interests of all men are so +closely intertwined that in the immense majority of cases a +straight-dealing man who by his efficiency, by his ingenuity and +industry, benefits himself must also benefit others. Normally the man +of great productive capacity who becomes rich by guiding the labor of +many other men does so by enabling them to produce more than they could +produce without his guidance; and both he and they share in the +benefit, which comes also to the public at large. The superficial fact +that the sharing may be unequal must never blind us to the underlying +fact that there is this sharing, and that the benefit comes in some +degree to each man concerned. Normally the wage-worker, the man of +small means, and the average consumer, as well as the average producer, +are all alike helped by making conditions such that the man of +exceptional business ability receives an exceptional reward for his +ability. Something can be done by legislation to help the general +prosperity; but no such help of a permanently beneficial character can +be given to the less able and less fortunate, save as the results of a +policy which shall inure to the advantage of all industrious and +efficient people who act decently; and this is only another way of +saying that any benefit which comes to the less able and less fortunate +must of necessity come even more to the more able and more fortunate. +If, therefore, the less fortunate man is moved by envy of his more +fortunate brother to strike at the conditions under which they have +both, though unequally, prospered, the result will assuredly be that +while danger may come to the one struck at, it will visit with an even +heavier load the one who strikes the blow. Taken as a whole we must all +go up or down together. + +Yet, while not merely admitting, but insisting upon this, it is also +true that where there is no governmental restraint or supervision some +of the exceptional men use their energies not in ways that are for the +common good, but in ways which tell against this common good. The +fortunes amassed through corporate organization are now so large, and +vest such power in those that wield them, as to make it a matter of +necessity to give to the sovereign--that is, to the Government, which +represents the people as a whole--some effective power of supervision +over their corporate use. In order to insure a healthy social and +industrial life, every big corporation should be held responsible by, +and be accountable to, some sovereign strong enough to control its +conduct. I am in no sense hostile to corporations. This is an age of +combination, and any effort to prevent all combination will be not only +useless, but in the end vicious, because of the contempt for law which +the failure to enforce law inevitably produces. We should, moreover, +recognize in cordial and ample fashion the immense good effected by +corporate agencies in a country such as ours, and the wealth of +intellect, energy, and fidelity devoted to their service, and therefore +normally to the service of the public, by their officers and directors. +The corporation has come to stay, just as the trade union has come to +stay. Each can do and has done great good. Each should be favored so +long as it does good. But each should be sharply checked where it acts +against law and justice. + +So long as the finances of the Nation are kept upon an honest basis no +other question of internal economy with which the Congress has the +power to deal begins to approach in importance the matter of +endeavoring to secure proper industrial conditions under which the +individuals--and especially the great corporations--doing an interstate +business are to act. The makers of our National Constitution provided +especially that the regulation of interstate commerce should come +within the sphere of the General Government. The arguments in favor of +their taking this stand were even then overwhelming. But they are far +stronger today, in view of the enormous development of great business +agencies, usually corporate in form. Experience has shown conclusively +that it is useless to try to get any adequate regulation and +supervision of these great corporations by State action. Such +regulation and supervision can only be effectively exercised by a +sovereign whose jurisdiction is coextensive with the field of work of +the corporations--that is, by the National Government. I believe that +this regulation and supervision can be obtained by the enactment of law +by the Congress. If this proves impossible, it will certainly be +necessary ultimately to confer in fullest form such power upon the +National Government by a proper amendment of the Constitution. It would +obviously be unwise to endeavor to secure such an amendment until it is +certain that the result cannot be obtained under the Constitution as it +now is. The laws of the Congress and of the several States hitherto, as +passed upon by the courts, have resulted more often in showing that the +States have no power in the matter than that the National Government +has power; so that there at present exists a very unfortunate condition +of things, under which these great corporations doing an interstate +business occupy the position of subjects without a sovereign, neither +any State Government nor the National Government having effective +control over them. Our steady aim should be by legislation, cautiously +and carefully undertaken, but resolutely persevered in, to assert the +sovereignty of the National Government by affirmative action. + +This is only in form an innovation. In substance it is merely a +restoration; for from the earliest time such regulation of industrial +activities has been recognized in the action of the lawmaking bodies; +and all that I propose is to meet the changed conditions in such manner +as will prevent the Commonwealth abdicating the power it has always +possessed not only in this country, but also in England before and +since this country became a separate Nation. + +It has been a misfortune that the National laws on this subject have +hitherto been of a negative or prohibitive rather than an affirmative +kind, and still more that they have in part sought to prohibit what +could not be effectively prohibited, and have in part in their +prohibitions confounded what should be allowed and what should not be +allowed. It is generally useless to try to prohibit all restraint on +competition, whether this restraint be reasonable or unreasonable; and +where it is not useless it is generally hurtful. Events have shown that +it is not possible adequately to secure the enforcement of any law of +this kind by incessant appeal to the courts. The Department of Justice +has for the last four years devoted more attention to the enforcement +of the anti-trust legislation than to anything else. Much has been +accomplished, particularly marked has been the moral effect of the +prosecutions; but it is increasingly evident that there will be a very +insufficient beneficial result in the way of economic change. The +successful prosecution of one device to evade the law immediately +develops another device to accomplish the same purpose. What is needed +is not sweeping prohibition of every arrangement, good or bad, which +may tend to restrict competition, but such adequate supervision and +regulation as will prevent any restriction of competition from being to +the detriment of the public--as well as such supervision and regulation +as will prevent other abuses in no way connected with restriction of +competition. Of these abuses, perhaps the chief, although by no means +the only one, is overcapitalization--generally itself the result of +dishonest promotion--because of the myriad evils it brings in its +train; for such overcapitalization often means an inflation that +invites business panic; it always conceals the true relation of the +profit earned to the capital actually invested, and it creates a burden +of interest payments which is a fertile cause of improper reduction in +or limitation of wages; it damages the small investor, discourages +thrift, and encourages gambling and speculation; while perhaps worst of +all is the trickiness and dishonesty which it implies--for harm to +morals is worse than any possible harm to material interests, and the +debauchery of politics and business by great dishonest corporations is +far worse than any actual material evil they do the public. Until the +National Government obtains, in some manner which the wisdom of the +Congress may suggest, proper control over the big corporations engaged +in interstate commerce--that is, over the great majority of the big +corporations--it will be impossible to deal adequately with these +evils. + +I am well aware of the difficulties of the legislation that I am +suggesting, and of the need of temperate and cautious action in +securing it. I should emphatically protest against improperly radical +or hasty action. The first thing to do is to deal with the great +corporations engaged in the business of interstate transportation. As I +said in my message of December 6 last, the immediate and most pressing +need, so far as legislation is concerned, is the enactment into law of +some scheme to secure to the agents of the Government such supervision +and regulation of the rates charged by the railroads of the country +engaged in interstate traffic as shall summarily and effectively +prevent the imposition of unjust or unreasonable rates. It must include +putting a complete stop to rebates in every shape and form. This power +to regulate rates, like all similar powers over the business world, +should be exercised with moderation, caution, and self-restraint; but +it should exist, so that it can be effectively exercised when the need +arises. + +The first consideration to be kept in mind is that the power should be +affirmative and should be given to some administrative body created by +the Congress. If given to the present Interstate Commerce Commission, +or to a reorganized Interstate Commerce Commission, such commission +should be made unequivocally administrative. I do not believe in the +Government interfering with private business more than is necessary. I +do not believe in the Government undertaking any work which can with +propriety be left in private hands. But neither do I believe in the +Government flinching from overseeing any work when it becomes evident +that abuses are sure to obtain therein unless there is governmental +supervision. It is not my province to indicate the exact terms of the +law which should be enacted; but I call the attention of the Congress +to certain existing conditions with which it is desirable to deal, In +my judgment the most important provision which such law should contain +is that conferring upon some competent administrative body the power to +decide, upon the case being brought before it, whether a given rate +prescribed by a railroad is reasonable and just, and if it is found to +be unreasonable and unjust, then, after full investigation of the +complaint, to prescribe the limit of rate beyond which it shall not be +lawful to go--the maximum reasonable rate, as it is commonly +called--this decision to go into effect within a reasonable time and to +obtain from thence onward, subject to review by the courts. It +sometimes happens at present not that a rate is too high but that a +favored shipper is given too low a rate. In such case the commission +would have the right to fix this already established minimum rate as +the maximum; and it would need only one or two such decisions by the +commission to cure railroad companies of the practice of giving +improper minimum rates. I call your attention to the fact that my +proposal is not to give the commission power to initiate or originate +rates generally, but to regulate a rate already fixed or originated by +the roads, upon complaint and after investigation. A heavy penalty +should be exacted from any corporation which fails to respect an order +of the commission. I regard this power to establish a maximum rate as +being essential to any scheme of real reform in the matter of railway +regulation. The first necessity is to secure it; and unless it is +granted to the commission there is little use in touching the subject +at all. + +Illegal transactions often occur under the forms of law. It has often +occurred that a shipper has been told by a traffic officer to buy a +large quantity of some commodity and then after it has been bought an +open reduction is made in the rate to take effect immediately, the +arrangement resulting to the profit of one shipper and the one railroad +and to the damage of all their competitors; for it must not be +forgotten that the big shippers are at least as much to blame as any +railroad in the matter of rebates. The law should make it clear so that +nobody can fail to understand that any kind of commission paid on +freight shipments, whether in this form or in the form of fictitious +damages, or of a concession, a free pass, reduced passenger rate, or +payment of brokerage, is illegal. It is worth while considering whether +it would not be wise to confer on the Government the right of civil +action against the beneficiary of a rebate for at least twice the value +of the rebate; this would help stop what is really blackmail. Elevator +allowances should be stopped, for they have now grown to such an extent +that they are demoralizing and are used as rebates. + +The best possible regulation of rates would, of course, be that +regulation secured by an honest agreement among the railroads +themselves to carry out the law. Such a general agreement would, for +instance, at once put a stop to the efforts of any one big shipper or +big railroad to discriminate against or secure advantages over some +rival; and such agreement would make the railroads themselves agents +for enforcing the law. The power vested in the Government to put a stop +to agreements to the detriment of the public should, in my judgment, be +accompanied by power to permit, under specified conditions and careful +supervision, agreements clearly in the interest of the public. But, in +my judgment, the necessity for giving this further power is by no means +as great as the necessity for giving the commission or administrative +body the other powers I have enumerated above; and it may well be +inadvisable to attempt to vest this particular power in the commission +or other administrative body until it already possesses and is +exercising what I regard as by far the most important of all the powers +I recommend--as indeed the vitally important power--that to fix a given +maximum rate, which rate, after the lapse of a reasonable time, goes +into full effect, subject to review by the courts. + +All private-car lines, industrial roads, refrigerator charges, and the +like should be expressly put under the supervision of the Interstate +Commerce Commission or some similar body so far as rates, and +agreements practically affecting rates, are concerned. The private car +owners and the owners of industrial railroads are entitled to a fair +and reasonable compensation on their investment, but neither private +cars nor industrial railroads nor spur tracks should be utilized as +devices for securing preferential rates. A rebate in icing charges, or +in mileage, or in a division of the rate for refrigerating charges is +just as pernicious as a rebate in any other way. No lower rate should +apply on goods imported than actually obtains on domestic goods from +the American seaboard to destination except in cases where water +competition is the controlling influence. There should be publicity of +the accounts of common carriers; no common carrier engaged in +interstate business should keep any books or memoranda other than those +reported pursuant to law or regulation, and these books or memoranda +should be open to the inspection of the Government. Only in this way +can violations or evasions of the law be surely detected. A system of +examination of railroad accounts should be provided similar to that now +conducted into the National banks by the bank examiners; a few +first-class railroad accountants, if they had proper direction and +proper authority to inspect books and papers, could accomplish much in +preventing willful violations of the law. It would not be necessary for +them to examine into the accounts of any railroad unless for good +reasons they were directed to do so by the Interstate Commerce +Commission. It is greatly to be desired that some way might be found by +which an agreement as to transportation within a State intended to +operate as a fraud upon the Federal interstate commerce laws could be +brought under the jurisdiction of the Federal authorities. At present +it occurs that large shipments of interstate traffic are controlled by +concessions on purely State business, which of course amounts to an +evasion of the law. The commission should have power to enforce fair +treatment by the great trunk lines of lateral and branch lines. + +I urge upon the Congress the need of providing for expeditious action +by the Interstate Commerce Commission in all these matters, whether in +regulating rates for transportation or for storing or for handling +property or commodities in transit. The history of the cases litigated +under the present commerce act shows that its efficacy has been to a +great degree destroyed by the weapon of delay, almost the most +formidable weapon in the hands of those whose purpose it is to violate +the law. + +Let me most earnestly say that these recommendations are not made in +any spirit of hostility to the railroads. On ethical grounds, on +grounds of right, such hostility would be intolerable; and on grounds +of mere National self-interest we must remember that such hostility +would tell against the welfare not merely of some few rich men, but of +a multitude of small investors, a multitude of railway employes, wage +workers, and most severely against the interest of the public as a +whole. I believe that on the whole our railroads have done well and not +ill; but the railroad men who wish to do well should not be exposed to +competition with those who have no such desire, and the only way to +secure this end is to give to some Government tribunal the power to see +that justice is done by the unwilling exactly as it is gladly done by +the willing. Moreover, if some Government body is given increased power +the effect will be to furnish authoritative answer on behalf of the +railroad whenever irrational clamor against it is raised, or whenever +charges made against it are disproved. I ask this legislation not only +in the interest of the public but in the interest of the honest +railroad man and the honest shipper alike, for it is they who are +chiefly jeoparded by the practices of their dishonest competitors. This +legislation should be enacted in a spirit as remote as possible from +hysteria and rancor. If we of the American body politic are true to the +traditions we have inherited we shall always scorn any effort to make +us hate any man because he is rich, just as much as we should scorn any +effort to make us look down upon or treat contemptuously any man +because he is poor. We judge a man by his conduct--that is, by his +character--and not by his wealth or intellect. If he makes his fortune +honestly, there is no just cause of quarrel with him. Indeed, we have +nothing but the kindliest feelings of admiration for the successful +business man who behaves decently, whether he has made his success by +building or managing a railroad or by shipping goods over that +railroad. The big railroad men and big shippers are simply Americans of +the ordinary type who have developed to an extraordinary degree certain +great business qualities. They are neither better nor worse than their +fellow-citizens of smaller means. They are merely more able in certain +lines and therefore exposed to certain peculiarly strong temptations. +These temptations have not sprung newly into being; the exceptionally +successful among mankind have always been exposed to them; but they +have grown amazingly in power as a result of the extraordinary +development of industrialism along new lines, and under these new +conditions, which the law-makers of old could not foresee and therefore +could not provide against, they have become so serious and menacing as +to demand entirely new remedies. It is in the interest of the best type +of railroad man and the best type of shipper no less than of the public +that there should be Governmental supervision and regulation of these +great business operations, for the same reason that it is in the +interest of the corporation which wishes to treat its employes aright +that there should be an effective Employers' Liability act, or an +effective system of factory laws to prevent the abuse of women and +children. All such legislation frees the corporation that wishes to do +well from being driven into doing ill, in order to compete with its +rival, which prefers to do ill. We desire to set up a moral standard. +There can be no delusion more fatal to the Nation than the delusion +that the standard of profits, of business prosperity, is sufficient in +judging any business or political question--from rate legislation to +municipal government. Business success, whether for the individual or +for the Nation, is a good thing only so far as it is accompanied by and +develops a high standard of conduct--honor, integrity, civic courage. +The kind of business prosperity that blunts the standard of honor, that +puts an inordinate value on mere wealth, that makes a man ruthless and +conscienceless in trade, and weak and cowardly in citizenship, is not a +good thing at all, but a very bad thing for the Nation. This Government +stands for manhood first and for business only as an adjunct of +manhood. + +The question of transportation lies at the root of all industrial +success, and the revolution in transportation which has taken place +during the last half century has been the most important factor in the +growth of the new industrial conditions. Most emphatically we do not +wish to see the man of great talents refused the reward for his +talents. Still less do we wish to see him penalized but we do desire to +see the system of railroad transportation so handled that the strong +man shall be given no advantage over the weak man. We wish to insure as +fair treatment for the small town as for the big city; for the small +shipper as for the big shipper. In the old days the highway of +commerce, whether by water or by a road on land, was open to all; it +belonged to the public and the traffic along it was free. At present +the railway is this highway, and we must do our best to see that it is +kept open to all on equal terms. Unlike the old highway it is a very +difficult and complex thing to manage, and it is far better that it +should be managed by private individuals than by the Government. But it +can only be so managed on condition that justice is done the public. It +is because, in my judgment, public ownership of railroads is highly +undesirable and would probably in this country entail far-reaching +disaster, but I wish to see such supervision and regulation of them in +the interest of the public as will make it evident that there is no +need for public ownership. The opponents of Government regulation dwell +upon the difficulties to be encountered and the intricate and involved +nature of the problem. Their contention is true. It is a complicated +and delicate problem, and all kinds of difficulties are sure to arise +in connection with any plan of solution, while no plan will bring all +the benefits hoped for by its more optimistic adherents. Moreover, +under any healthy plan, the benefits will develop gradually and not +rapidly. Finally, we must clearly understand that the public servants +who are to do this peculiarly responsible and delicate work must +themselves be of the highest type both as regards integrity and +efficiency. They must be well paid, for otherwise able men cannot in +the long run be secured; and they must possess a lofty probity which +will revolt as quickly at the thought of pandering to any gust of +popular prejudice against rich men as at the thought of anything even +remotely resembling subserviency to rich men. But while I fully admit +the difficulties in the way, I do not for a moment admit that these +difficulties warrant us in stopping in our effort to secure a wise and +just system. They should have no other effect than to spur us on to the +exercise of the resolution, the even-handed justice, and the fertility +of resource, which we like to think of as typically American, and which +will in the end achieve good results in this as in other fields of +activity. The task is a great one and underlies the task of dealing +with the whole industrial problem. But the fact that it is a great +problem does not warrant us in shrinking from the attempt to solve it. +At present we face such utter lack of supervision, such freedom from +the restraints of law, that excellent men have often been literally +forced into doing what they deplored because otherwise they were left +at the mercy of unscrupulous competitors. To rail at and assail the men +who have done as they best could under such conditions accomplishes +little. What we need to do is to develop an orderly system, and such a +system can only come through the gradually increased exercise of the +right of efficient Government control. + +In my annual message to the Fifty-eighth Congress, at its third +session, I called attention to the necessity for legislation requiring +the use of block signals upon railroads engaged in interstate commerce. +The number of serious collisions upon unblocked roads that have +occurred within the past year adds force to the recommendation then +made. The Congress should provide, by appropriate legislation, for the +introduction of block signals upon all railroads engaged in interstate +commerce at the earliest practicable date, as a measure of increased +safety to the traveling public. + +Through decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States and the +lower Federal courts in cases brought before them for adjudication the +safety appliance law has been materially strengthened, and the +Government has been enabled to secure its effective enforcement in +almost all cases, with the result that the condition of railroad +equipment throughout the country is much improved and railroad employes +perform their duties under safer conditions than heretofore. The +Government's most effective aid in arriving at this result has been its +inspection service, and that these improved conditions are not more +general is due to the insufficient number of inspectors employed. The +inspection service has fully demonstrated its usefulness, and in +appropriating for its maintenance the Congress should make provision +for an increase in the number of inspectors. + +The excessive hours of labor to which railroad employes in train +service are in many cases subjected is also a matter which may well +engage the serious attention of the Congress. The strain, both mental +and physical, upon those who are engaged in the movement and operation +of railroad trains under modern conditions is perhaps greater than that +which exists in any other industry, and if there are any reasons for +limiting by law the hours of labor in any employment, they certainly +apply with peculiar force to the employment of those upon whose +vigilance and alertness in the performance of their duties the safety +of all who travel by rail depends. + +In my annual message to the Fifty-seventh Congress, at its second +session, I recommended the passage of an employers' liability law for +the District of Columbia and in our navy yards. I renewed that +recommendation in my message to the Fifty-eighth Congress, at its +second session, and further suggested the appointment of a commission +to make a comprehensive study of employers' liability, with a view to +the enactment of a wise and Constitutional law covering the subject, +applicable to all industries within the scope of the Federal power. I +hope that such a law will be prepared and enacted as speedily as +possible. + +The National Government has, as a rule, but little occasion to deal +with the formidable group of problems connected more or less directly +with what is known as the labor question, for in the great majority of +cases these problems must be dealt with by the State and municipal +authorities, and not by the National Government. The National +Government has control of the District of Columbia, however, and it +should see to it that the City of Washington is made a model city in +all respects, both as regards parks, public playgrounds, proper +regulation of the system of housing, so as to do away with the evils of +alley tenements, a proper system of education, a proper system of +dealing with truancy and juvenile offenders, a proper handling of the +charitable work of the District. Moreover, there should be proper +factory laws to prevent all abuses in the employment of women and +children in the District. These will be useful chiefly as object +lessons, but even this limited amount of usefulness would be of real +National value. + +There has been demand for depriving courts of the power to issue +injunctions in labor disputes. Such special limitation of the equity +powers of our courts would be most unwise. It is true that some judges +have misused this power; but this does not justify a denial of the +power any more than an improper exercise of the power to call a strike +by a labor leader would justify the denial of the right to strike. The +remedy is to regulate the procedure by requiring the judge to give due +notice to the adverse parties before granting the writ, the hearing to +be ex parte if the adverse party does not appear at the time and place +ordered. What is due notice must depend upon the facts of the case; it +should not be used as a pretext to permit violation of law or the +jeopardizing of life or property. Of course, this would not authorize +the issuing of a restraining order or injunction in any case in which +it is not already authorized by existing law. + +I renew the recommendation I made in my last annual message for an +investigation by the Department of Commerce and Labor of general labor +conditions, especial attention to be paid to the conditions of child +labor and child-labor legislation in the several States. Such an +investigation should take into account the various problems with which +the question of child labor is connected. It is true that these +problems can be actually met in most cases only by the States +themselves, but it would be well for the Nation to endeavor to secure +and publish comprehensive information as to the conditions of the labor +of children in the different States, so as to spur up those that are +behindhand and to secure approximately uniform legislation of a high +character among the several States. In such a Republic as ours the one +thing that we cannot afford to neglect is the problem of turning out +decent citizens. The future of the Nation depends upon the citizenship +of the generations to come; the children of today are those who +tomorrow will shape the destiny of our land, and we cannot afford to +neglect them. The Legislature of Colorado has recommended that the +National Government provide some general measure for the protection +from abuse of children and dumb animals throughout the United States. I +lay the matter before you for what I trust will be your favorable +consideration. + +The Department of Commerce and Labor should also make a thorough +investigation of the conditions of women in industry. Over five million +American women are now engaged in gainful occupations; yet there is an +almost complete dearth of data upon which to base any trustworthy +conclusions as regards a subject as important as it is vast and +complicated. There is need of full knowledge on which to base action +looking toward State and municipal legislation for the protection of +working women. The introduction of women into industry is working +change and disturbance in the domestic and social life of the Nation. +The decrease in marriage, and especially in the birth rate, has been +coincident with it. We must face accomplished facts, and the adjustment +of factory conditions must be made, but surely it can be made with less +friction and less harmful effects on family life than is now the case. +This whole matter in reality forms one of the greatest sociological +phenomena of our time; it is a social question of the first importance, +of far greater importance than any merely political or economic +question can be, and to solve it we need ample data, gathered in a sane +and scientific spirit in the course of an exhaustive investigation. + +In any great labor disturbance not only are employer and employe +interested, but a third party--the general public. Every considerable +labor difficulty in which interstate commerce is involved should be +investigated by the Government and the facts officially reported to the +public. + +The question of securing a healthy, self-respecting, and mutually +sympathetic attitude as between employer and employe, capitalist and +wage-worker, is a difficult one. All phases of the labor problem prove +difficult when approached. But the underlying principles, the root +principles, in accordance with which the problem must be solved are +entirely simple. We can get justice and right dealing only if we put as +of paramount importance the principle of treating a man on his worth as +a man rather than with reference to his social position, his occupation +or the class to which he belongs. There are selfish and brutal men in +all ranks of life. If they are capitalists their selfishness and +brutality may take the form of hard indifference to suffering, greedy +disregard of every moral restraint which interferes with the +accumulation of wealth, and cold-blooded exploitation of the weak; or, +if they are laborers, the form of laziness, of sullen envy of the more +fortunate, and of willingness to perform deeds of murderous violence. +Such conduct is just as reprehensible in one case as in the other, and +all honest and farseeing men should join in warring against it wherever +it becomes manifest. Individual capitalist and individual wage-worker, +corporation and union, are alike entitled to the protection of the law, +and must alike obey the law. Moreover, in addition to mere obedience to +the law, each man, if he be really a good citizen, must show broad +sympathy for his neighbor and genuine desire to look at any question +arising between them from the standpoint of that neighbor no less than +from his own, and to this end it is essential that capitalist and +wage-worker should consult freely one with the other, should each +strive to bring closer the day when both shall realize that they are +properly partners and not enemies. To approach the questions which +inevitably arise between them solely from the standpoint which treats +each side in the mass as the enemy of the other side in the mass is +both wicked and foolish. In the past the most direful among the +influences which have brought about the downfall of republics has ever +been the growth of the class spirit, the growth of the spirit which +tends to make a man subordinate the welfare of the public as a whole to +the welfare of the particular class to which he belongs, the +substitution of loyalty to a class for loyalty to the Nation. This +inevitably brings about a tendency to treat each man not on his merits +as an individual, but on his position as belonging to a certain class +in the community. If such a spirit grows up in this Republic it will +ultimately prove fatal to us, as in the past it has proved fatal to +every community in which it has become dominant. Unless we continue to +keep a quick and lively sense of the great fundamental truth that our +concern is with the individual worth of the individual man, this +Government cannot permanently hold the place which it has achieved +among the nations. The vital lines of cleavage among our people do not +correspond, and indeed run at right angles to, the lines of cleavage +which divide occupation from occupation, which divide wage-workers from +capitalists, farmers from bankers, men of small means from men of large +means, men who live in the towns from men who live in the country; for +the vital line of cleavage is the line which divides the honest man who +tries to do well by his neighbor from the dishonest man who does ill by +his neighbor. In other words, the standard we should establish is the +standard of conduct, not the standard of occupation, of means, or of +social position. It is the man's moral quality, his attitude toward the +great questions which concern all humanity, his cleanliness of life, +his power to do his duty toward himself and toward others, which really +count; and if we substitute for the standard of personal judgment which +treats each man according to his merits, another standard in accordance +with which all men of one class are favored and all men of another +class discriminated against, we shall do irreparable damage to the body +politic. I believe that our people are too sane, too self-respecting, +too fit for self-government, ever to adopt such an attitude. This +Government is not and never shall be government by a plutocracy. This +Government is not and never shall be government by a mob. It shall +continue to be in the future what it has been in the past, a Government +based on the theory that each man, rich or poor, is to be treated +simply and solely on his worth as a man, that all his personal and +property rights are to be safeguarded, and that he is neither to wrong +others nor to suffer wrong from others. + +The noblest of all forms of government is self-government; but it is +also the most difficult. We who possess this priceless boon, and who +desire to hand it on to our children and our children's children, +should ever bear in mind the thought so finely expressed by Burke: "Men +are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their +disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion +as they are disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good in +preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a +controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the +less of it there be within the more there must be without. It is +ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate +minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." + +The great insurance companies afford striking examples of corporations +whose business has extended so far beyond the jurisdiction of the +States which created them as to preclude strict enforcement of +supervision and regulation by the parent States. In my last annual +message I recommended "that the Congress carefully consider whether the +power of the Bureau of Corporations cannot constitutionally be extended +to cover interstate transactions in insurance." + +Recent events have emphasized the importance of an early and exhaustive +consideration of this question, to see whether it is not possible to +furnish better safeguards than the several States have been able to +furnish against corruption of the flagrant kind which has been exposed. +It has been only too clearly shown that certain of the men at the head +of these large corporations take but small note of the ethical +distinction between honesty and dishonesty; they draw the line only +this side of what may be called law-honesty, the kind of honesty +necessary in order to avoid falling into the clutches of the law. Of +course the only complete remedy for this condition must be found in an +aroused public conscience, a higher sense of ethical conduct in the +community at large, and especially among business men and in the great +profession of the law, and in the growth of a spirit which condemns all +dishonesty, whether in rich man or in poor man, whether it takes the +shape of bribery or of blackmail. But much can be done by legislation +which is not only drastic but practical. There is need of a far +stricter and more uniform regulation of the vast insurance interests of +this country. The United States should in this respect follow the +policy of other nations by providing adequate national supervision of +commercial interests which are clearly national in character. My +predecessors have repeatedly recognized that the foreign business of +these companies is an important part of our foreign commercial +relations. During the administrations of Presidents Cleveland, +Harrison, and McKinley the State Department exercised its influence, +through diplomatic channels, to prevent unjust discrimination by +foreign countries against American insurance companies. These +negotiations illustrated the propriety of the Congress recognizing the +National character of insurance, for in the absence of Federal +legislation the State Department could only give expression to the +wishes of the authorities of the several States, whose policy was +ineffective through want of uniformity. + +I repeat my previous recommendation that the Congress should also +consider whether the Federal Government has any power or owes any duty +with respect to domestic transactions in insurance of an interstate +character. That State supervision has proved inadequate is generally +conceded. The burden upon insurance companies, and therefore their +policy holders, of conflicting regulations of many States, is +unquestioned, while but little effective check is imposed upon any able +and unscrupulous man who desires to exploit the company in his own +interest at the expense of the policy holders and of the public. The +inability of a State to regulate effectively insurance corporations +created under the laws of other States and transacting the larger part +of their business elsewhere is also clear. As a remedy for this evil of +conflicting, ineffective, and yet burdensome regulations there has been +for many years a widespread demand for Federal supervision. The +Congress has already recognized that interstate insurance may be a +proper subject for Federal legislation, for in creating the Bureau of +Corporations it authorized it to publish and supply useful information +concerning interstate corporations, "including corporations engaged in +insurance." It is obvious that if the compilation of statistics be the +limit of the Federal power it is wholly ineffective to regulate this +form of commercial intercourse between the States, and as the insurance +business has outgrown in magnitude the possibility of adequate State +supervision, the Congress should carefully consider whether further +legislation can be bad. What is said above applies with equal force to +fraternal and benevolent organizations which contract for life +insurance. + +There is more need of stability than of the attempt to attain an ideal +perfection in the methods of raising revenue; and the shock and strain +to the business world certain to attend any serious change in these +methods render such change inadvisable unless for grave reason. It is +not possible to lay down any general rule by which to determine the +moment when the reasons for will outweigh the reasons against such a +change. Much must depend, not merely on the needs, but on the desires, +of the people as a whole; for needs and desires are not necessarily +identical. Of course, no change can be made on lines beneficial to, or +desired by, one section or one State only. There must be something like +a general agreement among the citizens of the several States, as +represented in the Congress, that the change is needed and desired in +the interest of the people, as a whole; and there should then be a +sincere, intelligent, and disinterested effort to make it in such shape +as will combine, so far as possible, the maximum of good to the people +at large with the minimum of necessary disregard for the special +interests of localities or classes. But in time of peace the revenue +must on the average, taking a series of years together, equal the +expenditures or else the revenues must be increased. Last year there +was a deficit. Unless our expenditures can be kept within the revenues +then our revenue laws must be readjusted. It is as yet too early to +attempt to outline what shape such a readjustment should take, for it +is as yet too early to say whether there will be need for it. It should +be considered whether it is not desirable that the tariff laws should +provide for applying as against or in favor of any other nation maximum +and minimum tariff rates established by the Congress, so as to secure a +certain reciprocity of treatment between other nations and ourselves. +Having in view even larger considerations of policy than those of a +purely economic nature, it would, in my judgment, be well to endeavor +to bring about closer commercial connections with the other peoples of +this continent. I am happy to be able to announce to you that Russia +now treats us on the most-favored-nation basis. + +I earnestly recommend to 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 the United States Land Office. 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." + +Every consideration of prudence demands the addition of the element of +elasticity to our currency system. The evil does not consist in an +inadequate volume of money, but in the rigidity of this volume, which +does not respond as it should to the varying needs of communities and +of seasons. Inflation must be avoided; but some provision should be +made that will insure a larger volume of money during the Fall and +Winter months than in the less active seasons of the year; so that the +currency will contract against speculation, and will expand for the +needs of legitimate business. At present the Treasury Department is at +irregularly recurring intervals obliged, in the interest of the +business world--that is, in the interests of the American public--to +try to avert financial crises by providing a remedy which should be +provided by Congressional action. + +At various times I have instituted investigations into the organization +and conduct of the business of the executive departments. While none of +these inquiries have yet progressed far enough to warrant final +conclusions, they have already confirmed and emphasized the general +impression that the organization of the departments is often faulty in +principle and wasteful in results, while many of their business methods +are antiquated and inefficient. There is every reason why our executive +governmental machinery should be at least as well planned, economical, +and efficient as the best machinery of the great business +organizations, which at present is not the case. To make it so is a +task of complex detail and essentially executive in its nature; +probably no legislative body, no matter how wise and able, could +undertake it with reasonable prospect of success. I recommend that the +Congress consider this subject with a view to provide by legislation +for the transfer, distribution, consolidation, and assignment of duties +and executive organizations or parts of organizations, and for the +changes in business methods, within or between the several departments, +that will best promote the economy, efficiency, and high character of +the Government work. + +In my last annual message I said: + +"The power of the Government to protect the integrity of the elections +of its own officials is inherent and has been recognized and affirmed +by repeated declarations of the Supreme Court. There is no enemy of +free government more dangerous and none so insidious as the corruption +of the electorate. No one defends or excuses corruption, and it would +seem to follow that none would oppose vigorous measures to eradicate +it. I recommend the enactment of a law directed against bribery and +corruption in Federal elections. The details of such a law may be +safely left to the wise discretion of the Congress, but it should go as +far as under the Constitution it is possible to go, and should include +severe penalties against him who gives or receives a bribe intended to +influence his act or opinion as an elector; and provisions for the +publication not only of the expenditures for nominations and elections +of all candidates, but also of all contributions received and +expenditures made by political committees." + +I desire to repeat this recommendation. In political campaigns in a +country as large and populous as ours it is inevitable that there +should be much expense of an entirely legitimate kind. This, of course, +means that many contributions, and some of them of large size, must be +made, and, as a matter of fact, in any big political contest such +contributions are always made to both sides. It is entirely proper both +to give and receive them, unless there is an improper motive connected +with either gift or reception. If they are extorted by any kind of +pressure or promise, express or implied, direct or indirect, in the way +of favor or immunity, then the giving or receiving becomes not only +improper but criminal. It will undoubtedly be difficult, as a matter of +practical detail, to shape an act which shall guard with reasonable +certainty against such misconduct; but if it is possible to secure by +law the full and verified publication in detail of all the sums +contributed to and expended by the candidates or committees of any +political parties, the result cannot but be wholesome. All +contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any +political purpose should be forbidden by law; directors should not be +permitted to use stockholders' money for such purposes; and, moreover, +a prohibition of this kind would be, as far as it went, an effective +method of stopping the evils aimed at in corrupt practices acts. Not +only should both the National and the several State Legislatures forbid +any officer of a corporation from using the money of the corporation in +or about any election, but they should also forbid such use of money in +connection with any legislation save by the employment of counsel in +public manner for distinctly legal services. + +The first conference of nations held at The Hague in 1899, being unable +to dispose of all the business before it, recommended the consideration +and settlement of a number of important questions by another conference +to be called subsequently and at an early date. These questions were +the following: (1) The rights and duties of neutrals; (2) the +limitation of the armed forces on land and sea, and of military +budgets; (3) the use of new types and calibres of military and naval +guns; (4) the inviolability of private property at sea in times of war; +(5) the bombardment of ports, cities, and villages by naval forces. In +October, 1904, at the instance of the Interparliamentary Union, which, +at a conference held in the United States, and attended by the +lawmakers of fifteen different nations, had reiterated the demand for a +second conference of nations, I issued invitations to all the powers +signatory to The Hague Convention to send delegates to such a +conference, and suggested that it be again held at The Hague. In its +note of December 16, 1904, the United States Government communicated to +the representatives of foreign governments its belief that the +conference could be best arranged under the provisions of the present +Hague treaty. + +From all the powers acceptance was received, coupled in some cases with +the condition that we should wait until the end of the war then waging +between Russia and Japan. The Emperor of Russia, immediately after the +treaty of peace which so happily terminated this war, in a note +presented to the President on September 13, through Ambassador Rosen, +took the initiative in recommending that the conference be now called. +The United States Government in response expressed its cordial +acquiescence, and stated that it would, as a matter of course, take +part in the new conference and endeavor to further its aims. We assume +that all civilized governments will support the movement, and that the +conference is now an assured fact. This Government will do everything +in its power to secure the success of the conference, to the end that +substantial progress may be made in the cause of international peace, +justice, and good will. + +This renders it proper at this time to say something as to the general +attitude of this Government toward peace. More and more war is coming +to be looked upon as in itself a lamentable and evil thing. A wanton or +useless war, or a war of mere aggression--in short, any war begun or +carried on in a conscienceless spirit, is to be condemned as a +peculiarly atrocious crime against all humanity. We can, however, do +nothing of permanent value for peace unless we keep ever clearly in +mind the ethical element which lies at the root of the problem. Our aim +is righteousness. Peace is normally the hand-maiden of rightousness; +but when peace and righteousness conflict then a great and upright +people can never for a moment hesitate to follow the path which leads +toward righteousness, even though that path also leads to war. There +are persons who advocate peace at any price; there are others who, +following a false analogy, think that because it is no longer necessary +in civilized countries for individuals to protect their rights with a +strong hand, it is therefore unnecessary for nations to be ready to +defend their rights. These persons would do irreparable harm to any +nation that adopted their principles, and even as it is they seriously +hamper the cause which they advocate by tending to render it absurd in +the eyes of sensible and patriotic men. There can be no worse foe of +mankind in general, and of his own country in particular, than the +demagogue of war, the man who in mere folly or to serve his own selfish +ends continually rails at and abuses other nations, who seeks to excite +his countrymen against foreigners on insufficient pretexts, who excites +and inflames a perverse and aggressive national vanity, and who may on +occasions wantonly bring on conflict between his nation and some other +nation. But there are demagogues of peace just as there are demagogues +of war, and in any such movement as this for The Hague conference it is +essential not to be misled by one set of extremists any more than by +the other. Whenever it is possible for a nation or an individual to +work for real peace, assuredly it is failure of duty not so to strive, +but if war is necessary and righteous then either the man or the nation +shrinking from it forfeits all title to self-respect. We have scant +sympathy with the sentimentalist who dreads oppression less than +physical suffering, who would prefer a shameful peace to the pain and +toil sometimes lamentably necessary in order to secure a righteous +peace. As yet there is only a partial and imperfect analogy between +international law and internal or municipal law, because there is no +sanction of force for executing the former while there is in the case +of the latter. The private citizen is protected in his rights by the +law, because the law rests in the last resort upon force exercised +through the forms of law. A man does not have to defend his rights with +his own hand, because he can call upon the police, upon the sheriff's +posse, upon the militia, or in certain extreme cases upon the army, to +defend him. But there is no such sanction of force for international +law. At present there could be no greater calamity than for the free +peoples, the enlightened, independent, and peace-loving peoples, to +disarm while yet leaving it open to any barbarism or despotism to +remain armed. So long as the world is as unorganized as now the armies +and navies of those peoples who on the whole stand for justice, offer +not only the best, but the only possible, security for a just peace. +For instance, if the United States alone, or in company only with the +other nations that on the whole tend to act justly, disarmed, we might +sometimes avoid bloodshed, but we would cease to be of weight in +securing the peace of justice--the real peace for which the most +law-abiding and high-minded men must at times be willing to fight. As +the world is now, only that nation is equipped for peace that knows how +to fight, and that will not shrink from fighting if ever the conditions +become such that war is demanded in the name of the highest morality. + +So much it is emphatically necessary to say in order both that the +position of the United States may not be misunderstood, and that a +genuine effort to bring nearer the day of the peace of justice among +the nations may not be hampered by a folly which, in striving to +achieve the impossible, would render it hopeless to attempt the +achievement of the practical. But, while recognizing most clearly all +above set forth, it remains our clear duty to strive in every +practicable way to bring nearer the time when the sword shall not be +the arbiter among nations. At present the practical thing to do is to +try to minimize the number of cases in which it must be the arbiter, +and to offer, at least to all civilized powers, some substitute for war +which will be available in at least a considerable number of instances. +Very much can be done through another Hague conference in this +direction, and I most earnestly urge that this Nation do all in its +power to try to further the movement and to make the result of the +decisions of The Hague conference effective. I earnestly hope that the +conference may be able to devise some way to make arbitration between +nations the customary way of settling international disputes in all +save a few classes of cases, which should themselves be as sharply +defined and rigidly limited as the present governmental and social +development of the world will permit. If possible, there should be a +general arbitration treaty negotiated among all the nations represented +at the conference. Neutral rights and property should be protected at +sea as they are protected on land. There should be an international +agreement to this purpose and a similar agreement defining contraband +of war. + +During the last century there has been a distinct diminution in the +number of wars between the most civilized nations. International +relations have become closer and the development of The Hague tribunal +is not only a symptom of this growing closeness of relationship, but is +a means by which the growth can be furthered. Our aim should be from +time to time to take such steps as may be possible toward creating +something like an organization of the civilized nations, because as the +world becomes more highly organized the need for navies and armies will +diminish. It is not possible to secure anything like an immediate +disarmament, because it would first be necessary to settle what peoples +are on the whole a menace to the rest of mankind, and to provide +against the disarmament of the rest being turned into a movement which +would really chiefly benefit these obnoxious peoples; but it may be +possible to exercise some check upon the tendency to swell indefinitely +the budgets for military expenditure. Of course such an effort could +succeed only if it did not attempt to do too much; and if it were +undertaken in a spirit of sanity as far removed as possible from a +merely hysterical pseudo-philanthropy. It is worth while pointing out +that since the end of the insurrection in the Philippines this Nation +has shown its practical faith in the policy of disarmament by reducing +its little army one-third. But disarmament can never be of prime +importance; there is more need to get rid of the causes of war than of +the implements of war. + +I have dwelt much on the dangers to be avoided by steering clear of any +mere foolish sentimentality because my wish for peace is so genuine and +earnest; because I have a real and great desire that this second Hague +conference may mark a long stride forward in the direction of securing +the peace of justice throughout the world. No object is better worthy +the attention of enlightened statesmanship than the establishment of a +surer method than now exists of securing justice as between nations, +both for the protection of the little nations and for the prevention of +war between the big nations. To this aim we should endeavor not only to +avert bloodshed, but, above all, effectively to strengthen the forces +of right. The Golden Rule should be, and as the world grows in morality +it will be, the guiding rule of conduct among nations as among +individuals; though the Golden Rule must not be construed, in fantastic +manner, as forbidding the exercise of the police power. This mighty and +free Republic should ever deal with all other States, great or small, +on a basis of high honor, respecting their rights as jealously as it +safeguards its own. + +One of the most effective instruments for peace is the Monroe Doctrine +as it has been and is being gradually developed by this Nation and +accepted by other nations. No other policy could have been as efficient +in promoting peace in the Western Hemisphere and in giving to each +nation thereon the chance to develop along its own lines. If we had +refused to apply the doctrine to changing conditions it would now be +completely outworn, would not meet any of the needs of the present day, +and, indeed, would probably by this time have sunk into complete +oblivion. It is useful at home, and is meeting with recognition abroad +because we have adapted our application of it to meet the growing and +changing needs of the hemisphere. When we announce a policy such as the +Monroe Doctrine we thereby commit ourselves to the consequences of the +policy, and those consequences from time to time alter. It is out of +the question to claim a right and yet shirk the responsibility for its +exercise. Not only we, but all American republics who are benefited by +the existence of the doctrine, must recognize the obligations each +nation is under as regards foreign peoples no less than its duty to +insist upon its own rights. + +That our rights and interests are deeply concerned in the maintenance +of the doctrine is so clear as hardly to need argument. This is +especially true in view of the construction of the Panama Canal. As a +mere matter of self-defense we must exercise a close watch over the +approaches to this canal; and this means that we must be thoroughly +alive to our interests in the Caribbean Sea. + +There are certain essential points which must never be forgotten as +regards the Monroe Doctrine. In the first place we must as a Nation +make it evident that we do not intend to treat it in any shape or way +as an excuse for aggrandizement on our part at the expense of the +republics to the south. We must recognize the fact that in some South +American countries there has been much suspicion lest we should +interpret the Monroe Doctrine as in some way inimical to their +interests, and we must try to convince all the other nations of this +continent once and for all that no just and orderly Government has +anything to fear from us. There are certain republics to the south of +us which have already reached such a point of stability, order, and +prosperity that they themselves, though as yet hardly consciously, are +among the guarantors of this doctrine. These republics we now meet not +only on a basis of entire equality, but in a spirit of frank and +respectful friendship, which we hope is mutual. If all of the republics +to the south of us will only grow as those to which I allude have +already grown, all need for us to be the especial champions of the +doctrine will disappear, for no stable and growing American Republic +wishes to see some great non-American military power acquire territory +in its neighborhood. All that this country desires is that the other +republics on this continent shall be happy and prosperous; and they +cannot be happy and prosperous unless they maintain order within their +boundaries and behave with a just regard for their obligations toward +outsiders. It must be understood that under no circumstances will the +United States use the Monroe Doctrine as a cloak for territorial +aggression. We desire peace with all the world, but perhaps most of all +with the other peoples of the American Continent. There are, of course, +limits to the wrongs which any self-respecting nation can endure. It is +always possible that wrong actions toward this Nation, or toward +citizens of this Nation, in some State unable to keep order among its +own people, unable to secure justice from outsiders, and unwilling to +do justice to those outsiders who treat it well, may result in our +having to take action to protect our rights; but such action will not +be taken with a view to territorial aggression, and it will be taken at +all only with extreme reluctance and when it has become evident that +every other resource has been exhausted. + +Moreover, we must make it evident that we do not intend to permit the +Monroe Doctrine to be used by any nation on this Continent as a shield +to protect it from the consequences of its own misdeeds against foreign +nations. If a republic to the south of us commits a tort against a +foreign nation, such as an outrage against a citizen of that nation, +then the Monroe Doctrine does not force us to interfere to prevent +punishment of the tort, save to see that the punishment does not assume +the form of territorial occupation in any shape. The case is more +difficult when it refers to a contractual obligation. Our own +Government has always refused to enforce such contractual obligations +on behalf, of its citizens by an appeal to arms. It is much to be +wished that all foreign governments would take the same view. But they +do not; and in consequence we are liable at any time to be brought face +to face with disagreeable alternatives. On the one hand, this country +would certainly decline to go to war to prevent a foreign government +from collecting a just debt; on the other hand, it is very inadvisable +to permit any foreign power to take possession, even temporarily, of +the custom houses of an American Republic in order to enforce the +payment of its obligations; for such temporary occupation might turn +into a permanent occupation. The only escape from these alternatives +may at any time be that we must ourselves undertake to bring about some +arrangement by which so much as possible of a just obligation shall be +paid. It is far better that this country should put through such an +arrangement, rather than allow any foreign country to undertake it. To +do so insures the defaulting republic from having to pay debt of an +improper character under duress, while it also insures honest creditors +of the republic from being passed by in the interest of dishonest or +grasping creditors. Moreover, for the United States to take such a +position offers the only possible way of insuring us against a clash +with some foreign power. The position is, therefore, in the interest of +peace as well as in the interest of justice. It is of benefit to our +people; it is of benefit to foreign peoples; and most of all it is +really of benefit to the people of the country concerned. + +This brings me to what should be one of the fundamental objects of the +Monroe Doctrine. We must ourselves in good faith try to help upward +toward peace and order those of our sister republics which need such +help. Just as there has been a gradual growth of the ethical element in +the relations of one individual to another, so we are, even though +slowly, more and more coming to recognize the duty of bearing one +another's burdens, not only as among individuals, but also as among +nations. + +Santo Domingo, in her turn, has now made an appeal to us to help her, +and not only every principle of wisdom but every generous instinct +within us bids us respond to the appeal. It is not of the slightest +consequence whether we grant the aid needed by Santo Domingo as an +incident to the wise development of the Monroe Doctrine or because we +regard the case of Santo Domingo as standing wholly by itself, and to +be treated as such, and not on general principles or with any reference +to the Monroe Doctrine. The important point is to give the needed aid, +and the case is certainly sufficiently peculiar to deserve to be judged +purely on its own merits. The conditions in Santo Domingo have for a +number of years grown from bad to worse until a year ago all society +was on the verge of dissolution. Fortunately, just at this time a ruler +sprang up in Santo Domingo, who, with his colleagues, saw the dangers +threatening their country and appealed to the friendship of the only +great and powerful neighbor who possessed the power, and as they hoped +also the will to help them. There was imminent danger of foreign +intervention. The previous rulers of Santo Domingo had recklessly +incurred debts, and owing to her internal disorders she had ceased to +be able to provide means of paying the debts. The patience of her +foreign creditors had become exhausted, and at least two foreign +nations were on the point of intervention, and were only prevented from +intervening by the unofficial assurance of this Government that it +would itself strive to help Santo Domingo in her hour of need. In the +case of one of these nations, only the actual opening of negotiations +to this end by our Government prevented the seizure of territory in +Santo Domingo by a European power. Of the debts incurred some were +just, while some were not of a character which really renders it +obligatory on or proper for Santo Domingo to pay them in full. But she +could not pay any of them unless some stability was assured her +Government and people. + +Accordingly, the Executive Department of our Government negotiated a +treaty under which we are to try to help the Dominican people to +straighten out their finances. This treaty is pending before the +Senate. In the meantime a temporary arrangement has been made which +will last until the Senate has had time to take action upon the treaty. +Under this arrangement the Dominican Government has appointed Americans +to all the important positions in the customs service and they are +seeing to the honest collection of the revenues, turning over 45 per +cent. to the Government for running expenses and putting the other 55 +per cent. into a safe depository for equitable division in case the +treaty shall be ratified, among the various creditors, whether European +or American. + +The Custom Houses offer well-nigh the only sources of revenue in Santo +Domingo, and the different revolutions usually have as their real aim +the obtaining of these Custom Houses. The mere fact that the Collectors +of Customs are Americans, that they are performing their duties with +efficiency and honesty, and that the treaty is pending in the Senate +gives a certain moral power to the Government of Santo Domingo which it +has not had before. This has completely discouraged all revolutionary +movement, while it has already produced such an increase in the +revenues that the Government is actually getting more from the 45 per +cent. that the American Collectors turn over to it than it got formerly +when it took the entire revenue. It is enabling the poor, harassed +people of Santo Domingo once more to turn their attention to industry +and to be free from the cure of interminable revolutionary disturbance. +It offers to all bona-fide creditors, American and European, the only +really good chance to obtain that to which they are justly entitled, +while it in return gives to Santo Domingo the only opportunity of +defense against claims which it ought not to pay, for now if it meets +the views of the Senate we shall ourselves thoroughly examine all these +claims, whether American or foreign, and see that none that are +improper are paid. There is, of course, opposition to the treaty from +dishonest creditors, foreign and American, and from the professional +revolutionists of the island itself. We have already reason to believe +that some of the creditors who do not dare expose their claims to +honest scrutiny are endeavoring to stir up sedition in the island and +opposition to the treaty. In the meantime, I have exercised the +authority vested in me by the joint resolution of the Congress to +prevent the introduction of arms into the island for revolutionary +purposes. + +Under the course taken, stability and order and all the benefits of +peace are at last coming to Santo Domingo, danger of foreign +intervention has been suspended, and there is at last a prospect that +all creditors will get justice, no more and no less. If the arrangement +is terminated by the failure of the treaty chaos will follow; and if +chaos follows, sooner or later this Government may be involved in +serious difficulties with foreign Governments over the island, or else +may be forced itself to intervene in the island in some unpleasant +fashion. Under the proposed treaty the independence of the island is +scrupulously respected, the danger of violation of the Monroe Doctrine +by the intervention of foreign powers vanishes, and the interference of +our Government is minimized, so that we shall only act in conjunction +with the Santo Domingo authorities to secure the proper administration +of the customs, and therefore to secure the payment of just debts and +to secure the Dominican Government against demands for unjust debts. +The proposed method will give the people of Santo Domingo the same +chance to move onward and upward which we have already given to the +people of Cuba. It will be doubly to our discredit as a Nation if we +fail to take advantage of this chance; for it will be of damage to +ourselves, and it will be of incalculable damage to Santo Domingo. +Every consideration of wise policy, and, above all, every consideration +of large generosity, bids us meet the request of Santo Domingo as we +are now trying to meet it. + +We cannot consider the question of our foreign policy without at the +same time treating of the Army and the Navy. We now have a very small +army indeed, one well-nigh infinitesimal when compared With the army of +any other large nation. Of course the army we do have should be as +nearly perfect of its kind and for its size as is possible. I do not +believe that any army in the world has a better average of enlisted men +or a better type of junior officer; but the army should be trained to +act effectively in a mass. Provision should be made by sufficient +appropriations for manoeuvers of a practical kind, so that the troops +may learn how to take care of themselves under actual service +conditions; every march, for instance, being made with the soldier +loaded exactly as he would be in active campaign. The Generals and +Colonels would thereby have opportunity of handling regiments, +brigades, and divisions, and the commissary and medical departments +would be tested in the field. Provision should be made for the exercise +at least of a brigade and by preference of a division in marching and +embarking at some point on our coast and disembarking at some other +point and continuing its march. The number of posts in which the army +is kept in time of peace should be materially diminished and the posts +that are left made correspondingly larger. No local interests should be +allowed to stand in the way of assembling the greater part of the +troops which would at need form our field armies in stations of such +size as will permit the best training to be given to the personnel of +all grades, including the high officers and staff officers. To +accomplish this end we must have not company or regimental garrisons, +but brigade and division garrisons. Promotion by mere seniority can +never result in a thoroughly efficient corps of officers in the higher +ranks unless there accompanies it a vigorous weeding-out process. Such +a weeding-out process--that is, such a process of selection--is a chief +feature of the four years' course of the young officer at West Point. +There is no good reason why it should stop immediately upon his +graduation. While at West Point he is dropped unless he comes up to a +certain standard of excellence, and when he graduates he takes rank in +the army according to his rank of graduation. The results are good at +West Point; and there should be in the army itself something that will +achieve the same end. After a certain age has been reached the average +officer is unfit to do good work below a certain grade. Provision +should be made for the promotion of exceptionally meritorious men over +the heads of their comrades and for the retirement of all men who have +reached a given age without getting beyond a given rank; this age of +retirement of course changing from rank to rank. In both the army and +the navy there should be some principle of selection, that is, of +promotion for merit, and there should be a resolute effort to eliminate +the aged officers of reputable character who possess no special +efficiency. + +There should be an increase in the coast artillery force, so that our +coast fortifications can be in some degree adequately manned. There is +special need for an increase and reorganization of the Medical +Department of the army. In both the army and navy there must be the +same thorough training for duty in the staff corps as in the fighting +line. Only by such training in advance can we be sure that in actual +war field operations and those at sea will be carried on successfully. +The importance of this was shown conclusively in the Spanish-American +and the Russo-Japanese wars. The work of the medical departments in the +Japanese army and navy is especially worthy of study. I renew my +recommendation of January 9, 1905, as to the Medical Department of the +army and call attention to the equal importance of the needs of the +staff corps of the navy. In the Medical Department of the navy the +first in importance is the reorganization of the Hospital Corps, on the +lines of the Gallinger bill, (S. 3,984, February 1, 1904), and the +reapportionment of the different grades of the medical officers to meet +service requirements. It seems advisable also that medical officers of +the army and navy should have similar rank and pay in their respective +grades, so that their duties can be carried on without friction when +they are brought together. The base hospitals of the navy should be put +in condition to meet modern requirements and hospital ships be +provided. Unless we now provide with ample forethought for the medical +needs of the army and navy appalling suffering of a preventable kind is +sure to occur if ever the country goes to war. It is not reasonable to +expect successful administration in time of war of a department which +lacks a third of the number of officers necessary to perform the +medical service in time of peace. We need men who are not merely +doctors; they must be trained in the administration of military medical +service. + +Our navy must, relatively to the navies of other nations, always be of +greater size than our army. We have most wisely continued for a number +of years to build up our navy, and it has now reached a fairly high +standard of efficiency. This standard of efficiency must not only be +maintained, but increased. It does not seem to be necessary, however, +that the navy should--at least in the immediate future--be increased +beyond the present number of units. What is now clearly necessary is to +substitute efficient for inefficient units as the latter become worn +out or as it becomes apparent that they are useless. Probably the +result would be attained by adding a single battleship to our navy each +year, the superseded or outworn vessels being laid up or broken up as +they are thus replaced. The four single-turret monitors built +immediately after the close of the Spanish war, for instance, are +vessels which would be of but little use in the event of war. The money +spent upon them could have been more usefully spent in other ways. Thus +it would have been far better never to have built a single one of these +monitors and to have put the money into an ample supply of reserve +guns. Most of the smaller cruisers and gunboats, though they serve a +useful purpose so far as they are needed for international police work, +would not add to the strength of our navy in a conflict with a serious +foe. There is urgent need of providing a large increase in the number +of officers, and especially in the number of enlisted men. + +Recent naval history has emphasized certain lessons which ought not to, +but which do, need emphasis. Seagoing torpedo boats or destroyers are +indispensable, not only for making night attacks by surprise upon an +enemy, but even in battle for finishing already crippled ships. Under +exceptional circumstances submarine boats would doubtless be of use. +Fast scouts are needed. The main strength of the navy, however, lies, +and can only lie, in the great battleships, the heavily armored, +heavily gunned vessels which decide the mastery of the seas. +Heavy-armed cruisers also play a most useful part, and unarmed +cruisers, if swift enough, are very useful as scouts. Between +antagonists of approximately equal prowess the comparative perfection +of the instruments of war will ordinarily determine the fight. But it +is, of course, true that the man behind the gun, the man in the engine +room, and the man in the conning tower, considered not only +individually, but especially with regard to the way in which they work +together, are even more important than the weapons with which they +work. The most formidable battleship is, of course, helpless against +even a light cruiser if the men aboard it are unable to hit anything +with their guns, and thoroughly well-handled cruisers may count +seriously in an engagement with much superior vessels, if the men +aboard the latter are ineffective, whether from lack of training or +from any other cause. Modern warships are most formidable mechanisms +when well handled, but they are utterly useless when not well handled, +and they cannot be handled at all without long and careful training. +This training can under no circumstance be given when once war has +broken out. No fighting ship of the first class should ever be laid up +save for necessary repairs, and her crew should be kept constantly +exercised on the high seas, so that she may stand at the highest point +of perfection. To put a new and untrained crew upon the most powerful +battleship and send it out to meet a formidable enemy is not only to +invite, but to insure, disaster and disgrace. To improvise crews at the +outbreak of a war, so far as the serious fighting craft are concerned, +is absolutely hopeless. If the officers and men are not thoroughly +skilled in, and have not been thoroughly trained to, their duties, it +would be far better to keep the ships in port during hostilities than +to send them against a formidable opponent, for the result could only +be that they would be either sunk or captured. The marksmanship of our +navy is now on the whole in a gratifying condition, and there has been +a great improvement in fleet practice. We need additional seamen; we +need a large store of reserve guns; we need sufficient money for ample +target practice, ample practice of every kind at sea. We should +substitute for comparatively inefficient types--the old third-class +battleship Texas, the single-turreted monitors above mentioned, and, +indeed, all the monitors and some of the old cruisers--efficient, +modern seagoing vessels. Seagoing torpedo-boat destroyers should be +substituted for some of the smaller torpedo boats. During the present +Congress there need be no additions to the aggregate number of units of +the navy. Our navy, though very small relatively to the navies of other +nations, is for the present sufficient in point of numbers for our +needs, and while we must constantly strive to make its efficiency +higher, there need be no additions to the total of ships now built and +building, save in the way of substitution as above outlined. I +recommend the report of the Secretary of the Navy to the careful +consideration of the Congress, especially with a view to the +legislation therein advocated. + +During the past year evidence has accumulated to confirm the +expressions contained in my last two annual messages as to the +importance of revising by appropriate legislation our system of +naturalizing aliens. I appointed last March a commission to make a +careful examination of our naturalization laws, and to suggest +appropriate measures to avoid the notorious abuses resulting from the +improvident of unlawful granting of citizenship. This commission, +composed of an officer of the Department of State, of the Department of +Justice, and of the Department of Commerce and Labor, has discharged +the duty imposed upon it, and has submitted a report, which will be +transmitted to the Congress for its consideration, and, I hope, for its +favor, able action. + +The distinguishing recommendations of the commission are: + +First--A Federal Bureau of Naturalization, to be established in the +Department of Commerce and Labor, to supervise the administration of +the naturalization laws and to receive returns of naturalizations +pending and accomplished. + +Second--Uniformity of naturalization certificates, fees to be charged, +and procedure. + +Third--More exacting qualifications for citizenship. + +Fourth--The preliminary declaration of intention to be abolished and no +alien to be naturalized until at least ninety days after the filing of +his petition. + +Fifth--Jurisdiction to naturalize aliens to be confined to United +States district courts and to such State courts as have jurisdiction in +civil actions in which the amount in controversy is unlimited; in +cities of over 100,000 inhabitants the United States district courts to +have exclusive jurisdiction in the naturalization of the alien +residents of such cities. + +In my last message I asked the attention of the Congress to the urgent +need of action to make our criminal law more effective; and I most +earnestly request that you pay heed to the report of the Attorney +General on this subject. Centuries ago it was especially needful to +throw every safeguard round the accused. The danger then was lest he +should be wronged by the State. The danger is now exactly the reverse. +Our laws and customs tell immensely in favor of the criminal and +against the interests of the public he has wronged. Some antiquated and +outworn rules which once safeguarded the threatened rights of private +citizens, now merely work harm to the general body politic. The +criminal law of the United States stands in urgent need of revision. +The criminal process of any court of the United States should run +throughout the entire territorial extent of our country. The delays of +the criminal law, no less than of the civil, now amount to a very great +evil. + +There seems to be no statute of the United States which provides for +the punishment of a United States Attorney or other officer of the +Government who corruptly agrees to wrongfully do or wrongfully refrain +from doing any act when the consideration for such corrupt agreement is +other than one possessing money value. This ought to be remedied by +appropriate legislation. Legislation should also be enacted to cover +explicitly, unequivocally, and beyond question breach of trust in the +shape of prematurely divulging official secrets by an officer or +employe of the United States, and to provide a suitable penalty +therefor. Such officer or employe owes the duty to the United States to +guard carefully and not to divulge or in any manner use, prematurely, +information which is accessible to the officer or employe by reason of +his official position. Most breaches of public trust are already +covered by the law, and this one should be. It is impossible, no matter +how much care is used, to prevent the occasional appointment to the +public service of a man who when tempted proves unfaithful; but every +means should be provided to detect and every effort made to punish the +wrongdoer. So far as in my power see each and every such wrongdoer +shall be relentlessly hunted down; in no instance in the past has he +been spared; in no instance in the future shall he be spared. His crime +is a crime against every honest man in the Nation, for it is a crime +against the whole body politic. Yet in dwelling on such misdeeds it is +unjust not to add that they are altogether exceptional, and that on the +whole the employes of the Government render upright and faithful +service to the people. There are exceptions, notably in one or two +branches of the service, but at no time in the Nation's history has the +public service of the Nation taken as a whole stood on a higher plane +than now, alike as regards honesty and as regards efficiency. + +Once again I call your attention to the condition of the public land +laws. Recent developments have given new urgency to the need for such +changes as will fit these laws to actual present conditions. The honest +disposal and right use of the remaining public lands is of fundamental +importance. The iniquitous methods by which the monopolizing of the +public lands is being brought about under the present laws are becoming +more generally known, but the existing laws do not furnish effective +remedies. The recommendations of the Public Lands Commission upon this +subject are wise and should be given effect. + +The creation of small irrigated farms under the Reclamation act is a +powerful offset to the tendency of certain other laws to foster or +permit monopoly of the land. Under that act the construction of great +irrigation works has been proceeding rapidly and successfully, the +lands reclaimed are eagerly taken up, and the prospect that the policy +of National irrigation will accomplish all that was expected of it is +bright. The act should be extended to include the State of Texas. + +The Reclamation act derives much of its value from the fact that it +tends to secure the greatest possible number of homes on the land, and +to create communities of freeholders, in part by settlement on public +lands, in part by forcing the subdivision of large private holdings +before they can get water from Government irrigation works. The law +requires that no right to the use of water for land in private +ownership shall be sold for a tract exceeding 160 acres to any one land +owner. This provision has excited active and powerful hostility, but +the success of the law itself depends on the wise and firm enforcement +of it. We cannot afford to substitute tenants for freeholders on the +public domain. + +The greater part of the remaining public lands can not be irrigated. +They are at present and will probably always be of greater value for +grazing than for any other purpose. This fact has led to the grazing +homestead of 640 acres in Nebraska and to the proposed extension of it +to other States. It is argued that a family can not be supported on 160 +acres of arid grazing land. This is obviously true, but neither can a +family be supported on 640 acres of much of the land to which it is +proposed to apply the grazing homestead. To establish universally any +such arbitrary limit would be unwise at the present time. It would +probably result on the one hand in enlarging the holdings of some of +the great land owners, and on the other in needless suffering and +failure on the part of a very considerable proportion of the bona fide +settlers who give faith to the implied assurance of the Government that +such an area is sufficient. The best use of the public grazing lands +requires the careful examination and classification of these lands in +order to give each settler land enough to support his family and no +more. While this work is being done, and until the lands are settled, +the Government should take control of the open range, under reasonable +regulations suited to local needs, following the general policy already +in successful operation on the forest reserves. It is probable that the +present grazing value of the open public range is scarcely more than +half what it once was or what it might easily be again under careful +regulation. + +The forest policy of the Administration appears to enjoy the unbroken +support of the people. The great users of timber are themselves +forwarding the movement for forest preservation. All organized +opposition to the forest preserves in the West has disappeared. Since +the consolidation of all Government forest work in the National Forest +Service there has been a rapid and notable gain in the usefulness of +the forest reserves to the people and in public appreciation of their +value. The National parks within or adjacent to forest reserves should +be transferred to the charge of the Forest Service also. + +The National Government already does something in connection with the +construction and maintenance of the great system of levees along the +lower course of the Mississippi; in my judgment it should do much more. + +To the spread of our trade in peace and the defense of our flag in war +a great and prosperous merchant marine is indispensable. We should have +ships of our own and seamen of our own to convey our goods to neutral +markets, and in case of need to reinforce our battle line. It cannot +but be a source of regret and uneasiness to us that the lines of +communication with our sister republics of South America should be +chiefly under foreign control. It is not a good thing that American +merchants and manufacturers should have to send their goods and letters +to South America via Europe if they wish security and dispatch. Even on +the Pacific, where our ships have held their own better than on the +Atlantic, our merchant flag is now threatened through the liberal aid +bestowed by other Governments on their own steam lines. I ask your +earnest consideration of the report with which the Merchant Marine +Commission has followed its long and careful inquiry. + +I again heartily commend to your favorable consideration the +tercentennial celebration at Jamestown, Va. Appreciating the +desirability of this commemoration, the Congress passed an act, March +3, 1905, authorizing in the year 1907, on and near the waters of +Hampton Roads, in the State of Virginia, an international naval, +marine, and military celebration in honor of this event. By the +authority vested in me by this act, I have made proclamation of said +celebration, and have issued, in conformity with its instructions, +invitations to all the nations of the earth to participate, by sending +their naval vessels and such military organizations as may be +practicable. This celebration would fail of its full purpose unless it +were enduring in its results and commensurate with the importance of +the event to be celebrated, the event from which our Nation dates its +birth. I earnestly hope that this celebration, already indorsed by the +Congress of the United States, and by the Legislatures of sixteen +States since the action of the Congress, will receive such additional +aid at your hands as will make it worthy of the great event it is +intended to celebrate, and thereby enable the Government of the United +States to make provision for the exhibition of its own resources, and +likewise enable our people who have undertaken the work of such a +celebration to provide suitable and proper entertainment and +instruction in the historic events of our country for all who may visit +the exposition and to whom we have tendered our hospitality. + +It is a matter of unmixed satisfaction once more to call attention to +the excellent work of the Pension Bureau; for the veterans of the civil +war have a greater claim upon us than any other class of our citizens. +To them, first of all among our people, honor is due. + +Seven years ago my lamented predecessor, President McKinley, stated +that the time had come for the Nation to care for the graves of the +Confederate dead. I recommend that the Congress take action toward this +end. The first need is to take charge of the graves of the Confederate +dead who died in Northern prisons. + +The question of immigration is of vital interest to this country. In +the year ending June 30, 1905, there came to the United States +1,026,000 alien immigrants. In other words, in the single year that has +just elapsed there came to this country a greater number of people than +came here during the one hundred and sixty-nine years of our Colonial +life which intervened between the first landing at Jamestown and the +Declaration of Independence. It is clearly shown in the report of the +Commissioner General of Immigration that while much of this enormous +immigration is undoubtedly healthy and natural, a considerable +proportion is undesirable from one reason or another; moreover, a +considerable proportion of it, probably a very large proportion, +including most of the undesirable class, does not come here of its own +initiative, but because of the activity of the agents of the great +transportation companies. These agents are distributed throughout +Europe, and by the offer of all kinds of inducements they wheedle and +cajole many immigrants, often against their best interest, to come +here. The most serious obstacle we have to encounter in the effort to +secure a proper regulation of the immigration to these shores arises +from the determined opposition of the foreign steamship lines who have +no interest whatever in the matter save to increase the returns on +their capital by carrying masses of immigrants hither in the steerage +quarters of their ships. + +As I said in my last message to the Congress, we cannot have too much +immigration of the right sort and we should have none whatever of the +wrong sort. Of course, it is desirable that even the right kind of +immigration should be properly distributed in this country. We need +more of such immigration for the South; and special effort should be +made to secure it. Perhaps it would be possible to limit the number of +immigrants allowed to come in any one year to New York and other +Northern cities, while leaving unlimited the number allowed to come to +the South; always provided, however, that a stricter effort is made to +see that only immigrants of the right kind come to our country +anywhere. In actual practice it has proved so difficult to enforce the +migration laws where long stretches of frontier marked by an imaginary +line alone intervene between us and our neighbors that I recommend that +no immigrants be allowed to come in from Canada and Mexico save natives +of the two countries themselves. As much as possible should be done to +distribute the immigrants upon the land and keep them away from the +contested tenement-house districts of the great cities. But +distribution is a palliative, not a cure. The prime need is to keep out +all immigrants who will not make good American citizens. The laws now +existing for the exclusion of undesirable immigrants should be +strengthened. Adequate means should be adopted, enforced by sufficient +penalties, to compel steamship companies engaged in the passenger +business to observe in good faith the law which forbids them to +encourage or solicit immigration to the United States. Moreover, there +should be a sharp limitation imposed upon all vessels coming to our +ports as to the number of immigrants in ratio to the tonnage which each +vessel can carry. This ratio should be high enough to insure the coming +hither of as good a class of aliens as possible. Provision should be +made for the surer punishment of those who induce aliens to come to +this country under promise or assurance of employment. It should be +made possible to inflict a sufficiently heavy penalty on any employer +violating this law to deter him from taking the risk. It seems to me +wise that there should be an international conference held to deal with +this question of immigration, which has more than a merely National +significance; such a conference could, among other things, enter at +length into the method for securing a thorough inspection of would-be +immigrants at the ports from which they desire to embark before +permitting them to embark. + +In dealing with this question it is unwise to depart from the old +American tradition and to discriminate for or against any man who +desires to come here and become a citizen, save on the ground of that +man's fitness for citizenship. It is our right and duty to consider his +moral and social quality. His standard of living should be such that he +will not, by pressure of competition, lower the standard of living of +our own wage-workers; for it must ever be a prime object of our +legislation to keep high their standard of living. If the man who seeks +to come here is from the moral and social standpoint of such a +character as to bid fair to add value to the community he should be +heartily welcomed. We cannot afford to pay heed to whether he is of one +creed or another, of one nation, or another. We cannot afford to +consider whether he is Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile; whether +he is Englishman or Irishman, Frenchman or German, Japanese, Italian, +Scandinavian, Slav, or Magyar. What we should desire to find out is the +individual quality of the individual man. In my judgment, with this end +in view, we shall have to prepare through our own agents a far more +rigid inspection in the countries from which the immigrants come. It +will be a great deal better to have fewer immigrants, but all of the +right kind, than a great number of immigrants, many of whom are +necessarily of the wrong kind. As far as possible we wish to limit the +immigration to this country to persons who propose to become citizens +of this country, and we can well afford to insist upon adequate +scrutiny of the character of those who are thus proposed for future +citizenship. There should be an increase in the stringency of the laws +to keep out insane, idiotic, epileptic, and pauper immigrants. But this +is by no means enough. Not merely the Anarchist, but every man of +Anarchistic tendencies, all violent and disorderly people, all people +of bad character, the incompetent, the lazy, the vicious, the +physically unfit, defective, or degenerate should be kept out. The +stocks out of which American citizenship is to be built should be +strong and healthy, sound in body, mind, and character. If it be +objected that the Government agents would not always select well, the +answer is that they would certainly select better than do the agents +and brokers of foreign steamship companies, the people who now do +whatever selection is done. + +The questions arising in connection with Chinese immigration stand by +themselves. The conditions in China are such that the entire Chinese +coolie class, that is, the class of Chinese laborers, skilled and +unskilled, legitimately come under the head of undesirable immigrants +to this country, because of their numbers, the low wages for which they +work, and their low standard of living. Not only is it to the interest +of this country to keep them out, but the Chinese authorities do not +desire that they should be admitted. At present their entrance is +prohibited by laws amply adequate to accomplish this purpose. These +laws have been, are being, and will be, thoroughly enforced. The +violations of them are so few in number as to be infinitesimal and can +be entirely disregarded. This is no serious proposal to alter the +immigration law as regards the Chinese laborer, skilled or unskilled, +and there is no excuse for any man feeling or affecting to feel the +slightest alarm on the subject. + +But in the effort to carry out the policy of excluding Chinese +laborers, Chinese coolies, grave injustice and wrong have been done by +this Nation to the people of China, and therefore ultimately to this +Nation itself. Chinese students, business and professional men of all +kinds--not only merchants, but bankers, doctors, manufacturers, +professors, travelers, and the like--should be encouraged to come here, +and treated on precisely the same footing that we treat students, +business men, travelers, and the like of other nations. Our laws and +treaties should be framed, not so as to put these people in the +excepted classes, but to state that we will admit all Chinese, except +Chinese of the coolie class, Chinese skilled or unskilled laborers. +There would not be the least danger that any such provision would +result in any relaxation of the law about laborers. These will, under +all conditions, be kept out absolutely. But it will be more easy to see +that both justice and courtesy are shown, as they ought to be shown, to +other Chinese, if the law or treaty is framed as above suggested. +Examinations should be completed at the port of departure from China. +For this purpose there should be provided a more adequate Consular +Service in China than we now have. The appropriations both for the +offices of the Consuls and for the office forces in the consulates +should be increased. + +As a people we have talked much of the open door in China, and we +expect, and quite rightly intend to insist upon, justice being shown us +by the Chinese. But we cannot expect to receive equity unless we do +equity. We cannot ask the Chinese to do to us what we are unwilling to +do to them. They would have a perfect right to exclude our laboring men +if our laboring men threatened to come into their country in such +numbers as to jeopardize the well-being of the Chinese population; and +as, mutatis mutandis, these were the conditions with which Chinese +immigration actually brought this people face to face, we had and have +a perfect right, which the Chinese Government in no way contests, to +act as we have acted in the matter of restricting coolie immigration. +That this right exists for each country was explicitly acknowledged in +the last treaty between the two countries. But we must treat the +Chinese student, traveler, and business man in a spirit of the broadest +justice and courtesy if we expect similar treatment to be accorded to +our own people of similar rank who go to China. Much trouble has come +during the past Summer from the organized boycott against American +goods which has been started in China. The main factor in producing +this boycott has been the resentment felt by the students and business +people of China, by all the Chinese leaders, against the harshness of +our law toward educated Chinamen of the professional and business +classes. This Government has the friendliest feeling for China and +desires China's well-being. We cordially sympathize with the announced +purpose of Japan to stand for the integrity of China. Such an attitude +tends to the peace of the world. + +The civil service law has been on the statute books for twenty-two +years. Every President and a vast majority of heads of departments who +have been in office during that period have favored a gradual extension +of the merit system. The more thoroughly its principles have been +understood, the greater has been the favor with which the law has been +regarded by administration officers. Any attempt to carry on the great +executive departments of the Government without this law would +inevitably result in chaos. The Civil Service Commissioners are doing +excellent work, and their compensation is inadequate considering the +service they perform. + +The statement that the examinations are not practical in character is +based on a misapprehension of the practice of the Commission. The +departments are invariably consulted as to the requirements desired and +as to the character of questions that shall be asked. General +invitations are frequently sent out to all heads of departments asking +whether any changes in the scope or character of examinations are +required. In other words, the departments prescribe the requirements +and qualifications desired, and the Civil Service Commission +co-operates with them in securing persons with these qualifications and +insuring open and impartial competition. In a large number of +examinations (as, for example, those for trades positions), there are +no educational requirements whatever, and a person who can neither read +nor write may pass with a high average. Vacancies in the service are +filled with reasonable expedition, and the machinery of the Commission, +which reaches every part of the country, is the best agency that has +yet been devised for finding people with the most suitable +qualifications for the various offices to be filled. Written +competitive examinations do not make an ideal method for filling +positions, but they do represent an immeasurable advance upon the +"spoils" method, under which outside politicians really make the +appointments nominally made by the executive officers, the appointees +being chosen by the politicians in question, in the great majority of +cases, for reasons totally unconnected with the needs of the service or +of the public. + +Statistics gathered by the Census Bureau show that the tenure of office +in the Government service does not differ materially from that enjoyed +by employes of large business corporations. Heads of executive +departments and members of the Commission have called my attention to +the fact that the rule requiring a filing of charges and three days' +notice before an employe could be separated from the service for +inefficiency has served no good purpose whatever, because that is not a +matter upon which a hearing of the employe found to be inefficient can +be of any value, and in practice the rule providing for such notice and +hearing has merely resulted in keeping in a certain number of +incompetents, because of the reluctance of the heads of departments and +bureau chiefs to go through the required procedure. Experience has +shown that this rule is wholly ineffective to save any man, if a +superior for improper reasons wishes to remove him, and is mischievous +because it sometimes serves to keep in the service incompetent men not +guilty of specific wrongdoing. Having these facts in view the rule has +been amended by providing that where the inefficiency or incapacity +comes within the personal knowledge of the head of a department the +removal may be made without notice, the reasons therefor being filed +and made a record of the department. The absolute right of the removal +rests where it always has rested, with the head of a department; any +limitation of this absolute right results in grave injury to the public +service. The change is merely one of procedure; it was much needed, and +it is producing good results. + +The civil service law is being energetically and impartially enforced, +and in the large majority of cases complaints of violations of either +the law or rules are discovered to be unfounded. In this respect this +law compares very favorably with any other Federal statute. The +question of politics in the appointment and retention of the men +engaged in merely ministerial work has been practically eliminated in +almost the entire field of Government employment covered by the civil +service law. The action of the Congress in providing the commission +with its own force instead of requiring it to rely on detailed clerks +has been justified by the increased work done at a smaller cost to the +Government. I urge upon the Congress a careful consideration of the +recommendations contained in the annual report of the commission. + +Our copyright laws urgently need revision. They are imperfect in +definition, confused and inconsistent in expression; they omit +provision for many articles which, under modern reproductive processes +are entitled to protection; they impose hardships upon the copyright +proprietor which are not essential to the fair protection of the +public; they are difficult for the courts to interpret and impossible +for the Copyright Office to administer with satisfaction to the public. +Attempts to improve them by amendment have been frequent, no less than +twelve acts for the purpose having been passed since the Revised +Statutes. To perfect them by further amendment seems impracticable. A +complete revision of them is essential. Such a revision, to meet modern +conditions, has been found necessary in Germany, Austria, Sweden, and +other foreign countries, and bills embodying it are pending in England +and the Australian colonies. It has been urged here, and proposals for +a commission to undertake it have, from time to time, been pressed upon +the Congress. The inconveniences of the present conditions being so +great, an attempt to frame appropriate legislation has been made by the +Copyright Office, which has called conferences of the various interests +especially and practically concerned with the operation of the +copyright laws. It has secured from them suggestions as to the changes +necessary; it has added from its own experience and investigations, and +it has drafted a bill which embodies such of these changes and +additions as, after full discussion and expert criticism, appeared to +be sound and safe. In form this bill would replace the existing +insufficient and inconsistent laws by one general copyright statute. It +will be presented to the Congress at the coming session. It deserves +prompt consideration. + +I recommend that a law be enacted to regulate inter-State commerce in +misbranded and adulterated foods, drinks, and drugs. Such law would +protect legitimate manufacture and commerce, and would tend to secure +the health and welfare of the consuming public. Traffic in food-stuffs +which have been debased or adulterated so as to injure health or to +deceive purchasers should be forbidden. + +The law forbidding the emission of dense black or gray smoke in the +city of Washington has been sustained by the courts. Something has been +accomplished under it, but much remains to be done if we would preserve +the capital city from defacement by the smoke nuisance. Repeated +prosecutions under the law have not had the desired effect. I recommend +that it be made more stringent by increasing both the minimum and +maximum fine; by providing for imprisonment in cases of repeated +violation, and by affording the remedy of injunction against the +continuation of the operation of plants which are persistent offenders. +I recommend, also, an increase in the number of inspectors, whose duty +it shall be to detect violations of the act. + +I call your attention to the generous act of the State of California in +conferring upon the United States Government the ownership of the +Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove. There should be no +delay in accepting the gift, and appropriations should be made for the +including thereof in the Yosemite National Park, and for the care and +policing of the park. California has acted most wisely, as well as with +great magnanimity, in the matter. There are certain mighty natural +features of our land which should be preserved in perpetuity for our +children and our children's children. In my judgment, the Grand Canyon +of the Colorado should be made into a National park. It is greatly to +be wished that the State of New York should copy as regards Niagara +what the State of California has done as regards the Yosemite. Nothing +should be allowed to interfere with the preservation of Niagara Falls +in all their beauty and majesty. If the State cannot see to this, then +it is earnestly to be wished that she should be willing to turn it over +to the National Government, which should in such case (if possible, in +conjunction with the Canadian Government) assume the burden and +responsibility of preserving unharmed Niagara Falls; just as it should +gladly assume a similar burden and responsibility for the Yosemite +National Park, and as it has already assumed them for the Yellowstone +National Park. Adequate provision should be made by the Congress for +the proper care and supervision of all these National parks. The +boundaries of the Yellowstone National Park should be extended to the +south and east, to take in such portions of the abutting forest +reservations as will enable the Government to protect the elk on their +Winter range. + +The most characteristic animal of the Western plains was the great, +shaggy-maned wild ox, the bison, commonly known as buffalo. Small +fragments of herds exist in a domesticated state here and there, a few +of them in the Yellowstone Park. Such a herd as that on the Flat-head +Reservation should not be allowed to go out of existence. Either on +some reservation or on some forest reserve like the Wichita reserve and +game refuge provision should be made for the preservation of such a +herd. I believe that the scheme would be of economic advantage, for the +robe of the buffalo is of high market value, and the same is true of +the robe of the crossbred animals. + +I call your especial attention to the desirability of giving to the +members of the Life Saving Service pensions such as are given to +firemen and policemen in all our great cities. The men in the Life +Saving Service continually and in the most matter of fact way do deeds +such as make Americans proud of their country. They have no political +influence, and they live in such remote places that the really heroic +services they continually render receive the scantiest recognition from +the public. It is unjust for a great nation like this to permit these +men to become totally disabled or to meet death in the performance of +their hazardous duty and yet to give them no sort of reward. If one of +them serves thirty years of his life in such a position he should +surely be entitled to retire on half pay, as a fireman or policeman +does, and if he becomes totally incapacitated through accident or +sickness, or loses his health in the discharge of his duty, he or his +family should receive a pension just as any soldier should. I call your +attention with especial earnestness to this matter because it appeals +not only to our judgment but to our sympathy; for the people on whose +behalf I ask it are comparatively few in number, render incalculable +service of a particularly dangerous kind, and have no one to speak for +them. + +During the year just past, the phase of the Indian question which has +been most sharply brought to public attention is the larger legal +significance of the Indian's induction into citizenship. This has made +itself manifest not only in a great access of litigation in which the +citizen Indian figures as a party defendant and in a more widespread +disposition to levy local taxation upon his personalty, but in a +decision of the United States Supreme Court which struck away the main +prop on which has hitherto rested the Government's benevolent effort to +protect him against the evils of intemperance. The court holds, in +effect, that when an Indian becomes, by virtue of an allotment of land +to him, a citizen of the State in which his land is situated, he passes +from under Federal control in such matters as this, and the acts of the +Congress prohibiting the sale or gift to him of intoxicants become +substantially inoperative. It is gratifying to note that the States and +municipalities of the West which have most at stake in the welfare of +the Indians are taking up this subject and are trying to supply, in a +measure at least, the abdication of its trusteeship forced upon the +Federal Government. Nevertheless, I would urgently press upon the +attention of the Congress the question whether some amendment of the +internal revenue laws might not be of aid in prosecuting those +malefactors, known in the Indian country as "bootleggers," who are +engaged at once in defrauding the United States Treasury of taxes and, +what is far more important, in debauching the Indians by carrying +liquors illicitly into territory still completely under Federal +jurisdiction. + +Among the crying present needs of the Indians are more day schools +situated in the midst of their settlements, more effective instruction +in the industries pursued on their own farms, and a more liberal +tension of the field-matron service, which means the education of the +Indian women in the arts of home making. Until the mothers are well +started in the right direction we cannot reasonably expect much from +the children who are soon to form an integral part of our American +citizenship. Moreover the excuse continually advanced by male adult +Indians for refusing offers of remunerative employment at a distance +from their homes is that they dare not leave their families too long +out of their sight. One effectual remedy for this state of things is to +employ the minds and strengthen the moral fibre of the Indian +women--the end to which the work of the field matron is especially +directed. I trust that the Congress will make its appropriations for +Indian day schools and field matrons as generous as may consist with +the other pressing demands upon its providence. + +During the last year the Philippine Islands have been slowly recovering +from the series of disasters which, since American occupation, have +greatly reduced the amount of agricultural products below what was +produced in Spanish times. The war, the rinderpest, the locusts, the +drought, and the cholera have been united as causes to prevent a return +of the prosperity much needed in the islands. The most serious is the +destruction by the rinderpest of more than 75 per cent of the draught +cattle, because it will take several years of breeding to restore the +necessary number of these indispensable aids to agriculture. The +commission attempted to supply by purchase from adjoining countries the +needed cattle, but the experiments made were unsuccessful. Most of the +cattle imported were unable to withstand the change of climate and the +rigors of the voyage and died from other diseases than rinderpest. + +The income of the Philippine Government has necessarily been reduced by +reason of the business and agricultural depression in the islands, and +the Government has been obliged to exercise great economy to cut down +its expenses, to reduce salaries, and in every way to avoid a deficit. +It has adopted an internal revenue law, imposing taxes on cigars, +cigarettes, and distilled liquors, and abolishing the old Spanish +industrial taxes. The law has not operated as smoothly as was hoped, +and although its principle is undoubtedly correct, it may need +amendments for the purpose of reconciling the people to its provisions. +The income derived from it has partly made up for the reduction in +customs revenue. + +There has been a marked increase in the number of Filipinos employed in +the civil service, and a corresponding decrease in the number of +Americans. The Government in every one of its departments has been +rendered more efficient by elimination of undesirable material and the +promotion of deserving public servants. + +Improvements of harbors, roads, and bridges continue, although the +cutting down of the revenue forbids the expenditure of any great amount +from current income for these purposes. Steps are being taken, by +advertisement for competitive bids, to secure the construction and +maintenance of 1,000 miles of railway by private corporations under the +recent enabling legislation of the Congress. The transfer of the friar +lands, in accordance with the contract made some two years ago, has +been completely effected, and the purchase money paid. Provision has +just been made by statute for the speedy settlement in a special +proceeding in the Supreme Court of controversies over the possession +and title of church buildings and rectories arising between the Roman +Catholic Church and schismatics claiming under ancient municipalities. +Negotiations and hearings for the settlement of the amount due to the +Roman Catholic Church for rent and occupation of churches and rectories +by the army of the United States are in progress, and it is hoped a +satisfactory conclusion may be submitted to the Congress before the end +of the session. + +Tranquillity has existed during the past year throughout the +Archipelago, except in the Province of Cavite, the Province of Batangas +and the Province of Samar, and in the Island of Jolo among the Moros. +The Jolo disturbance was put an end to by several sharp and short +engagements, and now peace prevails in the Moro Province, Cavite, the +mother of ladrones in the Spanish times, is so permeated with the +traditional sympathy of the people for ladronism as to make it +difficult to stamp out the disease. Batangas was only disturbed by +reason of the fugitive ladrones from Cavite, Samar was thrown into +disturbance by the uneducated and partly savage peoples living in the +mountains, who, having been given by the municipal code more power than +they were able to exercise discreetly, elected municipal officers who +abused their trusts, compelled the people raising hemp to sell it at a +much less price than it was worth, and by their abuses drove their +people into resistance to constituted authority. Cavite and Samar are +instances of reposing too much confidence in the self-governing power +of a people. The disturbances have all now been suppressed, and it is +hoped that with these lessons local governments can be formed which +will secure quiet and peace to the deserving inhabitants. The incident +is another proof of the fact that if there has been any error as +regards giving self-government in the Philippines it has been in the +direction of giving it too quickly, not too slowly. A year from next +April the first legislative assembly for the islands will be held. On +the sanity and self-restraint of this body much will depend so far as +the future self-government of the islands is concerned. + +The most encouraging feature of the whole situation has been the very +great interest taken by the common people in education and the great +increase in the number of enrolled students in the public schools. The +increase was from 300,000 to half a million pupils. The average +attendance is about 70 per cent. The only limit upon the number of +pupils seems to be the capacity of the government to furnish teachers +and school houses. + +The agricultural conditions of the islands enforce more strongly than +ever the argument in favor of reducing the tariff on the products of +the Philippine Islands entering the United States. I earnestly +recommend that the tariff now imposed by the Dingley bill upon the +products of the Philippine Islands be entirely removed, except the +tariff on sugar and tobacco, and that that tariff be reduced to 25 per +cent of the present rates under the Dingley act; that after July 1, +1909, the tariff upon tobacco and sugar produced in the Philippine +Islands be entirely removed, and that free trade between the islands +and the United States in the products of each country then be provided +for by law. + +A statute in force, enacted April 15, 1904, suspends the operation of +the coastwise laws of the United States upon the trade between the +Philippine Islands and the United States until July 1, 1906. I +earnestly recommend that this suspension be postponed until July 1, +1909. I think it of doubtful utility to apply the coastwise laws to the +trade between the United States and the Philippines under any +circumstances, because I am convinced that it will do no good whatever +to American bottoms, and will only interfere and be an obstacle to the +trade between the Philippines and the United States, but if the +coastwise law must be thus applied, certainly it ought not to have +effect until free trade is enjoyed between the people of the United +States and the people of the Philippine Islands in their respective +products. + +I do not anticipate that free trade between the islands and the United +States will produce a revolution in the sugar and tobacco production of +the Philippine Islands. So primitive are the methods of agriculture in +the Philippine Islands, so slow is capital in going to the islands, so +many difficulties surround a large agricultural enterprise in the +islands, that it will be many, many years before the products of those +islands will have any effect whatever upon the markets of the United +States. The problem of labor is also a formidable one with the sugar +and tobacco producers in the islands. The best friends of the Filipino +people and the people themselves are utterly opposed to the admission +of Chinese coolie labor. Hence the only solution is the training of +Filipino labor, and this will take a long time. The enactment of a law +by the Congress of the United States making provision for free trade +between the islands and the United States, however, will be of great +importance from a political and sentimental standpoint; and, while its +actual benefit has doubtless been exaggerated by the people of the +islands, they will accept this measure of justice as an indication that +the people of the United States are anxious to aid the people of the +Philippine Islands in every way, and especially in the agricultural +development of their archipelago. It will aid the Filipinos without +injuring interests in America. + +In my judgment immediate steps should be taken for the fortification of +Hawaii. This is the most important point in the Pacific to fortify in +order to conserve the interests of this country. It would be hard to +overstate the importance of this need. Hawaii is too heavily taxed. +Laws should be enacted setting aside for a period of, say, twenty years +75 per cent of the internal revenue and customs receipts from Hawaii as +a special fund to be expended in the islands for educational and public +buildings, and for harbor improvements and military and naval defenses. +It cannot be too often repeated that our aim must be to develop the +territory of Hawaii on traditional American lines. That territory has +serious commercial and industrial problems to reckon with; but no +measure of relief can be considered which looks to legislation +admitting Chinese and restricting them by statute to field labor and +domestic service. The status of servility can never again be tolerated +on American soil. We cannot concede that the proper solution of its +problems is special legislation admitting to Hawaii a class of laborers +denied admission to the other States and Territories. There are +obstacles, and great obstacles, in the way of building up a +representative American community in the Hawaiian Islands; but it is +not in the American character to give up in the face of difficulty. +Many an American Commonwealth has been built up against odds equal to +those that now confront Hawaii. + +No merely half-hearted effort to meet its problems as other American +communities have met theirs can be accepted as final. Hawaii shall +never become a territory in which a governing class of rich planters +exists by means of coolie labor. Even if the rate of growth of the +Territory is thereby rendered slower, the growth must only take place +by the admission of immigrants fit in the end to assume the duties and +burdens of full American citizenship. Our aim must be to develop the +Territory on the same basis of stable citizenship as exists on this +continent. + +I earnestly advocate the adoption of legislation which will explicitly +confer American citizenship on all citizens of Porto Rico. There is, in +my judgment, no excuse for failure to do this. The harbor of San Juan +should be dredged and improved. The expenses of the Federal Court of +Porto Rico should be met from the Federal Treasury and not from the +Porto Rican treasury. The elections in Porto Rico should take place +every four years, and the Legislature should meet in session every two +years. The present form of government in Porto Rico, which provides for +the appointment by the President of the members of the Executive +Council or upper house of the Legislature, has proved satisfactory and +has inspired confidence in property owners and investors. I do not deem +it advisable at the present time to change this form in any material +feature. The problems and needs of the island are industrial and +commercial rather than political. + +I wish to call the attention of the Congress to one question which +affects our insular possessions generally; namely, the need of an +increased liberality in the treatment of the whole franchise question +in these islands. In the proper desire to prevent the islands being +exploited by speculators and to have them develop in the interests of +their own people an error has been made in refusing to grant +sufficiently liberal terms to induce the investment of American capital +in the Philippines and in Porto Rico. Elsewhere in this message I have +spoken strongly against the jealousy of mere wealth, and especially of +corporate wealth as such. But it is particularly regrettable to allow +any such jealousy to be developed when we are dealing either with our +insular or with foreign affairs. The big corporation has achieved its +present position in the business world simply because it is the most +effective instrument in business competition. In foreign affairs we +cannot afford to put our people at a disadvantage with their +competitors by in any way discriminating against the efficiency of our +business organizations. In the same way we cannot afford to allow our +insular possessions to lag behind in industrial development from any +twisted jealousy of business success. It is, of course, a mere truism +to say that the business interests of the islands will only be +developed if it becomes the financial interest of somebody to develop +them. Yet this development is one of the things most earnestly to be +wished for in the interest of the islands themselves. We have been +paying all possible heed to the political and educational interests of +the islands, but, important though these objects are, it is not less +important that we should favor their industrial development. The +Government can in certain ways help this directly, as by building good +roads; but the fundamental and vital help must be given through the +development of the industries of the islands, and a most efficient +means to this end is to encourage big American corporations to start +industries in them, and this means to make it advantageous for them to +do so. To limit the ownership of mining claims, as has been done in the +Philippines, is absurd. In both the Philippines and Porto Rico the +limit of holdings of land should be largely raised. + +I earnestly ask that Alaska be given an elective delegate. Some person +should be chosen who can speak with authority of the needs of the +Territory. The Government should aid in the construction of a railroad +from the Gulf of Alaska to the Yukon River, in American territory. In +my last two messages I advocated certain additional action on behalf of +Alaska. I shall not now repeat those recommendations, but I shall lay +all my stress upon the one recommendation of giving to Alaska some one +authorized to speak for it. I should prefer that the delegate was made +elective, but if this is not deemed wise, then make him appointive. At +any rate, give Alaska some person whose business it shall be to speak +with authority on her behalf to the Congress. The natural resources of +Alaska are great. Some of the chief needs of the peculiarly energetic, +self-reliant, and typically American white population of Alaska were +set forth in my last message. I also earnestly ask your attention to +the needs of the Alaskan Indians. All Indians who are competent should +receive the full rights of American citizenship. It is, for instance, a +gross and indefensible wrong to deny to such hard-working, +decent-living Indians as the Metlakahtlas the right to obtain licenses +as captains, pilots, and engineers; the right to enter mining claims, +and to profit by the homestead law. These particular Indians are +civilized and are competent and entitled to be put on the same basis +with the white men round about them. + +I recommend that Indian Territory and Oklahoma be admitted as one State +and that New Mexico and Arizona be admitted as one State. There is no +obligation upon us to treat territorial subdivisions, which are matters +of convenience only, as binding us on the question of admission to +Statehood. Nothing has taken up more time in the Congress during the +past few years than the question as to the Statehood to be granted to +the four Territories above mentioned, and after careful consideration +of all that has been developed in the discussions of the question, I +recommend that they be immediately admitted as two States. There is no +justification for further delay; and the advisability of making the +four Territories into two States has been clearly established. + +In some of the Territories the legislative assemblies issue licenses +for gambling. The Congress should by law forbid this practice, the +harmful results of which are obvious at a glance. + +The treaty between the United States and the Republic of Panama, under +which the construction of the Panama Canal was made possible, went into +effect with its ratification by the United States Senate on February +23, 1904. The canal properties of the French Canal Company were +transferred to the United States on April 23, 1904, on payment of +$40,000,000 to that company. On April 1, 1905, the Commission was +reorganized, and it now consists of Theodore P. Shonts, Chairman; +Charles E. Magoon, Benjamin M. Harrod, Rear Admiral Mordecai T. +Endicott, Brig. Gen. Peter C. Hains, and Col. Oswald H. Ernst. John F. +Stevens was appointed Chief Engineer on July 1 last. Active work in +canal construction, mainly preparatory, has been in progress for less +than a year and a half. During that period two points about the canal +have ceased to be open to debate: First, the question of route; the +canal will be built on the Isthmus of Panama. Second, the question of +feasibility; there are no physical obstacles on this route that +American engineering skill will not be able to overcome without serious +difficulty, or that will prevent the completion of the canal within a +reasonable time and at a reasonable cost. This is virtually the +unanimous testimony of the engineers who have investigated the matter +for the Government. + +The point which remains unsettled is the question of type, whether the +canal shall be one of several locks above sea level, or at sea level +with a single tide lock. On this point I hope to lay before the +Congress at an early day the findings of the Advisory Board of American +and European Engineers, that at my invitation have been considering the +subject, together with the report of the Commission thereon, and such +comments thereon or recommendations in reference thereto as may seem +necessary. + +The American people is pledged to the speediest possible construction +of a canal adequate to meet the demands which the commerce of the world +will make upon it, and I appeal most earnestly to the Congress to aid +in the fulfillment of the pledge. Gratifying progress has been made +during the past year, and especially during the past four months. The +greater part of the necessary preliminary work has been done. Actual +work of excavation could be begun only on a limited scale till the +Canal Zone was made a healthful place to live in and to work in. The +Isthmus had to be sanitated first. This task has been so thoroughly +accomplished that yellow fever has been virtually extirpated from the +Isthmus and general health conditions vastly improved. The same methods +which converted the island of Cuba from a pest hole, which menaced the +health of the world, into a healthful place of abode, have been applied +on the Isthmus with satisfactory results. There is no reason to doubt +that when the plans for water supply, paving, and sewerage of Panama +and Colon and the large labor camps have been fully carried out, the +Isthmus will be, for the tropics, an unusually healthy place of abode. +The work is so far advanced now that the health of all those employed +in canal work is as well guarded as it is on similar work in this +country and elsewhere. + +In addition to sanitating the Isthmus, satisfactory quarters are being +provided for employes and an adequate system of supplying them with +wholesome food at reasonable prices has been created. Hospitals have +been established and equipped that are without their superiors of their +kind anywhere. The country has thus been made fit to work in, and +provision has been made for the welfare and comfort of those who are to +do the work. During the past year a large portion of the plant with +which the work is to be done has been ordered. It is confidently +believed that by the middle of the approaching year a sufficient +proportion of this plant will have been installed to enable us to +resume the work of excavation on a large scale. + +What is needed now and without delay is an appropriation by the +Congress to meet the current and accruing expenses of the commission. +The first appropriation of $10,000,000, out of the $135,000,000 +authorized by the Spooner act, was made three years ago. It is nearly +exhausted. There is barely enough of it remaining to carry the +commission to the end of the year. Unless the Congress shall +appropriate before that time all work must cease. To arrest progress +for any length of time now, when matters are advancing so +satisfactorily, would be deplorable. There will be no money with which +to meet pay roll obligations and none with which to meet bills coming +due for materials and supplies; and there will be demoralization of the +forces, here and on the Isthmus, now working so harmoniously and +effectively, if there is delay in granting an emergency appropriation. +Estimates of the amount necessary will be found in the accompanying +reports of the Secretary of War and the commission. + +I recommend more adequate provision than has been made heretofore for +the work of the Department of State. Within a few years there has been +a very great increase in the amount and importance of the work to be +done by that department, both in Washington and abroad. This has been +caused by the great increase of our foreign trade, the increase of +wealth among our people, which enables them to travel more generally +than heretofore, the increase of American capital which is seeking +investment in foreign countries, and the growth of our power and weight +in the councils of the civilized world. There has been no corresponding +increase of facilities for doing the work afforded to the department +having charge of our foreign relations. + +Neither at home nor abroad is there a sufficient working force to do +the business properly. In many respects the system which was adequate +to the work of twenty-five years or even ten years ago, is inadequate +now, and should be changed. Our Consular force should be classified, +and appointments should be made to the several classes, with authority +to the Executive to assign the members of each class to duty at such +posts as the interests of the service require, instead of the +appointments being made as at present to specified posts. There should +be an adequate inspection service, so that the department may be able +to inform itself how the business of each Consulate is being done, +instead of depending upon casual private information or rumor. The fee +system should be entirely abolished, and a due equivalent made in +salary to the officers who now eke out their subsistence by means of +fees. Sufficient provision should be made for a clerical force in every +Consulate composed entirely of Americans, instead of the insufficient +provision now made, which compels the employment of great numbers of +citizens of foreign countries whose services can be obtained for less +money. At a large part of our Consulates the office quarters and the +clerical force are inadequate to the performance of the onerous duties +imposed by the recent provisions of our immigration laws as well as by +our increasing trade. In many parts of the world the lack of suitable +quarters for our embassies, legations, and Consulates detracts from the +respect in which our officers ought to be held, and seriously impairs +their weight and influence. + +Suitable provision should be made for the expense of keeping our +diplomatic officers more fully informed of what is being done from day +to day in the progress of our diplomatic affairs with other countries. +The lack of such information, caused by insufficient appropriations +available for cable tolls and for clerical and messenger service, +frequently puts our officers at a great disadvantage and detracts from +their usefulness. The salary list should be readjusted. It does not now +correspond either to the importance of the service to be rendered and +the degrees of ability and experience required in the different +positions, or to the differences in the cost of living. In many cases +the salaries are quite inadequate. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 3, 1906 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +As a nation we still continue to enjoy a literally unprecedented +prosperity; and it is probable that only reckless speculation and +disregard of legitimate business methods on the part of the business +world can materially mar this prosperity. + +No Congress in our time has done more good work of importance than the +present Congress. There were several matters left unfinished at your +last session, however, which I most earnestly hope you will complete +before your adjournment. + +I again recommend a law prohibiting all corporations from contributing +to the campaign expenses of any party. Such a bill has already past one +House of Congress. Let individuals contribute as they desire; but let +us prohibit in effective fashion all corporations from making +contributions for any political purpose, directly or indirectly. + +Another bill which has just past one House of the Congress and which it +is urgently necessary should be enacted into law is that conferring +upon the Government the right of appeal in criminal cases on questions +of law. This right exists in many of the States; it exists in the +District of Columbia by act of the Congress. It is of course not +proposed that in any case a verdict for the defendant on the merits +should be set aside. Recently in one district where the Government had +indicted certain persons for conspiracy in connection with rebates, the +court sustained the defendant's demurrer; while in another jurisdiction +an indictment for conspiracy to obtain rebates has been sustained by +the court, convictions obtained under it, and two defendants sentenced +to imprisonment. The two cases referred to may not be in real conflict +with each other, but it is unfortunate that there should even be an +apparent conflict. At present there is no way by which the Government +can cause such a conflict, when it occurs, to be solved by an appeal to +a higher court; and the wheels of justice are blocked without any real +decision of the question. I can not too strongly urge the passage of +the bill in question. A failure to pass it will result in seriously +hampering the Government in its effort to obtain justice, especially +against wealthy individuals or corporations who do wrong; and may also +prevent the Government from obtaining justice for wage-workers who are +not themselves able effectively to contest a case where the judgment of +an inferior court has been against them. I have specifically in view a +recent decision by a district judge leaving railway employees without +remedy for violation of a certain so-called labor statute. It seems an +absurdity to permit a single district judge, against what may be the +judgment of the immense majority of his colleagues on the bench, +to declare a law solemnly enacted by the Congress to be +"unconstitutional," and then to deny to the Government the right to +have the Supreme Court definitely decide the question. + +It is well to recollect that the real efficiency of the law often +depends not upon the passage of acts as to which there is great public +excitement, but upon the passage of acts of this nature as to which +there is not much public excitement, because there is little public +understanding of their importance, while the interested parties are +keenly alive to the desirability of defeating them. The importance of +enacting into law the particular bill in question is further increased +by the fact that the Government has now definitely begun a policy of +resorting to the criminal law in those trust and interstate commerce +cases where such a course offers a reasonable chance of success. At +first, as was proper, every effort was made to enforce these laws by +civil proceedings; but it has become increasingly evident that the +action of the Government in finally deciding, in certain cases, to +undertake criminal proceedings was justifiable; and though there have +been some conspicuous failures in these cases, we have had many +successes, which have undoubtedly had a deterrent effect upon +evil-doers, whether the penalty inflicted was in the shape of fine or +imprisonment--and penalties of both kinds have already been inflicted +by the courts. Of course, where the judge can see his way to inflict +the penalty of imprisonment the deterrent effect of the punishment on +other offenders is increased; but sufficiently heavy fines accomplish +much. Judge Holt, of the New York district court, in a recent decision +admirably stated the need for treating with just severity offenders of +this kind. His opinion runs in part as follows: + +'The Government's evidence to establish the defendant's guilt was +clear, conclusive, and undisputed. The case was a flagrant one. The +transactions which took place under this illegal contract were very +large; the amounts of rebates returned were considerable; and the +amount of the rebate itself was large, amounting to more than one-fifth +of the entire tariff charge for the transportation of merchandise from +this city to Detroit. It is not too much to say, in my opinion, that if +this business was carried on for a considerable time on that +basis--that is, if this discrimination in favor of this particular +shipper was made with an 18 instead of a 23 cent rate and the tariff +rate was maintained as against their competitors--the result might be +and not improbably would be that their competitors would be driven out +of business. This crime is one which in its nature is deliberate and +premeditated. I think over a fortnight elapsed between the date of +Palmer's letter requesting the reduced rate and the answer of the +railroad company deciding to grant it, and then for months afterwards +this business was carried on and these claims for rebates submitted +month after month and checks in payment of them drawn month after +month. Such a violation of the law, in my opinion, in its essential +nature, is a very much more heinous act than the ordinary common, +vulgar crimes which come before criminal courts constantly for +punishment and which arise from sudden passion or temptation. This +crime in this case was committed by men of education and of large +business experience, whose standing in the community was such that they +might have been expected to set an example of obedience to law upon the +maintenance of which alone in this country the security of their +property depends. It was committed on behalf of a great railroad +corporation, which, like other railroad corporations, has received +gratuitously from the State large and valuable privileges for the +public's convenience and its own, which performs quasi public functions +and which is charged with the highest obligation in the transaction of +its business to treat the citizens of this country alike, and not to +carry on its business with unjust discriminations between different +citizens or different classes of citizens. This crime in its nature is +one usually done with secrecy, and proof of which it is very difficult +to obtain. The interstate commerce act was past in 1887, nearly twenty +years ago. Ever since that time complaints of the granting of rebates +by railroads have been common, urgent, and insistent, and although the +Congress has repeatedly past legislation endeavoring to put a stop to +this evil, the difficulty of obtaining proof upon which to bring +prosecution in these cases is so great that this is the first case that +has ever been brought in this court, and, as I am formed, this case and +one recently brought in Philadelphia are the only cases that have ever +been brought in the eastern part of this country. In fact, but few +cases of this kind have ever been brought in this country, East or +West. Now, under these circumstances, I am forced to the conclusion, in +a case in which the proof is so clear and the facts are so flagrant, it +is the duty of the court to fix a penalty which shall in some degree be +commensurate with the gravity of the offense. As between the two +defendants, in my opinion, the principal penalty should be imposed on +the corporation. The traffic manager in this case, presumably, acted +without any advantage to himself and without any interest in the +transaction, either by the direct authority or in accordance with what +he understood to be the policy or the wishes of his employer. + +"The sentence of this court in this case is, that the defendant +Pomeroy, for each of the six offenses upon which he has been convicted, +be fined the sum of $1,000, making six fines, amounting in all to the +sum of $6,000; and the defendant, The New York Central and Hudson River +Railroad Company, for each of the six crimes of which it has been +convicted, be fined the sum of $18,000, making six fines amounting in +the aggregate to the sum of $108,000, and judgment to that effect will +be entered in this case." + +In connection with this matter, I would like to call attention to the +very unsatisfactory state of our criminal law, resulting in large part +from the habit of setting aside the judgments of inferior courts on +technicalities absolutely unconnected with the merits of the case, and +where there is no attempt to show that there has been any failure of +substantial justice. It would be well to enact a law providing +something to the effect that: + +No judgment shall be set aside or new trial granted in any cause, civil +or criminal, on the ground of misdirection of the jury or the improper +admission or rejection of evidence, or for error as to any matter of +pleading or procedure unless, in the opinion of the court to which the +application is made, after an examination of the entire cause, it shall +affirmatively appear that the error complained of has resulted in a +miscarriage of justice. + +In my last message I suggested the enactment of a law in connection +with the issuance of injunctions, attention having been sharply drawn +to the matter by the demand that the right of applying injunctions in +labor cases should be wholly abolished. It is at least doubtful whether +a law abolishing altogether the use of injunctions in such cases would +stand the test of the courts; in which case of course the legislation +would be ineffective. Moreover, I believe it would be wrong altogether +to prohibit the use of injunctions. It is criminal to permit sympathy +for criminals to weaken our hands in upholding the law; and if men seek +to destroy life or property by mob violence there should be no +impairment of the power of the courts to deal with them in the most +summary and effective way possible. But so far as possible the abuse of +the power should be provided against by some such law as I advocated +last year. + +In this matter of injunctions there is lodged in the hands of the +judiciary a necessary power which is nevertheless subject to the +possibility of grave abuse. It is a power that should be exercised with +extreme care and should be subject to the jealous scrutiny of all men, +and condemnation should be meted out as much to the judge who fails to +use it boldly when necessary as to the judge who uses it wantonly or +oppressively. Of course a judge strong enough to be fit for his office +will enjoin any resort to violence or intimidation, especially by +conspiracy, no matter what his opinion may be of the rights of the +original quarrel. There must be no hesitation in dealing with disorder. +But there must likewise be no such abuse of the injunctive power as is +implied in forbidding laboring men to strive for their own betterment +in peaceful and lawful ways; nor must the injunction be used merely to +aid some big corporation in carrying out schemes for its own +aggrandizement. It must be remembered that a preliminary injunction in +a labor case, if granted without adequate proof (even when authority +can be found to support the conclusions of law on which it is founded), +may often settle the dispute between the parties; and therefore if +improperly granted may do irreparable wrong. Yet there are many judges +who assume a matter-of-course granting of a preliminary injunction to +be the ordinary and proper judicial disposition of such cases; and +there have undoubtedly been flagrant wrongs committed by judges in +connection with labor disputes even within the last few years, although +I think much less often than in former years. Such judges by their +unwise action immensely strengthen the hands of those who are striving +entirely to do away with the power of injunction; and therefore such +careless use of the injunctive process tends to threaten its very +existence, for if the American people ever become convinced that this +process is habitually abused, whether in matters affecting labor or in +matters affecting corporations, it will be well-nigh impossible to +prevent its abolition. + +It may be the highest duty of a judge at any given moment to disregard, +not merely the wishes of individuals of great political or financial +power, but the overwhelming tide of public sentiment; and the judge who +does thus disregard public sentiment when it is wrong, who brushes +aside the plea of any special interest when the pleading is not rounded +on righteousness, performs the highest service to the country. Such a +judge is deserving of all honor; and all honor can not be paid to this +wise and fearless judge if we permit the growth of an absurd convention +which would forbid any criticism of the judge of another type, who +shows himself timid in the presence of arrogant disorder, or who on +insufficient grounds grants an injunction that does grave injustice, or +who in his capacity as a construer, and therefore in part a maker, of +the law, in flagrant fashion thwarts the cause of decent government. +The judge has a power over which no review can be exercised; he himself +sits in review upon the acts of both the executive and legislative +branches of the Government; save in the most extraordinary cases he is +amenable only at the bar of public opinion; and it is unwise to +maintain that public opinion in reference to a man with such power +shall neither be exprest nor led. + +The best judges have ever been foremost to disclaim any immunity from +criticism. This has been true since the days of the great English Lord +Chancellor Parker, who said: "Let all people be at liberty to know what +I found my judgment upon; that, so when I have given it in any cause, +others may be at liberty to judge of me." The proprieties of the case +were set forth with singular clearness and good temper by Judge W. H. +Taft, when a United States circuit judge, eleven years ago, in 1895: + +"The opportunity freely and publicly to criticize judicial action is of +vastly more importance to the body politic than the immunity of courts +and judges from unjust aspersions and attack. Nothing tends more to +render judges careful in their decisions and anxiously solicitous to do +exact justice than the consciousness that every act of theirs is to be +subjected to the intelligent scrutiny and candid criticism of their +fellow-men. Such criticism is beneficial in proportion as it is fair, +dispassionate, discriminating, and based on a knowledge of sound legal +principles. The comments made by learned text writers and by the acute +editors of the various law reviews upon judicial decisions are +therefore highly useful. Such critics constitute more or less impartial +tribunals of professional opinion before which each judgment is made to +stand or fall on its merits, and thus exert a strong influence to +secure uniformity of decision. But non-professional criticism also is +by no means without its uses, even if accompanied, as it often is, by a +direct attack upon the judicial fairness and motives of the occupants +of the bench; for if the law is but the essence of common sense, the +protest of many average men may evidence a defect in a judicial +conclusion, though based on the nicest legal reasoning and profoundest +learning. The two important elements of moral character in a judge are +an earnest desire to reach a just conclusion and courage to enforce it. +In so far as fear of public comment does not affect the courage of a +judge, but only spurs him on to search his conscience and to reach the +result which approves itself to his inmost heart such comment serves a +useful purpose. There are few men, whether they are judges for life or +for a shorter term, who do not prefer to earn and hold the respect of +all, and who can not be reached and made to pause and deliberate by +hostile public criticism. In the case of judges having a life tenure, +indeed their very independence makes the right freely to comment on +their decisions of greater importance, because it is the only practical +and available instrument in the hands of a free people to keep such +judges alive to the reasonable demands of those they serve. + +"On the other hand, the danger of destroying the proper influence of +judicial decisions by creating unfounded prejudices against the courts +justifies and requires that unjust attacks shall be met and answered. +Courts must ultimately rest their defense upon the inherent strength of +the opinions they deliver as the ground for their conclusions and must +trust to the calm and deliberate judgment of all the people as their +best vindication." + +There is one consideration which should be taken into account by the +good people who carry a sound proposition to an excess in objecting to +any criticism of a judge's decision. The instinct of the American +people as a whole is sound in this matter. They will not subscribe to +the doctrine that any public servant is to be above all criticism. If +the best citizens, those most competent to express their judgment in +such matters, and above all those belonging to the great and honorable +profession of the bar, so profoundly influential in American life, take +the position that there shall be no criticism of a judge under any +circumstances, their view will not be accepted by the American people +as a whole. In such event the people will turn to, and tend to accept +as justifiable, the intemperate and improper criticism uttered by +unworthy agitators. Surely it is a misfortune to leave to such critics +a function, right, in itself, which they are certain to abuse. Just and +temperate criticism, when necessary, is a safeguard against the +acceptance by the people as a whole of that intemperate antagonism +towards the judiciary which must be combated by every right-thinking +man, and which, if it became widespread among the people at large, +would constitute a dire menace to the Republic. + +In connection with the delays of the law, I call your attention and the +attention of the Nation to the prevalence of crime among us, and above +all to the epidemic of lynching and mob violence that springs up, now +in one part of our country, now in another. Each section, North, South, +East, or West, has its own faults; no section can with wisdom spend its +time jeering at the faults of another section; it should be busy trying +to amend its own shortcomings. To deal with the crime of corruption It +is necessary to have an awakened public conscience, and to supplement +this by whatever legislation will add speed and certainty in the +execution of the law. When we deal with lynching even mote is +necessary. A great many white men are lynched, but the crime is +peculiarly frequent in respect to black men. The greatest existing +cause of lynching is the perpetration, especially by black men, of the +hideous crime of rape--the most abominable in all the category of +crimes, even worse than murder. Mobs frequently avenge the commission +of this crime by themselves torturing to death the man committing it; +thus avenging in bestial fashion a bestial deed, and reducing +themselves to a level with the criminal. + +Lawlessness grows by what it feeds upon; and when mobs begin to lynch +for rape they speedily extend the sphere of their operations and lynch +for many other kinds of crimes, so that two-thirds of the lynchings are +not for rape at all; while a considerable proportion of the individuals +lynched are innocent of all crime. Governor Candler, of Georgia, stated +on one occasion some years ago: "I can say of a verity that I have, +within the last month, saved the lives of half a dozen innocent Negroes +who were pursued by the mob, and brought them to trial in a court of +law in which they were acquitted." As Bishop Galloway, of Mississippi, +has finely said: "When the rule of a mob obtains, that which +distinguishes a high civilization is surrendered. The mob which lynches +a negro charged with rape will in a little while lynch a white man +suspected of crime. Every Christian patriot in America needs to lift up +his voice in loud and eternal protest against the mob spirit that is +threatening the integrity of this Republic." Governor Jelks, of +Alabama, has recently spoken as follows: "The lynching of any person +for whatever crime is inexcusable anywhere--it is a defiance of orderly +government; but the killing of innocent people under any provocation is +infinitely more horrible; and yet innocent people are likely to die +when a mob's terrible lust is once aroused. The lesson is this: No good +citizen can afford to countenance a defiance of the statutes, no matter +what the provocation. The innocent frequently suffer, and, it is my +observation, more usually suffer than the guilty. The white people of +the South indict the whole colored race on the ground that even the +better elements lend no assistance whatever in ferreting out criminals +of their own color. The respectable colored people must learn not to +harbor their criminals, but to assist the officers in bringing them to +justice. This is the larger crime, and it provokes such atrocious +offenses as the one at Atlanta. The two races can never get on until +there is an understanding on the part of both to make common cause with +the law-abiding against criminals of any color." + +Moreover, where any crime committed by a member of one race against a +member of another race is avenged in such fashion that it seems as if +not the individual criminal, but the whole race, is attacked, the +result is to exasperate to the highest degree race feeling. There is +but one safe rule in dealing with black men as with white men; it is +the same rule that must be applied in dealing with rich men and poor +men; that is, to treat each man, whatever his color, his creed, or his +social position, with even-handed justice on his real worth as a man. +White people owe it quite as much to themselves as to the colored race +to treat well the colored man who shows by his life that he deserves +such treatment; for it is surely the highest wisdom to encourage in the +colored race all those individuals who are honest, industrious, +law-abiding, and who therefore make good and safe neighbors and +citizens. Reward or punish the individual on his merits as an +individual. Evil will surely come in the end to both races if we +substitute for this just rule the habit of treating all the members of +the race, good and bad, alike. There is no question of "social +equality" or "negro domination" involved; only the question of +relentlessly punishing bad men, and of securing to the good man the +right to his life, his liberty, and the pursuit of his happiness as his +own qualities of heart, head, and hand enable him to achieve it. + +Every colored man should realize that the worst enemy of his race is +the negro criminal, and above all the negro criminal who commits the +dreadful crime of rape; and it should be felt as in the highest degree +an offense against the whole country, and against the colored race in +particular, for a colored man to fail to help the officers of the law +in hunting down with all possible earnestness and zeal every such +infamous offender. Moreover, in my judgment, the crime of rape should +always be punished with death, as is the case with murder; assault with +intent to commit rape should be made a capital crime, at least in the +discretion of the court; and provision should be made by which the +punishment may follow immediately upon the heels of the offense; while +the trial should be so conducted that the victim need not be wantonly +shamed while giving testimony, and that the least possible publicity +shall be given to the details. + +The members of the white race on the other hand should understand that +every lynching represents by just so much a loosening of the bands of +civilization; that the spirit of lynching inevitably throws into +prominence in the community all the foul and evil creatures who dwell +therein. No man can take part in the torture of a human being without +having his own moral nature permanently lowered. Every lynching means +just so much moral deterioration in all the children who have any +knowledge of it, and therefore just so much additional trouble for the +next generation of Americans. + +Let justice be both sure and swift; but let it be justice under the +law, and not the wild and crooked savagery of a mob. + +There is another matter which has a direct bearing upon this matter of +lynching and of the brutal crime which sometimes calls it forth and at +other times merely furnishes the excuse for its existence. It is out of +the question for our people as a whole permanently to rise by treading +down any of their own number. Even those who themselves for the moment +profit by such maltreatment of their fellows will in the long run also +suffer. No more shortsighted policy can be imagined than, in the +fancied interest of one class, to prevent the education of another +class. The free public school, the chance for each boy or girl to get a +good elementary education, lies at the foundation of our whole +political situation. In every community the poorest citizens, those who +need the schools most, would be deprived of them if they only received +school facilities proportioned to the taxes they paid. This is as true +of one portion of our country as of another. It is as true for the +negro as for the white man. The white man, if he is wise, will decline +to allow the Negroes in a mass to grow to manhood and womanhood without +education. Unquestionably education such as is obtained in our public +schools does not do everything towards making a man a good citizen; but +it does much. The lowest and most brutal criminals, those for instance +who commit the crime of rape, are in the great majority men who have +had either no education or very little; just as they are almost +invariably men who own no property; for the man who puts money by out +of his earnings, like the man who acquires education, is usually lifted +above mere brutal criminality. Of course the best type of education for +the colored man, taken as a whole, is such education as is conferred in +schools like Hampton and Tuskegee; where the boys and girls, the young +men and young women, are trained industrially as well as in the +ordinary public school branches. The graduates of these schools turn +out well in the great majority of cases, and hardly any of them become +criminals, while what little criminality there is never takes the form +of that brutal violence which invites lynch law. Every graduate of +these schools--and for the matter of that every other colored man or +woman--who leads a life so useful and honorable as to win the good will +and respect of those whites whose neighbor he or she is, thereby helps +the whole colored race as it can be helped in no other way; for next to +the negro himself, the man who can do most to help the negro is his +white neighbor who lives near him; and our steady effort should be to +better the relations between the two. Great though the benefit of these +schools has been to their colored pupils and to the colored people, it +may well be questioned whether the benefit, has not been at least as +great to the white people among whom these colored pupils live after +they graduate. + +Be it remembered, furthermore, that the individuals who, whether from +folly, from evil temper, from greed for office, or in a spirit of mere +base demagogy, indulge in the inflammatory and incendiary speeches and +writings which tend to arouse mobs and to bring about lynching, not +only thus excite the mob, but also tend by what criminologists call +"suggestion," greatly to increase the likelihood of a repetition of the +very crime against which they are inveighing. When the mob is composed +of the people of one race and the man lynched is of another race, the +men who in their speeches and writings either excite or justify the +action tend, of course, to excite a bitter race feeling and to cause +the people of the opposite race to lose sight of the abominable act of +the criminal himself; and in addition, by the prominence they give to +the hideous deed they undoubtedly tend to excite in other brutal and +depraved natures thoughts of committing it. Swift, relentless, and +orderly punishment under the law is the only way by which criminality +of this type can permanently be supprest. + +In dealing with both labor and capital, with the questions affecting +both corporations and trades unions, there is one matter more important +to remember than aught else, and that is the infinite harm done by +preachers of mere discontent. These are the men who seek to excite a +violent class hatred against all men of wealth. They seek to turn wise +and proper movements for the better control of corporations and for +doing away with the abuses connected with wealth, into a campaign of +hysterical excitement and falsehood in which the aim is to inflame to +madness the brutal passions of mankind. The sinister demagogs and +foolish visionaries who are always eager to undertake such a campaign +of destruction sometimes seek to associate themselves with those +working for a genuine reform in governmental and social methods, and +sometimes masquerade as such reformers. In reality they are the worst +enemies of the cause they profess to advocate, just as the purveyors of +sensational slander in newspaper or magazine are the worst enemies of +all men who are engaged in an honest effort to better what is bad in +our social and governmental conditions. To preach hatred of the rich +man as such, to carry on a campaign of slander and invective against +him, to seek to mislead and inflame to madness honest men whose lives +are hard and who have not the kind of mental training which will permit +them to appreciate the danger in the doctrines preached--all this is to +commit a crime against the body politic and to be false to every worthy +principle and tradition of American national life. Moreover, while such +preaching and such agitation may give a livelihood and a certain +notoriety to some of those who take part in it, and may result in the +temporary political success of others, in the long run every such +movement will either fail or else will provoke a violent reaction, +which will itself result not merely in undoing the mischief wrought by +the demagog and the agitator, but also in undoing the good that the +honest reformer, the true upholder of popular rights, has painfully and +laboriously achieved. Corruption is never so rife as in communities +where the demagog and the agitator bear full sway, because in such +communities all moral bands become loosened, and hysteria and +sensationalism replace the spirit of sound judgment and fair dealing as +between man and man. In sheer revolt against the squalid anarchy thus +produced men are sure in the end to turn toward any leader who can +restore order, and then their relief at being free from the intolerable +burdens of class hatred, violence, and demagogy is such that they can +not for some time be aroused to indignation against misdeeds by men of +wealth; so that they permit a new growth of the very abuses which were +in part responsible for the original outbreak. The one hope for success +for our people lies in a resolute and fearless, but sane and +cool-headed, advance along the path marked out last year by this very +Congress. There must be a stern refusal to be misled into following +either that base creature who appeals and panders to the lowest +instincts and passions in order to arouse one set of Americans against +their fellows, or that other creature, equally base but no baser, who +in a spirit of greed, or to accumulate or add to an already huge +fortune, seeks to exploit his fellow Americans with callous disregard +to their welfare of soul and body. The man who debauches others in +order to obtain a high office stands on an evil equality of corruption +with the man who debauches others for financial profit; and when hatred +is sown the crop which springs up can only be evil. + +The plain people who think--the mechanics, farmers, merchants, workers +with head or hand, the men to whom American traditions are dear, who +love their country and try to act decently by their neighbors, owe it +to themselves to remember that the most damaging blow that can be given +popular government is to elect an unworthy and sinister agitator on a +platform of violence and hypocrisy. Whenever such an issue is raised in +this country nothing can be gained by flinching from it, for in such +case democracy is itself on trial, popular self-government under +republican forms is itself on trial. The triumph of the mob is just as +evil a thing as the triumph of the plutocracy, and to have escaped one +danger avails nothing whatever if we succumb to the other. In the end +the honest man, whether rich or poor, who earns his own living and +tries to deal justly by his fellows, has as much to fear from the +insincere and unworthy demagog, promising much and performing nothing, +or else performing nothing but evil, who would set on the mob to +plunder the rich, as from the crafty corruptionist, who, for his own +ends, would permit the common people to be exploited by the very +wealthy. If we ever let this Government fall into the hands of men of +either of these two classes, we shall show ourselves false to America's +past. Moreover, the demagog and the corruptionist often work hand in +hand. There are at this moment wealthy reactionaries of such obtuse +morality that they regard the public servant who prosecutes them when +they violate the law, or who seeks to make them bear their proper share +of the public burdens, as being even more objectionable than the +violent agitator who hounds on the mob to plunder the rich. There is +nothing to choose between such a reactionary and such an agitator; +fundamentally they are alike in their selfish disregard of the rights +of others; and it is natural that they should join in opposition to any +movement of which the aim is fearlessly to do exact and even justice to +all. + +I call your attention to the need of passing the bill limiting the +number of hours of employment of railroad employees. The measure is a +very moderate one and I can conceive of no serious objection to it. +Indeed, so far as it is in our power, it should be our aim steadily to +reduce the number of hours of labor, with as a goal the general +introduction of an eight-hour day. There are industries in which it is +not possible that the hours of labor should be reduced; just as there +are communities not far enough advanced for such a movement to be for +their good, or, if in the Tropics, so situated that there is no analogy +between their needs and ours in this matter. On the Isthmus of Panama, +for instance, the conditions are in every way so different from what +they are here that an eight-hour day would be absurd; just as it is +absurd, so far as the Isthmus is concerned, where white labor can not +be employed, to bother as to whether the necessary work is done by +alien black men or by alien yellow men. But the wageworkers of the +United States are of so high a grade that alike from the merely +industrial standpoint and from the civic standpoint it should be our +object to do what we can in the direction of securing the general +observance of an eight-hour day. Until recently the eight-hour law on +our Federal statute books has been very scantily observed. Now, +however, largely through the instrumentality of the Bureau of Labor, it +is being rigidly enforced, and I shall speedily be able to say whether +or not there is need of further legislation in reference thereto; .for +our purpose is to see it obeyed in spirit no less than in letter. Half +holidays during summer should be established for Government employees; +it is as desirable for wageworkers who toil with their hands as for +salaried officials whose labor is mental that there should be a +reasonable amount of holiday. + +The Congress at its last session wisely provided for a truant court for +the District of Columbia; a marked step in advance on the path of +properly caring for the children. Let me again urge that the Congress +provide for a thorough investigation of the conditions of child labor +and of the labor of women in the United States. More and more our +people are growing to recognize the fact that the questions which are +not merely of industrial but of social importance outweigh all others; +and these two questions most emphatically come in the category of those +which affect in the most far-reaching way the home life of the Nation. +The horrors incident to the employment of young children in factories +or at work anywhere are a blot on our civilization. It is true that +each. State must ultimately settle the question in its own way; but a +thorough official investigation of the matter, with the results +published broadcast, would greatly help toward arousing the public +conscience and securing unity of State action in the matter. There is, +however, one law on the subject which should be enacted immediately, +because there is no need for an investigation in reference thereto, and +the failure to enact it is discreditable to the National Government. A +drastic and thoroughgoing child-labor law should be enacted for the +District of Columbia and the Territories. + +Among the excellent laws which the Congress past at the last session +was an employers' liability law. It was a marked step in advance to get +the recognition of employers' liability on the statute books; but the +law did not go far enough. In spite of all precautions exercised by +employers there are unavoidable accidents and even deaths involved in +nearly every line of business connected with the mechanic arts. This +inevitable sacrifice of life may be reduced to a minimum, but it can +not be completely eliminated. It is a great social injustice to compel +the employee, or rather the family of the killed or disabled victim, to +bear the entire burden of such an inevitable sacrifice. In other words, +society shirks its duty by laying the whole cost on the victim, whereas +the injury comes from what may be called the legitimate risks of the +trade. Compensation for accidents or deaths due in any line of industry +to the actual conditions under which that industry is carried on, +should be paid by that portion of the community for the benefit of +which the industry is carried on--that is, by those who profit by the +industry. If the entire trade risk is placed upon the employer he will +promptly and properly add it to the legitimate cost of production and +assess it proportionately upon the consumers of his commodity. It is +therefore clear to my mind that the law should place this entire "risk +of a trade" upon the employer. Neither the Federal law, nor, as far as +I am informed, the State laws dealing with the question of employers' +liability are sufficiently thoroughgoing. The Federal law should of +course include employees in navy-yards, arsenals, and the like. + +The commission appointed by the President October 16, 1902, at the +request of both the anthracite coal operators and miners, to inquire +into, consider, and pass upon the questions in controversy in +connection with the strike in the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania +and the causes out of which the controversy arose, in their report, +findings, and award exprest the belief "that the State and Federal +governments should provide the machinery for what may be called the +compulsory investigation of controversies between employers and +employees when they arise." This expression of belief is deserving of +the favorable consideration of the Congress and the enactment of its +provisions into law. A bill has already been introduced to this end. + +Records show that during the twenty years from January 1, 1881, to, +December 31, 1900, there were strikes affecting 117,509 establishments, +and 6,105,694 employees were thrown out of employment. During the same +period there were 1,005 lockouts, involving nearly 10,000 +establishments, throwing over one million people out of employment. +These strikes and lockouts involved an estimated loss to employees of +$307,000,000 and to employers of $143,000,000, a total of $450,000,000. +The public suffered directly and indirectly probably as great +additional loss. But the money loss, great as it was, did not measure +the anguish and suffering endured by the wives and children of +employees whose pay stopt when their work stopt, or the disastrous +effect of the strike or lockout upon the business of employers, or the +increase in the cost of products and the inconvenience and loss to the +public. + +Many of these strikes and lockouts would not have occurred had the +parties to the dispute been required to appear before an unprejudiced +body representing the nation and, face to face, state the reasons for +their contention. In most instances the dispute would doubtless be +found to be due to a misunderstanding by each of the other's rights, +aggravated by an unwillingness of either party to accept as true the +statements of the other as to the justice or injustice of the matters +in dispute. The exercise of a judicial spirit by a disinterested body +representing the Federal Government, such as would be provided by a +commission on conciliation and arbitration, would tend to create an +atmosphere of friendliness and conciliation between contending parties; +and the giving each side an equal opportunity to present fully its case +in the presence of the other would prevent many disputes from +developing into serious strikes or lockouts, and, in other cases, would +enable the commission to persuade the opposing parties to come to +terms. + +In this age of great corporate and labor combinations, neither +employers nor employees should be left completely at the mercy of the +stronger party to a dispute, regardless of the righteousness of their +respective claims. The proposed measure would be in the line of +securing recognition of the fact that in many strikes the public has +itself an interest which can not wisely be disregarded; an interest not +merely of general convenience, for the question of a just and proper +public policy must also be considered. In all legislation of this kind +it is well to advance cautiously, testing each step by the actual +results; the step proposed can surely be safely taken, for the +decisions of the commission would not bind the parties in legal +fashion, and yet would give a chance for public opinion to crystallize +and thus to exert its full force for the right. + +It is not wise that the Nation should alienate its remaining coal +lands. I have temporarily withdrawn from settlement all the lands which +the Geological Survey has indicated as containing, or in all +probability containing, coal. The question, however, can be properly +settled only by legislation, which in my judgment should provide for +the withdrawal of these lands from sale or from entry, save in certain +especial circumstances. The ownership would then remain in the United +States, which should not, however, attempt to work them, but permit +them to be worked by private individuals under a royalty system, the +Government keeping such control as to permit it to see that no +excessive price was charged consumers. It would, of course, be as +necessary to supervise the rates charged by the common carriers to +transport the product as the rates charged by those who mine it; and +the supervision must extend to the conduct of the common carriers, so +that they shall in no way favor one competitor at the expense of +another. The withdrawal of these coal lands would constitute a policy +analogous to that which has been followed in withdrawing the forest +lands from ordinary settlement. The coal, like the forests, should be +treated as the property of the public and its disposal should be under +conditions which would inure to the benefit of the public as a whole. + +The present Congress has taken long strides in the direction of +securing proper supervision and control by the National Government over +corporations engaged in interstate business and the enormous majority +of corporations of any size are engaged in interstate business. The +passage of the railway rate bill, and only to a less degree the passage +of the pure food bill, and the provision for increasing and rendering +more effective national control over the beef-packing industry, mark an +important advance in the proper direction. In the short session it will +perhaps be difficult to do much further along this line; and it may be +best to wait until the laws have been in operation for a number of +months before endeavoring to increase their scope, because only +operation will show with exactness their merits and their shortcomings +and thus give opportunity to define what further remedial legislation +is needed. Yet in my judgment it will in the end be advisable in +connection with the packing house inspection law to provide for putting +a date on the label and for charging the cost of inspection to the +packers. All these laws have already justified their enactment. The +interstate commerce law, for instance, has rather amusingly falsified +the predictions, both of those who asserted that it would ruin the +railroads and of those who asserted that it did not go far enough and +would accomplish nothing. During the last five months the railroads +have shown increased earnings and some of them unusual dividends; while +during the same period the mere taking effect of the law has produced +an unprecedented, a hitherto unheard of, number of voluntary reductions +in freights and fares by the railroads. Since the founding of the +Commission there has never been a time of equal length in which +anything like so many reduced tariffs have been put into effect. On +August 27, for instance, two days before the new law went into effect, +the Commission received notices of over five thousand separate tariffs +which represented reductions from previous rates. + +It must not be supposed, however, that with the passage of these laws +it will be possible to stop progress along the line of increasing the +power of the National Government over the use of capital interstate +commerce. For example, there will ultimately be need of enlarging the +powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission along several different +lines, so as to give it a larger and more efficient control over the +railroads. + +It can not too often be repeated that experience has conclusively shown +the impossibility of securing by the actions of nearly half a hundred +different State legislatures anything but ineffective chaos in the way +of dealing with the great corporations which do not operate exclusively +within the limits of any one State. In some method, whether by a +national license law or in other fashion, we must exercise, and that at +an early date, a far more complete control than at present over these +great corporations--a control that will among other things prevent the +evils of excessive overcapitalization, and that will compel the +disclosure by each big corporation of its stockholders and of its +properties and business, whether owned directly or through subsidiary +or affiliated corporations. This will tend to put a stop to the +securing of inordinate profits by favored individuals at the expense +whether of the general public, the stockholders, or the wageworkers. +Our effort should be not so much to prevent consolidation as such, but +so to supervise and control it as to see that it results in no harm to +the people. The reactionary or ultraconservative apologists for the +misuse of wealth assail the effort to secure such control as a step +toward socialism. As a matter of fact it is these reactionaries and +ultraconservatives who are themselves most potent in increasing +socialistic feeling. One of the most efficient methods of averting the +consequences of a dangerous agitation, which is 80 per cent wrong, is +to remedy the 20 per cent of evil as to which the agitation is well +rounded. The best way to avert the very undesirable move for the +government ownership of railways is to secure by the Government on +behalf of the people as a whole such adequate control and regulation of +the great interstate common carriers as will do away with the evils +which give rise to the agitation against them. So the proper antidote +to the dangerous and wicked agitation against the men of wealth as such +is to secure by proper legislation and executive action the abolition +of the grave abuses which actually do obtain in connection with the +business use of wealth under our present system--or rather no +system--of failure to exercise any adequate control at all. Some +persons speak as if the exercise of such governmental control would do +away with the freedom of individual initiative and dwarf individual +effort. This is not a fact. It would be a veritable calamity to fail to +put a premium upon individual initiative, individual capacity and +effort; upon the energy, character, and foresight which it is so +important to encourage in the individual. But as a matter of fact the +deadening and degrading effect of pure socialism, and especially of its +extreme form communism, and the destruction of individual character +which they would bring about, are in part achieved by the wholly +unregulated competition which results in a single individual or +corporation rising at the expense of all others until his or its rise +effectually checks all competition and reduces former competitors to a +position of utter inferiority and subordination. + +In enacting and enforcing such legislation as this Congress already has +to its credit, we are working on a coherent plan, with the steady +endeavor to secure the needed reform by the joint action of the +moderate men, the plain men who do not wish anything hysterical or +dangerous, but who do intend to deal in resolute common-sense fashion +with the real and great evils of the present system. The reactionaries +and the violent extremists show symptoms of joining hands against us. +Both assert, for instance, that, if logical, we should go to government +ownership of railroads and the like; the reactionaries, because on such +an issue they think the people would stand with them, while the +extremists care rather to preach discontent and agitation than to +achieve solid results. As a matter of fact, our position is as remote +from that of the Bourbon reactionary as from that of the impracticable +or sinister visionary. We hold that the Government should not conduct +the business of the nation, but that it should exercise such +supervision as will insure its being conducted in the interest of the +nation. Our aim is, so far as may be, to secure, for all decent, hard +working men, equality of opportunity and equality of burden. + +The actual working of our laws has shown that the effort to prohibit +all combination, good or bad, is noxious where it is not ineffective. +Combination of capital like combination of labor is a necessary element +of our present industrial system. It is not possible completely to +prevent it; and if it were possible, such complete prevention would do +damage to the body politic. What we need is not vainly to try to +prevent all combination, but to secure such rigorous and adequate +control and supervision of the combinations as to prevent their +injuring the public, or existing in such form as inevitably to threaten +injury--for the mere fact that a combination has secured practically +complete control of a necessary of life would under any circumstances +show that such combination was to be presumed to be adverse to the +public interest. It is unfortunate that our present laws should forbid +all combinations, instead of sharply discriminating between those +combinations which do good and those combinations which do evil. +Rebates, for instance, are as often due to the pressure of big shippers +(as was shown in the investigation of the Standard Oil Company and as +has been shown since by the investigation of the tobacco and sugar +trusts) as to the initiative of big railroads. Often railroads would +like to combine for the purpose of preventing a big shipper from +maintaining improper advantages at the expense of small shippers and of +the general public. Such a combination, instead of being forbidden by +law, should be favored. In other words, it should be permitted to +railroads to make agreements, provided these agreements were sanctioned +by the Interstate Commerce Commission and were published. With these +two conditions complied with it is impossible to see what harm such a +combination could do to the public at large. It is a public evil to +have on the statute books a law incapable of full enforcement because +both judges and juries realize that its full enforcement would destroy +the business of the country; for the result is to make decent railroad +men violators of the law against their will, and to put a premium on +the behavior of the wilful wrongdoers. Such a result in turn tends to +throw the decent man and the wilful wrongdoer into close association, +and in the end to drag down the former to the latter's level; for the +man who becomes a lawbreaker in one way unhappily tends to lose all +respect for law and to be willing to break it in many ways. No more +scathing condemnation could be visited upon a law than is contained in +the words of the Interstate Commerce Commission when, in commenting +upon the fact that the numerous joint traffic associations do +technically violate the law, they say: "The decision of the United +States Supreme Court in the Trans-Missouri case and the Joint Traffic +Association case has produced no practical effect upon the railway +operations of the country. Such associations, in fact, exist now as +they did before these decisions, and with the same general effect. In +justice to all parties, we ought probably to add that it is difficult +to see how our interstate railways could be operated with due regard to +the interest of the shipper and the railway without concerted action of +the kind afforded through these associations." + +This means that the law as construed by the Supreme Court is such that +the business of the country can not be conducted without breaking it. I +recommend that you give careful and early consideration to this +subject, and if you find the opinion of the Interstate Commerce +Commission justified, that you amend the law so as to obviate the evil +disclosed. + +The question of taxation is difficult in any country, but it is +especially difficult in ours with its Federal system of government. +Some taxes should on every ground be levied in a small district for use +in that district. Thus the taxation of real estate is peculiarly one +for the immediate locality in which the real estate is found. Again, +there is no more legitimate tax for any State than a tax on the +franchises conferred by that State upon street railroads and similar +corporations which operate wholly within the State boundaries, +sometimes in one and sometimes in several municipalities or other minor +divisions of the State. But there are many kinds of taxes which can +only be levied by the General Government so as to produce the best +results, because, among other reasons, the attempt to impose them in +one particular State too often results merely in driving the +corporation or individual affected to some other locality or other +State. The National Government has long derived its chief revenue from +a tariff on imports and from an internal or excise tax. In addition to +these there is every reason why, when next our system of taxation is +revised, the National Government should impose a graduated inheritance +tax, and, if possible, a graduated income tax. The man of great wealth +owes a peculiar obligation to the State, because he derives special +advantages from the mere existence of government. Not only should he +recognize this obligation in the way he leads his daily life and in the +way he earns and spends his money, but it should also be recognized by +the way in which he pays for the protection the State gives him. On the +one hand, it is desirable that he should assume his full and proper +share of the burden of taxation; on the other hand, it is quite as +necessary that in this kind of taxation, where the men who vote the tax +pay but little of it, there should be clear recognition of the danger +of inaugurating any such system save in a spirit of entire justice and +moderation. Whenever we, as a people, undertake to remodel our taxation +system along the lines suggested, we must make it clear beyond +peradventure that our aim is to distribute the burden of supporting the +Government more equitably than at present; that we intend to treat rich +man and poor man on a basis of absolute equality, and that we regard it +as equally fatal to true democracy to do or permit injustice to the one +as to do or permit injustice to the other. + +I am well aware that such a subject as this needs long and careful +study in order that the people may become familiar with what is +proposed to be done, may clearly see the necessity of proceeding with +wisdom and self-restraint, and may make up their minds just how far +they are willing to go in the matter; while only trained legislators +can work out the project in necessary detail. But I feel that in the +near future our national legislators should enact a law providing for a +graduated inheritance tax by which a steadily increasing rate of duty +should be put upon all moneys or other valuables coming by gift, +bequest, or devise to any individual or corporation. It may be well to +make the tax heavy in proportion as the individual benefited is remote +of kin. In any event, in my judgment the pro rata of the tax should +increase very heavily with the increase of the amount left to any one +individual after a certain point has been reached. It is most desirable +to encourage thrift and ambition, and a potent source of thrift and +ambition is the desire on the part of the breadwinner to leave his +children well off. This object can be attained by making the tax very +small on moderate amounts of property left; because the prime object +should be to put a constantly increasing burden on the inheritance of +those swollen fortunes which it is certainly of no benefit to this +country to perpetuate. + +There can be no question of the ethical propriety of the Government +thus determining the conditions upon which any gift or inheritance +should be received. Exactly how far the inheritance tax would, as an +incident, have the effect of limiting the transmission by devise or +gift of the enormous fortunes in question it is not necessary at +present to discuss. It is wise that progress in this direction should +be gradual. At first a permanent national inheritance tax, while it +might be more substantial than any such tax has hitherto been, need not +approximate, either in amount or in the extent of the increase by +graduation, to what such a tax should ultimately be. + +This species of tax has again and again been imposed, although only +temporarily, by the National Government. It was first imposed by the +act of July 6, 1797, when the makers of the Constitution were alive and +at the head of affairs. It was a graduated tax; though small in amount, +the rate was increased with the amount left to any individual, +exceptions being made in the case of certain close kin. A similar tax +was again imposed by the act of July 1, 1862; a minimum sum of one +thousand dollars in personal property being excepted from taxation, the +tax then becoming progressive according to the remoteness of kin. The +war-revenue act of June 13, 1898, provided for an inheritance tax on +any sum exceeding the value of ten thousand dollars, the rate of the +tax increasing both in accordance with the amounts left and in +accordance with the legatee's remoteness of kin. The Supreme Court has +held that the succession tax imposed at the time of the Civil War was +not a direct tax but an impost or excise which was both constitutional +and valid. More recently the Court, in an opinion delivered by Mr. +Justice White, which contained an exceedingly able and elaborate +discussion of the powers of the Congress to impose death duties, +sustained the constitutionality of the inheritance-tax feature of the +war-revenue act of 1898. + +In its incidents, and apart from the main purpose of raising revenue, +an income tax stands on an entirely different footing from an +inheritance tax; because it involves no question of the perpetuation of +fortunes swollen to an unhealthy size. The question is in its essence a +question of the proper adjustment of burdens to benefits. As the law +now stands it is undoubtedly difficult to devise a national income tax +which shall be constitutional. But whether it is absolutely impossible +is another question; and if possible it is most certainly desirable. +The first purely income-tax law was past by the Congress in 1861, but +the most important law dealing with the subject was that of 1894. This +the court held to be unconstitutional. + +The question is undoubtedly very intricate, delicate, and troublesome. +The decision of the court was only reached by one majority. It is the +law of the land, and of course is accepted as such and loyally obeyed +by all good citizens. Nevertheless, the hesitation evidently felt by +the court as a whole in coming to a conclusion, when considered +together with the previous decisions on the subject, may perhaps +indicate the possibility of devising a constitutional income-tax law +which shall substantially accomplish the results aimed at. The +difficulty of amending the Constitution is so great that only real +necessity can justify a resort thereto. Every effort should be made in +dealing with this subject, as with the subject of the proper control by +the National Government over the use of corporate wealth in interstate +business, to devise legislation which without such action shall attain +the desired end; but if this fails, there will ultimately be no +alternative to a constitutional amendment. + +It would be impossible to overstate (though it is of course difficult +quantitatively to measure) the effect upon a nation's growth to +greatness of what may be called organized patriotism, which necessarily +includes the substitution of a national feeling for mere local pride; +with as a resultant a high ambition for the whole country. No country +can develop its full strength so long as the parts which make up the +whole each put a feeling of loyalty to the part above the feeling of +loyalty to the whole. This is true of sections and it is just as true +of classes. The industrial and agricultural classes must work together, +capitalists and wageworkers must work together, if the best work of +which the country is capable is to be done. It is probable that a +thoroughly efficient system of education comes next to the influence of +patriotism in bringing about national success of this kind. Our federal +form of government, so fruitful of advantage to our people in certain +ways, in other ways undoubtedly limits our national effectiveness. It +is not possible, for instance, for the National Government to take the +lead in technical industrial education, to see that the public school +system of this country develops on all its technical, industrial, +scientific, and commercial sides. This must be left primarily to the +several States. Nevertheless, the National Government has control of +the schools of the District of Columbia, and it should see that these +schools promote and encourage the fullest development of the scholars +in both commercial and industrial training. The commercial training +should in one of its branches deal with foreign trade. The industrial +training is even more important. It should be one of our prime objects +as a Nation, so far as feasible, constantly to work toward putting the +mechanic, the wageworker who works with his hands, on a higher plane of +efficiency and reward, so as to increase his effectiveness in the +economic world, and the dignity, the remuneration, and the power of his +position in the social world. Unfortunately, at present the effect of +some of the work in the public schools is in the exactly opposite +direction. If boys and girls are trained merely in literary +accomplishments, to the total exclusion of industrial, manual, and +technical training, the tendency is to unfit them for industrial work +and to make them reluctant to go into it, or unfitted to do well if +they do go into it. This is a tendency which should be strenuously +combated. Our industrial development depends largely upon technical +education, including in this term all industrial education, from that +which fits a man to be a good mechanic, a good carpenter, or +blacksmith, to that which fits a man to do the greatest engineering +feat. The skilled mechanic, the skilled workman, can best become such +by technical industrial education. The far-reaching usefulness of +institutes of technology and schools of mines or of engineering is now +universally acknowledged, and no less far--reaching is the effect of a +good building or mechanical trades school, a textile, or watch-making, +or engraving school. All such training must develop not only manual +dexterity but industrial intelligence. In international rivalry this +country does not have to fear the competition of pauper labor as much +as it has to fear the educated labor of specially trained competitors; +and we should have the education of the hand, eye, and brain which will +fit us to meet such competition. + +In every possible way we should help the wageworker who toils with his +hands and who must (we hope in a constantly increasing measure) also +toil with his brain. Under the Constitution the National Legislature +can do but little of direct importance for his welfare save where he is +engaged in work which permits it to act under the interstate commerce +clause of the Constitution; and this is one reason why I so earnestly +hope that both the legislative and judicial branches of the Government +will construe this clause of the Constitution in the broadest possible +manner. We can, however, in such a matter as industrial training, in +such a matter as child labor and factory laws, set an example to the +States by enacting the most advanced legislation that can wisely be +enacted for the District of Columbia. + +The only other persons whose welfare is as vital to the welfare of the +whole country as is the welfare of the wageworkers are the tillers of +the soil, the farmers. It is a mere truism to say that no growth of +cities, no growth of wealth, no industrial development can atone for +any falling off in the character and standing of the farming +population. During the last few decades this fact has been recognized +with ever-increasing clearness. There is no longer any failure to +realize that farming, at least in certain branches, must become a +technical and scientific profession. This means that there must be open +to farmers the chance for technical and scientific training, not +theoretical merely but of the most severely practical type. The farmer +represents a peculiarly high type of American citizenship, and he must +have the same chance to rise and develop as other American citizens +have. Moreover, it is exactly as true of the farmer, as it is of the +business man and the wageworker, that the ultimate success of the +Nation of which he forms a part must be founded not alone on material +prosperity but upon high moral, mental, and physical development. This +education of the farmer--self-education by preference but also +education from the outside, as with all other men--is peculiarly +necessary here in the United States, where the frontier conditions even +in the newest States have now nearly vanished, where there must be a +substitution of a more intensive system of cultivation for the old +wasteful farm management, and where there must be a better business +organization among the farmers themselves. + +Several factors must cooperate in the improvement of the farmer's +condition. He must have the chance to be educated in the widest +possible sense--in the sense which keeps ever in view the intimate +relationship between the theory of education and the facts of life. In +all education we should widen our aims. It is a good thing to produce a +certain number of trained scholars and students; but the education +superintended by the State must seek rather to produce a hundred good +citizens than merely one scholar, and it must be turned now and then +from the class book to the study of the great book of nature itself. +This is especially true of the farmer, as has been pointed out again +and again by all observers most competent to pass practical judgment on +the problems of our country life. All students now realize that +education must seek to train the executive powers of young people and +to confer more real significance upon the phrase "dignity of labor," +and to prepare the pupils so that, in addition to each developing in +the highest degree his individual capacity for work, they may together +help create a right public opinion, and show in many ways social and +cooperative spirit. Organization has become necessary in the business +world; and it has accomplished much for good in the world of labor. It +is no less necessary for farmers. Such a movement as the grange +movement is good in itself and is capable of a well-nigh infinite +further extension for good so long as it is kept to its own legitimate +business. The benefits to be derived by the association of farmers for +mutual advantage are partly economic and partly sociological. + +Moreover, while in the long run voluntary efforts will prove more +efficacious than government assistance, while the farmers must +primarily do most for themselves, yet the Government can also do much. +The Department of Agriculture has broken new ground in many directions, +and year by year it finds how it can improve its methods and develop +fresh usefulness. Its constant effort is to give the governmental +assistance in the most effective way; that is, through associations of +farmers rather than to or through individual farmers. It is also +striving to coordinate its work with the agricultural departments of +the several States, and so far as its own work is educational to +coordinate it with the work of other educational authorities. +Agricultural education is necessarily based upon general education, but +our agricultural educational institutions are wisely specializing +themselves, making their courses relate to the actual teaching of the +agricultural and kindred sciences to young country people or young city +people who wish to live in the country. + +Great progress has already been made among farmers by the creation of +farmers' institutes, of dairy associations, of breeders' associations, +horticultural associations, and the like. A striking example of how the +Government and the farmers can cooperate is shown in connection with +the menace offered to the cotton growers of the Southern States by the +advance of the boll weevil. The Department is doing all it can to +organize the farmers in the threatened districts, just as it has been +doing all it can to organize them in aid of its work to eradicate the +cattle fever tick in the South. The Department can and will cooperate +with all such associations, and it must have their help if its own work +is to be done in the most efficient style. + +Much is now being done for the States of the Rocky Mountains and Great +Plains through the development of the national policy of irrigation and +forest preservation; no Government policy for the betterment of our +internal conditions has been more fruitful of good than this. The +forests of the White Mountains and Southern Appalachian regions should +also be preserved; and they can not be unless the people of the States +in which they lie, through their representatives in the Congress, +secure vigorous action by the National Government. + +I invite the attention of the Congress to the estimate of the Secretary +of War for an appropriation to enable him to begin the preliminary work +for the construction of a memorial amphitheater at Arlington. The Grand +Army of the Republic in its national encampment has urged the erection +of such an amphitheater as necessary for the proper observance Of +Memorial Day and as a fitting monument to the soldier and sailor dead +buried there. In this I heartily concur and commend the matter to the +favorable consideration of the Congress. + +I am well aware of how difficult it is to pass a constitutional +amendment. Nevertheless in my judgment the whole question of marriage +and divorce should be relegated to the authority of the National +Congress. At present the wide differences in the laws of the different +States on this subject result in scandals and abuses; and surely there +is nothing so vitally essential to the welfare of the nation, nothing +around which the nation should so bend itself to throw every safeguard, +as the home life of the average citizen. The change would be good from +every standpoint. In particular it would be good because it would +confer on the Congress the power at once to deal radically and +efficiently with polygamy; and this should be done whether or not +marriage and divorce are dealt with. It is neither safe nor proper to +leave the question of polygamy to be dealt with by the several States. +Power to deal with it should be conferred on the National Government. + +When home ties are loosened; when men and women cease to regard a +worthy family life, with all its duties fully performed, and all its +responsibilities lived up to, as the life best worth living; then evil +days for the commonwealth are at hand. There are regions in our land, +and classes of our population, where the birth rate has sunk below the +death rate. Surely it should need no demonstration to show that wilful +sterility is, from the standpoint of the nation, from the standpoint of +the human race, the one sin for which the penalty is national death, +race death; a sin for which there is no atonement; a sin which is the +more dreadful exactly in proportion as the men and women guilty thereof +are in other respects, in character, and bodily and mental powers, +those whom for the sake of the state it would be well to see the +fathers and mothers of many healthy children, well brought up in homes +made happy by their presence. No man, no woman, can shirk the primary +duties of life, whether for love of ease and pleasure, or for any other +cause, and retain his or her self-respect. + +Let me once again call the attention of the Congress to two subjects +concerning which I have frequently before communicated with them. One +is the question of developing American shipping. I trust that a law +embodying in substance the views, or a major part of the views, exprest +in the report on this subject laid before the House at its last session +will be past. I am well aware that in former years objectionable +measures have been proposed in reference to the encouragement of +American shipping; but it seems to me that the proposed measure is as +nearly unobjectionable as any can be. It will of course benefit +primarily our seaboard States, such as Maine, Louisiana, and +Washington; but what benefits part of our people in the end benefits +all; just as Government aid to irrigation and forestry in the West is +really of benefit, not only to the Rocky Mountain States, but to all +our country. If it prove impracticable to enact a law for the +encouragement of shipping generally, then at least provision should be +made for better communication with South America, notably for fast mail +lines to the chief South American ports. It is discreditable to us that +our business people, for lack of direct communication in the shape of +lines of steamers with South America, should in that great sister +continent be at a disadvantage compared to the business people of +Europe. + +I especially call your attention to the second subject, the condition +of our currency laws. The national bank act has ably served a great +purpose in aiding the enormous business development of the country; and +within ten years there has been an increase in circulation per capita +from $21.41 to $33.08. For several years evidence has been accumulating +that additional legislation is needed. The recurrence of each crop +season emphasizes the defects of the present laws. There must soon be a +revision of them, because to leave them as they are means to incur +liability of business disaster. Since your body adjourned there has +been a fluctuation in the interest on call money from 2 per cent to 30 +per cent; and the fluctuation was even greater during the preceding six +months. The Secretary of the Treasury had to step in and by wise action +put a stop to the most violent period of oscillation. Even worse than +such fluctuation is the advance in commercial rates and the uncertainty +felt in the sufficiency of credit even at high rates. All commercial +interests suffer during each crop period. Excessive rates for call +money in New York attract money from the interior banks into the +speculative field; this depletes the fund that would otherwise be +available for commercial uses, and commercial borrowers are forced to +pay abnormal rates; so that each fall a tax, in the shape of increased +interest charges, is placed on the whole commerce of the country. + +The mere statement of these has shows that our present system is +seriously defective. There is need of a change. Unfortunately, however, +many of the proposed changes must be ruled from consideration because +they are complicated, are not easy of comprehension, and tend to, +disturb existing rights and interests. We must also rule out any plan +which would materially impair the value of the United States 2 per cent +bonds now pledged to secure circulations, the issue of which was made +under conditions peculiarly creditable to the Treasury. I do not press +any especial plan. Various plans have recently been proposed by expert +committees of bankers. Among the plans which are possibly feasible and +which certainly should receive your consideration is that repeatedly +brought to your attention by the present Secretary of the Treasury, the +essential features of which have been approved by many prominent +bankers and business men. According to this plan national banks should +be permitted to issue a specified proportion of their capital in notes +of a given kind, the issue to be taxed at so high a rate as to drive +the notes back when not wanted in legitimate trade. This plan would not +permit the issue of currency to give banks additional profits, but to +meet the emergency presented by times of stringency. + +I do not say that this is the right system. I only advance it to +emphasize my belief that there is need for the adoption of some system +which shall be automatic and open to all sound banks, so as to avoid +all possibility of discrimination and favoritism. Such a plan would +tend to prevent the spasms of high money and speculation which now +obtain in the New York market; for at present there is too much +currency at certain seasons of the year, and its accumulation at New +York tempts bankers to lend it at low rates for speculative purposes; +whereas at other times when the crops are being moved there is urgent +need for a large but temporary increase in the currency supply. It must +never be forgotten that this question concerns business men generally +quite as much as bankers; especially is this true of stockmen, farmers, +and business men in the West; for at present at certain seasons of the +year the difference in interest rates between the East and the West is +from 6 to 10 per cent, whereas in Canada the corresponding difference +is but 2 per cent. Any plan must, of course, guard the interests of +western and southern bankers as carefully as it guards the interests of +New York or Chicago bankers; and must be drawn from the standpoints of +the farmer and the merchant no less than from the standpoints of the +city banker and the country banker. + +The law should be amended so as specifically to provide that the funds +derived from customs duties may be treated by the Secretary of the +Treasury as he treats funds obtained under the internal-revenue laws. +There should be a considerable increase in bills of small +denominations. Permission should be given banks, if necessary under +settled restrictions, to retire their circulation to a larger amount +than three millions a month. + +I most earnestly hope that the bill to provide a lower tariff for or +else absolute free trade in Philippine products will become a law. No +harm will come to any American industry; and while there will be some +small but real material benefit to the Filipinos, the main benefit will +come by the showing made as to our purpose to do all in our power for +their welfare. So far our action in the Philippines has been abundantly +justified, not mainly and indeed not primarily because of the added +dignity it has given us as a nation by proving that we are capable +honorably and efficiently to bear the international burdens which a +mighty people should bear, but even more because of the immense benefit +that has come to the people of the Philippine Islands. In these islands +we are steadily introducing both liberty and order, to a greater degree +than their people have ever before known. We have secured justice. We +have provided an efficient police force, and have put down ladronism. +Only in the islands of Leyte and Samar is the authority of our +Government resisted and this by wild mountain tribes under the +superstitious inspiration of fakirs and pseudo-religions leaders. We +are constantly increasing the measure of liberty accorded the +islanders, and next spring, if conditions warrant, we shall take a +great stride forward in testing their capacity for self-government by +summoning the first Filipino legislative assembly; and the way in which +they stand this test will largely determine whether the self-government +thus granted will be increased or decreased; for if we have erred at +all in the Philippines it has been in proceeding too rapidly in the +direction of granting a large measure of self-government. We are +building roads. We have, for the immeasurable good of the people, +arranged for the building of railroads. Let us also see to it that they +are given free access to our markets. This nation owes no more +imperative duty to itself and mankind than the duty of managing the +affairs of all the islands under the American flag--the Philippines, +Porto Rico, and Hawaii--so as to make it evident that it is in every +way to their advantage that the flag should fly over them. + +American citizenship should be conferred on the citizens of Porto Rico. +The harbor of San Juan in Porto Rico should be dredged and improved. +The expenses of the federal court of Porto Rico should be met from the +Federal Treasury. The administration of the affairs of Porto Rico, +together with those of the Philippines, Hawaii, and our other insular +possessions, should all be directed under one executive department; by +preference the Department of State or the Department of War. + +The needs of Hawaii are peculiar; every aid should be given the +islands; and our efforts should be unceasing to develop them along the +lines of a community of small freeholders, not of great planters with +coolie-tilled estates. Situated as this Territory is, in the middle of +the Pacific, there are duties imposed upon this small community which +do not fall in like degree or manner upon any other American community. +This warrants our treating it differently from the way in which we +treat Territories contiguous to or surrounded by sister Territories or +other States, and justifies the setting aside of a portion of our +revenues to be expended for educational and internal improvements +therein. Hawaii is now making an effort to secure immigration fit in +the end to assume the duties and burdens of full American citizenship, +and whenever the leaders in the various industries of those islands +finally adopt our ideals and heartily join our administration in +endeavoring to develop a middle class of substantial citizens, a way +will then be found to deal with the commercial and industrial problems +which now appear to them so serious. The best Americanism is that which +aims for stability and permanency of prosperous citizenship, rather +than immediate returns on large masses of capital. + +Alaska's needs have been partially met, but there must be a complete +reorganization of the governmental system, as I have before indicated +to you. I ask your especial attention to this. Our fellow-citizens who +dwell on the shores of Puget Sound with characteristic energy are +arranging to hold in Seattle the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition. Its +special aims include the upbuilding of Alaska and the development of +American commerce on the Pacific Ocean. This exposition, in its +purposes and scope, should appeal not only to the people of the Pacific +slope, but to the people of the United States at large. Alaska since it +was bought has yielded to the Government eleven millions of dollars of +revenue, and has produced nearly three hundred millions of dollars in +gold, furs, and fish. When properly developed it will become in large +degree a land of homes. The countries bordering the Pacific Ocean have +a population more numerous than that of all the countries of Europe; +their annual foreign commerce amounts to over three billions of +dollars, of which the share of the United States is some seven hundred +millions of dollars. If this trade were thoroughly understood and +pushed by our manufacturers and producers, the industries not only of +the Pacific slope, but of all our country, and particularly of our +cotton-growing States, would be greatly benefited. Of course, in order +to get these benefits, we must treat fairly the countries with which we +trade. + +It is a mistake, and it betrays a spirit of foolish cynicism, to +maintain that all international governmental action is, and must ever +be, based upon mere selfishness, and that to advance ethical reasons +for such action is always a sign of hypocrisy. This is no more +necessarily true of the action of governments than of the action of +individuals. It is a sure sign of a base nature always to ascribe base +motives for the actions of others. Unquestionably no nation can afford +to disregard proper considerations of self-interest, any more than a +private individual can so do. But it is equally true that the average +private individual in any really decent community does many actions +with reference to other men in which he is guided, not by +self-interest, but by public spirit, by regard for the rights of +others, by a disinterested purpose to do good to others, and to raise +the tone of the community as a whole. Similarly, a really great nation +must often act, and as a matter of fact often does act, toward other +nations in a spirit not in the least of mere self-interest, but paying +heed chiefly to ethical reasons; and as the centuries go by this +disinterestedness in international action, this tendency of the +individuals comprising a nation to require that nation to act with +justice toward its neighbors, steadily grows and strengthens. It is +neither wise nor right for a nation to disregard its own needs, and it +is foolish--and may be wicked--to think that other nations will +disregard theirs. But it is wicked for a nation only to regard its own +interest, and foolish to believe that such is the sole motive that +actuates any other nation. It should be our steady aim to raise the +ethical standard of national action just as we strive to raise the +ethical standard of individual action. + +Not only must we treat all nations fairly, but we must treat with +justice and good will all immigrants who come here under the law. +Whether they are Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile; whether they +come from England or Germany, Russia, Japan, or Italy, matters nothing. +All we have a right to question is the man's conduct. If he is honest +and upright in his dealings with his neighbor and with the State, then +he is entitled to respect and good treatment. Especially do we need to +remember our duty to the stranger within our gates. It is the sure mark +of a low civilization, a low morality, to abuse or discriminate against +or in any way humiliate such stranger who has come here lawfully and +who is conducting himself properly. To remember this is incumbent on +every American citizen, and it is of course peculiarly incumbent on +every Government official, whether of the nation or of the several +States. + +I am prompted to say this by the attitude of hostility here and there +assumed toward the Japanese in this country. This hostility is sporadic +and is limited to a very few places. Nevertheless, it is most +discreditable to us as a people, and it may be fraught with the gravest +consequences to the nation. The friendship between the United States +and Japan has been continuous since the time, over half a century ago, +when Commodore Perry, by his expedition to Japan, first opened the +islands to western civilization. Since then the growth of Japan has +been literally astounding. There is not only nothing to parallel it, +but nothing to approach it in the history of civilized mankind. Japan +has a glorious and ancient past. Her civilization is older than that of +the nations of northern Europe--the nations from whom the people of the +United States have chiefly sprung. But fifty years ago Japan's +development was still that of the Middle Ages. During that fifty years +the progress of the country in every walk in life has been a marvel to +mankind, and she now stands as one of the greatest of civilized +nations; great in the arts of war and in the arts of peace; great in +military, in industrial, in artistic development and achievement. +Japanese soldiers and sailors have shown themselves equal in combat to +any of whom history makes note. She has produced great generals and +mighty admirals; her fighting men, afloat and ashore, show all the +heroic courage, the unquestioning, unfaltering loyalty, the splendid +indifference to hardship and death, which marked the Loyal Ronins; and +they show also that they possess the highest ideal of patriotism. +Japanese artists of every kind see their products eagerly sought for in +all lands. The industrial and commercial development of Japan has been +phenomenal; greater than that of any other country during the same +period. At the same time the advance in science and philosophy is no +less marked. The admirable management of the Japanese Red Cross during +the late war, the efficiency and humanity of the Japanese officials, +nurses, and doctors, won the respectful admiration of all acquainted +with the facts. Through the Red Cross the Japanese people sent over +$100,000 to the sufferers of San Francisco, and the gift was accepted +with gratitude by our people. The courtesy of the Japanese, nationally +and individually, has become proverbial. To no other country has there +been such an increasing number of visitors from this land as to Japan. +In return, Japanese have come here in great numbers. They are welcome, +socially and intellectually, in all our colleges and institutions of +higher learning, in all our professional and social bodies. The +Japanese have won in a single generation the right to stand abreast of +the foremost and most enlightened peoples of Europe and America; they +have won on their own merits and by their own exertions the right to +treatment on a basis of full and frank equality. The overwhelming mass +of our people cherish a lively regard and respect for the people of +Japan, and in almost every quarter of the Union the stranger from Japan +is treated as he deserves; that is, he is treated as the stranger from +any part of civilized Europe is and deserves to be treated. But here +and there a most unworthy feeling has manifested itself toward the +Japanese--the feeling that has been shown in shutting them out from the +common schools in San Francisco, and in mutterings against them in one +or two other places, because of their efficiency as workers. To shut +them out from the public schools is a wicked absurdity, when there are +no first-class colleges in the land, including the universities and +colleges of California, which do not gladly welcome Japanese students +and on which Japanese students do not reflect credit. We have as much +to learn from Japan as Japan has to learn from us; and no nation is fit +to teach unless it is also willing to learn. Throughout Japan Americans +are well treated, and any failure on the part of Americans at home to +treat the Japanese with a like courtesy and consideration is by just so +much a confession of inferiority in our civilization. + +Our nation fronts on the Pacific, just as it fronts on the Atlantic. We +hope to play a constantly growing part in the great ocean of the +Orient. We wish, as we ought to wish, for a great commercial +development in our dealings with Asia; and it is out of the question +that we should permanently have such development unless we freely and +gladly extend to other nations the same measure of justice and good +treatment which we expect to receive in return. It is only a very small +body of our citizens that act badly. Where the Federal Government has +power it will deal summarily with any such. Where the several States +have power I earnestly ask that they also deal wisely and promptly with +such conduct, or else this small body of wrongdoers may bring shame +upon the great mass of their innocent and right-thinking fellows--that +is, upon our nation as a whole. Good manners should be an international +no less than an individual attribute. I ask fair treatment for the +Japanese as I would ask fair treatment for Germans or Englishmen, +Frenchmen, Russians, or Italians. I ask it as due to humanity and +civilization. I ask it as due to ourselves because we must act +uprightly toward all men. + +I recommend to the Congress that an act be past specifically providing +for the naturalization of Japanese who come here intending to become +American citizens. One of the great embarrassments attending the +performance of our international obligations is the fact that the +Statutes of the United States are entirely inadequate. They fail to +give to the National Government sufficiently ample power, through +United States courts and by the use of the Army and Navy, to protect +aliens in the rights secured to them under solemn treaties which are +the law of the land. I therefore earnestly recommend that the criminal +and civil statutes of the United States be so amended and added to as +to enable the President, acting for the United States Government, which +is responsible in our international relations, to enforce the rights of +aliens under treaties. Even as the law now is something can be done by +the Federal Government toward this end, and in the matter now before me +affecting the Japanese everything that it is in my power to do will be +done, and all of the forces, military and civil, of the United States +which I may lawfully employ will be so employed. There should, however, +be no particle of doubt as to the power of the National Government +completely to perform and enforce its own obligations to other nations. +The mob of a single city may at any time perform acts of lawless +violence against some class of foreigners which would plunge us into +war. That city by itself would be powerless to make defense against the +foreign power thus assaulted, and if independent of this Government it +would never venture to perform or permit the performance of the acts +complained of. The entire power and the whole duty to protect the +offending city or the offending community lies in the hands of the +United States Government. It is unthinkable that we should continue a +policy under which a given locality may be allowed to commit a crime +against a friendly nation, and the United States Government limited, +not to preventing the commission of the crime, but, in the last resort, +to defending the people who have committed it against the consequences +of their own wrongdoing. + +Last August an insurrection broke out in Cuba which it speedily grew +evident that the existing Cuban Government was powerless to quell. This +Government was repeatedly asked by the then Cuban Government to +intervene, and finally was notified by the President of Cuba that he +intended to resign; that his decision was irrevocable; that none of the +other constitutional officers would consent to carry on the Government, +and that he was powerless to maintain order. It was evident that chaos +was impending, and there was every probability that if steps were not +immediately taken by this Government to try to restore order the +representatives of various European nations in the island would apply +to their respective governments for armed intervention in order to +protect the lives and property of their citizens. Thanks to the +preparedness of our Navy, I was able immediately to send enough ships +to Cuba to prevent the situation from becoming hopeless; and I +furthermore dispatched to Cuba the Secretary of War and the Assistant +Secretary of State, in order that they might grapple with the situation +on the ground. All efforts to secure an agreement between the +contending factions, by which they should themselves come to an +amicable understanding and settle upon some modus vivendi--some +provisional government of their own--failed. Finally the President of +the Republic resigned. The quorum of Congress assembled failed by +deliberate purpose of its members, so that there was no power to act on +his resignation, and the Government came to a halt. In accordance with +the so-called Platt amendment, which was embodied in the constitution +of Cuba, I thereupon proclaimed a provisional government for the +island, the Secretary of War acting as provisional governor until he +could be replaced by Mr. Magoon, the late minister to Panama and +governor of the Canal Zone on the Isthmus; troops were sent to support +them and to relieve the Navy, the expedition being handled with most +satisfactory speed and efficiency. The insurgent chiefs immediately +agreed that their troops should lay down their arms and disband; and +the agreement was carried out. The provisional government has left the +personnel of the old government and the old laws, so far as might be, +unchanged, and will thus administer the island for a few months until +tranquillity can be restored, a new election properly held, and a new +government inaugurated. Peace has come in the island; and the +harvesting of the sugar-cane crop, the great crop of the island, is +about to proceed. + +When the election has been held and the new government inaugurated in +peaceful and orderly fashion the provisional government will come to an +end. I take this opportunity of expressing upon behalf of the American +people, with all possible solemnity, our most earnest hope that the +people of Cuba will realize the imperative need of preserving justice +and keeping order in the Island. The United States wishes nothing of +Cuba except that it shall prosper morally and materially, and wishes +nothing of the Cubans save that they shall be able to preserve order +among themselves and therefore to preserve their independence. If the +elections become a farce, and if the insurrectionary habit becomes +confirmed in the Island, it is absolutely out of the question that the +Island should continue independent; and the United States, which has +assumed the sponsorship before the civilized world for Cuba's career as +a nation, would again have to intervene and to see that the government +was managed in such orderly fashion as to secure the safety of life and +property. The path to be trodden by those who exercise self-government +is always hard, and we should have every charity and patience with the +Cubans as they tread this difficult path. I have the utmost sympathy +with, and regard for, them; but I most earnestly adjure them solemnly +to weigh their responsibilities and to see that when their new +government is started it shall run smoothly, and with freedom from +flagrant denial of right on the one hand, and from insurrectionary +disturbances on the other. + +The Second International Conference of American Republics, held in +Mexico in the years 1901-2, provided for the holding of the third +conference within five years, and committed the fixing of the time and +place and the arrangements for the conference to the governing board of +the Bureau of American Republics, composed of the representatives of +all the American nations in Washington. That board discharged the duty +imposed upon it with marked fidelity and painstaking care, and upon the +courteous invitation of the United States of Brazil the conference was +held at Rio de Janeiro, continuing from the 23d of July to the 29th of +August last. Many subjects of common interest to all the American +nations were discust by the conference, and the conclusions reached, +embodied in a series of resolutions and proposed conventions, will be +laid before you upon the coming in of the final report of the American +delegates. They contain many matters of importance relating to the +extension of trade, the increase of communication, the smoothing away +of barriers to free intercourse, and the promotion of a better +knowledge and good understanding between the different countries +represented. The meetings of the conference were harmonious and the +conclusions were reached with substantial unanimity. It is interesting +to observe that in the successive conferences which have been held the +representatives of the different American nations have been learning to +work together effectively, for, while the First Conference in +Washington in 1889, and the Second Conference in Mexico in 1901-2, +occupied many months, with much time wasted in an unregulated and +fruitless discussion, the Third Conference at Rio exhibited much of the +facility in the practical dispatch of business which characterizes +permanent deliberative bodies, and completed its labors within the +period of six weeks originally allotted for its sessions. + +Quite apart from the specific value of the conclusions reached by the +conference, the example of the representatives of all the American +nations engaging in harmonious and kindly consideration and discussion +of subjects of common interest is itself of great and substantial value +for the promotion of reasonable and considerate treatment of all +international questions. The thanks of this country are due to the +Government of Brazil and to the people of Rio de Janeiro for the +generous hospitality with which our delegates, in common with the +others, were received, entertained, and facilitated in their work. + +Incidentally to the meeting of the conference, the Secretary of State +visited the city of Rio de Janeiro and was cordially received by the +conference, of which he was made an honorary president. The +announcement of his intention to make this visit was followed by most +courteous and urgent invitations from nearly all the countries of South +America to visit them as the guest of their Governments. It was deemed +that by the acceptance of these invitations we might appropriately +express the real respect and friendship in which we hold our sister +Republics of the southern continent, and the Secretary, accordingly, +visited Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Panama, and Colombia. +He refrained from visiting Paraguay, Bolivia, and Ecuador only because +the distance of their capitals from the seaboard made it impracticable +with the time at his disposal. He carried with him a message of peace +and friendship, and of strong desire for good understanding and mutual +helpfulness; and he was everywhere received in the spirit of his +message. The members of government, the press, the learned professions, +the men of business, and the great masses of the people united +everywhere in emphatic response to his friendly expressions and in +doing honor to the country and cause which he represented. + +In many parts of South America there has been much misunderstanding of +the attitude and purposes of the United States towards the other +American Republics. An idea had become prevalent that our assertion of +the Monroe Doctrine implied, or carried with it, an assumption of +superiority, and of a right to exercise some kind of protectorate over +the countries to whose territory that doctrine applies. Nothing could +be farther from the truth. Yet that impression continued to be a +serious barrier to good understanding, to friendly intercourse, to the +introduction of American capital and the extension of American trade. +The impression was so widespread that apparently it could not be +reached by any ordinary means. + +It was part of Secretary Root's mission to dispel this unfounded +impression, and there is just cause to believe that he has succeeded. +In an address to the Third Conference at Rio on the 31st of July--an +address of such note that I send it in, together with this message--he +said: + +"We wish for no victories but those of peace; for no territory except +our own; for no sovereignty except the sovereignty over ourselves. We +deem the independence and equal rights of the smallest and weakest +member of the family of nations entitled to as much respect as those of +the greatest empire, and we deem the observance of that respect the +chief guaranty of the weak against the oppression of the strong. We +neither claim nor desire any rights or privileges or powers that we do +not freely concede to every American Republic. We wish to increase our +prosperity, to extend our trade, to grow in wealth, in wisdom, and in +spirit, but our conception of the true way to accomplish this is not to +pull down others and profit by their ruin, but to help all friends to a +common prosperity and a common growth, that we may all become greater +and stronger together. Within a few months for the first time the +recognized possessors of every foot of soil upon the American +continents can be and I hope will be represented with the acknowledged +rights of equal sovereign states in the great World Congress at The +Hague. This will be the world's formal and final acceptance of the +declaration that no part of the American continents is to be deemed +subject to colonization. Let us pledge ourselves to aid each other in +the full performance of the duty to humanity which that accepted +declaration implies, so that in time the weakest and most unfortunate +of our Republics may come to march with equal step by the side of the +stronger and more fortunate. Let us help each other to show that for +all the races of men the liberty for which we have fought and labored +is the twin sister of justice and peace. Let us unite in creating and +maintaining and making effective an all-American public opinion, whose +power shall influence international conduct and prevent international +wrong, and narrow the causes of war, and forever preserve our free +lands from the burden of such armaments as are massed behind the +frontiers of Europe, and bring us ever nearer to the perfection of +ordered liberty. So shall come security and prosperity, production and +trade, wealth, learning, the arts, and happiness for us all." + +These words appear to have been received with acclaim in every part of +South America. They have my hearty approval, as I am sure they will +have yours, and I can not be wrong in the conviction that they +correctly represent the sentiments of the whole American people. I can +not better characterize the true attitude of the United States in its +assertion of the Monroe Doctrine than in the words of the distinguished +former minister of foreign affairs of Argentina, Doctor Drago, in his +speech welcoming Mr. Root at Buenos Ayres. He spoke of-- + +"The traditional policy of the United States (which) without +accentuating superiority or seeking preponderance, condemned the +oppression of the nations of this part of the world and the control of +their destinies by the great Powers of Europe." + +It is gratifying to know that in the great city of Buenos Ayres, upon +the arches which spanned the streets, entwined with Argentine and +American flags for the reception of our representative, there were +emblazoned not' only the names of Washington and Jefferson and +Marshall, but also, in appreciative recognition of their services to +the cause of South American independence, the names of James Monroe, +John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Richard Rush. We take especial +pleasure in the graceful courtesy of the Government of Brazil, which +has given to the beautiful and stately building first used for the +meeting of the conference the name of "Palacio Monroe." Our grateful +acknowledgments are due to the Governments and the people of all the +countries visited by the Secretary of State for the courtesy, the +friendship, and the honor shown to our country in their generous +hospitality to him. + +In my message to you on the 5th of December, 1905, I called your +attention to the embarrassment that might be caused to this Government +by the assertion by foreign nations of the right to collect by force of +arms contract debts due by American republics to citizens of the +collecting nation, and to the danger that the process of compulsory +collection might result in the occupation of territory tending to +become permanent. I then said: + +"Our own Government has always refused to enforce such contractual +obligations on behalf of its citizens by an appeal to arms. It is much +to be wisht that all foreign governments would take the same view." + +This subject was one of the topics of consideration at the conference +at Rio and a resolution was adopted by that conference recommending to +the respective governments represented "to consider the advisability of +asking the Second Peace Conference at The Hague to examine the question +of the compulsory collection of public debts, and, in general, means +tending to diminish among nations conflicts of purely pecuniary +origin." + +This resolution was supported by the representatives of the United +States in accordance with the following instructions: + +"It has long been the established policy of the United States not to +use its armed forces for the collection of ordinary contract debts due +to its citizens by other governments. We have not considered the use of +force for such a purpose consistent with that respect for the +independent sovereignty of other members of the family of nations which +is the most important principle of international law and the chief +protection of weak nations against the oppression of the strong. It +seems to us that the practise is injurious in its general effect upon +the relations of nations and upon the welfare of weak and disordered +states, whose development ought to be encouraged in the interests of +civilization; that it offers frequent temptation to bullying and +oppression and to unnecessary and unjustifiable warfare. We regret that +other powers, whose opinions and sense of justice we esteem highly, +have at times taken a different view and have permitted themselves, +though we believe with reluctance, to collect such debts by force. It +is doubtless true that the non-payment of public debts may be +accompanied by such circumstances of fraud and wrongdoing or violation +of treaties as to justify the use of force. This Government would be +glad to see an international consideration of the subject which shall +discriminate between such cases and the simple nonperformance of a +contract with a private person, and a resolution in favor of reliance +upon peaceful means in cases of the latter class. + +"It is not felt, however, that the conference at Rio should undertake +to make such a discrimination or to resolve upon such a rule. Most of +the American countries are still debtor nations, while the countries of +Europe are the creditors. If the Rio conference, therefore, were to +take such action it would have the appearance of a meeting of debtors +resolving how their creditors should act, and this would not inspire +respect. The true course is indicated by the terms of the program, +which proposes to request the Second Hague Conference, where both +creditors and debtors will be assembled, to consider the subject." + +Last June trouble which had existed for some time between the Republics +of Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras culminated in war--a war which +threatened to be ruinous to the countries involved and very destructive +to the commercial interests of Americans, Mexicans, and other +foreigners who are taking an important part in the development of these +countries. The thoroughly good understanding which exists between the +United States and Mexico enabled this Government and that of Mexico to +unite in effective mediation between the warring Republics; which +mediation resulted, not without long-continued and patient effort, in +bringing about a meeting of the representatives of the hostile powers +on board a United States warship as neutral territory, and peace was +there concluded; a peace which resulted in the saving of thousands of +lives and in the prevention of an incalculable amount of misery and the +destruction of property and of the means of livelihood. The Rio +Conference past the following resolution in reference to this action: + +"That the Third International American Conference shall address to the +Presidents of the United States of America and of the United States of +Mexico a note in which the conference which is being held at Rio +expresses its satisfaction at the happy results of their mediation for +the celebration of peace between the Republics of Guatemala, Honduras, +and Salvador." + +This affords an excellent example of one way in which the influence of +the United States can properly be exercised for the benefit of the +peoples of the Western Hemisphere; that is, by action taken in concert +with other American republics and therefore free from those suspicions +and prejudices which might attach if the action were taken by one +alone. In this way it is possible to exercise a powerful influence +toward the substitution of considerate action in the spirit of justice +for the insurrectionary or international violence which has hitherto +been so great a hindrance to the development of many of our neighbors. +Repeated examples of united action by several or many American +republics in favor of peace, by urging cool and reasonable, instead of +excited and belligerent, treatment of international controversies, can +not fail to promote the growth of a general public opinion among the +American nations which will elevate the standards of international +action, strengthen the sense of international duty among governments, +and tell in favor of the peace of mankind. + +I have just returned from a trip to Panama and shall report to you at +length later on the whole subject of the Panama Canal. + +The Algeciras Convention, which was signed by the United States as well +as by most of the powers of Europe, supersedes the previous convention +of 1880, which was also signed both by the United States and a majority +of the European powers. This treaty confers upon us equal commercial +rights with all European countries and does not entail a single +obligation of any kind upon us, and I earnestly hope it may be speedily +ratified. To refuse to ratify it would merely mean that we forfeited +our commercial rights in Morocco and would not achieve another object +of any kind. In the event of such refusal we would be left for the +first time in a hundred and twenty years without any commercial treaty +with Morocco; and this at a time when we are everywhere seeking new +markets and outlets for trade. + +The destruction of the Pribilof Islands fur seals by pelagic sealing +still continues. The herd which, according to the surveys made in 1874 +by direction of the Congress, numbered 4,700,000, and which, according +to the survey of both American and Canadian commissioners in 1891, +amounted to 1,000,000, has now been reduced to about 180,000. This +result has been brought about by Canadian and some other sealing +vessels killing the female seals while in the water during their annual +pilgrimage to and from the south, or in search of food. As a rule the +female seal when killed is pregnant, and also has an unweaned pup on +land, so that, for each skin taken by pelagic sealing, as a rule, three +lives are destroyed--the mother, the unborn offspring, and the nursing +pup, which is left to starve to death. No damage whatever is done to +the herd by the carefully regulated killing on land; the custom of +pelagic sealing is solely responsible for all of the present evil, and +is alike indefensible from the economic standpoint and from the +standpoint of humanity. + +In 1896 over 16,000 young seals were found dead from starvation on the +Pribilof Islands. In 1897 it was estimated that since pelagic sealing +began upward of 400,000 adult female seals had been killed at sea, and +over 300,000 young seals had died of starvation as the result. The +revolting barbarity of such a practise, as well as the wasteful +destruction which it involves, needs no demonstration and is its own +condemnation. The Bering Sea Tribunal, which sat in Paris in 1893, and +which decided against the claims of the United States to exclusive +jurisdiction in the waters of Bering Sea and to a property right in the +fur seals when outside of the three-mile limit, determined also upon +certain regulations which the Tribunal considered sufficient for the +proper protection and preservation of the fur seal in, or habitually +resorting to, the Bering Sea. The Tribunal by its regulations +established a close season, from the 1st of May to the 31st of July, +and excluded all killing in the waters within 60 miles around the +Pribilof Islands. They also provided that the regulations which they +had determined upon, with a view to the protection and preservation of +the seals, should be submitted every five years to new examination, so +as to enable both interested Governments to consider whether, in the +light of past experience, there was occasion for any modification +thereof. + +The regulations have proved plainly inadequate to accomplish the object +of protection and preservation of the fur seals, and for a long time +this Government has been trying in vain to secure from Great Britain +such revision and modification of the regulations as were contemplated +and provided for by the award of the Tribunal of Paris. + +The process of destruction has been accelerated during recent years by +the appearance of a number of Japanese vessels engaged in pelagic +sealing. As these vessels have not been bound even by the inadequate +limitations prescribed by the Tribunal of Paris, they have paid no +attention either to the close season or to the sixty-mile limit imposed +upon the Canadians, and have prosecuted their work up to the very +islands themselves. On July 16 and 17 the crews from several Japanese +vessels made raids upon the island of St. Paul, and before they were +beaten off by the very meager and insufficiently armed guard, they +succeeded in killing several hundred seals and carrying off the skins +of most of them. Nearly all the seals killed were females and the work +was done with frightful barbarity. Many of the seals appear to have +been skinned alive and many were found half skinned and still alive. +The raids were repelled only by the use of firearms, and five of the +raiders were killed, two were wounded, and twelve captured, including +the two wounded. Those captured have since been tried and sentenced to +imprisonment. An attack of this kind had been wholly unlookt for, but +such provision of vessels, arms, and ammunition will now be made that +its repetition will not be found profitable. + +Suitable representations regarding the incident have been made to the +Government of Japan, and we are assured that all practicable measures +will be taken by that country to prevent any recurrence of the outrage. +On our part, the guard on the island will be increased and better +equipped and organized, and a better revenue-cutter patrol service +about the islands will be established; next season a United States war +vessel will also be sent there. + +We have not relaxed our efforts to secure an agreement with Great +Britain for adequate protection of the seal herd, and negotiations with +Japan for the same purpose are in progress. + +The laws for the protection of the seals within the jurisdiction of the +United States need revision and amendment. Only the islands of St. Paul +and St. George are now, in terms, included in the Government +reservation, and the other islands are also to be included. The landing +of aliens as well as citizens upon the islands, without a permit from +the Department of Commerce and Labor, for any purpose except in case of +stress of weather or for water, should be prohibited under adequate +penalties. The approach of vessels for the excepted purposes should be +regulated. The authority of the Government agents on the islands should +be enlarged, and the chief agent should have the powers of a committing +magistrate. The entrance of a vessel into the territorial waters +surrounding the islands with intent to take seals should be made a +criminal offense and cause of forfeiture. Authority for seizures in +such cases should be given and the presence on any such vessel of seals +or sealskins, or the paraphernalia for taking them, should be made +prima facie evidence of such intent. I recommend what legislation is +needed to accomplish these ends; and I commend to your attention the +report of Mr. Sims, of the Department of Commerce and Labor, on this +subject. + +In case we are compelled to abandon the hope of making arrangements +with other governments to put an end to the hideous cruelty now +incident to pelagic sealing, it will be a question for your serious +consideration how far we should continue to protect and maintain the +seal herd on land with the result of continuing such a practise, and +whether it is not better to end the practice by exterminating the herd +ourselves in the most humane way possible. + +In my last message I advised you that the Emperor of Russia had taken +the initiative in bringing about a second peace conference at The +Hague. Under the guidance of Russia the arrangement of the +preliminaries for such a conference has been progressing during the +past year. Progress has necessarily been slow, owing to the great +number of countries to be consulted upon every question that has +arisen. It is a matter of satisfaction that all of the American +Republics have now, for the first time, been invited to join in the +proposed conference. + +The close connection between the subjects to be taken up by the Red +Cross Conference held at Geneva last summer and the subjects which +naturally would come before The Hague Conference made it apparent that +it was desirable to have the work of the Red Cross Conference completed +and considered by the different powers before the meeting at The Hague. +The Red Cross Conference ended its labors on the 6th day of July, and +the revised and amended convention, which was signed by the American +delegates, will be promptly laid before the Senate. + +By the special and highly appreciated courtesy of the Governments of +Russia and the Netherlands, a proposal to call The Hague Conference +together at a time which would conflict with the Conference of the +American Republics at Rio de Janeiro in August was laid aside. No other +date has yet been suggested. A tentative program for the conference has +been proposed by the Government of Russia, and the subjects which it +enumerates are undergoing careful examination and consideration in +preparation for the conference. + +It must ever be kept in mind that war is not merely justifiable, but +imperative, upon honorable men, upon an honorable nation, where peace +can only be obtained by the sacrifice of conscientious conviction or of +national welfare. Peace is normally a great good, and normally it +coincides with righteousness; but it is righteousness and not peace +which should bind the conscience of a nation as it should bind the +conscience of an individual; and neither a nation nor an individual can +surrender conscience to another's keeping. Neither can a nation, which +is an entity, and which does not die as individuals die, refrain from +taking thought for the interest of the generations that are to come, no +less than for the interest of the generation of to-day; and no public +men have a right, whether from shortsightedness, from selfish +indifference, or from sentimentality, to sacrifice national interests +which are vital in character. A just war is in the long run far better +for a nation's soul than the most prosperous peace obtained by +acquiescence in wrong or injustice. Moreover, though it is criminal for +a nation not to prepare for war, so that it may escape the dreadful +consequences of being defeated in war, yet it must always be remembered +that even to be defeated in war may be far better than not to have +fought at all. As has been well and finely said, a beaten nation is not +necessarily a disgraced nation; but the nation or man is disgraced if +the obligation to defend right is shirked. + +We should as a nation do everything in our power for the cause of +honorable peace. It is morally as indefensible for a nation to commit a +wrong upon another nation, strong or weak, as for an individual thus to +wrong his fellows. We should do all in our power to hasten the day when +there shall be peace among the nations--a peace based upon justice and +not upon cowardly submission to wrong. We can accomplish a good deal in +this direction, but we can not accomplish everything, and the penalty +of attempting to do too much would almost inevitably be to do worse +than nothing; for it must be remembered that fantastic extremists are +not in reality leaders of the causes which they espouse, but are +ordinarily those who do most to hamper the real leaders of the cause +and to damage the cause itself. As yet there is no likelihood of +establishing any kind of international power, of whatever sort, which +can effectively check wrongdoing, and in these circumstances it would +be both a foolish and an evil thing for a great and free nation to +deprive itself of the power to protect its own rights and even in +exceptional cases to stand up for the rights of others. Nothing would +more promote iniquity, nothing would further defer the reign upon earth +of peace and righteousness, than for the free and enlightened peoples +which, though with much stumbling and many shortcomings, nevertheless +strive toward justice, deliberately to render themselves powerless +while leaving every despotism and barbarism armed and able to work +their wicked will. The chance for the settlement of disputes +peacefully, by arbitration, now depends mainly upon the possession by +the nations that mean to do right of sufficient armed strength to make +their purpose effective. + +The United States Navy is the surest guarantor of peace which this +country possesses. It is earnestly to be wisht that we would profit by +the teachings of history in this matter. A strong and wise people will +study its own failures no less than its triumphs, for there is wisdom +to be learned from the study of both, of the mistake as well as of the +success. For this purpose nothing could be more instructive than a +rational study of the war of 1812, as it is told, for instance, by +Captain Mahan. There was only one way in which that war could have been +avoided. If during the preceding twelve years a navy relatively as +strong as that which this country now has had been built up, and an +army provided relatively as good as that which the country now has, +there never would have been the slightest necessity of fighting the +war; and if the necessity had arisen the war would under such +circumstances have ended with our speedy and overwhelming triumph. But +our people during those twelve years refused to make any preparations +whatever, regarding either the Army or the Navy. They saved a million +or two of dollars by so doing; and in mere money paid a hundredfold for +each million they thus saved during the three years of war which +followed--a war which brought untold suffering upon our people, which +at one time threatened the gravest national disaster, and which, in +spite of the necessity of waging it, resulted merely in what was in +effect a drawn battle, while the balance of defeat and triumph was +almost even. + +I do not ask that we continue to increase our Navy. I ask merely that +it be maintained at its present strength; and this can be done only if +we replace the obsolete and outworn ships by new and good ones, the +equals of any afloat in any navy. To stop building ships for one year +means that for that year the Navy goes back instead of forward. The old +battle ship Texas, for instance, would now be of little service in a +stand-up fight with a powerful adversary. The old double-turret +monitors have outworn their usefulness, while it was a waste of money +to build the modern single-turret monitors. All these ships should be +replaced by others; and this can be done by a well-settled program of +providing for the building each year of at least one first-class battle +ship equal in size and speed to any that any nation is at the same time +building; the armament presumably to consist of as large a number as +possible of very heavy guns of one caliber, together with smaller guns +to repel torpedo attack; while there should be heavy armor, turbine +engines, and in short, every modern device. Of course, from time to +time, cruisers, colliers, torpedo-boat destroyers or torpedo boats, +Will have to be built also. All this, be it remembered, would not +increase our Navy, but would merely keep it at its present strength. +Equally of course, the ships will be absolutely useless if the men +aboard them are not so trained that they can get the best possible +service out of the formidable but delicate and complicated mechanisms +intrusted to their care. The marksmanship of our men has so improved +during the last five years that I deem it within bounds to say that the +Navy is more than twice as efficient, ship for ship, as half a decade +ago. The Navy can only attain proper efficiency if enough officers and +men are provided, and if these officers and men are given the chance +(and required to take advantage of it) to stay continually at sea and +to exercise the fleets singly and above all in squadron, the exercise +to be of every kind and to include unceasing practise at the guns, +conducted under conditions that will test marksmanship in time of war. + +In both the Army and the Navy there is urgent need that everything +possible should be done to maintain the highest standard for the +personnel, alike as regards the officers and the enlisted men. I do not +believe that in any service there is a finer body of enlisted men and +of junior officer than we have in both the Army and the Navy, including +the Marine Corps. All possible encouragement to the enlisted men should +be given, in pay and otherwise, and everything practicable done to +render the service attractive to men of the right type. They should be +held to the strictest discharge of their duty, and in them a spirit +should be encouraged which demands not the mere performance of duty, +but the performance of far more than duty, if it conduces to the honor +and the interest of the American nation; and in return the amplest +consideration should be theirs. + +West Point and Annapolis already turn out excellent officers. We do not +need to have these schools made more scholastic. On the contrary we +should never lose sight of the fact that the aim of each school is to +turn out a man who shall be above everything else a fighting man. In +the Army in particular it is not necessary that either the cavalry or +infantry officer should have special mathematical ability. Probably in +both schools the best part of the education is the high standard of +character and of professional morale which it confers. + +But in both services there is urgent need for the establishment of a +principle of selection which will eliminate men after a certain age if +they can not be promoted from the subordinate ranks, and which will +bring into the higher ranks fewer men, and these at an earlier age. +This principle of selection will be objected to by good men of mediocre +capacity, who are fitted to do well while young in the lower positions, +but who are not fitted to do well when at an advanced age they come +into positions of command and of great responsibility. But the desire +of these men to be promoted to positions which they are not competent +to fill should not weigh against the interest of the Navy and the +country. At present our men, especially in the Navy, are kept far too +long in the junior grades, and then, at much too advanced an age, are +put quickly through the senior grades, often not attaining to these +senior grades until they are too old to be of real use in them; and if +they are of real use, being put through them so quickly that little +benefit to the Navy comes from their having been in them at all. + +The Navy has one great advantage over the Army in the fact that the +officers of high rank are actually trained in the continual performance +of their duties; that is, in the management of the battle ships and +armored cruisers gathered into fleets. This is not true of the army +officers, who rarely have corresponding chances to exercise command +over troops under service conditions. The conduct of the Spanish war +showed the lamentable loss of life, the useless extravagance, and the +inefficiency certain to result, if during peace the high officials of +the War and Navy Departments are praised and rewarded only if they save +money at no matter what cost to the efficiency of the service, and if +the higher officers are given no chance whatever to exercise and +practise command. For years prior to the Spanish war the Secretaries of +War were praised chiefly if they practised economy; which economy, +especially in connection with the quartermaster, commissary, and +medical departments, was directly responsible for most of the +mismanagement that occurred in the war itself--and parenthetically be +it observed that the very people who clamored for the misdirected +economy in the first place were foremost to denounce the mismanagement, +loss, and suffering which were primarily due to this same misdirected +economy and to the lack of preparation it involved. There should soon +be an increase in the number of men for our coast defenses; these men +should be of the right type and properly trained; and there should +therefore be an increase of pay for certain skilled grades, especially +in the coast artillery. Money should be appropriated to permit troops +to be massed in body and exercised in maneuvers, particularly in +marching. Such exercise during the summer just past has been of +incalculable benefit to the Army and should under no circumstances be +discontinued. If on these practise marches and in these maneuvers +elderly officers prove unable to bear the strain, they should be +retired at once, for the fact is conclusive as to their unfitness for +war; that is, for the only purpose because of which they should be +allowed to stay in the service. It is a real misfortune to have scores +of small company or regimental posts scattered throughout the country; +the Army should be gathered in a few brigade or division posts; and the +generals should be practised in handling the men in masses. Neglect to +provide for all of this means to incur the risk of future disaster and +disgrace. + +The readiness and efficiency of both the Army and Navy in dealing with +the recent sudden crisis in Cuba illustrate afresh their value to the +Nation. This readiness and efficiency would have been very much less +had it not been for the existence of the General Staff in the Army and +the General Board in the Navy; both are essential to the proper +development and use of our military forces afloat and ashore. The +troops that were sent to Cuba were handled flawlessly. It was the +swiftest mobilization and dispatch of troops over sea ever accomplished +by our Government. The expedition landed completely equipped and ready +for immediate service, several of its organizations hardly remaining in +Havana over night before splitting up into detachments and going to +their several posts, It was a fine demonstration of the value and +efficiency of the General Staff. Similarly, it was owing in large part +to the General Board that the Navy was able at the outset to meet the +Cuban crisis with such instant efficiency; ship after ship appearing on +the shortest notice at any threatened point, while the Marine Corps in +particular performed indispensable service. The Army and Navy War +Colleges are of incalculable value to the two services, and they +cooperate with constantly increasing efficiency and importance. + +The Congress has most wisely provided for a National Board for the +promotion of rifle practise. Excellent results have already come from +this law, but it does not go far enough. Our Regular Army is so small +that in any great war we should have to trust mainly to volunteers; and +in such event these volunteers should already know how to shoot; for if +a soldier has the fighting edge, and ability to take care of himself in +the open, his efficiency on the line of battle is almost directly +Proportionate to excellence in marksmanship. We should establish +shooting galleries in all the large public and military schools, should +maintain national target ranges in different parts of the country, and +should in every way encourage the formation of rifle clubs throughout +all parts of the land. The little Republic of Switzerland offers us an +excellent example in all matters connected with building up an +efficient citizen soldiery. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 3, 1907 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +No nation has greater resources than ours, and I think it can be +truthfully said that the citizens of no nation possess greater energy +and industrial ability. In no nation are the fundamental business +conditions sounder than in ours at this very moment; and it is foolish, +when such is the case, for people to hoard money instead of keeping it +in sound banks; for it is such hoarding that is the immediate occasion +of money stringency. Moreover, as a rule, the business of our people is +conducted with honesty and probity, and this applies alike to farms and +factories, to railroads and banks, to all our legitimate commercial +enterprises. + +In any large body of men, however, there are certain to be some who are +dishonest, and if the conditions are such that these men prosper or +commit their misdeeds with impunity, their example is a very evil thing +for the community. Where these men are business men of great sagacity +and of temperament both unscrupulous and reckless, and where the +conditions are such that they act without supervision or control and at +first without effective check from public opinion, they delude many +innocent people into making investments or embarking in kinds of +business that are really unsound. When the misdeeds of these +successfully dishonest men are discovered, suffering comes not only +upon them, but upon the innocent men whom they have misled. It is a +painful awakening, whenever it occurs; and, naturally, when it does +occur those who suffer are apt to forget that the longer it was +deferred the more painful it would be. In the effort to punish the +guilty it is both wise and proper to endeavor so far as possible to +minimize the distress of those who have been misled by the guilty. Yet +it is not possible to refrain because of such distress from striving to +put an end to the misdeeds that are the ultimate causes of the +suffering, and, as a means to this end, where possible to punish those +responsible for them. There may be honest differences of opinion as to +many governmental policies; but surely there can be no such differences +as to the need of unflinching perseverance in the war against +successful dishonesty. + +In my Message to the Congress on December 5, 1905, I said: + +"If the folly of man mars the general well-being, then those who are +innocent of the folly will have to pay part of the penalty incurred by +those who are guilty of the folly. A panic brought on by the +speculative folly of part of the business community would hurt the +whole business community; but such stoppage of welfare, though it might +be severe, would not be lasting. In the long run, the one vital factor +in the permanent prosperity of the country is the high individual +character of the average American worker, the average American citizen, +no matter whether his work be mental or manual, whether he be farmer or +wage-worker, business man or professional man. + +"In our industrial and social system the interests of all men are so +closely intertwined that in the immense majority of cases a +straight-dealing man, who by his efficiency, by his ingenuity and +industry, benefits himself, must also benefit others. Normally, the man +of great productive capacity who becomes rich by guiding the labor of +many other men does so by enabling them to produce more than they could +produce without his guidance; and both he and they share in the +benefit, which comes also to the public at large. The superficial fact +that the sharing may be unequal must never blind us to the underlying +fact that there is this sharing, and that the benefit comes in some +degree to each man concerned.. Normally, the wageworker, the man of +small means, and the average consumer, as well as the average producer, +are all alike helped by making conditions such that the man of +exceptional business ability receives an exceptional reward for his +ability Something can be done by legislation to help the general +prosperity; but no such help of a permanently beneficial character can +be given to the less able and less fortunate save as the results of a +policy which shall inure to the advantage of all industrious and +efficient people who act decently; and this is only another way of +saying that any benefit which comes to the less able and less fortunate +must of necessity come even more to the more able and more fortunate. +If, therefore, the less fortunate man is moved by envy of his more +fortunate brother to strike at the conditions under which they have +both, though unequally, prospered, the result will assuredly be that +while damage may come to the one struck at, it will visit with an even +heavier load the one who strikes the blow. Taken as a whole, we must +all go up or go down together. + +"Yet, while not merely admitting, but insisting upon this, it is also +true that where there is no governmental restraint or supervision some +of the exceptional men use their energies, not in ways that are for the +common good, but in ways which tell against this common good. The +fortunes amassed through corporate organization are now so large, and +vest such power in those that wield them, as to make it a matter of +necessity to give to the sovereign--that is, to the Government, which +represents the people as a whole--some effective power of supervision +over their corporate use. In order to insure a healthy social and +industrial life, every big corporation should be held responsible by, +and be accountable to, some sovereign strong enough to control its +conduct. I am in no sense hostile to corporations. This is an age of +combination, and any effort to prevent all combination will be not only +useless, but in the end vicious, because of the contempt for law which +the failure to enforce law inevitably produces. We should, moreover, +recognize in cordial and ample fashion the immense good effected by +corporate agencies in a country such as ours, and the wealth of +intellect, energy, and fidelity devoted to their service, and therefore +normally to the service of the public, by their officers and directors. +The corporation has come to stay, just as the trade union has come to +stay. Each can do and has done great good. Each should be favored so +long as it does good. But each should be sharply checked where it acts +against law and justice. + +"The makers of our National Constitution provided especially that the +regulation of interstate commerce should come within the sphere of the +General Government. The arguments in favor of their taking this stand +were even then overwhelming. But they are far stronger to-day, in view +of the enormous development of great business agencies, usually +corporate in form. Experience has shown conclusively that it is useless +to try to get any adequate regulation and supervision of these great +corporations by State action. Such regulation and supervision can only +be effectively exercised by a sovereign whose jurisdiction is +coextensive with the field of work of the corporations--that is, by the +National Government. I believe that this regulation and supervision can +be obtained by the enactment of law by the Congress. Our steady aim +should be by legislation, cautiously and carefully undertaken, but +resolutely persevered in, to assert the sovereignty of the National +Government by affirmative action. + +"This is only in form an innovation. In substance it is merely a +restoration; for from the earliest time such regulation of industrial +activities has been recognized in the action of the lawmaking bodies; +and all that I propose is to meet the changed conditions in such manner +as will prevent the Commonwealth abdicating the power it has always +possessed, not only in this country, but also in England before and +since this country became a separate nation. + +"It has been a misfortune that the National laws on this subject have +hitherto been of a negative or prohibitive rather than an affirmative +kind, and still more that they have in part sought to prohibit what +could not be effectively prohibited, and have in part in their +prohibitions confounded what should be allowed and what should not be +allowed. It is generally useless to try to prohibit all restraint on +competition, whether this restraint be reasonable or unreasonable; and +where it is not useless it is generally hurtful. The successful +prosecution of one device to evade the law immediately develops another +device to accomplish the same purpose. What is needed is not sweeping +prohibition of every arrangement, good or bad, which may tend to +restrict competition, but such adequate supervision and regulation as +will prevent any restriction of competition from being to the detriment +of the public, as well as such supervision and regulation as will +prevent other abuses in no way connected with restriction of +competition." + +I have called your attention in these quotations to what I have already +said because I am satisfied that it is the duty of the National +Government to embody in action the principles thus expressed. + +No small part of the trouble that we have comes from carrying to an +extreme the national virtue of self-reliance, of independence in +initiative and action. It is wise to conserve this virtue and to +provide for its fullest exercise, compatible with seeing that liberty +does not become a liberty to wrong others. Unfortunately, this is the +kind of liberty that the lack of all effective regulation inevitably +breeds. The founders of the Constitution provided that the National +Government should have complete and sole control of interstate +commerce. There was then practically no interstate business save such +as was conducted by water, and this the National Government at once +proceeded to regulate in thoroughgoing and effective fashion. +Conditions have now so wholly changed that the interstate commerce by +water is insignificant compared with the amount that goes by land, and +almost all big business concerns are now engaged in interstate +commerce. As a result, it can be but partially and imperfectly +controlled or regulated by the action of any one of the several States; +such action inevitably tending to be either too drastic or else too +lax, and in either case ineffective for purposes of justice. Only the +National Government can in thoroughgoing fashion exercise the needed +control. This does not mean that there should be any extension of +Federal authority, for such authority already exists under the +Constitution in amplest and most far-reaching form; but it does mean +that there should be an extension of Federal activity. This is not +advocating centralization. It is merely looking facts in the face, and +realizing that centralization in business has already come and can not +be avoided or undone, and that the public at large can only protect +itself from certain evil effects of this business centralization by +providing better methods for the exercise of control through the +authority already centralized in the National Government by the +Constitution itself. There must be no ball in the healthy constructive +course of action which this Nation has elected to pursue, and has +steadily pursued, during the last six years, as shown both in the +legislation of the Congress and the administration of the law by the +Department of Justice. The most vital need is in connection with the +railroads. As to these, in my judgment there should now be either a +national incorporation act or a law licensing railway companies to +engage in interstate commerce upon certain conditions. The law should +be so framed as to give to the Interstate Commerce Commission power to +pass upon the future issue of securities, while ample means should be +provided to enable the Commission, whenever in its judgment it is +necessary, to make a physical valuation of any railroad. As I stated in +my Message to the Congress a year ago, railroads should be given power +to enter into agreements, subject to these agreements being made public +in minute detail and to the consent of the Interstate Commerce +Commission being first obtained. Until the National Government assumes +proper control of interstate commerce, in the exercise of the authority +it already possesses, it will be impossible either to give to or to get +from the railroads full justice. The railroads and all other great +corporations will do well to recognize that this control must come; the +only question is as to what governmental body can most wisely exercise +it. The courts will determine the limits within which the Federal +authority can exercise it, and there will still remain ample work +within each State for the railway commission of that State; and the +National Interstate Commerce Commission will work in harmony with the +several State commissions, each within its own province, to achieve the +desired end. + +Moreover, in my judgment there should be additional legislation looking +to the proper control of the great business concerns engaged in +interstate business, this control to be exercised for their own benefit +and prosperity no less than for the protection of investors and of the +general public. As I have repeatedly said in Messages to the Congress +and elsewhere, experience has definitely shown not merely the unwisdom +but the futility of endeavoring to put a stop to all business +combinations. Modern industrial conditions are such that combination is +not only necessary but inevitable. It is so in the world of business +just as it is so in the world of labor, and it is as idle to desire to +put an end to all corporations, to all big combinations of capital, as +to desire to put an end to combinations of labor. Corporation and labor +union alike have come to stay. Each if properly managed is a source of +good and not evil. Whenever in either there is evil, it should be +promptly held to account; but it should receive hearty encouragement so +long as it is properly managed. It is profoundly immoral to put or keep +on the statute books a law, nominally in the interest of public +morality that really puts a premium upon public immorality, by +undertaking to forbid honest men from doing what must be done under +modern business conditions, so that the law itself provides that its +own infraction must be the condition precedent upon business success. +To aim at the accomplishment of too much usually means the +accomplishment of too little, and often the doing of positive damage. +In my Message to the Congress a year ago, in speaking of the antitrust +laws, I said: + +"The actual working of our laws has shown that the effort to prohibit +all combination, good or bad, is noxious where it is not ineffective. +Combination of capital, like combination of labor, is a necessary +element in our present industrial system. It is not possible completely +to prevent it; and if it were possible, such complete prevention would +do damage to the body politic. What we need is not vainly to try to +prevent all combination, but to secure such rigorous and adequate +control and supervision of the combinations as to prevent their +injuring the public, or existing in such forms as inevitably to +threaten injury. It is unfortunate that our present laws should forbid +all combinations instead of sharply discriminating between those +combinations which do evil. Often railroads would like to combine for +the purpose of preventing a big shipper from maintaining improper +advantages at the expense of small shippers and of the general public. +Such a combination, instead of being forbidden by law, should be +favored. It is a public evil to have on the statute books a law +incapable of full enforcement, because both judges and juries realize +that its full enforcement would destroy the business of the country; +for the result is to make decent men violators of the law against their +will, and to put a premium on the behavior of the willful wrongdoers. +Such a result in turn tends to throw the decent man and the willful +wrongdoer into close association, and in the end to drag down the +former to the latter's level; for the man who becomes a lawbreaker in +one way unhappily tends to lose all respect for law and to be willing +to break it in many ways. No more scathing condemnation could be +visited upon a law than is contained in the words of the Interstate +Commerce Commission when, in commenting upon the fact that the numerous +joint traffic associations do technically violate the law, they say: +The decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Trans-Missouri +case and the Joint Traffic Association case has produced no practical +effect upon the railway operations of the country. Such associations, +in fact, exist now as they did before these decisions, and with the +same general effect. In justice to all parties, we ought probably to +add that it is difficult to see how our interstate railways could be +operated with due regard to the interest of the shipper and the railway +without concerted action of the kind afforded through these +associations. + +"This means that the law as construed by the Supreme Court is such that +the business of the country can not be conducted without breaking it." + +As I have elsewhere said: + +"All this is substantially what I have said over and over again. Surely +it ought not to be necessary to say that it in no shape or way +represents any hostility to corporations as such. On the contrary, it +means a frank recognition of the fact that combinations of capital, +like combinations of labor, are a natural result of modern conditions +and of our National development. As far as in my ability lies my +endeavor is and will be to prevent abuse of power by either and to +favor both so long as they do well. The aim of the National Government +is quite as much to favor and protect honest corporations, honest +business men of wealth, as to bring to justice those individuals and +corporations representing dishonest methods. Most certainly there will +be no relaxation by the Government authorities in the effort to get at +any great railroad wrecker--any man who by clever swindling devices +robs investors, oppresses wage-workers, and does injustice to the +general public. But any such move as this is in the interest of honest +railway operators, of honest corporations, and of those who, when they +invest their small savings in stocks and bonds, wish to be assured that +these will represent money honestly expended for legitimate business +purposes. To confer upon the National Government the power for which I +ask would be a check upon overcapitalization and upon the clever +gamblers who benefit by overcapitalization. But it alone would mean an +increase in the value, an increase in the safety of the stocks and +bonds of law-abiding, honestly managed railroads, and would render it +far easier to market their securities. I believe in proper publicity. +There has been complaint of some of the investigations recently carried +on, but those who complain should put the blame where it belongs--upon +the misdeeds which are done in darkness and not upon the investigations +which brought them to light. The Administration is responsible for +turning on the light, but it is not responsible for what the light +showed. I ask for full power to be given the Federal Government, +because no single State can by legislation effectually cope with these +powerful corporations engaged in interstate commerce, and, while doing +them full justice, exact from them in return full justice to others. +The conditions of railroad activity, the conditions of our immense +interstate commerce, are such as to make the Central Government alone +competent to exercise full supervision and control. + +"The grave abuses in individual cases of railroad management in the +past represent wrongs not merely to the general public, but, above all, +wrongs to fair-dealing and honest corporations and men of wealth, +because they excite a popular anger and distrust which from the very +nature of the case tends to include in the sweep of its resentment good +and bad alike. From the standpoint of the public I can not too +earnestly say that as soon as the natural and proper resentment aroused +by these abuses becomes indiscriminate and unthinking, it also becomes +not merely unwise and unfair, but calculated to defeat the very ends +which those feeling it have in view. There has been plenty of dishonest +work by corporations in the past. There will not be the slightest +let-up in the effort to hunt down and punish every dishonest man. But +the bulk of our business is honestly done. In the natural indignation +the people feel over the dishonesty, it is essential that they should +not lose their heads and get drawn into an indiscriminate raid upon all +corporations, all people of wealth, whether they do well or ill. Out of +any such wild movement good will not come, can not come, and never has +come. On the contrary, the surest way to invite reaction is to follow +the lead of either demagogue or visionary in a sweeping assault upon +property values and upon public confidence, which would work +incalculable damage in the business world and would produce such +distrust of the agitators that in the revulsion the distrust would +extend to honest men who, in sincere and same fashion, are trying to +remedy the evils." + +The antitrust law should not be repealed; but it should be made both +more efficient and more in harmony with actual conditions. It should be +so amended as to forbid only the kind of combination which does harm to +the general public, such amendment to be accompanied by, or to be an +incident of, a grant of supervisory power to the Government over these +big concerns engaged in interstate business. This should be accompanied +by provision for the compulsory publication of accounts and the +subjection of books and papers to the inspection of the Government +officials. A beginning has already been made for such supervision by +the establishment of the Bureau of Corporations. + +The antitrust law should not prohibit combinations that do no injustice +to the public, still less those the existence of which is on the whole +of benefit to the public. But even if this feature of the law were +abolished, there would remain as an equally objectionable feature the +difficulty and delay now incident to its enforcement. The Government +must now submit to irksome and repeated delay before obtaining a final +decision of the courts upon proceedings instituted, and even a +favorable decree may mean an empty victory. Moreover, to attempt to +control these corporations by lawsuits means to impose upon both the +Department of Justice and the courts an impossible burden; it is not +feasible to carry on more than a limited number of such suits. Such a +law to be really effective must of course be administered by an +executive body, and not merely by means of lawsuits. The design should +be to prevent the abuses incident to the creation of unhealthy and +improper combinations, instead of waiting until they are in existence +and then attempting to destroy them by civil or criminal proceedings. + +A combination should not be tolerated if it abuse the power acquired by +combination to the public detriment. No corporation or association of +any kind should be permitted to engage in foreign or interstate +commerce that is formed for the purpose of, or whose operations create, +a monopoly or general control of the production, sale, or distribution +of any one or more of the prime necessities of life or articles of +general use and necessity. Such combinations are against public policy; +they violate the common law; the doors of the courts are closed to +those who are parties to them, and I believe the Congress can close the +channels of interstate commerce against them for its protection. The +law should make its prohibitions and permissions as clear and definite +as possible, leaving the least possible room for arbitrary action, or +allegation of such action, on the part of the Executive, or of +divergent interpretations by the courts. Among the points to be aimed +at should be the prohibition of unhealthy competition, such as by +rendering service at an actual loss for the purpose of crushing out +competition, the prevention of inflation of capital, and the +prohibition of a corporation's making exclusive trade with itself a +condition of having any trade with itself. Reasonable agreements +between, or combinations of, corporations should be permitted, provided +they are submitted to and approved by some appropriate Government body. + +The Congress has the power to charter corporations to engage in +interstate and foreign commerce, and a general law can be enacted under +the provisions of which existing corporations could take out Federal +charters and new Federal corporations could be created. An essential +provision of such a law should be a method of predetermining by some +Federal board or commission whether the applicant for a Federal charter +was an association or combination within the restrictions of the +Federal law. Provision should also be made for complete publicity in +all matters affecting the public and complete protection to the +investing public and the shareholders in the matter of issuing +corporate securities. If an incorporation law is not deemed advisable, +a license act for big interstate corporations might be enacted; or a +combination of the two might be tried. The supervision established +might be analogous to that now exercised over national banks. At least, +the antitrust act should be supplemented by specific prohibitions of +the methods which experience has shown have been of most service in +enabling monopolistic combinations to crush out competition. The real +owners of a corporation should be compelled to do business in their own +name. The right to hold stock in other corporations should hereafter be +denied to interstate corporations, unless on approval by the Government +officials, and a prerequisite to such approval should be the listing +with the Government of all owners and stockholders, both by the +corporation owning such stock and by the corporation in which such +stock is owned. + +To confer upon the National Government, in connection with the +amendment I advocate in the antitrust law, power of supervision over +big business concerns engaged in interstate commerce, would benefit +them as it has benefited the national banks. In the recent business +crisis it is noteworthy that the institutions which failed were +institutions which were not under the supervision and control of the +National Government. Those which were under National control stood the +test. + +National control of the kind above advocated would be to the benefit of +every well-managed railway. From the standpoint of the public there is +need for additional tracks, additional terminals, and improvements in +the actual handling of the railroads, and all this as rapidly as +possible. Ample, safe, and speedy transportation facilities are even +more necessary than cheap transportation. Therefore, there is need for +the investment of money which will provide for all these things while +at the same time securing as far as is possible better wages and +shorter hours for their employees. Therefore, while there must be just +and reasonable regulation of rates, we should be the first to protest +against any arbitrary and unthinking movement to cut them down without +the fullest and most careful consideration of all interests concerned +and of the actual needs of the situation. Only a special body of men +acting for the National Government under authority conferred upon it by +the Congress is competent to pass judgment on such a matter. + +Those who fear, from any reason, the extension of Federal activity will +do well to study the history not only of the national banking act but +of the pure-food law, and notably the meat inspection law recently +enacted. The pure-food law was opposed so violently that its passage +was delayed for a decade; yet it has worked unmixed and immediate good. +The meat inspection law was even more violently assailed; and the same +men who now denounce the attitude of the National Government in seeking +to oversee and control the workings of interstate common carriers and +business concerns, then asserted that we were "discrediting and ruining +a great American industry." Two years have not elapsed, and already it +has become evident that the great benefit the law confers upon the +public is accompanied by an equal benefit to the reputable packing +establishments. The latter are better off under the law than they were +without it. The benefit to interstate common carriers and business +concerns from the legislation I advocate would be equally marked. + +Incidentally, in the passage of the pure-food law the action of the +various State food and dairy commissioners showed in striking fashion +how much good for the whole people results from the hearty cooperation +of the Federal and State officials in securing a given reform. It is +primarily to the action of these State commissioners that we owe the +enactment of this law; for they aroused the people, first to demand the +enactment and enforcement of State laws on the subject, and then the +enactment of the Federal law, without which the State laws were largely +ineffective. There must be the closest cooperation between the National +and State governments in administering these laws. + +In my Message to the Congress a year ago I spoke as follows of the +currency: + +"I especially call your attention to the condition of our currency +laws. The national-bank act has ably served a great purpose in aiding +the enormous business development of the country, and within ten years +there has been an increase in circulation per capita from $21.41 to +$33.08. For several years evidence has been accumulating that +additional legislation is needed. The recurrence of each crop season +emphasizes the defects of the present laws. There must soon be a +revision of them, because to leave them as they are means to incur +liability of business disaster. Since your body adjourned there has +been a fluctuation in the interest on call money from 2 per cent to 30 +percent, and the fluctuation was even greater during the preceding six +months. The Secretary of the Treasury had to step in and by wise action +put a stop to the most violent period of oscillation. Even worse than +such fluctuation is the advance in commercial rates and the uncertainty +felt in the sufficiency of credit even at high rates. All commercial +interests suffer during each crop period. Excessive rates for call +money in New York attract money from the interior banks into the +speculative field. This depletes the fund that would otherwise be +available for commercial uses, and commercial borrowers are forced to +pay abnormal rates, so that each fall a tax, in the shape of increased +interest charges, is placed on the whole commerce of the country. + +"The mere statement of these facts shows that our present system is +seriously defective. There is need of a change. Unfortunately, however, +many of the proposed changes must be ruled from consideration because +they are complicated, are not easy of comprehension, and tend to +disturb existing rights and interests. We must also rule out any plan +which would materially impair the value of the United States 2 per cent +bonds now pledged to secure circulation, the issue of which was made +under conditions peculiarly creditable to the Treasury. I do not press +any especial plan. Various plans have recently been proposed by expert +committees of bankers. Among the plans which are possibly feasible and +which certainly should receive your consideration is that repeatedly +brought to your attention by the present Secretary of the Treasury, the +essential features of which have been approved by many prominent +bankers and business men. According to this plan national banks should +be permitted to issue a specified proportion of their capital in notes +of a given kind, the issue to be taxed at so high a rate as to drive +the notes back when not wanted in legitimate trade. This plan would not +permit the issue of currency to give banks additional profits, but to +meet the emergency presented by times of stringency. + +"I do not say that this is the right system. I only advance it to +emphasize my belief that there is need for the adoption of some system +which shall be automatic and open to all sound banks, so as to avoid +all possibility of discrimination and favoritism. Such a plan would +tend to prevent the spasms of high money and speculation which now +obtain in the New York market; for at present there is too much +currency at certain seasons of the year, and its accumulation at New +York tempts bankers to lend it at low rates for speculative purposes; +whereas at other times when the crops are being moved there is urgent +need for a large but temporary increase in the currency supply. It must +never be forgotten that this question concerns business men generally +quite as much as bankers; especially is this true of stockmen, farmers, +and business men in the West; for at present at certain seasons of the +year the difference in interest rates between the East and the West is +from 6 to 10 per cent, whereas in Canada the corresponding difference +is but 2 per cent. Any plan must, of course, guard the interests of +western and southern bankers as carefully as it guards the interests of +New York or Chicago bankers, and must be drawn from the standpoints of +the farmer and the merchant no less than from the standpoints of the +city banker and the country banker." + +I again urge on the Congress the need of immediate attention to this +matter. We need a greater elasticity in our currency; provided, of +course, that we recognize the even greater need of a safe and secure +currency. There must always be the most rigid examination by the +National authorities. Provision should be made for an emergency +currency. The emergency issue should, of course, be made with an +effective guaranty, and upon conditions carefully prescribed by the +Government. Such emergency issue must be based on adequate securities +approved by the Government, and must be issued under a heavy tax. This +would permit currency being issued when the demand for it was urgent, +while securing its requirement as the demand fell off. It is worth +investigating to determine whether officers and directors of national +banks should ever be allowed to loan to themselves. Trust companies +should be subject to the same supervision as banks; legislation to this +effect should be enacted for the District of Columbia and the +Territories. + +Yet we must also remember that even the wisest legislation on the +subject can only accomplish a certain amount. No legislation can by any +possibility guarantee the business community against the results of +speculative folly any more than it can guarantee an individual against +the results of his extravagance. When an individual mortgages his house +to buy an automobile he invites disaster; and when wealthy men, or men +who pose as such, or are unscrupulously or foolishly eager to become +such, indulge in reckless speculation--especially if it is accompanied +by dishonesty--they jeopardize not only their own future but the future +of all their innocent fellow-citizens, for the expose the whole +business community to panic and distress. + +The income account of the Nation is in a most satisfactory condition. +For the six fiscal years ending with the 1st of July last, the total +expenditures and revenues of the National Government, exclusive of the +postal revenues and expenditures, were, in round numbers, revenues, +$3,465,000,0000, and expenditures, $3,275,000,000. The net excess of +income over expenditures, including in the latter the fifty millions +expended for the Panama Canal, was one hundred and ninety million +dollars for the six years, an average of about thirty-one millions a +year. This represents an approximation between income and outgo which +it would be hard to improve. The satisfactory working of the present +tariff law has been chiefly responsible for this excellent showing. +Nevertheless, there is an evident and constantly growing feeling among +our people that the time is rapidly approaching when our system of +revenue legislation must be revised. + +This country is definitely committed to the protective system and any +effort to uproot it could not but cause widespread industrial disaster. +In other words, the principle of the present tariff law could not with +wisdom be changed. But in a country of such phenomenal growth as ours +it is probably well that every dozen years or so the tariff laws should +be carefully scrutinized so as to see that no excessive or improper +benefits are conferred thereby, that proper revenue is provided, and +that our foreign trade is encouraged. There must always be as a minimum +a tariff which will not only allow for the collection of an ample +revenue but which will at least make good the difference in cost of +production here and abroad; that is, the difference in the labor cost +here and abroad, for the well-being of the wage-worker must ever be a +cardinal point of American policy. The question should be approached +purely from a business standpoint; both the time and the manner of the +change being such as to arouse the minimum of agitation and disturbance +in the business world, and to give the least play for selfish and +factional motives. The sole consideration should be to see that the sum +total of changes represents the public good. This means that the +subject can not with wisdom be dealt with in the year preceding a +Presidential election, because as a matter of fact experience has +conclusively shown that at such a time it is impossible to get men to +treat it from the standpoint of the public good. In my judgment the +wise time to deal with the matter is immediately after such election. + +When our tax laws are revised the question of an income tax and an +inheritance tax should receive the careful attention of our +legislators. In my judgment both of these taxes should be part of our +system of Federal taxation. I speak diffidently about the income tax +because one scheme for an income tax was declared unconstitutional by +the Supreme Court; while in addition it is a difficult tax to +administer in its practical working, and great care would have to be +exercised to see that it was not evaded by the very men whom it was +most desirable to have taxed, for if so evaded it would, of course, be +worse than no tax at all; as the least desirable of all taxes is the +tax which bears heavily upon the honest as compared with the dishonest +man. Nevertheless, a graduated income tax of the proper type would be a +desirable feature of Federal taxation, and it is to be hoped that one +may be devised which the Supreme Court will declare constitutional. The +inheritance tax, however, is both a far better method of taxation, and +far more important for the purpose of having the fortunes of the +country bear in proportion to their increase in size a corresponding +increase and burden of taxation. The Government has the absolute right +to decide as to the terms upon which a man shall receive a bequest or +devise from another, and this point in the devolution of property is +especially appropriate for the imposition of a tax. Laws imposing such +taxes have repeatedly been placed upon the National statute books and +as repeatedly declared constitutional by the courts; and these laws +contained the progressive principle, that is, after a certain amount is +reached the bequest or gift, in life or death, is increasingly burdened +and the rate of taxation is increased in proportion to the remoteness +of blood of the man receiving the bequest. These principles are +recognized already in the leading civilized nations of the world. In +Great Britain all the estates worth $5,000 or less are practically +exempt from death duties, while the increase is such that when an +estate exceeds five millions of dollars in value and passes to a +distant kinsman or stranger in blood the Government receives all told +an amount equivalent to nearly a fifth of the whole estate. In France +so much of an inheritance as exceeds $10,000,000 pays over a fifth to +the State if it passes to a distant relative. The German law is +especially interesting to us because it makes the inheritance tax an +imperial measure while allotting to the individual States of the Empire +a portion of the proceeds and permitting them to impose taxes in +addition to those imposed by the Imperial Government. Small +inheritances are exempt, but the tax is so sharply progressive that +when the inheritance is still not very large, provided it is not an +agricultural or a forest land, it is taxed at the rate of 25 per cent +if it goes to distant relatives. There is no reason why in the United +States the National Government should not impose inheritance taxes in +addition to those imposed by the States, and when we last had an +inheritance tax about one-half of the States levied such taxes +concurrently with the National Government, making a combined maximum +rate, in some cases as high as 25 per cent. The French law has one +feature which is to be heartily commended. The progressive principle is +so applied that each higher rate is imposed only on the excess above +the amount subject to the next lower rate; so that each increase of +rate will apply only to a certain amount above a certain maximum. The +tax should if possible be made to bear more heavily upon those residing +without the country than within it. A heavy progressive tax upon a very +large fortune is in no way such a tax upon thrift or industry as a like +would be on a small fortune. No advantage comes either to the country +as a whole or to the individuals inheriting the money by permitting the +transmission in their entirety of the enormous fortunes which would be +affected by such a tax; and as an incident to its function of revenue +raising, such a tax would help to preserve a measurable equality of +opportunity for the people of the generations growing to manhood. We +have not the slightest sympathy with that socialistic idea which would +try to put laziness, thriftlessness and inefficiency on a par with +industry, thrift and efficiency; which would strive to break up not +merely private property, but what is far more important, the home, the +chief prop upon which our whole civilization stands. Such a theory, if +ever adopted, would mean the ruin of the entire country--a ruin which +would bear heaviest upon the weakest, upon those least able to shift +for themselves. But proposals for legislation such as this herein +advocated are directly opposed to this class of socialistic theories. +Our aim is to recognize what Lincoln pointed out: The fact that there +are some respects in which men are obviously not equal; but also to +insist that there should be an equality of self-respect and of mutual +respect, an equality of rights before the law, and at least an +approximate equality in the conditions under which each man obtains the +chance to show the stuff that is in him when compared to his fellows. + +A few years ago there was loud complaint that the law could not be +invoked against wealthy offenders. There is no such complaint now. The +course of the Department of Justice during the last few years has been +such as to make it evident that no man stands above the law, that no +corporation is so wealthy that it can not be held to account. The +Department of Justice has been as prompt to proceed against the +wealthiest malefactor whose crime was one of greed and cunning as to +proceed against the agitator who incites to brutal violence. Everything +that can be done under the existing law, and with the existing state of +public opinion, which so profoundly influences both the courts and +juries, has been done. But the laws themselves need strengthening in +more than one important point; they should be made more definite, so +that no honest man can be led unwittingly to break them, and so that +the real wrongdoer can be readily punished. + +Moreover, there must be the public opinion back of the laws or the laws +themselves will be of no avail. At present, while the average juryman +undoubtedly wishes to see trusts broken up, and is quite ready to fine +the corporation itself, he is very reluctant to find the facts proven +beyond a reasonable doubt when it comes to sending to jail a member of +the business community for indulging in practices which are profoundly +unhealthy, but which, unfortunately, the business community has grown +to recognize as well-nigh normal. Both the present condition of the law +and the present temper of juries render it a task of extreme difficulty +to get at the real wrongdoer in any such case, especially by +imprisonment. Yet it is from every standpoint far preferable to punish +the prime offender by imprisonment rather than to fine the corporation, +with the attendant damage to stockholders. + +The two great evils in the execution of our criminal laws to-day are +sentimentality and technicality. For the latter the remedy must come +from the hands of the legislatures, the courts, and the lawyers. The +other must depend for its cure upon the gradual growth of a sound +public opinion which shall insist that regard for the law and the +demands of reason shall control all other influences and emotions in +the jury box. Both of these evils must be removed or public discontent +with the criminal law will continue. + +Instances of abuse in the granting of injunctions in labor disputes +continue to occur, and the resentment in the minds of those who feel +that their rights are being invaded and their liberty of action and of +speech unwarrantably restrained continues likewise to grow. Much of the +attack on the use of the process of injunction is wholly without +warrant; but I am constrained to express the belief that for some of it +there is warrant. This question is becoming more and more one of prime +importance, and unless the courts will themselves deal with it in +effective manner, it is certain ultimately to demand some form of +legislative action. It would be most unfortunate for our social welfare +if we should permit many honest and law-abiding citizens to feel that +they had just cause for regarding our courts with hostility. I +earnestly commend to the attention of the Congress this matter, so that +some way may be devised which will limit the abuse of injunctions and +protect those rights which from time to time it unwarrantably invades. +Moreover, discontent is often expressed with the use of the process of +injunction by the courts, not only in labor disputes, but where State +laws are concerned. I refrain from discussion of this question as I am +informed that it will soon receive the consideration of the Supreme +Court. + +The Federal courts must of course decide ultimately what are the +respective spheres of State and Nation in connection with any law, +State or National, and they must decide definitely and finally in +matters affecting individual citizens, not only as to the rights and +wrongs of labor but as to the rights and wrongs of capital; and the +National Government must always see that the decision of the court is +put into effect. The process of injunction is an essential adjunct of +the court's doing its work well; and as preventive measures are always +better than remedial, the wise use of this process is from every +standpoint commendable. But where it is recklessly or unnecessarily +used, the abuse should he censured, above all by the very men who are +properly anxious to prevent any effort to shear the courts of this +necessary power. The court's decision must be final; the protest is +only against the conduct of individual judges in needlessly +anticipating such final decision, or in the tyrannical use of what is +nominally a temporary injunction to accomplish what is in fact a +permanent decision. + +The loss of life and limb from railroad accidents in this country has +become appalling. It is a subject of which the National Government +should take supervision. It might be well to begin by providing for a +Federal inspection of interstate railroads somewhat along the lines of +Federal inspection of steamboats, although not going so far; perhaps at +first all that it would be necessary to have would be some officer +whose duty would be to investigate all accidents on interstate +railroads and report in detail the causes thereof. Such an officer +should make it his business to get into close touch with railroad +operating men so as to become thoroughly familiar with every side of +the question, the idea being to work along the lines of the present +steamboat inspection law. + +The National Government should be a model employer. It should demand +the highest quality of service from each of its employees and it should +care for all of them properly in return. Congress should adopt +legislation providing limited but definite compensation for accidents +to all workmen within the scope of the Federal power, including +employees of navy yards and arsenals. In other words, a model +employers' liability act, far-reaching and thoroughgoing, should be +enacted which should apply to all positions, public and private, over +which the National Government has jurisdiction. The number of accidents +to wage-workers, including those that are preventable and those that +are not, has become appalling in the mechanical, manufacturing, and +transportation operations of the day. It works grim hardship to the +ordinary wage-worker and his family to have the effect of such an +accident fall solely upon him; and, on the other hand, there are whole +classes of attorneys who exist only by inciting men who may or may not +have been wronged to undertake suits for negligence. As a matter of +fact a suit for negligence is generally an inadequate remedy for the +person injured, while it often causes altogether disproportionate +annoyance to the employer. The law should be made such that the payment +for accidents by the employer would be automatic instead of being a +matter for lawsuits. Workmen should receive certain and definite +compensation for all accidents in industry irrespective of negligence. +The employer is the agent of the public and on his own responsibility +and for his own profit he serves the public. When he starts in motion +agencies which create risks for others, he should take all the ordinary +and extraordinary risks involved; and the risk he thus at the moment +assumes will ultimately be assumed, as it ought to be, by the general +public. Only in this way can the shock of the accident be diffused, +instead of falling upon the man or woman least able to bear it, as is +now the case. The community at large should share the burdens as well +as the benefits of industry. By the proposed law, employers would gain +a desirable certainty of obligation and get rid of litigation to +determine it, while the workman and his family would be relieved from a +crushing load. With such a policy would come increased care, and +accidents would be reduced in number. The National laws providing for +employers' liability on railroads engaged in interstate commerce and +for safety appliances, as well as for diminishing the hours any +employee of a railroad should be permitted to work, should all be +strengthened wherever in actual practice they have shown weakness; they +should be kept on the statute books in thoroughgoing form. + +The constitutionality of the employers' liability act passed by the +preceding Congress has been carried before the courts. In two +jurisdictions the law has been declared unconstitutional, and in three +jurisdictions its constitutionality has been affirmed. The question has +been carried to the Supreme Court, the case has been heard by that +tribunal, and a decision is expected at an early date. In the event +that the court should affirm the constitutionality of the act, I urge +further legislation along the lines advocated in my Message to the +preceding Congress. The practice of putting the entire burden of loss +to life or limb upon the victim or the victim's family is a form of +social injustice in which the United States stands in unenviable +prominence. In both our Federal and State legislation we have, with few +exceptions, scarcely gone farther than the repeal of the fellow-servant +principle of the old law of liability, and in some of our States even +this slight modification of a completely outgrown principle has not yet +been secured. The legislation of the rest of the industrial world +stands out in striking contrast to our backwardness in this respect. +Since 1895 practically every country of Europe, together with Great +Britain, New Zealand, Australia, British Columbia, and the Cape of Good +Hope has enacted legislation embodying in one form or another the +complete recognition of the principle which places upon the employer +the entire trade risk in the various lines of industry. I urge upon the +Congress the enactment of a law which will at the same time bring +Federal legislation up to the standard already established by all the +European countries, and which will serve as a stimulus to the various +States to perfect their legislation in this regard. + +The Congress should consider the extension of the eight-hour law. The +constitutionality of the present law has recently been called into +question, and the Supreme Court has decided that the existing +legislation is unquestionably within the powers of the Congress. The +principle of the eight-hour day should as rapidly and as far as +practicable be extended to the entire work carried on by the +Government; and the present law should be amended to embrace contracts +on those public works which the present wording of the act has been +construed to exclude. The general introduction of the eight-hour day +should be the goal toward which we should steadily tend, and the +Government should set the example in this respect. + +Strikes and lockouts, with their attendant loss and suffering, continue +to increase. For the five years ending December 31, 1905, the number of +strikes was greater than those in any previous ten years and was double +the number in the preceding five years. These figures indicate the +increasing need of providing some machinery to deal with this class of +disturbance in the interest alike of the employer, the employee, and +the general public. I renew my previous recommendation that the +Congress favorably consider the matter of creating the machinery for +compulsory investigation of such industrial controversies as are of +sufficient magnitude and of sufficient concern to the people of the +country as a whole to warrant the Federal Government in taking action. + +The need for some provision for such investigation was forcibly +illustrated during the past summer. A strike of telegraph operators +seriously interfered with telegraphic communication, causing great +damage to business interests and serious inconvenience to the general +public. Appeals were made to me from many parts of the country, from +city councils, from boards of trade, from chambers of commerce, and +from labor organizations, urging that steps be taken to terminate the +strike. Everything that could with any propriety be done by a +representative of the Government was done, without avail, and for weeks +the public stood by and suffered without recourse of any kind. Had the +machinery existed and had there been authority for compulsory +investigation of the dispute, the public would have been placed in +possession of the merits of the controversy, and public opinion would +probably have brought about a prompt adjustment. + +Each successive step creating machinery for the adjustment of labor +difficulties must be taken with caution, but we should endeavor to make +progress in this direction. + +The provisions of the act of 1898 creating the chairman of the +Interstate Commerce Commission and the Commissioner of Labor a board of +mediation in controversies between interstate railroads and their +employees has, for the first time, been subjected to serious tests +within the past year, and the wisdom of the experiment has been fully +demonstrated. The creation of a board for compulsory investigation in +cases where mediation fails and arbitration is rejected is the next +logical step in a progressive program. + +It is certain that for some time to come there will be a constant +increase absolutely, and perhaps relatively, of those among our +citizens who dwell in cities or towns of some size and who work for +wages. This means that there will be an ever-increasing need to +consider the problems inseparable from a great industrial civilization. +Where an immense and complex business, especially in those branches +relating to manufacture and transportation, is transacted by a large +number of capitalists who employ a very much larger number of +wage-earners, the former tend more and more to combine into +corporations and the latter into unions. The relations of the +capitalist and wage-worker to one another, and of each to the general +public, are not always easy to adjust; and to put them and keep them on +a satisfactory basis is one of the most important and one of the most +delicate tasks before our whole civilization. Much of the work for the +accomplishment of this end must be done by the individuals concerned +themselves, whether singly or in combination; and the one fundamental +fact that must never be lost track of is that the character of the +average man, whether he be a man of means or a man who works with his +hands, is the most important factor in solving the problem aright. But +it is almost equally important to remember that without good laws it is +also impossible to reach the proper solution. It is idle to hold that +without good laws evils such as child labor, as the over-working of +women, as the failure to protect employees from loss of life or limb, +can be effectively reached, any more than the evils of rebates and +stock-watering can be reached without good laws. To fail to stop these +practices by legislation means to force honest men into them, because +otherwise the dishonest who surely will take advantage of them will +have everything their own way. If the States will correct these evils, +well and good; but the Nation must stand ready to aid them. + +No question growing out of our rapid and complex industrial development +is more important than that of the employment of women and children. +The presence of women in industry reacts with extreme directness upon +the character of the home and upon family life, and the conditions +surrounding the employment of children bear a vital relation to our +future citizenship. Our legislation in those areas under the control of +the Congress is very much behind the legislation of our more +progressive States. A thorough and comprehensive measure should be +adopted at this session of the Congress relating to the employment of +women and children in the District of Columbia and the Territories. The +investigation into the condition of women and children wage-earners +recently authorized and directed by the Congress is now being carried +on in the various States, and I recommend that the appropriation made +last year for beginning this work be renewed, in order that we may have +the thorough and comprehensive investigation which the subject demands. +The National Government has as an ultimate resort for control of child +labor the use of the interstate commerce clause to prevent the products +of child labor from entering into interstate commerce. But before using +this it ought certainly to enact model laws on the subject for the +Territories under its own immediate control. + +There is one fundamental proposition which can be laid down as regards +all these matters, namely: While honesty by itself will not solve the +problem, yet the insistence upon honesty--not merely technical honesty, +but honesty in purpose and spirit--is an essential element in arriving +at a right conclusion. Vice in its cruder and more archaic forms shocks +everybody; but there is very urgent need that public opinion should be +just as severe in condemnation of the vice which hides itself behind +class or professional loyalty, or which denies that it is vice if it +can escape conviction in the courts. The public and the representatives +of the public, the high officials, whether on the bench or in executive +or legislative positions, need to remember that often the most +dangerous criminals, so far as the life of the Nation is concerned, are +not those who commit the crimes known to and condemned by the popular +conscience for centuries, but those who commit crimes only rendered +possible by the complex conditions of our modern industrial life. It +makes not a particle of difference whether these crimes are committed +by a capitalist or by a laborer, by a leading banker or manufacturer or +railroad man, or by a leading representative of a labor union. +Swindling in stocks, corrupting legislatures, making fortunes by the +inflation of securities, by wrecking railroads, by destroying +competitors through rebates--these forms of wrongdoing in the +capitalist, are far more infamous than any ordinary form of +embezzlement or forgery; yet it is a matter of extreme difficulty to +secure the punishment of the man most guilty of them, most responsible +for them. The business man who condones such conduct stands on a level +with the labor man who deliberately supports a corrupt demagogue and +agitator, whether head of a union or head of some municipality, because +he is said to have "stood by the union." The members of the business +community, the educators, or clergymen, who condone and encourage the +first kind of wrongdoing, are no more dangerous to the community, but +are morally even worse, than the labor men who are guilty of the second +type of wrongdoing, because less is to be pardoned those who have no +such excuse as is furnished either by ignorance or by dire need. When +the Department of Agriculture was founded there was much sneering as to +its usefulness. No Department of the Government, however, has more +emphatically vindicated its usefulness, and none save the Post-Office +Department comes so continually and intimately into touch with the +people. The two citizens whose welfare is in the aggregate most vital +to the welfare of the Nation, and therefore to the welfare of all other +citizens, are the wage-worker who does manual labor and the tiller of +the soil, the farmer. There are, of course, kinds of labor where the +work must be purely mental, and there are other kinds of labor where, +under existing conditions, very little demand indeed is made upon the +mind, though I am glad to say that the proportion of men engaged in +this kind of work is diminishing. But in any community with the solid, +healthy qualities which make up a really great nation the bulk of the +people should do work which calls for the exercise of both body and +mind. Progress can not permanently exist in the abandonment of physical +labor, but in the development of physical labor, so that it shall +represent more and more the work of the trained mind in the trained +body. Our school system is gravely defective in so far as it puts a +premium upon mere literary training and tends therefore to train the +boy away from the farm and the workshop. Nothing is more needed than +the best type of industrial school, the school for mechanical +industries in the city, the school for practically teaching agriculture +in the country. The calling of the skilled tiller of the soil, the +calling of the skilled mechanic, should alike be recognized as +professions, just as emphatically as the callings of lawyer, doctor, +merchant, or clerk. The schools recognize this fact and it should +equally be recognized in popular opinion. The young man who has the +farsightedness and courage to recognize it and to get over the idea +that it makes a difference whether what he earns is called salary or +wages, and who refuses to enter the crowded field of the so-called +professions, and takes to constructive industry instead, is reasonably +sure of an ample reward in earnings, in health, in opportunity to marry +early, and to establish a home with a fair amount of freedom from +worry. It should be one of our prime objects to put both the farmer and +the mechanic on a higher plane of efficiency and reward, so as to +increase their effectiveness in the economic world, and therefore the +dignity, the remuneration, and the power of their positions in the +social world. + +No growth of cities, no growth of wealth, can make up for any loss in +either the number or the character of the farming population. We of the +United States should realize this above almost all other peoples. We +began our existence as a nation of farmers, and in every great crisis +of the past a peculiar dependence has had to be placed upon the farming +population; and this dependence has hitherto been justified. But it can +not be justified in the future if agriculture is permitted to sink in +the scale as compared with other employments. We can not afford to lose +that preeminently typical American, the farmer who owns his own +medium-sized farm. To have his place taken by either a class of small +peasant proprietors, or by a class of great landlords with +tenant-farmed estates would be a veritable calamity. The growth of our +cities is a good thing but only in so far as it does not mean a growth +at the expense of the country farmer. We must welcome the rise of +physical sciences in their application to agricultural practices, and +we must do all we can to render country conditions more easy and +pleasant. There are forces which now tend to bring about both these +results, but they are, as yet, in their infancy. The National +Government through the Department of Agriculture should do all it can +by joining with the State governments and with independent associations +of farmers to encourage the growth in the open farming country of such +institutional and social movements as will meet the demand of the best +type of farmers, both for the improvement of their farms and for the +betterment of the life itself. The Department of Agriculture has in +many places, perhaps especially in certain districts of the South, +accomplished an extraordinary amount by cooperating with and teaching +the farmers through their associations, on their own soil, how to +increase their income by managing their farms better than they were +hitherto managed. The farmer must not lose his independence, his +initiative, his rugged self-reliance, yet he must learn to work in the +heartiest cooperation with his fellows, exactly as the business man has +learned to work; and he must prepare to use to constantly better +advantage the knowledge that can be obtained from agricultural +colleges, while he must insist upon a practical curriculum in the +schools in which his children are taught. The Department of Agriculture +and the Department of Commerce and Labor both deal with the fundamental +needs of our people in the production of raw material and its +manufacture and distribution, and, therefore, with the welfare of those +who produce it in the raw state, and of those who manufacture and +distribute it. The Department of Commerce and Labor has but recently +been founded but has already justified its existence; while the +Department of Agriculture yields to no other in the Government in the +practical benefits which it produces in proportion to the public money +expended. It must continue in the future to deal with growing crops as +it has dealt in the past, but it must still further extend its field of +usefulness hereafter by dealing with live men, through a far-reaching +study and treatment of the problems of farm life alike from the +industrial and economic and social standpoint. Farmers must cooperate +with one another and with the Government, and the Government can best +give its aid through associations of farmers, so as to deliver to the +farmer the large body of agricultural knowledge which has been +accumulated by the National and State governments and by the +agricultural colleges and schools. + +The grain producing industry of the country, one of the most important +in the United States, deserves special consideration at the hands of +the Congress. Our grain is sold almost exclusively by grades. To secure +satisfactory results in our home markets and to facilitate our trade +abroad, these grades should approximate the highest degree of +uniformity and certainty. The present diverse methods of inspection and +grading throughout the country under different laws and boards, result +in confusion and lack of uniformity, destroying that confidence which +is necessary for healthful trade. Complaints against the present +methods have continued for years and they are growing in volume and +intensity, not only in this country but abroad. I therefore suggest to +the Congress the advisability of a National system of inspection and +grading of grain entering into interstate and foreign commerce as a +remedy for the present evils. + +The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use +constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other +problem of our National life. We must maintain for our civilization the +adequate material basis without which that civilization can not exist. +We must show foresight, we must look ahead. As a nation we not only +enjoy a wonderful measure of present prosperity but if this prosperity +is used aright it is an earnest of future success such as no other +nation will have. The reward of foresight for this Nation is great and +easily foretold. But there must be the look ahead, there must be a +realization of the fact that to waste, to destroy, our natural +resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to +increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our +children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to +them amplified and developed. For the last few years, through several +agencies, the Government has been endeavoring to get our people to look +ahead and to substitute a planned and orderly development of our +resources in place of a haphazard striving for immediate profit. Our +great river systems should be developed as National water highways, the +Mississippi, with its tributaries, standing first in importance, and +the Columbia second, although there are many others of importance on +the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Gulf slopes. The National Government +should undertake this work, and I hope a beginning will be made in the +present Congress; and the greatest of all our rivers, the Mississippi, +should receive especial attention. From the Great Lakes to the mouth of +the Mississippi there should be a deep waterway, with deep waterways +leading from it to the East and the West. Such a waterway would +practically mean the extension of our coast line into the very heart of +our country. It would be of incalculable benefit to our people. If +begun at once it can be carried through in time appreciably to relieve +the congestion of our great freight-carrying lines of railroads. The +work should be systematically and continuously carried forward in +accordance with some well-conceived plan. The main streams should be +improved to the highest point of efficiency before the improvement of +the branches is attempted; and the work should be kept free from every +faint of recklessness or jobbery. The inland waterways which lie just +back of the whole eastern and southern coasts should likewise be +developed. Moreover, the development of our waterways involves many +other important water problems, all of which should be considered as +part of the same general scheme. The Government dams should be used to +produce hundreds of thousands of horsepower as an incident to improving +navigation; for the annual value of the unused water-power of the +United States perhaps exceeds the annual value of the products of all +our mines. As an incident to creating the deep waterways down the +Mississippi, the Government should build along its whole lower length +levees which taken together with the control of the headwaters, will at +once and forever put a complete stop to all threat of floods in the +immensely fertile Delta region. The territory lying adjacent to the +Mississippi along its lower course will thereby become one of the most +prosperous and populous, as it already is one of the most fertile, +farming regions in all the world. I have appointed an Inland Waterways +Commission to study and outline a comprehensive scheme of development +along all the lines indicated. Later I shall lay its report before the +Congress. + +Irrigation should be far more extensively developed than at present, +not only in the States of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, but +in many others, as, for instance, in large portions of the South +Atlantic and Gulf States, where it should go hand in hand with the +reclamation of swamp land. The Federal Government should seriously +devote itself to this task, realizing that utilization of waterways and +water-power, forestry, irrigation, and the reclamation of lands +threatened with overflow, are all interdependent parts of the same +problem. The work of the Reclamation Service in developing the larger +opportunities of the western half of our country for irrigation is more +important than almost any other movement. The constant purpose of the +Government in connection with the Reclamation Service has been to use +the water resources of the public lands for the ultimate greatest good +of the greatest number; in other words, to put upon the land permanent +home-makers, to use and develop it for themselves and for their +children and children's children. There has been, of course, opposition +to this work; opposition from some interested men who desire to exhaust +the land for their own immediate profit without regard to the welfare +of the next generation, and opposition from honest and well-meaning men +who did not fully understand the subject or who did not look far enough +ahead. This opposition is, I think, dying away, and our people are +understanding that it would be utterly wrong to allow a few individuals +to exhaust for their own temporary personal profit the resources which +ought to be developed through use so as to be conserved for the +permanent common advantage of the people as a whole. + +The effort of the Government to deal with the public land has been +based upon the same principle as that of the Reclamation Service. The +land law system which was designed to meet the needs of the fertile and +well-watered regions of the Middle West has largely broken down when +applied to the dryer regions of the Great Plains, the mountains, and +much of the Pacific slope, where a farm of 160 acres is inadequate for +self-support. In these regions the system lent itself to fraud, and +much land passed out of the hands of the Government without passing +into the hands of the home-maker. The Department of the Interior and +the Department of Justice joined in prosecuting the offenders against +the law; and they have accomplished much, while where the +administration of the law has been defective it has been changed. But +the laws themselves are defective. Three years ago a public lands +commission was appointed to scrutinize the law, and defects, and +recommend a remedy. Their examination specifically showed the existence +of great fraud upon the public domain, and their recommendations for +changes in the law were made with the design of conserving the natural +resources of every part of the public lands by putting it to its best +use. Especial attention was called to the prevention of settlement by +the passage of great areas of public land into the hands of a few men, +and to the enormous waste caused by unrestricted grazing upon the open +range. The recommendations of the Public Lands Commission are sound, +for they are especially in the interest of the actual homemaker; and +where the small home-maker can not at present utilize the land they +provide that the Government shall keep control of it so that it may not +be monopolized by a few men. The Congress has not yet acted upon these +recommendations; but they are so just and proper, so essential to our +National welfare, that I feel confident, if the Congress will take time +to consider them, that they will ultimately be adopted. + +Some such legislation as that proposed is essential in order to +preserve the great stretches of public grazing land which are unfit for +cultivation under present methods and are valuable only for the forage +which they supply. These stretches amount in all to some 300,000,000 +acres, and are open to the free grazing of cattle, sheep, horses and +goats, without restriction. Such a system, or lack of system, means +that the range is not so much used as wasted by abuse. As the West +settles the range becomes more and more over-grazed. Much of it can not +be used to advantage unless it is fenced, for fencing is the only way +by which to keep in check the owners of nomad flocks which roam hither +and thither, utterly destroying the pastures and leaving a waste behind +so that their presence is incompatible with the presence of +home-makers. The existing fences are all illegal. Some of them +represent the improper exclusion of actual settlers, actual +home-makers, from territory which is usurped by great cattle companies. +Some of them represent what is in itself a proper effort to use the +range for those upon the land, and to prevent its use by nomadic +outsiders. All these fences, those that are hurtful and those that are +beneficial, are alike illegal and must come down. But it is an outrage +that the law should necessitate such action on the part of the +Administration. The unlawful fencing of public lands for private +grazing must be stopped, but the necessity which occasioned it must be +provided for. The Federal Government should have control of the range, +whether by permit or lease, as local necessities may determine. Such +control could secure the great benefit of legitimate fencing, while at +the same time securing and promoting the settlement of the country. In +some places it may be that the tracts of range adjacent to the +homesteads of actual settlers should be allotted to them severally or +in common for the summer grazing of their stock. Elsewhere it may be +that a lease system would serve the purpose; the leases to be temporary +and subject to the rights of settlement, and the amount charged being +large enough merely to permit of the efficient and beneficial control +of the range by the Government, and of the payment to the county of the +equivalent of what it would otherwise receive in taxes. The destruction +of the public range will continue until some such laws as these are +enacted. Fully to prevent the fraud in the public lands which, through +the joint action of the Interior Department and the Department of +Justice, we have been endeavoring to prevent, there must be further +legislation, and especially a sufficient appropriation to permit the +Department of the Interior to examine certain classes of entries on the +ground before they pass into private ownership. The Government should +part with its title only to the actual home-maker, not to the +profit-maker who does not care to make a home. Our prime object is to +secure the rights and guard the interests of the small ranchman, the +man who plows and pitches hay for himself. It is this small ranchman, +this actual settler and homemaker, who in the long run is most hurt by +permitting thefts of the public land in whatever form. + +Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess it +becomes foolishness. We are prone to speak of the resources of this +country as inexhaustible; this is not so. The mineral wealth of the +country, the coal, iron, oil, gas, and the like, does not reproduce +itself, and therefore is certain to be exhausted ultimately; and +wastefulness in dealing with it to-day means that our descendants will +feel the exhaustion a generation or two before they otherwise would. +But there are certain other forms of waste which could be entirely +stopped--the waste of soil by washing, for instance, which is among the +most dangerous of all wastes now in progress in the United States, is +easily preventable, so that this present enormous loss of fertility is +entirely unnecessary. The preservation or replacement of the forests is +one of the most important means of preventing this loss. We have made a +beginning in forest preservation, but it is only a beginning. At +present lumbering is the fourth greatest industry in the United States; +and yet, so rapid has been the rate of exhaustion of timber in the +United States in the past, and so rapidly is the remainder being +exhausted, that the country is unquestionably on the verge of a timber +famine which will be felt in every household in the land. There has +already been a rise in the price of lumber, but there is certain to be +a more rapid and heavier rise in the future. The present annual +consumption of lumber is certainly three times as great as the annual +growth; and if the consumption and growth continue unchanged, +practically all our lumber will be exhausted in another generation, +while long before the limit to complete exhaustion is reached the +growing scarcity will make itself felt in many blighting ways upon our +National welfare. About 20 per cent of our forested territory is now +reserved in National forests; but these do not include the most +valuable timber lauds, and in any event the proportion is too small to +expect that the reserves can accomplish more than a mitigation of the +trouble which is ahead for the nation. Far more drastic action is +needed. Forests can be lumbered so as to give to the public the full +use of their mercantile timber without the slightest detriment to the +forest, any more than it is a detriment to a farm to furnish a harvest; +so that there is no parallel between forests and mines, which can only +be completely used by exhaustion. But forests, if used as all our +forests have been used in the past and as most of them are still used, +will be either wholly destroyed, or so damaged that many decades have +to pass before effective use can be made of them again. All these facts +are so obvious that it is extraordinary that it should be necessary to +repeat them. Every business man in the land, every writer in the +newspapers, every man or woman of an ordinary school education, ought +to be able to see that immense quantities of timber are used in the +country, that the forests which supply this timber are rapidly being +exhausted, and that, if no change takes place, exhaustion will come +comparatively soon, and that the effects of it will be felt severely in +the every-day life of our people. Surely, when these facts are so +obvious, there should be no delay in taking preventive measures. Yet we +seem as a nation to be willing to proceed in this matter with +happy-go-lucky indifference even to the immediate future. It is this +attitude which permits the self-interest of a very few persons to weigh +for more than the ultimate interest of all our people. There are +persons who find it to their immense pecuniary benefit to destroy the +forests by lumbering. They are to be blamed for thus sacrificing the +future of the Nation as a whole to their own self-interest of the +moment; but heavier blame attaches to the people at large for +permitting such action, whether in the White Mountains, in the southern +Alleghenies, or in the Rockies and Sierras. A big lumbering company, +impatient for immediate returns and not caring to look far enough +ahead, will often deliberately destroy all the good timber in a region, +hoping afterwards to move on to some new country. The shiftless man of +small means, who does not care to become an actual home-maker but would +like immediate profit, will find it to his advantage to take up timber +land simply to turn it over to such a big company, and leave it +valueless for future settlers. A big mine owner, anxious only to +develop his mine at the moment, will care only to cut all the timber +that he wishes without regard to the future--probably net looking ahead +to the condition of the country when the forests are exhausted, any +more than he does to the condition when the mine is worked out. I do +not blame these men nearly as much as I blame the supine public +opinion, the indifferent public opinion, which permits their action to +go unchecked. Of course to check the waste of timber means that there +must be on the part of the public the acceptance of a temporary +restriction in the lavish use of the timber, in order to prevent the +total loss of this use in the future. There are plenty of men in public +and private life who actually advocate the continuance of the present +system of unchecked and wasteful extravagance, using as an argument the +fact that to check it will of course mean interference with the ease +and comfort of certain people who now get lumber at less cost than they +ought to pay, at the expense of the future generations. Some of these +persons actually demand that the present forest reserves be thrown open +to destruction, because, forsooth, they think that thereby the price of +lumber could be put down again for two or three or more years. Their +attitude is precisely like that of an agitator protesting against the +outlay of money by farmers on manure and in taking care of their farms +generally. Undoubtedly, if the average farmer were content absolutely +to ruin his farm, he could for two or three years avoid spending any +money on it, and yet make a good deal of money out of it. But only a +savage would, in his private affairs, show such reckless disregard of +the future; yet it is precisely this reckless disregard of the future +which the opponents of the forestry system are now endeavoring to get +the people of the United States to show. The only trouble with the +movement for the preservation of our forests is that it has not gone +nearly far enough, and was not begun soon enough. It is a most +fortunate thing, however, that we began it when we did. We should +acquire in the Appalachian and White Mountain regions all the forest +lands that it is possible to acquire for the use of the Nation. These +lands, because they form a National asset, are as emphatically national +as the rivers which they feed, and which flow through so many States +before they reach the ocean. + +There should be no tariff on any forest product grown in this country; +and, in especial, there should be no tariff on wood pulp; due notice of +the change being of course given to those engaged in the business so as +to enable them to adjust themselves to the new conditions. The repeal +of the duty on wood pulp should if possible be accompanied by an +agreement with Canada that there shall be no export duty on Canadian +pulp wood. + +In the eastern United States the mineral fuels have already passed into +the hands of large private owners, and those of the West are rapidly +following. It is obvious that these fuels should be conserved and not +wasted, and it would be well to protect the people against unjust and +extortionate prices, so far as that can still be done. What has been +accomplished in the great oil fields of the Indian Territory by the +action of the Administration, offers a striking example of the good +results of such a policy. In my judgment the Government should have the +right to keep the fee of the coal, oil, and gas fields in its own +possession and to lease the rights to develop them under proper +regulations; or else, if the Congress will not adopt this method, the +coal deposits should be sold under limitations, to conserve them as +public utilities, the right to mine coal being separated from the title +to the soil. The regulations should permit coal lands to be worked in +sufficient quantity by the several corporations. The present +limitations have been absurd, excessive, and serve no useful purpose, +and often render it necessary that there should be either fraud or +close abandonment of the work of getting out the coal. + +Work on the Panama Canal is proceeding in a highly satisfactory manner. +In March last, John F. Stevens, chairman of the Commission and chief +engineer, resigned, and the Commission was reorganized and constituted +as follows: Lieut. Col. George W. Goethals, Corps. of Engineers, U. S. +Army, chairman and chief engineer; Maj. D. D. Gall-lard, Corps of +Engineers, U. S. Army; Maj. William L. Sibert, Corps of Engineers, U. +S. Army; Civil Engineer H. H. Rousseau, U. S. Navy; Mr. J. C. S. +Blackburn; Col. W. C. Gorgas, U. S. Army, and Mr. Jackson Smith, +Commissioners. This change of authority and direction went into effect +on April 1, without causing a perceptible check to the progress of the +work. In March the total excavation in the Culebra Cut, where effort +was chiefly concentrated, was 815,270 cubic yards. In April this was +increased to 879,527 cubic yards. There was a considerable decrease in +the output for May and June owing partly to the advent of the rainy +season and partly to temporary trouble with the steam shovel men over +the question of wages. This trouble was settled satisfactorily to all +parties and in July the total excavation advanced materially and in +August the grand total from all points in the canal prism by steam +shovels and dredges exceeded all previous United States records, +reaching 1,274,404 cubic yards. In September this record was eclipsed +and a total of 1,517,412 cubic yards was removed. Of this amount +1,481,307 cubic yards were from the canal prism and 36,105 cubic yards +were from accessory works. These results were achieved in the rainy +season with a rainfall in August of 11.89 inches and in September of +11.65 inches. Finally, in October, the record was again eclipsed, the +total excavation being 1,868,729 cubic yards; a truly extraordinary +record, especially in view of the heavy rainfall, which was 17.1 +inches. In fact, experience during the last two rainy seasons +demonstrates that the rains are a less serious obstacle to progress +than has hitherto been supposed. + +Work on the locks and dams at Gatun, which began actively in March +last, has advanced so far that it is thought that masonry work on the +locks can be begun within fifteen months. In order to remove all doubt +as to the satisfactory character of the foundations for the locks of +the Canal, the Secretary of War requested three eminent civil +engineers, of special experience in such construction, Alfred Noble, +Frederic P. Stearns and John R. Freeman, to visit the Isthmus and make +thorough personal investigations of the sites. These gentlemen went to +the Isthmus in April and by means of test pits which had been dug for +the purpose, they inspected the proposed foundations, and also examined +the borings that had been made. In their report to the Secretary of +War, under date of May 2, 1907, they said: "We found that all of the +locks, of the dimensions now proposed, will rest upon rock of such +character that it will furnish a safe and stable foundation." +Subsequent new borings, conducted by the present Commission, have fully +confirmed this verdict. They show that the locks will rest on rock for +their entire length. The cross section of the dam and method of +construction will be such as to insure against any slip or sloughing +off. Similar examination of the foundations of the locks and dams on +the Pacific side are in progress. I believe that the locks should be +made of a width of 120 feet. + +Last winter bids were requested and received for doing the work of +canal construction by contract. None of them was found to be +satisfactory and all were rejected. It is the unanimous opinion of the +present Commission that the work can be done better, more cheaply, and +more quickly by the Government than by private contractors. Fully 80 +per cent of the entire plant needed for construction has been purchased +or contracted for; machine shops have been erected and equipped for +making all needed repairs to the plant; many thousands of employees +have been secured; an effective organization has been perfected; a +recruiting system is in operation which is capable of furnishing more +labor than can be used advantageously; employees are well sheltered and +well fed; salaries paid are satisfactory, and the work is not only +going forward smoothly, but it is producing results far in advance of +the most sanguine anticipations. Under these favorable conditions, a +change in the method of prosecuting the work would be unwise and +unjustifiable, for it would inevitably disorganize existing conditions, +check progress, and increase the cost and lengthen the time of +completing the Canal. + +The chief engineer and all his professional associates are firmly +convinced that the 85 feet level lock canal which they are constructing +is the best that could be desired. Some of them had doubts on this +point when they went to the Isthmus. As the plans have developed under +their direction their doubts have been dispelled. While they may decide +upon changes in detail as construction advances they are in hearty +accord in approving the general plan. They believe that it provides a +canal not only adequate to all demands that will be made upon it but +superior in every way to a sea level canal. I concur in this belief. + +I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress a postal +savings bank system, as recommended by the Postmaster-General. The +primary object is to encourage among our people economy and thrift and +by the use of postal savings banks to give them an opportunity to +husband their resources, particularly those who have not the facilities +at hand for depositing their money in savings banks. Viewed, however, +from the experience of the past few weeks, it is evident that the +advantages of such an institution are till more far-reaching. Timid +depositors have withdrawn their savings for the time being from +national banks, trust companies, and savings banks; individuals have +hoarded their cash and the workingmen their earnings; all of which +money has been withheld and kept in hiding or in safe deposit box to +the detriment of prosperity. Through the agency of the postal savings +banks such money would be restored to the channels of trade, to the +mutual benefit of capital and labor. + +I further commend to the Congress the consideration of the +Postmaster-General's recommendation for an extension of the parcel +post, especially on the rural routes. There are now 38,215 rural +routes, serving nearly 15,000,000 people who do not have the advantages +of the inhabitants of cities in obtaining their supplies. These +recommendations have been drawn up to benefit the farmer and the +country storekeeper; otherwise, I should not favor them, for I believe +that it is good policy for our Government to do everything possible to +aid the small town and the country district. It is desirable that the +country merchant should not be crushed out. + +The fourth-class postmasters' convention has passed a very strong +resolution in favor of placing the fourth-class postmasters under the +civil-service law. The Administration has already put into effect the +policy of refusing to remove any fourth-class postmasters save for +reasons connected with the good of the service; and it is endeavoring +so far as possible to remove them from the domain of partisan politics. +It would be a most desirable thing to put the fourth-class postmasters +in the classified service. It is possible that this might be done +without Congressional action, but, as the matter is debatable, I +earnestly recommend that the Congress enact a law providing that they +be included under the civil-service law and put in the classified +service. + +Oklahoma has become a State, standing on a full equality with her elder +sisters, and her future is assured by her great natural resources. The +duty of the National Government to guard the personal and property +rights of the Indians within her borders remains of course unchanged. + +I reiterate my recommendations of last year as regards Alaska. Some +form of local self-government should be provided, as simple and +inexpensive as possible; it is impossible for the Congress to devote +the necessary time to all the little details of necessary Alaskan +legislation. Road building and railway building should be encouraged. +The Governor of Alaska should be given an ample appropriation wherewith +to organize a force to preserve the public peace. Whisky selling to the +natives should be made a felony. The coal land laws should be changed +so as to meet the peculiar needs of the Territory. This should be +attended to at once; for the present laws permit individuals to locate +large areas of the public domain for speculative purposes; and cause an +immense amount of trouble, fraud, and litigation. There should be +another judicial division established. As early as possible lighthouses +and buoys should be established as aids to navigation, especially in +and about Prince William Sound, and the survey of the coast completed. +There is need of liberal appropriations for lighting and buoying the +southern coast and improving the aids to navigation in southeastern +Alaska. One of the great industries of Alaska, as of Puget Sound and +the Columbia, is salmon fishing. Gradually, by reason of lack of proper +laws, this industry is being ruined; it should now be taken in charge, +and effectively protected, by the United States Government. + +The courage and enterprise of the citizens of the far north-west in +their projected Alaskan-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, to be held in 1909, +should receive liberal encouragement. This exposition is not +sentimental in its conception, but seeks to exploit the natural +resources of Alaska and to promote the commerce, trade, and industry of +the Pacific States with their neighboring States and with our insular +possessions and the neighboring countries of the Pacific. The +exposition asks no loan from the Congress but seeks appropriations for +National exhibits and exhibits of the western dependencies of the +General Government. The State of Washington and the city of Seattle +have shown the characteristic western enterprise in large donations for +the conduct of this exposition in which other States are lending +generous assistance. + +The unfortunate failure of the shipping bill at the last session of the +last Congress was followed by the taking off of certain Pacific +steamships, which has greatly hampered the movement of passengers +between Hawaii and the mainland. Unless the Congress is prepared by +positive encouragement to secure proper facilities in the way of +shipping between Hawaii and the mainland, then the coastwise shipping +laws should be so far relaxed as to prevent Hawaii suffering as it is +now suffering. I again call your attention to the capital importance +from every standpoint of making Pearl Harbor available for the largest +deep water vessels, and of suitably fortifying the island. + +The Secretary of War has gone to the Philippines. On his return I shall +submit to you his report on the islands. + +I again recommend that the rights of citizenship be conferred upon the +people of Porto Rico. + +A bureau of mines should be created under the control and direction of +the Secretary of the Interior; the bureau to have power to collect +statistics and make investigations in all matters pertaining to mining +and particularly to the accidents and dangers of the industry. If this +can not now be done, at least additional appropriations should be given +the Interior Department to be used for the study of mining conditions, +for the prevention of fraudulent mining schemes, for carrying on the +work of mapping the mining districts, for studying methods for +minimizing the accidents and dangers in the industry; in short, to aid +in all proper ways the development of the mining industry. + +I strongly recommend to the Congress to provide funds for keeping up +the Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson; these funds to be used +through the existing Hermitage Association for the preservation of a +historic building which should ever be dear to Americans. + +I further recommend that a naval monument be established in the +Vicksburg National Park. This national park gives a unique opportunity +for commemorating the deeds of those gallant men who fought on water, +no less than of those who fought on land, in the great civil War. + +Legislation should be enacted at the present session of the Congress +for the Thirteenth Census. The establishment of the permanent Census +Bureau affords the opportunity for a better census than we have ever +had, but in order to realize the full advantage of the permanent +organization, ample time must be given for preparation. + +There is a constantly growing interest in this country in the question +of the public health. At last the public mind is awake to the fact that +many diseases, notably tuberculosis, are National scourges. The work of +the State and city boards of health should be supplemented by a +constantly increasing interest on the part of the National Government. +The Congress has already provided a bureau of public health and has +provided for a hygienic laboratory. There are other valuable laws +relating to the public health connected with the various departments. +This whole branch of the Government should be strengthened and aided in +every way. + +I call attention to two Government commissions which I have appointed +and which have already done excellent work. The first of these has to +do with the organization of the scientific work of the Government, +which has grown up wholly without plan and is in consequence so +unwisely distributed among the Executive Departments that much of its +effect is lost for the lack of proper coordination. This commission's +chief object is to introduce a planned and orderly development and +operation in the place of the ill-assorted and often ineffective +grouping and methods of work which have prevailed. This can not be done +without legislation, nor would it be feasible to deal in detail with so +complex an administrative problem by specific provisions of law. I +recommend that the President be given authority to concentrate related +lines of work and reduce duplication by Executive order through +transfer and consolidation of lines of work. + +The second committee, that on Department methods, was instructed to +investigate and report upon the changes needed to place the conduct of +the executive force of the Government on the most economical and +effective basis in the light of the best modern business practice. The +committee has made very satisfactory progress. Antiquated practices and +bureaucratic ways have been abolished, and a general renovation of +departmental methods has been inaugurated. All that can be done by +Executive order has already been accomplished or will be put into +effect in the near future. The work of the main committee and its +several assistant committees has produced a wholesome awakening on the +part of the great body of officers and employees engaged in Government +work. In nearly every Department and office there has been a careful +self-inspection for the purpose of remedying any defects before they +could be made the subject of adverse criticism. This has led +individuals to a wider study of the work on which they were engaged, +and this study has resulted in increasing their efficiency in their +respective lines of work. There are recommendations of special +importance from the committee on the subject of personnel and the +classification of salaries which will require legislative action before +they can be put into effect. It is my intention to submit to the +Congress in the near future a special message on those subjects. + +Under our form of government voting is not merely a right but a duty, +and, moreover, a fundamental and necessary duty if a man is to be a +good citizen. It is well to provide that corporations shall not +contribute to Presidential or National campaigns, and furthermore to +provide for the publication of both contributions and expenditures. +There is, however, always danger in laws of this kind, which from their +very nature are difficult of enforcement; the danger being lest they be +obeyed only by the honest, and disobeyed by the unscrupulous, so as to +act only as a penalty upon honest men. Moreover, no such law would +hamper an unscrupulous man of unlimited means from buying his own way +into office. There is a very radical measure which would, I believe, +work a substantial improvement in our system of conducting a campaign, +although I am well aware that it will take some time for people so to +familiarize themselves with such a proposal as to be willing to +consider its adoption. The need for collecting large campaign funds +would vanish if Congress provided an appropriation for the proper and +legitimate expenses of each of the great national parties, an +appropriation ample enough to meet the necessity for thorough +organization and machinery, which requires a large expenditure of +money. Then the stipulation should be made that no party receiving +campaign funds from the Treasury should accept more than a fixed amount +from any individual subscriber or donor; and the necessary publicity +for receipts and expenditures could without difficulty be provided. + +There should be a National gallery of art established in the capital +city of this country. This is important not merely to the artistic but +to the material welfare of the country; and the people are to be +congratulated on the fact that the movement to establish such a gallery +is taking definite form under the guidance of the Smithsonian +Institution. So far from there being a tariff on works of art brought +into the country, their importation should be encouraged in every way. +There have been no sufficient collections of objects of art by the +Government, and what collections have been acquired are scattered and +are generally placed in unsuitable and imperfectly lighted galleries. + +The Biological Survey is quietly working for the good of our +agricultural interests, and is an excellent example of a Government +bureau which conducts original scientific research the findings of +which are of much practical utility. For more than twenty years it has +studied the food habits of birds and mammals that are injurious or +beneficial to agriculture, horticulture, and forestry; has distributed +illustrated bulletins on the subject, and has labored to secure +legislative protection for the beneficial species. The cotton +boll-weevil, which has recently overspread the cotton belt of Texas and +is steadily extending its range, is said to cause an annual loss of +about $3,000,000. The Biological Survey has ascertained and gives wide +publicity to the fact that at least 43 kinds of birds prey upon this +destructive insect. It has discovered that 57 species of birds feed +upon scale-insects--dreaded enemies of the fruit grower. It has shown +that woodpeckers as a class, by destroying the larvae of wood-boring +insects, are so essential to tree life that it is doubtful if our +forests could exist without them. It has shown that cuckoos and orioles +are the natural enemies of the leaf-eating caterpillars that destroy +our shade and fruit trees; that our quails and sparrows consume +annually hundreds of tons of seeds of noxious weeds; that hawks and +owls as a class (excepting the few that kill poultry and game birds) +are markedly beneficial, spending their lives in catching grasshoppers, +mice, and other pests that prey upon the products of husbandry. It has +conducted field experiments for the purpose of devising and perfecting +simple methods for holding in check the hordes of destructive +rodents--rats, mice, rabbits, gophers, prairie dogs, and ground +squirrels--which annually destroy crops worth many millions of dollars; +and it has published practical directions for the destruction of wolves +and coyotes on the stock ranges of the West, resulting during the past +year in an estimated saving of cattle and sheep valued at upwards of a +million dollars. + +It has inaugurated a system of inspection at the principal ports of +entry on both Atlantic and Pacific coasts by means of which the +introduction of noxious mammals and birds is prevented, thus keeping +out the mongoose and certain birds which are as much to be dreaded as +the previously introduced English sparrow and the house rats and mice. + +In the interest of game protection it has cooperated with local +officials in every State in the Union, has striven to promote uniform +legislation in the several States, has rendered important service in +enforcing the Federal law regulating interstate traffic in game, and +has shown how game protection may be made to yield a large revenue to +the State--a revenue amounting in the case of Illinois to $128,000 in a +single year. + +The Biological Survey has explored the faunas and floras of America +with reference to the distribution of animals and plants; it has +defined and mapped the natural life areas--areas in which, by reason of +prevailing climatic conditions, certain kinds of animals and plants +occur--and has pointed out the adaptability of these areas to the +cultivation of particular crops. The results of these investigations +are not only of high educational value but are worth each year to the +progressive farmers of the country many times the cost of maintaining +the Survey, which, it may be added, is exceedingly small. I recommend +to Congress that this bureau, whose usefulness is seriously handicapped +by lack of funds, be granted an appropriation in some degree +commensurate with the importance of the work it is doing. + +I call your especial attention to the unsatisfactory condition of our +foreign mail service, which, because of the lack of American steamship +lines is now largely done through foreign lines, and which, +particularly so far as South and Central America are concerned, is done +in a manner which constitutes a serious barrier to the extension of our +commerce. + +The time has come, in my judgment, to set to work seriously to make our +ocean mail service correspond more closely with our recent commercial +and political development. A beginning was made by the ocean mail act +of March 3, 1891, but even at that time the act was known to be +inadequate in various particulars. Since that time events have moved +rapidly in our history. We have acquired Hawaii, the Philippines, and +lesser islands in the Pacific. We are steadily prosecuting the great +work of uniting at the Isthmus the waters of the Atlantic and the +Pacific. To a greater extent than seemed probable even a dozen years +ago, we may look to an American future on the sea worthy of the +traditions of our past. As the first step in that direction, and the +step most feasible at the present time, I recommend the extension of +the ocean mail act of 1891. This act has stood for some years free from +successful criticism of its principle and purpose. It was based on +theories of the obligations of a great maritime nation, undisputed in +our own land and followed by other nations since the beginning of steam +navigation. Briefly those theories are, that it is the duty of a +first-class Power so far as practicable to carry its ocean mails under +its own flag; that the fast ocean steamships and their crews, required +for such mail service, are valuable auxiliaries to the sea power of a +nation. Furthermore, the construction of such steamships insures the +maintenance in an efficient condition of the shipyards in which our +battleships must be built. + +The expenditure of public money for the Performance of such necessary +functions of government is certainly warranted, nor is it necessary to +dwell upon the incidental benefits to our foreign commerce, to the +shipbuilding industry, and to ship owning and navigation which will +accompany the discharge of these urgent public duties, though they, +too, should have weight. + +The only serious question is whether at this time we can afford to +improve our ocean mail service as it should be improved. All doubt on +this subject is removed by the reports of the Post-Office Department. +For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1907, that Department estimates that +the postage collected on the articles exchanged with foreign countries +other than Canada and Mexico amounted to $6,579,043.48, or +$3,637,226.81 more than the net cost of the service exclusive of the +cost of transporting the articles between the United States exchange +post-offices and the United States post-offices at which they were +mailed or delivered. In other words, the Government of the United +States, having assumed a monopoly of carrying the mails for the people, +making a profit of over $3,600,000 by rendering a cheap and inefficient +service. That profit I believe should be devoted to strengthening +maritime power in those directions where it will best promote our +prestige. The country is familiar with the facts of our maritime +impotence in the harbors of the great and friendly Republics of South +America. Following the failure of the shipbuilding bill we lost our +only American line of steamers to Australasia, and that loss on the +Pacific has become a serious embarrassment to the people of Hawaii, and +has wholly cut off the Samoan islands from regular communication with +the Pacific coast. Puget Sound, in the year, has lost over half (four +out of seven) of its American steamers trading with the Orient. + +We now pay under the act of 1891 $4 a statute mile outward to 20-knot +American mail steamships, built according to naval plans, available as +cruisers, and manned by Americans. Steamships of that speed are +confined exclusively to trans-Atlantic trade with New York. To +steamships of 16 knots or over only $2 a mile can be paid, and it is +steamships of this speed and type which are needed to meet the +requirements of mail service to South America, Asia (including the +Philippines), and Australia. I strongly recommend, therefore, a simple +amendment to the ocean mail act of 1891 which shall authorize the +Postmaster-General in his discretion to enter into contracts for the +transportation of mails to the Republics of South America, to Asia, the +Philippines, and Australia at a rate not to exceed $4 a mile for +steamships of 16 knots speed or upwards, subject to the restrictions +and obligations of the act of 1891. The profit of $3,600,000 which has +been mentioned will fully cover the maximum annual expenditure involved +in this recommendation, and it is believed will in time establish the +lines so urgently needed. The proposition involves no new principle, +but permits the efficient discharge of public functions now +inadequately performed or not performed at all. + +Not only there is not now, but there never has been, any other nation +in the world so wholly free from the evils of militarism as is ours. +There never has been any other large nation, not even China, which for +so long a period has had relatively to its numbers so small a regular +army as has ours. Never at any time in our history has this Nation +suffered from militarism or been in the remotest danger of suffering +from militarism. Never at any time of our history has the Regular Army +been of a size which caused the slightest appreciable tax upon the +tax-paying citizens of the Nation. Almost always it has been too small +in size and underpaid. Never in our entire history has the Nation +suffered in the least particular because too much care has been given +to the Army, too much prominence given it, too much money spent upon +it, or because it has been too large. But again and again we have +suffered because enough care has not been given to it, because it has +been too small, because there has not been sufficient preparation in +advance for possible war. Every foreign war in which we have engaged +has cost us many times the amount which, if wisely expended during the +preceding years of peace on the Regular Army, would have insured the +war ending in but a fraction of the time and but for a fraction of the +cost that was actually the case. As a Nation we have always been +shortsighted in providing for the efficiency of the Army in time of +peace. It is nobody's especial interest to make such provision and no +one looks ahead to war at any period, no matter how remote, as being a +serious possibility; while an improper economy, or rather +niggardliness, can be practiced at the expense of the Army with the +certainty that those practicing it will not be called to account +therefor, but that the price will be paid by the unfortunate persons +who happen to be in office when a war does actually come. + +I think it is only lack of foresight that troubles us, not any +hostility to the Army. There are, of course, foolish people who +denounce any care of the Army or Navy as "militarism," but I do not +think that these people are numerous. This country has to contend now, +and has had to contend in the past, with many evils, and there is ample +scope for all who would work for reform. But there is not one evil that +now exists, or that ever has existed in this country, which is, or ever +has been, owing in the smallest part to militarism. Declamation against +militarism has no more serious place in an earnest and intelligent +movement for righteousness in this country than declamation against the +worship of Baal or Astaroth. It is declamation against a non-existent +evil, one which never has existed in this country, and which has not +the slightest chance of appearing here. We are glad to help in any +movement for international peace, but this is because we sincerely +believe that it is our duty to help all such movements provided they +are sane and rational, and not because there is any tendency toward +militarism on our part which needs to be cured. The evils we have to +fight are those in connection with industrialism, not militarism. +Industry is always necessary, just as war is sometimes necessary. Each +has its price, and industry in the United States now exacts, and has +always exacted, a far heavier toll of death than all our wars put +together. The statistics of the railroads of this country for the year +ended June 30, 1906, the last contained in the annual statistical +report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, show in that one year a +total of 108,324 casualties to persons, of which 10,618 represent the +number of persons killed. In that wonderful hive of human activity, +Pittsburg, the deaths due to industrial accidents in 1906 were 919, all +the result of accidents in mills, mines or on railroads. For the entire +country, therefore, it is safe to say that the deaths due to industrial +accidents aggregate in the neighborhood of twenty thousand a year. Such +a record makes the death rate in all our foreign wars utterly trivial +by comparison. The number of deaths in battle in all the foreign wars +put together, for the last century and a quarter, aggregate +considerably less than one year's death record for our industries. A +mere glance at these figures is sufficient to show the absurdity of the +outcry against militarism. + +But again and again in the past our little Regular Army has rendered +service literally vital to the country, and it may at any time have to +do so in the future. Its standard of efficiency and instruction is +higher now than ever in the past. But it is too small. There are not +enough officers; and it is impossible to secure enough enlisted men. We +should maintain in peace a fairly complete skeleton of a large army. A +great and long-continued war would have to be fought by volunteers. But +months would pass before any large body of efficient volunteers could +be put in the field, and our Regular Army should be large enough to +meet any immediate need. In particular it is essential that we should +possess a number of extra officers trained in peace to perform +efficiently the duties urgently required upon the breaking out of war. + +The Medical Corps should be much larger than the needs of our Regular +Army in war. Yet at present it is smaller than the needs of the service +demand even in peace. The Spanish war occurred less than ten years ago. +The chief loss we suffered in it was by disease among the regiments +which never left the country. At the moment the Nation seemed deeply +impressed by this fact; yet seemingly it has already been forgotten, +for not the slightest effort has been made to prepare a medical corps +of sufficient size to prevent the repetition of the same disaster on a +much larger scale if we should ever be engaged in a serious conflict. +The trouble in the Spanish war was not with the then existing officials +of the War Department; it was with the representatives of the people as +a whole who, for the preceding thirty years, had declined to make the +necessary provision for the Army. Unless ample provision is now made by +Congress to put the Medical Corps where it should be put disaster in +the next war is inevitable, and the responsibility will not lie with +those then in charge of the War Department, but with those who now +decline to make the necessary provision. A well organized medical +corps, thoroughly trained before the advent of war in all the important +administrative duties of a military sanitary corps, is essential to the +efficiency of any large army, and especially of a large volunteer army. +Such knowledge of medicine and surgery as is possessed by the medical +profession generally will not alone suffice to make an efficient +military surgeon. He must have, in addition, knowledge of the +administration and sanitation of large field hospitals and camps, in +order to safeguard the health and lives of men intrusted in great +numbers to his care. A bill has long been pending before the Congress +for the reorganization of the Medical Corps; its passage is urgently +needed. + +But the Medical Department is not the only department for which +increased provision should be made. The rate of pay for the officers +should be greatly increased; there is no higher type of citizen than +the American regular officer, and he should have a fair reward for his +admirable work. There should be a relatively even greater increase in +the pay for the enlisted men. In especial provision should be made for +establishing grades equivalent to those of warrant officers in the Navy +which should be open to the enlisted men who serve sufficiently long +and who do their work well. Inducements should be offered sufficient to +encourage really good men to make the Army a life occupation. The prime +needs of our present Army is to secure and retain competent +noncommissioned officers. This difficulty rests fundamentally on the +question of pay. The noncommissioned officer does not correspond with +an unskilled laborer; he corresponds to the best type of skilled +workman or to the subordinate official in civil institutions. Wages +have greatly increased in outside occupations in the last forty years +and the pay of the soldier, like the pay of the officers, should be +proportionately increased. The first sergeant of a company, if a good +man, must be one of such executive and administrative ability, and such +knowledge of his trade, as to be worth far more than we at present pay +him. The same is true of the regimental sergeant major. These men +should be men who had fully resolved to make the Army a life occupation +and they should be able to look forward to ample reward; while only men +properly qualified should be given a chance to secure these final +rewards. The increase over the present pay need not be great in the +lower grades for the first one or two enlistments, but the increase +should be marked for the noncommissioned officers of the upper grades +who serve long enough to make it evident that they intend to stay +permanently in the Army, while additional pay should be given for high +qualifications in target practice. The position of warrant officer +should be established and there should be not only an increase of pay, +but an increase of privileges and allowances and dignity, so as to make +the grade open to noncommissioned officers capable of filling them +desirably from every standpoint. The rate of desertion in our Army now +in time of peace is alarming. The deserter should be treated by public +opinion as a man guilty of the greatest crime; while on the other hand +the man who serves steadily in the Army should be treated as what he +is, that is, as preeminently one of the best citizens of this Republic. +After twelve years' service in the Army, my own belief is that the man +should be given a preference according to his ability for certain types +of office over all civilian applicants without examination. This should +also apply, of course, to the men who have served twelve years in the +Navy. A special corps should be provided to do the manual labor now +necessarily demanded of the privates themselves. + +Among the officers there should be severe examinations to weed out the +unfit up to the grade of major. From that position on appointments +should be solely by selection and it should be understood that a man of +merely average capacity could never get beyond the position of major, +while every man who serves in any grade a certain length of time prior +to promotion to the next grade without getting the promotion to the +next grade should be forthwith retired. The practice marches and field +maneuvers of the last two or three years have been invaluable to the +Army. They should be continued and extended. A rigid and not a +perfunctory examination of physical capacity has been provided for the +higher grade officers. This will work well. Unless an officer has a +good physique, unless he can stand hardship, ride well, and walk +fairly, he is not fit for any position, even after he has become a +colonel. Before he has become a colonel the need for physical fitness +in the officers is almost as great as in the enlisted man. I hope +speedily to see introduced into the Army a far more rigid and +thoroughgoing test of horsemanship for all field officers than at +present. There should be a Chief of Cavalry just as there is a Chief of +Artillery. + +Perhaps the most important of all legislation needed for the benefit of +the Army is a law to equalize and increase the pay of officers and +enlisted men of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Revenue-Cutter +Service. Such a bill has been prepared, which it is hoped will meet +with your favorable consideration. The next most essential measure is +to authorize a number of extra officers as mentioned above. To make the +Army more attractive to enlisted men, it is absolutely essential to +create a service corps, such as exists in nearly every modern army in +the world, to do the skilled and unskilled labor, inseparably connected +with military administration, which is now exacted, without just +compensation, of enlisted men who voluntarily entered the Army to do +service of an altogether different kind. There are a number of other +laws necessary to so organize the Army as to promote its efficiency and +facilitate its rapid expansion in time of war; but the above are the +most important. + +It was hoped The Hague Conference might deal with the question of the +limitation of armaments. But even before it had assembled informal +inquiries had developed that as regards naval armaments, the only ones +in which this country had any interest, it was hopeless to try to +devise any plan for which there was the slightest possibility of +securing the assent of the nations gathered at The Hague. No plan was +even proposed which would have had the assent of more than one first +class Power outside of the United States. The only plan that seemed at +all feasible, that of limiting the size of battleships, met with no +favor at all. It is evident, therefore, that it is folly for this +Nation to base any hope of securing peace on any international +agreement as to the limitations of armaments. Such being the fact it +would be most unwise for us to stop the upbuilding of our Navy. To +build one battleship of the best and most advanced type a year would +barely keep our fleet up to its present force. This is not enough. In +my judgment, we should this year provide for four battleships. But it +is idle to build battleships unless in addition to providing the men, +and the means for thorough training, we provide the auxiliaries for +them, unless we provide docks, the coaling stations, the colliers and +supply ships that they need. We are extremely deficient in coaling +stations and docks on the Pacific, and this deficiency should not +longer be permitted to exist. Plenty of torpedo boats and destroyers +should be built. Both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, +fortifications of the best type should be provided for all our greatest +harbors. + +We need always to remember that in time of war the Navy is not to be +used to defend harbors and sea-coast cities; we should perfect our +system of coast fortifications. The only efficient use for the Navy is +for offense. The only way in which it can efficiently protect our own +coast against the possible action of a foreign navy is by destroying +that foreign navy. For defense against a hostile fleet which actually +attacks them, the coast cities must depend upon their forts, mines, +torpedoes, submarines, and torpedo boats and destroyers. All of these +together are efficient for defensive purposes, but they in no way +supply the place of a thoroughly efficient navy capable of acting on +the offensive; for parrying never yet won a fight. It can only be won +by hard hitting, and an aggressive sea-going navy alone can do this +hard hitting of the offensive type. But the forts and the like are +necessary so that the Navy may be footloose. In time of war there is +sure to be demand, under pressure, of fright, for the ships to be +scattered so as to defend all kind of ports. Under penalty of terrible +disaster, this demand must be refused. The ships must be kept together, +and their objective made the enemies' fleet. If fortifications are +sufficiently strong, no modern navy will venture to attack them, so +long as the foe has in existence a hostile navy of anything like the +same size or efficiency. But unless there exists such a navy then the +fortifications are powerless by themselves to secure the victory. For +of course the mere deficiency means that any resolute enemy can at his +leisure combine all his forces upon one point with the certainty that +he can take it. + +Until our battle fleet is much larger than at present it should never +be split into detachments so far apart that they could not in event of +emergency be speedily united. Our coast line is on the Pacific just as +much as on the Atlantic. The interests of California, Oregon, and +Washington are as emphatically the interests of the whole Union as +those of Maine and New York, of Louisiana and Texas. The battle fleet +should now and then be moved to the Pacific, just as at other times it +should be kept in the Atlantic. When the Isthmian Canal is built the +transit of the battle fleet from one ocean to the other will be +comparatively easy. Until it is built I earnestly hope that the battle +fleet will be thus shifted between the two oceans every year or two. +The marksmanship on all our ships has improved phenomenally during the +last five years. Until within the last two or three years it was not +possible to train a battle fleet in squadron maneuvers under service +conditions, and it is only during these last two or three years that +the training under these conditions has become really effective. +Another and most necessary stride in advance is now being taken. The +battle fleet is about starting by the Straits of Magellan to visit the +Pacific coast.. Sixteen battleships are going under the command of +Rear-Admiral Evans, while eight armored cruisers and two other +battleships will meet him at San Francisco, whither certain torpedo +destroyers are also going. No fleet of such size has ever made such a +voyage, and it will be of very great educational use to all engaged in +it. The only way by which to teach officers and men how to handle the +fleet so as to meet every possible strain and emergency in time of war +is to have them practice under similar conditions in time of peace. +Moreover, the only way to find out our actual needs is to perform in +time of peace whatever maneuvers might be necessary in time of war. +After war is declared it is too late to find out the needs; that means +to invite disaster. This trip to the Pacific will show what some of our +needs are and will enable us to provide for them. The proper place for +an officer to learn his duty is at sea, and the only way in which a +navy can ever be made efficient is by practice at sea, under all the +conditions which would have to be met if war existed. + +I bespeak the most liberal treatment for the officers and enlisted men +of the Navy. It is true of them, as likewise of the officers and +enlisted men of the Army, that they form a body whose interests should +be close to the heart of every good American. In return the most rigid +performance of duty should be exacted from them. The reward should be +ample when they do their best; and nothing less than their best should +be tolerated. It is idle to hope for the best results when the men in +the senior grades come to those grades late in life and serve too short +a time in them. Up to the rank of lieutenant-commander promotion in the +Navy should be as now, by seniority, subject, however, to such +rigid tests as would eliminate the unfit. After the grade of +lieutenant-commander, that is, when we come to the grade of command +rank, the unfit should be eliminated in such manner that only the +conspicuously fit would remain, and sea service should be a principal +test of fitness. Those who are passed by should, after a certain length +of service in their respective grades, be retired. Of a given number of +men it may well be that almost all would make good lieutenants and most +of them good lieutenant-commanders, while only a minority be fit to be +captains, and but three or four to be admirals. Those who object to +promotion otherwise than by mere seniority should reflect upon the +elementary fact that no business in private life could be successfully +managed if those who enter at the lowest rungs of the ladder should +each in turn, if he lived, become the head of the firm, its active +director, and retire after he had held the position a few months. On +its face such a scheme is an absurdity. Chances for improper favoritism +can be minimized by a properly formed board; such as the board of last +June, which did such conscientious and excellent work in elimination. + +If all that ought to be done can not now be done, at least let a +beginning be made. In my last three annual Messages, and in a special +Message to the last Congress, the necessity for legislation that will +cause officers of the line of the Navy to reach the grades of captain +and rear-admiral at less advanced ages and which will cause them to +have more sea training and experience in the highly responsible duties +of those grades, so that they may become thoroughly skillful in +handling battleships, divisions, squadrons, and fleets in action, has +been fully explained and urgently recommended. Upon this subject the +Secretary of the Navy has submitted detailed and definite +recommendations which have received my approval, and which, if enacted +into law, will accomplish what is immediately necessary, and will, as +compared with existing law, make a saving of more than five millions of +dollars during the next seven years. The navy personnel act of 1899 has +accomplished all that was expected of it in providing satisfactory +periods of service in the several subordinate grades, from the grade of +ensign to the grade of lieutenant-commander, but the law is inadequate +in the upper grades and will continue to be inadequate on account of +the expansion of the personnel since its enactment. Your attention is +invited to the following quotations from the report of the personnel +board of 1906, of which the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was +president: + +"Congress has authorized a considerable increase in the number of +midshipmen at the Naval Academy, and these midshipmen upon graduation +are promoted to ensign and lieutenant (junior-grade). But no provision +has been made for a corresponding increase in the upper grades, the +result being that the lower grades will become so congested that a +midshipman now in one of the lowest classes at Annapolis may possibly +not be promoted to lieutenant until he is between 45 and 50 years of +age. So it will continue under the present law, congesting at the top +and congesting at the bottom. The country fails to get from the +officers of the service the best that is in them by not providing +opportunity for their normal development and training. The board +believes that this works a serious detriment to the efficiency of the +Navy and is a real menace to the public safety." + +As stated in my special Message to the last Congress: "I am firmly of +the opinion that unless the present conditions of the higher +commissioned personnel is rectified by judicious legislation the future +of our Navy will be gravely compromised." It is also urgently necessary +to increase the efficiency of the Medical Corps of the Navy. Special +legislation to this end has already been proposed; and I trust it may +be enacted without delay. + +It must be remembered that everything done in the Navy to fit it to do +well in time of war must be done in time of peace. Modern wars are +short; they do not last the length of time requisite to build a +battleship; and it takes longer to train the officers and men to do +well on a battleship than it takes to build it. Nothing effective can +be done for the Navy once war has begun, and the result of the war, if +the combatants are otherwise equally matched, will depend upon which +power has prepared best in time of peace. The United States Navy is the +best guaranty the Nation has that its honor and interest will not be +neglected; and in addition it offers by far the best insurance for +peace that can by human ingenuity be devised. + +I call attention to the report of the official Board of Visitors to the +Naval Academy at Annapolis which has been forwarded to the Congress. +The report contains this paragraph: + +"Such revision should be made of the courses of study and methods of +conducting and marking examinations as will develop and bring out the +average all-round ability of the midshipman rather than to give him +prominence in any one particular study. The fact should be kept in mind +that the Naval Academy is not a university but a school, the primary +object of which is to educate boys to be efficient naval officers. +Changes in curriculum, therefore, should be in the direction of making +the course of instruction less theoretical and more practical. No +portion of any future class should be graduated in advance of the full +four years' course, and under no circumstances should the standard of +instruction be lowered. The Academy in almost all of its departments is +now magnificently equipped, and it would be very unwise to make the +course of instruction less exacting than it is to-day." + +Acting upon this suggestion I designated three seagoing officers, Capt. +Richard Wainwright, Commander Robert S. Griffin, and Lieut. Commander +Albert L. Key, all graduates of the Academy, to investigate conditions +and to recommend to me the best method of carrying into effect this +general recommendation. These officers performed the duty promptly and +intelligently, and, under the personal direction of Capt. Charles J. +Badger, Superintendent of the Academy, such of the proposed changes as +were deemed to be at present advisable were put into effect at the +beginning of the academic year, October 1, last. The results, I am +confident, will be most beneficial to the Academy, to the midshipmen, +and to the Navy. + +In foreign affairs this country's steady policy is to behave toward +other nations as a strong and self-respecting man should behave toward +the other men with whom he is brought into contact. In other words, our +aim is disinterestedly to help other nations where such help can be +wisely given without the appearance of meddling with what does not +concern us; to be careful to act as a good neighbor; and at the same +time, in good-natured fashion, to make it evident that we do not intend +to be imposed upon. + +The Second International Peace Conference was convened at The Hague on +the 15th of June last and remained in session until the 18th of +October. For the first time the representatives of practically all the +civilized countries of the world united in a temperate and kindly +discussion of the methods by which the causes of war might be narrowed +and its injurious effects reduced. + +Although the agreements reached in the Conference did not in any +direction go to the length hoped for by the more sanguine, yet in many +directions important steps were taken, and upon every subject on the +programme there was such full and considerate discussion as to justify +the belief that substantial progress has been made toward further +agreements in the future. Thirteen conventions were agreed upon +embodying the definite conclusions which had been reached, and +resolutions were adopted marking the progress made in matters upon +which agreement was not yet sufficiently complete to make conventions +practicable. + +The delegates of the United States were instructed to favor an +agreement for obligatory arbitration, the establishment of a permanent +court of arbitration to proceed judicially in the hearing and decision +of international causes, the prohibition of force for the collection of +contract debts alleged to be due from governments to citizens of other +countries until after arbitration as to the justice and amount of the +debt and the time and manner of payment, the immunity of private +property at sea, the better definition of the rights of neutrals, and, +in case any measure to that end should be introduced, the limitation of +armaments. + +In the field of peaceful disposal of international differences several +important advances were made. First, as to obligatory arbitration. +Although the Conference failed to secure a unanimous agreement upon the +details of a convention for obligatory arbitration, it did resolve as +follows; + +"It is unanimous: (1) In accepting the principle for obligatory +arbitration; (2) In declaring that certain differences, and notably +those relating to the interpretation and application of international +conventional stipulations are susceptible of being submitted to +obligatory arbitration without any restriction." + +In view of the fact that as a result of the discussion the vote upon +the definite treaty of obligatory arbitration, which was proposed, +stood 32 in favor to 9 against the adoption of the treaty, there can be +little doubt that the great majority of the countries of the world have +reached a point where they are now ready to apply practically the +principles thus unanimously agreed upon by the Conference. + +The second advance, and a very great one, is the agreement which +relates to the use of force for the collection of contract debts. Your +attention is invited to the paragraphs upon this subject in my Message +of December, 1906, and to the resolution of the Third American +Conference at Rio in the summer of 1906. The convention upon this +subject adopted by the Conference substantially as proposed by the +American delegates is as follows: + +"In order to avoid between nations armed conflicts of a purely +pecuniary origin arising from contractual debts claimed of the +government of one country by the government of another country to be +due to its nationals, the signatory Powers agree not to have recourse +to armed force for the collection of such contractual debts. + +"However, this stipulation shall not be applicable when the debtor +State refuses or leaves unanswered an offer to arbitrate, or, in case +of acceptance, makes it impossible to formulate the terms of +submission, or, after arbitration, fails to comply with the award +rendered. + +"It is further agreed that arbitration here contemplated shall be in +conformity, as to procedure, with Chapter III of the Convention for the +Pacific Settlement of International Disputes adopted at The Hague, and +that it shall determine, in so far as there shall be no agreement +between the parties, the justice and the amount of the debt, the time +and mode of payment thereof." + +Such a provision would have prevented much injustice and extortion in +the past, and I cannot doubt that its effect in the future will be most +salutary. + +A third advance has been made in amending and perfecting the convention +of 1899 for the voluntary settlement of international disputes, and +particularly the extension of those parts of that convention which +relate to commissions of inquiry. The existence of those provisions +enabled the Governments of Great Britain and Russia to avoid war, +notwithstanding great public excitement, at the time of the Dogger Bank +incident, and the new convention agreed upon by the Conference gives +practical effect to the experience gained in that inquiry. + +Substantial progress was also made towards the creation of a permanent +judicial tribunal for the determination of international causes. There +was very full discussion of the proposal for such a court and a general +agreement was finally reached in favor of its creation. The Conference +recommended to the signatory Powers the adoption of a draft upon which +it agreed for the organization of the court, leaving to be determined +only the method by which the judges should be selected. This remaining +unsettled question is plainly one which time and good temper will +solve. + +A further agreement of the first importance was that for the creation +of an international prize court. The constitution, organization and +procedure of such a tribunal were provided for in detail. Anyone who +recalls the injustices under which this country suffered as a neutral +power during the early part of the last century can not fail to see in +this provision for an international prize court the great advance which +the world is making towards the substitution of the rule of reason and +justice in place of simple force. Not only will the international prize +court be the means of protecting the interests of neutrals, but it is +in itself a step towards the creation of the more general court for the +hearing of international controversies to which reference has just been +made. The organization and action of such a prize court can not fail to +accustom the different countries to the submission of international +questions to the decision of an international tribunal, and we may +confidently expect the results of such submission to bring about a +general agreement upon the enlargement of the practice. + +Numerous provisions were adopted for reducing the evil effects of war +and for defining the rights and duties of neutrals. + +The Conference also provided for the holding of a third Conference +within a period similar to that which elapsed between the First and +Second Conferences. + +The delegates of the United States worthily represented the spirit of +the American people and maintained with fidelity and ability the policy +of our Government upon all the great questions discussed in the +Conference. + +The report of the delegation, together with authenticated copies of the +conventions signed, when received, will be laid before the Senate for +its consideration. + +When we remember how difficult it is for one of our own legislative +bodies, composed of citizens of the same country, speaking the same +language, living under the same laws, and having the same customs, to +reach an agreement, or even to secure a majority upon any difficult and +important subject which is proposed for legislation, it becomes plain +that the representatives of forty-five different countries, speaking +many different languages, accustomed to different methods of procedure, +with widely diverse interests, who discussed so many different subjects +and reached agreements upon so many, are entitled to grateful +appreciation for the wisdom, patience, and moderation with which they +have discharged their duty. The example of this temperate discussion, +and the agreements and the efforts to agree, among representatives of +all the nations of the earth, acting with universal recognition of the +supreme obligation to promote peace, can not fail to be a powerful +influence for good in future international relations. + +A year ago in consequence of a revolutionary movement in Cuba which +threatened the immediate return to chaos of the island, the United +States intervened, sending down an army and establishing a provisional +government under Governor Magoon. Absolute quiet and prosperity have +returned to the island because of this action. We are now taking steps +to provide for elections in the island and our expectation is within +the coming year to be able to turn the island over again to government +chosen by the people thereof. Cuba is at our doors. It is not possible +that this Nation should permit Cuba again to sink into the condition +from which we rescued it. All that we ask of the Cuban people is that +they be prosperous, that they govern themselves so as to bring content, +order and progress to their island, the Queen of the Antilles; and our +only interference has been and will be to help them achieve these +results. + +An invitation has been extended by Japan to the Government and people +of the United States to participate in a great national exposition to +be held at Tokyo from April 1 to October 31, 1912, and in which the +principal countries of the world are to be invited to take part. This +is an occasion of special interest to all the nations of the world, and +peculiarly so to us; for it is the first instance in which such a great +national exposition has been held by a great power dwelling on the +Pacific; and all the nations of Europe and America will, I trust, join +in helping to success this first great exposition ever held by a great +nation of Asia. The geographical relations of Japan and the United +States as the possessors of such large portions of the coasts of the +Pacific, the intimate trade relations already existing between the two +countries, the warm friendship which has been maintained between them +without break since the opening of Japan to intercourse with the +western nations, and her increasing wealth and production, which we +regard with hearty goodwill and wish to make the occasion of mutually +beneficial commerce, all unite in making it eminently desirable that +this invitation should be accepted. I heartily recommend such +legislation as will provide in generous fashion for the representation +of this Government and its people in the proposed exposition. Action +should be taken now. We are apt to underestimate the time necessary for +preparation in such cases. The invitation to the French Exposition of +1900 was brought to the attention of the Congress by President +Cleveland in December, 1895; and so many are the delays necessary to +such proceedings that the period of font years and a half which then +intervened before the exposition proved none too long for the proper +preparation of the exhibits. + +The adoption of a new tariff by Germany, accompanied by conventions for +reciprocal tariff concessions between that country and most of the +other countries of continental Europe, led the German Government to +give the notice necessary to terminate the reciprocal commercial +agreement with this country proclaimed July 13, 1900. The notice was to +take effect on the 1st of March, 1906, and in default of some other +arrangements this would have left the exports from the United States to +Germany subject to the general German tariff duties, from 25 to 50 per +cent higher than the conventional duties imposed upon the goods of most +of our competitors for German trade. + +Under a special agreement made between the two Governments in February, +1906, the German Government postponed the operation of their notice +until the 30th of June, 1907. In the meantime, deeming it to be my duty +to make every possible effort to prevent a tariff war between the +United States and Germany arising from misunderstanding by either +country of the conditions existing in the other, and acting upon the +invitation of the German Government, I sent to Berlin a commission +composed of competent experts in the operation and administration of +the customs tariff, from the Departments of the Treasury and Commerce +and Labor. This commission was engaged for several mouths in conference +with a similar commission appointed by the German Government, under +instructions, so far as practicable, to reach a common understanding as +to all the facts regarding the tariffs of the United States and Germany +material and relevant to the trade relations between the two countries. +The commission reported, and upon the basis of the report, a further +temporary commercial agreement was entered into by the two countries, +pursuant to which, in the exercise of the authority conferred upon the +President by the third section of the tariff act of July 24, 1897, I +extended the reduced tariff rates provided for in that section to +champagne and all other sparkling wines, and pursuant to which the +German conventional or minimum tariff rates were extended to about 96 +1/2 per cent of all the exports from the United States to Germany. This +agreement is to remain in force until the 30th of June, 1908, and until +six months after notice by either party to terminate it. + +The agreement and the report of the commission on which it is based +will be laid before the Congress for its information. + +This careful examination into the tariff relations between the United +States and Germany involved an inquiry into certain of our methods of +administration which had been the cause of much complaint on the part +of German exporters. In this inquiry I became satisfied that certain +vicious and unjustifiable practices had grown up in our customs +administration, notably the practice of determining values of imports +upon detective reports never disclosed to the persons whose interests +were affected. The use of detectives, though often necessary, tends +towards abuse, and should be carefully guarded. Under our practice as I +found it to exist in this case, the abuse had become gross and +discreditable. Under it, instead of seeking information as to the +market value of merchandise from the well-known and respected members +of the commercial community in the country of its production, secret +statements were obtained from informers and discharged employees and +business rivals, and upon this kind of secret evidence the values of +imported goods were frequently raised and heavy penalties were +frequently imposed upon importers who were never permitted to know what +the evidence was and who never had an opportunity to meet it. It is +quite probable that this system tended towards an increase of the +duties collected upon imported goods, but I conceive it to be a +violation of law to exact more duties than the law provides, just as it +is a violation to admit goods upon the payment of less than the legal +rate of duty. This practice was repugnant to the spirit of American law +and to American sense of justice. In the judgment of the most competent +experts of the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce and +Labor it was wholly unnecessary for the due collection of the customs +revenues, and the attempt to defend it merely illustrates the +demoralization which naturally follows from a long continued course of +reliance upon such methods. I accordingly caused the regulations +governing this branch of the customs service to be modified so that +values are determined upon a hearing in which all the parties +interested have an opportunity to be heard and to know the evidence +against them. Moreover our Treasury agents are accredited to the +government of the country in which they seek information, and in +Germany receive the assistance of the quasi-official chambers of +commerce in determining the actual market value of goods, in accordance +with what I am advised to be the true construction of the law. + +These changes of regulations were adapted to the removal of such +manifest abuses that I have not felt that they ought to be confined to +our relations with Germany; and I have extended their operation to all +other countries which have expressed a desire to enter into similar +administrative relations. + +I ask for authority to reform the agreement with China under which the +indemnity of 1900 was fixed, by remitting and cancelling the obligation +of China for the payment of all that part of the stipulated indemnity +which is in excess of the sum of eleven million, six hundred and +fifty-five thousand, four hundred and ninety-two dollars and sixty-nine +cents, and interest at four per cent. After the rescue of the foreign +legations in Peking during the Boxer troubles in 1900 the Powers +required from China the payment of equitable indemnities to the several +nations, and the final protocol under which the troops were withdrawn, +signed at Peking, September 7, 1901, fixed the amount of this indemnity +allotted to the United States at over $20,000,000, and China paid, up +to and including the 1st day of June last, a little over $6,000,000. It +was the first intention of this Government at the proper time, when all +claims had been presented and all expenses ascertained as fully as +possible, to revise the estimates and account, and as a proof of +sincere friendship for China voluntarily to release that country from +its legal liability for all payments in excess of the sum which should +prove to be necessary for actual indemnity to the United States and its +citizens. + +This Nation should help in every practicable way in the education of +the Chinese people, so that the vast and populous Empire of China may +gradually adapt itself to modern conditions. One way of doing this is +by promoting the coming of Chinese students to this country and making +it attractive to them to take courses at our universities and higher +educational institutions. Our educators should, so far as possible, +take concerted action toward this end. + +On the courteous invitation of the President of Mexico, the Secretary +of State visited that country in September and October and was received +everywhere with the greatest kindness and hospitality. + +He carried from the Government of the United States to our southern +neighbor a message of respect and good will and of desire for better +acquaintance and increasing friendship. The response from the +Government and the people of Mexico was hearty and sincere. No pains +were spared to manifest the most friendly attitude and feeling toward +the United States. + +In view of the close neighborhood of the two countries the relations +which exist between Mexico and the United States are just cause for +gratification. We have a common boundary of over 1,500 miles from the +Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. Much of it is marked only by the +shifting waters of the Rio Grande. Many thousands of Mexicans are +residing upon our side of the line and it is estimated that over 40,000 +Americans are resident in Mexican territory and that American +investments in Mexico amount to over seven hundred million dollars. The +extraordinary industrial and commercial prosperity of Mexico has been +greatly promoted by American enterprise, and Americans are sharing +largely in its results. The foreign trade of the Republic already +exceeds $240,000,000 per annum, and of this two-thirds both of exports +and imports are exchanged with the United States. Under these +circumstances numerous questions necessarily arise between the two +countries. These questions are always approached and disposed of in a +spirit of mutual courtesy and fair dealing. Americans carrying on +business in Mexico testify uniformly to the kindness and consideration +with which they are treated and their sense of the security of their +property and enterprises under the wise administration of the great +statesman who has so long held the office of Chief Magistrate of that +Republic. + +The two Governments have been uniting their efforts for a considerable +time past to aid Central America in attaining the degree of peace and +order which have made possible the prosperity of the northern ports of +the Continent. After the peace between Guatemala, Honduras, and +Salvador, celebrated under the circumstances described in my last +Message, a new war broke out between the Republics of Nicaragua, +Honduras, and Salvador. The effort to compose this new difficulty has +resulted in the acceptance of the joint suggestion of the Presidents of +Mexico and of the United States for a general peace conference between +all the countries of Central America. On the 17th day of September last +a protocol was signed between the representatives of the five Central +American countries accredited to this Government agreeing upon a +conference to be held in the City of Washington "in order to devise the +means of preserving the good relations among said Republics and +bringing about permanent peace in those countries." The protocol +includes the expression of a wish that the Presidents of the United +States and Mexico should appoint "representatives to lend their good +and impartial offices in a purely friendly way toward the realization +of the objects of the conference." The conference is now in session and +will have our best wishes and, where it is practicable, our friendly +assistance. + +One of the results of the Pan American Conference at Rio Janeiro in the +summer of 1906 has been a great increase in the activity and usefulness +of the International Bureau of American Republics. That institution, +which includes all the American Republics in its membership and brings +all their representatives together, is doing a really valuable work in +informing the people of the United States about the other Republics and +in making the United States known to them. Its action is now limited by +appropriations determined when it was doing a work on a much smaller +scale and rendering much less valuable service. I recommend that the +contribution of this Government to the expenses of the Bureau be made +commensurate with its increased work. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 8, 1908 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +FINANCES. + +The financial standing of the Nation at the present time is excellent, +and the financial management of the Nation's interests by the +Government during the last seven years has shown the most satisfactory +results. But our currency system is imperfect, and it is earnestly to +be hoped that the Currency Commission will be able to propose a +thoroughly good system which will do away with the existing defects. + +During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, there was +an increase in the amount of money in circulation of $902,991,399. The +increase in the per capita during this period was $7.06. Within this +time there were several occasions when it was necessary for the +Treasury Department to come to the relief of the money market by +purchases or redemptions of United States bonds; by increasing deposits +in national banks; by stimulating additional issues of national bank +notes, and by facilitating importations from abroad of gold. Our +imperfect currency system has made these proceedings necessary, and +they were effective until the monetary disturbance in the fall of 1907 +immensely increased the difficulty of ordinary methods of relief. By +the middle of November the available working balance in the Treasury +had been reduced to approximately $5,000,000. Clearing house +associations throughout the country had been obliged to resort to the +expedient of issuing clearing house certificates, to be used as money. +In this emergency it was determined to invite subscriptions for +$50,000,000 Panama Canal bonds, and $100,000,000 three per cent +certificates of indebtedness authorized by the act of June 13, 1898. It +was proposed to re-deposit in the national banks the proceeds of these +issues, and to permit their use as a basis for additional circulating +notes of national banks. The moral effect of this procedure was so +great that it was necessary to issue only $24,631,980 of the Panama +Canal bonds and $15,436,500 of the certificates of indebtedness. + +During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, the balance +between the net ordinary receipts and the net ordinary expenses of the +Government showed a surplus in the four years 1902, 1903, 1906 and +1907, and a deficit in the years 1904, 1905, 1908 and a fractional part +of the fiscal year 1909. The net result was a surplus of +$99,283,413.54. The financial operations of the Government during this +period, based upon these differences between receipts and expenditures, +resulted in a net reduction of the interest-bearing debt of the United +States from $987,141,040 to $897,253,990, notwithstanding that there +had been two sales of Panama Canal bonds amounting in the aggregate to +$54,631,980, and an issue of three per cent certificates of +indebtedness under the act of June 13, 1998, amounting to $15,436,500. +Refunding operations of the Treasury Department under the act of March +14, 1900, resulted in the conversion into two per cent consols of 1930 +of $200,309,400 bonds bearing higher rates of interest. A decrease of +$8,687,956 in the annual interest charge resulted from these +operations. + +In short, during the seven years and three months there has been a net +surplus of nearly one hundred millions of receipts over expenditures, a +reduction of the interest-bearing debt by ninety millions, in spite of +the extraordinary expense of the Panama Canal, and a saving of nearly +nine millions on the annual interest charge. This is an exceedingly +satisfactory showing, especially in view of the fact that during this +period the Nation has never hesitated to undertake any expenditure that +it regarded as necessary. There have been no new taxes and no increase +of taxes; on the contrary, some taxes have been taken off; there has +been a reduction of taxation. + +CORPORATIONS. + +As regards the great corporations engaged in interstate business, and +especially the railroad, I can only repeat what I have already again +and again said in my messages to the Congress, I believe that under the +interstate clause of the Constitution the United States has complete +and paramount right to control all agencies of interstate commerce, and +I believe that the National Government alone can exercise this right +with wisdom and effectiveness so as both to secure justice from, and to +do justice to, the great corporations which are the most important +factors in modern business. I believe that it is worse than folly to +attempt to prohibit all combinations as is done by the Sherman +anti-trust law, because such a law can be enforced only imperfectly and +unequally, and its enforcement works almost as much hardship as good. I +strongly advocate that instead of an unwise effort to prohibit all +combinations there shall be substituted a law which shall expressly +permit combinations which are in the interest of the public, but shall +at the same time give to some agency of the National Government full +power of control and supervision over them. One of the chief features +of this control should be securing entire publicity in all matters +which the public has a right to know, and furthermore, the power, not +by judicial but by executive action, to prevent or put a stop to every +form of improper favoritism or other wrongdoing. + +The railways of the country should be put completely under the +Interstate Commerce Commission and removed from the domain of the +anti-trust law. The power of the Commission should be made +thoroughgoing, so that it could exercise complete supervision and +control over the issue of securities as well as over the raising and +lowering of rates. As regards rates, at least, this power should be +summary. The power to investigate the financial operations and accounts +of the railways has been one of the most valuable features in recent +legislation. Power to make combinations and traffic agreements should +be explicitly conferred upon the railroads, the permission of the +Commission being first gained and the combination or agreement being +published in all its details. In the interest of the public the +representatives of the public should have complete power to see that +the railroads do their duty by the public, and as a matter of course +this power should also be exercised so as to see that no injustice is +done to the railroads. The shareholders, the employees and the shippers +all have interests that must be guarded. It is to the interest of all +of them that no swindling stock speculation should be allowed, and that +there should be no improper issuance of securities. The guiding +intelligences necessary for the successful building and successful +management of railroads should receive ample remuneration; but no man +should be allowed to make money in connection with railroads out of +fraudulent over-capitalization and kindred stock-gambling performances; +there must be no defrauding of investors, oppression of the farmers and +business men who ship freight, or callous disregard of the rights and +needs of the employees. In addition to this the interests of the +shareholders, of the employees, and of the shippers should all be +guarded as against one another. To give any one of them undue and +improper consideration is to do injustice to the others. Rates must be +made as low as is compatible with giving proper returns to all the +employees of the railroad, from the highest to the lowest, and proper +returns to the shareholders; but they must not, for instance, be +reduced in such fashion as to necessitate a cut in the wages of the +employees or the abolition of the proper and legitimate profits of +honest shareholders. + +Telegraph and telephone companies engaged in interstate business should +be put under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission. + +It is very earnestly to be wished that our people, through their +representatives, should act in this matter. It is hard to say whether +most damage to the country at large would come from entire failure on +the part of the public to supervise and control the actions of the +great corporations, or from the exercise of the necessary governmental +power in a way which would do injustice and wrong to the corporations. +Both the preachers of an unrestricted individualism, and the preachers +of an oppression which would deny to able men of business the just +reward of their initiative and business sagacity, are advocating +policies that would be fraught with the gravest harm to the whole +country. To permit every lawless capitalist, every law-defying +corporation, to take any action, no matter how iniquitous, in the +effort to secure an improper profit and to build up privilege, would be +ruinous to the Republic and would mark the abandonment of the effort to +secure in the industrial world the spirit of democratic fair dealing. +On the other hand, to attack these wrongs in that spirit of demagogy +which can see wrong only when committed by the man of wealth, and is +dumb and blind in the presence of wrong committed against men of +property or by men of no property, is exactly as evil as corruptly to +defend the wrongdoing of men of wealth. The war we wage must be waged +against misconduct, against wrongdoing wherever it is found; and we +must stand heartily for the rights of every decent man, whether he be a +man of great wealth or a man who earns his livelihood as a wage-worker +or a tiller of the soil. + +It is to the interest of all of us that there should be a premium put +upon individual initiative and individual capacity, and an ample reward +for the great directing intelligences alone competent to manage the +great business operations of to-day. It is well to keep in mind that +exactly as the anarchist is the worst enemy of liberty and the +reactionary the worst enemy of order, so the men who defend the rights +of property have most to fear from the wrongdoers of great wealth, and +the men who are championing popular rights have most to fear from the +demagogues who in the name of popular rights would do wrong to and +oppress honest business men, honest men of wealth; for the success of +either type of wrongdoer necessarily invites a violent reaction against +the cause the wrongdoer nominally upholds. In point of danger to the +Nation there is nothing to choose between on the one hand the +corruptionist, the bribe-giver, the bribe-taker, the man who employs +his great talent to swindle his fellow-citizens on a large scale, and, +on the other hand, the preacher of class hatred, the man who, whether +from ignorance or from willingness to sacrifice his country to his +ambition, persuades well-meaning but wrong-headed men to try to destroy +the instruments upon which our prosperity mainly rests. Let each group +of men beware of and guard against the shortcomings to which that group +is itself most liable. Too often we see the business community in a +spirit of unhealthy class consciousness deplore the effort to hold to +account under the law the wealthy men who in their management of great +corporations, whether railroads, street railways, or other industrial +enterprises, have behaved in a way that revolts the conscience of the +plain, decent people. Such an attitude can not be condemned too +severely, for men of property should recognize that they jeopardize the +rights of property when they fail heartily to join in the effort to do +away with the abuses of wealth. On the other hand, those who advocate +proper control on behalf of the public, through the State, of these +great corporations, and of the wealth engaged on a giant scale in +business operations, must ever keep in mind that unless they do +scrupulous justice to the corporation, unless they permit ample profit, +and cordially encourage capable men of business so long as they act +with honesty, they are striking at the root of our national well-being; +for in the long run, under the mere pressure of material distress, the +people as a whole would probably go back to the reign of an +unrestricted individualism rather than submit to a control by the State +so drastic and so foolish, conceived in a spirit of such unreasonable +and narrow hostility to wealth, as to prevent business operations from +being profitable, and therefore to bring ruin upon the entire business +community, and ultimately upon the entire body of citizens. + +The opposition to Government control of these great corporations makes +its most effective effort in the shape of an appeal to the old doctrine +of State's rights. Of course there are many sincere men who now believe +in unrestricted individualism in business, just as there were formerly +many sincere men who believed in slavery--that is, in the unrestricted +right of an individual to own another individual. These men do not by +themselves have great weight, however. The effective fight against +adequate Government control and supervision of individual, and +especially of corporate, wealth engaged in interstate business is +chiefly done under cover; and especially under cover of an appeal to +State's rights. It is not at all infrequent to read in the same speech +a denunciation of predatory wealth fostered by special privilege and +defiant of both the public welfare and law of the land, and a +denunciation of centralization in the Central Government of the power +to deal with this centralized and organized wealth. Of course the +policy set forth in such twin denunciations amounts to absolutely +nothing, for the first half is nullified by the second half. The chief +reason, among the many sound and compelling reasons, that led to the +formation of the National Government was the absolute need that the +Union, and not the several States, should deal with interstate and +foreign commerce; and the power to deal with interstate commerce was +granted absolutely and plenarily to the Central Government and was +exercised completely as regards the only instruments of interstate +commerce known in those days--the waterways, the highroads, as well as +the partnerships of individuals who then conducted all of what business +there was. Interstate commerce is now chiefly conducted by railroads; +and the great corporation has supplanted the mass of small partnerships +or individuals. The proposal to make the National Government supreme +over, and therefore to give it complete control over, the railroads and +other instruments of interstate commerce is merely a proposal to carry +out to the letter one of the prime purposes, if not the prime purpose, +for which the Constitution was rounded. It does not represent +centralization. It represents merely the acknowledgment of the patent +fact that centralization has already come in business. If this +irresponsible outside business power is to be controlled in the +interest of the general public it can only be controlled in one way--by +giving adequate power of control to the one sovereignty capable of +exercising such power--the National Government. Forty or fifty separate +state governments can not exercise that power over corporations doing +business in most or all of them; first, because they absolutely lack +the authority to deal with interstate business in any form; and second, +because of the inevitable conflict of authority sure to arise in the +effort to enforce different kinds of state regulation, often +inconsistent with one another and sometimes oppressive in themselves. +Such divided authority can not regulate commerce with wisdom and +effect. The Central Government is the only power which, without +oppression, can nevertheless thoroughly and adequately control and +supervise the large corporations. To abandon the effort for National +control means to abandon the effort for all adequate control and yet to +render likely continual bursts of action by State legislatures, which +can not achieve the purpose sought for, but which can do a great deal +of damage to the corporation without conferring any real benefit on the +public. + +I believe that the more farsighted corporations are themselves coming +to recognize the unwisdom of the violent hostility they have displayed +during the last few years to regulation and control by the National +Government of combinations engaged in interstate business. The truth is +that we who believe in this movement of asserting and exercising a +genuine control, in the public interest, over these great corporations +have to contend against two sets of enemies, who, though nominally +opposed to one another, are really allies in preventing a proper +solution of the problem. There are, first, the big corporation men, and +the extreme individualists among business men, who genuinely believe in +utterly unregulated business that is, in the reign of plutocracy; and, +second, the men who, being blind to the economic movements of the day, +believe in a movement of repression rather than of regulation of +corporations, and who denounce both the power of the railroads and the +exercise of the Federal power which alone can really control the +railroads. Those who believe in efficient national control, on the +other hand, do not in the least object to combinations; do not in the +least object to concentration in business administration. On the +contrary, they favor both, with the all important proviso that there +shall be such publicity about their workings, and such thoroughgoing +control over them, as to insure their being in the interest, and not +against the interest, of the general public. We do not object to the +concentration of wealth and administration; but we do believe in the +distribution of the wealth in profits to the real owners, and in +securing to the public the full benefit of the concentrated +administration. We believe that with concentration in administration +there can come both be advantage of a larger ownership and of a more +equitable distribution of profits, and at the same time a better +service to the commonwealth. We believe that the administration should +be for the benefit of the many; and that greed and rascality, practiced +on a large scale, should be punished as relentlessly as if practiced on +a small scale. + +We do not for a moment believe that the problem will be solved by any +short and easy method. The solution will come only by pressing various +concurrent remedies. Some of these remedies must lie outside the domain +of all government. Some must lie outside the domain of the Federal +Government. But there is legislation which the Federal Government alone +can enact and which is absolutely vital in order to secure the +attainment of our purpose. Many laws are needed. There should be +regulation by the National Government of the great interstate +corporations, including a simple method of account keeping, publicity, +supervision of the issue securities, abolition of rebates, and of +special privileges. There should be short time franchises for all +corporations engaged in public business; including the corporations +which get power from water rights. There should be National as well as +State guardianship of mines and forests. The labor legislation +hereinafter referred to should concurrently be enacted into law. + +To accomplish this, means of course a certain increase in the use +of--not the creation of--power, by the Central Government. The power +already exists; it does not have to be created; the only question is +whether it shall be used or left idle--and meanwhile the corporations +over which the power ought to be exercised will not remain idle. Let +those who object to this increase in the use of the only power +available, the national power, be frank, and admit openly that they +propose to abandon any effort to control the great business +corporations and to exercise supervision over the accumulation and +distribution of wealth; for such supervision and control can only come +through this particular kind of increase of power. We no more believe +in that empiricism which demand, absolutely unrestrained individualism +than we do in that empiricism which clamors for a deadening socialism +which would destroy all individual initiative and would ruin the +country with a completeness that not even an unrestrained individualism +itself could achieve. The danger to American democracy lies not in the +least in the concentration of administrative power in responsible and +accountable hands. It lies in having the power insufficiently +concentrated, so that no one can be held responsible to the people for +its use. Concentrated power is palpable, visible, responsible, easily +reached, quickly held to account. Power scattered through many +administrators, many legislators, many men who work behind and through +legislators and administrators, is impalpable, is unseen, is +irresponsible, can not be reached, can not be held to account. +Democracy is in peril wherever the administration of political power is +scattered among a variety of men who work in secret, whose very names +are unknown to the common people. It is not in peril from any man who +derives authority from the people, who exercises it in sight of the +people, and who is from time to time compelled to give an account of +its exercise to the people. + +LABOR. + +There are many matters affecting labor and the status of the +wage-worker to which I should like to draw your attention, but an +exhaustive discussion of the problem in all its aspects is not now +necessary. This administration is nearing its end; and, moreover, under +our form of government the solution of the problem depends upon the +action of the States as much as upon the action of the Nation. +Nevertheless, there are certain considerations which I wish to set +before you, because I hope that our people will more and more keep them +in mind. A blind and ignorant resistance to every effort for the reform +of abuses and for the readjustment of society to modern industrial +conditions represents not true conservatism, but an incitement to the +wildest radicalism; for wise radicalism and wise conservatism go hand +in hand, one bent on progress, the other bent on seeing that no change +is made unless in the right direction. I believe in a steady effort, or +perhaps it would be more accurate to say in steady efforts in many +different directions, to bring about a condition of affairs under which +the men who work with hand or with brain, the laborers, the +superintendents, the men who produce for the market and the men who +find a market for the articles produced, shall own a far greater share +than at present of the wealth they produce, and be enabled to invest it +in the tools and instruments by which all work is carried on. As far as +possible I hope to see a frank recognition of the advantages conferred +by machinery, organization, and division of labor, accompanied by an +effort to bring about a larger share in the ownership by wage-worker of +railway, mill and factory. In farming, this simply means that we wish +to see the farmer own his own land; we do not wish to see the farms so +large that they become the property of absentee landlords who farm them +by tenants, nor yet so small that the farmer becomes like a European +peasant. Again, the depositors in our savings banks now number over +one-tenth of our entire population. These are all capitalists, who +through the savings banks loan their money to the workers--that is, in +many cases to themselves--to carry on their various industries. The +more we increase their number, the more we introduce the principles of +cooperation into our industry. Every increase in the number of small +stockholders in corporations is a good thing, for the same reasons; and +where the employees are the stockholders the result is particularly +good. Very much of this movement must be outside of anything that can +be accomplished by legislation; but legislation can do a good deal. +Postal savings banks will make it easy for the poorest to keep their +savings in absolute safety. The regulation of the national highways +must be such that they shall serve all people with equal justice. +Corporate finances must be supervised so as to make it far safer than +at present for the man of small means to invest his money in stocks. +There must be prohibition of child labor, diminution of woman labor, +shortening of hours of all mechanical labor; stock watering should be +prohibited, and stock gambling so far as is possible discouraged. There +should be a progressive inheritance tax on large fortunes. Industrial +education should be encouraged. As far as possible we should lighten +the burden of taxation on the small man. We should put a premium upon +thrift, hard work, and business energy; but these qualities cease to be +the main factors in accumulating a fortune long before that fortune +reaches a point where it would be seriously affected by any inheritance +tax such as I propose. It is eminently right that the Nation should fix +the terms upon which the great fortunes are inherited. They rarely do +good and they often do harm to those who inherit them in their +entirety. + +PROTECTION FOR WAGEWORKERS. + +The above is the merest sketch, hardly even a sketch in outline, of the +reforms for which we should work. But there is one matter with which +the Congress should deal at this session. There should no longer be any +paltering with the question of taking care of the wage-workers who, +under our present industrial system, become killed, crippled, or worn +out as part of the regular incidents of a given business. The majority +of wageworkers must have their rights secured for them by State action; +but the National Government should legislate in thoroughgoing and +far-reaching fashion not only for all employees of the National +Government, but for all persons engaged in interstate commerce. The +object sought for could be achieved to a measurable degree, as far as +those killed or crippled are concerned, by proper employers' liability +laws. As far as concerns those who have been worn out, I call your +attention to the fact that definite steps toward providing old-age +pensions have been taken in many of our private industries. These may +be indefinitely extended through voluntary association and contributory +schemes, or through the agency of savings banks, as under the recent +Massachusetts plan. To strengthen these practical measures should be +our immediate duty; it is not at present necessary to consider the +larger and more general governmental schemes that most European +governments have found themselves obliged to adopt. + +Our present system, or rather no system, works dreadful wrong, and is +of benefit to only one class of people--the lawyers. When a workman is +injured what he needs is not an expensive and doubtful lawsuit, but the +certainty of relief through immediate administrative action. The number +of accidents which result in the death or crippling of wageworkers, in +the Union at large, is simply appalling; in a very few years it runs up +a total far in excess of the aggregate of the dead and wounded in any +modern war. No academic theory about "freedom of contract" or +"constitutional liberty to contract" should be permitted to interfere +with this and similar movements. Progress in civilization has +everywhere meant a limitation and regulation of contract. I call your +especial attention to the bulletin of the Bureau of Labor which gives a +statement of the methods of treating the unemployed in European +countries, as this is a subject which in Germany, for instance, is +treated in connection with making provision for worn-out and crippled +workmen. + +Pending a thoroughgoing investigation and action there is certain +legislation which should be enacted at once. The law, passed at the +last session of the Congress, granting compensation to certain classes +of employees of the Government, should be extended to include all +employees of the Government and should be made more liberal in its +terms. There is no good ground for the distinction made in the law +between those engaged in hazardous occupations and those not so +engaged. If a man is injured or killed in any line of work, it was +hazardous in his case. Whether 1 per cent or 10 per cent of those +following a given occupation actually suffer injury or death ought not +to have any bearing on the question of their receiving compensation. It +is a grim logic which says to an injured employee or to the dependents +of one killed that he or they are entitled to no compensation because +very few people other than he have been injured or killed in that +occupation. Perhaps one of the most striking omissions in the law is +that it does not embrace peace officers and others whose lives may be +sacrificed in enforcing the laws of the United States. The terms of the +act providing compensation should be made more liberal than in the +present act. A year's compensation is not adequate for a wage-earner's +family in the event of his death by accident in the course of his +employment. And in the event of death occurring, say, ten or eleven +months after the accident, the family would only receive as +compensation the equivalent of one or two months' earnings. In this +respect the generosity of the United States towards its employees +compares most unfavorably with that of every country in Europe--even +the poorest. + +The terms of the act are also a hardship in prohibiting payment in +cases where the accident is in any way due to the negligence of the +employee. It is inevitable that daily familiarity with danger will lead +men to take chances that can be construed into negligence. So well is +this recognized that in practically all countries in the civilized +world, except the United States, only a great degree of negligence acts +as a bar to securing compensation. Probably in no other respect is our +legislation, both State and National, so far behind practically the +entire civilized world as in the matter of liability and compensation +for accidents in industry. It is humiliating that at European +international congresses on accidents the United States should be +singled out as the most belated among the nations in respect to +employers' liability legislation. This Government is itself a large +employer of labor, and in its dealings with its employees it should set +a standard in this country which would place it on a par with the most +progressive countries in Europe. The laws of the United States in this +respect and the laws of European countries have been summarized in a +recent Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, and no American who reads this +summary can fail to be struck by the great contrast between our +practices and theirs--a contrast not in any sense to our credit. + +The Congress should without further delay pass a model employers' +liability law for the District of Columbia. The employers' liability +act recently declared unconstitutional, on account of apparently +including in its provisions employees engaged in intrastate commerce as +well as those engaged in interstate commerce, has been held by the +local courts to be still in effect so far as its provisions apply to +District of Columbia. There should be no ambiguity on this point. If +there is any doubt on the subject, the law should be reenacted with +special reference to the District of Columbia. This act, however, +applies only to employees of common carriers. In all other occupations +the liability law of the District is the old common law. The severity +and injustice of the common law in this matter has been in some degree +or another modified in the majority of our States, and the only +jurisdiction under the exclusive control of the Congress should be +ahead and not behind the States of the Union in this respect. A +comprehensive employers' liability law should be passed for the +District of Columbia. + +I renew my recommendation made in a previous message that half-holidays +be granted during summer to all wageworkers in Government employ. + +I also renew my recommendation that the principle of the eight-hour day +should as rapidly and as far as practicable be extended to the entire +work being carried on by the Government; the present law should be +amended to embrace contracts on those public works which the present +wording of the act seems to exclude. + +THE COURTS. + +I most earnestly urge upon the Congress the duty of increasing the +totally inadequate salaries now given to our Judges. On the whole there +is no body of public servants who do as valuable work, nor whose +moneyed reward is so inadequate compared to their work. Beginning with +the Supreme Court, the Judges should have their salaries doubled. It is +not befitting the dignity of the Nation that its most honored public +servants should be paid sums so small compared to what they would earn +in private life that the performance of public service by them implies +an exceedingly heavy pecuniary sacrifice. + +It is earnestly to be desired that some method should be devised for +doing away with the long delays which now obtain in the administration +of justice, and which operate with peculiar severity against persons of +small means, and favor only the very criminals whom it is most +desirable to punish. These long delays in the final decisions of cases +make in the aggregate a crying evil; and a remedy should be devised. +Much of this intolerable delay is due to improper regard paid to +technicalities which are a mere hindrance to justice. In some noted +recent cases this over-regard for technicalities has resulted in a +striking denial of justice, and flagrant wrong to the body politic. + +At the last election certain leaders of organized labor made a violent +and sweeping attack upon the entire judiciary of the country, an attack +couched in such terms as to include the most upright, honest and +broad-minded judges, no less than those of narrower mind and more +restricted outlook. It was the kind of attack admirably fitted to +prevent any successful attempt to reform abuses of the judiciary, +because it gave the champions of the unjust judge their eagerly desired +opportunity to shift their ground into a championship of just judges +who were unjustly assailed. Last year, before the House Committee on +the Judiciary, these same labor leaders formulated their demands, +specifying the bill that contained them, refusing all compromise, +stating they wished the principle of that bill or nothing. They +insisted on a provision that in a labor dispute no injunction should +issue except to protect a property right, and specifically provided +that the right to carry on business should not be construed as a +property right; and in a second provision their bill made legal in a +labor dispute any act or agreement by or between two or more persons +that would not have been unlawful if done by a single person. In other +words, this bill legalized blacklisting and boycotting in every form, +legalizing, for instance, those forms of the secondary boycott which +the anthracite coal strike commission so unreservedly condemned; while +the right to carry on a business was explicitly taken out from under +that protection which the law throws over property. The demand was made +that there should be trial by jury in contempt cases, thereby most +seriously impairing the authority of the courts. All this represented a +course of policy which, if carried out, would mean the enthronement of +class privilege in its crudest and most brutal form, and the +destruction of one of the most essential functions of the judiciary in +all civilized lands. + +The violence of the crusade for this legislation, and its complete +failure, illustrate two truths which it is essential our people should +learn. In the first place, they ought to teach the workingman, the +laborer, the wageworker, that by demanding what is improper and +impossible he plays into the hands of his foes. Such a crude and +vicious attack upon the courts, even if it were temporarily successful, +would inevitably in the end cause a violent reaction and would band the +great mass of citizens together, forcing them to stand by all the +judges, competent and incompetent alike, rather than to see the wheels +of justice stopped. A movement of this kind can ultimately result in +nothing but damage to those in whose behalf it is nominally undertaken. +This is a most healthy truth, which it is wise for all our people to +learn. Any movement based on that class hatred which at times assumes +the name of "class consciousness" is certain ultimately to fail, and if +it temporarily succeeds, to do far-reaching damage. "Class +consciousness," where it is merely another name for the odious vice of +class selfishness, is equally noxious whether in an employer's +association or in a workingman's association. The movement in question +was one in which the appeal was made to all workingmen to vote +primarily, not as American citizens, but as individuals of a certain +class in society. Such an appeal in the first place revolts the more +high-minded and far-sighted among the persons to whom it is addressed, +and in the second place tends to arouse a strong antagonism among all +other classes of citizens, whom it therefore tends to unite against the +very organization on whose behalf it is issued. The result is therefore +unfortunate from every standpoint. This healthy truth, by the way, will +be learned by the socialists if they ever succeed in establishing in +this country an important national party based on such class +consciousness and selfish class interest. + +The wageworkers, the workingmen, the laboring men of the country, by +the way in which they repudiated the effort to get them to cast their +votes in response to an appeal to class hatred, have emphasized their +sound patriotism and Americanism. The whole country has cause to fell +pride in this attitude of sturdy independence, in this uncompromising +insistence upon acting simply as good citizens, as good Americans, +without regard to fancied--and improper--class interests. Such an +attitude is an object-lesson in good citizenship to the entire nation. + +But the extreme reactionaries, the persons who blind themselves to the +wrongs now and then committed by the courts on laboring men, should +also think seriously as to what such a movement as this portends. The +judges who have shown themselves able and willing effectively to check +the dishonest activity of the very rich man who works iniquity by the +mismanagement of corporations, who have shown themselves alert to do +justice to the wageworker, and sympathetic with the needs of the mass +of our people, so that the dweller in the tenement houses, the man who +practices a dangerous trade, the man who is crushed by excessive hours +of labor, feel that their needs are understood by the courts--these +judges are the real bulwark of the courts; these judges, the judges of +the stamp of the president-elect, who have been fearless in opposing +labor when it has gone wrong, but fearless also in holding to strict +account corporations that work iniquity, and far-sighted in seeing that +the workingman gets his rights, are the men of all others to whom we +owe it that the appeal for such violent and mistaken legislation has +fallen on deaf ears, that the agitation for its passage proved to be +without substantial basis. The courts are jeopardized primarily by the +action of those Federal and State judges who show inability or +unwillingness to put a stop to the wrongdoing of very rich men under +modern industrial conditions, and inability or unwillingness to give +relief to men of small means or wageworkers who are crushed down by +these modern industrial conditions; who, in other words, fail to +understand and apply the needed remedies for the new wrongs produced by +the new and highly complex social and industrial civilization which has +grown up in the last half century. + +The rapid changes in our social and industrial life which have attended +this rapid growth have made it necessary that, in applying to concrete +cases the great rule of right laid down in our Constitution, there +should be a full understanding and appreciation of the new conditions +to which the rules are to be applied. What would have been an +infringement upon liberty half a century ago may be the necessary +safeguard of liberty to-day. What would have been an injury to property +then may be necessary to the enjoyment of property now. Every judicial +decision involves two terms--one, as interpretation of the law; the +other, the understanding of the facts to which it is to be applied. The +great mass of our judicial officers are, I believe, alive to those +changes of conditions which so materially affect the performance of +their judicial duties. Our judicial system is sound and effective at +core, and it remains, and must ever be maintained, as the safeguard of +those principles of liberty and justice which stand at the foundation +of American institutions; for, as Burke finely said, when liberty and +justice are separated, neither is safe. There are, however, some +members of the judicial body who have lagged behind in their +understanding of these great and vital changes in the body politic, +whose minds have never been opened to the new applications of the old +principles made necessary by the new conditions. Judges of this stamp +do lasting harm by their decisions, because they convince poor men in +need of protection that the courts of the land are profoundly ignorant +of and out of sympathy with their needs, and profoundly indifferent or +hostile to any proposed remedy. To such men it seems a cruel mockery to +have any court decide against them on the ground that it desires to +preserve "liberty" in a purely technical form, by withholding liberty +in any real and constructive sense. It is desirable that the +legislative body should possess, and wherever necessary exercise, the +power to determine whether in a given case employers and employees are +not on an equal footing, so that the necessities of the latter compel +them to submit to such exactions as to hours and conditions of labor as +unduly to tax their strength; and only mischief can result when such +determination is upset on the ground that there must be no +"interference with the liberty to contract"--often a merely academic +"liberty," the exercise of which is the negation of real liberty. + +There are certain decisions by various courts which have been +exceedingly detrimental to the rights of wageworkers. This is true of +all the decisions that decide that men and women are, by the +Constitution, "guaranteed their liberty" to contract to enter a +dangerous occupation, or to work an undesirable or improper number of +hours, or to work in unhealthy surroundings; and therefore can not +recover damages when maimed in that occupation and can not be forbidden +to work what the legislature decides is an excessive number of hours, +or to carry on the work under conditions which the legislature decides +to be unhealthy. The most dangerous occupations are often the poorest +paid and those where the hours of work are longest; and in many cases +those who go into them are driven by necessity so great that they have +practically no alternative. Decisions such as those alluded to above +nullify the legislative effort to protect the wage-workers who most +need protection from those employers who take advantage of their +grinding need. They halt or hamper the movement for securing better and +more equitable conditions of labor. The talk about preserving to the +misery-hunted beings who make contracts for such service their +"liberty" to make them, is either to speak in a spirit of heartless +irony or else to show an utter lack of knowledge of the conditions of +life among the great masses of our fellow-countrymen, a lack which +unfits a judge to do good service just as it would unfit any executive +or legislative officer. + +There is also, I think, ground for the belief that substantial +injustice is often suffered by employees in consequence of the custom +of courts issuing temporary injunctions without notice to them, and +punishing them for contempt of court in instances where, as a matter of +fact, they have no knowledge of any proceedings. Outside of organized +labor there is a widespread feeling that this system often works great +injustice to wageworkers when their efforts to better their working +condition result in industrial disputes. A temporary injunction +procured ex parte may as a matter of fact have all the effect of a +permanent injunction in causing disaster to the wageworkers' side in +such a dispute. Organized labor is chafing under the unjust restraint +which comes from repeated resort to this plan of procedure. Its +discontent has been unwisely expressed, and often improperly expressed, +but there is a sound basis for it, and the orderly and law-abiding +people of a community would be in a far stronger position for upholding +the courts if the undoubtedly existing abuses could be provided +against. + +Such proposals as those mentioned above as advocated by the extreme +labor leaders contain the vital error of being class legislation of the +most offensive kind, and even if enacted into law I believe that the +law would rightly be held unconstitutional. Moreover, the labor people +are themselves now beginning to invoke the use of the power of +injunction. During the last ten years, and within my own knowledge, at +least fifty injunctions have been obtained by labor unions in New York +City alone, most of them being to protect the union label (a "property +right"), but some being obtained for other reasons against employers. +The power of injunction is a great equitable remedy, which should on no +account be destroyed. But safeguards should be erected against its +abuse. I believe that some such provisions as those I advocated a year +ago for checking the abuse of the issuance of temporary injunctions +should be adopted. In substance, provision should be made that no +injunction or temporary restraining order issue otherwise than on +notice, except where irreparable injury would otherwise result; and in +such case a hearing on the merits of the order should be had within a +short fixed period, and, if not then continued after hearing, it should +forthwith lapse. Decisions should be rendered immediately, and the +chance of delay minimized in every way. Moreover, I believe that the +procedure should be sharply defined, and the judge required minutely to +state the particulars both of his action and of his reasons therefor, +so that the Congress can, if it desires, examine and investigate the +same. + +The chief lawmakers in our country may be, and often are, the judges, +because they are the final seat of authority. Every time they interpret +contract, property, vested rights, due process of law, liberty, they +necessarily enact into law parts of a system of social philosophy, and +as such interpretation is fundamental, they give direction to all +law-making. The decisions of the courts on economic and social +questions depend upon their economic and social philosophy; and for the +peaceful progress of our people during the twentieth century we shall +owe most to those judges who hold to a twentieth century economic and +social philosophy and not to a long outgrown philosophy, which was +itself the product of primitive economic conditions. Of course a +judge's views on progressive social philosophy are entirely second in +importance to his possession of a high and fine character; which means +the possession of such elementary virtues as honesty, courage, and +fair-mindedness. The judge who owes his election to pandering to +demagogic sentiments or class hatreds and prejudices, and the judge who +owes either his election or his appointment to the money or the favor +of a great corporation, are alike unworthy to sit on the bench, are +alike traitors to the people; and no profundity of legal learning, or +correctness of abstract conviction on questions of public policy, can +serve as an offset to such shortcomings. But it is also true that +judges, like executives and legislators, should hold sound views on the +questions of public policy which are of vital interest to the people. + +The legislators and executives are chosen to represent the people in +enacting and administering the laws. The judges are not chosen to +represent the people in this sense. Their function is to interpret the +laws. The legislators are responsible for the laws; the judges for the +spirit in which they interpret and enforce the laws. We stand aloof +from the reckless agitators who would make the judges mere pliant tools +of popular prejudice and passion; and we stand aloof from those equally +unwise partisans of reaction and privilege who deny the proposition +that, inasmuch as judges are chosen to serve the interests of the whole +people, they should strive to find out what those interests are, and, +so far as they conscientiously can, should strive to give effect to +popular conviction when deliberately and duly expressed by the +lawmaking body. The courts are to be highly commended and staunchly +upheld when they set their faces against wrongdoing or tyranny by a +majority; but they are to be blamed when they fail to recognize under a +government like ours the deliberate judgment of the majority as to a +matter of legitimate policy, when duly expressed by the legislature. +Such lawfully expressed and deliberate judgment should be given effect +by the courts, save in the extreme and exceptional cases where there +has been a clear violation of a constitutional provision. Anything like +frivolity or wantonness in upsetting such clearly taken governmental +action is a grave offense against the Republic. To protest against +tyranny, to protect minorities from oppression, to nullify an act +committed in a spasm of popular fury, is to render a service to the +Republic. But for the courts to arrogate to themselves functions which +properly belong to the legislative bodies is all wrong, and in the end +works mischief. The people should not be permitted to pardon evil and +slipshod legislation on the theory that the court will set it right; +they should be taught that the right way to get rid of a bad law is to +have the legislature repeal it, and not to have the courts by ingenious +hair-splitting nullify it. A law may be unwise and improper; but it +should not for these reasons be declared unconstitutional by a strained +interpretation, for the result of such action is to take away from the +people at large their sense of responsibility and ultimately to destroy +their capacity for orderly self restraint and self government. Under +such a popular government as ours, rounded on the theory that in the +long run the will of the people is supreme, the ultimate safety of the +Nation can only rest in training and guiding the people so that what +they will shall be right, and not in devising means to defeat their +will by the technicalities of strained construction. + +For many of the shortcomings of justice in our country our people as a +whole are themselves to blame, and the judges and juries merely bear +their share together with the public as a whole. It is discreditable to +us as a people that there should be difficulty in convicting murderers, +or in bringing to justice men who as public servants have been guilty +of corruption, or who have profited by the corruption of public +servants. The result is equally unfortunate, whether due to +hairsplitting technicalities in the interpretation of law by judges, to +sentimentality and class consciousness on the part of juries, or to +hysteria and sensationalism in the daily press. For much of this +failure of justice no responsibility whatever lies on rich men as such. +We who make up the mass of the people can not shift the responsibility +from our own shoulders. But there is an important part of the failure +which has specially to do with inability to hold to proper account men +of wealth who behave badly. + +The chief breakdown is in dealing with the new relations that arise +from the mutualism, the interdependence of our time. Every new social +relation begets a new type of wrongdoing--of sin, to use an +old-fashioned word--and many years always elapse before society is able +to turn this sin into crime which can be effectively punished at law. +During the lifetime of the older men now alive the social relations +have changed far more rapidly than in the preceding two centuries. The +immense growth of corporations, of business done by associations, and +the extreme strain and pressure of modern life, have produced +conditions which render the public confused as to who its really +dangerous foes are; and among the public servants who have not only +shared this confusion, but by some of their acts have increased it, are +certain judges. Marked inefficiency has been shown in dealing with +corporations and in re-settling the proper attitude to be taken by the +public not only towards corporations, but towards labor and towards the +social questions arising out of the factory system and the enormous +growth of our great cities. + +The huge wealth that has been accumulated by a few individuals of +recent years, in what has amounted to a social and industrial +revolution, has been as regards some of these individuals made possible +only by the improper use of the modern corporation. A certain type of +modern corporation, with its officers and agents, its many issues of +securities, and its constant consolidation with allied undertakings, +finally becomes an instrument so complex as to contain a greater number +of elements that, under various judicial decisions, lend themselves to +fraud and oppression than any device yet evolved in the human brain. +Corporations are necessary instruments of modern business. They have +been permitted to become a menace largely because the governmental +representatives of the people have worked slowly in providing for +adequate control over them. + +The chief offender in any given case may be an executive, a +legislature, or a judge. Every executive head who advises violent, +instead of gradual, action, or who advocates ill-considered and +sweeping measures of reform (especially if they are tainted with +vindictiveness and disregard for the rights of the minority) is +particularly blameworthy. The several legislatures are responsible for +the fact that our laws are often prepared with slovenly haste and lack +of consideration. Moreover, they are often prepared, and still more +frequently amended during passage, at the suggestion of the very +parties against whom they are afterwards enforced. Our great clusters +of corporations, huge trusts and fabulously wealthy multi-millionaires, +employ the very best lawyers they can obtain to pick flaws in these +statutes after their passage; but they also employ a class of secret +agents who seek, under the advice of experts, to render hostile +legislation innocuous by making it unconstitutional, often through the +insertion of what appear on their face to be drastic and sweeping +provisions against the interests of the parties inspiring them; while +the demagogues, the corrupt creatures who introduce blackmailing +schemes to "strike" corporations, and all who demand extreme, and +undesirably radical, measures, show themselves to be the worst enemies +of the very public whose loud-mouthed champions they profess to be. A +very striking illustration of the consequences of carelessness in the +preparation of a statute was the employers' liability law of 1906. In +the cases arising under that law, four out of six courts of first +instance held it unconstitutional; six out of nine justices of the +Supreme Court held that its subject-matter was within the province of +congressional action; and four of the nine justices held it valid. It +was, however, adjudged unconstitutional by a bare majority of the +court--five to four. It was surely a very slovenly piece of work to +frame the legislation in such shape as to leave the question open at +all. + +Real damage has been done by the manifold and conflicting +interpretations of the interstate commerce law. Control over the great +corporations doing interstate business can be effective only if it is +vested with full power in an administrative department, a branch of the +Federal executive, carrying out a Federal law; it can never be +effective if a divided responsibility is left in both the States and +the Nation; it can never be effective if left in the hands of the +courts to be decided by lawsuits. + +The courts hold a place of peculiar and deserved sanctity under our +form of government. Respect for the law is essential to the permanence +of our institutions; and respect for the law is largely conditioned +upon respect for the courts. It is an offense against the Republic to +say anything which can weaken this respect, save for the gravest reason +and in the most carefully guarded manner. Our judges should be held in +peculiar honor; and the duty of respectful and truthful comment and +criticism, which should be binding when we speak of anybody, should be +especially binding when we speak of them. On an average they stand +above any other servants of the community, and the greatest judges have +reached the high level held by those few greatest patriots whom the +whole country delights to honor. But we must face the fact that there +are wise and unwise judges, just as there are wise and unwise +executives and legislators. When a president or a governor behaves +improperly or unwisely, the remedy is easy, for his term is short; the +same is true with the legislator, although not to the same degree, for +he is one of many who belong to some given legislative body, and it is +therefore less easy to fix his personal responsibility and hold him +accountable therefor. With a judge, who, being human, is also likely to +err, but whose tenure is for life, there is no similar way of holding +him to responsibility. Under ordinary conditions the only forms of +pressure to which he is in any way amenable are public opinion and the +action of his fellow judges. It is the last which is most immediately +effective, and to which we should look for the reform of abuses. Any +remedy applied from without is fraught with risk. It is far better, +from every standpoint, that the remedy should come from within. In no +other nation in the world do the courts wield such vast and +far-reaching power as in the United States. All that is necessary is +that the courts as a whole should exercise this power with the +farsighted wisdom already shown by those judges who scan the future +while they act in the present. Let them exercise this great power not +only honestly and bravely, but with wise insight into the needs and +fixed purposes of the people, so that they may do justice and work +equity, so that they may protect all persons in their rights, and yet +break down the barriers of privilege, which is the foe of right. + +FORESTS. + +If there is any one duty which more than another we owe it to our +children and our children's children to perform at once, it is to save +the forests of this country, for they constitute the first and most +important element in the conservation of the natural resources of the +country. There are of course two kinds of natural resources, One is the +kind which can only be used as part of a process of exhaustion; this is +true of mines, natural oil and gas wells, and the like. The other, and +of course ultimately by far the most important, includes the resources +which can be improved in the process of wise use; the soil, the rivers, +and the forests come under this head. Any really civilized nation will +so use all of these three great national assets that the nation will +have their benefit in the future. Just as a farmer, after all his life +making his living from his farm, will, if he is an expert farmer, leave +it as an asset of increased value to his son, so we should leave our +national domain to our children, increased in value and not worn out. +There are small sections of our own country, in the East and the West, +in the Adriondacks, the White Mountains, and the Appalachians, and in +the Rocky Mountains, where we can already see for ourselves the damage +in the shape of permanent injury to the soil and the river systems +which comes from reckless deforestation. It matters not whether this +deforestation is due to the actual reckless cutting of timber, to the +fires that inevitably follow such reckless cutting of timber, or to +reckless and uncontrolled grazing, especially by the great migratory +bands of sheep, the unchecked wandering of which over the country means +destruction to forests and disaster to the small home makers, the +settlers of limited means. + +Shortsighted persons, or persons blinded to the future by desire to +make money in every way out of the present, sometimes speak as if no +great damage would be done by the reckless destruction of our forests. +It is difficult to have patience with the arguments of these persons. +Thanks to our own recklessness in the use of our splendid forests, we +have already crossed the verge of a timber famine in this country, and +no measures that we now take can, at least for many years, undo the +mischief that has already been done. But we can prevent further +mischief being done; and it would be in the highest degree +reprehensible to let any consideration of temporary convenience or +temporary cost interfere with such action, especially as regards the +National Forests which the nation can now, at this very moment, +control. + +All serious students of the question are aware of the great damage that +has been done in the Mediterranean countries of Europe, Asia, and +Africa by deforestation. The similar damage that has been done in +Eastern Asia is less well known. A recent investigation into conditions +in North China by Mr. Frank N. Meyer, of the Bureau of Plant Industry +of the United States Department of Agriculture, has incidentally +furnished in very striking fashion proof of the ruin that comes from +reckless deforestation of mountains, and of the further fact that the +damage once done may prove practically irreparable. So important are +these investigations that I herewith attach as an appendix to my +message certain photographs showing present conditions in China. They +show in vivid fashion the appalling desolation, taking the shape of +barren mountains and gravel and sand-covered plains, which immediately +follows and depends upon the deforestation of the mountains. Not many +centuries ago the country of northern China was one of the most fertile +and beautiful spots in the entire world, and was heavily forested. We +know this not only from the old Chinese records, but from the accounts +given by the traveler, Marco Polo. He, for instance, mentions that in +visiting the provinces of Shansi and Shensi he observed many +plantations of mulberry trees. Now there is hardly a single mulberry +tree in either of these provinces, and the culture of the silkworm has +moved farther south, to regions of atmospheric moisture. As an +illustration of the complete change in the rivers, we may take Polo's +statement that a certain river, the Hun Ho, was so large and deep that +merchants ascended it from the sea with heavily laden boats; today this +river is simply a broad sandy bed, with shallow, rapid currents +wandering hither and thither across it, absolutely unnavigable. But we +do not have to depend upon written records. The dry wells, and the +wells with water far below the former watermark, bear testimony to the +good days of the past and the evil days of the present. Wherever the +native vegetation has been allowed to remain, as, for instance, here +and there around a sacred temple or imperial burying ground, there are +still huge trees and tangled jungle, fragments of the glorious ancient +forests. The thick, matted forest growth formerly covered the mountains +to their summits. All natural factors favored this dense forest growth, +and as long as it was permitted to exist the plains at the foot of the +mountains were among the most fertile on the globe, and the whole +country was a garden. Not the slightest effort was made, however, to +prevent the unchecked cutting of the trees, or to secure reforestation. +Doubtless for many centuries the tree-cutting by the inhabitants of the +mountains worked but slowly in bringing about the changes that have now +come to pass; doubtless for generations the inroads were scarcely +noticeable. But there came a time when the forest had shrunk +sufficiently to make each year's cutting a serious matter, and from +that time on the destruction proceeded with appalling rapidity; for of +course each year of destruction rendered the forest less able to +recuperate, less able to resist next year's inroad. Mr. Meyer describes +the ceaseless progress of the destruction even now, when there is so +little left to destroy. Every morning men and boys go out armed with +mattox or axe, scale the steepest mountain sides, and cut down and grub +out, root and branch, the small trees and shrubs still to be found. The +big trees disappeared centuries ago, so that now one of these is never +seen save in the neighborhood of temples, where they are artificially +protected; and even here it takes all the watch and care of the +tree-loving priests to prevent their destruction. Each family, each +community, where there is no common care exercised in the interest of +all of them to prevent deforestation, finds its profit in the immediate +use of the fuel which would otherwise be used by some other family or +some other community. In the total absence of regulation of the matter +in the interest of the whole people, each small group is inevitably +pushed into a policy of destruction which can not afford to take +thought for the morrow. This is just one of those matters which it is +fatal to leave to unsupervised individual control. The forest can only +be protected by the State, by the Nation; and the liberty of action of +individuals must be conditioned upon what the State or Nation +determines to be necessary for the common safety. + +The lesson of deforestation in China is a lesson which mankind should +have learned many times already from what has occurred in other places. +Denudation leaves naked soil; then gullying cuts down to the bare rock; +and meanwhile the rock-waste buries the bottomlands. When the soil is +gone, men must go; and the process does not take long. + +This ruthless destruction of the forests in northern China has brought +about, or has aided in bringing about, desolation, just as the +destruction of the forests in central Asia aid in bringing ruin to the +once rich central Asian cities; just as the destruction of the forest +in northern Africa helped towards the ruin of a region that was a +fertile granary in Roman days. Shortsighted man, whether barbaric, +semi-civilized, or what he mistakenly regards as fully civilized, when +he has destroyed the forests, has rendered certain the ultimate +destruction of the land itself. In northern China the mountains are now +such as are shown by the accompanying photographs, absolutely barren +peaks. Not only have the forests been destroyed, but because of their +destruction the soil has been washed off the naked rock. The terrible +consequence is that it is impossible now to undo the damage that has +been done. Many centuries would have to pass before soil would again +collect, or could be made to collect, in sufficient quantity once more +to support the old-time forest growth. In consequence the Mongol Desert +is practically extending eastward over northern China. The climate has +changed and is still changing. It has changed even within the last half +century, as the work of tree destruction has been consummated. The +great masses of arboreal vegetation on the mountains formerly absorbed +the heat of the sun and sent up currents of cool air which brought the +moisture-laden clouds lower and forced them to precipitate in rain a +part of their burden of water. Now that there is no vegetation, the +barren mountains, scorched by the sun, send up currents of heated air +which drive away instead of attracting the rain clouds, and cause their +moisture to be disseminated. In consequence, instead of the regular and +plentiful rains which existed in these regions of China when the +forests were still in evidence, the unfortunate inhabitants of the +deforested lands now see their crops wither for lack of rainfall, while +the seasons grow more and more irregular; and as the air becomes dryer +certain crops refuse longer to grow at all. That everything dries out +faster than formerly is shown by the fact that the level of the wells +all over the land has sunk perceptibly, many of them having become +totally dry. In addition to the resulting agricultural distress, the +watercourses have changed. Formerly they were narrow and deep, with an +abundance of clear water the year around; for the roots and humus of +the forests caught the rainwater and let it escape by slow, regular +seepage. They have now become broad, shallow stream beds, in which +muddy water trickles in slender currents during the dry seasons, while +when it rains there are freshets, and roaring muddy torrents come +tearing down, bringing disaster and destruction everywhere. Moreover, +these floods and freshets, which diversify the general dryness, wash +away from the mountain sides, and either wash away or cover in the +valleys, the rich fertile soil which it took tens of thousands of years +for Nature to form; and it is lost forever, and until the forests grow +again it can not be replaced. The sand and stones from the mountain +sides are washed loose and come rolling down to cover the arable lands, +and in consequence, throughout this part of China, many formerly rich +districts are now sandy wastes, useless for human cultivation and even +for pasture. The cities have been of course seriously affected, for the +streams have gradually ceased to be navigable. There is testimony that +even within the memory of men now living there has been a serious +diminution of the rainfall of northeastern China. The level of the +Sungari River in northern Manchuria has been sensibly lowered during +the last fifty years, at least partly as the result of the +indiscriminate rutting of the forests forming its watershed. Almost all +the rivers of northern China have become uncontrollable, and very +dangerous to the dwellers along their banks, as a direct result of the +destruction of the forests. The journey from Pekin to Jehol shows in +melancholy fashion how the soil has been washed away from whole +valleys, so that they have been converted into deserts. + +In northern China this disastrous process has gone on so long and has +proceeded so far that no complete remedy could be applied. There are +certain mountains in China from which the soil is gone so utterly that +only the slow action of the ages could again restore it; although of +course much could be done to prevent the still further eastward +extension of the Mongolian Desert if the Chinese Government would act +at once. The accompanying cuts from photographs show the inconceivable +desolation of the barren mountains in which certain of these rivers +rise--mountains, be it remembered, which formerly supported dense +forests of larches and firs, now unable to produce any wood, and +because of their condition a source of danger to the whole country. The +photographs also show the same rivers after they have passed through +the mountains, the beds having become broad and sandy because of the +deforestation of the mountains. One of the photographs shows a caravan +passing through a valley. Formerly, when the mountains were forested, +it was thickly peopled by prosperous peasants. Now the floods have +carried destruction all over the land and the valley is a stony desert. +Another photograph shows a mountain road covered with the stones and +rocks that are brought down in the rainy season from the mountains +which have already been deforested by human hands. Another shows a +pebbly river-bed in southern Manchuria where what was once a great +stream has dried up owing to the deforestation in the mountains. Only +some scrub wood is left, which will disappear within a half century. +Yet another shows the effect of one of the washouts, destroying an +arable mountain side, these washouts being due to the removal of all +vegetation; yet in this photograph the foreground shows that +reforestation is still a possibility in places. + +What has thus happened in northern China, what has happened in Central +Asia, in Palestine, in North Africa, in parts of the Mediterranean +countries of Europe, will surely happen in our country if we do not +exercise that wise forethought which should be one of the chief marks +of any people calling itself civilized. Nothing should be permitted to +stand in the way of the preservation of the forests, and it is criminal +to permit individuals to purchase a little gain for themselves through +the destruction of forests when this destruction is fatal to the +well-being of the whole country in the future. + +INLAND WATERWAYS. + +Action should be begun forthwith, during the present session of the +Congress, for the improvement of our inland waterways--action which +will result in giving us not only navigable but navigated rivers. We +have spent hundreds of millions of dollars upon these waterways, yet +the traffic on nearly all of them is steadily declining. This condition +is the direct result of the absence of any comprehensive and far-seeing +plan of waterway improvement, Obviously we can not continue thus to +expend the revenues of the Government without return. It is poor +business to spend money for inland navigation unless we get it. + +Inquiry into the condition of the Mississippi and its principal +tributaries reveals very many instances of the utter waste caused by +the methods which have hitherto obtained for the so-called +"improvement" of navigation. A striking instance is supplied by the +"improvement" of the Ohio, which, begun in 1824, was continued under a +single plan for half a century. In 1875 a new plan was adopted and +followed for a quarter of a century. In 1902 still a different plan was +adopted and has since been pursued at a rate which only promises a +navigable river in from twenty to one hundred years longer. + +Such shortsighted, vacillating, and futile methods are accompanied by +decreasing water-borne commerce and increasing traffic congestion on +land, by increasing floods, and by the waste of public money. The +remedy lies in abandoning the methods which have so signally failed and +adopting new ones in keeping with the needs and demands of our people. + +In a report on a measure introduced at the first session of the present +Congress, the Secretary of War said: "The chief defect in the methods +hitherto pursued lies in the absence of executive authority for +originating comprehensive plans covering the country or natural +divisions thereof." In this opinion I heartily concur. The present +methods not only fail to give us inland navigation, but they are +injurious to the army as well. What is virtually a permanent detail of +the corps of engineers to civilian duty necessarily impairs the +efficiency of our military establishment. The military engineers have +undoubtedly done efficient work in actual construction, but they are +necessarily unsuited by their training and traditions to take the broad +view, and to gather and transmit to the Congress the commercial and +industrial information and forecasts, upon which waterway improvement +must always so largely rest. Furthermore, they have failed to grasp the +great underlying fact that every stream is a unit from its source to +its mouth, and that all its uses are interdependent. Prominent officers +of the Engineer Corps have recently even gone so far as to assert in +print that waterways are not dependent upon the conservation of the +forests about their headwaters. This position is opposed to all the +recent work of the scientific bureaus of the Government and to the +general experience of mankind. A physician who disbelieved in +vaccination would not be the right man to handle an epidemic of +smallpox, nor should we leave a doctor skeptical about the transmission +of yellow fever by the Stegomyia mosquito in charge of sanitation at +Havana or Panama. So with the improvement of our rivers; it is no +longer wise or safe to leave this great work in the hands of men who +fail to grasp the essential relations between navigation and general +development and to assimilate and use the central facts about our +streams. + +Until the work of river improvement is undertaken in a modern way it +can not have results that will meet the needs of this modern nation. +These needs should be met without further dilly-dallying or delay. The +plan which promises the best and quickest results is that of a +permanent commission authorized to coordinate the work of all the +Government departments relating to waterways, and to frame and +supervise the execution of a comprehensive plan. Under such a +commission the actual work of construction might be entrusted to the +reclamation service; or to the military engineers acting with a +sufficient number of civilians to continue the work in time of war; or +it might be divided between the reclamation service and the corps of +engineers. Funds should be provided from current revenues if it is +deemed wise--otherwise from the sale of bonds. The essential thing is +that the work should go forward under the best possible plan, and with +the least possible delay. We should have a new type of work and a new +organization for planning and directing it. The time for playing with +our waterways is past. The country demands results. + +NATIONAL PARKS. + +I urge that all our National parks adjacent to National forests be +placed completely under the control of the forest service of the +Agricultural Department, instead of leaving them as they now are, under +the Interior Department and policed by the army. The Congress should +provide for superintendents with adequate corps of first-class civilian +scouts, or rangers, and, further, place the road construction under the +superintendent instead of leaving it with the War Department. Such a +change in park management would result in economy and avoid the +difficulties of administration which now arise from having the +responsibility of care and protection divided between different +departments. The need for this course is peculiarly great in the +Yellowstone Park. This, like the Yosemite, is a great wonderland, and +should be kept as a national playground. In both, all wild things +should be protected and the scenery kept wholly unmarred. + +I am happy to say that I have been able to set aside in various parts +of the country small, well-chosen tracts of ground to serve as +sanctuaries and nurseries for wild creatures. + +DENATURED ALCOHOL. + +I had occasion in my message of May 4, 1906, to urge the passage of +some law putting alcohol, used in the arts, industries, and +manufactures, upon the free list--that is, to provide for the +withdrawal free of tax of alcohol which is to be denatured for those +purposes. The law of June 7, 1906, and its amendment of March 2, 1907, +accomplished what was desired in that respect, and the use of denatured +alcohol, as intended, is making a fair degree of progress and is +entitled to further encouragement and support from the Congress. + +PURE FOOD. + +The pure food legislation has already worked a benefit difficult to +overestimate. + +INDIAN SERVICE. + +It has been my purpose from the beginning of my administration to take +the Indian Service completely out of the atmosphere of political +activity, and there has been steady progress toward that end. The last +remaining stronghold of politics in that service was the agency system, +which had seen its best days and was gradually falling to pieces from +natural or purely evolutionary causes, but, like all such survivals, +was decaying slowly in its later stages. It seems clear that its +extinction had better be made final now, so that the ground can be +cleared for larger constructive work on behalf of the Indians, +preparatory to their induction into the full measure of responsible +citizenship. On November 1 only eighteen agencies were left on the +roster; with two exceptions, where some legal questions seemed to stand +temporarily in the way, these have been changed to superintendencies, +and their heads brought into the classified civil service. + +SECRET SERVICE. + +Last year an amendment was incorporated in the measure providing for +the Secret Service, which provided that there should be no detail from +the Secret Service and no transfer therefrom. It is not too much to say +that this amendment has been of benefit only, and could be of benefit +only, to the criminal classes. If deliberately introduced for the +purpose of diminishing the effectiveness of war against crime it could +not have been better devised to this end. It forbade the practices that +had been followed to a greater or less extent by the executive heads of +various departments for twenty years. To these practices we owe the +securing of the evidence which enabled us to drive great lotteries out +of business and secure a quarter of a million of dollars in fines from +their promoters. These practices have enabled us to get some of the +evidence indispensable in order in connection with the theft of +government land and government timber by great corporations and by +individuals. These practices have enabled us to get some of the +evidence indispensable in order to secure the conviction of the +wealthiest and most formidable criminals with whom the Government has +to deal, both those operating in violation of the anti-trust law and +others. The amendment in question was of benefit to no one excepting to +these criminals, and it seriously hampers the Government in the +detection of crime and the securing of justice. Moreover, it not only +affects departments outside of the Treasury, but it tends to hamper the +Secretary of the Treasury himself in the effort to utilize the +employees of his department so as to best meet the requirements of the +public service. It forbids him from preventing frauds upon the customs +service, from investigating irregularities in branch mints and assay +offices, and has seriously crippled him. It prevents the promotion of +employees in the Secret Service, and this further discourages good +effort. In its present form the restriction operates only to the +advantage of the criminal, of the wrongdoer. The chief argument in +favor of the provision was that the Congressmen did not themselves wish +to be investigated by Secret Service men. Very little of such +investigation has been done in the past; but it is true that the work +of the Secret Service agents was partly responsible for the indictment +and conviction of a Senator and a Congressman for land frauds in +Oregon. I do not believe that it is in the public interest to protect +criminally in any branch of the public service, and exactly as we have +again and again during the past seven years prosecuted and convicted +such criminals who were in the executive branch of the Government, so +in my belief we should be given ample means to prosecute them if found +in the legislative branch. But if this is not considered desirable a +special exception could be made in the law prohibiting the use of the +Secret Service force in investigating members of the Congress. It would +be far better to do this than to do what actually was done, and strive +to prevent or at least to hamper effective action against criminals by +the executive branch of the Government. + +POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS. + +I again renew my recommendation for postal savings hanks, for +depositing savings with the security of the Government behind them. The +object is to encourage thrift and economy in the wage-earner and person +of moderate means. In 14 States the deposits in savings banks as +reported to the Comptroller of the Currency amount to $3,590,245,402, +or 98.4 per cent of the entire deposits, while in the remaining 32 +States there are only $70,308,543, or 1.6 per cent, showing +conclusively that there are many localities in the United States where +sufficient opportunity is not given to the people to deposit their +savings. The result is that money is kept in hiding and unemployed. It +is believed that in the aggregate vast sums of money would be brought +into circulation through the instrumentality of the postal savings +banks. While there are only 1,453 savings banks reporting to the +Comptroller there are more than 61,000 post-offices, 40,000 of which +are money order offices. Postal savings banks are now in operation in +practically all of the great civilized countries with the exception of +the United States. + +PARCEL POST. + +In my last annual message I commended the Postmaster-General's +recommendation for an extension of the parcel post on the rural routes. +The establishment of a local parcel post on rural routes would be to +the mutual benefit of the farmer and the country storekeeper, and it is +desirable that the routes, serving more than 15,000,000 people, should +be utilized to the fullest practicable extent. An amendment was +proposed in the Senate at the last session, at the suggestion of the +Postmaster-General, providing that, for the purpose of ascertaining the +practicability of establishing a special local parcel post system on +the rural routes throughout the United States, the Postmaster-General +be authorized and directed to experiment and report to the Congress the +result of such experiment by establishing a special local parcel post +system on rural delivery routes in not to exceed four counties in the +United States for packages of fourth-class matter originating on a +rural route or at the distributing post office for delivery by rural +carriers. It would seem only proper that such an experiment should be +tried in order to demonstrate the practicability of the proposition, +especially as the Postmaster-General estimates that the revenue derived +from the operation of such a system on all the rural routes would +amount to many million dollars. + +EDUCATION. + +The share that the National Government should take in the broad work of +education has not received the attention and the care it rightly +deserves. The immediate responsibility for the support and improvement +of our educational systems and institutions rests and should always +rest with the people of the several States acting through their state +and local governments, but the Nation has an opportunity in educational +work which must not be lost and a duty which should no longer be +neglected. + +The National Bureau of Education was established more than forty years +ago. Its purpose is to collect and diffuse such information "as shall +aid the people of the United States in the establishment and +maintenance of efficient school systems and otherwise promote the cause +of education throughout the country." This purpose in no way conflicts +with the educational work of the States, but may be made of great +advantage to the States by giving them the fullest, most accurate, and +hence the most helpful information and suggestion regarding the best +educational systems. The Nation, through its broader field of +activities, its wider opportunity for obtaining information from all +the States and from foreign countries, is able to do that which not +even the richest States can do, and with the distinct additional +advantage that the information thus obtained is used for the immediate +benefit of all our people. + +With the limited means hitherto provided, the Bureau of Education has +rendered efficient service, but the Congress has neglected to +adequately supply the bureau with means to meet the educational growth +of the country. The appropriations for the general work of the bureau, +outside education in Alaska, for the year 1909 are but $87,500--an +amount less than they were ten years ago, and some of the important +items in these appropriations are less than they were thirty years ago. +It is an inexcusable waste of public money to appropriate an amount +which is so inadequate as to make it impossible properly to do the work +authorized, and it is unfair to the great educational interests of the +country to deprive them of the value of the results which can be +obtained by proper appropriations. + +I earnestly recommend that this unfortunate state of affairs as regards +the national educational office be remedied by adequate appropriations. +This recommendation is urged by the representatives of our common +schools and great state universities and the leading educators, who all +unite in requesting favorable consideration and action by the Congress +upon this subject. + +CENSUS. + +I strongly urge that the request of the Director of the Census in +connection with the decennial work so soon to be begun be complied with +and that the appointments to the census force be placed under the civil +service law, waiving the geographical requirements as requested by the +Director of the Census. The supervisors and enumerators should not be +appointed under the civil service law, for the reasons given by the +Director. I commend to the Congress the careful consideration of the +admirable report of the Director of the Census, and I trust that his +recommendations will be adopted and immediate action thereon taken. + +PUBLIC HEALTH. + +It is highly advisable that there should be intelligent action on the +part of the Nation on the question of preserving the health of the +country. Through the practical extermination in San Francisco of +disease-bearing rodents our country has thus far escaped the bubonic +plague. This is but one of the many achievements of American health +officers; and it shows what can be accomplished with a better +organization than at present exists. The dangers to public health from +food adulteration and from many other sources, such as the menace to +the physical, mental and moral development of children from child +labor, should be met and overcome. There are numerous diseases, which +are now known to be preventable, which are, nevertheless, not +prevented. The recent International Congress on Tuberculosis has made +us painfully aware of the inadequacy of American public health +legislation. This Nation can not afford to lag behind in the world-wide +battle now being waged by all civilized people with the microscopic +foes of mankind, nor ought we longer to ignore the reproach that this +Government takes more pains to protect the lives of hogs and of cattle +than of human beings. + +REDISTRIBUTION OF BUREAUS. + +The first legislative step to be taken is that for the concentration of +the proper bureaus into one of the existing departments. I therefore +urgently recommend the passage of a bill which shall authorize a +redistribution of the bureaus which shall best accomplish this end. + +GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. + +I recommend that legislation be enacted placing under the jurisdiction +of the Department of Commerce and Labor the Government Printing Office. +At present this office is under the combined control, supervision, and +administrative direction of the President and of the Joint Committee on +Printing of the two Houses of the Congress. The advantage of having the +4,069 employees in this office and the expenditure of the $5,761,377.57 +appropriated therefor supervised by an executive department is obvious, +instead of the present combined supervision. + +SOLDIERS' HOMES. + +All Soldiers' Homes should be placed under the complete jurisdiction +and control of the War Department. + +INDEPENDENT BUREAUS AND COMMISSIONS. + +Economy and sound business policy require that all existing independent +bureaus and commissions should be placed under the jurisdiction of +appropriate executive departments. It is unwise from every standpoint, +and results only in mischief, to have any executive work done save by +the purely executive bodies, under the control of the President; and +each such executive body should be under the immediate supervision of a +Cabinet Minister. + +STATEHOOD. + +I advocate the immediate admission of New Mexico and Arizona as States. +This should be done at the present session of the Congress. The people +of the two Territories have made it evident by their votes that they +will not come in as one State. The only alternative is to admit them as +two, and I trust that this will be done without delay. + +INTERSTATE FISHERIES. + +I call the attention of the Congress to the importance of the problem +of the fisheries in the interstate waters. On the Great Lakes we are +now, under the very wise treaty of April 11th of this year, endeavoring +to come to an international agreement for the preservation and +satisfactory use of the fisheries of these waters which can not +otherwise be achieved. Lake Erie, for example, has the richest fresh +water fisheries in the world; but it is now controlled by the statutes +of two Nations, four States, and one Province, and in this Province by +different ordinances in different counties. All these political +divisions work at cross purposes, and in no case can they achieve +protection to the fisheries, on the one hand, and justice to the +localities and individuals on the other. The case is similar in Puget +Sound. + +But the problem is quite as pressing in the interstate waters of the +United States. The salmon fisheries of the Columbia River are now but a +fraction of what they were twenty-five years ago, and what they would +be now if the United States Government had taken complete charge of +them by intervening between Oregon and Washington. During these +twenty-five years the fishermen of each State have naturally tried to +take all they could get, and the two legislatures have never been able +to agree on joint action of any kind adequate in degree for the +protection of the fisheries. At the moment the fishing on the Oregon +side is practically closed, while there is no limit on the Washington +side of any kind, and no one can tell what the courts will decide as to +the very statutes under which this action and non-action result. +Meanwhile very few salmon reach the spawning grounds, and probably four +years hence the fisheries will amount to nothing; and this comes from a +struggle between the associated, or gill-net, fishermen on the one +hand, and the owners of the fishing wheels up the river. The fisheries +of the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Potomac are also in a bad way. +For this there is no remedy except for the United States to control and +legislate for the interstate fisheries as part of the business of +interstate commerce. In this case the machinery for scientific +investigation and for control already exists in the United States +Bureau of Fisheries. In this as in similar problems the obvious and +simple rule should be followed of having those matters which no +particular State can manage taken in hand by the United States; +problems which in the seesaw of conflicting State legislatures are +absolutely unsolvable are easy enough for Congress to control. + +FISHERIES AND FUR SEALS. + +The federal statute regulating interstate traffic in game should be +extended to include fish. New federal fish hatcheries should be +established. The administration of the Alaskan fur-seal service should +be vested in the Bureau of Fisheries. + +FOREIGN AFFAIRS. + +This Nation's foreign policy is based on the theory that right must be +done between nations precisely as between individuals, and in our +actions for the last ten years we have in this matter proven our faith +by our deeds. We have behaved, and are behaving, towards other nations +as in private life an honorable man would behave towards his fellows. + +LATIN-AMERICAN REPUBLICS. + +The commercial and material progress of the twenty Latin-American +Republics is worthy of the careful attention of the Congress. No other +section of the world has shown a greater proportionate development of +its foreign trade during the last ten years and none other has more +special claims on the interest of the United States. It offers to-day +probably larger opportunities for the legitimate expansion of our +commerce than any other group of countries. These countries will want +our products in greatly increased quantities, and we shall +correspondingly need theirs. The International Bureau of the American +Republics is doing a useful work in making these nations and their +resources better known to us, and in acquainting them not only with us +as a people and with our purposes towards them, but with what we have +to exchange for their goods. It is an international institution +supported by all the governments of the two Americas. + +PANAMA CANAL. + +The work on the Panama Canal is being done with a speed, efficiency and +entire devotion to duty which make it a model for all work of the kind. +No task of such magnitude has ever before been undertaken by any +nation; and no task of the kind has ever been better performed. The men +on the isthmus, from Colonel Goethals and his fellow commissioners +through the entire list of employees who are faithfully doing their +duty, have won their right to the ungrudging respect and gratitude of +the American people. + +OCEAN MAIL LINERS. + +I again recommend the extension of the ocean mail act of 1891 so that +satisfactory American ocean mail lines to South America, Asia, the +Philippines, and Australasia may be established. The creation of such +steamship lines should be the natural corollary of the voyage of the +battle fleet. It should precede the opening of the Panama Canal. Even +under favorable conditions several years must elapse before such lines +can be put into operation. Accordingly I urge that the Congress act +promptly where foresight already shows that action sooner or later will +be inevitable. + +HAWAII. + +I call particular attention to the Territory of Hawaii. The importance +of those islands is apparent, and the need of improving their condition +and developing their resources is urgent. In recent years industrial +conditions upon the islands have radically changed, The importation of +coolie labor has practically ceased, and there is now developing such a +diversity in agricultural products as to make possible a change in the +land conditions of the Territory, so that an opportunity may be given +to the small land owner similar to that on the mainland. To aid these +changes, the National Government must provide the necessary harbor +improvements on each island, so that the agricultural products can be +carried to the markets of the world. The coastwise shipping laws should +be amended to meet the special needs of the islands, and the alien +contract labor law should be so modified in its application to Hawaii +as to enable American and European labor to be brought thither. + +We have begun to improve Pearl Harbor for a naval base and to provide +the necessary military fortifications for the protection of the +islands, but I can not too strongly emphasize the need of +appropriations for these purposes of such an amount as will within the +shortest possible time make those islands practically impregnable. It +is useless to develop the industrial conditions of the islands and +establish there bases of supply for our naval and merchant fleets +unless we insure, as far as human ingenuity can, their safety from +foreign seizure. + +One thing to be remembered with all our fortifications is that it is +almost useless to make them impregnable from the sea if they are left +open to land attack. This is true even of our own coast, but it is +doubly true of our insular possessions. In Hawaii, for instance, it is +worse than useless to establish a naval station unless we establish it +behind fortifications so strong that no landing force can take them +save by regular and long-continued siege operations. + +THE PHILIPPINES. + +Real progress toward self-government is being made in the Philippine +Islands. The gathering of a Philippine legislative body and Philippine +assembly marks a process absolutely new in Asia, not only as regards +Asiatic colonies of European powers but as regards Asiatic possessions +of other Asiatic powers; and, indeed, always excepting the striking and +wonderful example afforded by the great Empire of Japan, it opens an +entirely new departure when compared with anything which has happened +among Asiatic powers which are their own masters. Hitherto this +Philippine legislature has acted with moderation and self-restraint, +and has seemed in practical fashion to realize the eternal truth that +there must always be government, and that the only way in which any +body of individuals can escape the necessity of being governed by +outsiders is to show that they are able to restrain themselves, to keep +down wrongdoing and disorder. The Filipino people, through their +officials, are therefore making real steps in the direction of +self-government. I hope and believe that these steps mark the beginning +of a course which will continue till the Filipinos become fit to decide +for themselves whether they desire to be an independent nation. But it +is well for them (and well also for those Americans who during the past +decade have done so much damage to the Filipinos by agitation for an +immediate independence for which they were totally unfit) to remember +that self-government depends, and must depend, upon the Filipinos +themselves. All we can do is to give them the opportunity to develop +the capacity for self-government. If we had followed the advice of the +foolish doctrinaires who wished us at any time during the last ten +years to turn the Filipino people adrift, we should have shirked the +plainest possible duty and have inflicted a lasting wrong upon the +Filipino people. We have acted in exactly the opposite spirit. We have +given the Filipinos constitutional government--a government based upon +justice--and we have shown that we have governed them for their good +and not for our aggrandizement. At the present time, as during the past +ten years, the inexorable logic of facts shows that this government +must be supplied by us and not by them. We must be wise and generous; +we must help the Filipinos to master the difficult art of self-control, +which is simply another name for self-government. But we can not give +them self-government save in the sense of governing them so that +gradually they may, if they are able, learn to govern themselves. Under +the present system of just laws and sympathetic administration, we have +every reason to believe that they are gradually acquiring the character +which lies at the basis of self-government, and for which, if it be +lacking, no system of laws, no paper constitution, will in any wise +serve as a substitute. Our people in the Philippines have achieved what +may legitimately be called a marvelous success in giving to them a +government which marks on the part of those in authority both the +necessary understanding of the people and the necessary purpose to +serve them disinterestedly and in good faith. I trust that within a +generation the time will arrive when the Philippines can decide for +themselves whether it is well for them to become independent, or to +continue under the protection of a strong and disinterested power, able +to guarantee to the islands order at home and protection from foreign +invasion. But no one can prophesy the exact date when it will be wise +to consider independence as a fixed and definite policy. It would be +worse than folly to try to set down such a date in advance, for it must +depend upon the way in which the Philippine people themselves develop +the power of self-mastery. + +PORTO RICO. + +I again recommend that American citizenship be conferred upon the +people of Porto Rico. + +CUBA. + +In Cuba our occupancy will cease in about two months' time, the Cubans +have in orderly manner elected their own governmental authorities, and +the island will be turned over to them. Our occupation on this occasion +has lasted a little over two years, and Cuba has thriven and prospered +under it. Our earnest hope and one desire is that the people of the +island shall now govern themselves with justice, so that peace and +order may be secure. We will gladly help them to this end; but I would +solemnly warn them to remember the great truth that the only way a +people can permanently avoid being governed from without is to show +that they both can and will govern themselves from within. + +JAPANESE EXPOSITION. + +The Japanese Government has postponed until 1917 the date of the great +international exposition, the action being taken so as to insure ample +time in which to prepare to make the exposition all that it should be +made. The American commissioners have visited Japan and the +postponement will merely give ampler opportunity for America to be +represented at the exposition. Not since the first international +exposition has there been one of greater importance than this will be, +marking as it does the fiftieth anniversary of the ascension to the +throne of the Emperor of Japan. The extraordinary leap to a foremost +place among the nations of the world made by Japan during this half +century is something unparalleled in all previous history. This +exposition will fitly commemorate and signalize the giant progress that +has been achieved. It is the first exposition of its kind that has ever +been held in Asia. The United States, because of the ancient friendship +between the two peoples, because each of us fronts on the Pacific, and +because of the growing commercial relations between this country and +Asia, takes a peculiar interest in seeing the exposition made a success +in every way. + +I take this opportunity publicly to state my appreciation of the way in +which in Japan, in Australia, in New Zealand, and in all the States of +South America, the battle fleet has been received on its practice +voyage around the world. The American Government can not too strongly +express its appreciation of the abounding and generous hospitality +shown our ships in every port they visited. + +THE ARMY. + +As regards the Army I call attention to the fact that while our junior +officers and enlisted men stand very high, the present system of +promotion by seniority results in bringing into the higher grades many +men of mediocre capacity who have but a short time to serve. No man +should regard it as his vested right to rise to the highest rank in the +Army any more than in any other profession. It is a curious and by no +means creditable fact that there should be so often a failure on the +part of the public and its representatives to understand the great +need, from the standpoint of the service and the Nation, of refusing to +promote respectable, elderly incompetents. The higher places should be +given to the most deserving men without regard to seniority; at least +seniority should be treated as only one consideration. In the stress of +modern industrial competition no business firm could succeed if those +responsible for its management were chosen simply on the ground that +they were the oldest people in its employment; yet this is the course +advocated as regards the Army, and required by law for all grades +except those of general officer. As a matter of fact, all of the best +officers in the highest ranks of the Army are those who have attained +their present position wholly or in part by a process of selection. + +The scope of retiring boards should be extended so that they could +consider general unfitness to command for any cause, in order to secure +a far more rigid enforcement than at present in the elimination of +officers for mental, physical or temperamental disabilities. But this +plan is recommended only if the Congress does not see fit to provide +what in my judgment is far better; that is, for selection in promotion, +and for elimination for age. Officers who fail to attain a certain rank +by a certain age should be retired--for instance, if a man should not +attain field rank by the time he is 45 he should of course be placed on +the retired list. General officers should be selected as at present, +and one-third of the other promotions should be made by selection, the +selection to be made by the President or the Secretary of War from a +list of at least two candidates proposed for each vacancy by a board of +officers from the arm of the service from which the promotion is to be +made. A bill is now before the Congress having for its object to secure +the promotion of officers to various grades at reasonable ages through +a process of selection, by boards of officers, of the least efficient +for retirement with a percentage of their pay depending upon length of +service. The bill, although not accomplishing all that should be done, +is a long step in the right direction; and I earnestly recommend its +passage, or that of a more completely effective measure. + +The cavalry arm should be reorganized upon modern lines. This is an arm +in which it is peculiarly necessary that the field officers should not +be old. The cavalry is much more difficult to form than infantry, and +it should be kept up to the maximum both in efficiency and in strength, +for it can not be made in a hurry. At present both infantry and +artillery are too few in number for our needs. Especial attention +should be paid to development of the machine gun. A general service +corps should be established. As things are now the average soldier has +far too much labor of a nonmilitary character to perform. + +NATIONAL GUARD. + +Now that the organized militia, the National Guard, has been +incorporated with the Army as a part of the national forces, it +behooves the Government to do every reasonable thing in its power to +perfect its efficiency. It should be assisted in its instruction and +otherwise aided more liberally than heretofore. The continuous services +of many well-trained regular officers will be essential in this +connection. Such officers must be specially trained at service schools +best to qualify them as instructors of the National Guard. But the +detailing of officers for training at the service schools and for duty +with the National Guard entails detaching them from their regiments +which are already greatly depleted by detachment of officers for +assignment to duties prescribed by acts of the Congress. + +A bill is now pending before the Congress creating a number of extra +officers in the Army, which if passed, as it ought to be, will enable +more officers to be trained as instructors of the National Guard and +assigned to that duty. In case of war it will be of the utmost +importance to have a large number of trained officers to use for +turning raw levies into good troops. + +There should be legislation to provide a complete plan for organizing +the great body of volunteers behind the Regular Army and National Guard +when war has come. Congressional assistance should be given those who +are endeavoring to promote rifle practice so that our men, in the +services or out of them, may know how to use the rifle. While teams +representing the United States won the rifle and revolver championships +of the world against all comers in England this year, it is +unfortunately true that the great body of our citizens shoot less and +less as time goes on. To meet this we should encourage rifle practice +among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the +military services, by every means in our power. Thus, and not +otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving the peace of the +world. Fit to hold our own against the strong nations of the earth, our +voice for peace will carry to the ends of the earth. Unprepared, and +therefore unfit, we must sit dumb and helpless to defend ourselves, +protect others, or preserve peace. The first step--in the direction of +preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it +should come--is to teach our men to shoot. + +THE NAVY. + +I approve the recommendations of the General Board for the increase of +the Navy, calling especial attention to the need of additional +destroyers and colliers, and above all, of the four battleships. It is +desirable to complete as soon as possible a squadron of eight +battleships of the best existing type. The North Dakota, Delaware, +Florida, and Utah will form the first division of this squadron. The +four vessels proposed will form the second division. It will be an +improvement on the first, the ships being of the heavy, single caliber, +all big gun type. All the vessels should have the same tactical +qualities--that is, speed and turning circle--and as near as possible +these tactical qualities should be the same as in the four vessels +before named now being built. + +I most earnestly recommend that the General Board be by law turned into +a General Staff. There is literally no excuse whatever for continuing +the present bureau organization of the Navy. The Navy should be treated +as a purely military organization, and everything should be +subordinated to the one object of securing military efficiency. Such +military efficiency can only be guaranteed in time of war if there is +the most thorough previous preparation in time of peace--a preparation, +I may add, which will in all probability prevent any need of war. The +Secretary must be supreme, and he should have as his official advisers +a body of line officers who should themselves have the power to pass +upon and coordinate all the work and all the proposals of the several +bureaus. A system of promotion by merit, either by selection or by +exclusion, or by both processes, should be introduced. It is out of the +question, if the present principle of promotion by mere seniority is +kept, to expect to get the best results from the higher officers. Our +men come too old, and stay for too short a time, in the high command +positions. + +Two hospital ships should be provided. The actual experience of the +hospital ship with the fleet in the Pacific has shown the invaluable +work which such a ship does, and has also proved that it is well to +have it kept under the command of a medical officer. As was to be +expected, all of the anticipations of trouble from such a command have +proved completely baseless. It is as absurd to put a hospital ship +under a line officer as it would be to put a hospital on shore under +such a command. This ought to have been realized before, and there is +no excuse for failure to realize it now. + +Nothing better for the Navy from every standpoint has ever occurred +than the cruise of the battle fleet around the world. The improvement +of the ships in every way has been extraordinary, and they have gained +far more experience in battle tactics than they would have gained if +they had stayed in the Atlantic waters. The American people have cause +for profound gratification, both in view of the excellent condition of +the fleet as shown by this cruise, and in view of the improvement the +cruise has worked in this already high condition. I do not believe that +there is any other service in the world in which the average of +character and efficiency in the enlisted men is as high as is now the +case in our own. I believe that the same statement can be made as to +our officers, taken as a whole; but there must be a reservation made in +regard to those in the highest ranks--as to which I have already +spoken--and in regard to those who have just entered the service; +because we do not now get full benefit from our excellent naval school +at Annapolis. It is absurd not to graduate the midshipmen as ensigns; +to keep them for two years in such an anomalous position as at present +the law requires is detrimental to them and to the service. In the +academy itself, every first classman should be required in turn to +serve as petty officer and officer; his ability to discharge his duties +as such should be a prerequisite to his going into the line, and his +success in commanding should largely determine his standing at +graduation. The Board of Visitors should be appointed in January, and +each member should be required to give at least six days' service, only +from one to three days' to be performed during June week, which is the +least desirable time for the board to be at Annapolis so far as +benefiting the Navy by their observations is concerned. + +THE WHITE HOUSE, + +Tuesday, December 8, 1908. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of State of the Union Addresses of +Theodore Roosevelt, by Theodore Roosevelt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESSES *** + +***** This file should be named 5032.txt or 5032.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/3/5032/ + +Produced by James Linden. 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On +the sixth of September, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist while +attending the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, and died in that city on +the fourteenth of that month. + +Of the last seven elected Presidents, he is the third who has been +murdered, and the bare recital of this fact is sufficient to justify grave +alarm among all loyal American citizens. Moreover, the circumstances of +this, the third assassination of an American President, have a peculiarly +sinister significance. Both President Lincoln and President Garfield were +killed by assassins of types unfortunately not uncommon in history; +President Lincoln falling a victim to the terrible passions aroused by four +years of civil war, and President Garfield to the revengeful vanity of a +disappointed office-seeker. President McKinley was killed by an utterly +depraved criminal belonging to that body of criminals who object to all +governments, good and bad alike, who are against any form of popular +liberty if it is guaranteed by even the most just and liberal laws, and who +are as hostile to the upright exponent of a free people's sober will as to +the tyrannical and irresponsible despot. + +It is not too much to say that at the time of President McKinley's death he +was the most widely loved man in all the United States; while we have never +had any public man of his position who has been so wholly free from the +bitter animosities incident to public life. His political opponents were +the first to bear the heartiest and most generous tribute to the broad +kindliness of nature, the sweetness and gentleness of character which so +endeared him to his close associates. To a standard of lofty integrity in +public life he united the tender affections and home virtues which are +all-important in the make-up of national character. A gallant soldier in +the great war for the Union, he also shone as an example to all our people +because of his conduct in the most sacred and intimate of home relations. +There could be no personal hatred of him, for he never acted with aught but +consideration for the welfare of others. No one could fail to respect him +who knew him in public or private life. The defenders of those murderous +criminals who seek to excuse their criminality by asserting that it is +exercised for political ends, inveigh against wealth and irresponsible +power. But for this assassination even this base apology cannot be urged. + +President McKinley was a man of moderate means, a man whose stock sprang +from the sturdy tillers of the soil, who had himself belonged among the +wage-workers, who had entered the Army as a private soldier. Wealth was not +struck at when the President was assassinated, but the honest toil which is +content with moderate gains after a lifetime of unremitting labor, largely +in the service of the public. Still less was power struck at in the sense +that power is irresponsible or centered in the hands of any one individual. +The blow was not aimed at tyranny or wealth. It was aimed at one of the +strongest champions the wage-worker has ever had; at one of the most +faithful representatives of the system of public rights and representative +government who has ever risen to public office. President McKinley filled +that political office for which the entire people vote, and no President +not even Lincoln himself--was ever more earnestly anxious to represent the +well thought-out wishes of the people; his one anxiety in every crisis was +to keep in closest touch with the people--to find out what they thought and +to endeavor to give expression to their thought, after having endeavored to +guide that thought aright. He had just been reelected to the Presidency +because the majority of our citizens, the majority of our farmers and +wage-workers, believed that he had faithfully upheld their interests for +four years. They felt themselves in close and intimate touch with him. They +felt that he represented so well and so honorably all their ideals and +aspirations that they wished him to continue for another four years to +represent them. + +And this was the man at whom the assassin struck That there might be +nothing lacking to complete the Judas-like infamy of his act, he took +advantage of an occasion when the President was meeting the people +generally; and advancing as if to take the hand out-stretched to him in +kindly and brotherly fellowship, he turned the noble and generous +confidence of the victim into an opportunity to strike the fatal blow. +There is no baser deed in all the annals of crime. + +The shock, the grief of the country, are bitter in the minds of all who saw +the dark days, while the President yet hovered between life and death. At +last the light was stilled in the kindly eyes and the breath went from the +lips that even in mortal agony uttered no words save of forgiveness to his +murderer, of love for his friends, and of faltering trust in the will of +the Most High. Such a death, crowning the glory of such a life, leaves us +with infinite sorrow, but with such pride in what he had accomplished and +in his own personal character, that we feel the blow not as struck at him, +but as struck at the Nation We mourn a good and great President who is +dead; but while we mourn we are lifted up by the splendid achievements of +his life and the grand heroism with which he met his death. + +When we turn from the man to the Nation, the harm done is so great as to +excite our gravest apprehensions and to demand our wisest and most resolute +action. This criminal was a professed anarchist, inflamed by the teachings +of professed anarchists, and probably also by the reckless utterances of +those who, on the stump and in the public press, appeal to the dark and +evil spirits of malice and greed, envy and sullen hatred. The wind is sowed +by the men who preach such doctrines, and they cannot escape their share of +responsibility for the whirlwind that is reaped. This applies alike to the +deliberate demagogue, to the exploiter of sensationalism, and to the crude +and foolish visionary who, for whatever reason, apologizes for crime or +excites aimless discontent. + +The blow was aimed not at this President, but at all Presidents; at every +symbol of government. President McKinley was as emphatically the embodiment +of the popular will of the Nation expressed through the forms of law as a +New England town meeting is in similar fashion the embodiment of the +law-abiding purpose and practice of the people of the town. On no +conceivable theory could the murder of the President be accepted as due to +protest against "inequalities in the social order," save as the murder of +all the freemen engaged in a town meeting could be accepted as a protest +against that social inequality which puts a malefactor in jail. Anarchy is +no more an expression of "social discontent" than picking pockets or +wife-beating. + +The anarchist, and especially the anarchist in the United States, is merely +one type of criminal, more dangerous than any other because he represents +the same depravity in a greater degree. The man who advocates anarchy +directly or indirectly, in any shape or fashion, or the man who apologizes +for anarchists and their deeds, makes himself morally accessory to murder +before the fact. The anarchist is a criminal whose perverted instincts lead +him to prefer confusion and chaos to the most beneficent form of social +order. His protest of concern for workingmen is outrageous in its impudent +falsity; for if the political institutions of this country do not afford +opportunity to every honest and intelligent son of toil, then the door of +hope is forever closed against him. The anarchist is everywhere not merely +the enemy of system and of progress, but the deadly foe of liberty. If ever +anarchy is triumphant, its triumph will last for but one red moment, to be +succeeded, for ages by the gloomy night of despotism. + +For the anarchist himself, whether he preaches or practices his doctrines, +we need not have one particle more concern than for any ordinary murderer. +He is not the victim of social or political injustice. There are no wrongs +to remedy in his case. The cause of his criminality is to be found in his +own evil passions and in the evil conduct of those who urge him on, not in +any failure by others or by the State to do justice to him or his. He is a +malefactor and nothing else. He is in no sense, in no shape or way, a +"product of social conditions," save as a highwayman is "produced" by the +fact than an unarmed man happens to have a purse. It is a travesty upon the +great and holy names of liberty and freedom to permit them to be invoked in +such a cause. No man or body of men preaching anarchistic doctrines should +be allowed at large any more than if preaching the murder of some specified +private individual. Anarchistic speeches, writings, and meetings are +essentially seditious and treasonable. + +I earnestly recommend to the Congress that in the exercise of its wise +discretion it should take into consideration the coming to this country of +anarchists or persons professing principles hostile to all government and +justifying the murder of those placed in authority. Such individuals as +those who not long ago gathered in open meeting to glorify the murder of +King Humbert of Italy perpetrate a crime, and the law should ensure their +rigorous punishment. They and those like them should be kept out of this +country; and if found here they should be promptly deported to the country +whence they came; and far-reaching. provision should be made for the +punishment of those who stay. No matter calls more urgently for the wisest +thought of the Congress. + +The Federal courts should be given jurisdiction over any man who kills or +attempts to kill the President or any man who by the Constitution or by law +is in line of succession for the Presidency, while the punishment for an +unsuccessful attempt should be proportioned to the enormity of the offense +against our institutions. + +Anarchy is a crime against the whole human race; and all mankind should +band against the anarchist. His crime should be made an offense against the +law of nations, like piracy and that form of man-stealing known as the +slave trade; for it is of far blacker infamy than either. It should be so +declared by treaties among all civilized powers. Such treaties would give +to the Federal Government the power of dealing with the crime. + +A grim commentary upon the folly of the anarchist position was afforded by +the attitude of the law toward this very criminal who had just taken the +life of the President. The people would have torn him limb from limb if it +had not been that the law he defied was at once invoked in his behalf. So +far from his deed being committed on behalf of the people against the +Government, the Government was obliged at once to exert its full police +power to save him from instant death at the hands of the people. Moreover, +his deed worked not the slightest dislocation in our governmental system, +and the danger of a recurrence of such deeds, no matter how great it might +grow, would work only in the direction of strengthening and giving +harshness to the forces of order. No man will ever be restrained from +becoming President by any fear as to his personal safety. If the risk to +the President's life became great, it would mean that the office would more +and more come to be filled by men of a spirit which would make them +resolute and merciless in dealing with every friend of disorder. This great +country will not fall into anarchy, and if anarchists should ever become a +serious menace to its institutions, they would not merely be stamped out, +but would involve in their own ruin every active or passive sympathizer +with their doctrines. The American people are slow to wrath, but when their +wrath is once kindled it burns like a consuming flame. + +During the last five years business confidence has been restored, and the +nation is to be congratulated because of its present abounding prosperity. +Such prosperity can never be created by law alone, although it is easy +enough to destroy it by mischievous laws. If the hand of the Lord is heavy +upon any country, if flood or drought comes, human wisdom is powerless to +avert the calamity. Moreover, no law can guard us against the consequences +of our own folly. The men who are idle or credulous, the men who seek gains +not by genuine work with head or hand but by gambling in any form, are +always a source of menace not only to themselves but to others. If the +business world loses its head, it loses what legislation cannot supply. +Fundamentally the welfare of each citizen, and therefore the welfare of the +aggregate of citizens which makes the nation, must rest upon individual +thrift and energy, resolution, and intelligence. Nothing can take the place +of this individual capacity; but wise legislation and honest and +intelligent administration can give it the fullest scope, the largest +opportunity to work to good effect. + +The tremendous and highly complex industrial development which went on with +ever accelerated rapidity during the latter half of the nineteenth century +brings us face to face, at the beginning of the twentieth, with very +serious social problems. The old laws, and the old customs which had almost +the binding force of law, were once quite sufficient to regulate the +accumulation and distribution of wealth. Since the industrial changes which +have so enormously increased the productive power of mankind, they are no +longer sufficient. + +The growth of cities has gone on beyond comparison faster than the growth +of the country, and the upbuilding of the great industrial centers has +meant a startling increase, not merely in the aggregate of wealth, but in +the number of very large individual, and especially of very large +corporate, fortunes. The creation of these great corporate fortunes has not +been due to the tariff nor to any other governmental action, but to natural +causes in the business world, operating in other countries as they operate +in our own. + +The process has aroused much antagonism, a great part of which is wholly +without warrant. It is not true that as the rich have grown richer the poor +have grown poorer. On the contrary, never before has the average man, the +wage-worker, the farmer, the small trader, been so well off as in this +country and at the present time. There have been abuses connected with the +accumulation of wealth; yet it remains true that a fortune accumulated in +legitimate business can be accumulated by the person specially benefited +only on condition of conferring immense incidental benefits upon others. +Successful enterprise, of the type which benefits all mankind, can only +exist if the conditions are such as to offer great prizes as the rewards of +success. + +The captains of industry who have driven the railway systems across this +continent, who have built up our commerce, who have developed our +manufactures, have on the whole done great good to our people. Without them +the material development of which we are so justly proud could never have +taken place. Moreover, we should recognize the immense importance of this +material development of leaving as unhampered as is compatible with the +public good the strong and forceful men upon whom the success of business +operations inevitably rests. The slightest study of business conditions +will satisfy anyone capable of forming a judgment that the personal +equation is the most important factor in a business operation; that the +business ability of the man at the head of any business concern, big or +little, is usually the factor which fixes the gulf between striking success +and hopeless failure. + +An additional reason for caution in dealing with corporations is to be +found in the international commercial conditions of to-day. The same +business conditions which have produced the great aggregations of corporate +and individual wealth have made them very potent factors in international +Commercial competition. Business concerns which have the largest means at +their disposal and are managed by the ablest men are naturally those which +take the lead in the strife for commercial supremacy among the nations of +the world. America has only just begun to assume that commanding position +in the international business world which we believe will more and more be +hers. It is of the utmost importance that this position be not jeoparded, +especially at a time when the overflowing abundance of our own natural +resources and the skill, business energy, and mechanical aptitude of our +people make foreign markets essential. Under such conditions it would be +most unwise to cramp or to fetter the youthful strength of our Nation. + +Moreover, it cannot too often be pointed out that to strike with ignorant +violence at the interests of one set of men almost inevitably endangers the +interests of all. The fundamental rule in our national life --the rule +which underlies all others--is that, on the whole, and in the long run, we +shall go up or down together. There are exceptions; and in times of +prosperity some will prosper far more, and in times of adversity, some will +suffer far more, than others; but speaking generally, a period of good +times means that all share more or less in them, and in a period of hard +times all feel the stress to a greater or less degree. It surely ought not +to be necessary to enter into any proof of this statement; the memory of +the lean years which began in 1893 is still vivid, and we can contrast them +with the conditions in this very year which is now closing. Disaster to +great business enterprises can never have its effects limited to the men at +the top. It spreads throughout, and while it is bad for everybody, it is +worst for those farthest down. The capitalist may be shorn of his luxuries; +but the wage-worker may be deprived of even bare necessities. + +The mechanism of modern business is so delicate that extreme care must be +taken not to interfere with it in a spirit of rashness or ignorance. Many +of those who have made it their vocation to denounce the great industrial +combinations which are popularly, although with technical inaccuracy, known +as "trusts," appeal especially to hatred and fear. These are precisely the +two emotions, particularly when combined with ignorance, which unfit men +for the exercise of cool and steady judgment. In facing new industrial +conditions, the whole history of the world shows that legislation will +generally be both unwise and ineffective unless undertaken after calm +inquiry and with sober self-restraint. Much of the legislation directed at +the trusts would have been exceedingly mischievous had it not also been +entirely ineffective. In accordance with a well-known sociological law, the +ignorant or reckless agitator has been the really effective friend of the +evils which he has been nominally opposing. In dealing with business +interests, for the Government to undertake by crude and ill-considered +legislation to do what may turn out to be bad, would be to incur the risk +of such far-reaching national disaster that it would be preferable to +undertake nothing at all. The men who demand the impossible or the +undesirable serve as the allies of the forces with which they are nominally +at war, for they hamper those who would endeavor to find out in rational +fashion what the wrongs really are and to what extent and in what manner it +is practicable to apply remedies. + +All this is true; and yet it is also true that there are real and grave +evils, one of the chief being over-capitalization because of its many +baleful consequences; and a resolute and practical effort must be made to +correct these evils. + +There is a widespread conviction in the minds of the American people that +the great corporations known as trusts are in certain of their features and +tendencies hurtful to the general welfare. This springs from no spirit of +envy or uncharitableness, nor lack of pride in the great industrial +achievements that have placed this country at the head of the nations +struggling for commercial supremacy. It does not rest upon a lack of +intelligent appreciation of the necessity of meeting changing and changed +conditions of trade with new methods, nor upon ignorance of the fact that +combination of capital in the effort to accomplish great things is +necessary when the world's progress demands that great things be done. It +is based upon sincere conviction that combination and concentration should +be, not prohibited, but supervised and within reasonable limits controlled; +and in my judgment this conviction is right. + +It is no limitation upon property rights or freedom of contract to require +that when men receive from Government the privilege of doing business under +corporate form, which frees them from individual responsibility, and +enables them to call into their enterprises the capital of the public, they +shall do so upon absolutely truthful representations as to the value of the +property in which the capital is to be invested. Corporations engaged in +interstate commerce should be regulated if they are found to exercise a +license working to the public injury. It should be as much the aim of those +who seek for social- betterment to rid the business world of crimes of +cunning as to rid the entire body politic of crimes of violence. Great +corporations exist only because they are created and safeguarded by our +institutions; and it is therefore our right and our duty to see that they +work in harmony with these institutions. + +The first essential in determining how to deal with the great industrial +combinations is knowledge of the facts--publicity. In the interest of the +public, the Government should have the right to inspect and examine the +workings of the great corporations engaged in interstate business. +Publicity is the only sure remedy which we can now invoke. What further +remedies are needed in the way of governmental regulation, or taxation, can +only be determined after publicity has been obtained, by process of law, +and in the course of administration. The first requisite is knowledge, full +and complete--knowledge which may be made public to the world. + +Artificial bodies, such as corporations and joint stock or other +associations, depending upon any statutory law for their existence or +privileges, should be subject to proper governmental supervision, and full +and accurate information as to their operations should be made public +regularly at reasonable intervals. + +The large corporations, commonly called trusts, though organized in one +State, always do business in many States, often doing very little business +in the State where they are incorporated. There is utter lack of uniformity +in the State laws about them; and as no State has any exclusive interest in +or power over their acts, it has in practice proved impossible to get +adequate regulation through State action. Therefore, in the interest of the +whole people, the Nation should, without interfering with the power of the +States in the matter itself, also assume power of supervision and +regulation over all corporations doing an interstate business. This is +especially true where the corporation derives a portion of its wealth from +the existence of some monopolistic element or tendency in its business. +There would be no hardship in such supervision; banks are subject to it, +and in their case it is now accepted as a simple matter of course. Indeed, +it is probable that supervision of corporations by the National Government +need not go so far as is now the case with the supervision exercised over +them by so conservative a State as Massachusetts, in order to produce +excellent results. + +When the Constitution was adopted, at the end of the eighteenth century, no +human wisdom could foretell the sweeping changes, alike in industrial and +political conditions, which were to take place by the beginning of the +twentieth century. At that time it was accepted as a matter of course that +the several States were the proper authorities to regulate, so far as was +then necessary, the comparatively insignificant and strictly localized +corporate bodies of the day. The conditions are now wholly different and +wholly different action is called for. I believe that a law can be framed +which will enable the National Government to exercise control along the +lines above indicated; profiting by the experience gained through the +passage and administration of the Interstate-Commerce Act. If, however, the +judgment of the Congress is that it lacks the constitutional power to pass +such an act, then a constitutional amendment should be submitted to confer +the power. + +There should be created a Cabinet officer, to be known as Secretary of +Commerce and Industries, as provided in the bill introduced at the last +session of the Congress. It should be his province to deal with commerce in +its broadest sense; including among many other things whatever concerns +labor and all matters affecting the great business corporations and our +merchant marine. + +The course proposed is one phase of what should be a comprehensive and +far-reaching scheme of constructive statesmanship for the purpose of +broadening our markets, securing our business interests on a safe basis, +and making firm our new position in the international industrial world; +while scrupulously safeguarding the rights of wage-worker and capitalist, +of investor and private citizen, so as to secure equity as between man and +man in this Republic. + +With the sole exception of the farming interest, no one matter is of such +vital moment to our whole people as the welfare of the wage-workers. If the +farmer and the wage-worker are well off, it is absolutely certain that all +others will be well off too. It is therefore a matter for hearty +congratulation that on the whole wages are higher to-day in the United +States than ever before in our history, and far higher than in any other +country. The standard of living is also higher than ever before. Every +effort of legislator and administrator should be bent to secure the +permanency of this condition of things and its improvement wherever +possible. Not only must our labor be protected by the tariff, but it should +also be protected so far as it is possible from the presence in this +country of any laborers brought over by contract, or of those who, coming +freely, yet represent a standard of living so depressed that they can +undersell our men in the labor market and drag them to a lower level. I +regard it as necessary, with this end in view, to re-enact immediately the +law excluding Chinese laborers and to strengthen it wherever necessary in +order to make its enforcement entirely effective. + +The National Government should demand the highest quality of service from +its employees; and in return it should be a good employer. If possible +legislation should be passed, in connection with the Interstate Commerce +Law, which will render effective the efforts of different States to do away +with the competition of convict contract labor in the open labor market. So +far as practicable under the conditions of Government work, provision +should be made to render the enforcement of the eight-hour law easy and +certain. In all industries carried on directly or indirectly for the United +States Government women and children should be protected from excessive +hours of labor, from night work, and from work under unsanitary conditions. +The Government should provide in its contracts that all work should be done +under "fair" conditions, and in addition to setting a high standard should +uphold it by proper inspection, extending if necessary to the +subcontractors. The Government should forbid all night work for women and +children, as well as excessive overtime. For the District of Columbia a +good factory law should be passed; and, as a powerful indirect aid to such +laws, provision should be made to turn the inhabited alleys, the existence +of which is a reproach to our Capital city, into minor streets, where the +inhabitants can live under conditions favorable to health and morals. + +American wage-workers work with their heads as well as their hands. +Moreover, they take a keen pride in what they are doing; so that, +independent of the reward, they wish to turn out a perfect job. This is the +great secret of our success in competition with the labor of foreign +countries. + +The most vital problem with which this country, and for that matter the +whole civilized world, has to deal, is the problem which has for one side +the betterment of social conditions, moral and physical, in large cities, +and for another side the effort to deal with that tangle of far-reaching +questions which we group together when we speak of "labor." The chief +factor in the success of each man--wage-worker, farmer, and capitalist +alike--must ever be the sum total of his own individual qualities and +abilities. Second only to this comes the power of acting in combination or +association with others. Very great good has been and will be accomplished +by associations or unions of wage-workers, when managed with forethought, +and when they combine insistence upon their own rights with law-abiding +respect for the rights of others. The display of these qualities in such +bodies is a duty to the nation no less than to the associations themselves. +Finally, there must also in many cases be action by the Government in order +to safeguard the rights and interests of all. Under our Constitution there +is much more scope for such action by the State and the municipality than +by the nation. But on points such as those touched on above the National +Government can act. + +When all is said and done, the rule of brotherhood remains as the +indispensable prerequisite to success in the kind of national life for +which we strive. Each man must work for himself, and unless he so works no +outside help can avail him; but each man must remember also that he is +indeed his brother's keeper, and that while no man who refuses to walk can +be carried with advantage to himself or anyone else, yet that each at times +stumbles or halts, that each at times needs to have the helping hand +outstretched to him. To be permanently effective, aid must always take the +form of helping a man to help himself; and we can all best help ourselves +by joining together in the work that is of common interest to all. + +Our present immigration laws are unsatisfactory. We need every honest and +efficient immigrant fitted to become an American citizen, every immigrant +who comes here to stay, who brings here a strong body, a stout heart, a +good head, and a resolute purpose to do his duty well in every way and to +bring up his children as law-abiding and God-fearing members of the +community. But there should be a comprehensive law enacted with the object +of working a threefold improvement over our present system. First, we +should aim to exclude absolutely not only all persons who are known to be +believers in anarchistic principles or members of anarchistic societies, +but also all persons who are of a low moral tendency or of unsavory +reputation. This means that we should require a more thorough system of +inspection abroad and a more rigid system of examination at our immigration +ports, the former being especially necessary. + +The second object of a proper immigration law ought to be to secure by a +careful and not merely perfunctory educational test some intelligent +capacity to appreciate American institutions and act sanely as American +citizens. This would not keep out all anarchists, for many of them belong +to the intelligent criminal class. But it would do what is also in point, +that is, tend to decrease the sum of ignorance, so potent in producing the +envy, suspicion, malignant passion, and hatred of order, out of which +anarchistic sentiment inevitably springs. Finally, all persons should be +excluded who are below a certain standard of economic fitness to enter our +industrial field as competitors with American labor. There should be proper +proof of personal capacity to earn an American living and enough money to +insure a decent start under American conditions. This would stop the influx +of cheap labor, and the resulting competition which gives rise to so much +of bitterness in American industrial life; and it would dry up the springs +of the pestilential social conditions in our great cities, where +anarchistic organizations have their greatest possibility of growth. + +Both the educational and economic tests in a wise immigration law should be +designed to protect and elevate the general body politic and social. A very +close supervision should be exercised over the steamship companies which +mainly bring over the immigrants, and they should be held to a strict +accountability for any infraction of the law. + +There is general acquiescence in our present tariff system as a national +policy. The first requisite to our prosperity is the continuity and +stability of this economic policy. Nothing could be more unwise than to +disturb the business interests of the country by any general tariff change +at this time. Doubt, apprehension, uncertainty are exactly what we most +wish to avoid in the interest of our commercial and material well-being. +Our experience in the past has shown that sweeping revisions of the tariff +are apt to produce conditions closely approaching panic in the business +world. Yet it is not only possible, but eminently desirable, to combine +with the stability of our economic system a supplementary system of +reciprocal benefit and obligation with other nations. Such reciprocity is +an incident and result of the firm establishment and preservation of our +present economic policy. It was specially provided for in the present +tariff law. + +Reciprocity must be treated as the handmaiden of protection. Our first duty +is to see that the protection granted by the tariff in every case where it +is needed is maintained, and that reciprocity be sought for so far as it +can safely be done without injury to our home industries. Just how far this +is must be determined according to the individual case, remembering always +that every application of our tariff policy to meet our shifting national +needs must be conditioned upon the cardinal fact that the duties must never +be reduced below the point that will cover the difference between the labor +cost here and abroad. The well-being of the wage-worker is a prime +consideration of our entire policy of economic legislation. + +Subject to this proviso of the proper protection necessary to our +industrial well-being at home, the principle of reciprocity must command +our hearty support. The phenomenal growth of our export trade emphasizes +the urgency of the need for wider markets and for a liberal policy in +dealing with foreign nations. Whatever is merely petty and vexatious in the +way of trade restrictions should be avoided. The customers to whom we +dispose of our surplus products in the long run, directly or indirectly, +purchase those surplus products by giving us something in return. Their +ability to purchase our products should as far as possible be secured by so +arranging our tariff as to enable us to take from them those products which +we can use without harm to our own industries and labor, or the use of +which will be of marked benefit to us. + +It is most important that we should maintain the high level of our present +prosperity. We have now reached the point in the development of our +interests where we are not only able to supply our own markets but to +produce a constantly growing surplus for which we must find markets abroad. +To secure these markets we can utilize existing duties in any case where +they are no longer needed for the purpose of protection, or in any case +where the article is not produced here and the duty is no longer necessary +for revenue, as giving us something to offer in exchange for what we ask. +The cordial relations with other nations which are so desirable will +naturally be promoted by the course thus required by our own interests. + +The natural line of development for a policy of reciprocity will be in +connection with those of our productions which no longer require all of the +support once needed to establish them upon a sound basis, and with those +others where either because of natural or of economic causes we are beyond +the reach of successful competition. + +I ask the attention of the Senate to the reciprocity treaties laid before +it by my predecessor. + +The condition of the American merchant marine is such as to call for +immediate remedial action by the Congress. It is discreditable to us as a +Nation that our merchant marine should be utterly insignificant in +comparison to that of other nations which we overtop in other forms of +business. We should not longer submit to conditions under which only a +trifling portion of our great commerce is carried in our own ships. To +remedy this state of things would not .merely serve to build up our +shipping interests, but it would also result in benefit to all who are +interested in the permanent establishment of a wider market for American +products, and would provide an auxiliary force for the Navy. Ships work for +their own countries just as railroads work for their terminal points. +Shipping lines, if established to the principal countries with which we +have dealings, would be of political as well as commercial benefit. From +every standpoint it is unwise for the United States to continue to rely +upon the ships of competing nations for the distribution of our goods. It +should be made advantageous to carry American goods in American-built +ships. + +At present American shipping is under certain great disadvantages when put +in competition with the shipping of foreign countries. Many of the fast +foreign steamships, at a speed of fourteen knots or above, are subsidized; +and all our ships, sailing vessels and steamers alike, cargo carriers of +slow speed and mail carriers of high speed, have to meet the fact that the +original cost of building American ships is greater than is the case +abroad; that the wages paid American officers and seamen are very much +higher than those paid the officers and seamen of foreign competing +countries; and that the standard of living on our ships is far superior to +the standard of living on the ships of our commercial rivals. + +Our Government should take such action as will remedy these inequalities. +The American merchant marine should be restored to the ocean. + +The Act of March 14, 1900, intended unequivocally to establish gold as the +standard money and to maintain at a parity therewith all forms of money +medium in use with us, has been shown to be timely and judicious. The price +of our Government bonds in the world's market, when compared with the price +of similar obligations issued by other nations, is a flattering tribute to +our public credit. This condition it is evidently desirable to maintain. + +In many respects the National Banking Law furnishes sufficient liberty for +the proper exercise of the banking function; but there seems to be need of +better safeguards against the deranging influence of commercial crises and +financial panics. Moreover, the currency of the country should be made +responsive to the demands of our domestic trade and commerce. + +The collections from duties on imports and internal taxes continue to +exceed the ordinary expenditures of the Government, thanks mainly to the +reduced army expenditures. The utmost care should be taken not to reduce +the revenues so that there will be any possibility of a deficit; but, after +providing against any such contingency, means should be adopted which will +bring the revenues more nearly within the limit of our actual needs. In his +report to the Congress the Secretary of the Treasury considers all these +questions at length, and I ask your attention to the report and +recommendations. + +I call special attention to the need of strict economy in expenditures. The +fact that our national needs forbid us to be niggardly in providing +whatever is actually necessary to our well-being, should make us doubly +careful to husband our national resources, as each of us husbands his +private resources, by scrupulous avoidance of anything like wasteful or +reckless expenditure. Only by avoidance of spending money on what is +needless or unjustifiable can we legitimately keep our income to the point +required to meet our needs that are genuine. + +In 1887 a measure was enacted for the regulation of interstate railways, +commonly known as the Interstate Commerce Act. The cardinal provisions of +that act were that railway rates should be just and reasonable and that all +shippers, localities, and commodities should be accorded equal treatment. A +commission was created and endowed with what were supposed to be the +necessary powers to execute the provisions of this act. That law was +largely an experiment. Experience has shown the wisdom of its purposes, but +has also shown, possibly that some of its requirements are wrong, certainly +that the means devised for the enforcement of its provisions are defective. +Those who complain of the management of the railways allege that +established rates are not maintained; that rebates and similar devices are +habitually resorted to; that these preferences are usually in favor of the +large shipper; that they drive out of business the smaller competitor; that +while many rates are too low, many others are excessive; and that gross +preferences are made, affecting both localities and commodities. Upon the +other hand, the railways assert that the law by its very terms tends to +produce many of these illegal practices by depriving carriers of that right +of concerted action which they claim is necessary to establish and maintain +non-discriminating rates. + +The act should be amended. The railway is a public servant. Its rates +should be just to and open to all shippers alike. The Government should see +to it that within its jurisdiction this is so and should provide a speedy, +inexpensive, and effective remedy to that end. At the same time it must not +be forgotten that our railways are the arteries through which the +commercial lifeblood of this Nation flows. Nothing could be more foolish +than the enactment of legislation which would unnecessarily interfere with +the development and operation of these commercial agencies. The subject is +one of great importance and calls for the earnest attention of the +Congress. + +The Department of Agriculture during the past fifteen years has steadily +broadened its work on economic lines, and has accomplished results of real +value in upbuilding domestic and foreign trade. It has gone into new fields +until it is now in touch with all sections of our country and with two of +the island groups that have lately come under our jurisdiction, whose +people must look to agriculture as a livelihood. It is searching the world +for grains, grasses, fruits, and vegetables specially fitted for +introduction into localities in the several States and Territories where +they may add materially to our resources. By scientific attention to soil +survey and possible new crops, to breeding of new varieties of plants, to +experimental shipments, to animal industry and applied chemistry, very +practical aid has been given our farming and stock-growing interests. The +products of the farm have taken an unprecedented place in our export trade +during the year that has just closed. + +Public opinion throughout the United States has moved steadily toward a +just appreciation of the value of forests, whether planted or of natural +growth. The great part played by them in the creation and maintenance of +the national wealth is now more fully realized than ever before. + +Wise forest protection does not mean the withdrawal of forest resources, +whether of wood, water, or grass, from contributing their full share to the +welfare of the people, but, on the contrary, gives the assurance of larger +and more certain supplies. The fundamental idea of forestry is the +perpetuation of forests by use. Forest protection is not an end of itself; +it is a means to increase and sustain the resources of our country and the +industries which depend upon them. The preservation of our forests is an +imperative business necessity. We have come to see clearly that whatever +destroys the forest, except to make way for agriculture, threatens our well +being. + +The practical usefulness of the national forest reserves to the mining, +grazing, irrigation, and other interests of the regions in which the +reserves lie has led to a widespread demand by the people of the West for +their protection and extension. The forest reserves will inevitably be of +still greater use in the future than in the past. Additions should be made +to them whenever practicable, and their usefulness should be increased by a +thoroughly business-like management. + +At present the protection of the forest reserves rests with the General +Land Office, the mapping and description of their timber with the United +States Geological Survey, and the preparation of plans for their +conservative use with the Bureau of Forestry, which is also charged with +the general advancement of practical forestry in the United States. These +various functions should be united in the Bureau of Forestry, to which they +properly belong. The present diffusion of responsibility is bad from every +standpoint. It prevents that effective co-operation between the Government +and the men who utilize the resources of the reserves, without which the +interests of both must suffer. The scientific bureaus generally should be +put under the Department of Agriculture. The President should have by law +the power of transferring lands for use as forest reserves to the +Department of Agriculture. He already has such power in the case of lands +needed by the Departments of War and the Navy. + +The wise administration of the forest reserves will be not less helpful to +the interests which depend on water than to those which depend on wood and +grass. The water supply itself depends upon the forest. In the arid region +it is water, not land, which measures production. The western half of the +United States would sustain a population greater than that of our whole +country to-day if the waters that now run to waste were saved and used for +irrigation. The forest and water problems are perhaps the most vital +internal questions of the United States. + +Certain of the forest reserves should also be made preserves for the wild +forest creatures. All of the reserves should be better protected from +fires. Many of them need special protection because of the great injury +done by live stock, above all by sheep. The increase in deer, elk, and +other animals in the Yellowstone Park shows what may be expected when other +mountain forests are properly protected by law and properly guarded. Some +of these areas have been so denuded of surface vegetation by overgrazing +that the ground breeding birds, including grouse and quail, and many +mammals, including deer, have been exterminated or driven away. At the same +time the water-storing capacity of the surface has been decreased or +destroyed, thus promoting floods in times of rain and diminishing the flow +of streams between rains. + +In cases where natural conditions have been restored for a few years, +vegetation has again carpeted the ground, birds and deer are coming back, +and hundreds of persons, especially from the immediate neighborhood, come +each summer to enjoy the privilege of camping. Some at least of the forest +reserves should afford perpetual protection to the native fauna and flora, +safe havens of refuge to our rapidly diminishing wild animals of the larger +kinds, and free camping grounds for the ever-increasing numbers of men and +women who have learned to find rest, health, and recreation in the splendid +forests and flower-clad meadows of our mountains. The forest reserves +should be set apart forever for the use and benefit of our people as a +whole and not sacrificed to the shortsighted greed of a few. + +The forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the streams in flood and +replenishing them in drought they make possible the use of waters otherwise +wasted. They prevent the soil from washing, and so protect the storage +reservoirs from filling up with silt. Forest conservation is therefore an +essential condition of water conservation. + +The forests alone cannot, however, fully regulate and conserve the waters +of the arid region. Great storage works are necessary to equalize the flow +of streams and to save the flood waters. Their construction has been +conclusively shown to be an undertaking too vast for private effort. Nor +can it be best accomplished by the individual States acting alone. +Far-reaching interstate problems are involved; and the resources of single +States would often be inadequate. It is properly a national function, at +least in some of its features. It is as right for the National Government +to make the streams and rivers of the arid region useful by engineering +works for water storage as to make useful the rivers and harbors of the +humid region by engineering works of another kind. The storing of the +floods in reservoirs at the headwaters of our rivers is but an enlargement +of our present policy of river control, under which levees are built on the +lower reaches of the same streams. + +The Government should construct and maintain these reservoirs as it does +other public works. Where their purpose is to regulate the flow of streams, +the water should be turned freely into the channels in the dry season to +take the same course under the same laws as the natural flow. + +The reclamation of the unsettled arid public lands presents a different +problem. Here it is not enough to regulate the flow of streams. The object +of the Government is to dispose of the land to settlers who will build +homes upon it. To accomplish this object water must be brought within their +reach. + +The pioneer settlers on the arid public domain chose their homes along +streams from which they could themselves divert the water to reclaim their +holdings. Such opportunities are practically gone. There remain, however, +vast areas of public land which can be made available for homestead +settlement, but only by reservoirs and main-line canals impracticable for +private enterprise. These irrigation works should be built by the National +Government. The lands reclaimed by them should be reserved by the +Government for actual settlers, and the cost of construction should so far +as possible be repaid by the land reclaimed. The distribution of the water, +the division of the streams among irrigators, should be left to the +settlers themselves in conformity with State laws and without interference +with those laws or with vested fights. The policy of the National +Government should be to aid irrigation in the several States and +Territories in such manner as will enable the people in the local +communities to help themselves, and as will stimulate needed reforms in the +State laws and regulations governing irrigation. + +The reclamation and settlement of the arid lands will enrich every portion +of our country, just as the settlement of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys +brought prosperity to the Atlantic States. The increased demand for +manufactured articles will stimulate industrial production, while wider +home markets and the trade of Asia will consume the larger food supplies +and effectually prevent Western competition with Eastern agriculture. +Indeed, the products of irrigation will be consumed chiefly in upbuilding +local centers of mining and other industries, which would otherwise not +come into existence at all. Our people as a whole will profit, for +successful home-making is but another name for the upbuilding of the +nation. + +The necessary foundation has already been laid for the inauguration of the +policy just described. It would be unwise to begin by doing too much, for a +great deal will doubtless be learned, both as to what can and what cannot +be safely attempted, by the early efforts, which must of necessity be +partly experimental in character. At the very beginning the Government +should make clear, beyond shadow of doubt, its intention to pursue this +policy on lines of the broadest public interest. No reservoir or canal +should ever be built to satisfy selfish personal or local interests; but +only in accordance with the advice of trained experts, after long +investigation has shown the locality where all the conditions combine to +make the work most needed and fraught with the greatest usefulness to the +community as a whole. There should be no extravagance, and the believers in +the need of irrigation will most benefit their cause by seeing to it that +it is free from the least taint of excessive or reckless expenditure of the +public moneys. + +Whatever the nation does for the extension of irrigation should harmonize +with, and tend to improve, the condition of those now living on irrigated +land. We are not at the starting point of this development. Over two +hundred millions of private capital has already been expended in the +construction of irrigation works, and many million acres of arid land +reclaimed. A high degree of enterprise and ability has been shown in the +work itself; but as much cannot be said in reference to the laws relating +thereto. The security and value of the homes created depend largely on the +stability of titles to water; but the majority of these rest on the +uncertain foundation of court decisions rendered in ordinary suits at law. +With a few creditable exceptions, the arid States have failed to provide +for the certain and just division of streams in times of scarcity. Lax and +uncertain laws have made it possible to establish rights to water in excess +of actual uses or necessities, and many streams have already passed into +private ownership, or a control equivalent to ownership. + +Whoever controls a stream practically controls the land it renders +productive, and the doctrine of private ownership of water apart from land +cannot prevail without causing enduring wrong. The recognition of such +ownership, which has been permitted to grow up in the arid regions, should +give way to a more enlightened and larger recognition of the rights of the +public in the control and disposal of the public water supplies. Laws +founded upon conditions obtaining in humid regions, where water is too +abundant to justify hoarding it, have no proper application in a dry +country. + +In the arid States the only right to water which should be recognized is +that of use. In irrigation this right should attach to the land reclaimed +and be inseparable therefrom. Granting perpetual water rights to others +than users, without compensation to the public, is open to all the +objections which apply to giving away perpetual franchises to the public +utilities of cities. A few of the Western States have already recognized +this, and have incorporated in their constitutions the doctrine of +perpetual State ownership of water. + +The benefits which have followed the unaided development of the past +justify the nation's aid and co-operation in the more difficult and +important work yet to be accomplished. Laws so vitally affecting homes as +those which control the water supply will only be effective when they have +the sanction of the irrigators; reforms can only be final and satisfactory +when they come through the enlightenment of the people most concerned. The +larger development which national aid insures should, however, awaken in +every arid State the determination to make its irrigation system equal in +justice and effectiveness that of any country in the civilized world. +Nothing could be more unwise than for isolated communities to continue to +learn everything experimentally, instead of profiting by what is already +known elsewhere. We are dealing with a new and momentous question, in the +pregnant years while institutions are forming, and what we do will affect +not only the present but future generations. + +Our aim should be not simply to reclaim the largest area of land and +provide homes for the largest number of people, but to create for this new +industry the best possible social and industrial conditions; and this +requires that we not only understand the existing situation, but avail +ourselves of the best experience of the time in the solution of its +problems. A careful study should be made, both by the Nation and the +States, of the irrigation laws and conditions here and abroad. Ultimately +it will probably be necessary for the Nation to co-operate with the several +arid States in proportion as these States by their legislation and +administration show themselves fit to receive it. + +In Hawaii our aim must be to develop the Territory on the traditional +American lines. We do not wish a region of large estates tilled by cheap +labor; we wish a healthy American community of men who themselves till the +farms they own. All our legislation for the islands should be shaped with +this end in view; the well-being of the average home-maker must afford the +true test of the healthy development of the islands. The land policy should +as nearly as possible be modeled on our homestead system. + +It is a pleasure to say that it is hardly more necessary to report as to +Puerto Rico than as to any State or Territory within our continental +limits. The island is thriving as never before, and it is being +administered efficiently and honestly. Its people are now enjoying liberty +and order under the protection of the United States, and upon this fact we +congratulate them and ourselves. Their material welfare must be as +carefully and jealously considered as the welfare of any other portion of +our country. We have given them the great gift of free access for their +products to the markets of the United States. I ask the attention of the +Congress to the need of legislation concerning the public lands of Puerto +Rico. + +In Cuba such progress has been made toward putting the independent +government of the island upon a firm footing that before the present +session of the Congress closes this will be an accomplished fact. Cuba will +then start as her own mistress; and to the beautiful Queen of the Antilles, +as she unfolds this new page of her destiny, we extend our heartiest +greetings and good wishes. Elsewhere I have discussed the question of +reciprocity. In the case of Cuba, however, there are weighty reasons of +morality and of national interest why the policy should be held to have a +peculiar application, and I most earnestly ask your attention to the +wisdom, indeed to the vital need, of providing for a substantial reduction +in the tariff duties on Cuban imports into the United States. Cuba has in +her constitution affirmed what we desired. that she should stand, in +international matters, in closer and more friendly relations with us than +with any other power; and we are bound by every consideration of honor and +expediency to pass commercial measures in the interest of her material +well-being. + +In the Philippines our problem is larger. They are very rich tropical +islands, inhabited by many varying tribes, representing widely different +stages of progress toward civilization. Our earnest effort is to help these +people upward along the stony and difficult path that leads to +self-government. We hope to make our administration of the islands +honorable to our Nation by making it of the highest benefit to the +Filipinos themselves; and as an earnest of what we intend to do, we point +to what we have done. Already a greater measure of material prosperity and +of governmental honesty and efficiency has been attained in the Philippines +than ever before in their history. + +It is no light task for a nation to achieve the temperamental qualities +without which the institutions of free government are but an empty mockery. +Our people are now successfully governing themselves, because for more than +a thousand years they have been slowly fitting themselves, sometimes +consciously, sometimes unconsciously, toward this end. What has taken us +thirty generations to achieve, we cannot expect to have another race +accomplish out of hand, especially when large portions of that race start +very far behind the point which our ancestors had reached even thirty +generations ago. In dealing with the Philippine people we must show both +patience and strength, forbearance and steadfast resolution. Our aim is +high. We do not desire to do for the islanders merely what has elsewhere +been done for tropic peoples by even the best foreign governments. We hope +to do for them what has never before been done for any people of the +tropics--to make them fit for self-government after the fashion of the +really free nations. + +History may safely be challenged to show a single instance in which a +masterful race such as ours, having been forced by the exigencies of war to +take possession of an alien land, has behaved to its inhabitants with the +disinterested zeal for their progress that our people have shown in the +Philippines. To leave the islands at this time would mean that they would +fall into a welter of murderous anarchy. Such desertion of duty on our part +would be a crime against humanity. The character of Governor Taft and of +his associates and subordinates is a proof, if such be needed, of the +sincerity of our effort to give the islanders a constantly increasing +measure of self-government, exactly as fast as they show themselves fit to +exercise it. Since the civil government was established not an appointment +has been made in the islands with any reference to considerations of +political influence, or to aught else Save the fitness of the man and the +needs of the service. + +In our anxiety for the welfare and progress of the Philippines, may be that +here and there we have gone too rapidly in giving them local +self-government. It is on this side that our error, if any, has been +committed. No competent observer, sincerely desirous of finding out the +facts and influenced only by a desire for the welfare of the natives, can +assert that we have not gone far enough. We have gone to the very verge of +safety in hastening the process. To have taken a single step farther or +faster in advance would have been folly and weakness, and might well have +been crime. We are extremely anxious that the natives shall show the power +of governing themselves. We are anxious, first for their sakes, and next, +because it relieves us of a great burden. There need not be the slightest +fear of our not continuing to give them all the liberty for which they are +fit. + +The only fear is test in our overanxiety we give them a degree of +independence for which they are unfit, thereby inviting reaction and +disaster. As fast as there is any reasonable hope that in a given district +the people can govern themselves, self-government has been given in that +district. There is not a locality fitted for self-government which has not +received it. But it may well be that in certain cases it will have to be +withdrawn because the inhabitants show themselves unfit to exercise it; +such instances have already occurred. In other words, there is not the +slightest chance of our failing to show a sufficiently humanitarian spirit. +The danger comes in the opposite direction. + +There are still troubles ahead in the islands. The insurrection has become +an affair of local banditti and marauders, who deserve no higher regard +than the brigands of portions of the Old World. Encouragement, direct or +indirect, to these insurrectors stands on the same footing as encouragement +to hostile Indians in the days when we still had Indian wars. Exactly as +our aim is to give to the Indian who remains peaceful the fullest and +amplest consideration, but to have it understood that we will show no +weakness if he goes on the warpath, so we must make it evident, unless we +are false to our own traditions and to the demands of civilization and +humanity, that while we will do everything in our power for the Filipino +who is peaceful, we will take the sternest measures with the Filipino who +follows the path of the insurrecto and the ladrone. + +The heartiest praise is due to large numbers of the natives of the islands +for their steadfast loyalty. The Macabebes have been conspicuous for their +courage and devotion to the flag. I recommend that the Secretary of War be +empowered to take some systematic action in the way of aiding those of +these men who are crippled in the service and the families of those who are +killed. + +The time has come when there should be additional legislation for the +Philippines. Nothing better can be done for the islands than to introduce +industrial enterprises. Nothing would benefit them so much as throwing them +open to industrial development. The connection between idleness and +mischief is proverbial, and the opportunity to do remunerative work is one +of the surest preventatives of war. Of course no business man will go into +the Philippines unless it is to his interest to do so; and it is immensely +to the interest of the islands that he should go in. It is therefore +necessary that the Congress should pass laws by which the resources of the +islands can be developed; so that franchises (for limited terms of years) +can be granted to companies doing business in them, and every encouragement +be given to the incoming of business men of every kind. + +Not to permit this is to do a wrong to the Philippines. The franchises must +be granted and the business permitted only under regulations which will +guarantee the islands against any kind of improper exploitation. But the +vast natural wealth of the islands must be developed, and the capital +willing to develop it must be given the opportunity. The field must be +thrown open to individual enterprise, which has been the real factor in the +development of every region over which our flag has flown. It is urgently +necessary to enact suitable laws dealing with general transportation, +mining, banking, currency, homesteads, and the use and ownership of the +lands and timber. These laws will give free play to industrial enterprise; +and the commercial development which will surely follow will accord to the +people of the islands the best proofs of the sincerity of our desire to aid +them. + +I call your attention most earnestly to the crying need of a cable to +Hawaii and the Philippines, to be continued from the Philippines to points +in Asia. We should not defer a day longer than necessary the construction +of such a cable. It is demanded not merely for commercial but for political +and military considerations. + +Either the Congress should immediately provide for the construction of a +Government cable, or else an arrangement should be made by which like +advantages to those accruing from a Government cable may be secured to the +Government by contract with a private cable company. + +No single great material work which remains to be undertaken on this +continent is of such consequence to the American people as the building of +a canal across the Isthmus connecting North and South America. Its +importance to the Nation is by no means limited merely to its material +effects upon our business prosperity; and yet with view to these effects +alone it would be to the last degree important for us immediately to begin +it. While its beneficial effects would perhaps be most marked upon the +Pacific Coast and the Gulf and South Atlantic States, it would also greatly +benefit other sections. It is emphatically a work which it is for the +interest of the entire country to begin and complete as soon as possible; +it is one of those great works which only a great nation can undertake with +prospects of success, and which when done are not only permanent assets in +the nation's material interests, but standing monuments to its constructive +ability. + +I am glad to be able to announce to you that our negotiations on this +subject with Great Britain, conducted on both sides in a spirit of +friendliness and mutual good will and respect, have resulted in my being +able to lay before the Senate a treaty which if ratified will enable us to +begin preparations for an Isthmian canal at any time, and which guarantees +to this Nation every right that it has ever asked in connection with the +canal. In this treaty, the old Clayton-Bulwer treaty, so long recognized as +inadequate to supply the base for the construction and maintenance of a +necessarily American ship canal, is abrogated. It specifically provides +that the United States alone shall do the work of building and assume the +responsibility of safeguarding the canal and shall regulate its neutral use +by all nations on terms of equality without the guaranty or interference of +any outside nation from any quarter. The signed treaty will at once be laid +before the Senate, and if approved the Congress can then proceed to give +effect to the advantages it secures us by providing for the building of the +canal. + +The true end of every great and free people should be self-respecting +peace; and this Nation most earnestly desires sincere and cordial +friendship with all others. Over the entire world, of recent years, wars +between the great civilized powers have become less and less frequent. Wars +with barbarous or semi-barbarous peoples come in an entirely different +category, being merely a most regrettable but necessary international +police duty which must be performed for the sake of the welfare of mankind. +Peace can only be kept with certainty where both sides wish to keep it; but +more and more the civilized peoples are realizing the wicked folly of war +and are attaining that condition of just and intelligent regard for the +rights of others which will in the end, as we hope and believe, make +world-wide peace possible. The peace conference at The Hague gave definite +expression to this hope and belief and marked a stride toward their +attainment. + +This same peace conference acquiesced in our statement of the Monroe +Doctrine as compatible with the purposes and aims of the conference. + +The Monroe Doctrine should be the cardinal feature of the foreign policy of +all the nations of the two Americas, as it is of the United States. Just +seventy-eight years have passed since President Monroe in his Annual +Message announced that "The American continents are henceforth not to be +considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power." In +other words, the Monroe Doctrine is a declaration that there must be no +territorial aggrandizement by any non-American power at the expense of any +American power on American soil. It is in no wise intended as hostile to +any nation in the Old World. Still less is it intended to give cover to any +aggression by one New World power at the expense of any other. It is simply +a step, and a long step, toward assuring the universal peace of the world +by securing the possibility of permanent peace on this hemisphere. + +During the past century other influences have established the permanence +and independence of the smaller states of Europe. Through the Monroe +Doctrine we hope to be able to safeguard like independence and secure like +permanence for the lesser among the New World nations. + +This doctrine has nothing to do with the commercial relations of any +American power, save that it in truth allows each of them to form such as +it desires. In other words, it is really a guaranty of the commercial +independence of the Americas. We do not ask under this doctrine for any +exclusive commercial dealings with any other American state. We do not +guarantee any state against punishment if it misconducts itself, provided +that punishment does not take the form of the acquisition of territory by +any non-American power. + +Our attitude in Cuba is a sufficient guaranty of our own good faith. We +have not the slightest desire to secure any territory at the expense of any +of our neighbors. We wish to work with them hand in hand, so that all of us +may be uplifted together, and we rejoice over the good fortune of any of +them, we gladly hail their material prosperity and political stability, and +are concerned and alarmed if any of them fall into industrial or political +chaos. We do not wish to see any Old World military power grow up on this +continent, or to be compelled to become a military power ourselves. The +peoples of the Americas can prosper best if left to work out their own +salvation in their own way. + +The work of upbuilding the Navy must be steadily continued. No one point of +our policy, foreign or domestic, is more important than this to the honor +and material welfare, and above all to the peace, of our nation in the +future. Whether we desire it or not, we must henceforth recognize that we +have international duties no less than international rights. Even if our +flag were hauled down in the Philippines and Puerto Rico, even if we +decided not to build the Isthmian Canal, we should need a thoroughly +trained Navy of adequate size, or else be prepared definitely and for all +time to abandon the idea that our nation is among those whose sons go down +to the sea in ships. Unless our commerce is always to be carried in foreign +bottoms, we must have war craft to protect it. + +Inasmuch, however, as the American people have no thought of abandoning the +path upon which they have entered, and especially in view of the fact that +the building of the Isthmian Canal is fast becoming one of the matters +which the whole people are united in demanding, it is imperative that our +Navy should be put and kept in the highest state of efficiency, and should +be made to answer to our growing needs. So far from being in any way a +provocation to war, an adequate and highly trained navy is the best +guaranty against war, the cheapest and most effective peace insurance. The +cost of building and maintaining such a navy represents the very lightest +premium for insuring peace which this nation can possibly pay. + +Probably no other great nation in the world is so anxious for peace as we +are. There is not a single civilized power which has anything whatever to +fear from aggressiveness on our part. All we want is peace; and toward this +end we wish to be able to secure the same respect for our rights from +others which we are eager and anxious to extend to their rights in return, +to insure fair treatment to us commercially, and to guarantee the safety of +the American people. + +Our people intend to abide by the Monroe Doctrine and to insist upon it as +the one sure means of securing the peace of the Western Hemisphere. The +Navy offers us the only means of making our insistence upon the Monroe +Doctrine anything but a subject of derision to whatever nation chooses to +disregard it. We desire the peace which comes as of right to the just man +armed; not the peace granted on terms of ignominy to the craven and the +weakling. + +It is not possible to improvise a navy after war breaks out. The ships must +be built and the men trained long in advance. Some auxiliary vessels can be +turned into makeshifts which will do in default of any better for the minor +work, and a proportion of raw men can be mixed with the highly trained, +their shortcomings being made good by the skill of their fellows; but the +efficient fighting force of the Navy when pitted against an equal opponent +will be found almost exclusively in the war ships that have been regularly +built and in the officers and men who through years of faithful performance +of sea duty have been trained to handle their formidable but complex and +delicate weapons with the highest efficiency. In the late war with Spain +the ships that dealt the decisive blows at Manila and Santiago had been +launched from two to fourteen years, and they were able to do as they did +because the men in the conning towers, the gun turrets, and the +engine-rooms had through long years of practice at sea learned how to do +their duty. + +Our present Navy was begun in 1882. At that period our Navy consisted of a +collection of antiquated wooden ships, already almost as out of place +against modern war vessels as the galleys of Alcibiades and +Hamilcar--certainly as the ships of Tromp and Blake. Nor at that time did +we have men fit to handle a modern man-of-war. Under the wise legislation +of the Congress and the successful administration of a succession of +patriotic Secretaries of the Navy, belonging to both political parties, the +work of upbuilding the Navy went on, and ships equal to any in the world of +their kind were continually added; and what was even more important, these +ships were exercised at sea singly and in squadrons until the men aboard +them were able to get the best possible service out of them. The result was +seen in the short war with Spain, which was decided with such rapidity +because of the infinitely greater preparedness of our Navy than of the +Spanish Navy. + +While awarding the fullest honor to the men who actually commanded and +manned the ships which destroyed the Spanish sea forces in the Philippines +and in Cuba, we must not forget that an equal meed of praise belongs to +those without whom neither blow could have been struck. The Congressmen who +voted years in advance the money to lay down the ships, to build the guns, +to buy the armor-plate; the Department officials and the business men and +wage-workers who furnished what the Congress had authorized; the +Secretaries of the Navy who asked for and expended the appropriations; and +finally the officers who, in fair weather and foul, on actual sea service, +trained and disciplined the crews of the ships when there was no war in +sight--all are entitled to a full share in the glory of Manila and +Santiago, and the respect accorded by every true American to those who +wrought such signal triumph for our country. It was forethought and +preparation which secured us the overwhelming triumph of 1898. If we fail +to show forethought and preparation now, there may come a time when +disaster will befall us instead of triumph; and should this time come, the +fault will rest primarily, not upon those whom the accident of events puts +in supreme command at the moment, but upon those who have failed to prepare +in advance. + +There should be no cessation in the work of completing our Navy. So far +ingenuity has been wholly unable to devise a substitute for the great war +craft whose hammering guns beat out the mastery of the high seas. It is +unsafe and unwise not to provide this year for several additional Battle +ships and heavy armored cruisers, with auxiliary and lighter craft in +proportion; for the exact numbers and character I refer you to the report +of the Secretary of the Navy. But there is something we need even more than +additional ships, and this is additional officers and men. To provide +battle ships and cruisers and then lay them up, with the expectation of +leaving them unmanned until they are needed in actual war, would be worse +than folly; it would be a crime against the Nation. + +To send any war ship against a competent enemy unless those aboard it have +been trained by years of actual sea service, including incessant gunnery +practice, would be to invite not merely disaster, but the bitterest shame +and humiliation. Four thousand additional seamen and one thousand +additional marines should be provided; and an increase in the officers +should be provided by making a large addition to the classes at Annapolis. +There is one small matter which should be mentioned in connection with +Annapolis. The pretentious and unmeaning title of "naval cadet" should be +abolished; the title of "midshipman," full of historic association, should +be restored. + +Even in time of peace a war ship should be used until it wears out, for +only so can it be kept fit to respond to any emergency. The officers and +men alike should be kept as much as possible on blue water, for it is there +only they can learn their duties as they should be learned. The big vessels +should be manoeuvred in squadrons containing not merely battle ships, but +the necessary proportion of cruisers and scouts. The torpedo boats should +be handled by the younger officers in such manner as will best fit the +latter to take responsibility and meet the emergencies of actual warfare. + +Every detail ashore which can be performed by a civilian should be so +performed, the officer being kept for his special duty in the sea service. +Above all, gunnery practice should be unceasing. It is important to have +our Navy of adequate size, but it is even more important that ship for ship +it should equal in efficiency any navy in the world. This is possible only +with highly drilled crews and officers, and this in turn imperatively +demands continuous and progressive instruction in target practice, ship +handling, squadron tactics, and general discipline. Our ships must be +assembled in squadrons actively cruising away from harbors and never long +at anchor. The resulting wear upon engines and hulls must be endured; a +battle ship worn out in long training of officers and men is well paid for +by the results, while, on the other hand, no matter in how excellent +condition, it is useless if the crew be not expert. + +We now have seventeen battle ships appropriated for, of which nine are +completed and have been commissioned for actual service. The remaining +eight will be ready in from two to four years, but it will take at least +that time to recruit and train the men to fight them. It is of vast concern +that we have trained crews ready for the vessels by the time they are +commissioned. Good ships and good guns are simply good weapons, and the +best weapons are useless save in the hands of men who know how to fight +with them. The men must be trained and drilled under a thorough and +well-planned system of progressive instruction, while the recruiting must +be carried on with still greater vigor. Every effort must be made to exalt +the main function of the officer--the command of men. The leading graduates +of the Naval Academy should be assigned to the combatant branches, the line +and marines. + +Many of the essentials of success are already recognized by the General +Board, which, as the central office of a growing staff, is moving steadily +toward a proper war efficiency and a proper efficiency of the whole Navy, +under the Secretary. This General Board, by fostering the creation of a +general staff, is providing for the official and then the general +recognition of our altered conditions as a Nation and of the true meaning +of a great war fleet, which meaning is, first, the best men, and, second, +the best ships. + +Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, vol. 9, p.6667 + +The Naval Militia forces are State organizations, and are trained for coast +service, and in event of war they will constitute the inner line of +defense. They should receive hearty encouragement from the General +Government. + +But in addition we should at once provide for a National Naval Reserve, +organized and trained under the direction of the Navy Department, and +subject to the call of the Chief Executive whenever war becomes imminent. +It should be a real auxiliary to the naval seagoing peace establishment, +and offer material to be drawn on at once for manning our ships in time of +war. It should be composed of graduates of the Naval Academy, graduates of +the Naval Militia, officers and crews of coast-line steamers, longshore +schooners, fishing vessels, and steam yachts, together with the coast +population about such centers as lifesaving stations and light-houses. + +The American people must either build and maintain an adequate navy or else +make up their minds definitely to accept a secondary position in +international affairs, not merely in political, but in commercial, matters. +It has been well said that there is no surer way of courting national +disaster than to be "opulent, aggressive, and unarmed." + +It is not necessary to increase our Army beyond its present size at this +time. But it is necessary to keep it at the highest point of efficiency. +The individual units who as officers and enlisted men compose this Army, +are, we have good reason to believe, at least as efficient as those of any +other army in the entire world. It is our duty to see that their training +is of a kind to insure the highest possible expression of power to these +units when acting in combination. + +The conditions of modern war are such as to make an infinitely heavier +demand than ever before upon the individual character and capacity of the +officer and the enlisted man, and to make it far more difficult for men to +act together with effect. At present the fighting must be done in extended +order, which means that each man must act for himself and at the same time +act in combination with others with whom he is no longer in the +old-fashioned elbow-to-elbow touch. Under such conditions a few men of the +highest excellence are worth more than many men without the special skill +which is only found as the result of special training applied to men of +exceptional physique and morale. But nowadays the most valuable fighting +man and the most difficult to perfect is the rifleman who is also a +skillful and daring rider. + +The proportion of our cavalry regiments has wisely been increased. The +American cavalryman, trained to manoeuvre and fight with equal facility on +foot and on horseback, is the best type of soldier for general purposes now +to be found in the world. The ideal cavalryman of the present day is a man +who can fight on foot as effectively as the best infantryman, and who is in +addition unsurpassed in the care and management of his horse and in his +ability to fight on horseback. + +A general staff should be created. As for the present staff and supply +departments, they should be filled by details from the line, the men so +detailed returning after a while to their line duties. It is very +undesirable to have the senior grades of the Army composed of men who have +come to fill the positions by the mere fact of seniority. A system should +be adopted by which there shall be an elimination grade by grade of those +who seem unfit to render the best service in the next grade. Justice to the +veterans of the Civil War who are still in the Army would seem to require +that in the matter of retirements they be given by law the same privileges +accorded to their comrades in the Navy. + +The process of elimination of the least fit should be conducted in a manner +that would render it practically impossible to apply political or social +pressure on behalf of any candidate, so that each man may be judged purely +on his own merits. Pressure for the promotion of civil officials for +political reasons is bad enough, but it is tenfold worse where applied on +behalf of officers of the Army or Navy. Every promotion and every detail +under the War Department must be made solely with regard to the good of the +service and to the capacity and merit of the man himself. No pressure, +political, social, or personal, of any kind, will be permitted to exercise +the least effect in any question of promotion or detail; and if there is +reason to believe that such pressure is exercised at the instigation of the +officer concerned, it will be held to militate against him. In our Army we +cannot afford to have rewards or duties distributed save on the simple +ground that those who by their own merits are entitled to the rewards get +them, and that those who are peculiarly fit to do the duties are chosen to +perform them. + +Every effort should be made to bring the Army to a constantly increasing +state of efficiency. When on actual service no work save that directly in +the line of such service should be required. The paper work in the Army, as +in the Navy, should be greatly reduced. What is needed is proved power of +command and capacity to work well in the field. Constant care is necessary +to prevent dry rot in the transportation and commissary departments. + +Our Army is so small and so much scattered that it is very difficult to +give the higher officers (as well as the lower officers and the enlisted +men) a chance to practice manoeuvres in mass and on a comparatively large +scale. In time of need no amount of individual excellence would avail +against the paralysis which would follow inability to work as a coherent +whole, under skillful and daring leadership. The Congress should provide +means whereby it will be possible to have field exercises by at least a +division of regulars, and if possible also a division of national +guardsmen, once a year. These exercises might take the form of field +manoeuvres; or, if on the Gulf Coast or the Pacific or Atlantic Sea- board, +or in the region of the Great Lakes, the army corps when assembled could be +marched from some inland point to some point on the water, there embarked, +disembarked after a couple of days' journey at some other point, and again +marched inland. Only by actual handling and providing for men in masses +while they are marching, camping, embarking, and disembarking, will it be +possible to train the higher officers to perform their duties well and +smoothly. + +A great debt is owing from the public to the men of the Army and Navy. They +should be so treated as to enable them to reach the highest point of +efficiency, so that they may be able to respond instantly to any demand +made upon them to sustain the interests of the Nation and the honor of the +flag. The individual American enlisted man is probably on the whole a more +formidable fighting man than the regular of any other army. Every +consideration should be shown him, and in return the highest standard of +usefulness should be exacted from him. It is well worth while for the +Congress to consider whether the pay of enlisted men upon second and +subsequent enlistments should not be increased to correspond with the +increased value of the veteran soldier. + +Much good has already come from the act reorganizing the Army, passed early +in the present year. The three prime reforms, all of them of literally +inestimable value, are, first, the substitution of four-year details from +the line for permanent appointments in the so-called staff divisions; +second, the establishment of a corps of artillery with a chief at the head; +third, the establishment of a maximum and minimum limit for the Army. It +would be difficult to overestimate the improvement in the efficiency of our +Army which these three reforms are making, and have in part already +effected. + +The reorganization provided for by the act has been substantially +accomplished. The improved conditions in the Philippines have enabled the +War Department materially to reduce the military charge upon our revenue +and to arrange the number of soldiers so as to bring this number much +nearer to the minimum than to the maximum limit established by law. There +is, however, need of supplementary legislation. Thorough military education +must be provided, and in addition to the regulars the advantages of this +education should be given to the officers of the National Guard and others +in civil life who desire intelligently to fit themselves for possible +military duty. The officers should be given the chance to perfect +themselves by study in the higher branches of this art. At West Point the +education should be of the kind most apt to turn out men who are good in +actual field service; too much stress should not be laid on mathematics, +nor should proficiency therein be held to establish the right of entry to a +corps d'elite. The typical American officer of the best kind need not be a +good mathematician; but he must be able to master himself, to control +others, and to show boldness and fertility of resource in every emergency. + +Action should be taken in reference to the militia and to the raising of +volunteer forces. Our militia law is obsolete and worthless. The +organization and armament of the National Guard of the several States, +which are treated as militia in the appropriations by the Congress, should +be made identical with those provided for the regular forces. The +obligations and duties of the Guard in time of war should be carefully +defined, and a system established by law under which the method of +procedure of raising volunteer forces should be prescribed in advance. It +is utterly impossible in the excitement and haste of impending war to do +this satisfactorily if the arrangements have not been made long beforehand. +Provision should be made for utilizing in the first volunteer organizations +called out the training of those citizens who have already had experience +under arms, and especially for the selection in advance of the officers of +any force which may be raised; for careful selection of the kind necessary +is impossible after the outbreak of war. + +That the Army is not at all a mere instrument of destruction has been shown +during the last three years. In the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico it +has proved itself a great constructive force, a most potent implement for +the upbuilding of a peaceful civilization. + +No other citizens deserve so well of the Republic as the veterans, the +survivors of those who saved the Union. They did the one deed which if left +undone would have meant that all else in our history went for nothing. But +for their steadfast prowess in the greatest crisis of our history, all our +annals would be meaningless, and our great experiment in popular freedom +and self-government a gloomy failure. Moreover, they not only left us a +united Nation, but they left us also as a heritage the memory of the mighty +deeds by which the Nation was kept united. We are now indeed one Nation, +one in fact as well as in name; we are united in our devotion to the flag +which is the symbol of national greatness and unity; and the very +completeness of our union enables us all, in every part of the country, to +glory in the valor shown alike by the sons of the North and the sons of the +South in the times that tried men's souls. + +The men who in the last three years have done so well in the East and the +West Indies and on the mainland of Asia have shown that this remembrance is +not lost. In any serious crisis the United States must rely for the great +mass of its fighting men upon the volunteer soldiery who do not make a +permanent profession of the military career; and whenever such a crisis +arises the deathless memories of the Civil War will give to Americans the +lift of lofty purpose which comes to those whose fathers have stood +valiantly in the forefront of the battle. + +The merit system of making appointments is in its essence as democratic and +American as the common school system itself. It simply means that in +clerical and other positions where the duties are entirely non-political, +all applicants should have a fair field and no favor, each standing on his +merits as he is able to show them by practical test. Written competitive +examinations offer the only available means in many cases for applying this +system. In other cases, as where laborers are employed, a system of +registration undoubtedly can be widely extended. There are, of course, +places where the written competitive examination cannot be applied, and +others where it offers by no means an ideal solution, but where under +existing political conditions it is, though an imperfect means, yet the +best present means of getting satisfactory results. + +Wherever the conditions have permitted the application of the merit system +in its fullest and widest sense, the gain to the Government has been +immense. The navy-yards and postal service illustrate, probably better than +any other branches of the Government, the great gain in economy, +efficiency, and honesty due to the enforcement of this principle. + +I recommend the passage of a law which will extend the classified service +to the District of Columbia, or will at least enable the President thus to +extend it. In my judgment all laws providing for the temporary employment +of clerks should hereafter contain a provision that they be selected under +the Civil Service Law. + +It is important to have this system obtain at home, but it is even more +important to have it applied rigidly in our insular possessions. Not an +office should be filled in the Philippines or Puerto Rico with any regard +to the man's partisan affiliations or services, with any regard to the +political, social, or personal influence which he may have at his command; +in short, heed should be paid to absolutely nothing save the man's own +character and capacity and the needs of the service. + +The administration of these islands should be as wholly free from the +suspicion of partisan politics as the administration of the Army and Navy. +All that we ask from the public servant in the Philippines or Puerto Rico +is that he reflect honor on his country by the way in which he makes that +country's rule a benefit to the peoples who have come under it. This is all +that we should ask, and we cannot afford to be content with less. + +The merit system is simply one method of securing honest and efficient +administration of the Government; and in the long run the sole +justification of any type of government lies in its proving itself both +honest and efficient. + +The consular service is now organized under the provisions of a law passed +in 1856, which is entirely inadequate to existing conditions. The interest +shown by so many commercial bodies throughout the country in the +reorganization of the service is heartily commended to your attention. +Several bills providing for a new consular service have in recent years +been submitted to the Congress. They are based upon the just principle that +appointments to the service should be made only after a practical test of +the applicant's fitness, that promotions should be governed by +trustworthiness, adaptability, and zeal in the performance of duty, and +that the tenure of office should be unaffected by partisan considerations. + +The guardianship and fostering of our rapidly expanding foreign commerce, +the protection of American citizens resorting to foreign countries in +lawful pursuit of their affairs, and the maintenance of the dignity of the +nation abroad, combine to make it essential that our consuls should be men +of character, knowledge and enterprise. It is true that the service is now, +in the main, efficient, but a standard of excellence cannot be permanently +maintained until the principles set forth in the bills heretofore submitted +to the Congress on this subject are enacted into law. + +In my judgment the time has arrived when we should definitely make up our +minds to recognize the Indian as an individual and not as a member of a +tribe. The General Allotment Act is a mighty pulverizing engine to break up +the tribal mass. It acts directly upon the family and the individual. Under +its provisions some sixty thousand Indians have already become citizens of +the United States. We should now break up the tribal funds, doing for them +what allotment does for the tribal lands; that is, they should be divided +into individual holdings. There will be a transition period during which +the funds will in many cases have to be held in trust. This is the case +also with the lands. A stop should be put upon the indiscriminate +permission to Indians to lease their allotments. The effort should be +steadily to make the Indian work like any other man on his own ground. The +marriage laws of the Indians should be made the same as those of the +whites. + +In the schools the education should be elementary and largely industrial. +The need of higher education among the Indians is very, very limited. On +the reservations care should be taken to try to suit the teaching to the +needs of the particular Indian. There is no use in attempting to induce +agriculture in a country suited only for cattle raising, where the Indian +should be made a stock grower. The ration system, which is merely the +corral and the reservation system, is highly detrimental to the Indians. It +promotes beggary, perpetuates pauperism, and stifles industry. It is an +effectual barrier to progress. It must continue to a greater or less degree +as long as tribes are herded on reservations and have everything in common. +The Indian should be treated as an individual--like the white man. During +the change of treatment inevitable hardships will occur; every effort +should be made to minimize these hardships; but we should not because of +them hesitate to make the change. There should be a continuous reduction in +the number of agencies. + +In dealing with the aboriginal races few things are more important than to +preserve them from the terrible physical and moral degradation resulting +from the liquor traffic. We are doing all we can to save our own Indian +tribes from this evil. Wherever by international agreement this same end +can be attained as regards races where we do not possess exclusive control, +every effort should be made to bring it about. + +I bespeak the most cordial support from the Congress and the people for the +St. Louis Exposition to commemorate the One Hundredth Anniversary of the +Louisiana Purchase. This purchase was the greatest instance of expansion in +our history. It definitely decided that we were to become a great +continental republic, by far the foremost power in the Western Hemisphere. +It is one of three or four great landmarks in our history--the great +turning points in our development. It is eminently fitting that all our +people should join with heartiest good will in commemorating it, and the +citizens of St. Louis, of Missouri, of all the adjacent region, are +entitled to every aid in making the celebration a noteworthy event in our +annals. We earnestly hope that foreign nations will appreciate the deep +interest our country takes in this Exposition, and our view of its +importance from every standpoint, and that they will participate in +securing its success. The National Government should be represented by a +full and complete set of exhibits. + +The people of Charleston, with great energy and civic spirit, are carrying +on an Exposition which will continue throughout most of the present session +of the Congress. I heartily commend this Exposition to the good will of the +people. It deserves all the encouragement that can be given it. The +managers of the Charleston Exposition have requested the Cabinet officers +to place thereat the Government exhibits which have been at Buffalo, +promising to pay the necessary expenses. I have taken the responsibility of +directing that this be done, for I feel that it is due to Charleston to +help her in her praiseworthy effort. In my opinion the management should +not be required to pay all these expenses. I earnestly recommend that the +Congress appropriate at once the small sum necessary for this purpose. + +The Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo has just closed. Both from the +industrial and the artistic standpoint this Exposition has been in a high +degree creditable and useful, not merely to Buffalo but to the United +States. The terrible tragedy of the President's assassination interfered +materially with its being a financial success. The Exposition was +peculiarly in harmony with the trend of our public policy, because it +represented an effort to bring into closer touch all the peoples of the +Western Hemisphere, and give them an increasing sense of unity. Such an +effort was a genuine service to the entire American public. + +The advancement of the highest interests of national science and learning +and the custody of objects of art and of the valuable results of scientific +expeditions conducted by the United States have been committed to the +Smithsonian Institution. In furtherance of its declared purpose--for the +"increase and diffusion of knowledge among men" --the Congress has from +time to time given it other important functions. Such trusts have been +executed by the Institution with notable fidelity. There should be no halt +in the work of the Institution, in accordance with the plans which its +Secretary has presented, for the preservation of the vanishing races of +great North American animals in the National Zoological Park. The urgent +needs of the National Museum are recommended to the favorable consideration +of the Congress. + +Perhaps the most characteristic educational movement of the past fifty +years is that which has created the modern public library and developed it +into broad and active service. There are now over five thousand public +libraries in the United States, the product of this period. In addition to +accumulating material, they are also striving by organization, by +improvement in method, and by co-operation, to give greater efficiency to +the material they hold, to make it more widely useful, and by avoidance of +unnecessary duplication in process to reduce the cost of its +administration. + +In these efforts they naturally look for assistance to the Federal library, +which, though still the Library of Congress, and so entitled, is the one +national library of the United States. Already the largest single +collection of books on the Western Hemisphere, and certain to increase more +rapidly than any other through purchase, exchange, and the operation of the +copyright law, this library has a unique opportunity to render to the +libraries of this country--to American scholarship--service of the highest +importance. It is housed in a building which is the largest and most +magnificent yet erected for library uses. Resources are now being provided +which will develop the collection properly, equip it with the apparatus and +service necessary to its effective use, render its bibliographic work +widely available, and enable it to become, not merely a center of research, +but the chief factor in great co-operative efforts for the diffusion of +knowledge and the advancement of learning. + +For the sake of good administration, sound economy, and the advancement of +science, the Census Office as now constituted should be made a permanent +Government bureau. This would insure better, cheaper, and more satisfactory +work, in the interest not only of our business but of statistic, economic, +and social science. + +The remarkable growth of the postal service is shown in the fact that its +revenues have doubled and its expenditures have nearly doubled within +twelve years. Its progressive development compels constantly increasing +outlay, but in this period of business energy and prosperity its receipts +grow so much faster than its expenses that the annual deficit has been +steadily reduced from $11,411,779 in 1897 to $3,923,727 in 1901. Among +recent postal advances the success of rural free delivery wherever +established has been so marked, and actual experience has made its benefits +so plain, that the demand for its extension is general and urgent. + +It is just that the great agricultural population should share in the +improvement of the service. The number of rural routes now in operation is +6,009, practically all established within three years, and there are 6,000 +applications awaiting action. It is expected that the number in operation +at the close of the current fiscal year will reach 8,600. The mail will +then be daily carried to the doors of 5,700,000 of our people who have +heretofore been dependent upon distant offices, and one-third of all that +portion of the country which is adapted to it will be covered by this kind +of service. + +The full measure of postal progress which might be realized has long been +hampered and obstructed by the heavy burden imposed on the Government +through the intrenched and well-understood abuses which have grown up in +connection with second-class mail matter. The extent of this burden appears +when it is stated that while the second-class matter makes nearly +three-fifths of the weight of all the mail, it paid for the last fiscal +year only $4,294,445 of the aggregate postal revenue of $111,631,193. If +the pound rate of postage, which produces the large loss thus entailed, and +which was fixed by the Congress with the purpose of encouraging the +dissemination of public information, were limited to the legitimate +newspapers and periodicals actually contemplated by the law, no just +exception could be taken. That expense would be the recognized and accepted +cost of a liberal public policy deliberately adopted for a justifiable end. +But much of the matter which enjoys the privileged rate is wholly outside +of the intent of the law, and has secured admission only through an evasion +of its require. merits or through lax construction. The proportion of such +wrongly included matter is estimated by postal experts to be one-half of +the whole volume of second-class mail. If it be only one-third or +one-quarter, the magnitude of the burden is apparent. The Post-Office +Department has now undertaken to remove the abuses so far as is possible by +a stricter application of the law; and it should be sustained in its +effort. + +Owing to the rapid growth of our power and our interests on the Pacific, +whatever happens in China must be of the keenest national concern to us. + +The general terms of the settlement of the questions growing out of the +antiforeign uprisings in China of 1900, having been formulated in a joint +note addressed to China by the representatives of the injured powers in +December last, were promptly accepted by the Chinese Government. After +protracted conferences the plenipotentiaries of the several powers were +able to sign a final protocol with the Chinese plenipotentiaries on the 7th +of last September, setting forth the measures taken by China in compliance +with the demands of the joint note, and expressing their satisfaction +therewith. It will be laid before the Congress, with a report of the +plenipotentiary on behalf of the United States, Mr. William Woodville +Rockhill, to whom high praise is due for the tact, good judgment, and +energy he has displayed in performing an exceptionally difficult and +delicate task. + +The agreement reached disposes in a manner satisfactory to the powers of +the various grounds of complaint, and will contribute materially to better +future relations between China and the powers. Reparation has been made by +China for the murder of foreigners during the uprising and punishment has +been inflicted on the officials, however high in rank, recognized as +responsible for or having participated in the outbreak. Official +examinations have been forbidden for a period of five years in all cities +in which foreigners have been murdered or cruelly treated, and edicts have +been issued making all officials directly responsible for the future safety +of foreigners and for the suppression of violence against them. + +Provisions have been made for insuring the future safety of the foreign +representatives in Peking by setting aside for their exclusive use a +quarter of the city which the powers can make defensible and in which they +can if necessary maintain permanent military guards; by dismantling the +military works between the capital and the sea; and by allowing the +temporary maintenance of foreign military posts along this line. An edict +has been issued by the Emperor of China prohibiting for two years the +importation of arms and ammunition into China. China has agreed to pay +adequate indemnities to the states, societies, and individuals for the +losses sustained by them and for the expenses of the military expeditions +sent by the various powers to protect life and restore order. + +Under the provisions of the joint note of December, 1900, China has agreed +to revise the treaties of commerce and navigation and to take such other +steps for the purpose of facilitating foreign trade as the foreign powers +may decide to be needed. + +The Chinese Government has agreed to participate financially in the work of +bettering the water approaches to Shanghai and to Tientsin, the centers of +foreign trade in central and northern China, and an international +conservancy board, in which the Chinese Government is largely represented, +has been provided for the improvement of the Shanghai River and the control +of its navigation. In the same line of commercial advantages a revision of +the present tariff on imports has been assented to for the purpose of +substituting specific for ad valorem duties, and an expert has been sent +abroad on the part of the United States to assist in this work. A list of +articles to remain free of duty, including flour, cereals, and rice, gold +and silver coin and bullion, has also been agreed upon in the settlement. + +During these troubles our Government has unswervingly advocated moderation, +and has materially aided in bringing about an adjustment which tends to +enhance the welfare of China and to lead to a more beneficial intercourse +between the Empire and the modern world; while in the critical period of +revolt and massacre we did our full share in safe-guarding life and +property, restoring order, and vindicating the national interest and honor. +It behooves us to continue in these paths, doing what lies in our power to +foster feelings of good will, and leaving no effort untried to work out the +great policy of full and fair intercourse between China and the nations, on +a footing of equal rights and advantages to all. We advocate the "open +door" with all that it implies; not merely the procurement of enlarged +commercial opportunities on the coasts, but access to the interior by the +waterways with which China has been so extraordinarily favored. Only by +bringing the people of China into peaceful and friendly community of trade +with all the peoples of the earth can the work now auspiciously begun be +carried to fruition. In the attainment of this purpose we necessarily claim +parity of treatment, under the conventions, throughout the Empire for our +trade and our citizens with those of all other powers. + +We view with lively interest and keen hopes of beneficial results the +proceedings of the Pan-American Congress, convoked at the invitation of +Mexico, and now sitting at the Mexican capital. The delegates of the United +States are under the most liberal instructions to cooperate with their +colleagues in all matters promising advantage to the great family of +American commonwealths, as well in their relations among themselves as in +their domestic advancement and in their intercourse with the world at +large. + +My predecessor communicated to the Congress the fact that the Weil and La +Abra awards against Mexico have been adjudged by the highest courts of our +country to have been obtained through fraud and perjury on the part of the +claimants, and that in accordance with the acts of the Congress the money +remaining in the hands of the Secretary of State on these awards has been +returned to Mexico. A considerable portion of the money received from +Mexico on these awards had been paid by this Government to the claimants +before the decision of the courts was rendered. My judgment is that the +Congress should return to Mexico an amount equal to the sums thus already +paid to the claimants. + +The death of Queen Victoria caused the people of the United States deep and +heartfelt sorrow, to which the Government gave full expression. When +President McKinley died, our Nation in turn received from every quarter of +the British Empire expressions of grief and sympathy no less sincere. The +death of the Empress Dowager Frederick of Germany also aroused the genuine +sympathy of the American people; and this sympathy was cordially +reciprocated by Germany when the President was assassinated. Indeed, from +every quarter of the civilized world we received, at' the time of the +President's death, assurances of such grief and regard as to touch the +hearts of our people. In the midst of our affliction we reverently thank +the Almighty that we are at peace with the nations of mankind; and we +firmly intend that our policy shall be such as to continue unbroken these +international relations of mutual respect and good will. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 2, 1902 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +We still continue in a period of unbounded prosperity. This prosperity is +not the creature of law, but undoubtedly the laws under which we work have +been instrumental in creating the conditions which made it possible, and by +unwise legislation it would be easy enough to destroy it. There will +undoubtedly be periods of depression. The wave will recede; but the tide +will advance. This Nation is seated on a continent flanked by two great +oceans. It is composed of men the descendants of pioneers, or, in a sense, +pioneers themselves; of men winnowed out from among the nations of the Old +World by the energy, boldness, and love of adventure found in their own +eager hearts. Such a Nation, so placed, will surely wrest success from +fortune. + +As a people we have played a large part in the world, and we are bent upon +making our future even larger than the past. In particular, the events of +the last four years have definitely decided that, for woe or for weal, our +place must be great among the nations. We may either fall greatly or +succeed greatly; but we can not avoid the endeavor from which either great +failure or great success must come. Even if we would, we can not play a +small part. If we should try, all that would follow would be that we should +play a large part ignobly and shamefully. + +But our people, the sons of the men of the Civil War, the sons of the men +who had iron in their blood, rejoice in the present and face the future +high of heart and resolute of will. Ours is not the creed of the weakling +and the coward; ours is the gospel of hope and of triumphant endeavor. We +do not shrink from the struggle before us. There are many problems for us +to face at the outset of the twentieth century--grave problems abroad and +still graver at home; but we know that we can solve them and solve them +well, provided only that we bring to the solution the qualities of head and +heart which were shown by the men who, in the days of Washington, rounded +this Government, and, in the days of Lincoln, preserved it. + +No country has ever occupied a higher plane of material well-being than +ours at the present moment. This well-being is due to no sudden or +accidental causes, but to the play of the economic forces in this country +for over a century; to our laws, our sustained and continuous policies; +above all, to the high individual average of our citizenship. Great +fortunes have been won by those who have taken the lead in this phenomenal +industrial development, and most of these fortunes have been won not by +doing evil, but as an incident to action which has benefited the community +as a whole. Never before has material well-being been so widely diffused +among our people. Great fortunes have been accumulated, and yet in the +aggregate these fortunes are small Indeed when compared to the wealth of +the people as a whole. The plain people are better off than they have ever +been before. The insurance companies, which are practically mutual benefit +societies--especially helpful to men of moderate means--represent +accumulations of capital which are among the largest in this country. There +are more deposits in the savings banks, more owners of farms, more +well-paid wage-workers in this country now than ever before in our history. +Of course, when the conditions have favored the growth of so much that was +good, they have also favored somewhat the growth of what was evil. It is +eminently necessary that we should endeavor to cut out this evil, but let +us keep a due sense of proportion; let us not in fixing our gaze upon the +lesser evil forget the greater good. The evils are real and some of them +are menacing, but they are the outgrowth, not of misery or decadence, but +of prosperity--of the progress of our gigantic industrial development. This +industrial development must not be checked, but side by side with it should +go such progressive regulation as will diminish the evils. We should fail +in our duty if we did not try to remedy the evils, but we shall succeed +only if we proceed patiently, with practical common sense as well as +resolution, separating the good from the bad and holding on to the former +while endeavoring to get rid of the latter. + +In my Message to the present Congress at its first session I discussed at +length the question of the regulation of those big corporations commonly +doing an interstate business, often with some tendency to monopoly, which +are popularly known as trusts. The experience of the past year has +emphasized, in my opinion, the desirability of the steps I then proposed. A +fundamental requisite of social efficiency is a high standard of individual +energy and excellence; but this is in no wise inconsistent with power to +act in combination for aims which can not so well be achieved by the +individual acting alone. A fundamental base of civilization is the +inviolability of property; but this is in no wise inconsistent with the +right of society to regulate the exercise of the artificial powers which it +confers upon the owners of property, under the name of corporate +franchises, in such a way as to prevent the misuse of these powers. +Corporations, and especially combinations of corporations, should be +managed under public regulation. Experience has shown that under our system +of government the necessary supervision can not be obtained by State +action. It must therefore be achieved by national action. Our aim is not to +do away with corporations; on the contrary, these big aggregations are an +inevitable development of modern industrialism, and the effort to destroy +them would be futile unless accomplished in ways that would work the utmost +mischief to the entire body politic. We can do nothing of good in the way +of regulating and supervising these corporations until we fix clearly in +our minds that we are not attacking the corporations, but endeavoring to do +away with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely +determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public good. We +draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth. The capitalist who, +alone or in conjunction with his fellows, performs some great industrial +feat by which he wins money is a welldoer, not a wrongdoer, provided only +he works in proper and legitimate lines. We wish to favor such a man when +he does well. We wish to supervise and control his actions only to prevent +him from doing ill. Publicity can do no harm to the honest corporation; and +we need not be over tender about sparing the dishonest corporation. + +In curbing and regulating the combinations of capital which are, or may +become, injurious to the public we must be careful not to stop the great +enterprises which have legitimately reduced the cost of production, not to +abandon the place which our country has won in the leadership of the +international industrial world, not to strike down wealth with the result +of closing factories and mines, of turning the wage-worker idle in the +streets and leaving the farmer without a market for what he grows. +Insistence upon the impossible means delay in achieving the possible, +exactly as, on the other hand, the stubborn defense alike of what is good +and what is bad in the existing system, the resolute effort to obstruct any +attempt at betterment, betrays blindness to the historic truth that wise +evolution is the sure safeguard against revolution. + +No more important subject can come before the Congress than this of the +regulation of interstate business. This country can not afford to sit +supine on the plea that under our peculiar system of government we are +helpless in the presence of the new conditions, and unable to grapple with +them or to cut out whatever of evil has arisen in connection with them. The +power of the Congress to regulate interstate commerce is an absolute and +unqualified grant, and without limitations other than those prescribed by +the Constitution. The Congress has constitutional authority to make all +laws necessary and proper for executing this power, and I am satisfied that +this power has not been exhausted by any legislation now on the statute +books. It is evident, therefore, that evils restrictive of commercial +freedom and entailing restraint upon national commerce fall within the +regulative power of the Congress, and that a wise and reasonable law would +be a necessary and proper exercise of Congressional authority to the end +that such evils should be eradicated. + +I believe that monopolies, unjust discriminations, which prevent or cripple +competition, fraudulent overcapitalization, and other evils in trust +organizations and practices which injuriously affect interstate trade can +be prevented under the power of the Congress to "regulate commerce with +foreign nations and among the several States" through regulations and +requirements operating directly upon such commerce, the instrumentalities +thereof, and those engaged therein. + +I earnestly recommend this subject to the consideration of the Congress +with a view to the passage of a law reasonable in its provisions and +effective in its operations, upon which the questions can be finally +adjudicated that now raise doubts as to the necessity of constitutional +amendment. If it prove impossible to accomplish the purposes above set +forth by such a law, then, assuredly, we should not shrink from amending +the Constitution so as to secure beyond peradventure the power sought. + +The Congress has not heretofore made any appropriation for the better +enforcement of the antitrust law as it now stands. Very much has been done +by the Department of Justice in securing the enforcement of this law, but +much more could be done if the Congress would make a special appropriation +for this purpose, to be expended under the direction of the +Attorney-General. + +One proposition advocated has been the reduction of the tariff as a means +of reaching the evils of the trusts which fall within the category I have +described. Not merely would this be wholly ineffective, but the diversion +of our efforts in such a direction would mean the abandonment of all +intelligent attempt to do away with these evils. Many of the largest +corporations, many of those which should certainly be included in any +proper scheme of regulation, would not be affected in the slightest degree +by a change in the tariff, save as such change interfered with the general +prosperity of the country. The only relation of the tariff to big +corporations as a whole is that the tariff makes manufactures profitable, +and the tariff remedy proposed would be in effect simply to make +manufactures unprofitable. To remove the tariff as a punitive measure +directed against trusts would inevitably result in ruin to the weaker +competitors who are struggling against them. Our aim should be not by +unwise tariff changes to give foreign products the advantage over domestic +products, but by proper regulation to give domestic competition a fair +chance; and this end can not be reached by any tariff changes which would +affect unfavorably all domestic competitors, good and bad alike. The +question of regulation of the trusts stands apart from the question of +tariff revision. + +Stability of economic policy must always be the prime economic need of this +country. This stability should not be fossilization. The country has +acquiesced in the wisdom of the protective-tariff principle. It is +exceedingly undesirable that this system should be destroyed or that there +should be violent and radical changes therein. Our past experience shows +that great prosperity in this country has always come under a protective +tariff; and that the country can not prosper under fitful tariff changes at +short intervals. Moreover, if the tariff laws as a whole work well, and if +business has prospered under them and is prospering, it is better to endure +for a time slight inconveniences and inequalities in some schedules than to +upset business by too quick and too radical changes. It is most earnestly +to be wished that we could treat the tariff from the standpoint solely of +our business needs. It is, perhaps, too much to hope that partisanship may +be entirely excluded from consideration of the subject, but at least it can +be made secondary to the business interests of the country--that is, to the +interests of our people as a whole. Unquestionably these business interests +will best be served if together with fixity of principle as regards the +tariff we combine a system which will permit us from time to time to make +the necessary reapplication of the principle to the shifting national +needs. We must take scrupulous care that the reapplication shall be made in +such a way that it will not amount to a dislocation of our system, the mere +threat of which (not to speak of the performance) would produce paralysis +in the business energies of the community. The first consideration in +making these changes would, of course, be to preserve the principle which +underlies our whole tariff system--that is, the principle of putting +American business interests at least on a full equality with interests +abroad, and of always allowing a sufficient rate of duty to more than cover +the difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The well-being of +the wage-worker, like the well-being of the tiller of the soil, should be +treated as an essential in shaping our whole economic policy. There must +never be any change which will jeopardize the standard of comfort, the +standard of wages of the American wage-worker. + +One way in which the readjustment sought can be reached is by reciprocity +treaties. It is greatly to be desired that such treaties may be adopted. +They can be used to widen our markets and to give a greater field for the +activities of our producers on the one hand, and on the other hand to +secure in practical shape the lowering of duties when they are no longer +needed for protection among our own people, or when the minimum of damage +done may be disregarded for the sake of the maximum of good accomplished. +If it prove impossible to ratify the pending treaties, and if there seem to +be no warrant for the endeavor to execute others, or to amend the pending +treaties so that they can be ratified, then the same end--to secure +reciprocity--should be met by direct legislation. + +Wherever the tariff conditions are such that a needed change can not with +advantage be made by the application of the reciprocity idea, then it can +be made outright by a lowering of duties on a given product. If possible, +such change should be made only after the fullest consideration by +practical experts, who should approach the subject from a business +standpoint, having in view both the particular interests affected and the +commercial well-being of the people as a whole. The machinery for providing +such careful investigation can readily be supplied. The executive +department has already at its disposal methods of collecting facts and +figures; and if the Congress desires additional consideration to that which +will be given the subject by its own committees, then a commission of +business experts can be appointed whose duty it should be to recommend +action by the Congress after a deliberate and scientific examination of the +various schedules as they are affected by the changed and changing +conditions. The unhurried and unbiased report of this commission would show +what changes should be made in the various schedules, and how far these +changes could go without also changing the great prosperity which this +country is now enjoying, or upsetting its fixed economic policy. + +The cases in which the tariff can produce a monopoly are so few as to +constitute an inconsiderable factor in the question; but of course if in +any case it be found that a given rate of duty does promote a monopoly +which works ill, no protectionist would object to such reduction of the +duty as would equalize competition. + +In my judgment, the tariff on anthracite coal should be removed, and +anthracite put actually, where it now is nominally, on the free list. This +would have no effect at all save in crises; but in crises it might be of +service to the people. + +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. + +It would be both unwise and unnecessary at this time to attempt to +reconstruct our financial system, which has been the growth of a century; +but some additional legislation is, I think, desirable. The mere outline of +any plan sufficiently comprehensive to meet these requirements would +transgress the appropriate limits of this communication. It is suggested, +however, that all future legislation on the subject should be with the view +of encouraging the use of such instrumentalities as will automatically +supply every legitimate demand of productive industries and of commerce, +not only in the amount, but in the character of circulation; and of making +all kinds of money interchangeable, and, at the will of the holder, +convertible into the established gold standard. + +I again call your attention to the need of passing a proper immigration +law, covering the points outlined in my Message to you at the first session +of the present Congress; substantially such a bill has already passed the +House. + +How to secure fair treatment alike for labor and for capital, how to hold +in check the unscrupulous man, whether employer or employee, without +weakening individual initiative, without hampering and cramping the +industrial development of the country, is a problem fraught with great +difficulties and one which it is of the highest importance to solve on +lines of sanity and far-sighted common sense as well as of devotion to the +right. This is an era of federation and combination. Exactly as business +men find they must often work through corporations, and as it is a constant +tendency of these corporations to grow larger, so it is often necessary for +laboring men to work in federations, and these have become important +factors of modern industrial life. Both kinds of federation, capitalistic +and labor, can do much good, and as a necessary corollary they can both do +evil. Opposition to each kind of organization should take the form of +opposition to whatever is bad in the conduct of any given corporation or +union--not of attacks upon corporations as such nor upon unions as such; +for some of the most far-reaching beneficent work for our people has been +accomplished through both corporations and unions. Each must refrain from +arbitrary or tyrannous interference with the rights of others. Organized +capital and organized labor alike should remember that in the long run the +interest of each must be brought into harmony with the interest of the +general public; and the conduct of each must conform to the fundamental +rules of obedience to the law, of individual freedom, and of justice and +fair dealing toward all. Each should remember that in addition to power it +must strive after the realization of healthy, lofty, and generous ideals. +Every employer, every wage-worker, must be guaranteed his liberty and his +right to do as he likes with his property or his labor so long as he does +not infringe upon the rights of others. It is of the highest importance +that employer and employee alike should endeavor to appreciate each the +viewpoint of the other and the sure disaster that will come upon both in +the long run if either grows to take as habitual an attitude of sour +hostility and distrust toward the other. Few people deserve better of the +country than those representatives both of capital and labor--and there are +many such--who work continually to bring about a good understanding of this +kind, based upon wisdom and upon broad and kindly sympathy between +employers and employed. Above all, we need to remember that any kind of +class animosity in the political world is, if possible, even more wicked, +even more destructive to national welfare, than sectional, race, or +religious animosity. We can get good government only upon condition that we +keep true to the principles upon which this Nation was founded, and judge +each man not as a part of a class, but upon his individual merits. All that +we have a right to ask of any man, rich or poor, whatever his creed, his +occupation, his birthplace, or his residence, is that he shall act well and +honorably by his neighbor and by, his country. We are neither for the rich +man as such nor for the poor man as such; we are for the upright man, rich +or poor. So far as the constitutional powers of the National Government +touch these matters of general and vital moment to the Nation, they should +be exercised in conformity with the principles above set forth. + +It is earnestly hoped that a secretary of commerce may be created, with a +seat in the Cabinet. The rapid multiplication of questions affecting labor +and capital, the growth and complexity of the organizations through which +both labor and capital now find expression, the steady tendency toward the +employment of capital in huge corporations, and the wonderful strides of +this country toward leadership in the international business world justify +an urgent demand for the creation of such a position. Substantially all the +leading commercial bodies in this country have united in requesting its +creation. It is desirable that some such measure as that which has already +passed the Senate be enacted into law. The creation of such a department +would in itself be an advance toward dealing with and exercising +supervision over the whole subject of the great corporations doing an +interstate business; and with this end in view, the Congress should endow +the department with large powers, which could be increased as experience +might show the need. + +I hope soon to submit to the Senate a reciprocity treaty with Cuba. On May +20 last the United States kept its promise to the island by formally +vacating Cuban soil and turning Cuba over to those whom her own people had +chosen as the first officials of the new Republic. + +Cuba lies at our doors, and whatever affects her for good or for ill +affects us also. So much have our people felt this that in the Platt +amendment we definitely took the ground that Cuba must hereafter have +closer political relations with us than with any other power. Thus in a +sense Cuba has become a part of our international political system. This +makes it necessary that in return she should be given some of the benefits +of becoming part of our economic system. It is, from our own standpoint, a +short-sighted and mischievous policy to fail to recognize this need. +Moreover, it is unworthy of a mighty and generous nation, itself the +greatest and most successful republic in history, to refuse to stretch out +a helping hand to a young and weak sister republic just entering upon its +career of independence. We should always fearlessly insist upon our rights +in the face of the strong, and we should with ungrudging hand do our +generous duty by the weak. I urge the adoption of reciprocity with Cuba not +only because it is eminently for our own interests to control the Cuban +market and by every means to foster our supremacy in the tropical lands and +waters south of us, but also because we, of of the giant republic of the +north, should make all our sister nations of the American Continent feel +that whenever they will permit it we desire to show ourselves +disinterestedly and effectively their friend. + +A convention with Great Britain has been concluded, which will be at once +laid before the Senate for ratification, providing for reciprocal trade +arrangements between the United States and Newfoundland on substantially +the lines of the convention formerly negotiated by the Secretary of State, +Mr. Blaine. I believe reciprocal trade relations will be greatly to the +advantage of both countries. + +As civilization grows warfare becomes less and less the normal condition of +foreign relations. The last century has seen a marked diminution of wars +between civilized powers; wars with uncivilized powers are largely mere +matters of international police duty, essential for, the welfare of the +world. Wherever possible, arbitration or some similar method should be +employed in lieu of war to settle difficulties between civilized nations, +although as yet the world has not progressed sufficiently to render it +possible, or necessarily desirable, to invoke arbitration in every case. +The formation of the international tribunal which sits at The Hague is an +event of good omen from which great consequences for the welfare of all +mankind may flow. It is far better, where possible, to invoke such a +permanent tribunal than to create special arbitrators for a given purpose. + +It is a matter of sincere congratulation to our country that the United +States and Mexico should have been the first to use the good offices of The +Hague Court. This was done last summer with most satisfactory results in +the case of a claim at issue between us and our sister Republic. It is +earnestly to be hoped that this first case will serve as a precedent for +others, in which not only the United States but foreign nations may take +advantage of the machinery already in existence at The Hague. + +I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the Hawaiian fire +claims, which were the subject of careful investigation during the last +session. + +The Congress has wisely provided that we shall build at once an isthmian +canal, if possible at Panama. The Attorney-General reports that we can +undoubtedly acquire good title from the French Panama Canal Company. +Negotiations are now pending with Colombia to secure her assent to our +building the canal. This canal will be one of the greatest engineering +feats of the twentieth century; a greater engineering feat than has yet +been accomplished during the history of mankind. The work should be carried +out as a continuing policy without regard to change of Administration; and +it should be begun under circumstances which will make it a matter of pride +for all Administrations to continue the policy. + +The canal will be of great benefit to America, and of importance to all the +world. It will be of advantage to us industrially and also as improving our +military position. It will be of advantage to the countries of tropical +America. It is earnestly to be hoped that all of these countries will do as +some of them have already done with signal success, and will invite to +their shores commerce and improve their material conditions by recognizing +that stability and order are the prerequisites of successful development. +No independent nation in America need have the slightest fear of aggression +from the United States. It behoves each one to maintain order within its +own borders and to discharge its just obligations to foreigners. When this +is done, they can rest assured that, be they strong or weak, they have +nothing to dread from outside interference. More and more the increasing +interdependence and complexity of international political and economic +relations render it incumbent on all civilized and orderly powers to insist +on the proper policing of the world. + +During the fall of 1901 a communication was addressed to the Secretary of +State, asking whether permission would be granted by the President to a +corporation to lay a cable from a point on the California coast to the +Philippine Islands by way of Hawaii. A statement of conditions or terms +upon which such corporation would undertake to lay and operate a cable was +volunteered. + +Inasmuch as the Congress was shortly to convene, and Pacific-cable +legislation had been the subject of consideration by the Congress for +several years, it seemed to me wise to defer action upon the application +until the Congress had first an opportunity to act. The Congress adjourned +without taking any action, leaving the matter in exactly the same condition +in which it stood when the Congress convened. + +Meanwhile it appears that the Commercial Pacific Cable Company had promptly +proceeded with preparations for laying its cable. It also made application +to the President for access to and use of soundings taken by the U. S. S. +Nero, for the purpose of discovering a practicable route for a +trans-Pacific cable, the company urging that with access to these soundings +it could complete its cable much sooner than if it were required to take +soundings upon its own account. Pending consideration of this subject, it +appeared important and desirable to attach certain conditions to the +permission to examine and use the soundings, if it should be granted. + +In consequence of this solicitation of the cable company, certain +conditions were formulated, upon which the President was willing to allow +access to these soundings and to consent to the landing and laying of the +cable, subject to any alterations or additions thereto imposed by the +Congress. This was deemed proper, especially as it was clear that a cable +connection of some kind with China, a foreign country, was a part of the +company's plan. This course was, moreover, in accordance with a line of +precedents, including President Grant's action in the case of the first +French cable, explained to the Congress in his Annual Message of December, +1875, and the instance occurring in 1879 of the second French cable from +Brest to St. Pierre, with a branch to Cape Cod. + +These conditions prescribed, among other things, a maximum rate for +commercial messages and that the company should construct a line from the +Philippine Islands to China, there being at present, as is well known, a +British line from Manila to Hongkong. + +The representatives of the cable company kept these conditions long under +consideration, continuing, in the meantime, to prepare for laying the +cable. They have, however, at length acceded to them, and an all-American +line between our Pacific coast and the Chinese Empire, by way of Honolulu +and the Philippine Islands, is thus provided for, and is expected within a +few months to be ready for business. + +Among the conditions is one reserving the power of the Congress to modify +or repeal any or all of them. A copy of the conditions is herewith +transmitted. + +Of Porto Rico it is only necessary to say that the prosperity of the island +and the wisdom with which it has been governed have been such as to make it +serve as an example of all that is best in insular administration. + +On July 4 last, on the one hundred and twenty-sixth anniversary of the +declaration of our independence, peace and amnesty were promulgated in the +Philippine Islands. Some trouble has since from time to time threatened +with the Mohammedan Moros, but with the late insurrectionary Filipinos the +war has entirely ceased. Civil government has now been introduced. Not only +does each Filipino enjoy such rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of +happiness as he has never before known during the recorded history of the +islands, but the people taken as a whole now enjoy a measure of +self-government greater than that granted to any other Orientals by any +foreign power and greater than that enjoyed by any other Orientals under +their own governments, save the Japanese alone. We have not gone too far in +granting these rights of liberty and self-government; but we have certainly +gone to the limit that in the interests of the Philippine people themselves +it was wise or just to go. To hurry matters, to go faster than we are now +going, would entail calamity on the people of the islands. No policy ever +entered into by the American people has vindicated itself in more signal +manner than the policy of holding the Philippines. The triumph of our arms, +above all the triumph of our laws and principles, has come sooner than we +had any right to expect. Too much praise can not be given to the Army for +what it has done in the Philippines both in warfare and from an +administrative standpoint in preparing the way for civil government; and +similar credit belongs to the civil authorities for the way in which they +have planted the seeds of self-government in the ground thus made ready for +them. The courage, the unflinching endurance, the high soldierly +efficiency; and the general kind-heartedness and humanity of our troops +have been strikingly manifested. There now remain only some fifteen +thousand troops in the islands. All told, over one hundred thousand have +been sent there. Of course, there have been individual instances of +wrongdoing among them. They warred under fearful difficulties of climate +and surroundings; and under the strain of the terrible provocations which +they continually received from their foes, occasional instances of cruel +retaliation occurred. Every effort has been made to prevent such cruelties, +and finally these efforts have been completely successful. Every effort has +also been made to detect and punish the wrongdoers. After making all +allowance for these misdeeds, it remains true that few indeed have been the +instances in which war has been waged by a civilized power against +semicivilized or barbarous forces where there has been so little wrongdoing +by the victors as in the Philippine Islands. On the other hand, the amount +of difficult, important, and beneficent work which has been done is +well-nigh incalculable. + +Taking the work of the Army and the civil authorities together, it may be +questioned whether anywhere else in modern times the world has seen a +better example of real constructive statesmanship than our people have +given in the Philippine Islands. High praise should also be given those +Filipinos, in the aggregate very numerous, who have accepted the new +conditions and joined with our representatives to work with hearty good +will for the welfare of the islands. + +The Army has been reduced to the minimum allowed by law. It is very small +for the size of the Nation, and most certainly should be kept at the +highest point of efficiency. The senior officers are given scant chance +under ordinary conditions to exercise commands commensurate with their +rank, under circumstances which would fit them to do their duty in time of +actual war. A system of maneuvering our Army in bodies of some little size +has been begun and should be steadily continued. Without such maneuvers it +is folly to expect that in the event of hostilities with any serious foe +even a small army corps could be handled to advantage. Both our officers +and enlisted men are such that we can take hearty pride in them. No better +material can be found. But they must be thoroughly trained, both as +individuals and in the mass. The marksmanship of the men must receive +special attention. In the circumstances of modern warfare the man must act +far more on his own individual responsibility than ever before, and the +high individual efficiency of the unit is of the utmost importance. +Formerly this unit was the regiment; it is now not the regiment, not even +the troop or company; it is the individual soldier. Every effort must be +made to develop every workmanlike and soldierly quality in both the officer +and the enlisted man. + +I urgently call your attention to the need of passing a bill providing for +a general staff and for the reorganization of the supply departments on the +lines of the bill proposed by the Secretary of War last year. When the +young officers enter the Army from West Point they probably stand above +their compeers in any other military service. Every effort should be made, +by training, by reward of merit, by scrutiny into their careers and +capacity, to keep them of the same high relative excellence throughout +their careers. + +Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, vol. 9, p.6761 - +p.6762 + +The measure providing for the reorganization of the militia system and for +securing the highest efficiency in the National Guard, which has already +passed the House, should receive prompt attention and action. It is of +great importance that the relation of the National Guard to the militia and +volunteer forces of the United States should be defined, and that in place +of our present obsolete laws a practical and efficient system should be +adopted. + +Provision should be made to enable the Secretary of War to keep cavalry and +artillery horses, worn-out in long performance of duty. Such horses fetch +but a trifle when sold; and rather than turn them out to the misery +awaiting them when thus disposed of, it would be better to employ them at +light work around the posts, and when necessary to put them painlessly to +death. + +For the first time in our history naval maneuvers on a large scale are +being held under the immediate command of the Admiral of the Navy. +Constantly increasing attention is being paid to the gunnery of the Navy, +but it is yet far from what it should be. I earnestly urge that the +increase asked for by the Secretary of the Navy in the appropriation for +improving the markmanship be granted. In battle the only shots that count +are the shots that hit. It is necessary to provide ample funds for practice +with the great guns in time of peace. These funds must provide not only for +the purchase of projectiles, but for allowances for prizes to encourage the +gun crews, and especially the gun pointers, and for perfecting an +intelligent system under which alone it is possible to get good practice. + +There should be no halt in the work of building up the Navy, providing +every year additional fighting craft. We are a very rich country, vast in +extent of territory and great in population; a country, moreover, which has +an Army diminutive indeed when compared with that of any other first-class +power. We have deliberately made our own certain foreign policies which +demand the possession of a first-class navy. The isthmian canal will +greatly increase the efficiency of our Navy if the Navy is of sufficient +size; but if we have an inadequate navy, then the building of the canal +would be merely giving a hostage to any power of superior strength. The +Monroe Doctrine should be treated as the cardinal feature of American +foreign policy; but it would be worse than idle to assert it unless we +intended to back it up, and it can be backed up only by a thoroughly good +navy. A good navy is not a provocative of war. It is the surest guaranty of +peace. + +Each individual unit of our Navy should be the most efficient of its kind +as regards both material and personnel that is to be found in the world. I +call your special attention to the need of providing for the manning of the +ships. Serious trouble threatens us if we can not do better than we are now +doing as regards securing the services of a sufficient number of the +highest type of sailormen, of sea mechanics. The veteran seamen of our war +ships are of as high a type as can be found in any navy which rides the +waters of the world; they are unsurpassed in daring, in resolution, in +readiness, in thorough knowledge of their profession. They deserve every +consideration that can be shown them. But there are not enough of them. It +is no more possible to improvise a crew than it is possible to improvise a +war ship. To build the finest ship, with the deadliest battery, and to send +it afloat with a raw crew, no matter how brave they were individually, +would be to insure disaster if a foe of average capacity were encountered. +Neither ships nor men can be improvised when war has begun. + +We need a thousand additional officers in order to properly man the ships +now provided for and under construction. The classes at the Naval School at +Annapolis should be greatly enlarged. At the same time that we thus add the +officers where we need them, we should facilitate the retirement of those +at the head of the list whose usefulness has become impaired. Promotion +must be fostered if the service is to be kept efficient. + +The lamentable scarcity of officers, and the large number of recruits and +of unskilled men necessarily put aboard the new vessels as they have been +commissioned, has thrown upon our officers, and especially on the +lieutenants and junior grades, unusual labor and fatigue and has gravely +strained their powers of endurance. Nor is there sign of any immediate +let-up in this strain. It must continue for some time longer, until more +officers are graduated from Annapolis, and until the recruits become +trained and skillful in their duties. In these difficulties incident upon +the development of our war fleet the conduct of all our officers has been +creditable to the service, and the lieutenants and junior grades in +particular have displayed an ability and a steadfast cheerfulness which +entitles them to the ungrudging thanks of all who realize the disheartening +trials and fatigues to which they are of necessity subjected. + +There is not a cloud on the horizon at present. There seems not the +slightest chance of trouble with a foreign power. We most earnestly hope +that this state of things may continue; and the way to insure its +continuance is to provide for a thoroughly efficient navy. The refusal to +maintain such a navy would invite trouble, and if trouble came would insure +disaster. Fatuous self-complacency or vanity, or short-sightedness in +refusing to prepare for danger, is both foolish and wicked in such a nation +as ours; and past experience has shown that such fatuity in refusing to +recognize or prepare for any crisis in advance is usually succeeded by a +mad panic of hysterical fear once the crisis has actually arrived. + +The striking increase in the revenues of the Post-Office Department shows +clearly the prosperity of our people and the increasing activity of the +business of the country. + +The receipts of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending June +30 last amounted to $121,848,047.26, an increase of $10,216,853.87 over the +preceding year, the largest increase known in the history of the postal +service. The magnitude of this increase will best appear from the fact that +the entire postal receipts for the year 1860 amounted to but $8,518,067. + +Rural free-delivery service is no longer in the experimental stage; it has +become a fixed policy. The results following its introduction have fully +justified the Congress in the large appropriations made for its +establishment and extension. The average yearly increase in post-office +receipts in the rural districts of the country is about two per cent. We +are now able, by actual results, to show that where rural free-delivery +service has been established to such an extent as to enable us to make +comparisons the yearly increase has been upward of ten per cent. + +On November 1, 1902, 11,650 rural free-delivery routes had been established +and were in operation, covering about one-third of the territory of the +United States available for rural free-delivery service. There are now +awaiting the action of the Department petitions and applications for the +establishment of 10,748 additional routes. This shows conclusively the want +which the establishment of the service has met and the need of further +extending it as rapidly as possible. It is justified both by the financial +results and by the practical benefits to our rural population; it brings +the men who live on the soil into close relations with the active business +world; it keeps the farmer in daily touch with the markets; it is a +potential educational force; it enhances the value of farm property, makes +farm life far pleasanter and less isolated, and will do much to check the +undesirable current from country to city. + +It is to be hoped that the Congress will make liberal appropriations for +the continuance of the service already established and for its further +extension. + +Few subjects of more importance have been taken up by the Congress in +recent years than the inauguration of the system of nationally-aided +irrigation for the arid regions of the far West. A good beginning therein +has been made. Now that this policy of national irrigation has been +adopted, the need of thorough and scientific forest protection will grow +more rapidly than ever throughout the public-land States. + +Legislation should be provided for the protection of the game, and the wild +creatures generally, on the forest reserves. The senseless slaughter of +game, which can by judicious protection be permanently preserved on our +national reserves for the people as a whole, should be stopped at once. It +is, for instance, a serious count against our national good sense to permit +the present practice of butchering off such a stately and beautiful +creature as the elk for its antlers or tusks. + +So far as they are available for agriculture, and to whatever extent they +may be reclaimed under the national irrigation law, the remaining public +lands should be held rigidly for the home builder, the settler who lives on +his land, and for no one else. In their actual use the desert-land law, the +timber and stone law, and the commutation clause of the homestead law have +been so perverted from the intention with which they were enacted as to +permit the acquisition of large areas of the public domain for other than +actual settlers and the consequent prevention of settlement. Moreover, the +approaching exhaustion of the public ranges has of late led to much +discussion as to the best manner of using these public lands in the West +which are suitable chiefly or only for grazing. The sound and steady +development of the West depends upon the building up of homes therein. Much +of our prosperity as a nation has been due to the operation of the +homestead law. On the other hand, we should recognize the fact that in the +grazing region the man who corresponds to the homesteader may be unable to +settle permanently if only allowed to use the same amount of pasture land +that his brother, the homesteader, is allowed to use of arable land. One +hundred and sixty acres of fairly rich and well-watered soil, or a much +smaller amount of irrigated land, may keep a family in plenty, whereas no +one could get a living from one hundred and sixty acres of dry pasture land +capable of supporting at the outside only one head of cattle to every ten +acres. In the past great tracts of the public domain have been fenced in by +persons having no title thereto, in direct defiance of the law forbidding +the maintenance or construction of any such unlawful inclosure of public +land. For various reasons there has been little interference with such +inclosures in the past, but ample notice has now been given the +trespassers, and all the resources at the command of the Government will +hereafter be used to put a stop to such trespassing. + +In view of the capital importance of these matters, I commend them to the +earnest consideration of the Congress, and if the Congress finds difficulty +in dealing with them from lack of thorough knowledge of the subject, I +recommend that provision be made for a commission of experts specially to +investigate and report upon the complicated questions involved. + +I especially urge upon the Congress the need of wise legislation for +Alaska. It is not to our credit as a nation that Alaska, which has been +ours for thirty-five years, should still have as poor a system Of laws as +is the case. No country has a more valuable possession-- in mineral wealth, +in fisheries, furs, forests, and also in land available for certain kinds +of farming and stockgrowing. It is a territory of great size and varied +resources, well fitted to support a large permanent population. Alaska +needs a good land law and such provisions for homesteads and pre-emptions +as will encourage permanent settlement. We should shape legislation with a +view not to the exploiting and abandoning of the territory, but to the +building up of homes therein. The land laws should be liberal in type, so +as to hold out inducements to the actual settler whom we most desire to see +take possession of the country. The forests of Alaska should be protected, +and, as a secondary but still important matter, the game also, and at the +same time it is imperative that the settlers should be allowed to cut +timber, under proper regulations, for their own use. Laws should be enacted +to protect the Alaskan salmon fisheries against the greed which would +destroy them. They should be preserved as a permanent industry and food +supply. Their management and control should be turned over to the +Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Alaska should have a Delegate in the +Congress. It would be well if a Congressional committee could visit Alaska +and investigate its needs on the ground. + +In dealing with the Indians our aim should be their ultimate absorption +into the body of our people. But in many cases this absorption must and +should be very slow. In portions of the Indian Territory the mixture of +blood has gone on at the same time with progress in wealth and education, +so that there are plenty of men with varying degrees of purity of Indian +blood who are absolutely indistinguishable in point of social, political, +and economic ability from their white associates. There are other tribes +which have as yet made no perceptible advance toward such equality. To try +to force such tribes too fast is to prevent their going forward at all. +Moreover, the tribes live under widely different conditions. Where a tribe +has made considerable advance and lives on fertile farming soil it is +possible to allot the members lands in severalty much as is the case with +white settlers. There are other tribes where such a course is not +desirable. On the arid prairie lands the effort should be to induce the +Indians to lead pastoral rather than agricultural lives, and to permit them +to settle in villages rather than to force them into isolation. + +The large Indian schools situated remote from any Indian reservation do a +special and peculiar work of great importance. But, excellent though these +are, an immense amount of additional work must be done on the reservations +themselves among the old, and above all among the young, Indians. + +The first and most important step toward the absorption of the Indian is to +teach him to earn his living; yet it is not necessarily to be assumed that +in each community all Indians must become either tillers of the soil or +stock raisers. Their industries may properly be diversified, and those who +show special desire or adaptability for industrial or even commercial +pursuits should be encouraged so far as practicable to follow out each his +own bent. + +Every effort should be made to develop the Indian along the lines of +natural aptitude, and to encourage the existing native industries peculiar +to certain tribes, such as the various kinds of basket weaving, canoe +building, smith work, and blanket work. Above all, the Indian boys and +girls should be given confident command of colloquial English, and should +ordinarily be prepared for a vigorous struggle with the conditions under +which their people live, rather than for immediate absorption into some +more highly developed community. + +The officials who represent the Government in dealing with the Indians work +under hard conditions, and also under conditions which render it easy to do +wrong and very difficult to detect wrong. Consequently they should be amply +paid on the one hand, and on the other hand a particularly high standard of +conduct should be demanded from them, and where misconduct can be proved +the punishment should be exemplary. + +In no department of governmental work in recent years has there been +greater success than in that of giving scientific aid to the farming +population, thereby showing them how most efficiently to help themselves. +There is no need of insisting upon its importance, for the welfare of the +farmer is fundamentally necessary to the welfare of the Republic as a +whole. In addition to such work as quarantine against animal and vegetable +plagues, and warring against them when here introduced, much efficient help +has been rendered to the farmer by the introduction of new plants specially +fitted for cultivation under the peculiar conditions existing in different +portions of the country. New cereals have been established in the semi-arid +West. For instance, the practicability of producing the best types of +macaroni wheats in regions of an annual rainfall of only ten inches or +thereabouts has been conclusively demonstrated. Through the introduction of +new rices in Louisiana and Texas the production of rice in this country has +been made to about equal the home demand. In the South-west the possibility +of regrassing overstocked range lands has been demonstrated; in the North +many new forage crops have been introduced, while in the East it has been +shown that some of our choicest fruits can be stored and shipped in such a +way as to find a profitable market abroad. + +I again recommend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the plans +of the Smithsonian Institution for making the Museum under its charge +worthy of the Nation, and for preserving at the National Capital not only +records of the vanishing races of men but of the animals of this continent +which, like the buffalo, will soon become extinct unless specimens from +which their representatives may be renewed are sought in their native +regions and maintained there in safety. + +The District of Columbia is the only part of our territory in which the +National Government exercises local or municipal functions, and where in +consequence the Government has a free hand in reference to certain types of +social and economic legislation which must be essentially local or +municipal in their character. The Government should see to it, for +instance, that the hygienic and sanitary legislation affecting Washington +is of a high character. The evils of slum dwellings, whether in the shape +of crowded and congested tenement-house districts or of the back-alley +type, should never be permitted to grow up in Washington. The city should +be a model in every respect for all the cities of the country. The +charitable and correctional systems of the District should receive +consideration at the hands of the Congress to the end that they may embody +the results of the most advanced thought in these fields. Moreover, while +Washington is not a great industrial city, there is some industrialism +here, and our labor legislation, while it would not be important in itself, +might be made a model for the rest of the Nation. We should pass, for +instance, a wise employer's-liability act for the District of Columbia, and +we need such an act in our navy-yards. Railroad companies in the District +ought to be required by law to block their frogs. + +The safety-appliance law, for the better protection of the lives and limbs +of railway employees, which was passed in 1893, went into full effect on +August 1, 1901. It has resulted in averting thousands of casualties. +Experience shows, however, the necessity of additional legislation to +perfect this law. A bill to provide for this passed the Senate at the last +session. It is to be hoped that some such measure may now be enacted into +law. + +There is a growing tendency to provide for the publication of masses of +documents for which there is no public demand and for the printing of which +there is no real necessity. Large numbers of volumes are turned out by the +Government printing presses for which there is no justification. Nothing +should be printed by any of the Departments unless it contains something of +permanent value, and the Congress could with advantage cut down very +materially on all the printing which it has now become customary to +provide. The excessive cost of Government printing is a strong argument +against the position of those who are inclined on abstract grounds to +advocate the Government's doing any work which can with propriety be left +in private hands. + +Gratifying progress has been made during the year in the extension of the +merit system of making appointments in the Government service. It should be +extended by law to the District of Columbia. It is much to be desired that +our consular system be established by law on a basis providing for +appointment and promotion only in consequence of proved fitness. + +Through a wise provision of the Congress at its last session the White +House, which had become disfigured by incongruous additions and changes, +has now been restored to what it was planned to be by Washington. In making +the restorations the utmost care has been exercised to come as near as +possible to the early plans and to supplement these plans by a careful +study of such buildings as that of the University of Virginia, which was +built by Jefferson. The White House is the property of the Nation, and so +far as is compatible with living therein it should be kept as it originally +was, for the same. reasons that we keep Mount Vernon as it originally was. +The stately simplicity of its architecture is an expression of the +character of the period in which it was built, and is in accord with the +purposes it was designed to serve. It is a good thing to preserve such +buildings as historic monuments which keep alive our sense of continuity +with the Nation's past. + +The reports of the several Executive Departments are submitted to the +Congress with this communication. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 7, 1903 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +The country is to be congratulated on the amount of substantial achievement +which has marked the past year both as regards our foreign and as regards +our domestic policy. + +With a nation as with a man the most important things are those of the +household, and therefore the country is especially to be congratulated on +what has been accomplished in the direction of providing for the exercise +of supervision over the great corporations and combinations of corporations +engaged in interstate commerce. The Congress has created the Department of +Commerce and Labor, including the Bureau of Corporations, with for the +first time authority to secure proper publicity of such proceedings of +these great corporations as the public has the right to know. It has +provided for the expediting of suits for the enforcement of the Federal +anti-trust law; and by another law it has secured equal treatment to all +producers in the transportation of their goods, thus taking a long stride +forward in making effective the work of the Interstate Commerce +Commission. + +The establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor, with the Bureau +of Corporations thereunder, marks a real advance in the direction of doing +all that is possible for the solution of the questions vitally affecting +capitalists and wage-workers. The act creating Department was approved on +February 14, 1903, and two days later the head of the Department was +nominated and confirmed by the Senate. Since then the work of organization +has been pushed as rapidly as the initial appropriations permitted, and +with due regard to thoroughness and the broad purposes which the Department +is designed to serve. After the transfer of the various bureaus and +branches to the Department at the beginning of the current fiscal year, as +provided for in the act, the personnel comprised 1,289 employees in +Washington and 8,836 in the country at large. The scope of the Department's +duty and authority embraces the commercial and industrial interests of the +Nation. It is not designed to restrict or control the fullest liberty of +legitimate business action, but to secure exact and authentic information +which will aid the Executive in enforcing existing laws, and which will +enable the Congress to enact additional legislation, if any should be found +necessary, in order to prevent the few from obtaining privileges at the +expense of diminished opportunities for the many. + +The preliminary work of the Bureau of Corporations in the Department has +shown the wisdom of its creation. Publicity in corporate affairs will tend +to do away with ignorance, and will afford facts upon which intelligent +action may be taken. Systematic, intelligent investigation is already +developing facts the knowledge of which is essential to a right +understanding of the needs and duties of the business world. The +corporation which is honestly and fairly organized, whose managers in the +conduct of its business recognize their obligation to deal squarely with +their stockholders, their competitors, and the public, has nothing to fear +from such supervision. The purpose of this Bureau is not to embarrass or +assail legitimate business, but to aid in bringing about a better +industrial condition--a condition under which there shall be obedience to +law and recognition of public obligation by all corporations, great or +small. The Department of Commerce and Labor will be not only the clearing +house for information regarding the business transactions of the Nation, +but the executive arm of the Government to aid in strengthening our +domestic and foreign markets, in perfecting our transportation facilities, +in building up our merchant marine, in preventing the entrance of +undesirable immigrants, in improving commercial and industrial conditions, +and in bringing together on common ground those necessary partners in +industrial progress--capital and labor. Commerce between the nations is +steadily growing in volume, and the tendency of the times is toward closer +trade relations. Constant watchfulness is needed to secure to Americans the +chance to participate to the best advantage in foreign trade; and we may +confidently expect that the new Department will justify the expectation of +its creators by the exercise of this watchfulness, as well as by the +businesslike administration of such laws relating to our internal affairs +as are intrusted to its care. + +In enacting the laws above enumerated the Congress proceeded on sane and +conservative lines. Nothing revolutionary was attempted; but a common-sense +and successful effort was made in the direction of seeing that corporations +are so handled as to subserve the public good. The legislation was +moderate. It was characterized throughout by the idea that we were not +attacking corporations, but endeavoring to provide for doing away with any +evil in them; that we drew the line against misconduct, not against wealth; +gladly recognizing the great good done by the capitalist who alone, or in +conjunction with his fellows, does his work along proper and legitimate +lines. The purpose of the legislation, which purpose will undoubtedly be +fulfilled, was to favor such a man when he does well, and to supervise his +action only to prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can do no harm to the +honest corporation. The only corporation that has cause to dread it is the +corporation which shrinks from the light, and about the welfare of such +corporations we need not be oversensitive. The work of the Department of +Commerce and Labor has been conditioned upon this theory, of securing fair +treatment alike for labor and for capital. + +The consistent policy of the National Government, so far as it has the +power, is to hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether employer or +employee; but to refuse to weaken individual initiative or to hamper or +cramp the industrial development of the country. We recognize that this is +an era of federation and combination, in which great capitalistic +corporations and labor unions have become factors of tremendous importance +in all industrial centers. Hearty recognition is given the far-reaching, +beneficent work which has been accomplished through both corporations and +unions, and the line as between different corporations, as between +different unions, is drawn as it is between different individuals; that is, +it is drawn on conduct, the effort being to treat both organized capital +and organized labor alike; asking nothing save that the interest of each +shall be brought into harmony with the interest of the general public, and +that the conduct of each shall conform to the fundamental rules of +obedience to law, of individual freedom, and of justice and fair dealing +towards all. Whenever either corporation, labor union, or individual +disregards the law or acts in a spirit of arbitrary and tyrannous +interference with the rights of others, whether corporations or +individuals, then where the Federal Government has jurisdiction, it will +see to it that the misconduct is stopped, paying not the slightest heed to +the position or power of the corporation, the union or the individual, but +only to one vital fact--that is, the question whether or not the conduct of +the individual or aggregate of individuals is in accordance with the law of +the land. Every man must be guaranteed his liberty and his right to do as +he likes with his property or his labor, so long as he does not infringe +the rights of others. No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor +do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it. Obedience to +the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor. + +We have cause as a nation to be thankful for the steps that have been so +successfully taken to put these principles into effect. The progress has +been by evolution, not by revolution. Nothing radical has been done; the +action has been both moderate and resolute. Therefore the work will stand. +There shall be no backward step. If in the working of the laws it proves +desirable that they shall at any point be expanded or amplified, the +amendment can be made as its desirability is shown. Meanwhile they are +being administered with judgment, but with insistence upon obedience to +them, and their need has been emphasized in signal fashion by the events of +the past year. + +From all sources, exclusive of the postal service, the receipts of the +Government for the last fiscal year aggregated $560,396,674. The +expenditures for the same period were $506,099,007, the surplus for the +fiscal year being $54,297,667. The indications are that the surplus for the +present fiscal year will be very small, if indeed there be any surplus. +From July to November the receipts from customs were, approximately, nine +million dollars less than the receipts from the same source for a +corresponding portion of last year. Should this decrease continue at the +same ratio throughout the fiscal year, the surplus would be reduced by, +approximately, thirty million dollars. Should the revenue from customs +suffer much further decrease during the fiscal year, the surplus would +vanish. A large surplus is certainly undesirable. Two years ago the war +taxes were taken off with the express intention of equalizing the +governmental receipts and expenditures, and though the first year +thereafter still showed a surplus, it now seems likely that a substantial +equality of revenue and expenditure will be attained. Such being the case +it is of great moment both to exercise care and economy in appropriations, +and to scan sharply any change in our fiscal revenue system which may +reduce our income. The need of strict economy in our expenditures is +emphasized by the fact that we can not afford to be parsimonious in +providing for what is essential to our national well-being. Careful economy +wherever possible will alone prevent our income from falling below the +point required in order to meet our genuine needs. + +The integrity of our currency is beyond question, and under present +conditions it would be unwise and unnecessary to attempt a reconstruction +of our entire monetary system. The same liberty should be granted the +Secretary of the Treasury to deposit customs receipts as is granted him in +the deposit of receipts from other sources. In my Message of December 2, +1902, I called attention to certain needs of the financial situation, and I +again ask the consideration of the Congress for these questions. + +During the last session of the Congress at the suggestion of a joint note +from the Republic of Mexico and the Imperial Government of China, and in +harmony with an act of the Congress appropriating $25,000 to pay the +expenses thereof, a commission was appointed to confer with the principal +European countries in the hope that some plan might be devised whereby a +fixed rate of exchange could be assured between the gold-standard countries +and the silver-standard countries. This commission has filed its +preliminary report, which has been made public. I deem it important that +the commission be continued, and that a sum of money be appropriated +sufficient to pay the expenses of its further labors. + +A majority of our people desire that steps be taken in the interests of +American shipping, so that we may once more resume our former position in +the ocean carrying trade. But hitherto the differences of opinion as to the +proper method of reaching this end have been so wide that it has proved +impossible to secure the adoption of any particular scheme. Having in view +these facts, I recommend that the Congress direct the Secretary of the +Navy, the Postmaster-General, and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, +associated with such a representation from the Senate and House of +Representatives as the Congress in its wisdom may designate, to serve as a +commission for the purpose of investigating and reporting to the Congress +at its next session what legislation is desirable or necessary for the +development of the American merchant marine and American commerce, and +incidentally of a national ocean mail service of adequate auxiliary naval +crusiers and naval reserves. While such a measure is desirable in any +event, it is especially desirable at this time, in view of the fact that +our present governmental contract for ocean mail with the American Line +will expire in 1905. Our ocean mail act was passed in 1891. In 1895 our +20-knot transatlantic mail line was equal to any foreign line. Since then +the Germans have put on 23-knot, steamers, and the British have contracted +for 24-knot steamers. Our service should equal the best. If it does not, +the commercial public will abandon it. If we are to stay in the business it +ought to be with a full understanding of the advantages to the country on +one hand, and on the other with exact knowledge of the cost and proper +methods of carrying it on. Moreover, lines of cargo ships are of even more +importance than fast mail lines; save so far as the latter can be depended +upon to furnish swift auxiliary cruisers in time of war. The establishment +of new lines of cargo ships to South America, to Asia, and elsewhere would +be much in the interest of our commercial expansion. + +We can not have too much immigration of the right kind, and we should have +none at all of the wrong kind. The need is to devise some system by which +undesirable immigrants shall be kept out entirely, while desirable +immigrants are properly distributed throughout the country. At present some +districts which need immigrants have none; and in others, where the +population is already congested, immigrants come in such numbers as to +depress the conditions of life for those already there. During the last two +years the immigration service at New York has been greatly improved, and +the corruption and inefficiency which formerly obtained there have been +eradicated. This service has just been investigated by a committee of New +York citizens of high standing, Messrs. Arthur V. Briesen, Lee K. Frankel, +Eugene A. Philbin, Thomas W. Hynes, and Ralph Trautman. Their report deals +with the whole situation at length, and concludes with certain +recommendations for administrative and legislative action. It is now +receiving the attention of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. + +The special investigation of the subject of naturalization under the +direction of the Attorney-General, and the consequent prosecutions reveal a +condition of affairs calling for the immediate attention of the Congress. +Forgeries and perjuries of shameless and flagrant character have been +perpetrated, not only in the dense centers of population, but throughout +the country; and it is established beyond doubt that very many so-called +citizens of the United States have no title whatever to that right, and are +asserting and enjoying the benefits of the same through the grossest +frauds. It is never to be forgotten that citizenship is, to quote the words +recently used by the Supreme Court of the United States, an "inestimable +heritage," whether it proceeds from birth within the country or is obtained +by naturalization; and we poison the sources of our national character and +strength at the fountain, if the privilege is claimed and exercised without +right, and by means of fraud and corruption. The body politic can not be +sound and healthy if many of its constituent members claim their standing +through the prostitution of the high right and calling of citizenship. It +should mean something to become a citizen of the United States; and in the +process no loophole whatever should be left open to fraud. + +The methods by which these frauds--now under full investigation with a view +to meting out punishment and providing adequate remedies--are perpetrated, +include many variations of procedure by which false certificates of +citizenship are forged in their entirety; or genuine certificates +fraudulently or collusively obtained in blank are filled in by the criminal +conspirators; or certificates are obtained on fraudulent statements as to +the time of arrival and residence in this country; or imposition and +substitution of another party for the real petitioner occur in court; or +certificates are made the subject of barter and sale and transferred from +the rightful holder to those not entitled to them; or certificates are +forged by erasure of the original names and the insertion of the names of +other persons not entitled to the same. + +It is not necessary for me to refer here at large to the causes leading to +this state of affairs. The desire for naturalization is heartily to be +commended where it springs from a sincere and permanent intention to become +citizens, and a real appreciation of the privilege. But it is a source of +untold evil and trouble where it is traceable to selfish and dishonest +motives, such as the effort by artificial and improper means, in wholesale +fashion to create voters who are ready-made tools of corrupt politicians, +or the desire to evade certain labor laws creating discriminations against +alien labor. All good citizens, whether naturalized or native born, are +equally interested in protecting our citizenship against fraud in any form, +and, on the other hand, in affording every facility for naturalization to +those who in good faith desire to share alike our privileges and our +responsibilities. + +The Federal grand jury lately in session in New York City dealt with this +subject and made a presentment which states the situation briefly and +forcibly and contains important suggestions for the consideration of the +Congress. This presentment is included as an appendix to the report of the +Attorney-General. + +In my last annual Message, in connection with the subject of the due +regulation of combinations of capital which are or may become injurious to +the public, I recommend a special appropriation for the better enforcement +of the antitrust law as it now stands, to be extended under the direction +of the Attorney-General. Accordingly (by the legislative, executive, and +judicial appropriation act of February 25, 1903, 32 Stat., 854, 904), the +Congress appropriated, for the purpose of enforcing the various Federal +trust and interstate-commerce laws, the sum of five hundred thousand +dollars, to be expended under the direction of the Attorney-General in the +employment of special counsel and agents in the Department of Justice to +conduct proceedings and prosecutions under said laws in the courts of the +United States. I now recommend, as a matter of the utmost importance and +urgency, the extension of the purposes of this appropriation, so that it +may be available, under the direction of the Attorney-General, and until +used, for the due enforcement of the laws of the United States in general +and especially of the civil and criminal laws relating to public lands and +the laws relating to postal crimes and offenses and the subject of +naturalization. Recent investigations have shown a deplorable state of +affairs in these three matters of vital concern. By various frauds and by +forgeries and perjuries, thousands of acres of the public domain, embracing +lands of different character and extending through various sections of the +country, have been dishonestly acquired. It is hardly necessary to urge the +importance of recovering these dishonest acquisitions, stolen from the +people, and of promptly and duly punishing the offenders. I speak in +another part of this Message of the widespread crimes by which the sacred +right of citizenship is falsely asserted and that "inestimable heritage" +perverted to base ends. By similar means--that is, through frauds, +forgeries, and perjuries, and by shameless briberies--the laws relating to +the proper conduct of the public service in general and to the due +administration of the Post-Office Department have been notoriously +violated, and many indictments have been found, and the consequent +prosecutions are in course of hearing or on the eve thereof. For the +reasons thus indicated, and so that the Government may be prepared to +enforce promptly and with the greatest effect the due penalties for such +violations of law, and to this end may be furnished with sufficient +instrumentalities and competent legal assistance for the investigations and +trials which will be necessary at many different points of the country, I +urge upon the Congress the necessity of making the said appropriation +available for immediate use for all such purposes, to be expended under the +direction of the Attorney-General. + +Steps have been taken by the State Department looking to the making of +bribery an extraditable offense with foreign powers. The need of more +effective treaties covering this crime is manifest. The exposures and +prosecutions of official corruption in St. Louis, Mo., and other cities and +States have resulted in a number of givers and takers of bribes becoming +fugitives in foreign lands. Bribery has not been included in extradition +treaties heretofore, as the necessity for it has not arisen. While there +may have been as much official corruption in former years, there has been +more developed and brought to light in the immediate past than in the +preceding century of our country's history. It should be the policy of the +United States to leave no place on earth where a corrupt man fleeing from +this country can rest in peace. There is no reason why bribery should not +be included in all treaties as extraditable. The recent amended treaty with +Mexico, whereby this crime was put in the list of extraditable offenses, +has established a salutary precedent in this regard. Under this treaty the +State Department has asked, and Mexico has granted, the extradition of one +of the St. Louis bribe givers. + +There can be no crime more serious than bribery. Other offenses violate one +law while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law. Under our form +of Government all authority is vested in the people and by them delegated +to those who represent them in official capacity. There can be no offense +heavier than that of him in whom such a sacred trust has been reposed, who +sells it for his own gain and enrichment; and no less heavy is the offense +of the bribe giver. He is worse than the thief, for the thief robs the +individual, while the corrupt official plunders an entire city or State. He +is as wicked as the murderer, for the murderer may only take one life +against the law, while the corrupt official and the man who corrupts the +official alike aim at the assassination of the commonwealth itself. +Government of the people, by the people, for the people will perish from +the face of the earth if bribery is tolerated. The givers and takers of +bribes stand on an evil pre-eminence of infamy. The exposure and punishment +of public corruption is an honor to a nation, not a disgrace. The shame +lies in toleration, not in correction. No city or State, still less the +Nation, can be injured by the enforcement of law. As long as public +plunderers when detected can find a haven of refuge in any foreign land and +avoid punishment, just so long encouragement is given them to continue +their practices. If we fail to do all that in us lies to stamp out +corruption we can not escape our share of responsibility for the guilt. The +first requisite of successful self-government is unflinching enforcement of +the law and the cutting out of corruption. + +For several years past the rapid development of Alaska and the +establishment of growing American interests in regions theretofore +unsurveyed and imperfectly known brought into prominence the urgent +necessity of a practical demarcation of the boundaries between the +jurisdictions of the United States and Great Britain. Although the treaty +of 1825 between Great Britain and Russia, the provisions of which were +copied in the treaty of 1867, whereby Russia conveyed Alaska to the United +States, was positive as to the control, first by Russia and later by the +United States, of a strip of territory along the continental mainland from +the western shore of Portland Canal to Mount St. Elias, following and +surrounding the indentations of the coast and including the islands to the +westward, its description of the landward margin of the strip was +indefinite, resting on the supposed existence of a continuous ridge or +range of mountains skirting the coast, as figured in the charts of the +early navigators. It had at no time been possible for either party in +interest to lay down, under the authority of the treaty, a line so +obviously exact according to its provisions as to command the assent of the +other. For nearly three-fourths of a century the absence of tangible local +interests demanding the exercise of positive jurisdiction on either side of +the border left the question dormant. In 1878 questions of revenue +administration on the Stikine River led to the establishment of a +provisional demarcation, crossing the channel between two high peaks on +either side about twenty-four miles above the river mouth. In 1899 similar +questions growing out of the extraordinary development of mining interests +in the region about the head of Lynn Canal brought about a temporary modus +vivendi, by which a convenient separation was made at the watershed divides +of the White and Chilkoot passes and to the north of Klukwan, on the +Klehini River. These partial and tentative adjustments could not, in the +very nature of things, be satisfactory or lasting. A permanent disposition +of the matter became imperative. + +After unavailing attempts to reach an understanding through a Joint High +Commission, followed by prolonged negotiations, conducted in an amicable +spirit, a convention between the United States and Great Britain was +signed, January 24, 1903, providing for an examination of the subject by a +mixed tribunal of six members, three on a side, with a view to its final +disposition. Ratifications were exchanged on March 3 last, whereupon the +two Governments appointed their respective members. Those on behalf of the +United States were Elihu Root, Secretary of War, Henry Cabot Lodge, a +Senator of the United States, and George Turner, an ex-Senator of the +United States, while Great Britain named the Right Honourable Lord +Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir Louis Amable Jette, K. C. M. +G., retired judge of the Supreme Court of Quebec, and A. B. Aylesworth, K. +C., of Toronto. This Tribunal met in London on September 3, under the +Presidency of Lord Alverstone. The proceedings were expeditious, and marked +by a friendly and conscientious spirit. The respective cases, counter +cases, and arguments presented the issues clearly and fully. On the 20th of +October a majority of the Tribunal reached and signed an agreement on all +the questions submitted by the terms of the Convention. By this award the +right of the United States to the control of a continuous strip or border +of the mainland shore, skirting all the tide-water inlets and sinuosities +of the coast, is confirmed; the entrance to Portland Canal (concerning +which legitimate doubt appeared) is defined as passing by Tongass Inlet and +to the northwestward of Wales and Pearse islands; a line is drawn from the +head of Portland Canal to the fifty-sixth degree of north latitude; and the +interior border line of the strip is fixed by lines connecting certain +mountain summits lying between Portland Canal and Mount St. Elias, and +running along the crest of the divide separating the coast slope from the +inland watershed at the only part of the frontier where the drainage ridge +approaches the coast within the distance of ten marine leagues stipulated +by the treaty as the extreme width of the strip around the heads of Lynn +Canal and its branches. + +While the line so traced follows the provisional demarcation of 1878 at the +crossing of the Stikine River, and that of 1899 at the summits of the White +and Chilkoot passes, it runs much farther inland from the Klehini than the +temporary line of the later modus vivendi, and leaves the entire mining +district of the Porcupine River and Glacier Creek within the jurisdiction +of the United States. + +The result is satisfactory in every way. It is of great material advantage +to our people in the Far Northwest. It has removed from the field of +discussion and possible danger a question liable to become more acutely +accentuated with each passing year. Finally, it has furnished a signal +proof of the fairness and good will with which two friendly nations can +approach and determine issues involving national sovereignty and by their +nature incapable of submission to a third power for adjudication. + +The award is self-executing on the vital points. To make it effective as +regards the others it only remains for the two Governments to appoint, each +on its own behalf, one or more scientific experts, who shall, with all +convenient speed, proceed together to lay down the boundary line in +accordance with the decision of the majority of the Tribunal. I recommend +that the Congress make adequate provision for the appointment, +compensation, and expenses of the members to serve on this joint boundary +commission on the part of the United States. + +It will be remembered that during the second session of the last Congress +Great Britain, Germany, and Italy formed an alliance for the purpose of +blockading the ports of Venezuela and using such other means of pressure as +would secure a settlement of claims due, as they alleged, to certain of +their subjects. Their employment of force for the collection of these +claims was terminated by an agreement brought about through the offices of +the diplomatic representatives of the United States at Caracas and the +Government at Washington, thereby ending a situation which was bound to +cause increasing friction, and which jeoparded the peace of the continent. +Under this agreement Venezuela agreed to set apart a certain percentage of +the customs receipts of two of her ports to be applied to the payment of +whatever obligations might be ascertained by mixed commissions appointed +for that purpose to be due from her, not only to the three powers already +mentioned, whose proceedings against her had resulted in a state of war, +but also to the United States, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherland +Sweden and Norway, and Mexico, who had not employed force for the +collection of the claims alleged to be due to certain of their citizens. + +A demand was then made by the so-called blockading powers that the sums +ascertained to be due to their citizens by such mixed commissions should be +accorded payment in full before anything was paid upon the claims of any of +the so-called peace powers. Venezuela, on the other hand, insisted that all +her creditors should be paid upon a basis of exact equality. During the +efforts to adjust this dispute it was suggested by the powers in interest +that it should be referred to me for decision, but I was clearly of the +opinion that a far wiser course would be to submit the question to the +Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. It seemed to me to offer an +admirable opportunity to advance the practice of the peaceful settlement of +disputes between nations and to secure for the Hague Tribunal a memorable +increase of its practical importance. The nations interested in the +controversy were so numerous and in many instances so powerful as to make +it evident that beneficent results would follow from their appearance at +the same time before the bar of that august tribunal of peace. + +Our hopes in that regard have been realized. Russia and Austria are +represented in the persons of the learned and distinguished jurists who +compose the Tribunal, while Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, +Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, Mexico, the United States, and +Venezuela are represented by their respective agents and counsel. Such an +imposing concourse of nations presenting their arguments to and invoking +the decision of that high court of international justice and international +peace can hardly fail to secure a like submission of many future +controversies. The nations now appearing there will find it far easier to +appear there a second time, while no nation can imagine its just pride will +be lessened by following the example now presented. This triumph of the +principle of international arbitration is a subject of warm congratulation +and offers a happy augury for the peace of the world. + +There seems good ground for the belief that there has been a real growth +among the civilized nations of a sentiment which will permit a gradual +substitution of other methods than the method of war in the settlement of +disputes. It is not pretended that as yet we are near a position in which +it will be possible wholly to prevent war, or that a just regard for +national interest and honor will in all cases permit of the settlement of +international disputes by arbitration ;. but by a mixture of prudence and +firmness with wisdom we think it is possible to do away with much of the +provocation and excuse for war, and at least in many cases to substitute +some other and more rational method for the settlement of disputes. The +Hague Court offers so good an example of what can be done in the direction +of such settlement that it should be encouraged in every way. + +Further steps should be taken. In President McKinley's annual Message of +December 5, 1898, he made the following recommendation: + +"The experiences of the last year bring forcibly home to us a sense of the +burdens and the waste of war. We desire in common with most civilized +nations, to reduce to the lowest possible point the damage sustained in +time of war by peaceable trade and commerce. It is true we may suffer in +such cases less than other communities, but all nations are damaged more or +less by the state of uneasiness and apprehension into which an outbreak of +hostilities throws the entire commercial world. It should be our object, +therefore, to minimize, so far as practicable, this inevitable loss and +disturbance. This purpose can probably best be accomplished by an +international agreement to regard all private property at sea as exempt +from capture or destruction by the forces of belligerent powers. The United +States Government has for many years advocated this humane and beneficent +principle, and is now in a position to recommend it to other powers without +the imputation of selfish motives. I therefore suggest for your +consideration that the Executive be authorized to correspond with the +governments of the principal maritime powers with a view of incorporating +into the permanent law of civilized nations the principle of the exemption +of all private property at sea, not contraband of war, from capture or +destruction by belligerent powers." + +I cordially renew this recommendation. + +The Supreme Court, speaking on December 11. 1899, through Peckham, J., +said: + +"It is, we think, historically accurate to say that this Government has +always been, in its views, among the most advanced of the governments of +the world in favor of mitigating, as to all non-combatants, the hardships +and horrors of war. To accomplish that object it has always advocated those +rules which would in most cases do away with the right to capture the +private property of an enemy on the high seas." + +I advocate this as a matter of humanity and morals. It is anachronistic +when private property is respected on land that it should not be respected +at sea. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that shipping represents, +internationally speaking, a much more generalized species of private +property than is the case with ordinary property on land--that is, property +found at sea is much less apt than is the case with property found on land +really to belong to any one nation. Under the modern system of corporate +ownership the flag of a vessel often differs from the flag which would mark +the nationality of the real ownership and money control of the vessel; and +the cargo may belong to individuals of yet a different nationality. Much +American capital is now invested in foreign ships; and among foreign +nations it often happens that the capital of one is largely invested in the +shipping of another. Furthermore, as a practical matter, it may be +mentioned that while commerce destroying may cause serious loss and great +annoyance, it can never be more than a subsidiary factor in bringing to +terms a resolute foe. This is now well recognized by all of our naval +experts. The fighting ship, not the commerce destroyer, is the vessel whose +feats add renown to a nation's history, and establish her place among the +great powers of the world. + +Last year the Interparliamentary Union for International Arbitration met at +Vienna, six hundred members of the different legislatures of civilized +countries attending. It was provided that the next meeting should be in +1904 at St. Louis, subject to our Congress extending an invitation. Like +the Hague Tribunal, this Interparliamentary Union is one of the forces +tending towards peace among the nations of the earth, and it is entitled to +our support. I trust the invitation can be extended. + +Early in July, having received intelligence, which happily turned out to be +erroneous, of the assassination of our vice-consul at Beirut, I dispatched +a small squadron to that port for such service as might be found necessary +on arrival. Although the attempt on the life of our vice-consul had not +been successful, yet the outrage was symptomatic of a state of excitement +and disorder which demanded immediate attention. The arrival of the vessels +had the happiest result. A feeling of security at once took the place of +the former alarm and disquiet; our officers were cordially welcomed by the +consular body and the leading merchants, and ordinary business resumed its +activity. The Government of the Sultan gave a considerate hearing to the +representations of our minister; the official who was regarded as +responsible for the disturbed condition of affairs was removed. Our +relations with the Turkish Government remain friendly; our claims rounded +on inequitable treatment of some of our schools and missions appear to be +in process of amicable adjustment. + +The signing of a new commercial treaty with China, which took place at +Shanghai on the 8th of October, is a cause for satisfaction. This act, the +result of long discussion and negotiation, places our commercial relations +with the great Oriental Empire on a more satisfactory footing than they +have ever heretofore enjoyed. It provides not only for the ordinary rights +and privileges of diplomatic and consular officers, but also for an +important extension of our commerce by increased facility of access to +Chinese ports, and for the relief of trade by the removal of some of the +obstacles which have embarrassed it in the past. The Chinese Government +engages, on fair and equitable conditions, which will probably be accepted +by the principal commercial nations, to abandon the levy of "liken" and +other transit dues throughout the Empire, and to introduce other desirable +administrative reforms. Larger facilities are to be given to our citizens +who desire to carry on mining enterprises in China. We have secured for our +missionaries a valuable privilege, the recognition of their right to rent +and lease in perpetuity such property as their religious societies may need +in all parts of the Empire. And, what was an indispensable condition for +the advance and development of our commerce in Manchuria, China, by treaty +with us, has opened to foreign commerce the cities of Mukden, the capital +of the province of Manchuria, and An-tung, an important port on the Yalu +River, on the road to Korea. The full measure of development which our +commerce may rightfully expect can hardly be looked for until the +settlement of the present abnormal state of things in the Empire; but the +foundation for such development has at last been laid. + +I call your attention to the reduced cost in maintaining the consular +service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, as shown in the annual +report of the Auditor for the State and other Departments, as compared with +the year previous. For the year under consideration the excess of +expenditures over receipts on account of the consular service amounted to +$26,125.12, as against $96,972.50 for the year ending June 30, 1902, and +$147,040.16 for the year ending June 30, 1901. This is the best showing in +this respect for the consular service for the past fourteen years, and the +reduction in the cost of the service to the Government has been made in +spite of the fact that the expenditures for the year in question were more +than $20,000 greater than for the previous year. + +The rural free-delivery service has been steadily extended. The attention +of the Congress is asked to the question of the compensation of the letter +carriers and clerks engaged in the postal service, especially on the new +rural free-delivery routes. More routes have been installed since the first +of July last than in any like period in the Department's history. While a +due regard to economy must be kept in mind in the establishment of new +routes, yet the extension of the rural free-delivery system must be +continued, for reasons of sound public policy. No governmental movement of +recent years has resulted in greater immediate benefit to the people of the +country districts. Rural free delivery, taken in connection with the +telephone, the bicycle, and the trolley, accomplishes much toward lessening +the isolation of farm life and making it brighter and more attractive. In +the immediate past the lack of just such facilities as these has driven +many of the more active and restless young men and women from the farms to +the cities; for they rebelled at loneliness and lack of mental +companionship. It is unhealthy and undesirable for the cities to grow at +the expense of the country; and rural free delivery is not only a good +thing in itself, but is good because it is one of the causes which check +this unwholesome tendency towards the urban concentration of our population +at the expense of the country districts. It is for the same reason that we +sympathize with and approve of the policy of building good roads. The +movement for good roads is one fraught with the greatest benefit to the +country districts. + +I trust that the Congress will continue to favor in all proper ways the +Louisiana Purchase Exposition. This Exposition commemorates the Louisiana +purchase, which was the first great step in the expansion which made us a +continental nation. The expedition of Lewis and Clark across the continent +followed thereon, and marked the beginning of the process of exploration +and colonization which thrust our national boundaries to the Pacific. The +acquisition of the Oregon country, including the present States of Oregon +and Washington, was a fact of immense importance in our history; first +giving us our place on the Pacific seaboard, and making ready the way for +our ascendency in the commerce of the greatest of the oceans. The +centennial of our establishment upon the western coast by the expedition of +Lewis and Clark is to be celebrated at Portland, Oregon, by an exposition +in the summer of 1905, and this event should receive recognition and +support from the National Government. + +I call your special attention to the Territory of Alaska. The country is +developing rapidly, and it has an assured future. The mineral wealth is +great and has as yet hardly been tapped. The fisheries, if wisely handled +and kept under national control, will be a business as permanent as any +other, and of the utmost importance to the people. The forests if properly +guarded will form another great source of wealth. Portions of Alaska are +fitted for farming and stock raising, although the methods must be adapted +to the peculiar conditions of the country. Alaska is situated in the far +north; but so are Norway and Sweden and Finland; and Alaska can prosper and +play its part in the New World just as those nations have prospered and +played their parts in the Old World. Proper land laws should be enacted; +and the survey of the public lands immediately begun. Coal-land laws should +be provided whereby the coal-land entryman may make his location and secure +patent under methods kindred to those now prescribed for homestead and +mineral entrymen. Salmon hatcheries, exclusively under Government control, +should be established. The cable should be extended from Sitka westward. +Wagon roads and trails should be built, and the building of railroads +promoted in all legitimate ways. Light-houses should be built along the +coast. Attention should be paid to the needs of the Alaska Indians; +provision should be made for an officer, with deputies, to study their +needs, relieve their immediate wants, and help them adapt themselves to the +new conditions. + +The commission appointed to investigate, during the season of 1903, the +condition and needs of the Alaskan salmon fisheries, has finished its work +in the field, and is preparing a detailed report thereon. A preliminary +report reciting the measures immediately required for the protection and +preservation of the salmon industry has already been submitted to the +Secretary of Commerce and Labor for his attention and for the needed +action. + +I recommend that an appropriation be made for building light-houses in +Hawaii, and taking possession of those already built. The Territory should +be reimbursed for whatever amounts it has already expended for +light-houses. The governor should be empowered to suspend or remove any +official appointed by him, without submitting the matter to the +legislature. + +Of our insular possessions the Philippines and Porto Rico it is gratifying +to say that their steady progress has been such as to make it unnecessary +to spend much time in discussing them. Yet the Congress should ever keep in +mind that a peculiar obligation rests upon us to further in every way the +welfare of these communities. The Philippines should be knit closer to us +by tariff arrangements. It would, of course, be impossible suddenly to +raise the people of the islands to the high pitch of industrial prosperity +and of governmental efficiency to which they will in the end by degrees +attain; and the caution and moderation shown in developing them have been +among the main reasons why this development has hitherto gone on so +smoothly. Scrupulous care has been taken in the choice of governmental +agents, and the entire elimination of partisan politics from the public +service. The condition of the islanders is in material things far better +than ever before, while their governmental, intellectual, and moral advance +has kept pace with their material advance. No one people ever benefited +another people more than we have benefited the Filipinos by taking +possession of the islands. + +The cash receipts of the General Land Office for the last fiscal year were +$11,024,743.65, an increase of $4,762,816.47 over the preceding year. Of +this sum, approximately, $8,461,493 will go to the credit of the fund for +the reclamation of arid land, making the total of this fund, up to the 30th +of June, 1903, approximately, $16,191,836. + +A gratifying disposition has been evinced by those having unlawful +inclosures of public land to remove their fences. Nearly two million acres +so inclosed have been thrown open on demand. In but comparatively few cases +has it been necessary to go into court to accomplish this purpose. This +work will be vigorously prosecuted until all unlawful inclosures have been +removed. + +Experience has shown that in the western States themselves, as well as in +the rest of the country, there is widespread conviction that certain of the +public-land laws and the resulting administrative practice no longer meet +the present needs. The character and uses of the remaining public lands +differ widely from those of the public lands which Congress had especially +in view when these laws were passed. The rapidly increasing rate of +disposal of the public lands is not followed by a corresponding increase in +home building. There is a tendency to mass in large holdings public lands, +especially timber and grazing lands, and thereby to retard settlement. I +renew and emphasize my recommendation of last year that so far as they are +available for agriculture in its broadest sense, and to whatever extent +they may be reclaimed under the national irrigation law, the remaining +public lands should be held rigidly for the home builder. The attention of +the Congress is especially directed to the timber and stone law, the +desert-land law, and the commutation clause of the homestead law, which in +their operation have in many respects conflicted with wise public-land +policy. The discussions in the Congress and elsewhere have made it evident +that there is a wide divergence of opinions between those holding opposite +views on these subjects; and that the opposing sides have strong and +convinced representatives of weight both within and without the Congress; +the differences being not only as to matters of opinion but as to matters +of fact. In order that definite information may be available for the use of +the Congress, I have appointed a commission composed of W. A. Richards, +Commissioner of the General Land Office; Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the +Bureau of Forestry of the Department of Agriculture, and F. H. Newell, +Chief Hydrographer of the Geological Survey, to report at the earliest +practicable moment upon the condition, operation, and effect of the present +land laws and on the use, condition, disposal, and settlement of the public +lands. The commission will report especially what changes in organization, +laws, regulations, and practice affecting the public lands are needed to +effect the largest practicable disposition of the public lands to actual +settlers who will build permanent homes upon them, and to secure in +permanence the fullest and most effective use of the resources of the +public lands; and it will make such other reports and recommendations as +its study of these questions may suggest. The commission is to report +immediately upon those points concerning which its judgment is clear; on +any point upon which it has doubt it will take the time necessary to make +investigation and reach a final judgment. + +The work of reclamation of the arid lands of the West is progressing +steadily and satisfactorily under the terms of the law setting aside the +proceeds from the disposal of public lands. The corps of engineers known as +the Reclamation Service, which is conducting the surveys and examinations, +has been thoroughly organized, especial pains being taken to secure under +the civil-service rules a body of skilled, experienced, and efficient men. +Surveys and examinations are progressing throughout the arid States and +Territories, plans for reclaiming works being prepared and passed upon by +boards of engineers before approval by the Secretary of the Interior. In +Arizona and Nevada, in localities where such work is pre-eminently needed, +construction has already been begun. In other parts of the arid West +various projects are well advanced towards the drawing up of contracts, +these being delayed in part by necessities of reaching agreements or +understanding as regards rights of way or acquisition of real estate. Most +of the works contemplated for construction are of national importance, +involving interstate questions or the securing of stable, self-supporting +communities in the midst of vast tracts of vacant land. The Nation as a +whole is of course the gainer by the creation of these homes, adding as +they do to the wealth and stability of the country, and furnishing a home +market for the products of the East and South. The reclamation law, while +perhaps not ideal, appears at present to answer the larger needs for which +it is designed. Further legislation is not recommended until the +necessities of change are more apparent. + +The study of the opportunities of reclamation of the vast extent of arid +land shows that whether this reclamation is done by individuals, +corporations, or the State, the sources of water supply must be effectively +protected and the reservoirs guarded by the preservation of the forests at +the headwaters of the streams. The engineers making the preliminary +examinations continually emphasize this need and urge that the remaining +public lands at the headwaters of the important streams of the West be +reserved to insure permanency of water supply for irrigation. Much progress +in forestry has been made during the past year. The necessity for +perpetuating our forest resources, whether in public or private hands, is +recognized now as never before. The demand for forest reserves has become +insistent in the West, because the West must use the water, wood, and +summer range which only such reserves can supply. Progressive lumbermen are +striving, through forestry, to give their business permanence. Other great +business interests are awakening to the need of forest preservation as a +business matter. The Government's forest work should receive from the +Congress hearty support, and especially support adequate for the protection +of the forest reserves against fire. The forest-reserve policy of the +Government has passed beyond the experimental stage and has reached a +condition where scientific methods are essential to its successful +prosecution. The administrative features of forest reserves are at present +unsatisfactory, being divided between three Bureaus of two Departments. It +is therefore recommended that all matters pertaining to forest reserves, +except those involving or pertaining to land titles, be consolidated in the +Bureau of Forestry of the Department of Agriculture. + +The cotton-growing States have recently been invaded by a weevil that has +done much damage and threatens the entire cotton industry. I suggest to the +Congress the prompt enactment of such remedial legislation as its judgment +may approve. + +In granting patents to foreigners the proper course for this country to +follow is to give the same advantages to foreigners here that the countries +in which these foreigners dwell extend in return to our citizens; that is, +to extend the benefits of our patent laws on inventions and the like where +in return the articles would be patentable in the foreign countries +concerned--where an American could get a corresponding patent in such +countries. + +The Indian agents should not be dependent for their appointment or tenure +of office upon considerations of partisan politics; the practice of +appointing, when possible, ex-army officers or bonded superintendents to +the vacancies that occur is working well. Attention is invited to the +widespread illiteracy due to lack of public schools in the Indian +Territory. Prompt heed should be paid to the need of education for the +children in this Territory. + +In my last annual Message the attention of the Congress was called to the +necessity of enlarging the safety-appliance law, and it is gratifying to +note that this law was amended in important respects. With the increasing +railway mileage of the country, the greater number of men employed, and the +use of larger and heavier equipment, the urgency for renewed effort to +prevent the loss of life and limb upon the railroads of the country, +particularly to employees, is apparent. For the inspection of water craft +and the Life-Saving Service upon the water the Congress has built up an +elaborate body of protective legislation and a thorough method of +inspection and is annually spending large sums of money. It is encouraging +to observe that the Congress is alive to the interests of those who are +employed upon our wonderful arteries of commerce--the railroads--who so +safely transport millions of passengers and billions of tons of freight. +The Federal inspection, of safety appliances, for which the Congress is now +making appropriations, is a service analogous to that which the Government +has upheld for generations in regard to vessels, and it is believed will +prove of great practical benefit, both to railroad employees and the +traveling public. As the greater part of commerce is interstate and +exclusively under the control of the Congress the needed safety and +uniformity must be secured by national legislation. + +No other class of our citizens deserves so well of the Nation as those to +whom the Nation owes its very being, the veterans of the civil war. Special +attention is asked to the excellent work of the Pension Bureau in +expediting and disposing of pension claims. During the fiscal year ending +July 1, 1903, the Bureau settled 251,982 claims, an average of 825 claims +for each working day of the year. The number of settlements since July 1, +1903, has been in excess of last year's average, approaching 1,000 claims +for each working day, and it is believed that the work of the Bureau will +be current at the close of the present fiscal year. + +During the year ended June 30 last 25,566 persons were appointed through +competitive examinations under the civil-service rules. This was 12,672 +more than during the preceding year, and 40 per cent of those who passed +the examinations. This abnormal growth was largely occasioned by the +extension of classification to the rural free-delivery service and the +appointment last year of over 9,000 rural carriers. A revision of the +civil-service rules took effect on April 15 last, which has greatly +improved their operation. The completion of the reform of the civil service +is recognized by good citizens everywhere as a matter of the highest public +importance, and the success of the merit system largely depends upon the +effectiveness of the rules and the machinery provided for their +enforcement. A very gratifying spirit of friendly co-operation exists in +all the Departments of the Government in the enforcement and uniform +observance of both the letter and spirit of the civil-service act. +Executive orders of July 3, 1902; March 26, 1903, and July 8, 1903, require +that appointments of all unclassified laborers, both in the Departments at +Washington and in the field service, shall be made with the assistance of +the United States Civil Service Commission, under a system of registration +to test the relative fitness of applicants for appointment or employment. +This system is competitive, and is open to all citizens of the United +States qualified in respect to age, physical ability, moral character, +industry, and adaptability for manual labor; except that in case of +veterans of the Civil War the element of age is omitted. This system of +appointment is distinct from the classified service and does not classify +positions of mere laborer under the civil-service act and rules. +Regulations in aid thereof have been put in operation in several of the +Departments and are being gradually extended in other parts of the service. +The results have been very satisfactory, as extravagance has been checked +by decreasing the number of unnecessary positions and by increasing the +efficiency of the employees remaining. + +The Congress, as the result of a thorough investigation of the charities +and reformatory institutions in the District of Columbia, by a joint select +committee of the two Houses which made its report in March, 1898, created +in the act approved June 6, 1900, a board of charities for the District of +Columbia, to consist of five residents of the District, appointed by the +President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the +Senate, each for a term of three years, to serve without compensation. +President McKinley appointed five men who had been active and prominent in +the public charities in Washington, all of whom upon taking office July 1, +1900, resigned from the different charities with which they had been +connected. The members of the board have been reappointed in successive +years. The board serves under the Commissioners of the District of +Columbia. The board gave its first year to a careful and impartial study of +the special problems before it, and has continued that study every year in +the light of the best practice in public charities elsewhere. Its +recommendations in its annual reports to the Congress through the +Commissioners of the District of Columbia "for the economical and efficient +administration of the charities and reformatories of the District of +Columbia," as required by the act creating it, have been based upon the +principles commended by the joint select committee of the Congress in its +report of March, 1898, and approved by the best administrators of public +charities, and make for the desired systematization and improvement of the +affairs under its supervision. They are worthy of favorable consideration +by the Congress. + +The effect of the laws providing a General Staff for the Army and for the +more effective use of the National Guard has been excellent. Great +improvement has been made in the efficiency of our Army in recent years. +Such schools as those erected at Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley and the +institution of fall maneuver work accomplish satisfactory results. The good +effect of these maneuvers upon the National Guard is marked, and ample +appropriation should be made to enable the guardsmen of the several States +to share in the benefit. The Government should as soon as possible secure +suitable permanent camp sites for military maneuvers in the various +sections of the country. The service thereby rendered not only to the +Regular Army, but to the National Guard of the several States, will be so +great as to repay many times over the relatively small expense. We should +not rest satisfied with what has been done, however. The only people who +are contented with a system of promotion by mere seniority are those who +are contented with the triumph of mediocrity over excellence. On the other +hand, a system which encouraged the exercise of social or political +favoritism in promotions would be even worse. But it would surely be easy +to devise a method of promotion from grade to grade in which the opinion of +the higher officers of the service upon the candidates should be decisive +upon the standing and promotion of the latter. Just such a system now +obtains at West Point. The quality of each year's work determines the +standing of that year's class, the man being dropped or graduated into the +next class in the relative position which his military superiors decide to +be warranted by his merit. In other words, ability, energy, fidelity, and +all other similar qualities determine the rank of a man year after year in +West Point, and his standing in the Army when he graduates from West Point; +but from that time on, all effort to find which man is best or worst, and +reward or punish him accordingly, is abandoned; no brilliancy, no amount of +hard work, no eagerness in the performance of duty, can advance him, and no +slackness or indifference that falls short of a court-martial offense can +retard him. Until this system is changed we can not hope that our officers +will be of as high grade as we have a right to expect, considering the +material upon which we draw. Moreover, when a man renders such service as +Captain Pershing rendered last spring in the Moro campaign, it ought to be +possible to reward him without at once jumping him to the grade of +brigadier-general. + +Shortly after the enunciation of that famous principle of American foreign +policy now known as the "Monroe Doctrine," President Monroe, in a special +Message to Congress on January 30, 1824, spoke as follows: "The Navy is the +arm from which our Government will always derive most aid in support of our +rights. Every power engaged in war will know the strength of our naval +power, the number of our ships of each class, their condition, and the +promptitude with which we may bring them into service, and will pay due +consideration to that argument." + +I heartily congratulate the Congress upon the steady progress in building +up the American Navy. We can not afford a let-up in this great work. To +stand still means to go back. There should be no cessation in adding to the +effective units of the fighting strength of the fleet. Meanwhile the Navy +Department and the officers of the Navy are doing well their part by +providing constant service at sea under conditions akin to those of actual +warfare. Our officers and enlisted men are learning to handle the +battleships, cruisers, and torpedo boats with high efficiency in fleet and +squadron formations, and the standard of marksmanship is being steadily +raised. The best work ashore is indispensable, but the highest duty of a +naval officer is to exercise command at sea. + +The establishment of a naval base in the Philippines ought not to be longer +postponed. Such a base is desirable in time of peace; in time of war it +would be indispensable, and its lack would be ruinous. Without it our fleet +would be helpless. Our naval experts are agreed that Subig Bay is the +proper place for the purpose. The national interests require that the work +of fortification and development of a naval station at Subig Bay be begun +at an early date; for under the best conditions it is a work which will +consume much time. + +It is eminently desirable, however, that there should be provided a naval +general staff on lines similar to those of the General Staff lately created +for the Army. Within the Navy Department itself the needs of the service +have brought about a system under which the duties of a general staff are +partially performed; for the Bureau of Navigation has under its direction +the War College, the Office of Naval Intelligence, and the Board of +Inspection, and has been in close touch with the General Board of the Navy. +But though under the excellent officers at their head, these boards and +bureaus do good work, they have not the authority of a general staff, and +have not sufficient scope to insure a proper readiness for emergencies. We +need the establishment by law of a body of trained officers, who shall +exercise a systematic control of the military affairs of the Navy, and be +authorized advisers of the Secretary concerning it. + +By the act of June 28, 1902, the Congress authorized the President to enter +into treaty with Colombia for the building of the canal across the Isthmus +of Panama; it being provided that in the event of failure to secure such +treaty after the lapse of a reasonable time, recourse should be had to +building a canal through Nicaragua. It has not been necessary to consider +this alternative, as I am enabled to lay before the Senate a treaty +providing for the building of the canal across the Isthmus of Panama. This +was the route which commended itself to the deliberate judgment of the +Congress, and we can now acquire by treaty the right to construct the canal +over this route. The question now, therefore, is not by which route the +isthmian canal shall be built, for that question has been definitely and +irrevocably decided. The question is simply whether or not we shall have an +isthmian canal. + +When the Congress directed that we should take the Panama route under +treaty with Colombia, the essence of the condition, of course, referred not +to the Government which controlled that route, but to the route itself; to +the territory across which the route lay, not to the name which for the +moment the territory bore on the map. The purpose of the law was to +authorize the President to make a treaty with the power in actual control +of the Isthmus of Panama. This purpose has been fulfilled. + +In the year 1846 this Government entered into a treaty with New Granada, +the predecessor upon the Isthmus of the Republic of Colombia and of the +present Republic of Panama, by which treaty it was provided that the +Government and citizens of the United States should always have free and +open right of way or transit across the Isthmus of Panama by any modes of +communication that might be constructed, while in turn our Government +guaranteed the perfect neutrality of the above-mentioned Isthmus with the +view that the free transit from the one to the other sea might not be +interrupted or embarrassed. The treaty vested in the United States a +substantial property right carved out of the rights of sovereignty and +property which New Granada then had and possessed over the said territory. +The name of New Granada has passed away and its territory has been divided. +Its successor, the Government of Colombia, has ceased to own any property +in the Isthmus. A new Republic, that of Panama, which was at one time a +sovereign state, and at another time a mere department of the successive +confederations known as New Granada and Columbia, has now succeeded to the +rights which first one and then the other formerly exercised over the +Isthmus. But as long as the Isthmus endures, the mere geographical fact of +its existence, and the peculiar interest therein which is required by our +position, perpetuate the solemn contract which binds the holders of the +territory to respect our right to freedom of transit across it, and binds +us in return to safeguard for the Isthmus and the world the exercise of +that inestimable privilege. The true interpretation of the obligations upon +which the United States entered in this treaty of 1846 has been given +repeatedly in the utterances of Presidents and Secretaries of State. +Secretary Cuss in 1858 officially stated the position of this Government as +follows: + +"The progress of events has rendered the interoceanic route across the +narrow portion of Central America vastly important to the commercial world, +and especially to the United States, whose possessions extend along the +Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and demand the speediest and easiest modes of +communication. While the rights of sovereignty of the states occupying this +region should always be respected, we shall expect that these rights be +exercised in a spirit befitting the occasion and the wants and +circumstances that have arisen. Sovereignty has its duties as well as its +rights, and none of these local governments, even if administered with more +regard to the just demands of other nations than they have been, would be +permitted, in a spirit of Eastern isolation, to close the gates of +intercourse on the great highways of the world, and justify the act by the +pretension that these avenues of trade and travel belong to them and that +they choose to shut them, or, what is almost equivalent, to encumber them +with such unjust relations as would prevent their general use." + +Seven years later, in 1865, Mr. Seward in different communications took the +following position: + +"The United States have taken and will take no interest in any question of +internal revolution in the State of Panama, or any State of the United +States of Colombia, but will maintain a perfect neutrality in connection +with such domestic altercations. The United States will, nevertheless, hold +themselves ready to protect the transit trade across the Isthmus against +invasion of either domestic or foreign disturbers of the peace of the State +of Panama. Neither the text nor the spirit of the stipulation in that +article by which the United States engages to preserve the neutrality of +the Isthmus of Panama, imposes an obligation on this Government to comply +with the requisition of the President of the United States of Colombia for +a force to protect the Isthmus of Panama from a body of insurgents of that +country]. The purpose of the stipulation was to guarantee the Isthmus +against seizure or invasion by a foreign power only." + +Attorney-General Speed, under date of November 7, 1865, advised Secretary +Seward as follows: + +"From this treaty it can not be supposed that New Granada invited the +United States to become a party to the intestine troubles of that +Government, nor did the United States become bound to take sides in the +domestic broils of New Granada. The United States did guarantee New Granada +in the sovereignty and property over the territory. This was as against +other and foreign governments." + +For four hundred years, ever since shortly after the discovery of this +hemisphere, the canal across the Isthmus has been planned. For two score +years it has been worked at. When made it is to last for the ages. It is to +alter the geography of a continent and the trade routes of the world. We +have shown by every treaty we have negotiated or attempted to negotiate +with the peoples in control of the Isthmus and with foreign nations in +reference thereto our consistent good faith in observing our obligations; +on the one hand to the peoples of the Isthmus, and on the other hand to the +civilized world whose commercial rights we are safeguarding and +guaranteeing by our action. We have done our duty to others in letter and +in spirit, and we have shown the utmost forbearance in exacting our own +rights. + +Last spring, under the act above referred to, a treaty concluded between +the representatives of the Republic of Colombia and of our Government was +ratified by the Senate. This treaty was entered into at the urgent +solicitation of the people of Colombia and after a body of experts +appointed by our Government especially to go into the matter of the routes +across the Isthmus had pronounced unanimously in favor of the Panama route. +In drawing up this treaty every concession was made to the people and to +the Government of Colombia. We were more than just in dealing with them. +Our generosity was such as to make it a serious question whether we had not +gone too far in their interest at the expense of our own; for in our +scrupulous desire to pay all possible heed, not merely to the real but even +to the fancied rights of our weaker neighbor, who already owed so much to +our protection and forbearance, we yielded in all possible ways to her +desires in drawing up the treaty. Nevertheless the Government of Colombia +not merely repudiated the treaty, but repudiated it in such manner as to +make it evident by the time the Colombian Congress adjourned that not the +scantiest hope remained of ever getting a satisfactory treaty from them. +The Government of Colombia made the treaty, and yet when the Colombian +Congress was called to ratify it the vote against ratification was +unanimous. It does not appear that the Government made any real effort to +secure ratification. + +Immediately after the adjournment of the Congress a revolution broke out in +Panama. The people of Panama had long been discontented with the Republic +of Colombia, and they had been kept quiet only by the prospect of the +conclusion of the treaty, which was to them a matter of vital concern. When +it became evident that the treaty was hopelessly lost, the people of Panama +rose literally as one man. Not a shot was fired by a single man on the +Isthmus in the interest of the Colombian Government. Not a life was lost in +the accomplishment of the revolution. The Colombian troops stationed on the +Isthmus, who had long been unpaid, made common cause with the people of +Panama, and with astonishing unanimity the new Republic was started. The +duty of the United States in the premises was clear. In strict accordance +with the principles laid down by Secretaries Cass and Seward in the +official documents above quoted, the United States gave notice that it +would permit the landing of no expeditionary force, the arrival of which +would mean chaos and destruction along the line of the railroad and of the +proposed Canal, and an interruption of transit as an inevitable +consequence. The de facto Government of Panama was recognized in the +following telegram to Mr. Ehrman: + +"The people of Panama have, by apparently unanimous movement, dissolved +their political connection with the Republic of Colombia and resumed their +independence. When you are satisfied that a de facto government, republican +in form and without substantial opposition from its own people, has been +established in the State of Panama, you will enter into relations with it +as the responsible government of the territory and look to it for all due +action to protect the persons and property of citizens of the United States +and to keep open the isthmian transit, in accordance with the obligations +of existing treaties governing the relations of the United States to that +Territory." + +The Government of Colombia was notified of our action by the following +telegram to Mr. Beaupre: + +"The people of Panama having, by an apparently unanimous movement, +dissolved their political connection with the Republic of Colombia and +resumed their independence, and having adopted a Government of their own, +republican in form, with which the Government of the United States of +America has entered into relations, the President of the United States, in +accordance with the ties of friendship which have so long and so happily +existed between the respective nations, most earnestly commends to the +Governments of Colombia and of Panama the peaceful and equitable settlement +of all questions at issue between them. He holds that he is bound not +merely by treaty obligations, but by the interests of civilization, to see +that the peaceful traffic of the world across the Isthmus of Panama shall +not longer be disturbed by a constant succession of unnecessary and +wasteful civil wars." + +When these events happened, fifty-seven years had elapsed since the United +States had entered into its treaty with New Granada. During that time the +Governments of New Granada and of its successor, Colombia, have been in a +constant state of flux. The following is a partial list of the disturbances +on the Isthmus of Panama during the period in question as reported to us by +our consuls. It is not possible to give a complete list, and some of the +reports that speak of "revolutions" must mean unsuccessful revolutions. May +22, 1850.--Outbreak; two Americans killed. War vessel demanded to quell +outbreak. October, 1850.--Revolutionary plot to bring about independence of +the Isthmus. July 22, 1851.--Revolution in four southern provinces. +November 14, 1851.--Outbreak at Chagres. Man-of-war requested for Chagres. +June 27, 1853.--Insurrection at Bogota, and consequent disturbance on +Isthmus. War vessel demanded. May 23, 1854--Political disturbances; war +vessel requested. June 28, 1854.--Attempted revolution. October 24, +1854.--Independence of Isthmus demanded by provincial legislature. April, +1856.--Riot, and massacre of Americans. May 4, 1856.--Riot. May 18, +1856.--Riot. June 3, 1856.--Riot. October 2, 1856.--Conflict between two +native parties. United States forces landed. December 18, 1858.--Attempted +secession of Panama. April, 1859.--Riots. September, 1860.--Outbreak. +October 4, 1860.--Landing of United States forces in consequence. May 23, +1861.--Intervention of the United States forces required by intendente. +October 2, 1861.--Insurrection and civil war. April 4, 1862.--Measures to +prevent rebels crossing Isthmus. June 13, 1862.--Mosquera's troops refused +admittance to Panama. March, 1865.--Revolution, and United States troops +landed. August, 1865.--Riots; unsuccessful attempt to invade Panama. March, +1866.--Unsuccessful revolution. April, 1867.--Attempt to overthrow +Government. August, 1867.--Attempt at revolution. July 5, +1868.--Revolution; provisional government inaugurated. August 29, +1868.--Revolution; provisional government overthrown. April, +1871.--Revolution; followed apparently by counter revolution. April, +1873.--Revolution and civil war which lasted to October, 1875. August, +1876.--Civil war which lasted until April, 1877. July, 1878.--Rebellion. +December, 1878.--Revolt. April, 1879.--Revolution. June, 1879.--Revolution. +March, 1883.--Riot. May, 1883.--Riot. June, 1884.--Revolutionary attempt. +December, 1884.--Revolutionary attempt. January, 1885.--Revolutionary +disturbances. March, 1885.--Revolution. April, 1887.--Disturbance on Panama +Railroad. November, 1887.--Disturbance on line of canal. January, +1889.--Riot. January, 1895.--Revolution which lasted until April. March, +1895.--Incendiary attempt. October, 1899.--Revolution. February, 1900, to +July, 1900.--Revolution. January, 1901--Revolution. July, +1901.--Revolutionary disturbances. September, 1901.--City of Colon taken by +rebels. March, 1902.--Revolutionary disturbances. July, 1902.--Revolution. +The above is only a partial list of the revolutions, rebellions, +insurrections, riots, and other outbreaks that have occurred during the +period in question; yet they number 53 for the 57 years. It will be noted +that one of them lasted for nearly three years before it was quelled; +another for nearly a year. In short, the experience of over half a century +has shown Colombia to be utterly incapable of keeping order on the Isthmus. +Only the active interference of the United States has enabled her to +preserve so much as a semblance of sovereignty. Had it not been for the +exercise by the United States of the police power in her interest, her +connection with the Isthmus would have been sundered long ago. In 1856, in +1860, in 1873, in 1885, in 1901, and again in 1902, sailors and marines +from United States war ships were forced to land in order to patrol the +Isthmus, to protect life and property, and to see that the transit across +the Isthmus was kept open. In 1861, in 1862, in 1885, and in 1900, the +Colombian Government asked that the United States Government would land +troops to protect its interests and maintain order on the Isthmus. Perhaps +the most extraordinary request is that which has just been received and +which runs as follows: + +"Knowing that revolution has already commenced in Panama [an eminent +Colombian] says that if the Government of the United States will land +troops to preserve Colombian sovereignty, and the transit, if requested by +Colombian charge d'affaires, this Government will declare martial law; and, +by virtue of vested constitutional authority, when public order is +disturbed, will approve by decree ratification of the canal treaty as +signed; or, if the Government of the United States prefers, will call extra +session of the Congress--with new and friendly members--next May to approve +the treaty. [An eminent Colombian] has the perfect confidence of +vice-president, he says, and if it became necessary will go to the Isthmus +or send representatives there to adjust matters along above lines to the +satisfaction of the people there." + +This dispatch is noteworthy from two standpoints. Its offer of immediately +guaranteeing the treaty to us is in sharp contrast with the positive and +contemptuous refusal of the Congress which has just closed its sessions to +consider favorably such a treaty; it shows that the Government which made +the treaty really had absolute control over the situation, but did not +choose to exercise this control. The dispatch further calls on us to +restore order and secure Colombian supremacy in the Isthmus from which the +Colombian Government has just by its action decided to bar us by preventing +the construction of the canal. + +The control, in the interest of the commerce and traffic of the whole +civilized world, of the means of undisturbed transit across the Isthmus of +Panama has become of transcendent importance to the United States. We have +repeatedly exercised this control by intervening in the course of domestic +dissension, and by protecting the territory from foreign invasion. In 1853 +Mr. Everett assured the Peruvian minister that we should not hesitate to +maintain the neutrality of the Isthmus in the case of war between Peru and +Colombia. In 1864 Colombia, which has always been vigilant to avail itself +of its privileges conferred by the treaty, expressed its expectation that +in the event of war between Peru and Spain the United States would carry +into effect the guaranty of neutrality. There have been few administrations +of the State Department in which this treaty has not, either by the one +side or the other, been used as a basis of more or less important demands. +It was said by Mr. Fish in 1871 that the Department of State had reason to +believe that an attack upon Colombian sovereignty on the Isthmus had, on +several occasions, been averted by warning from this Government. In 1886, +when Colombia was under the menace of hostilities from Italy in the Cerruti +case, Mr. Bayard expressed the serious concern that the United States could +not but feel, that a European power should resort to force against a sister +republic of this hemisphere, as to the sovereign and uninterrupted use of a +part of whose territory we are guarantors under the solemn faith of a +treaty. + +The above recital of facts establishes beyond question: First, that the +United States has for over half a century patiently and in good faith +carried out its obligations under the treaty of 1846; second, that when for +the first time it became possible for Colombia to do anything in requital +of the services thus repeatedly rendered to it for fifty-seven years by the +United States, the Colombian Government peremptorily and offensively +refused thus to do its part, even though to do so would have been to its +advantage and immeasurably to the advantage of the State of Panama, at that +time under its jurisdiction; third, that throughout this period +revolutions, riots, and factional disturbances of every kind have occurred +one after the other in almost uninterrupted succession, some of them +lasting for months and even for years, while the central government was +unable to put them down or to make peace with the rebels; fourth, that +these disturbances instead of showing any sign of abating have tended to +grow more numerous and more serious in the immediate past; fifth, that the +control of Colombia over the Isthmus of Panama could not be maintained +without the armed intervention and assistance of the United States. In +other words, the Government of Colombia, though wholly unable to maintain +order on the Isthmus, has nevertheless declined to ratify a treaty the +conclusion of which opened the only chance to secure its own stability and +to guarantee permanent peace on, and the construction of a canal across, +the Isthmus. + +Under such circumstances the Government of the United States would have +been guilty of folly and weakness, amounting in their sum to a crime +against the Nation, had it acted otherwise than it did when the revolution +of November 3 last took place in Panama. This great enterprise of building +the interoceanic canal can not be held up to gratify the whims, or out of +respect to the governmental impotence, or to the even more sinister and +evil political peculiarities, of people who, though they dwell afar off, +yet, against the wish of the actual dwellers on the Isthmus, assert an +unreal supremacy over the territory. The possession of a territory fraught +with such peculiar capacities as the Isthmus in question carries with it +obligations to mankind. The course of events has shown that this canal can +not be built by private enterprise, or by any other nation than our own; +therefore it must be built by the United States. + +Every effort has been made by the Government of the United States to +persuade Colombia to follow a course which was essentially not only to our +interests and to the interests of the world, but to the interests of +Colombia itself. These efforts have failed; and Colombia, by her +persistence in repulsing the advances that have been made, has forced us, +for the sake of our own honor, and of the interest and well-being, not +merely of our own people, but of the people of the Isthmus of Panama and +the people of the civilized countries of the world, to take decisive steps +to bring to an end a condition of affairs which had become intolerable. The +new Republic of Panama immediately offered to negotiate a treaty with us. +This treaty I herewith submit. By it our interests are better safeguarded +than in the treaty with Colombia which was ratified by the Senate at its +last session. It is better in its terms than the treaties offered to us by +the Republics of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. At last the right to begin this +great undertaking is made available. Panama has done her part. All that +remains is for the American Congress to do its part, and forthwith this +Republic will enter upon the execution of a project colossal in its size +and of well-nigh incalculable possibilities for the good of this country +and the nations of mankind. + +By the provisions of the treaty the United States guarantees and will +maintain the independence of the Republic of Panama. There is granted to +the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of a strip +ten miles wide and extending three nautical miles into the sea at either +terminal, with all lands lying outside of the zone necessary for the +construction of the canal or for its auxiliary works, and with the islands +in the Bay of Panama. The cities of Panama and Colon are not embraced in +the canal zone, but the United States assumes their sanitation and, in case +of need, the maintenance of order therein; the United States enjoys within +the granted limits all the rights, power, and authority which it would +possess were it the sovereign of the territory to the exclusion of the +exercise of sovereign rights by the Republic. All railway and canal +property rights belonging to Panama and needed for the canal pass to the +United States, including any property of the respective companies in the +cities of Panama and Colon; the works, property, and personnel of the canal +and railways are exempted from taxation as well in the cities of Panama and +Colon as in the canal zone and its dependencies. Free immigration of the +personnel and importation of supplies for the construction and operation of +the canal are granted. Provision is made for the use of military force and +the building of fortifications by the United States for the protection of +the transit. In other details, particularly as to the acquisition of the +interests of the New Panama Canal Company and the Panama Railway by the +United States and the condemnation of private property for the uses of the +canal, the stipulations of the Hay-Herran treaty are closely followed, +while the compensation to be given for these enlarged grants remains the +same, being ten millions of dollars payable on exchange of ratifications; +and, beginning nine years from that date, an annual payment of $250,000 +during the life of the convention. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 6, 1904 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +The Nation continues to enjoy noteworthy prosperity. Such prosperity is of +course primarily due to the high individual average of our citizenship, +taken together with our great natural resources; but an important factor +therein is the working of our long-continued governmental policies. The +people have emphatically expressed their approval of the principles +underlying these policies, and their desire that these principles be kept +substantially unchanged, although of course applied in a progressive spirit +to meet changing conditions. + +The enlargement of scope of the functions of the National Government +required by our development as a nation involves, of course, increase of +expense; and the period of prosperity through which the country is passing +justifies expenditures for permanent improvements far greater than would be +wise in hard times. Battle ships and forts, public buildings, and improved +waterways are investments which should be made when we have the money; but +abundant revenues and a large surplus always invite extravagance, and +constant care should be taken to guard against unnecessary increase of the +ordinary expenses of government. The cost of doing Government business +should be regulated with the same rigid scrutiny as the cost of doing a +private business. + +In the vast and complicated mechanism of our modern civilized life the +dominant note is the note of industralism; and the relations of capital and +labor, and especially of organized capital and organized labor, to each +other and to the public at large come second in importance only to the +intimate questions of family life. Our peculiar form of government, with +its sharp division of authority between the Nation and the several States, +has been on the whole far more advantageous to our development than a more +strongly centralized government. But it is undoubtedly responsible for much +of the difficulty of meeting with adequate legislation the new problems +presented by the total change in industrial conditions on this continent +during the last half century. In actual practice it has proved exceedingly +difficult, and in many cases impossible, to get unanimity of wise action +among the various States on these subjects. From the very nature of the +case this is especially true of the laws affecting the employment of +capital in huge masses. + +With regard to labor the problem is no less important, but it is simpler. +As long as the States retain the primary control of the police power the +circumstances must be altogether extreme which require interference by the +Federal authorities, whether in the way of safeguarding the rights of labor +or in the way of seeing that wrong is not done by unruly persons who shield +themselves behind the name of labor. If there is resistance to the Federal +courts, interference with the mails, or interstate commerce, or molestation +of Federal property, or if the State authorities in some crisis which they +are unable to face call for help, then the Federal Government may +interfere; but though such interference may be caused by a condition of +things arising out of trouble connected with some question of labor, the +interference itself simply takes the form of restoring order without regard +to the questions which have caused the breach of order--for to keep order +is a primary duty and in a time of disorder and violence all other +questions sink into abeyance until order has been restored. In the District +of Columbia and in the Territories the Federal law covers the entire field +of government; but the labor question is only acute in populous centers of +commerce, manufactures, or mining. Nevertheless, both in the enactment and +in the enforcement of law the Federal Government within its restricted +sphere should set an example to the State governments, especially in a +matter so vital as this affecting labor. I believe that under modern +industrial conditions it is often necessary, and even where not necessary +it is yet often wise, that there should be organization of labor in order +better to secure the rights of the individual wage-worker. All +encouragement should be given to any such organization so long as it is +conducted with a due and decent regard for the rights of others. There are +in this country some labor unions which have habitually, and other labor +unions which have often, been among the most effective agents in working +for good citizenship and for uplifting the condition of those whose welfare +should be closest to our hearts. But when any labor union seeks improper +ends, or seeks to achieve proper ends by improper means, all good citizens +and more especially all honorable public servants must oppose the +wrongdoing as resolutely as they would oppose the wrongdoing of any great +corporation. Of course any violence, brutality, or corruption, should not +for one moment be tolerated. Wage-workers have an entire right to organize +and by all peaceful and honorable means to endeavor to persuade their +fellows to join with them in organizations. They have a legal right, which, +according to circumstances, may or may not be a moral right, to refuse to +work in company with men who decline to join their organizations. They have +under no circumstances the right to commit violence upon these, whether +capitalists or wage-workers, who refuse to support their organizations, or +who side with those with whom they are at odds; for mob rule is intolerable +in any form. + +The wage-workers are peculiarly entitled to the protection and the +encouragement of the law. From the very nature of their occupation railroad +men, for instance, are liable to be maimed in doing the legitimate work of +their profession, unless the railroad companies are required by law to make +ample provision for their safety. The Administration has been zealous in +enforcing the existing law for this purpose. That law should be amended and +strengthened. Wherever the National Government has power there should be a +stringent employer's liability law, which should apply to the Government +itself where the Government is an employer of labor. + +In my Message to the Fifty-seventh Congress, at its second session, I urged +the passage of an employer's liability law for the District of Columbia. I +now renew that recommendation, and further recommend that the Congress +appoint a commission to make a comprehensive study of employer's liability +with the view of extending the provisions of a great and constitutional law +to all employments within the scope of Federal power. + +The Government has recognized heroism upon the water, and bestows medals of +honor upon those persons who by extreme and heroic daring have endangered +their lives in saving, or endeavoring to save, lives from the perils of the +sea in the waters over which the United States has jurisdiction, or upon an +American vessel. This recognition should be extended to cover cases of +conspicuous bravery and self-sacrifice in the saving of life in private +employments under the jurisdiction of the United States, and particularly +in the land commerce of the Nation. + +The ever-increasing casualty list upon our railroads is a matter of grave +public concern, and urgently calls for action by the Congress. In the +matter of speed and comfort of railway travel our railroads give at least +as good service as those of any other nation, and there is no reason why +this service should not also be as safe as human ingenuity can make it. +Many of our leading roads have been foremost in the adoption of the most +approved safeguards for the protection of travelers and employees, yet the +list of clearly avoidable accidents continues unduly large. The passage of +a law requiring the adoption of a block-signal system has been proposed to +the Congress. I earnestly concur in that recommendation, and would also +point out to the Congress the urgent need of legislation in the interest of +the public safety limiting the hours of labor for railroad employees in +train service upon railroads engaged in interstate commerce, and providing +that only trained and experienced persons be employed in positions of +responsibility connected with the operation of trains. Of course nothing +can ever prevent accidents caused by human weakness or misconduct; and +there should be drastic punishment for any railroad employee, whether +officer or man, who by issuance of wrong orders or by disobedience of +orders causes disaster. The law of 1901, requiring interstate railroads to +make monthly reports of all accidents to passengers and employees on duty, +should also be amended so as to empower the Government to make a personal +investigation, through proper officers, of all accidents involving loss of +life which seem to require investigation, with a requirement that the +results of such investigation be made public. + +The safety-appliance law, as amended by the act of March 2, 1903, has +proved beneficial to railway employees, and in order that its provisions +may be properly carried out, the force of inspectors provided for by +appropriation should be largely increased. This service is analogous to the +Steamboat-Inspection Service, and deals with even more important interests. +It has passed the experimental stage and demonstrated its utility, and +should receive generous recognition by the Congress. + +There is no objection to employees of the Government forming or belonging +to unions; but the Government can neither discriminate for nor discriminate +against nonunion men who are in its employment, or who seek to be employed +under it. Moreover, it is a very grave impropriety for Government employees +to band themselves together for the purpose of extorting improperly high +salaries from the Government. Especially is this true of those within the +classified service. The letter carriers, both municipal and rural, are as a +whole an excellent body of public servants. They should be amply paid. But +their payment must be obtained by arguing their claims fairly and honorably +before the Congress, and not by banding together for the defeat of those +Congressmen who refuse to give promises which they can not in conscience +give. The Administration has already taken steps to prevent and punish +abuses of this nature; but it will be wise for the Congress to supplement +this action by legislation. + +Much can be done by the Government in labor matters merely by giving +publicity to certain conditions. The Bureau of Labor has done excellent +work of this kind in many different directions. I shall shortly lay before +you in a special message the full report of the investigation of the Bureau +of Labor into the Colorado mining strike, as this was a strike in which +certain very evil forces, which are more or less at work everywhere under +the conditions of modern industrialism, became startlingly prominent. It is +greatly to be wished that the Department of Commerce and Labor, through the +Labor Bureau, should compile and arrange for the Congress a list of the +labor laws of the various States, and should be given the means to +investigate and report to the Congress upon the labor conditions in the +manufacturing and mining regions throughout the country, both as to wages, +as to hours of labor, as to the labor of women and children, and as to the +effect in the various labor centers of immigration from abroad. In this +investigation especial attention should be paid to the conditions of child +labor and child-labor legislation in the several States. Such an +investigation must necessarily take into account many of the problems with +which this question of child labor is connected. These problems can be +actually met, in most cases, only by the States themselves; but the lack of +proper legislation in one State in such a matter as child labor often +renders it excessively difficult to establish protective restriction upon +the work in another State having the same industries, so that the worst +tends to drag down the better. For this reason, it would be well for the +Nation at least to endeavor to secure comprehensive information as to the +conditions of labor of children in the different States. Such investigation +and publication by the National Government would tend toward the securing +of approximately uniform legislation of the proper character among the +several States. + +When we come to deal with great corporations the need for the Government to +act directly is far greater than in the case of labor, because great +corporations can become such only by engaging in interstate commerce, and +interstate commerce is peculiarly the field of the General Government. It +is an absurdity to expect to eliminate the abuses in great corporations by +State action. It is difficult to be patient with an argument that such +matters should be left to the States because more than one State pursues +the policy of creating on easy terms corporations which are never operated +within that State at all, but in other States whose laws they ignore. The +National Government alone can deal adequately with these great +corporations. To try to deal with them in an intemperate, destructive, or +demagogic spirit would, in all probability, mean that nothing whatever +would be accomplished, and, with absolute certainty, that if anything were +accomplished it would be of a harmful nature. The American people need to +continue to show the very qualities that they have shown--that is, +moderation, good sense, the earnest desire to avoid doing any damage, and +yet the quiet determination to proceed, step by step, without halt and +without hurry, in eliminating or at least in minimizing whatever of +mischief or evil there is to interstate commerce in the conduct of great +corporations. They are acting in no spirit of hostility to wealth, either +individual or corporate. They are not against the rich man any more than +against the poor man. On the contrary, they are friendly alike toward rich +man and toward poor man, provided only that each acts in a spirit of +justice and decency toward his fellows. Great corporations are necessary, +and only men of great and singular mental power can manage such +corporations successfully, and such men must have great rewards. But these +corporations should be managed with due regard to the interest of the +public as a whole. Where this can be done under the present laws it must be +done. Where these laws come short others should be enacted to supplement +them. + +Yet we must never forget the determining factor in every kind of work, of +head or hand, must be the man's own good sense, courage, and kindliness. +More important than any legislation is the gradual growth of a feeling of +responsibility and forbearance among capitalists, and wage-workers alike; a +feeling of respect on the part of each man for the rights of others; a +feeling of broad community of interest, not merely of capitalists among +themselves, and of wage-workers among themselves, but of capitalists and +wage-workers in their relations to each other, and of both in their +relations to their fellows who with them make up the body politic. There +are many captains of industry, many labor leaders, who realize this. A +recent speech by the president of one of our great railroad systems to the +employees of that system contains sound common sense. It rims in part as +follows: + +"It is my belief we can better serve each other, better understand the man +as well as his business, when meeting face to face, exchanging views, and +realizing from personal contact we serve but one interest, that of our +mutual prosperity. + +"Serious misunderstandings can not occur where personal good will exists +and opportunity for personal explanation is present. + +"In my early business life I had experience with men of affairs of a +character to make me desire to avoid creating a like feeling of resentment +to myself and the interests in my charge, should fortune ever place me in +authority, and I am solicitous of a measure of confidence on the part of +the public and our employees that I shall hope may be warranted by the +fairness and good fellowship I intend shall prevail in our relationship. + +"But do not feel I am disposed to grant unreasonable requests, spend the +money of our company unnecessarily or without value received, nor expect +the days of mistakes are disappearing, or that cause for complaint will not +continually occur; simply to correct such abuses as may be discovered, to +better conditions as fast as reasonably may be expected, constantly +striving, with varying success, for that improvement we all desire, to +convince you there is a force at work in the right direction, all the time +making progress--is the disposition with which I have come among you, +asking your good will and encouragement. + +"The day has gone by when a corporation can be handled successfully in +defiance of the public will, even though that will be unreasonable and +wrong. A public may be led, but not driven, and I prefer to go with it and +shape or modify, in a measure, its opinion, rather than be swept from my +bearings, with loss to myself and the interests in my charge. + +"Violent prejudice exists towards corporate activity and capital today, +much of it founded in reason, more in apprehension, and a large measure is +due to the personal traits of arbitrary, unreasonable, incompetent, and +offensive men in positions of authority. The accomplishment of results by +indirection, the endeavor to thwart the intention, if not the expressed +letter of the law (the will of the people), a disregard of the rights of +others, a disposition to withhold what is due, to force by main strength or +inactivity a result not justified, depending upon the weakness of the +claimant and his indisposition to become involved in litigation, has +created a sentiment harmful in the extreme and a disposition to consider +anything fair that gives gain to the individual at the expense of the +company. + +"If corporations are to continue to do the world's work, as they are best +fitted to, these qualities in their representatives that have resulted in +the present prejudice against them must be relegated to the background. The +corporations must come out into the open and see and be seen. They must +take the public into their confidence and ask for what they want, and no +more, and be prepared to explain satisfactorily what advantage will accrue +to the public if they are given their desires; for they are permitted to +exist not that they may make money solely, but that they may effectively +serve those from whom they derive their power. + +"Publicity, and not secrecy, will win hereafter, and laws be construed by +their intent and not by their letter, otherwise public utilities will be +owned and operated by the public which created them, even though the +service be less efficient and the result less satisfactory from a financial +standpoint." + +The Bureau of Corporations has made careful preliminary investigation of +many important corporations. It will make a special report on the beef +industry. + +The policy of the Bureau is to accomplish the purposes of its creation by +co-operation, not antagonism; by making constructive legislation, not +destructive prosecution, the immediate object of its inquiries; by +conservative investigation of law and fact, and by refusal to issue +incomplete and hence necessarily inaccurate reports. Its policy being thus +one of open inquiry into, and not attack upon, business, the Bureau has +been able to gain not only the confidence, but, better still, the +cooperation of men engaged in legitimate business. + +The Bureau offers to the Congress the means of getting at the cost of +production of our various great staples of commerce. + +Of necessity the careful investigation of special corporations will afford +the Commissioner knowledge of certain business facts, the publication of +which might be an improper infringement of private rights. The method of +making public the results of these investigations affords, under the law, a +means for the protection of private rights. The Congress will have all +facts except such as would give to another corporation information which +would injure the legitimate business of a competitor and destroy the +incentive for individual superiority and thrift. + +The Bureau has also made exhaustive examinations into the legal condition +under which corporate business is carried on in the various States; into +all judicial decisions on the subject; and into the various systems of +corporate taxation in use. I call special attention to the report of the +chief of the Bureau; and I earnestly ask that the Congress carefully +consider the report and recommendations of the Commissioner on this +subject. + +The business of insurance vitally affects the great mass of the people of +the United States and is national and not local in its application. It +involves a multitude of transactions among the people of the different +States and between American companies and foreign governments. I urge that +the Congress carefully consider whether the power of the Bureau of +Corporations can not constitutionally be extended to cover interstate +transactions in insurance. + +Above all else, we must strive to keep the highways of commerce open to all +on equal terms; and to do this it is necessary to put a complete stop to +all rebates. Whether the shipper or the railroad is to blame makes no +difference; the rebate must be stopped, the abuses of the private car and +private terminal-track and side-track systems must be stopped, and the +legislation of the Fifty-eighth Congress which declares it to be unlawful +for any person or corporation to offer, gram, give, solicit, accept, or +receive any rebate, concession, or discrimination in respect of the +transportation of any property in interstate or foreign commerce whereby +such property shall by any device whatever be transported at a less rate +than that named in the tariffs published by the carrier must be enforced. +For some time after the enactment of the Act to Regulate Commerce it +remained a mooted question whether that act conferred upon the Interstate +Commerce Commission the power, after it had found a challenged rate to be +unreasonable, to declare what thereafter should, prima facie, be the +reasonable maximum rate for the transportation in dispute. The Supreme +Court finally resolved that question in the negative, so that as the law +now stands the Commission simply possess the bare power to denounce a +particular rate as unreasonable. While I am of the opinion that at present +it would be undesirable, if it were not impracticable, finally to clothe +the Commission with general authority to fix railroad rates, I do believe +that, as a fair security to shippers, the Commission should be vested with +the power, where a given rate has been challenged and after full hearing +found to be unreasonable, to decide, subject to judicial review, what shall +be a reasonable rate to take its place; the ruling of the Commission to +take effect immediately, and to obtain unless and until it is reversed by +the court of review. The Government must in increasing degree supervise and +regulate the workings of the railways engaged in interstate commerce; and +such increased supervision is the only alternative to an increase of the +present evils on the one hand or a still more radical policy on the other. +In my judgment the most important legislative act now needed as regards the +regulation of corporations is this act to confer on the Interstate Commerce +Commission the power to revise rates and regulations, the revised rate to +at once go into effect, and stay in effect unless and until the court of +review reverses it. + +Steamship companies engaged in interstate commerce and protected in our +coastwise trade should be held to a strict observance of the interstate +commerce act. + +In pursuing the set plan to make the city of Washington an example to other +American municipalities several points should be kept in mind by the +legislators. In the first place, the people of this country should clearly +understand that no amount of industrial prosperity, and above all no +leadership in international industrial competition, can in any way atone +for the sapping of the vitality of those who are usually spoken of as the +working classes. The farmers, the mechanics, the skilled and unskilled +laborers, the small shop keepers, make up the bulk of the population of any +country; and upon their well-being, generation after generation, the +well-being of the country and the race depends. Rapid development in wealth +and industrial leadership is a good thing, but only if it goes hand in hand +with improvement, and not deterioration, physical and moral. The +over-crowding of cities and the draining of country districts are unhealthy +and even dangerous symptoms in our modern life. We should not permit +overcrowding in cities. In certain European cities it is provided by law +that the population of towns shall not be allowed to exceed a very limited +density for a given area, so that the increase in density must be +continually pushed back into a broad zone around the center of the town, +this zone having great avenues or parks within it. The death-rate +statistics show a terrible increase in mortality, and especially in infant +mortality, in overcrowded tenements. The poorest families in tenement +houses live in one room, and it appears that in these one-room tenements +the average death rate for a number of given cities at home and abroad is +about twice what it is in a two-room tenement, four times what it is in a +three-room tenement, and eight times what it is in a tenement consisting of +four rooms or over. These figures vary somewhat for different cities, but +they approximate in each city those given above; and in all cases the +increase of mortality, and especially of infant mortality, with the +decrease in the number of rooms used by the family and with the consequent +overcrowding is startling. The slum exacts a heavy total of death from +those who dwell therein; and this is the case not merely in the great +crowded slums of high buildings in New York and Chicago, but in the alley +slums of Washington. In Washington people can not afford to ignore the harm +that this causes. No Christian and civilized community can afford to show a +happy-go-lucky lack of concern for the youth of to-day; for, if so, the +community will have to pay a terrible penalty of financial burden and +social degradation in the to-morrow. There should be severe child-labor and +factory-inspection laws. It is very desirable that married women should not +work in factories. The prime duty of the man is to work, to be the +breadwinner; the prime duty of the woman is to be the mother, the +housewife. All questions of tariff and finance sink into utter +insignificance when compared with the tremendous, the vital importance of +trying to shape conditions so that these two duties of the man and of the +woman can be fulfilled under reasonably favorable circumstances. If a race +does not have plenty of children, or if the children do not grow up, or if +when they grow up they are unhealthy in body and stunted or vicious in +mind, then that race is decadent, and no heaping up of wealth, no splendor +of momentary material prosperity, can avail in any degree as offsets. + +The Congress has the same power of legislation for the District of Columbia +which the State legislatures have for the various States. The problems +incident to our highly complex modern industrial civilization, with its +manifold and perplexing tendencies both for good and for evil, are far less +sharply eccentuated in the city of Washington than in most other cities. +For this very reason it is easier to deal with the various phases of these +problems in Washington, and the District of Columbia government should be a +model for the other municipal governments of the Nation, in all such +matters as supervision of the housing of the poor, the creation of small +parks in the districts inhabited by the poor, in laws affecting labor, in +laws providing for the taking care of the children, in truant laws, and in +providing schools. + +In the vital matter of taking care of children, much advantage could be +gained by a careful study of what has been accomplished in such States as +Illinois and Colorado by the juvenile courts. The work of the juvenile +court is really a work of character building. It is now generally +recognized that young boys and young girls who go wrong should not be +treated as criminals, not even necessarily as needing reformation, but +rather as needing to have their characters formed, and for this end to have +them tested and developed by a system of probation. Much admirable work has +been done in many of our Commonwealths by earnest men and women who have +made a special study of the needs of those classes of children which +furnish the greatest number of juvenile offenders, and therefore the +greatest number of adult offenders; and by their aid, and by profiting by +the experiences of the different States and cities in these matters, it +would be easy to provide a good code for the District of Columbia. + +Several considerations suggest the need for a systematic investigation into +and improvement of housing conditions in Washington. The hidden residential +alleys are breeding grounds of vice and disease, and should be opened into +minor streets. For a number of years influential citizens have joined with +the District Commissioners in the vain endeavor to secure laws permitting +the condemnation of insanitary dwellings. The local death rates, especially +from preventable diseases, are so unduly high as to suggest that the +exceptional wholesomeness of Washington's better sections is offset by bad +conditions in her poorer neighborhoods. A special "Commission on Housing +and Health Conditions in the National Capital" would not only bring about +the reformation of existing evils, but would also formulate an appropriate +building code to protect the city from mammoth brick tenements and other +evils which threaten to develop here as they have in other cities. That the +Nation's Capital should be made a model for other municipalities is an +ideal which appeals to all patriotic citizens everywhere, and such a +special Commission might map out and organize the city's future development +in lines of civic social service, just as Major L'Enfant and the recent +Park Commission planned the arrangement of her streets and parks. + +It is mortifying to remember that Washington has no compulsory school +attendance law and that careful inquiries indicate the habitual absence +from school of some twenty per cent of all children between the ages of +eight and fourteen. It must be evident to all who consider the problems of +neglected child life or the benefits of compulsory education in other +cities that one of the most urgent needs of the National Capital is a law +requiring the school attendance of all children, this law to be enforced by +attendance agents directed by the board of education. + +Public play grounds are necessary means for the development of wholesome +citizenship in modern cities. It is important that the work inaugurated +here through voluntary efforts should be taken up and extended through +Congressional appropriation of funds sufficient to equip and maintain +numerous convenient small play grounds upon land which can be secured +without purchase or rental. It is also desirable that small vacant places +be purchased and reserved as small-park play grounds in densely settled +sections of the city which now have no public open spaces and are destined +soon to be built up solidly. All these needs should be met immediately. To +meet them would entail expenses; but a corresponding saving could be made +by stopping the building of streets and levelling of ground for purposes +largely speculative in outlying parts of the city. + +There are certain offenders, whose criminality takes the shape of brutality +and cruelty towards the weak, who need a special type of punishment. The +wife-beater, for example, is inadequately punished by imprisonment; for +imprisonment may often mean nothing to him, while it may cause hunger and +want to the wife and children who have been the victims of his brutality. +Probably some form of corporal punishment would be the most adequate way of +meeting this kind of crime. + +The Department of Agriculture has grown into an educational institution +with a faculty of two thousand specialists making research into all the +sciences of production. The Congress appropriates, directly and indirectly, +six millions of dollars annually to carry on this work. It reaches every +State and Territory in the Union and the islands of the sea lately come +under our flag. Co-operation is had with the State experiment stations, and +with many other institutions and individuals. The world is carefully +searched for new varieties of grains, fruits, grasses, vegetables, trees, +and shrubs, suitable to various localities in our country; and marked +benefit to our producers has resulted. + +The activities of our age in lines of research have reached the tillers of +the soil and inspired them with ambition to know more of the principles +that govern the forces of nature with which they have to deal. Nearly half +of the people of this country devote their energies to growing things from +the soil. Until a recent date little has been done to prepare these +millions for their life work. In most lines of human activity +college-trained men are the leaders. The farmer had no opportunity for +special training until the Congress made provision for it forty years ago. +During these years progress has been made and teachers have been prepared. +Over five thousand students are in attendance at our State agricultural +colleges. The Federal Government expends ten millions of dollars annually +toward this education and for research in Washington and in the several +States and Territories. The Department of Agriculture has given facilities +for post-graduate work to five hundred young men during the last seven +years, preparing them for advance lines of work in the Department and in +the State institutions. + +The facts concerning meteorology and its relations to plant and animal life +are being systematically inquired into. Temperature and moisture are +controlling factors in all agricultural operations. The seasons of the +cyclones of the Caribbean Sea and their paths are being forecasted with +increasing accuracy. The cold winds that come from the north are +anticipated and their times and intensity told to farmers, gardeners, and +fruiterers in all southern localities. + +We sell two hundred and fifty million dollars' worth of animals and animal +products to foreign countries every year, in addition to supplying our own +people more cheaply and abundantly than any other nation is able to provide +for its people. Successful manufacturing depends primarily on cheap food, +which accounts to a considerable extent for our growth in this direction. +The Department of Agriculture, by careful inspection of meats, guards the +health of our people and gives clean bills of health to deserving exports; +it is prepared to deal promptly with imported diseases of animals, and +maintain the excellence of our flocks and herds in this respect. There +should be an annual census of the live stock of the Nation. + +We sell abroad about six hundred million dollars' worth of plants and their +products every year. Strenuous efforts are being made to import from +foreign countries such grains as are suitable to our varying localities. +Seven years ago we bought three-fourths of our rice; by helping the rice +growers on the Gulf coast to secure seeds from the Orient suited to their +conditions, and by giving them adequate protection, they now supply home +demand and export to the islands of the Caribbean Sea and to other +rice-growing countries. Wheat and other grains have been imported from +light-rainfall countries to our lands in the West and Southwest that have +not grown crops because of light precipitation, resulting in an extensive +addition to our cropping area and our home-making territory that can not be +irrigated. Ten million bushels of first-class macaroni wheat were grown +from these experimental importations last year. Fruits suitable to our +soils and climates are being imported from all the countries of the Old +World--the fig from Turkey, the almond from Spain, the date from Algeria, +the mango from India. We are helping our fruit growers to get their crops +into European markets by studying methods of preservation through +refrigeration, packing, and handling, which have been quite successful. We +are helping our hop growers by importing varieties that ripen earlier and +later than the kinds they have been raising, thereby lengthening the +harvesting season. The cotton crop of the country is threatened with root +rot, the bollworm, and the boll weevil. Our pathologists will find immune +varieties that will resist the root disease, and the bollworm can be dealt +with, but the boll weevil is a serious menace to the cotton crop. It is a +Central American insect that has become acclimated in Texas and has done +great damage. A scientist of the Department of Agriculture has found the +weevil at home in Guatemala being kept in check by an ant, which has been +brought to our cotton fields for observation. It is hoped that it may serve +a good purpose. + +The soils of the country are getting attention from the farmer's +standpoint, and interesting results are following. We have duplicates of +the soils that grow the wrapper tobacco in Sumatra and the filler tobacco +in Cuba. It will be only a question of time when the large amounts paid to +these countries will be paid to our own people. The reclamation of alkali +lands is progressing, to give object lessons to our people in methods by +which worthless lands may be made productive. + +The insect friends and enemies of the farmer are getting attention. The +enemy of the San Jose scale was found near the Great Wall of China, and is +now cleaning up all our orchards. The fig-fertilizing insect imported from +Turkey has helped to establish an industry in California that amounts to +from fifty to one hundred tons of dried figs annually, and is extending +over the Pacific coast. A parasitic fly from South Africa is keeping in +subjection the black scale, the worst pest of the orange and lemon industry +in California. + +Careful preliminary work is being done towards producing our own silk. The +mulberry is being distributed in large numbers, eggs are being imported and +distributed, improved reels were imported from Europe last year, and two +expert reelers were brought to Washington to reel the crop of cocoons and +teach the art to our own people. + +The crop-reporting system of the Department of Agriculture is being brought +closer to accuracy every year. It has two hundred and fifty thousand +reporters selected from people in eight vocations in life. It has +arrangements with most European countries for interchange of estimates, so +that our people may know as nearly as possible with what they must +compete. + +During the two and a half years that have elapsed since the passage of the +reclamation act rapid progress has been made in the surveys and +examinations of the opportunities for reclamation in the thirteen States +and three Territories of the arid West. Construction has already been begun +on the largest and most important of the irrigation works, and plans are +being completed for works which will utilize the funds now available. The +operations are being carried on by the Reclamation Service, a corps of +engineers selected through competitive civil-service examinations. This +corps includes experienced consulting and constructing engineers as well as +various experts in mechanical and legal matters, and is composed largely of +men who have spent most of their lives in practical affairs connected with +irrigation. The larger problems have been solved and it now remains to +execute with care, economy, and thoroughness the work which has been laid +out. All important details are being carefully considered by boards of +consulting engineers, selected for their thorough knowledge and practical +experience. Each project is taken up on the ground by competent men and +viewed from the standpoint of the creation of prosperous homes, and of +promptly refunding to the Treasury the cost of construction. The +reclamation act has been found to be remarkably complete and effective, and +so broad in its provisions that a wide range of undertakings has been +possible under it. At the same time, economy is guaranteed by the fact that +the funds must ultimately be returned to be used over again. + +It is the cardinal principle of the forest-reserve policy of this +Administration that the reserves are for use. Whatever interferes with the +use of their resources is to be avoided by every possible means. But these +resources must be used in such a way as to make them permanent. + +The forest policy of the Government is just now a subject of vivid public +interest throughout the West and to the people of the United States in +general. The forest reserves themselves are of extreme value to the present +as well as to the future welfare of all the western public-land States. +They powerfully affect the use and disposal of the public lands. They are +of special importance because they preserve the water supply and the supply +of timber for domestic purposes, and so promote settlement under the +reclamation act. Indeed, they are essential to the welfare of every one of +the great interests of the West. + +Forest reserves are created for two principal purposes. The first is to +preserve the water supply. This is their most important use. The principal +users of the water thus preserved are irrigation ranchers and settlers, +cities and towns to whom their municipal water supplies are of the very +first importance, users and furnishers of water power, and the users of +water for domestic, manufacturing, mining, and other purposes. All these +are directly dependent upon the forest reserves. + +The second reason for which forest reserves are created is to preserve the +timber supply for various classes of wood users. Among the more important +of these are settlers under the reclamation act and other acts, for whom a +cheap and accessible supply of timber for domestic uses is absolutely +necessary; miners and prospectors, who are in serious danger of losing +their timber supply by fire or through export by lumber companies when +timber lands adjacent to their mines pass into private ownership; +lumbermen, transportation companies, builders, and commercial interests in +general. + +Although the wisdom of creating forest reserves is nearly everywhere +heartily recognized, yet in a few localities there has been +misunderstanding and complaint. The following statement is therefore +desirable: + +The forest reserve policy can be successful only when it has the full +support of the people of the West. It can not safely, and should not in any +case, be imposed upon them against their will. But neither can we accept +the views of those whose only interest in the forest is temporary; who are +anxious to reap what they have not sown and then move away, leaving +desolation behind them. On the contrary, it is everywhere and always the +interest of the permanent settler and the permanent business man, the man +with a stake in the country, which must be considered and which must +decide. + +The making of forest reserves within railroad and wagon-road land-grant +limits will hereafter, as for the past three years, be so managed as to +prevent the issue, under the act of June 4, 1897, of base for exchange or +lieu selection (usually called scrip). In all cases where forest reserves +within areas covered by land grants appear to be essential to the +prosperity of settlers, miners, or others, the Government lands within such +proposed forest reserves will, as in the recent past, be withdrawn from +sale or entry pending the completion of such negotiations with the owners +of the land grants as will prevent the creation of so-called scrip. + +It was formerly the custom to make forest reserves without first getting +definite and detailed information as to the character of land and timber +within their boundaries. This method of action often resulted in badly +chosen boundaries and consequent injustice to settlers and others. +Therefore this Administration adopted the present method of first +withdrawing the land from disposal, followed by careful examination on the +ground and the preparation of detailed maps and descriptions, before any +forest reserve is created. + +I have repeatedly called attention to the confusion which exists in +Government forest matters because the work is scattered among three +independent organizations. The United States is the only one of the great +nations in which the forest work of the Government is not concentrated +under one department, in consonance with the plainest dictates of good +administration and common sense. The present arrangement is bad from every +point of view. Merely to mention it is to prove that it should be +terminated at once. As I have repeatedly recommended, all the forest work +of the Government should be concentrated in the Department of Agriculture, +where the larger part of that work is already done, where practically all +of the trained foresters of the Government are employed, where chiefly in +Washington there is comprehensive first-class knowledge of the problems of +the reserves acquired on the ground, where all problems relating to growth +from the soil are already gathered, and where all the sciences auxiliary to +forestry are at hand for prompt and effective co-operation. These reasons +are decisive in themselves, but it should be added that the great +organizations of citizens whose interests are affected by the +forest-reserves, such as the National Live Stock Association, the National +Wool Growers' Association, the American Mining Congress, the national +Irrigation Congress, and the National Board of Trade, have uniformly, +emphatically, and most of them repeatedly, expressed themselves in favor of +placing all Government forest work in the Department of Agriculture because +of the peculiar adaptation of that Department for it. It is true, also, +that the forest services of nearly all the great nations of the world are +under the respective departments of agriculture, while in but two of the +smaller nations and in one colony are they under the department of the +interior. This is the result of long and varied experience and it agrees +fully with the requirements of good administration in our own case. + +The creation of a forest service in the Department of Agriculture will have +for its important results: + +First. A better handling of all forest work; because it will be under a +single head, and because the vast and indispensable experience of the +Department in all matters pertaining to the forest reserves, to forestry in +general, and to other forms of production from the soil, will be easily and +rapidly accessible. + +Second. The reserves themselves, being handled from the point of view of +the man in the field, instead of the man in the office, will be more easily +and more widely useful to the people of the West than has been the case +hitherto. + +Third. Within a comparatively short time the reserves will become +self-supporting. This is important, because continually and rapidly +increasing appropriations will be necessary for the proper care of this +exceedingly important interest of the Nation, and they can and should he +offset by returns from the National forests. Under similar circumstances +the forest possessions of other great nations form an important source of +revenue to their governments. + +Every administrative officer concerned is convinced of the necessity for +the proposed consolidation of forest work in the Department of Agriculture, +and I myself have urged it more than once in former messages. Again I +commend it to the early and favorable consideration of the Congress. The +interests of the Nation at large and of the West in particular have +suffered greatly because of the delay. + +I call the attention of the Congress again to the report and recommendation +of the Commission on the Public Lands forwarded by me to the second session +of the present Congress. The Commission has prosecuted its investigations +actively during the past season, and a second report is now in an advanced +stage of preparation. + +In connection with the work of the forest reserves I desire again to urge +upon the Congress the importance of authorizing the President to set aside +certain portions of these reserves or other public lands as game refuges +for the preservation of the bison, the wapiti, and other large beasts once +so abundant in our woods and mountains and on our great plains, and now +tending toward extinction. Every support should be given to the authorities +of the Yellowstone Park in their successful efforts at preserving the large +creatures therein; and at very little expense portions of the public domain +in other regions which are wholly unsuited to agricultural settlement could +be similarly utilized. We owe it to future generations to keep alive the +noble and beautiful creatures which by their presence add such distinctive +character to the American wilderness. The limits of the Yellowstone Park +should be extended southwards. The Canyon of the Colorado should be made a +national park; and the national-park system should include the Yosemite and +as many as possible of the groves of giant trees in California. + +The veterans of the Civil War have a claim upon the Nation such as no other +body of our citizens possess. The Pension Bureau has never in its history +been managed in a more satisfactory manner than is now the case. + +The progress of the Indians toward civilization, though not rapid, is +perhaps all that could be hoped for in view of the circumstances. Within +the past year many tribes have shown, in a degree greater than ever before, +an appreciation of the necessity of work. This changed attitude is in part +due to the policy recently pursued of reducing the amount of subsistence to +the Indians, and thus forcing them, through sheer necessity, to work for a +livelihood. The policy, though severe, is a useful one, but it is to be +exercised only with judgment and with a full understanding of the +conditions which exist in each community for which it is intended. On or +near the Indian reservations there is usually very little demand for labor, +and if the Indians are to earn their living and when work can not be +furnished from outside (which is always preferable), then it must be +furnished by the Government. Practical instruction of this kind would in a +few years result in the forming of habits of regular industry, which would +render the Indian a producer and would effect a great reduction in the cost +of his maintenance. + +It is commonly declared that the slow advance of the Indians is due to the +unsatisfactory character of the men appointed to take immediate charge of +them, and to some extent this is true. While the standard of the employees +in the Indian Service shows great improvement over that of bygone years, +and while actual corruption or flagrant dishonesty is now the rare +exception, it is nevertheless the fact that the salaries paid Indian agents +are not large enough to attract the best men to that field of work. To +achieve satisfactory results the official in charge of an Indian tribe +should possess the high qualifications which are required in the manager of +a large business, but only in exceptional cases is it possible to secure +men of such a type for these positions. Much better service, however, might +be obtained from those now holding the places were it practicable to get +out of them the best that is in them, and this should be done by bringing +them constantly into closer touch with their superior officers. An agent +who has been content to draw his salary, giving in return the least +possible equivalent in effort and service, may, by proper treatment, by +suggestion and encouragement, or persistent urging, be stimulated to +greater effort and induced to take a more active personal interest in his +work. + +Under existing conditions an Indian agent in the distant West may be wholly +out of touch with the office of the Indian Bureau. He may very well feel +that no one takes a personal interest in him or his efforts. Certain +routine duties in the way of reports and accounts are required of him, but +there is no one with whom he may intelligently consult on matters vital to +his work, except after long delay. Such a man would be greatly encouraged +and aided by personal contact with some one whose interest in Indian +affairs and whose authority in the Indian Bureau were greater than his own, +and such contact would be certain to arouse and constantly increase the +interest he takes in his work. + +The distance which separates the agents--the workers in the field--from the +Indian Office in Washington is a chief obstacle to Indian progress. +Whatever shall more closely unite these two branches of the Indian Service, +and shall enable them to co-operate more heartily and more effectively, +will be for the increased efficiency of the work and the betterment of the +race for whose improvement the Indian Bureau was established. The +appointment of a field assistant to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs +would be certain to insure this good end. Such an official, if possessed of +the requisite energy and deep interest in the work, would be a most +efficient factor in bringing into closer relationship and a more direct +union of effort the Bureau in Washington and its agents in the field; and +with the co-operation of its branches thus secured the Indian Bureau would, +in measure fuller than ever before, lift up the savage toward that +self-help and self-reliance which constitute the man. + +In 1907 there will be held at Hampton Roads the tricentennial celebration +of the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, with which the history of what +has now become the United States really begins. I commend this to your +favorable consideration. It is an event of prime historic significance, in +which all the people of the United States should feel, and should show, +great and general interest. + +In the Post-Office Department the service has increased in efficiency, and +conditions as to revenue and expenditure continue satisfactory. The +increase of revenue during the year was $9,358,181.10, or 6.9 per cent, the +total receipts amounting to $143,382,624.34. The expenditures were +$152,362,116.70, an increase of about 9 per cent over the previous year, +being thus $8,979,492.36 in excess of the current revenue. Included in +these expenditures was a total appropriation of $152,956,637.35 for the +continuation and extension of the rural free-delivery service, which was an +increase of $4,902,237.35 over the amount expended for this purpose in the +preceding fiscal year. Large as this expenditure has been the beneficent +results attained in extending the free distribution of mails to the +residents of rural districts have justified the wisdom of the outlay. +Statistics brought down to the 1st of October, 1904, show that on that date +there were 27,138 rural routes established, serving approximately +12,000,000 of people in rural districts remote from post-offices, and that +there were pending at that time 3,859 petitions for the establishment of +new rural routes. Unquestionably some part of the general increase in +receipts is due to the increased postal facilities which the rural service +has afforded. The revenues have also been aided greatly by amendments in +the classification of mail matter, and the curtailment of abuses of the +second-class mailing privilege. The average increase in the volume of mail +matter for the period beginning with 1902 and ending June, 1905 (that +portion for 1905 being estimated), is 40.47 per cent, as compared with +25.46 per cent for the period immediately preceding, and 15.92 for the +four-year period immediately preceding that. + +Our consular system needs improvement. Salaries should be substituted for +fees, and the proper classification, grading, and transfer of consular +officers should be provided. I am not prepared to say that a competitive +system of examinations for appointment would work well; but by law it +should be provided that consuls should be familiar, according to places for +which they apply, with the French, German, or Spanish languages, and should +possess acquaintance with the resources of the United States. + +The collection of objects of art contemplated in section 5586 of the +Revised Statutes should be designated and established as a National Gallery +of Art; and the Smithsonian Institution should be authorized to accept any +additions to said collection that may be received by gift, bequest, or +devise. + +It is desirable to enact a proper National quarantine law. It is most +undesirable that a State should on its own initiative enforce quarantine +regulations which are in effect a restriction upon interstate and +international commerce. The question should properly be assumed by the +Government alone. The Surgeon-General of the National Public Health and +Marine-Hospital Service has repeatedly and convincingly set forth the need +for such legislation. + +I call your attention to the great extravagance in printing and binding +Government publications, and especially to the fact that altogether too +many of these publications are printed. There is a constant tendency to +increase their number and their volume. It is an understatement to say that +no appreciable harm would be caused by, and substantial benefit would +accrue from, decreasing the amount of printing now done by at least +one-half. Probably the great majority of the Government reports and the +like now printed are never read at all, and furthermore the printing of +much of the material contained in many of the remaining ones serves no +useful purpose whatever. + +The attention of the Congress should be especially given to the currency +question, and that the standing committees on the matter in the two Houses +charged with the duty, take up the matter of our currency and see whether +it is not possible to secure an agreement in the business world for +bettering the system; the committees should consider the question of the +retirement of the greenbacks and the problem of securing in our currency +such elasticity as is consistent with safety. Every silver dollar should be +made by law redeemable in gold at the option of the holder. + +I especially commend to your immediate attention the encouragement of our +merchant marine by appropriate legislation. + +The growing importance of the Orient as a field for American exports drew +from my predecessor, President McKinley, an urgent request for its special +consideration by the Congress. In his message of 1898 he stated: + +"In this relation, as showing the peculiar volume and value of our trade +with China and the peculiarly favorable conditions which exist for their +expansion in the normal course of trade, I refer to the communication +addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives by the Secretary +of the Treasury on the 14th of last June, with its accompanying letter of +the Secretary of State, recommending an appropriation for a commission to +study the industrial and commercial conditions in the Chinese Empire and to +report as to the opportunities for and the obstacles to the enlargement of +markets in China for the raw products and manufactures of the United +States. Action was not taken thereon during the last session. I cordially +urge that the recommendation receive at your hands the consideration which +its importance and timeliness merit." + +In his annual message of 1889 he again called attention to this +recommendation, quoting it, and stated further: + +"I now renew this recommendation, as the importance of the subject has +steadily grown since it was first submitted to you, and no time should be +lost in studying for ourselves the resources of this great field for +American trade and enterprise." + +The importance of securing proper information and data with a view to the +enlargement of our trade with Asia is undiminished. Our consular +representatives in China have strongly urged a place for permanent display +of American products in some prominent trade center of that Empire, under +Government control and management, as an effective means of advancing our +export trade therein. I call the attention of the Congress to the +desirability of carrying out these suggestions. + +In dealing with the questions of immigration and naturalization it is +indispensable to keep certain facts ever before the minds of those who +share in enacting the laws. First and foremost, let us remember that the +question of being a good American has nothing whatever to do with a man's +birthplace any more than it has to do with his creed. In every generation +from the time this Government was founded men of foreign birth have stood +in the very foremost rank of good citizenship, and that not merely in one +but in every field of American activity; while to try to draw a distinction +between the man whose parents came to this country and the man whose +ancestors came to it several generations back is a mere absurdity. Good +Americanism is a matter of heart, of conscience, of lofty aspiration, of +sound common sense, but not of birthplace or of creed. The medal of honor, +the highest prize to be won by those who serve in the Army and the Navy of +the United States decorates men born here, and it also decorates men born +in Great Britain and Ireland, in Germany, in Scandinavia, in France, and +doubtless in other countries also. In the field of statesmanship, in the +field of business, in the field of philanthropic endeavor, it is equally +true that among the men of whom we are most proud as Americans no +distinction whatever can be drawn between those who themselves or whose +parents came over in sailing ship or steamer from across the water and +those whose ancestors stepped ashore into the wooded wilderness at Plymouth +or at the mouth of the Hudson, the Delaware, or the James nearly three +centuries ago. No fellow-citizen of ours is entitled to any peculiar regard +because of the way in which he worships his Maker, or because of the +birthplace of himself or his parents, nor should he be in any way +discriminated against therefor. Each must stand on his worth as a man and +each is entitled to be judged solely thereby. + +There is no danger of having too many immigrants of the right kind. It +makes no difference from what country they come. If they are sound in body +and in mind, and, above all, if they are of good character, so that we can +rest assured that their children and grandchildren will be worthy +fellow-citizens of our children and grandchildren, then we should welcome +them with cordial hospitality. + +But the citizenship of this country should not be debased. It is vital that +we should keep high the standard of well-being among our wage-workers, and +therefore we should not admit masses of men whose standards of living and +whose personal customs and habits are such that they tend to lower the +level of the American wage-worker; and above all we should not admit any +man of an unworthy type, any man concerning whom we can say that he will +himself be a bad citizen, or that his children and grandchildren will +detract from instead of adding to the sum of the good citizenship of the +country. Similarly we should take the greatest care about naturalization. +Fraudulent naturalization, the naturalization of improper persons, is a +curse to our Government; and it is the affair of every honest voter, +wherever born, to see that no fraudulent voting is allowed, that no fraud +in connection with naturalization is permitted. + +In the past year the cases of false, fraudulent, and improper +naturalization of aliens coming to the attention of the executive branches +of the Government have increased to an alarming degree. Extensive sales of +forged certificates of naturalization have been discovered, as well as many +cases of naturalization secured by perjury and fraud; and in addition, +instances have accumulated showing that many courts issue certificates of +naturalization carelessly and upon insufficient evidence. + +Under the Constitution it is in the power of the Congress "to establish a +uniform rule of naturalization," and numerous laws have from time to time +been enacted for that purpose, which have been supplemented in a few States +by State laws having special application. The Federal statutes permit +naturalization by any court of record in the United States having +common-law jurisdiction and a seal and clerk, except the police court of +the District of Columbia, and nearly all these courts exercise this +important function. It results that where so many courts of such varying +grades have jurisdiction, there is lack of uniformity in the rules applied +in conferring naturalization. Some courts are strict and others lax. An +alien who may secure naturalization in one place might be denied it in +another, and the intent of the constitutional provision is in fact +defeated. Furthermore, the certificates of naturalization issued by the +courts differ widely in wording and appearance, and when they are brought +into use in foreign countries, are frequently subject to suspicion. + +There should be a comprehensive revision of the naturalization laws. The +courts having power to naturalize should be definitely named by national +authority; the testimony upon which naturalization may be conferred should +be definitely prescribed; publication of impending naturalization +applications should be required in advance of their hearing in court; the +form and wording of all certificates issued should be uniform throughout +the country, and the courts should be required to make returns to the +Secretary of State at stated periods of all naturalizations conferred. + +Not only are the laws relating to naturalization now defective, but those +relating to citizenship of the United States ought also to be made the +subject of scientific inquiry with a view to probable further legislation. +By what acts expatriation may be assumed to have been accomplished, how +long an American citizen may reside abroad and receive the protection of +our passport, whether any degree of protection should be extended to one +who has made the declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United +States but has not secured naturalization, are questions of serious import, +involving personal rights and often producing friction between this +Government and foreign governments. Yet upon these question our laws are +silent. I recommend that an examination be made into the subjects of +citizenship, expatriation, and protection of Americans abroad, with a view +to appropriate legislation. + +The power of the Government to protect the integrity of the elections of +its own officials is inherent and has been recognized and affirmed by +repeated declarations of the Supreme Court. There is no enemy of free +government more dangerous and none so insidious as the corruption of the +electorate. No one defends or excuses corruption, and it would seem to +follow that none would oppose vigorous measures to eradicate it. I +recommend the enactment of a law directed against bribery and corruption in +Federal elections. The details of such a law may be safely left to the wise +discretion of the Congress, but it should go as far as under the +Constitution it is possible to go, and should include severe penalties +against him who gives or receives a bribe intended to influence his act or +opinion as an elector; and provisions for the publication not only of the +expenditures for nominations and elections of all candidates but also of +all contributions received and expenditures made by political committees. + +No subject is better worthy the attention of the Congress than that portion +of the report of the Attorney-General dealing with the long delays and the +great obstruction to justice experienced in the cases of Beavers, Green and +Gaynor, and Benson. Were these isolated and special cases, I should not +call your attention to them; but the difficulties encountered as regards +these men who have been indicted for criminal practices are not +exceptional; they are precisely similar in kind to what occurs again and +again in the case of criminals who have sufficient means to enable them to +take advantage of a system of procedure which has grown up in the Federal +courts and which amounts in effect to making the law easy of enforcement +against the man who has no money, and difficult of enforcement, even to the +point of sometimes securing immunity, as regards the man who has money. In +criminal cases the writ of the United States should run throughout its +borders. The wheels of justice should not be clogged, as they have been +clogged in the cases above mentioned, where it has proved absolutely +impossible to bring the accused to the place appointed by the Constitution +for his trial. Of recent years there has been grave and increasing +complaint of the difficulty of bringing to justice those criminals whose +criminality, instead of being against one person in the Republic, is +against all persons in the Republic, because it is against the Republic +itself. Under any circumstance and from the very nature of the case it is +often exceedingly difficult to secure proper punishment of those who have +been guilty of wrongdoing against the Government. By the time the offender +can be brought into court the popular wrath against him has generally +subsided; and there is in most instances very slight danger indeed of any +prejudice existing in the minds of the jury against him. At present the +interests of the innocent man are amply safeguarded; but the interests of +the Government, that is, the interests of honest administration, that is +the interests of the people, are not recognized as they should be. No +subject better warrants the attention of the Congress. Indeed, no subject +better warrants the attention of the bench and the bar throughout the +United States. + +Alaska, like all our Territorial acquisitions, has proved resourceful +beyond the expectations of those who made the purchase. It has become the +home of many hardy, industrious, and thrifty American citizens. Towns of a +permanent character have been built. The extent of its wealth in minerals, +timber, fisheries, and agriculture, while great, is probably not +comprehended yet in any just measure by our people. We do know, however, +that from a very small beginning its products have grown until they are a +steady and material contribution to the wealth of the nation. Owing to the +immensity of Alaska and its location in the far north, it is a difficult +matter to provide many things essential to its growth and to the happiness +and comfort of its people by private enterprise alone. It should, +therefore, receive reasonable aid from the Government. The Government has +already done excellent work for Alaska in laying cables and building +telegraph lines. This work has been done in the most economical and +efficient way by the Signal Corps of the Army. + +In some respects it has outgrown its present laws, while in others those +laws have been found to be inadequate. In order to obtain information upon +which I could rely I caused an official of the Department of Justice, in +whose judgment I have confidence, to visit Alaska during the past summer +for the purpose of ascertaining how government is administered there and +what legislation is actually needed at present. A statement of the +conditions found to exist, together with some recommendations and the +reasons therefor, in which I strongly concur, will be found in the annual +report of the Attorney-General. In some instances I feel that the +legislation suggested is so imperatively needed that I am moved briefly to +emphasize the Attorney-General's proposals. + +Under the Code of Alaska as it now stands many purely administrative powers +and duties, including by far the most important, devolve upon the district +judges or upon the clerks of the district court acting under the direction +of the judges, while the governor, upon whom these powers and duties should +logically fall, has nothing specific to do except to make annual reports, +issue Thanksgiving Day proclamations, and appoint Indian policemen and +notaries public. I believe it essential to good government in Alaska, and +therefore recommend, that the Congress divest the district judges and the +clerks of their courts of the administrative or executive functions that +they now exercise and cast them upon the governor. This would not be an +innovation; it would simply conform the government of Alaska to fundamental +principles, making the governorship a real instead of a merely nominal +office, and leaving the judges free to give their entire attention to their +judicial duties and at the same time removing them from a great deal of the +strife that now embarrasses the judicial office in Alaska. + +I also recommend that the salaries of the district judges and district +attorneys in Alaska be increased so as to make them equal to those received +by corresponding officers in the United States after deducting the +difference in the cost of living; that the district attorneys should be +prohibited from engaging in private practice; that United States +commissioners be appointed by the governor of the Territory instead of by +the district judges, and that a fixed salary be provided for them to take +the place of the discredited "fee system," which should be abolished in all +offices; that a mounted constabulary be created to police the territory +outside the limits of incorporated towns--a vast section now wholly without +police protection; and that some provision be made to at least lessen the +oppressive delays and costs that now attend the prosecution of appeals from +the district court of Alaska. There should be a division of the existing +judicial districts, and an increase in the number of judges. + +Alaska should have a Delegate in the Congress. Where possible, the Congress +should aid in the construction of needed wagon roads. Additional +light-houses should be provided. In my judgment, it is especially important +to aid in such manner as seems just and feasible in the construction of a +trunk line of railway to connect the Gulf of Alaska with the Yukon River +through American territory. This would be most beneficial to the +development of the resources of the Territory, and to the comfort and +welfare of its people. + +Salmon hatcheries should be established in many different streams, so as to +secure the preservation of this valuable food fish. Salmon fisheries and +canneries should be prohibited on certain of the rivers where the mass of +those Indians dwell who live almost exclusively on fish. + +The Alaskan natives are kindly, intelligent, anxious to learn, and willing +to work. Those who have come under the influence of civilization, even for +a limited period, have proved their capability of becoming self-supporting, +self-respecting citizens, and ask only for the just enforcement of law and +intelligent instruction and supervision. Others, living in more remote +regions, primitive, simple hunters and fisher folk, who know only the life +of the woods and the waters, are daily being confronted with +twentieth-century civilization with all of its complexities. Their country +is being overrun by strangers, the game slaughtered and driven away, the +streams depleted of fish, and hitherto unknown and fatal diseases brought +to them, all of which combine to produce a state of abject poverty and want +which must result in their extinction. Action in their interest is demanded +by every consideration of justice and humanity. + +The needs of these people are: + +The abolition of the present fee system, whereby the native is degraded, +imposed upon, and taught the injustice of law. + +The establishment of hospitals at central points, so that contagious +diseases that are brought to them continually by incoming whites may be +localized and not allowed to become epidemic, to spread death and +destitution over great areas. + +The development of the educational system in the form of practical training +in such industries as will assure the Indians self-support under the +changed conditions in which they will have to live. + +The duties of the office of the governor should be extended to include the +supervision of Indian affairs, with necessary assistants in different +districts. He should be provided with the means and the power to protect +and advise the native people, to furnish medical treatment in time of +epidemics, and to extend material relief in periods of famine and extreme +destitution. + +The Alaskan natives should be given the right to acquire, hold, and dispose +of property upon the same conditions as given other inhabitants; and the +privilege of citizenship should be given to such as may be able to meet +certain definite requirements. In Hawaii Congress should give the governor +power to remove all the officials appointed under him. The harbor of +Honolulu should be dredged. The Marine-Hospital Service should be empowered +to study leprosy in the islands. I ask special consideration for the report +and recommendation of the governor of Porto Rico. + +In treating of our foreign policy and of the attitude that this great +Nation should assume in the world at large, it is absolutely necessary to +consider the Army and the Navy, and the Congress, through which the thought +of the Nation finds its expression, should keep ever vividly in mind the +fundamental fact that it is impossible to treat our foreign policy, whether +this policy takes shape in the effort to secure justice for others or +justice for ourselves, save as conditioned upon the attitude we are willing +to take toward our Army, and especially toward our Navy. It is not merely +unwise, it is contemptible, for a nation, as for an individual, to use +high-sounding language to proclaim its purposes, or to take positions which +are ridiculous if unsupported by potential force, and then to refuse to +provide this force. If there is no intention of providing and of keeping +the force necessary to back up a strong attitude, then it is far better not +to assume such an attitude. + +The steady aim of this Nation, as of all enlightened nations, should be to +strive to bring ever nearer the day when there shall prevail throughout the +world the peace of justice. There are kinds of peace which are highly +undesirable, which are in the long run as destructive as any war. Tyrants +and oppressors have many times made a wilderness and called it peace. Many +times peoples who were slothful or timid or shortsighted, who had been +enervated by ease or by luxury, or misled by false teachings, have shrunk +in unmanly fashion from doing duty that was stern and that needed +self-sacrifice, and have sought to hide from their own minds their +shortcomings, their ignoble motives, by calling them love of peace. The +peace of tyrannous terror, the peace of craven weakness, the peace of +injustice, all these should be shunned as we shun unrighteous war. The goal +to set before us as a nation, the goal which should be set before all +mankind, is the attainment of the peace of justice, of the peace which +comes when each nation is not merely safe-guarded in its own rights, but +scrupulously recognizes and performs its duty toward others. Generally +peace tells for righteousness; but if there is conflict between the two, +then our fealty is due-first to the cause of righteousness. Unrighteous +wars are common, and unrighteous peace is rare; but both should be shunned. +The right of freedom and the responsibility for the exercise of that right +can not be divorced. One of our great poets has well and finely said that +freedom is not a gift that tarries long in the hands of cowards. Neither +does it tarry long in the hands of those too slothful, too dishonest, or +too unintelligent to exercise it. The eternal vigilance which is the price +of liberty must be exercised, sometimes to guard against outside foes; +although of course far more often to guard against our own selfish or +thoughtless shortcomings. + +If these self-evident truths are kept before us, and only if they are so +kept before us, we shall have a clear idea of what our foreign policy in +its larger aspects should be. It is our duty to remember that a nation has +no more right to do injustice to another nation, strong or weak, than an +individual has to do injustice to another individual; that the same moral +law applies in one case as in the other. But we must also remember that it +is as much the duty of the Nation to guard its own rights and its own +interests as it is the duty of the individual so to do. Within the Nation +the individual has now delegated this right to the State, that is, to the +representative of all the individuals, and it is a maxim of the law that +for every wrong there is a remedy. But in international law we have not +advanced by any means as far as we have advanced in municipal law. There is +as yet no judicial way of enforcing a right in international law. When one +nation wrongs another or wrongs many others, there is no tribunal before +which the wrongdoer can be brought. Either it is necessary supinely to +acquiesce in the wrong, and thus put a premium upon brutality and +aggression, or else it is necessary for the aggrieved nation valiantly to +stand up for its rights. Until some method is devised by which there shall +be a degree of international control over offending nations, it would be a +wicked thing for the most civilized powers, for those with most sense of +international obligations and with keenest and most generous appreciation +of the difference between right and wrong, to disarm. If the great +civilized nations of the present day should completely disarm, the result +would mean an immediate recrudescence of barbarism in one form or another. +Under any circumstances a sufficient armament would have to be kept up to +serve the purposes of international police; and until international +cohesion and the sense of international duties and rights are far more +advanced than at present, a nation desirous both of securing respect for +itself and of doing good to others must have a force adequate for the work +which it feels is allotted to it as its part of the general world duty. +Therefore it follows that a self-respecting, just, and far-seeing nation +should on the one hand endeavor by every means to aid in the development of +the various movements which tend to provide substitutes for war, which tend +to render nations in their actions toward one another, and indeed toward +their own peoples, more responsive to the general sentiment of humane and +civilized mankind; and on the other hand that it should keep prepared, +while scrupulously avoiding wrongdoing itself, to repel any wrong, and in +exceptional cases to take action which in a more advanced stage of +international relations would come under the head of the exercise of the +international police. A great free people owes it to itself and to all +mankind not to sink into helplessness before the powers of evil. + +We are in every way endeavoring to help on, with cordial good will, every +movement which will tend to bring us into more friendly relations with the +rest of mankind. In pursuance of this policy I shall shortly lay before the +Senate treaties of arbitration with all powers which are willing to enter +into these treaties with us. It is not possible at this period of the +world's development to agree to arbitrate all matters, but there are many +matters of possible difference between us and other nations which can be +thus arbitrated. Furthermore, at the request of the Interparliamentary +Union, an eminent body composed of practical statesmen from all countries, +I have asked the Powers to join with this Government in a second Hague +conference, at which it is hoped that the work already so happily begun at +The Hague may be carried some steps further toward completion. This carries +out the desire expressed by the first Hague conference itself. + +It is not true that the United States feels any land hunger or entertains +any projects as regards the other nations of the Western Hemisphere save +such as are for their welfare. All that this country desires is to see the +neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose +people conduct themselves well can count upon our hearty friendship. If a +nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and +decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its +obligations, it need fear no interference from the United States. Chronic +wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the +ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require +intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the +adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United +States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or +impotence, to the exercise of an international police power. If every +country washed by the Caribbean Sea would show the progress in stable and +just civilization which with the aid of the Platt amendment Cuba has shown +since our troops left the island, and which so many of the republics in +both Americas are constantly and brilliantly showing, all question of +interference by this Nation with their affairs would be at an end. Our +interests and those of our southern neighbors are in reality identical. +They have great natural riches, and if within their borders the reign of +law and justice obtains, prosperity is sure to come to them. While they +thus obey the primary laws of civilized society they may rest assured that +they will be treated by us in a spirit of cordial and helpful sympathy. We +would interfere with them only in the last resort, and then only if it +became evident that their inability or unwillingness to do justice at home +and abroad had violated the rights of the United States or had invited +foreign aggression to the detriment of the entire body of American nations. +It is a mere truism to say that every nation, whether in America or +anywhere else, which desires to maintain its freedom, its independence, +must ultimately realize that the right of such independence can not be +separated from the responsibility of making good use of it. + +In asserting the Monroe Doctrine, in taking such steps as we have taken in +regard to Cuba, Venezuela, and Panama, and in endeavoring to circumscribe +the theater of war in the Far East, and to secure the open door in China, +we have acted in our own interest as well as in the interest of humanity at +large. There are, however, cases in which, while our own interests are not +greatly involved, strong appeal is made to our sympathies. Ordinarily it is +very much wiser and more useful for us to concern ourselves with striving +for our own moral and material betterment here at home than to concern +ourselves with trying to better the condition of things in other nations. +We have plenty of sins of our own to war against, and under ordinary +circumstances we can do more for the general uplifting of humanity by +striving with heart and soul to put a stop to civic corruption, to brutal +lawlessness and violent race prejudices here at home than by passing +resolutions about wrongdoing elsewhere. Nevertheless there are occasional +crimes committed on so vast a scale and of such peculiar horror as to make +us doubt whether it is not our manifest duty to endeavor at least to show +our disapproval of the deed and our sympathy with those who have suffered +by it. The cases must be extreme in which such a course is justifiable. +There must be no effort made to remove the mote from our brother's eye if +we refuse to remove the beam from our own. But in extreme cases action may +be justifiable and proper. What form the action shall take must depend upon +the circumstances of the case; that is, upon the degree of the atrocity and +upon our power to remedy it. The cases in which we could interfere by force +of arms as we interfered to put a stop to intolerable conditions in Cuba +are necessarily very few. Yet it is not to be expected that a people like +ours, which in spite of certain very obvious shortcomings, nevertheless as +a whole shows by its consistent practice its belief in the principles of +civil and religious liberty and of orderly freedom, a people among whom +even the worst crime, like the crime of lynching, is never more than +sporadic, so that individuals and not classes are molested in their +fundamental rights--it is inevitable that such a nation should desire +eagerly to give expression to its horror on an occasion like that of the +massacre of the Jews in Kishenef, or when it witnesses such systematic and +long-extended cruelty and oppression as the cruelty and oppression of which +the Armenians have been the victims, and which have won for them the +indignant pity of the civilized world. + +Even where it is not possible to secure in other nations the observance of +the principles which we accept as axiomatic, it is necessary for us firmly +to insist upon the rights of our own citizens without regard to their creed +or race; without regard to whether they were born here or born abroad. It +has proved very difficult to secure from Russia the right for our Jewish +fellow-citizens to receive passports and travel through Russian territory. +Such conduct is not only unjust and irritating toward us, but it is +difficult to see its wisdom from Russia's standpoint. No conceivable good +is accomplished by it. If an American Jew or an American Christian +misbehaves himself in Russia he can at once be driven out; but the ordinary +American Jew, like the ordinary American Christian, would behave just about +as he behaves here, that is, behave as any good citizen ought to behave; +and where this is the case it is a wrong against which we are entitled to +protest to refuse him his passport without regard to his conduct and +character, merely on racial and religious grounds. In Turkey our +difficulties arise less from the way in which our citizens are sometimes +treated than from the indignation inevitably excited in seeing such fearful +misrule as has been witnessed both in Armenia and Macedonia. + +The strong arm of the Government in enforcing respect for its just rights +in international matters is the Navy of the United States. I most earnestly +recommend that there be no halt in the work of upbuilding the American +Navy. There is no more patriotic duty before us a people than to keep the +Navy adequate to the needs of this country's position. We have undertaken +to build the Isthmian Canal. We have undertaken to secure for ourselves our +just share in the trade of the Orient. We have undertaken to protect our +citizens from proper treatment in foreign lands. We continue steadily to +insist on the application of the Monroe Doctrine to the Western Hemisphere. +Unless our attitude in these and all similar matters is to be a mere +boastful sham we can not afford to abandon our naval programme. Our voice +is now potent for peace, and is so potent because we are not afraid of war. +But our protestations upon behalf of peace would neither receive nor +deserve the slightest attention if we were impotent to make them good. + +The war which now unfortunately rages in the far East has emphasized in +striking fashion the new possibilities of naval warfare. The lessons taught +are both strategic and tactical, and are political as well as military. The +experiences of the war have shown in conclusive fashion that while +sea-going and sea-keeping torpedo destroyers are indispensable, and fast +lightly armed and armored cruisers very useful, yet that the main reliance, +the main standby, in any navy worthy the name must be the great battle +ships, heavily armored and heavily gunned. Not a Russian or Japanese battle +ship has been sunk by a torpedo boat, or by gunfire, while among the less +protected ships, cruiser after cruiser has been destroyed whenever the +hostile squadrons have gotten within range of one another's weapons. There +will always be a large field of usefulness for cruisers, especially of the +more formidable type. We need to increase the number of torpedo-boat +destroyers, paying less heed to their having a knot or two extra speed than +to their capacity to keep the seas for weeks, and, if necessary, for months +at a time. It is wise to build submarine torpedo boats, as under certain +circumstances they might be very useful. But most of all we need to +continue building our fleet of battle ships, or ships so powerfully armed +that they can inflict the maximum of damage upon our opponents, and so well +protected that they can suffer a severe hammering in return without fatal +impairment of their ability to fight and maneuver. Of course ample means +must be provided for enabling the personnel of the Navy to be brought to +the highest point of efficiency. Our great fighting ships and torpedo boats +must be ceaselessly trained and maneuvered in squadrons. The officers and +men can only learn their trade thoroughly by ceaseless practice on the high +seas. In the event of war it would be far better to have no ships at all +than to have ships of a poor and ineffective type, or ships which, however +good, were yet manned by untrained and unskillful crews. The best officers +and men in a poor ship could do nothing against fairly good opponents; and +on the other hand a modern war ship is useless unless the officers and men +aboard her have become adepts in their duties. The marksmanship in our Navy +has improved in an extraordinary degree during the last three years, and on +the whole the types of our battleships are improving; but much remains to +be done. Sooner or later we shall have to provide for some method by which +there will be promotions for merit as well as for seniority, or else +retirement all those who after a certain age have not advanced beyond a +certain grade; while no effort must be spared to make the service +attractive to the enlisted men in order that they may be kept as long as +possible in it. Reservation public schools should be provided wherever +there are navy-yards. + +Within the last three years the United States has set an example in +disarmament where disarmament was proper. By law our Army is fixed at a +maximum of one hundred thousand and a minimum of sixty thousand men. When +there was insurrection in the Philippines we kept the Army at the maximum. +Peace came in the Philippines, and now our Army has been reduced to the +minimum at which. it is possible to keep it with due regard to its +efficiency. The guns now mounted require twenty-eight thousand men, if the +coast fortifications are to be adequately manned. Relatively to the Nation, +it is not now so large as the police force of New York or Chicago +relatively to the population of either city. We need more officers; there +are not enough to perform the regular army work. It is very important that +the officers of the Army should be accustomed to handle their men in +masses, as it is also important that the National Guard of the several +States should be accustomed to actual field maneuvering, especially in +connection with the regulars. For this reason we are to be congratulated +upon the success of the field maneuvers at Manassas last fall, maneuvers in +which a larger number of Regulars and National Guard took part than was +ever before assembled together in time of peace. No other civilized nation +has, relatively to its population, such a diminutive Army as ours; and +while the Army is so small we are not to be excused if we fail to keep it +at a very high grade of proficiency. It must be incessantly practiced; the +standard for the enlisted men should be kept very high, while at the same +time the service should be made as attractive as possible; and the standard +for the officers should be kept even higher--which, as regards the upper +ranks, can best be done by introducing some system of selection and +rejection into the promotions. We should be able, in the event of some +sudden emergency, to put into the field one first-class army corps, which +should be, as a whole, at least the equal of any body of troops of like +number belonging to any other nation. + +Great progress has been made in protecting our coasts by adequate +fortifications with sufficient guns. We should, however, pay much more heed +than at present to the development of an extensive system of floating mines +for use in all our more important harbors. These mines have been proved to +be a most formidable safeguard against hostile fleets. + +I earnestly call the attention of the Congress to the need of amending the +existing law relating to the award of Congressional medals of honor in the +Navy so as to provide that they may be awarded to commissioned officers and +warrant officers as well as to enlisted men. These justly prized medals are +given in the Army alike to the officers and the enlisted men, and it is +most unjust that the commissioned officers and warrant officers of the Navy +should not in this respect have the same rights as their brethren in the +Army and as the enlisted men of the Navy. + +In the Philippine Islands there has been during the past year a +continuation of the steady progress which has obtained ever since our +troops definitely got the upper hand of the insurgents. The Philippine +people, or, to speak more accurately, the many tribes, and even races, +sundered from one another more or less sharply, who go to make up the +people of the Philippine Islands, contain many elements of good, and some +elements which we have a right to hope stand for progress. At present they +are utterly incapable of existing in independence at all or of building up +a civilization of their own. I firmly believe that we can help them to rise +higher and higher in the scale of civilization and of capacity for +self-government, and I most earnestly hope that in the end they will be +able to stand, if not entirely alone, yet in some such relation to the +United States as Cuba now stands. This end is not yet in sight, and it may +be indefinitely postponed if our people are foolish enough to turn the +attention of the Filipinos away from the problems of achieving moral and +material prosperity, of working for a stable, orderly, and just government, +and toward foolish and dangerous intrigues for a complete independence for +which they are as yet totally unfit. + +On the other hand our people must keep steadily before their minds the fact +that the justification for our stay in the Philippines must ultimately rest +chiefly upon the good we are able to do in the islands. I do not overlook +the fact that in the development of our interests in the Pacific Ocean and +along its coasts, the Philippines have played and will play an important +part; and that our interests have been served in more than one way by the +possession of the islands. But our chief reason for continuing to hold them +must be that we ought in good faith to try to do our share of the world's +work, and this particular piece of work has been imposed upon us by the +results of the war with Spain. The problem presented to us in the +Philippine Islands is akin to, but not exactly like, the problems presented +to the other great civilized powers which have possessions in the Orient. +There are points of resemblance in our work to the work which is being done +by the British in India and Egypt, by the French in Algiers, by the Dutch +in Java, by the Russians in Turkestan, by the Japanese in Formosa; but more +distinctly than any of these powers we are endeavoring to develop the +natives themselves so that they shall take an ever-increasing share in +their own government, and as far as is prudent we are already admitting +their representatives to a governmental equality with our own. There are +commissioners, judges, and governors in the islands who are Filipinos and +who have exactly the same share in the government of the islands as have +their colleagues who are Americans, while in the lower ranks, of course, +the great majority of the public servants are Filipinos. Within two years +we shall be trying the experiment of an elective lower house in the +Philippine legislature. It may be that the Filipinos will misuse this +legislature, and they certainly will misuse it if they are misled by +foolish persons here at home into starting an agitation for their own +independence or into any factious or improper action. In such case they +will do themselves no good and will stop for the time being all further +effort to advance them and give them a greater share in their own +government. But if they act with wisdom and self-restraint, if they show +that they are capable of electing a legislature which in its turn is +capable of taking a sane and efficient part in the actual work of +government, they can rest assured that a full and increasing measure of +recognition will be given them. Above all they should remember that their +prime needs are moral and industrial, not political. It is a good thing to +try the experiment of giving them a legislature; but it is a far better +thing to give them schools, good roads, railroads which will enable them to +get their products to market, honest courts, an honest and efficient +constabulary, and all that tends to produce order, peace, fair dealing as +between man and man, and habits of intelligent industry and thrift. If they +are safeguarded against oppression, and if their real wants, material and +spiritual, are studied intelligently and in a spirit of friendly sympathy, +much more good will be done them than by any effort to give them political +power, though this effort may in its own proper time and place be proper +enough. + +Meanwhile our own people should remember that there is need for the highest +standard of conduct among the Americans sent to the Philippine Islands, not +only among the public servants but among the private individuals who go to +them. It is because I feel this so deeply that in the administration of +these islands I have positively refused to permit any discrimination +whatsoever for political reasons and have insisted that in choosing the +public servants consideration should be paid solely to the worth of the men +chosen and to the needs of the islands. There is no higher body of men in +our public service than we have in the Philippine Islands under Governor +Wright and his associates. So far as possible these men should be given a +free hand, and their suggestions should receive the hearty backing both of +the Executive and of the Congress. There is need of a vigilant and +disinterested support of our public servants in the Philippines by good +citizens here in the United States. Unfortunately hitherto those of our +people here at home who have specially claimed to be the champions of the +Filipinos have in reality been their worst enemies. This will continue to +be the case as long as they strive to make the Filipinos independent, and +stop all industrial development of the islands by crying out against the +laws which would bring it on the ground that capitalists must not "exploit" +the islands. Such proceedings are not only unwise, but are most harmful to +the Filipinos, who do not need independence at all, but who do need good +laws, good public servants, and the industrial development that can only +come if the investment, of American and foreign capital in the islands is +favored in all legitimate ways. + +Every measure taken concerning the islands should be taken primarily with a +view to their advantage. We should certainly give them lower tariff rates +on their exports to the United States; if this is not done it will be a +wrong to extend our shipping laws to them. I earnestly hope for the +immediate enactment into law of the legislation now pending to encourage +American capital to seek investment in the islands in railroads, in +factories, in plantations, and in lumbering and mining. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 5, 1905 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +The people of this country continue to enjoy great prosperity. Undoubtedly +there will be ebb and flow in such prosperity, and this ebb and flow will +be felt more or less by all members of the community, both by the deserving +and the undeserving. Against the wrath of the Lord the wisdom of man cannot +avail; in time of flood or drought human ingenuity can but partially repair +the disaster. A general failure of crops would hurt all of us. Again, if +the folly of man mars the general well-being, then those who are innocent +of the folly will have to pay part of the penalty incurred by those who are +guilty of the folly. A panic brought on by the speculative folly of part of +the business community would hurt the whole business community. But such +stoppage of welfare, though it might be severe, would not be lasting. In +the long run the one vital factor in the permanent prosperity of the +country is the high individual character of the average American worker, +the average American citizen, no matter whether his work be mental or +manual, whether he be farmer or wage-worker, business man or professional +man. + +In our industrial and social system the interests of all men are so closely +intertwined that in the immense majority of cases a straight-dealing man +who by his efficiency, by his ingenuity and industry, benefits himself must +also benefit others. Normally the man of great productive capacity who +becomes rich by guiding the labor of many other men does so by enabling +them to produce more than they could produce without his guidance; and both +he and they share in the benefit, which comes also to the public at large. +The superficial fact that the sharing may be unequal must never blind us to +the underlying fact that there is this sharing, and that the benefit comes +in some degree to each man concerned. Normally the wage-worker, the man of +small means, and the average consumer, as well as the average producer, are +all alike helped by making conditions such that the man of exceptional +business ability receives an exceptional reward for his ability. Something +can be done by legislation to help the general prosperity; but no such help +of a permanently beneficial character can be given to the less able and +less fortunate, save as the results of a policy which shall inure to the +advantage of all industrious and efficient people who act decently; and +this is only another way of saying that any benefit which comes to the less +able and less fortunate must of necessity come even more to the more able +and more fortunate. If, therefore, the less fortunate man is moved by envy +of his more fortunate brother to strike at the conditions under which they +have both, though unequally, prospered, the result will assuredly be that +while danger may come to the one struck at, it will visit with an even +heavier load the one who strikes the blow. Taken as a whole we must all go +up or down together. + +Yet, while not merely admitting, but insisting upon this, it is also true +that where there is no governmental restraint or supervision some of the +exceptional men use their energies not in ways that are for the common +good, but in ways which tell against this common good. The fortunes amassed +through corporate organization are now so large, and vest such power in +those that wield them, as to make it a matter of necessity to give to the +sovereign--that is, to the Government, which represents the people as a +whole--some effective power of supervision over their corporate use. In +order to insure a healthy social and industrial life, every big corporation +should be held responsible by, and be accountable to, some sovereign strong +enough to control its conduct. I am in no sense hostile to corporations. +This is an age of combination, and any effort to prevent all combination +will be not only useless, but in the end vicious, because of the contempt +for law which the failure to enforce law inevitably produces. We should, +moreover, recognize in cordial and ample fashion the immense good effected +by corporate agencies in a country such as ours, and the wealth of +intellect, energy, and fidelity devoted to their service, and therefore +normally to the service of the public, by their officers and directors. The +corporation has come to stay, just as the trade union has come to stay. +Each can do and has done great good. Each should be favored so long as it +does good. But each should be sharply checked where it acts against law and +justice. + +So long as the finances of the Nation are kept upon an honest basis no +other question of internal economy with which the Congress has the power to +deal begins to approach in importance the matter of endeavoring to secure +proper industrial conditions under which the individuals--and especially +the great corporations--doing an interstate business are to act. The makers +of our National Constitution provided especially that the regulation of +interstate commerce should come within the sphere of the General +Government. The arguments in favor of their taking this stand were even +then overwhelming. But they are far stronger today, in view of the enormous +development of great business agencies, usually corporate in form. +Experience has shown conclusively that it is useless to try to get any +adequate regulation and supervision of these great corporations by State +action. Such regulation and supervision can only be effectively exercised +by a sovereign whose jurisdiction is coextensive with the field of work of +the corporations--that is, by the National Government. I believe that this +regulation and supervision can be obtained by the enactment of law by the +Congress. If this proves impossible, it will certainly be necessary +ultimately to confer in fullest form such power upon the National +Government by a proper amendment of the Constitution. It would obviously be +unwise to endeavor to secure such an amendment until it is certain that the +result cannot be obtained under the Constitution as it now is. The laws of +the Congress and of the several States hitherto, as passed upon by the +courts, have resulted more often in showing that the States have no power +in the matter than that the National Government has power; so that there at +present exists a very unfortunate condition of things, under which these +great corporations doing an interstate business occupy the position of +subjects without a sovereign, neither any State Government nor the National +Government having effective control over them. Our steady aim should be by +legislation, cautiously and carefully undertaken, but resolutely persevered +in, to assert the sovereignty of the National Government by affirmative +action. + +This is only in form an innovation. In substance it is merely a +restoration; for from the earliest time such regulation of industrial +activities has been recognized in the action of the lawmaking bodies; and +all that I propose is to meet the changed conditions in such manner as will +prevent the Commonwealth abdicating the power it has always possessed not +only in this country, but also in England before and since this country +became a separate Nation. + +It has been a misfortune that the National laws on this subject have +hitherto been of a negative or prohibitive rather than an affirmative kind, +and still more that they have in part sought to prohibit what could not be +effectively prohibited, and have in part in their prohibitions confounded +what should be allowed and what should not be allowed. It is generally +useless to try to prohibit all restraint on competition, whether this +restraint be reasonable or unreasonable; and where it is not useless it is +generally hurtful. Events have shown that it is not possible adequately to +secure the enforcement of any law of this kind by incessant appeal to the +courts. The Department of Justice has for the last four years devoted more +attention to the enforcement of the anti-trust legislation than to anything +else. Much has been accomplished, particularly marked has been the moral +effect of the prosecutions; but it is increasingly evident that there will +be a very insufficient beneficial result in the way of economic change. The +successful prosecution of one device to evade the law immediately develops +another device to accomplish the same purpose. What is needed is not +sweeping prohibition of every arrangement, good or bad, which may tend to +restrict competition, but such adequate supervision and regulation as will +prevent any restriction of competition from being to the detriment of the +public--as well as such supervision and regulation as will prevent other +abuses in no way connected with restriction of competition. Of these +abuses, perhaps the chief, although by no means the only one, is +overcapitalization--generally itself the result of dishonest +promotion--because of the myriad evils it brings in its train; for such +overcapitalization often means an inflation that invites business panic; it +always conceals the true relation of the profit earned to the capital +actually invested, and it creates a burden of interest payments which is a +fertile cause of improper reduction in or limitation of wages; it damages +the small investor, discourages thrift, and encourages gambling and +speculation; while perhaps worst of all is the trickiness and dishonesty +which it implies--for harm to morals is worse than any possible harm to +material interests, and the debauchery of politics and business by great +dishonest corporations is far worse than any actual material evil they do +the public. Until the National Government obtains, in some manner which the +wisdom of the Congress may suggest, proper control over the big +corporations engaged in interstate commerce--that is, over the great +majority of the big corporations--it will be impossible to deal adequately +with these evils. + +I am well aware of the difficulties of the legislation that I am +suggesting, and of the need of temperate and cautious action in securing +it. I should emphatically protest against improperly radical or hasty +action. The first thing to do is to deal with the great corporations +engaged in the business of interstate transportation. As I said in my +message of December 6 last, the immediate and most pressing need, so far as +legislation is concerned, is the enactment into law of some scheme to +secure to the agents of the Government such supervision and regulation of +the rates charged by the railroads of the country engaged in interstate +traffic as shall summarily and effectively prevent the imposition of unjust +or unreasonable rates. It must include putting a complete stop to rebates +in every shape and form. This power to regulate rates, like all similar +powers over the business world, should be exercised with moderation, +caution, and self-restraint; but it should exist, so that it can be +effectively exercised when the need arises. + +The first consideration to be kept in mind is that the power should be +affirmative and should be given to some administrative body created by the +Congress. If given to the present Interstate Commerce Commission, or to a +reorganized Interstate Commerce Commission, such commission should be made +unequivocally administrative. I do not believe in the Government +interfering with private business more than is necessary. I do not believe +in the Government undertaking any work which can with propriety be left in +private hands. But neither do I believe in the Government flinching from +overseeing any work when it becomes evident that abuses are sure to obtain +therein unless there is governmental supervision. It is not my province to +indicate the exact terms of the law which should be enacted; but I call the +attention of the Congress to certain existing conditions with which it is +desirable to deal, In my judgment the most important provision which such +law should contain is that conferring upon some competent administrative +body the power to decide, upon the case being brought before it, whether a +given rate prescribed by a railroad is reasonable and just, and if it is +found to be unreasonable and unjust, then, after full investigation of the +complaint, to prescribe the limit of rate beyond which it shall not be +lawful to go--the maximum reasonable rate, as it is commonly called--this +decision to go into effect within a reasonable time and to obtain from +thence onward, subject to review by the courts. It sometimes happens at +present not that a rate is too high but that a favored shipper is given too +low a rate. In such case the commission would have the right to fix this +already established minimum rate as the maximum; and it would need only one +or two such decisions by the commission to cure railroad companies of the +practice of giving improper minimum rates. I call your attention to the +fact that my proposal is not to give the commission power to initiate or +originate rates generally, but to regulate a rate already fixed or +originated by the roads, upon complaint and after investigation. A heavy +penalty should be exacted from any corporation which fails to respect an +order of the commission. I regard this power to establish a maximum rate as +being essential to any scheme of real reform in the matter of railway +regulation. The first necessity is to secure it; and unless it is granted +to the commission there is little use in touching the subject at all. + +Illegal transactions often occur under the forms of law. It has often +occurred that a shipper has been told by a traffic officer to buy a large +quantity of some commodity and then after it has been bought an open +reduction is made in the rate to take effect immediately, the arrangement +resulting to the profit of one shipper and the one railroad and to the +damage of all their competitors; for it must not be forgotten that the big +shippers are at least as much to blame as any railroad in the matter of +rebates. The law should make it clear so that nobody can fail to understand +that any kind of commission paid on freight shipments, whether in this form +or in the form of fictitious damages, or of a concession, a free pass, +reduced passenger rate, or payment of brokerage, is illegal. It is worth +while considering whether it would not be wise to confer on the Government +the right of civil action against the beneficiary of a rebate for at least +twice the value of the rebate; this would help stop what is really +blackmail. Elevator allowances should be stopped, for they have now grown +to such an extent that they are demoralizing and are used as rebates. + +The best possible regulation of rates would, of course, be that regulation +secured by an honest agreement among the railroads themselves to carry out +the law. Such a general agreement would, for instance, at once put a stop +to the efforts of any one big shipper or big railroad to discriminate +against or secure advantages over some rival; and such agreement would make +the railroads themselves agents for enforcing the law. The power vested in +the Government to put a stop to agreements to the detriment of the public +should, in my judgment, be accompanied by power to permit, under specified +conditions and careful supervision, agreements clearly in the interest of +the public. But, in my judgment, the necessity for giving this further +power is by no means as great as the necessity for giving the commission or +administrative body the other powers I have enumerated above; and it may +well be inadvisable to attempt to vest this particular power in the +commission or other administrative body until it already possesses and is +exercising what I regard as by far the most important of all the powers I +recommend--as indeed the vitally important power--that to fix a given +maximum rate, which rate, after the lapse of a reasonable time, goes into +full effect, subject to review by the courts. + +All private-car lines, industrial roads, refrigerator charges, and the like +should be expressly put under the supervision of the Interstate Commerce +Commission or some similar body so far as rates, and agreements practically +affecting rates, are concerned. The private car owners and the owners of +industrial railroads are entitled to a fair and reasonable compensation on +their investment, but neither private cars nor industrial railroads nor +spur tracks should be utilized as devices for securing preferential rates. +A rebate in icing charges, or in mileage, or in a division of the rate for +refrigerating charges is just as pernicious as a rebate in any other way. +No lower rate should apply on goods imported than actually obtains on +domestic goods from the American seaboard to destination except in cases +where water competition is the controlling influence. There should be +publicity of the accounts of common carriers; no common carrier engaged in +interstate business should keep any books or memoranda other than those +reported pursuant to law or regulation, and these books or memoranda should +be open to the inspection of the Government. Only in this way can +violations or evasions of the law be surely detected. A system of +examination of railroad accounts should be provided similar to that now +conducted into the National banks by the bank examiners; a few first-class +railroad accountants, if they had proper direction and proper authority to +inspect books and papers, could accomplish much in preventing willful +violations of the law. It would not be necessary for them to examine into +the accounts of any railroad unless for good reasons they were directed to +do so by the Interstate Commerce Commission. It is greatly to be desired +that some way might be found by which an agreement as to transportation +within a State intended to operate as a fraud upon the Federal interstate +commerce laws could be brought under the jurisdiction of the Federal +authorities. At present it occurs that large shipments of interstate +traffic are controlled by concessions on purely State business, which of +course amounts to an evasion of the law. The commission should have power +to enforce fair treatment by the great trunk lines of lateral and branch +lines. + +I urge upon the Congress the need of providing for expeditious action by +the Interstate Commerce Commission in all these matters, whether in +regulating rates for transportation or for storing or for handling property +or commodities in transit. The history of the cases litigated under the +present commerce act shows that its efficacy has been to a great degree +destroyed by the weapon of delay, almost the most formidable weapon in the +hands of those whose purpose it is to violate the law. + +Let me most earnestly say that these recommendations are not made in any +spirit of hostility to the railroads. On ethical grounds, on grounds of +right, such hostility would be intolerable; and on grounds of mere National +self-interest we must remember that such hostility would tell against the +welfare not merely of some few rich men, but of a multitude of small +investors, a multitude of railway employes, wage workers, and most severely +against the interest of the public as a whole. I believe that on the whole +our railroads have done well and not ill; but the railroad men who wish to +do well should not be exposed to competition with those who have no such +desire, and the only way to secure this end is to give to some Government +tribunal the power to see that justice is done by the unwilling exactly as +it is gladly done by the willing. Moreover, if some Government body is +given increased power the effect will be to furnish authoritative answer on +behalf of the railroad whenever irrational clamor against it is raised, or +whenever charges made against it are disproved. I ask this legislation not +only in the interest of the public but in the interest of the honest +railroad man and the honest shipper alike, for it is they who are chiefly +jeoparded by the practices of their dishonest competitors. This legislation +should be enacted in a spirit as remote as possible from hysteria and +rancor. If we of the American body politic are true to the traditions we +have inherited we shall always scorn any effort to make us hate any man +because he is rich, just as much as we should scorn any effort to make us +look down upon or treat contemptuously any man because he is poor. We judge +a man by his conduct--that is, by his character--and not by his wealth or +intellect. If he makes his fortune honestly, there is no just cause of +quarrel with him. Indeed, we have nothing but the kindliest feelings of +admiration for the successful business man who behaves decently, whether he +has made his success by building or managing a railroad or by shipping +goods over that railroad. The big railroad men and big shippers are simply +Americans of the ordinary type who have developed to an extraordinary +degree certain great business qualities. They are neither better nor worse +than their fellow-citizens of smaller means. They are merely more able in +certain lines and therefore exposed to certain peculiarly strong +temptations. These temptations have not sprung newly into being; the +exceptionally successful among mankind have always been exposed to them; +but they have grown amazingly in power as a result of the extraordinary +development of industrialism along new lines, and under these new +conditions, which the law-makers of old could not foresee and therefore +could not provide against, they have become so serious and menacing as to +demand entirely new remedies. It is in the interest of the best type of +railroad man and the best type of shipper no less than of the public that +there should be Governmental supervision and regulation of these great +business operations, for the same reason that it is in the interest of the +corporation which wishes to treat its employes aright that there should be +an effective Employers' Liability act, or an effective system of factory +laws to prevent the abuse of women and children. All such legislation frees +the corporation that wishes to do well from being driven into doing ill, in +order to compete with its rival, which prefers to do ill. We desire to set +up a moral standard. There can be no delusion more fatal to the Nation than +the delusion that the standard of profits, of business prosperity, is +sufficient in judging any business or political question--from rate +legislation to municipal government. Business success, whether for the +individual or for the Nation, is a good thing only so far as it is +accompanied by and develops a high standard of conduct--honor, integrity, +civic courage. The kind of business prosperity that blunts the standard of +honor, that puts an inordinate value on mere wealth, that makes a man +ruthless and conscienceless in trade, and weak and cowardly in citizenship, +is not a good thing at all, but a very bad thing for the Nation. This +Government stands for manhood first and for business only as an adjunct of +manhood. + +The question of transportation lies at the root of all industrial success, +and the revolution in transportation which has taken place during the last +half century has been the most important factor in the growth of the new +industrial conditions. Most emphatically we do not wish to see the man of +great talents refused the reward for his talents. Still less do we wish to +see him penalized but we do desire to see the system of railroad +transportation so handled that the strong man shall be given no advantage +over the weak man. We wish to insure as fair treatment for the small town +as for the big city; for the small shipper as for the big shipper. In the +old days the highway of commerce, whether by water or by a road on land, +was open to all; it belonged to the public and the traffic along it was +free. At present the railway is this highway, and we must do our best to +see that it is kept open to all on equal terms. Unlike the old highway it +is a very difficult and complex thing to manage, and it is far better that +it should be managed by private individuals than by the Government. But it +can only be so managed on condition that justice is done the public. It is +because, in my judgment, public ownership of railroads is highly +undesirable and would probably in this country entail far-reaching +disaster, but I wish to see such supervision and regulation of them in the +interest of the public as will make it evident that there is no need for +public ownership. The opponents of Government regulation dwell upon the +difficulties to be encountered and the intricate and involved nature of the +problem. Their contention is true. It is a complicated and delicate +problem, and all kinds of difficulties are sure to arise in connection with +any plan of solution, while no plan will bring all the benefits hoped for +by its more optimistic adherents. Moreover, under any healthy plan, the +benefits will develop gradually and not rapidly. Finally, we must clearly +understand that the public servants who are to do this peculiarly +responsible and delicate work must themselves be of the highest type both +as regards integrity and efficiency. They must be well paid, for otherwise +able men cannot in the long run be secured; and they must possess a lofty +probity which will revolt as quickly at the thought of pandering to any +gust of popular prejudice against rich men as at the thought of anything +even remotely resembling subserviency to rich men. But while I fully admit +the difficulties in the way, I do not for a moment admit that these +difficulties warrant us in stopping in our effort to secure a wise and just +system. They should have no other effect than to spur us on to the exercise +of the resolution, the even-handed justice, and the fertility of resource, +which we like to think of as typically American, and which will in the end +achieve good results in this as in other fields of activity. The task is a +great one and underlies the task of dealing with the whole industrial +problem. But the fact that it is a great problem does not warrant us in +shrinking from the attempt to solve it. At present we face such utter lack +of supervision, such freedom from the restraints of law, that excellent men +have often been literally forced into doing what they deplored because +otherwise they were left at the mercy of unscrupulous competitors. To rail +at and assail the men who have done as they best could under such +conditions accomplishes little. What we need to do is to develop an orderly +system, and such a system can only come through the gradually increased +exercise of the right of efficient Government control. + +In my annual message to the Fifty-eighth Congress, at its third session, I +called attention to the necessity for legislation requiring the use of +block signals upon railroads engaged in interstate commerce. The number of +serious collisions upon unblocked roads that have occurred within the past +year adds force to the recommendation then made. The Congress should +provide, by appropriate legislation, for the introduction of block signals +upon all railroads engaged in interstate commerce at the earliest +practicable date, as a measure of increased safety to the traveling +public. + +Through decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States and the lower +Federal courts in cases brought before them for adjudication the safety +appliance law has been materially strengthened, and the Government has been +enabled to secure its effective enforcement in almost all cases, with the +result that the condition of railroad equipment throughout the country is +much improved and railroad employes perform their duties under safer +conditions than heretofore. The Government's most effective aid in arriving +at this result has been its inspection service, and that these improved +conditions are not more general is due to the insufficient number of +inspectors employed. The inspection service has fully demonstrated its +usefulness, and in appropriating for its maintenance the Congress should +make provision for an increase in the number of inspectors. + +The excessive hours of labor to which railroad employes in train service +are in many cases subjected is also a matter which may well engage the +serious attention of the Congress. The strain, both mental and physical, +upon those who are engaged in the movement and operation of railroad trains +under modern conditions is perhaps greater than that which exists in any +other industry, and if there are any reasons for limiting by law the hours +of labor in any employment, they certainly apply with peculiar force to the +employment of those upon whose vigilance and alertness in the performance +of their duties the safety of all who travel by rail depends. + +In my annual message to the Fifty-seventh Congress, at its second session, +I recommended the passage of an employers' liability law for the District +of Columbia and in our navy yards. I renewed that recommendation in my +message to the Fifty-eighth Congress, at its second session, and further +suggested the appointment of a commission to make a comprehensive study of +employers' liability, with a view to the enactment of a wise and +Constitutional law covering the subject, applicable to all industries +within the scope of the Federal power. I hope that such a law will be +prepared and enacted as speedily as possible. + +The National Government has, as a rule, but little occasion to deal with +the formidable group of problems connected more or less directly with what +is known as the labor question, for in the great majority of cases these +problems must be dealt with by the State and municipal authorities, and not +by the National Government. The National Government has control of the +District of Columbia, however, and it should see to it that the City of +Washington is made a model city in all respects, both as regards parks, +public playgrounds, proper regulation of the system of housing, so as to do +away with the evils of alley tenements, a proper system of education, a +proper system of dealing with truancy and juvenile offenders, a proper +handling of the charitable work of the District. Moreover, there should be +proper factory laws to prevent all abuses in the employment of women and +children in the District. These will be useful chiefly as object lessons, +but even this limited amount of usefulness would be of real National +value. + +There has been demand for depriving courts of the power to issue +injunctions in labor disputes. Such special limitation of the equity powers +of our courts would be most unwise. It is true that some judges have +misused this power; but this does not justify a denial of the power any +more than an improper exercise of the power to call a strike by a labor +leader would justify the denial of the right to strike. The remedy is to +regulate the procedure by requiring the judge to give due notice to the +adverse parties before granting the writ, the hearing to be ex parte if the +adverse party does not appear at the time and place ordered. What is due +notice must depend upon the facts of the case; it should not be used as a +pretext to permit violation of law or the jeopardizing of life or property. +Of course, this would not authorize the issuing of a restraining order or +injunction in any case in which it is not already authorized by existing +law. + +I renew the recommendation I made in my last annual message for an +investigation by the Department of Commerce and Labor of general labor +conditions, especial attention to be paid to the conditions of child labor +and child-labor legislation in the several States. Such an investigation +should take into account the various problems with which the question of +child labor is connected. It is true that these problems can be actually +met in most cases only by the States themselves, but it would be well for +the Nation to endeavor to secure and publish comprehensive information as +to the conditions of the labor of children in the different States, so as +to spur up those that are behindhand and to secure approximately uniform +legislation of a high character among the several States. In such a +Republic as ours the one thing that we cannot afford to neglect is the +problem of turning out decent citizens. The future of the Nation depends +upon the citizenship of the generations to come; the children of today are +those who tomorrow will shape the destiny of our land, and we cannot afford +to neglect them. The Legislature of Colorado has recommended that the +National Government provide some general measure for the protection from +abuse of children and dumb animals throughout the United States. I lay the +matter before you for what I trust will be your favorable consideration. + +The Department of Commerce and Labor should also make a thorough +investigation of the conditions of women in industry. Over five million +American women are now engaged in gainful occupations; yet there is an +almost complete dearth of data upon which to base any trustworthy +conclusions as regards a subject as important as it is vast and +complicated. There is need of full knowledge on which to base action +looking toward State and municipal legislation for the protection of +working women. The introduction of women into industry is working change +and disturbance in the domestic and social life of the Nation. The decrease +in marriage, and especially in the birth rate, has been coincident with it. +We must face accomplished facts, and the adjustment of factory conditions +must be made, but surely it can be made with less friction and less harmful +effects on family life than is now the case. This whole matter in reality +forms one of the greatest sociological phenomena of our time; it is a +social question of the first importance, of far greater importance than any +merely political or economic question can be, and to solve it we need ample +data, gathered in a sane and scientific spirit in the course of an +exhaustive investigation. + +In any great labor disturbance not only are employer and employe +interested, but a third party--the general public. Every considerable labor +difficulty in which interstate commerce is involved should be investigated +by the Government and the facts officially reported to the public. + +The question of securing a healthy, self-respecting, and mutually +sympathetic attitude as between employer and employe, capitalist and +wage-worker, is a difficult one. All phases of the labor problem prove +difficult when approached. But the underlying principles, the root +principles, in accordance with which the problem must be solved are +entirely simple. We can get justice and right dealing only if we put as of +paramount importance the principle of treating a man on his worth as a man +rather than with reference to his social position, his occupation or the +class to which he belongs. There are selfish and brutal men in all ranks of +life. If they are capitalists their selfishness and brutality may take the +form of hard indifference to suffering, greedy disregard of every moral +restraint which interferes with the accumulation of wealth, and +cold-blooded exploitation of the weak; or, if they are laborers, the form +of laziness, of sullen envy of the more fortunate, and of willingness to +perform deeds of murderous violence. Such conduct is just as reprehensible +in one case as in the other, and all honest and farseeing men should join +in warring against it wherever it becomes manifest. Individual capitalist +and individual wage-worker, corporation and union, are alike entitled to +the protection of the law, and must alike obey the law. Moreover, in +addition to mere obedience to the law, each man, if he be really a good +citizen, must show broad sympathy for his neighbor and genuine desire to +look at any question arising between them from the standpoint of that +neighbor no less than from his own, and to this end it is essential that +capitalist and wage-worker should consult freely one with the other, should +each strive to bring closer the day when both shall realize that they are +properly partners and not enemies. To approach the questions which +inevitably arise between them solely from the standpoint which treats each +side in the mass as the enemy of the other side in the mass is both wicked +and foolish. In the past the most direful among the influences which have +brought about the downfall of republics has ever been the growth of the +class spirit, the growth of the spirit which tends to make a man +subordinate the welfare of the public as a whole to the welfare of the +particular class to which he belongs, the substitution of loyalty to a +class for loyalty to the Nation. This inevitably brings about a tendency to +treat each man not on his merits as an individual, but on his position as +belonging to a certain class in the community. If such a spirit grows up in +this Republic it will ultimately prove fatal to us, as in the past it has +proved fatal to every community in which it has become dominant. Unless we +continue to keep a quick and lively sense of the great fundamental truth +that our concern is with the individual worth of the individual man, this +Government cannot permanently hold the place which it has achieved among +the nations. The vital lines of cleavage among our people do not +correspond, and indeed run at right angles to, the lines of cleavage which +divide occupation from occupation, which divide wage-workers from +capitalists, farmers from bankers, men of small means from men of large +means, men who live in the towns from men who live in the country; for the +vital line of cleavage is the line which divides the honest man who tries +to do well by his neighbor from the dishonest man who does ill by his +neighbor. In other words, the standard we should establish is the standard +of conduct, not the standard of occupation, of means, or of social +position. It is the man's moral quality, his attitude toward the great +questions which concern all humanity, his cleanliness of life, his power to +do his duty toward himself and toward others, which really count; and if we +substitute for the standard of personal judgment which treats each man +according to his merits, another standard in accordance with which all men +of one class are favored and all men of another class discriminated +against, we shall do irreparable damage to the body politic. I believe that +our people are too sane, too self-respecting, too fit for self-government, +ever to adopt such an attitude. This Government is not and never shall be +government by a plutocracy. This Government is not and never shall be +government by a mob. It shall continue to be in the future what it has been +in the past, a Government based on the theory that each man, rich or poor, +is to be treated simply and solely on his worth as a man, that all his +personal and property rights are to be safeguarded, and that he is neither +to wrong others nor to suffer wrong from others. + +The noblest of all forms of government is self-government; but it is also +the most difficult. We who possess this priceless boon, and who desire to +hand it on to our children and our children's children, should ever bear in +mind the thought so finely expressed by Burke: "Men are qualified for civil +liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon +their own appetites; in proportion as they are disposed to listen to the +counsels of the wise and good in preference to the flattery of knaves. +Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be +placed somewhere, and the less of it there be within the more there must be +without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of +intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." + +The great insurance companies afford striking examples of corporations +whose business has extended so far beyond the jurisdiction of the States +which created them as to preclude strict enforcement of supervision and +regulation by the parent States. In my last annual message I recommended +"that the Congress carefully consider whether the power of the Bureau of +Corporations cannot constitutionally be extended to cover interstate +transactions in insurance." + +Recent events have emphasized the importance of an early and exhaustive +consideration of this question, to see whether it is not possible to +furnish better safeguards than the several States have been able to furnish +against corruption of the flagrant kind which has been exposed. It has been +only too clearly shown that certain of the men at the head of these large +corporations take but small note of the ethical distinction between honesty +and dishonesty; they draw the line only this side of what may be called +law-honesty, the kind of honesty necessary in order to avoid falling into +the clutches of the law. Of course the only complete remedy for this +condition must be found in an aroused public conscience, a higher sense of +ethical conduct in the community at large, and especially among business +men and in the great profession of the law, and in the growth of a spirit +which condemns all dishonesty, whether in rich man or in poor man, whether +it takes the shape of bribery or of blackmail. But much can be done by +legislation which is not only drastic but practical. There is need of a far +stricter and more uniform regulation of the vast insurance interests of +this country. The United States should in this respect follow the policy of +other nations by providing adequate national supervision of commercial +interests which are clearly national in character. My predecessors have +repeatedly recognized that the foreign business of these companies is an +important part of our foreign commercial relations. During the +administrations of Presidents Cleveland, Harrison, and McKinley the State +Department exercised its influence, through diplomatic channels, to prevent +unjust discrimination by foreign countries against American insurance +companies. These negotiations illustrated the propriety of the Congress +recognizing the National character of insurance, for in the absence of +Federal legislation the State Department could only give expression to the +wishes of the authorities of the several States, whose policy was +ineffective through want of uniformity. + +I repeat my previous recommendation that the Congress should also consider +whether the Federal Government has any power or owes any duty with respect +to domestic transactions in insurance of an interstate character. That +State supervision has proved inadequate is generally conceded. The burden +upon insurance companies, and therefore their policy holders, of +conflicting regulations of many States, is unquestioned, while but little +effective check is imposed upon any able and unscrupulous man who desires +to exploit the company in his own interest at the expense of the policy +holders and of the public. The inability of a State to regulate effectively +insurance corporations created under the laws of other States and +transacting the larger part of their business elsewhere is also clear. As a +remedy for this evil of conflicting, ineffective, and yet burdensome +regulations there has been for many years a widespread demand for Federal +supervision. The Congress has already recognized that interstate insurance +may be a proper subject for Federal legislation, for in creating the Bureau +of Corporations it authorized it to publish and supply useful information +concerning interstate corporations, "including corporations engaged in +insurance." It is obvious that if the compilation of statistics be the +limit of the Federal power it is wholly ineffective to regulate this form +of commercial intercourse between the States, and as the insurance business +has outgrown in magnitude the possibility of adequate State supervision, +the Congress should carefully consider whether further legislation can be +bad. What is said above applies with equal force to fraternal and +benevolent organizations which contract for life insurance. + +There is more need of stability than of the attempt to attain an ideal +perfection in the methods of raising revenue; and the shock and strain to +the business world certain to attend any serious change in these methods +render such change inadvisable unless for grave reason. It is not possible +to lay down any general rule by which to determine the moment when the +reasons for will outweigh the reasons against such a change. Much must +depend, not merely on the needs, but on the desires, of the people as a +whole; for needs and desires are not necessarily identical. Of course, no +change can be made on lines beneficial to, or desired by, one section or +one State only. There must be something like a general agreement among the +citizens of the several States, as represented in the Congress, that the +change is needed and desired in the interest of the people, as a whole; and +there should then be a sincere, intelligent, and disinterested effort to +make it in such shape as will combine, so far as possible, the maximum of +good to the people at large with the minimum of necessary disregard for the +special interests of localities or classes. But in time of peace the +revenue must on the average, taking a series of years together, equal the +expenditures or else the revenues must be increased. Last year there was a +deficit. Unless our expenditures can be kept within the revenues then our +revenue laws must be readjusted. It is as yet too early to attempt to +outline what shape such a readjustment should take, for it is as yet too +early to say whether there will be need for it. It should be considered +whether it is not desirable that the tariff laws should provide for +applying as against or in favor of any other nation maximum and minimum +tariff rates established by the Congress, so as to secure a certain +reciprocity of treatment between other nations and ourselves. Having in +view even larger considerations of policy than those of a purely economic +nature, it would, in my judgment, be well to endeavor to bring about closer +commercial connections with the other peoples of this continent. I am happy +to be able to announce to you that Russia now treats us on the +most-favored-nation basis. + +I earnestly recommend to 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 the United +States Land Office. 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." + +Every consideration of prudence demands the addition of the element of +elasticity to our currency system. The evil does not consist in an +inadequate volume of money, but in the rigidity of this volume, which does +not respond as it should to the varying needs of communities and of +seasons. Inflation must be avoided; but some provision should be made that +will insure a larger volume of money during the Fall and Winter months than +in the less active seasons of the year; so that the currency will contract +against speculation, and will expand for the needs of legitimate business. +At present the Treasury Department is at irregularly recurring intervals +obliged, in the interest of the business world--that is, in the interests +of the American public--to try to avert financial crises by providing a +remedy which should be provided by Congressional action. + +At various times I have instituted investigations into the organization and +conduct of the business of the executive departments. While none of these +inquiries have yet progressed far enough to warrant final conclusions, they +have already confirmed and emphasized the general impression that the +organization of the departments is often faulty in principle and wasteful +in results, while many of their business methods are antiquated and +inefficient. There is every reason why our executive governmental machinery +should be at least as well planned, economical, and efficient as the best +machinery of the great business organizations, which at present is not the +case. To make it so is a task of complex detail and essentially executive +in its nature; probably no legislative body, no matter how wise and able, +could undertake it with reasonable prospect of success. I recommend that +the Congress consider this subject with a view to provide by legislation +for the transfer, distribution, consolidation, and assignment of duties and +executive organizations or parts of organizations, and for the changes in +business methods, within or between the several departments, that will best +promote the economy, efficiency, and high character of the Government +work. + +In my last annual message I said: + +"The power of the Government to protect the integrity of the elections of +its own officials is inherent and has been recognized and affirmed by +repeated declarations of the Supreme Court. There is no enemy of free +government more dangerous and none so insidious as the corruption of the +electorate. No one defends or excuses corruption, and it would seem to +follow that none would oppose vigorous measures to eradicate it. I +recommend the enactment of a law directed against bribery and corruption in +Federal elections. The details of such a law may be safely left to the wise +discretion of the Congress, but it should go as far as under the +Constitution it is possible to go, and should include severe penalties +against him who gives or receives a bribe intended to influence his act or +opinion as an elector; and provisions for the publication not only of the +expenditures for nominations and elections of all candidates, but also of +all contributions received and expenditures made by political committees." + +I desire to repeat this recommendation. In political campaigns in a country +as large and populous as ours it is inevitable that there should be much +expense of an entirely legitimate kind. This, of course, means that many +contributions, and some of them of large size, must be made, and, as a +matter of fact, in any big political contest such contributions are always +made to both sides. It is entirely proper both to give and receive them, +unless there is an improper motive connected with either gift or reception. +If they are extorted by any kind of pressure or promise, express or +implied, direct or indirect, in the way of favor or immunity, then the +giving or receiving becomes not only improper but criminal. It will +undoubtedly be difficult, as a matter of practical detail, to shape an act +which shall guard with reasonable certainty against such misconduct; but if +it is possible to secure by law the full and verified publication in detail +of all the sums contributed to and expended by the candidates or committees +of any political parties, the result cannot but be wholesome. All +contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any +political purpose should be forbidden by law; directors should not be +permitted to use stockholders' money for such purposes; and, moreover, a +prohibition of this kind would be, as far as it went, an effective method +of stopping the evils aimed at in corrupt practices acts. Not only should +both the National and the several State Legislatures forbid any officer of +a corporation from using the money of the corporation in or about any +election, but they should also forbid such use of money in connection with +any legislation save by the employment of counsel in public manner for +distinctly legal services. + +The first conference of nations held at The Hague in 1899, being unable to +dispose of all the business before it, recommended the consideration and +settlement of a number of important questions by another conference to be +called subsequently and at an early date. These questions were the +following: (1) The rights and duties of neutrals; (2) the limitation of the +armed forces on land and sea, and of military budgets; (3) the use of new +types and calibres of military and naval guns; (4) the inviolability of +private property at sea in times of war; (5) the bombardment of ports, +cities, and villages by naval forces. In October, 1904, at the instance of +the Interparliamentary Union, which, at a conference held in the United +States, and attended by the lawmakers of fifteen different nations, had +reiterated the demand for a second conference of nations, I issued +invitations to all the powers signatory to The Hague Convention to send +delegates to such a conference, and suggested that it be again held at The +Hague. In its note of December 16, 1904, the United States Government +communicated to the representatives of foreign governments its belief that +the conference could be best arranged under the provisions of the present +Hague treaty. + +From all the powers acceptance was received, coupled in some cases with the +condition that we should wait until the end of the war then waging between +Russia and Japan. The Emperor of Russia, immediately after the treaty of +peace which so happily terminated this war, in a note presented to the +President on September 13, through Ambassador Rosen, took the initiative in +recommending that the conference be now called. The United States +Government in response expressed its cordial acquiescence, and stated that +it would, as a matter of course, take part in the new conference and +endeavor to further its aims. We assume that all civilized governments will +support the movement, and that the conference is now an assured fact. This +Government will do everything in its power to secure the success of the +conference, to the end that substantial progress may be made in the cause +of international peace, justice, and good will. + +This renders it proper at this time to say something as to the general +attitude of this Government toward peace. More and more war is coming to be +looked upon as in itself a lamentable and evil thing. A wanton or useless +war, or a war of mere aggression--in short, any war begun or carried on in +a conscienceless spirit, is to be condemned as a peculiarly atrocious crime +against all humanity. We can, however, do nothing of permanent value for +peace unless we keep ever clearly in mind the ethical element which lies at +the root of the problem. Our aim is righteousness. Peace is normally the +hand-maiden of rightousness; but when peace and righteousness conflict then +a great and upright people can never for a moment hesitate to follow the +path which leads toward righteousness, even though that path also leads to +war. There are persons who advocate peace at any price; there are others +who, following a false analogy, think that because it is no longer +necessary in civilized countries for individuals to protect their rights +with a strong hand, it is therefore unnecessary for nations to be ready to +defend their rights. These persons would do irreparable harm to any nation +that adopted their principles, and even as it is they seriously hamper the +cause which they advocate by tending to render it absurd in the eyes of +sensible and patriotic men. There can be no worse foe of mankind in +general, and of his own country in particular, than the demagogue of war, +the man who in mere folly or to serve his own selfish ends continually +rails at and abuses other nations, who seeks to excite his countrymen +against foreigners on insufficient pretexts, who excites and inflames a +perverse and aggressive national vanity, and who may on occasions wantonly +bring on conflict between his nation and some other nation. But there are +demagogues of peace just as there are demagogues of war, and in any such +movement as this for The Hague conference it is essential not to be misled +by one set of extremists any more than by the other. Whenever it is +possible for a nation or an individual to work for real peace, assuredly it +is failure of duty not so to strive, but if war is necessary and righteous +then either the man or the nation shrinking from it forfeits all title to +self-respect. We have scant sympathy with the sentimentalist who dreads +oppression less than physical suffering, who would prefer a shameful peace +to the pain and toil sometimes lamentably necessary in order to secure a +righteous peace. As yet there is only a partial and imperfect analogy +between international law and internal or municipal law, because there is +no sanction of force for executing the former while there is in the case of +the latter. The private citizen is protected in his rights by the law, +because the law rests in the last resort upon force exercised through the +forms of law. A man does not have to defend his rights with his own hand, +because he can call upon the police, upon the sheriff's posse, upon the +militia, or in certain extreme cases upon the army, to defend him. But +there is no such sanction of force for international law. At present there +could be no greater calamity than for the free peoples, the enlightened, +independent, and peace-loving peoples, to disarm while yet leaving it open +to any barbarism or despotism to remain armed. So long as the world is as +unorganized as now the armies and navies of those peoples who on the whole +stand for justice, offer not only the best, but the only possible, security +for a just peace. For instance, if the United States alone, or in company +only with the other nations that on the whole tend to act justly, disarmed, +we might sometimes avoid bloodshed, but we would cease to be of weight in +securing the peace of justice--the real peace for which the most +law-abiding and high-minded men must at times be willing to fight. As the +world is now, only that nation is equipped for peace that knows how to +fight, and that will not shrink from fighting if ever the conditions become +such that war is demanded in the name of the highest morality. + +So much it is emphatically necessary to say in order both that the position +of the United States may not be misunderstood, and that a genuine effort to +bring nearer the day of the peace of justice among the nations may not be +hampered by a folly which, in striving to achieve the impossible, would +render it hopeless to attempt the achievement of the practical. But, while +recognizing most clearly all above set forth, it remains our clear duty to +strive in every practicable way to bring nearer the time when the sword +shall not be the arbiter among nations. At present the practical thing to +do is to try to minimize the number of cases in which it must be the +arbiter, and to offer, at least to all civilized powers, some substitute +for war which will be available in at least a considerable number of +instances. Very much can be done through another Hague conference in this +direction, and I most earnestly urge that this Nation do all in its power +to try to further the movement and to make the result of the decisions of +The Hague conference effective. I earnestly hope that the conference may be +able to devise some way to make arbitration between nations the customary +way of settling international disputes in all save a few classes of cases, +which should themselves be as sharply defined and rigidly limited as the +present governmental and social development of the world will permit. If +possible, there should be a general arbitration treaty negotiated among all +the nations represented at the conference. Neutral rights and property +should be protected at sea as they are protected on land. There should be +an international agreement to this purpose and a similar agreement defining +contraband of war. + +During the last century there has been a distinct diminution in the number +of wars between the most civilized nations. International relations have +become closer and the development of The Hague tribunal is not only a +symptom of this growing closeness of relationship, but is a means by which +the growth can be furthered. Our aim should be from time to time to take +such steps as may be possible toward creating something like an +organization of the civilized nations, because as the world becomes more +highly organized the need for navies and armies will diminish. It is not +possible to secure anything like an immediate disarmament, because it would +first be necessary to settle what peoples are on the whole a menace to the +rest of mankind, and to provide against the disarmament of the rest being +turned into a movement which would really chiefly benefit these obnoxious +peoples; but it may be possible to exercise some check upon the tendency to +swell indefinitely the budgets for military expenditure. Of course such an +effort could succeed only if it did not attempt to do too much; and if it +were undertaken in a spirit of sanity as far removed as possible from a +merely hysterical pseudo-philanthropy. It is worth while pointing out that +since the end of the insurrection in the Philippines this Nation has shown +its practical faith in the policy of disarmament by reducing its little +army one-third. But disarmament can never be of prime importance; there is +more need to get rid of the causes of war than of the implements of war. + +I have dwelt much on the dangers to be avoided by steering clear of any +mere foolish sentimentality because my wish for peace is so genuine and +earnest; because I have a real and great desire that this second Hague +conference may mark a long stride forward in the direction of securing the +peace of justice throughout the world. No object is better worthy the +attention of enlightened statesmanship than the establishment of a surer +method than now exists of securing justice as between nations, both for the +protection of the little nations and for the prevention of war between the +big nations. To this aim we should endeavor not only to avert bloodshed, +but, above all, effectively to strengthen the forces of right. The Golden +Rule should be, and as the world grows in morality it will be, the guiding +rule of conduct among nations as among individuals; though the Golden Rule +must not be construed, in fantastic manner, as forbidding the exercise of +the police power. This mighty and free Republic should ever deal with all +other States, great or small, on a basis of high honor, respecting their +rights as jealously as it safeguards its own. + +One of the most effective instruments for peace is the Monroe Doctrine as +it has been and is being gradually developed by this Nation and accepted by +other nations. No other policy could have been as efficient in promoting +peace in the Western Hemisphere and in giving to each nation thereon the +chance to develop along its own lines. If we had refused to apply the +doctrine to changing conditions it would now be completely outworn, would +not meet any of the needs of the present day, and, indeed, would probably +by this time have sunk into complete oblivion. It is useful at home, and is +meeting with recognition abroad because we have adapted our application of +it to meet the growing and changing needs of the hemisphere. When we +announce a policy such as the Monroe Doctrine we thereby commit ourselves +to the consequences of the policy, and those consequences from time to time +alter. It is out of the question to claim a right and yet shirk the +responsibility for its exercise. Not only we, but all American republics +who are benefited by the existence of the doctrine, must recognize the +obligations each nation is under as regards foreign peoples no less than +its duty to insist upon its own rights. + +That our rights and interests are deeply concerned in the maintenance of +the doctrine is so clear as hardly to need argument. This is especially +true in view of the construction of the Panama Canal. As a mere matter of +self-defense we must exercise a close watch over the approaches to this +canal; and this means that we must be thoroughly alive to our interests in +the Caribbean Sea. + +There are certain essential points which must never be forgotten as regards +the Monroe Doctrine. In the first place we must as a Nation make it evident +that we do not intend to treat it in any shape or way as an excuse for +aggrandizement on our part at the expense of the republics to the south. We +must recognize the fact that in some South American countries there has +been much suspicion lest we should interpret the Monroe Doctrine as in some +way inimical to their interests, and we must try to convince all the other +nations of this continent once and for all that no just and orderly +Government has anything to fear from us. There are certain republics to the +south of us which have already reached such a point of stability, order, +and prosperity that they themselves, though as yet hardly consciously, are +among the guarantors of this doctrine. These republics we now meet not only +on a basis of entire equality, but in a spirit of frank and respectful +friendship, which we hope is mutual. If all of the republics to the south +of us will only grow as those to which I allude have already grown, all +need for us to be the especial champions of the doctrine will disappear, +for no stable and growing American Republic wishes to see some great +non-American military power acquire territory in its neighborhood. All that +this country desires is that the other republics on this continent shall be +happy and prosperous; and they cannot be happy and prosperous unless they +maintain order within their boundaries and behave with a just regard for +their obligations toward outsiders. It must be understood that under no +circumstances will the United States use the Monroe Doctrine as a cloak for +territorial aggression. We desire peace with all the world, but perhaps +most of all with the other peoples of the American Continent. There are, of +course, limits to the wrongs which any self-respecting nation can endure. +It is always possible that wrong actions toward this Nation, or toward +citizens of this Nation, in some State unable to keep order among its own +people, unable to secure justice from outsiders, and unwilling to do +justice to those outsiders who treat it well, may result in our having to +take action to protect our rights; but such action will not be taken with a +view to territorial aggression, and it will be taken at all only with +extreme reluctance and when it has become evident that every other resource +has been exhausted. + +Moreover, we must make it evident that we do not intend to permit the +Monroe Doctrine to be used by any nation on this Continent as a shield to +protect it from the consequences of its own misdeeds against foreign +nations. If a republic to the south of us commits a tort against a foreign +nation, such as an outrage against a citizen of that nation, then the +Monroe Doctrine does not force us to interfere to prevent punishment of the +tort, save to see that the punishment does not assume the form of +territorial occupation in any shape. The case is more difficult when it +refers to a contractual obligation. Our own Government has always refused +to enforce such contractual obligations on behalf, of its citizens by an +appeal to arms. It is much to be wished that all foreign governments would +take the same view. But they do not; and in consequence we are liable at +any time to be brought face to face with disagreeable alternatives. On the +one hand, this country would certainly decline to go to war to prevent a +foreign government from collecting a just debt; on the other hand, it is +very inadvisable to permit any foreign power to take possession, even +temporarily, of the custom houses of an American Republic in order to +enforce the payment of its obligations; for such temporary occupation might +turn into a permanent occupation. The only escape from these alternatives +may at any time be that we must ourselves undertake to bring about some +arrangement by which so much as possible of a just obligation shall be +paid. It is far better that this country should put through such an +arrangement, rather than allow any foreign country to undertake it. To do +so insures the defaulting republic from having to pay debt of an improper +character under duress, while it also insures honest creditors of the +republic from being passed by in the interest of dishonest or grasping +creditors. Moreover, for the United States to take such a position offers +the only possible way of insuring us against a clash with some foreign +power. The position is, therefore, in the interest of peace as well as in +the interest of justice. It is of benefit to our people; it is of benefit +to foreign peoples; and most of all it is really of benefit to the people +of the country concerned. + +This brings me to what should be one of the fundamental objects of the +Monroe Doctrine. We must ourselves in good faith try to help upward toward +peace and order those of our sister republics which need such help. Just as +there has been a gradual growth of the ethical element in the relations of +one individual to another, so we are, even though slowly, more and more +coming to recognize the duty of bearing one another's burdens, not only as +among individuals, but also as among nations. + +Santo Domingo, in her turn, has now made an appeal to us to help her, and +not only every principle of wisdom but every generous instinct within us +bids us respond to the appeal. It is not of the slightest consequence +whether we grant the aid needed by Santo Domingo as an incident to the wise +development of the Monroe Doctrine or because we regard the case of Santo +Domingo as standing wholly by itself, and to be treated as such, and not on +general principles or with any reference to the Monroe Doctrine. The +important point is to give the needed aid, and the case is certainly +sufficiently peculiar to deserve to be judged purely on its own merits. The +conditions in Santo Domingo have for a number of years grown from bad to +worse until a year ago all society was on the verge of dissolution. +Fortunately, just at this time a ruler sprang up in Santo Domingo, who, +with his colleagues, saw the dangers threatening their country and appealed +to the friendship of the only great and powerful neighbor who possessed the +power, and as they hoped also the will to help them. There was imminent +danger of foreign intervention. The previous rulers of Santo Domingo had +recklessly incurred debts, and owing to her internal disorders she had +ceased to be able to provide means of paying the debts. The patience of her +foreign creditors had become exhausted, and at least two foreign nations +were on the point of intervention, and were only prevented from intervening +by the unofficial assurance of this Government that it would itself strive +to help Santo Domingo in her hour of need. In the case of one of these +nations, only the actual opening of negotiations to this end by our +Government prevented the seizure of territory in Santo Domingo by a +European power. Of the debts incurred some were just, while some were not +of a character which really renders it obligatory on or proper for Santo +Domingo to pay them in full. But she could not pay any of them unless some +stability was assured her Government and people. + +Accordingly, the Executive Department of our Government negotiated a treaty +under which we are to try to help the Dominican people to straighten out +their finances. This treaty is pending before the Senate. In the meantime a +temporary arrangement has been made which will last until the Senate has +had time to take action upon the treaty. Under this arrangement the +Dominican Government has appointed Americans to all the important positions +in the customs service and they are seeing to the honest collection of the +revenues, turning over 45 per cent. to the Government for running expenses +and putting the other 55 per cent. into a safe depository for equitable +division in case the treaty shall be ratified, among the various creditors, +whether European or American. + +The Custom Houses offer well-nigh the only sources of revenue in Santo +Domingo, and the different revolutions usually have as their real aim the +obtaining of these Custom Houses. The mere fact that the Collectors of +Customs are Americans, that they are performing their duties with +efficiency and honesty, and that the treaty is pending in the Senate gives +a certain moral power to the Government of Santo Domingo which it has not +had before. This has completely discouraged all revolutionary movement, +while it has already produced such an increase in the revenues that the +Government is actually getting more from the 45 per cent. that the American +Collectors turn over to it than it got formerly when it took the entire +revenue. It is enabling the poor, harassed people of Santo Domingo once +more to turn their attention to industry and to be free from the cure of +interminable revolutionary disturbance. It offers to all bona-fide +creditors, American and European, the only really good chance to obtain +that to which they are justly entitled, while it in return gives to Santo +Domingo the only opportunity of defense against claims which it ought not +to pay, for now if it meets the views of the Senate we shall ourselves +thoroughly examine all these claims, whether American or foreign, and see +that none that are improper are paid. There is, of course, opposition to +the treaty from dishonest creditors, foreign and American, and from the +professional revolutionists of the island itself. We have already reason to +believe that some of the creditors who do not dare expose their claims to +honest scrutiny are endeavoring to stir up sedition in the island and +opposition to the treaty. In the meantime, I have exercised the authority +vested in me by the joint resolution of the Congress to prevent the +introduction of arms into the island for revolutionary purposes. + +Under the course taken, stability and order and all the benefits of peace +are at last coming to Santo Domingo, danger of foreign intervention has +been suspended, and there is at last a prospect that all creditors will get +justice, no more and no less. If the arrangement is terminated by the +failure of the treaty chaos will follow; and if chaos follows, sooner or +later this Government may be involved in serious difficulties with foreign +Governments over the island, or else may be forced itself to intervene in +the island in some unpleasant fashion. Under the proposed treaty the +independence of the island is scrupulously respected, the danger of +violation of the Monroe Doctrine by the intervention of foreign powers +vanishes, and the interference of our Government is minimized, so that we +shall only act in conjunction with the Santo Domingo authorities to secure +the proper administration of the customs, and therefore to secure the +payment of just debts and to secure the Dominican Government against +demands for unjust debts. The proposed method will give the people of Santo +Domingo the same chance to move onward and upward which we have already +given to the people of Cuba. It will be doubly to our discredit as a Nation +if we fail to take advantage of this chance; for it will be of damage to +ourselves, and it will be of incalculable damage to Santo Domingo. Every +consideration of wise policy, and, above all, every consideration of large +generosity, bids us meet the request of Santo Domingo as we are now trying +to meet it. + +We cannot consider the question of our foreign policy without at the same +time treating of the Army and the Navy. We now have a very small army +indeed, one well-nigh infinitesimal when compared With the army of any +other large nation. Of course the army we do have should be as nearly +perfect of its kind and for its size as is possible. I do not believe that +any army in the world has a better average of enlisted men or a better type +of junior officer; but the army should be trained to act effectively in a +mass. Provision should be made by sufficient appropriations for manoeuvers +of a practical kind, so that the troops may learn how to take care of +themselves under actual service conditions; every march, for instance, +being made with the soldier loaded exactly as he would be in active +campaign. The Generals and Colonels would thereby have opportunity of +handling regiments, brigades, and divisions, and the commissary and medical +departments would be tested in the field. Provision should be made for the +exercise at least of a brigade and by preference of a division in marching +and embarking at some point on our coast and disembarking at some other +point and continuing its march. The number of posts in which the army is +kept in time of peace should be materially diminished and the posts that +are left made correspondingly larger. No local interests should be allowed +to stand in the way of assembling the greater part of the troops which +would at need form our field armies in stations of such size as will permit +the best training to be given to the personnel of all grades, including the +high officers and staff officers. To accomplish this end we must have not +company or regimental garrisons, but brigade and division garrisons. +Promotion by mere seniority can never result in a thoroughly efficient +corps of officers in the higher ranks unless there accompanies it a +vigorous weeding-out process. Such a weeding-out process--that is, such a +process of selection--is a chief feature of the four years' course of the +young officer at West Point. There is no good reason why it should stop +immediately upon his graduation. While at West Point he is dropped unless +he comes up to a certain standard of excellence, and when he graduates he +takes rank in the army according to his rank of graduation. The results are +good at West Point; and there should be in the army itself something that +will achieve the same end. After a certain age has been reached the average +officer is unfit to do good work below a certain grade. Provision should be +made for the promotion of exceptionally meritorious men over the heads of +their comrades and for the retirement of all men who have reached a given +age without getting beyond a given rank; this age of retirement of course +changing from rank to rank. In both the army and the navy there should be +some principle of selection, that is, of promotion for merit, and there +should be a resolute effort to eliminate the aged officers of reputable +character who possess no special efficiency. + +There should be an increase in the coast artillery force, so that our coast +fortifications can be in some degree adequately manned. There is special +need for an increase and reorganization of the Medical Department of the +army. In both the army and navy there must be the same thorough training +for duty in the staff corps as in the fighting line. Only by such training +in advance can we be sure that in actual war field operations and those at +sea will be carried on successfully. The importance of this was shown +conclusively in the Spanish-American and the Russo-Japanese wars. The work +of the medical departments in the Japanese army and navy is especially +worthy of study. I renew my recommendation of January 9, 1905, as to the +Medical Department of the army and call attention to the equal importance +of the needs of the staff corps of the navy. In the Medical Department of +the navy the first in importance is the reorganization of the Hospital +Corps, on the lines of the Gallinger bill, (S. 3,984, February 1, 1904), +and the reapportionment of the different grades of the medical officers to +meet service requirements. It seems advisable also that medical officers of +the army and navy should have similar rank and pay in their respective +grades, so that their duties can be carried on without friction when they +are brought together. The base hospitals of the navy should be put in +condition to meet modern requirements and hospital ships be provided. +Unless we now provide with ample forethought for the medical needs of the +army and navy appalling suffering of a preventable kind is sure to occur if +ever the country goes to war. It is not reasonable to expect successful +administration in time of war of a department which lacks a third of the +number of officers necessary to perform the medical service in time of +peace. We need men who are not merely doctors; they must be trained in the +administration of military medical service. + +Our navy must, relatively to the navies of other nations, always be of +greater size than our army. We have most wisely continued for a number of +years to build up our navy, and it has now reached a fairly high standard +of efficiency. This standard of efficiency must not only be maintained, but +increased. It does not seem to be necessary, however, that the navy +should--at least in the immediate future--be increased beyond the present +number of units. What is now clearly necessary is to substitute efficient +for inefficient units as the latter become worn out or as it becomes +apparent that they are useless. Probably the result would be attained by +adding a single battleship to our navy each year, the superseded or outworn +vessels being laid up or broken up as they are thus replaced. The four +single-turret monitors built immediately after the close of the Spanish +war, for instance, are vessels which would be of but little use in the +event of war. The money spent upon them could have been more usefully spent +in other ways. Thus it would have been far better never to have built a +single one of these monitors and to have put the money into an ample supply +of reserve guns. Most of the smaller cruisers and gunboats, though they +serve a useful purpose so far as they are needed for international police +work, would not add to the strength of our navy in a conflict with a +serious foe. There is urgent need of providing a large increase in the +number of officers, and especially in the number of enlisted men. + +Recent naval history has emphasized certain lessons which ought not to, but +which do, need emphasis. Seagoing torpedo boats or destroyers are +indispensable, not only for making night attacks by surprise upon an enemy, +but even in battle for finishing already crippled ships. Under exceptional +circumstances submarine boats would doubtless be of use. Fast scouts are +needed. The main strength of the navy, however, lies, and can only lie, in +the great battleships, the heavily armored, heavily gunned vessels which +decide the mastery of the seas. Heavy-armed cruisers also play a most +useful part, and unarmed cruisers, if swift enough, are very useful as +scouts. Between antagonists of approximately equal prowess the comparative +perfection of the instruments of war will ordinarily determine the fight. +But it is, of course, true that the man behind the gun, the man in the +engine room, and the man in the conning tower, considered not only +individually, but especially with regard to the way in which they work +together, are even more important than the weapons with which they work. +The most formidable battleship is, of course, helpless against even a light +cruiser if the men aboard it are unable to hit anything with their guns, +and thoroughly well-handled cruisers may count seriously in an engagement +with much superior vessels, if the men aboard the latter are ineffective, +whether from lack of training or from any other cause. Modern warships are +most formidable mechanisms when well handled, but they are utterly useless +when not well handled, and they cannot be handled at all without long and +careful training. This training can under no circumstance be given when +once war has broken out. No fighting ship of the first class should ever be +laid up save for necessary repairs, and her crew should be kept constantly +exercised on the high seas, so that she may stand at the highest point of +perfection. To put a new and untrained crew upon the most powerful +battleship and send it out to meet a formidable enemy is not only to +invite, but to insure, disaster and disgrace. To improvise crews at the +outbreak of a war, so far as the serious fighting craft are concerned, is +absolutely hopeless. If the officers and men are not thoroughly skilled in, +and have not been thoroughly trained to, their duties, it would be far +better to keep the ships in port during hostilities than to send them +against a formidable opponent, for the result could only be that they would +be either sunk or captured. The marksmanship of our navy is now on the +whole in a gratifying condition, and there has been a great improvement in +fleet practice. We need additional seamen; we need a large store of reserve +guns; we need sufficient money for ample target practice, ample practice of +every kind at sea. We should substitute for comparatively inefficient +types--the old third-class battleship Texas, the single-turreted monitors +above mentioned, and, indeed, all the monitors and some of the old +cruisers--efficient, modern seagoing vessels. Seagoing torpedo-boat +destroyers should be substituted for some of the smaller torpedo boats. +During the present Congress there need be no additions to the aggregate +number of units of the navy. Our navy, though very small relatively to the +navies of other nations, is for the present sufficient in point of numbers +for our needs, and while we must constantly strive to make its efficiency +higher, there need be no additions to the total of ships now built and +building, save in the way of substitution as above outlined. I recommend +the report of the Secretary of the Navy to the careful consideration of the +Congress, especially with a view to the legislation therein advocated. + +During the past year evidence has accumulated to confirm the expressions +contained in my last two annual messages as to the importance of revising +by appropriate legislation our system of naturalizing aliens. I appointed +last March a commission to make a careful examination of our naturalization +laws, and to suggest appropriate measures to avoid the notorious abuses +resulting from the improvident of unlawful granting of citizenship. This +commission, composed of an officer of the Department of State, of the +Department of Justice, and of the Department of Commerce and Labor, has +discharged the duty imposed upon it, and has submitted a report, which will +be transmitted to the Congress for its consideration, and, I hope, for its +favor, able action. + +The distinguishing recommendations of the commission are: + +First--A Federal Bureau of Naturalization, to be established in the +Department of Commerce and Labor, to supervise the administration of the +naturalization laws and to receive returns of naturalizations pending and +accomplished. + +Second--Uniformity of naturalization certificates, fees to be charged, and +procedure. + +Third--More exacting qualifications for citizenship. + +Fourth--The preliminary declaration of intention to be abolished and no +alien to be naturalized until at least ninety days after the filing of his +petition. + +Fifth--Jurisdiction to naturalize aliens to be confined to United States +district courts and to such State courts as have jurisdiction in civil +actions in which the amount in controversy is unlimited; in cities of over +100,000 inhabitants the United States district courts to have exclusive +jurisdiction in the naturalization of the alien residents of such cities. + +In my last message I asked the attention of the Congress to the urgent need +of action to make our criminal law more effective; and I most earnestly +request that you pay heed to the report of the Attorney General on this +subject. Centuries ago it was especially needful to throw every safeguard +round the accused. The danger then was lest he should be wronged by the +State. The danger is now exactly the reverse. Our laws and customs tell +immensely in favor of the criminal and against the interests of the public +he has wronged. Some antiquated and outworn rules which once safeguarded +the threatened rights of private citizens, now merely work harm to the +general body politic. The criminal law of the United States stands in +urgent need of revision. The criminal process of any court of the United +States should run throughout the entire territorial extent of our country. +The delays of the criminal law, no less than of the civil, now amount to a +very great evil. + +There seems to be no statute of the United States which provides for the +punishment of a United States Attorney or other officer of the Government +who corruptly agrees to wrongfully do or wrongfully refrain from doing any +act when the consideration for such corrupt agreement is other than one +possessing money value. This ought to be remedied by appropriate +legislation. Legislation should also be enacted to cover explicitly, +unequivocally, and beyond question breach of trust in the shape of +prematurely divulging official secrets by an officer or employe of the +United States, and to provide a suitable penalty therefor. Such officer or +employe owes the duty to the United States to guard carefully and not to +divulge or in any manner use, prematurely, information which is accessible +to the officer or employe by reason of his official position. Most breaches +of public trust are already covered by the law, and this one should be. It +is impossible, no matter how much care is used, to prevent the occasional +appointment to the public service of a man who when tempted proves +unfaithful; but every means should be provided to detect and every effort +made to punish the wrongdoer. So far as in my power see each and every such +wrongdoer shall be relentlessly hunted down; in no instance in the past has +he been spared; in no instance in the future shall he be spared. His crime +is a crime against every honest man in the Nation, for it is a crime +against the whole body politic. Yet in dwelling on such misdeeds it is +unjust not to add that they are altogether exceptional, and that on the +whole the employes of the Government render upright and faithful service to +the people. There are exceptions, notably in one or two branches of the +service, but at no time in the Nation's history has the public service of +the Nation taken as a whole stood on a higher plane than now, alike as +regards honesty and as regards efficiency. + +Once again I call your attention to the condition of the public land laws. +Recent developments have given new urgency to the need for such changes as +will fit these laws to actual present conditions. The honest disposal and +right use of the remaining public lands is of fundamental importance. The +iniquitous methods by which the monopolizing of the public lands is being +brought about under the present laws are becoming more generally known, but +the existing laws do not furnish effective remedies. The recommendations of +the Public Lands Commission upon this subject are wise and should be given +effect. + +The creation of small irrigated farms under the Reclamation act is a +powerful offset to the tendency of certain other laws to foster or permit +monopoly of the land. Under that act the construction of great irrigation +works has been proceeding rapidly and successfully, the lands reclaimed are +eagerly taken up, and the prospect that the policy of National irrigation +will accomplish all that was expected of it is bright. The act should be +extended to include the State of Texas. + +The Reclamation act derives much of its value from the fact that it tends +to secure the greatest possible number of homes on the land, and to create +communities of freeholders, in part by settlement on public lands, in part +by forcing the subdivision of large private holdings before they can get +water from Government irrigation works. The law requires that no right to +the use of water for land in private ownership shall be sold for a tract +exceeding 160 acres to any one land owner. This provision has excited +active and powerful hostility, but the success of the law itself depends on +the wise and firm enforcement of it. We cannot afford to substitute tenants +for freeholders on the public domain. + +The greater part of the remaining public lands can not be irrigated. They +are at present and will probably always be of greater value for grazing +than for any other purpose. This fact has led to the grazing homestead of +640 acres in Nebraska and to the proposed extension of it to other States. +It is argued that a family can not be supported on 160 acres of arid +grazing land. This is obviously true, but neither can a family be supported +on 640 acres of much of the land to which it is proposed to apply the +grazing homestead. To establish universally any such arbitrary limit would +be unwise at the present time. It would probably result on the one hand in +enlarging the holdings of some of the great land owners, and on the other +in needless suffering and failure on the part of a very considerable +proportion of the bona fide settlers who give faith to the implied +assurance of the Government that such an area is sufficient. The best use +of the public grazing lands requires the careful examination and +classification of these lands in order to give each settler land enough to +support his family and no more. While this work is being done, and until +the lands are settled, the Government should take control of the open +range, under reasonable regulations suited to local needs, following the +general policy already in successful operation on the forest reserves. It +is probable that the present grazing value of the open public range is +scarcely more than half what it once was or what it might easily be again +under careful regulation. + +The forest policy of the Administration appears to enjoy the unbroken +support of the people. The great users of timber are themselves forwarding +the movement for forest preservation. All organized opposition to the +forest preserves in the West has disappeared. Since the consolidation of +all Government forest work in the National Forest Service there has been a +rapid and notable gain in the usefulness of the forest reserves to the +people and in public appreciation of their value. The National parks within +or adjacent to forest reserves should be transferred to the charge of the +Forest Service also. + +The National Government already does something in connection with the +construction and maintenance of the great system of levees along the lower +course of the Mississippi; in my judgment it should do much more. + +To the spread of our trade in peace and the defense of our flag in war a +great and prosperous merchant marine is indispensable. We should have ships +of our own and seamen of our own to convey our goods to neutral markets, +and in case of need to reinforce our battle line. It cannot but be a source +of regret and uneasiness to us that the lines of communication with our +sister republics of South America should be chiefly under foreign control. +It is not a good thing that American merchants and manufacturers should +have to send their goods and letters to South America via Europe if they +wish security and dispatch. Even on the Pacific, where our ships have held +their own better than on the Atlantic, our merchant flag is now threatened +through the liberal aid bestowed by other Governments on their own steam +lines. I ask your earnest consideration of the report with which the +Merchant Marine Commission has followed its long and careful inquiry. + +I again heartily commend to your favorable consideration the tercentennial +celebration at Jamestown, Va. Appreciating the desirability of this +commemoration, the Congress passed an act, March 3, 1905, authorizing in +the year 1907, on and near the waters of Hampton Roads, in the State of +Virginia, an international naval, marine, and military celebration in honor +of this event. By the authority vested in me by this act, I have made +proclamation of said celebration, and have issued, in conformity with its +instructions, invitations to all the nations of the earth to participate, +by sending their naval vessels and such military organizations as may be +practicable. This celebration would fail of its full purpose unless it were +enduring in its results and commensurate with the importance of the event +to be celebrated, the event from which our Nation dates its birth. I +earnestly hope that this celebration, already indorsed by the Congress of +the United States, and by the Legislatures of sixteen States since the +action of the Congress, will receive such additional aid at your hands as +will make it worthy of the great event it is intended to celebrate, and +thereby enable the Government of the United States to make provision for +the exhibition of its own resources, and likewise enable our people who +have undertaken the work of such a celebration to provide suitable and +proper entertainment and instruction in the historic events of our country +for all who may visit the exposition and to whom we have tendered our +hospitality. + +It is a matter of unmixed satisfaction once more to call attention to the +excellent work of the Pension Bureau; for the veterans of the civil war +have a greater claim upon us than any other class of our citizens. To them, +first of all among our people, honor is due. + +Seven years ago my lamented predecessor, President McKinley, stated that +the time had come for the Nation to care for the graves of the Confederate +dead. I recommend that the Congress take action toward this end. The first +need is to take charge of the graves of the Confederate dead who died in +Northern prisons. + +The question of immigration is of vital interest to this country. In the +year ending June 30, 1905, there came to the United States 1,026,000 alien +immigrants. In other words, in the single year that has just elapsed there +came to this country a greater number of people than came here during the +one hundred and sixty-nine years of our Colonial life which intervened +between the first landing at Jamestown and the Declaration of Independence. +It is clearly shown in the report of the Commissioner General of +Immigration that while much of this enormous immigration is undoubtedly +healthy and natural, a considerable proportion is undesirable from one +reason or another; moreover, a considerable proportion of it, probably a +very large proportion, including most of the undesirable class, does not +come here of its own initiative, but because of the activity of the agents +of the great transportation companies. These agents are distributed +throughout Europe, and by the offer of all kinds of inducements they +wheedle and cajole many immigrants, often against their best interest, to +come here. The most serious obstacle we have to encounter in the effort to +secure a proper regulation of the immigration to these shores arises from +the determined opposition of the foreign steamship lines who have no +interest whatever in the matter save to increase the returns on their +capital by carrying masses of immigrants hither in the steerage quarters of +their ships. + +As I said in my last message to the Congress, we cannot have too much +immigration of the right sort and we should have none whatever of the wrong +sort. Of course, it is desirable that even the right kind of immigration +should be properly distributed in this country. We need more of such +immigration for the South; and special effort should be made to secure it. +Perhaps it would be possible to limit the number of immigrants allowed to +come in any one year to New York and other Northern cities, while leaving +unlimited the number allowed to come to the South; always provided, +however, that a stricter effort is made to see that only immigrants of the +right kind come to our country anywhere. In actual practice it has proved +so difficult to enforce the migration laws where long stretches of frontier +marked by an imaginary line alone intervene between us and our neighbors +that I recommend that no immigrants be allowed to come in from Canada and +Mexico save natives of the two countries themselves. As much as possible +should be done to distribute the immigrants upon the land and keep them +away from the contested tenement-house districts of the great cities. But +distribution is a palliative, not a cure. The prime need is to keep out all +immigrants who will not make good American citizens. The laws now existing +for the exclusion of undesirable immigrants should be strengthened. +Adequate means should be adopted, enforced by sufficient penalties, to +compel steamship companies engaged in the passenger business to observe in +good faith the law which forbids them to encourage or solicit immigration +to the United States. Moreover, there should be a sharp limitation imposed +upon all vessels coming to our ports as to the number of immigrants in +ratio to the tonnage which each vessel can carry. This ratio should be high +enough to insure the coming hither of as good a class of aliens as +possible. Provision should be made for the surer punishment of those who +induce aliens to come to this country under promise or assurance of +employment. It should be made possible to inflict a sufficiently heavy +penalty on any employer violating this law to deter him from taking the +risk. It seems to me wise that there should be an international conference +held to deal with this question of immigration, which has more than a +merely National significance; such a conference could, among other things, +enter at length into the method for securing a thorough inspection of +would-be immigrants at the ports from which they desire to embark before +permitting them to embark. + +In dealing with this question it is unwise to depart from the old American +tradition and to discriminate for or against any man who desires to come +here and become a citizen, save on the ground of that man's fitness for +citizenship. It is our right and duty to consider his moral and social +quality. His standard of living should be such that he will not, by +pressure of competition, lower the standard of living of our own +wage-workers; for it must ever be a prime object of our legislation to keep +high their standard of living. If the man who seeks to come here is from +the moral and social standpoint of such a character as to bid fair to add +value to the community he should be heartily welcomed. We cannot afford to +pay heed to whether he is of one creed or another, of one nation, or +another. We cannot afford to consider whether he is Catholic or Protestant, +Jew or Gentile; whether he is Englishman or Irishman, Frenchman or German, +Japanese, Italian, Scandinavian, Slav, or Magyar. What we should desire to +find out is the individual quality of the individual man. In my judgment, +with this end in view, we shall have to prepare through our own agents a +far more rigid inspection in the countries from which the immigrants come. +It will be a great deal better to have fewer immigrants, but all of the +right kind, than a great number of immigrants, many of whom are necessarily +of the wrong kind. As far as possible we wish to limit the immigration to +this country to persons who propose to become citizens of this country, and +we can well afford to insist upon adequate scrutiny of the character of +those who are thus proposed for future citizenship. There should be an +increase in the stringency of the laws to keep out insane, idiotic, +epileptic, and pauper immigrants. But this is by no means enough. Not +merely the Anarchist, but every man of Anarchistic tendencies, all violent +and disorderly people, all people of bad character, the incompetent, the +lazy, the vicious, the physically unfit, defective, or degenerate should be +kept out. The stocks out of which American citizenship is to be built +should be strong and healthy, sound in body, mind, and character. If it be +objected that the Government agents would not always select well, the +answer is that they would certaintly select better than do the agents and +brokers of foreign steamship companies, the people who now do whatever +selection is done. + +The questions arising in connection with Chinese immigration stand by +themselves. The conditions in China are such that the entire Chinese coolie +class, that is, the class of Chinese laborers, skilled and unskilled, +legitimately come under the head of undesirable immigrants to this country, +because of their numbers, the low wages for which they work, and their low +standard of living. Not only is it to the interest of this country to keep +them out, but the Chinese authorities do not desire that they should be +admitted. At present their entrance is prohibited by laws amply adequate to +accomplish this purpose. These laws have been, are being, and will be, +thoroughly enforced. The violations of them are so few in number as to be +infinitesimal and can be entirely disregarded. This is no serious proposal +to alter the immigration law as regards the Chinese laborer, skilled or +unskilled, and there is no excuse for any man feeling or affecting to feel +the slightest alarm on the subject. + +But in the effort to carry out the policy of excluding Chinese laborers, +Chinese coolies, grave injustice and wrong have been done by this Nation to +the people of China, and therefore ultimately to this Nation itself. +Chinese students, business and professional men of all kinds--not only +merchants, but bankers, doctors, manufacturers, professors, travelers, and +the like--should be encouraged to come here, and treated on precisely the +same footing that we treat students, business men, travelers, and the like +of other nations. Our laws and treaties should be framed, not so as to put +these people in the excepted classes, but to state that we will admit all +Chinese, except Chinese of the coolie class, Chinese skilled or unskilled +laborers. There would not be the least danger that any such provision would +result in any relaxation of the law about laborers. These will, under all +conditions, be kept out absolutely. But it will be more easy to see that +both justice and courtesy are shown, as they ought to be shown, to other +Chinese, if the law or treaty is framed as above suggested. Examinations +should be completed at the port of departure from China. For this purpose +there should be provided a more adequate Consular Service in China than we +now have. The appropriations both for the offices of the Consuls and for +the office forces in the consulates should be increased. + +As a people we have talked much of the open door in China, and we expect, +and quite rightly intend to insist upon, justice being shown us by the +Chinese. But we cannot expect to receive equity unless we do equity. We +cannot ask the Chinese to do to us what we are unwilling to do to them. +They would have a perfect right to exclude our laboring men if our laboring +men threatened to come into their country in such numbers as to jeopardize +the well-being of the Chinese population; and as, mutatis mutandis, these +were the conditions with which Chinese immigration actually brought this +people face to face, we had and have a perfect right, which the Chinese +Government in no way contests, to act as we have acted in the matter of +restricting coolie immigration. That this right exists for each country was +explicitly acknowledged in the last treaty between the two countries. But +we must treat the Chinese student, traveler, and business man in a spirit +of the broadest justice and courtesy if we expect similar treatment to be +accorded to our own people of similar rank who go to China. Much trouble +has come during the past Summer from the organized boycott against American +goods which has been started in China. The main factor in producing this +boycott has been the resentment felt by the students and business people of +China, by all the Chinese leaders, against the harshness of our law toward +educated Chinamen of the professional and business classes. + +This Government has the friendliest feeling for China and desires China's +well-being. We cordially sympathize with the announced purpose of Japan to +stand for the integrity of China. Such an attitude tends to the peace of +the world. + +The civil service law has been on the statute books for twenty-two years. +Every President and a vast majority of heads of departments who have been +in office during that period have favored a gradual extension of the merit +system. The more thoroughly its principles have been understood, the +greater has been the favor with which the law has been regarded by +administration officers. Any attempt to carry on the great executive +departments of the Government without this law would inevitably result in +chaos. The Civil Service Commissioners are doing excellent work, and their +compensation is inadequate considering the service they perform. + +The statement that the examinations are not practical in character is based +on a misapprehension of the practice of the Commission. The departments are +invariably consulted as to the requirements desired and as to the character +of questions that shall be asked. General invitations are frequently sent +out to all heads of departments asking whether any changes in the scope or +character of examinations are required. In other words, the departments +prescribe the requirements and qualifications desired, and the Civil +Service Commission co-operates with them in securing persons with these +qualifications and insuring open and impartial competition. In a large +number of examinations (as, for example, those for trades positions), there +are no educational requirements whatever, and a person who can neither read +nor write may pass with a high average. Vacancies in the service are filled +with reasonable expedition, and the machinery of the Commission, which +reaches every part of the country, is the best agency that has yet been +devised for finding people with the most suitable qualifications for the +various offices to be filled. Written competitive examinations do not make +an ideal method for filling positions, but they do represent an +immeasurable advance upon the "spoils" method, under which outside +politicians really make the appointments nominally made by the executive +officers, the appointees being chosen by the politicians in question, in +the great majority of cases, for reasons totally unconnected with the needs +of the service or of the public. + +Statistics gathered by the Census Bureau show that the tenure of office in +the Government service does not differ materially from that enjoyed by +employes of large business corporations. Heads of executive departments and +members of the Commission have called my attention to the fact that the +rule requiring a filing of charges and three days' notice before an employe +could be separated from the service for inefficiency has served no good +purpose whatever, because that is not a matter upon which a hearing of the +employe found to be inefficient can be of any value, and in practice the +rule providing for such notice and hearing has merely resulted in keeping +in a certain number of incompetents, because of the reluctance of the heads +of departments and bureau chiefs to go through the required procedure. +Experience has shown that this rule is wholly ineffective to save any man, +if a superior for improper reasons wishes to remove him, and is mischievous +because it sometimes serves to keep in the service incompetent men not +guilty of specific wrongdoing. Having these facts in view the rule has been +amended by providing that where the inefficiency or incapacity comes within +the personal knowledge of the head of a department the removal may be made +without notice, the reasons therefor being filed and made a record of the +department. The absolute right of the removal rests where it always has +rested, with the head of a department; any limitation of this absolute +right results in grave injury to the public service. The change is merely +one of procedure; it was much needed, and it is producing good results. + +The civil service law is being energetically and impartially enforced, and +in the large majority of cases complaints of violations of either the law +or rules are discovered to be unfounded. In this respect this law compares +very favorably with any other Federal statute. The question of politics in +the appointment and retention of the men engaged in merely ministerial work +has been practically eliminated in almost the entire field of Government +employment covered by the civil service law. The action of the Congress in +providing the commission with its own force instead of requiring it to rely +on detailed clerks has been justified by the increased work done at a +smaller cost to the Government. I urge upon the Congress a careful +consideration of the recommendations contained in the annual report of the +commission. + +Our copyright laws urgently need revision. They are imperfect in +definition, confused and inconsistent in expression; they omit provision +for many articles which, under modern reproductive processes are entitled +to protection; they impose hardships upon the copyright proprietor which +are not essential to the fair protection of the public; they are difficult +for the courts to interpret and impossible for the Copyright Office to +administer with satisfaction to the public. Attempts to improve them by +amendment have been frequent, no less than twelve acts for the purpose +having been passed since the Revised Statutes. To perfect them by further +amendment seems impracticable. A complete revision of them is essential. +Such a revision, to meet modern conditions, has been found necessary in +Germany, Austria, Sweden, and other foreign countries, and bills embodying +it are pending in England and the Australian colonies. It has been urged +here, and proposals for a commission to undertake it have, from time to +time, been pressed upon the Congress. The inconveniences of the present +conditions being so great, an attempt to frame appropriate legislation has +been made by the Copyright Office, which has called conferences of the +various interests especially and practically concerned with the operation +of the copyright laws. It has secured from them suggestions as to the +changes necessary; it has added from its own experience and investigations, +and it has drafted a bill which embodies such of these changes and +additions as, after full discussion and expert criticism, appeared to be +sound and safe. In form this bill would replace the existing insufficient +and inconsistent laws by one general copyright statute. It will be +presented to the Congress at the coming session. It deserves prompt +consideration. + +I recommend that a law be enacted to regulate inter-State commerce in +misbranded and adulterated foods, drinks, and drugs. Such law would protect +legitimate manufacture and commerce, and would tend to secure the health +and welfare of the consuming public. Traffic in food-stuffs which have been +debased or adulterated so as to injure health or to deceive purchasers +should be forbidden. + +The law forbidding the emission of dense black or gray smoke in the city of +Washington has been sustained by the courts. Something has been +accomplished under it, but much remains to be done if we would preserve the +capital city from defacement by the smoke nuisance. Repeated prosecutions +under the law have not had the desired effect. I recommend that it be made +more stringent by increasing both the minimum and maximum fine; by +providing for imprisonment in cases of repeated violation, and by affording +the remedy of injunction against the continuation of the operation of +plants which are persistent offenders. I recommend, also, an increase in +the number of inspectors, whose duty it shall be to detect violations of +the act. + +I call your attention to the generous act of the State of California in +conferring upon the United States Government the ownership of the Yosemite +Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove. There should be no delay in +accepting the gift, and appropriations should be made for the including +thereof in the Yosemite National Park, and for the care and policing of the +park. California has acted most wisely, as well as with great magnanimity, +in the matter. There are certain mighty natural features of our land which +should be preserved in perpetuity for our children and our children's +children. In my judgment, the Grand Canyon of the Colorado should be made +into a National park. It is greatly to be wished that the State of New York +should copy as regards Niagara what the State of California has done as +regards the Yosemite. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with the +preservation of Niagara Falls in all their beauty and majesty. If the State +cannot see to this, then it is earnestly to be wished that she should be +willing to turn it over to the National Government, which should in such +case (if possible, in conjunction with the Canadian Government) assume the +burden and responsibility of preserving unharmed Niagara Falls; just as it +should gladly assume a similar burden and responsibility for the Yosemite +National Park, and as it has already assumed them for the Yellowstone +National Park. Adequate provision should be made by the Congress for the +proper care and supervision of all these National parks. The boundaries of +the Yellowstone National Park should be extended to the south and east, to +take in such portions of the abutting forest reservations as will enable +the Government to protect the elk on their Winter range. + +The most characteristic animal of the Western plains was the great, +shaggy-maned wild ox, the bison, commonly known as buffalo. Small fragments +of herds exist in a domesticated state here and there, a few of them in the +Yellowstone Park. Such a herd as that on the Flat-head Reservation should +not be allowed to go out of existence. Either on some reservation or on +some forest reserve like the Wichita reserve and game refuge provision +should be made for the preservation of such a herd. I believe that the +scheme would be of economic advantage, for the robe of the buffalo is of +high market value, and the same is true of the robe of the crossbred +animals. + +I call your especial attention to the desirability of giving to the members +of the Life Saving Service pensions such as are given to firemen and +policemen in all our great cities. The men in the Life Saving Service +continually and in the most matter of fact way do deeds such as make +Americans proud of their country. They have no political influence, and +they live in such remote places that the really heroic services they +continually render receive the scantiest recognition from the public. It is +unjust for a great nation like this to permit these men to become totally +disabled or to meet death in the performance of their hazardous duty and +yet to give them no sort of reward. If one of them serves thirty years of +his life in such a position he should surely be entitled to retire on half +pay, as a fireman or policeman does, and if he becomes totally +incapacitated through accident or sickness, or loses his health in the +discharge of his duty, he or his family should receive a pension just as +any soldier should. I call your attention with especial earnestness to this +matter because it appeals not only to our judgment but to our sympathy; for +the people on whose behalf I ask it are comparatively few in number, render +incalculable service of a particularly dangerous kind, and have no one to +speak for them. + +During the year just past, the phase of the Indian question which has been +most sharply brought to public attention is the larger legal significance +of the Indian's induction into citizenship. This has made itself manifest +not only in a great access of litigation in which the citizen Indian +figures as a party defendant and in a more widespread disposition to levy +local taxation upon his personalty, but in a decision of the United States +Supreme Court which struck away the main prop on which has hitherto rested +the Government's benevolent effort to protect him against the evils of +intemperance. The court holds, in effect, that when an Indian becomes, by +virtue of an allotment of land to him, a citizen of the State in which his +land is situated, he passes from under Federal control in such matters as +this, and the acts of the Congress prohibiting the sale or gift to him of +intoxicants become substantially inoperative. It is gratifying to note that +the States and municipalities of the West which have most at stake in the +welfare of the Indians are taking up this subject and are trying to supply, +in a measure at least, the abdication of its trusteeship forced upon the +Federal Government. Nevertheless, I would urgently press upon the attention +of the Congress the question whether some amendment of the internal revenue +laws might not be of aid in prosecuting those malefactors, known in the +Indian country as "bootleggers," who are engaged at once in defrauding the +United States Treasury of taxes and, what is far more important, in +debauching the Indians by carrying liquors illicitly into territory still +completely under Federal jurisdiction. + +Among the crying present needs of the Indians are more day schools situated +in the midst of their settlements, more effective instruction in the +industries pursued on their own farms, and a more liberal tension of the +field-matron service, which means the education of the Indian women in the +arts of home making. Until the mothers are well started in the right +direction we cannot reasonably expect much from the children who are soon +to form an integral part of our American citizenship. Moreover the excuse +continually advanced by male adult Indians for refusing offers of +remunerative employment at a distance from their homes is that they dare +not leave their families too long out of their sight. One effectual remedy +for this state of things is to employ the minds and strengthen the moral +fibre of the Indian women--the end to which the work of the field matron is +especially directed. I trust that the Congress will make its appropriations +for Indian day schools and field matrons as generous as may consist with +the other pressing demands upon its providence. + +During the last year the Philippine Islands have been slowly recovering +from the series of disasters which, since American occupation, have greatly +reduced the amount of agricultural products below what was produced in +Spanish times. The war, the rinderpest, the locusts, the drought, and the +cholera have been united as causes to prevent a return of the prosperity +much needed in the islands. The most serious is the destruction by the +rinderpest of more than 75 per cent of the draught cattle, because it will +take several years of breeding to restore the necessary number of these +indispensable aids to agriculture. The commission attempted to supply by +purchase from adjoining countries the needed cattle, but the experiments +made were unsuccessful. Most of the cattle imported were unable to +withstand the change of climate and the rigors of the voyage and died from +other diseases than rinderpest. + +The income of the Philippine Government has necessarily been reduced by +reason of the business and agricultural depression in the islands, and the +Government has been obliged to exercise great economy to cut down its +expenses, to reduce salaries, and in every way to avoid a deficit. It has +adopted an internal revenue law, imposing taxes on cigars, cigarettes, and +distilled liquors, and abolishing the old Spanish industrial taxes. The law +has not operated as smoothly as was hoped, and although its principle is +undoubtedly correct, it may need amendments for the purpose of reconciling +the people to its provisions. The income derived from it has partly made up +for the reduction in customs revenue. + +There has been a marked increase in the number of Filipinos employed in the +civil service, and a corresponding decrease in the number of Americans. The +Government in every one of its departments has been rendered more efficient +by elimination of undesirable material and the promotion of deserving +public servants. + +Improvements of harbors, roads, and bridges continue, although the cutting +down of the revenue forbids the expenditure of any great amount from +current income for these purposes. Steps are being taken, by advertisement +for competitive bids, to secure the construction and maintenance of 1,000 +miles of railway by private corporations under the recent enabling +legislation of the Congress. The transfer of the friar lands, in accordance +with the contract made some two years ago, has been completely effected, +and the purchase money paid. Provision has just been made by statute for +the speedy settlement in a special proceeding in the Supreme Court of +controversies over the possession and title of church buildings and +rectories arising between the Roman Catholic Church and schismatics +claiming under ancient municipalities. Negotiations and hearings for the +settlement of the amount due to the Roman Catholic Church for rent and +occupation of churches and rectories by the army of the United States are +in progress, and it is hoped a satisfactory conclusion may be submitted to +the Congress before the end of the session. + +Tranquillity has existed during the past year throughout the Archipelago, +except in the Province of Cavite, the Province of Batangas and the Province +of Samar, and in the Island of Jolo among the Moros. The Jolo disturbance +was put an end to by several sharp and short engagements, and now peace +prevails in the Moro Province, Cavite, the mother of ladrones in the +Spanish times, is so permeated with the traditional sympathy of the people +for ladronism as to make it difficult to stamp out the disease. Batangas +was only disturbed by reason of the fugitive ladrones from Cavite, Samar +was thrown into disturbance by the uneducated and partly savage peoples +living in the mountains, who, having been given by the municipal code more +power than they were able to exercise discreetly, elected municipal +officers who abused their trusts, compelled the people raising hemp to sell +it at a much less price than it was worth, and by their abuses drove their +people into resistance to constituted authority. Cavite and Samar are +instances of reposing too much confidence in the self-governing power of a +people. The disturbances have all now been suppressed, and it is hoped that +with these lessons local governments can be formed which will secure quiet +and peace to the deserving inhabitants. The incident is another proof of +the fact that if there has been any error as regards giving self-government +in the Philippines it has been in the direction of giving it too quickly, +not too slowly. A year from next April the first legislative assembly for +the islands will be held. On the sanity and self-restraint of this body +much will depend so far as the future self-government of the islands is +concerned. + +The most encouraging feature of the whole situation has been the very great +interest taken by the common people in education and. the great increase in +the number of enrolled students in the public schools. The increase was +from 300,000 to half a million pupils. The average attendance is about 70 +per cent. The only limit upon the number of pupils seems to be the capacity +of the government to furnish teachers and school houses. + +The agricultural conditions of the islands enforce more strongly than ever +the argument in favor of reducing the tariff on the products of the +Philippine Islands entering the United States. I earnestly recommend that +the tariff now imposed by the Dingley bill upon the products of the +Philippine Islands be entirely removed, except the tariff on sugar and +tobacco, and that that tariff be reduced to 25 per cent of the present +rates under the Dingley act; that after July 1, 1909, the tariff upon +tobacco and sugar produced in the Philippine Islands be entirely removed, +and that free trade between the islands and the United States in the +products of each country then be provided for by law. + +A statute in force, enacted April 15, 1904, suspends the operation of the +coastwise laws of the United States upon the trade between the Philippine +Islands and the United States until July 1, 1906. I earnestly recommend +that this suspension be postponed until July 1, 1909. I think it of +doubtful utility to apply the coastwise laws to the trade between the +United States and the Philippines under any circumstances, because I am +convinced that it will do no good whatever to American bottoms, and will +only interfere and be an obstacle to the trade between the Philippines and +the United States, but if the coastwise law must be thus applied, certainly +it ought not to have effect until free trade is enjoyed between the people +of the United States and the people of the Philippine Islands in their +respective products. + +I do not anticipate that free trade between the islands and the United +States will produce a revolution in the sugar and tobacco production of the +Philippine Islands. So primitive are the methods of agriculture in the +Philippine Islands, so slow is capital in going to the islands, so many +difficulties surround a large agricultural enterprise in the islands, that +it will be many, many years before the products of those islands will have +any effect whatever upon the markets of the United States. The problem of +labor is also a formidable one with the sugar and tobacco producers in the +islands. The best friends of the Filipino people and the people themselves +are utterly opposed to the admission of Chinese coolie labor. Hence the +only solution is the training of Filipino labor, and this will take a long +time. The enactment of a law by the Congress of the United States making +provision for free trade between the islands and the United States, +however, will be of great importance from a political and sentimental +standpoint; and, while its actual benefit has doubtless been exaggerated by +the people of the islands, they will accept this measure of justice as an +indication that the people of the United States are anxious to aid the +people of the Philippine Islands in every way, and especially in the +agricultural development of their archipelago. It will aid the Filipinos +without injuring interests in America. + +In my judgment immediate steps should be taken for the fortification of +Hawaii. This is the most important point in the Pacific to fortify in order +to conserve the interests of this country. It would be hard to overstate +the importance of this need. Hawaii is too heavily taxed. Laws should be +enacted setting aside for a period of, say, twenty years 75 per cent of the +internal revenue and customs receipts from Hawaii as a special fund to be +expended in the islands for educational and public buildings, and for +harbor improvements and military and naval defenses. It cannot be too often +repeated that our aim must be to develop the territory of Hawaii on +traditional American lines. That territory has serious commercial and +industrial problems to reckon with; but no measure of relief can be +considered which looks to legislation admitting Chinese and restricting +them by statute to field labor and domestic service. The status of +servility can never again be tolerated on American soil. We cannot concede +that the proper solution of its problems is special legislation admitting +to Hawaii a class of laborers denied admission to the other States and +Territories. There are obstacles, and great obstacles, in the way of +building up a representative American community in the Hawaiian Islands; +but it is not in the American character to give up in the face of +difficulty. Many an American Commonwealth has been built up against odds +equal to those that now confront Hawaii. + +No merely half-hearted effort to meet its problems as other American +communities have met theirs can be accepted as final. Hawaii shall never +become a territory in which a governing class of rich planters exists by +means of coolie labor. Even if the rate of growth of the Territory is +thereby rendered slower, the growth must only take place by the admission +of immigrants fit in the end to assume the duties and burdens of full +American citizenship. Our aim must be to develop the Territory on the same +basis of stable citizenship as exists on this continent. + +I earnestly advocate the adoption of legislation which will explicitly +confer American citizenship on all citizens of Porto Rico. There is, in my +judgment, no excuse for failure to do this. The harbor of San Juan should +be dredged and improved. The expenses of the Federal Court of Porto Rico +should be met from the Federal Treasury and not from the Porto Rican +treasury. The elections in Porto Rico should take place every four years, +and the Legislature should meet in session every two years. The present +form of government in Porto Rico, which provides for the appointment by the +President of the members of the Executive Council or upper house of the +Legislature, has proved satisfactory and has inspired confidence in +property owners and investors. I do not deem it advisable at the present +time to change this form in any material feature. The problems and needs of +the island are industrial and commercial rather than political. + +I wish to call the attention of the Congress to one question which affects +our insular possessions generally; namely, the need of an increased +liberality in the treatment of the whole franchise question in these +islands. In the proper desire to prevent the islands being exploited by +speculators and to have them develop in the interests of their own people +an error has been made in refusing to grant sufficiently liberal terms to +induce the investment of American capital in the Philippines and in Porto +Rico. Elsewhere in this message I have spoken strongly against the jealousy +of mere wealth, and especially of corporate wealth as such. But it is +particularly regrettable to allow any such jealousy to be developed when we +are dealing either with our insular or with foreign affairs. The big +corporation has achieved its present position in the business world simply +because it is the most effective instrument in business competition. In +foreign affairs we cannot afford to put our people at a disadvantage with +their competitors by in any way discriminating against the efficiency of +our business organizations. In the same way we cannot afford to allow our +insular possessions to lag behind in industrial development from any +twisted jealousy of business success. It is, of course, a mere truism to +say that the business interests of the islands will only be developed if it +becomes the financial interest of somebody to develop them. Yet this +development is one of the things most earnestly to be wished for in the +interest of the islands themselves. We have been paying all possible heed +to the political and educational interests of the islands, but, important +though these objects are, it is not less important that we should favor +their industrial development. The Government can in certain ways help this +directly, as by building good roads; but the fundamental and vital help +must be given through the development of the industries of the islands, and +a most efficient means to this end is to encourage big American +corporations to start industries in them, and this means to make it +advantageous for them to do so. To limit the ownership of mining claims, as +has been done in the Philippines, is absurd. In both the Philippines and +Porto Rico the limit of holdings of land should be largely raised. + +I earnestly ask that Alaska be given an elective delegate. Some person +should be chosen who can speak with authority of the needs of the +Territory. The Government should aid in the construction of a railroad from +the Gulf of Alaska to the Yukon River, in American territory. In my last +two messages I advocated certain additional action on behalf of Alaska. I +shall not now repeat those recommendations, but I shall lay all my stress +upon the one recommendation of giving to Alaska some one authorized to +speak for it. I should prefer that the delegate was made elective, but if +this is not deemed wise, then make him appointive. At any rate, give Alaska +some person whose business it shall be to speak with authority on her +behalf to the Congress. The natural resources of Alaska are great. Some of +the chief needs of the peculiarly energetic, self-reliant, and typically +American white population of Alaska were set forth in my last message. I +also earnestly ask your attention to the needs of the Alaskan Indians. All +Indians who are competent should receive the full rights of American +citizenship. It is, for instance, a gross and indefensible wrong to deny to +such hard-working, decent-living Indians as the Metlakahtlas the right to +obtain licenses as captains, pilots, and engineers; the right to enter +mining claims, and to profit by the homestead law. These particular Indians +are civilized and are competent and entitled to be put on the same basis +with the white men round about them. + +I recommend that Indian Territory and Oklahoma be admitted as one State and +that New Mexico and Arizona be admitted as one State. There is no +obligation upon us to treat territorial subdivisions, which are matters of +convenience only, as binding us on the question of admission to Statehood. +Nothing has taken up more time in the Congress during the past few years +than the question as to the Statehood to be granted to the four Territories +above mentioned, and after careful consideration of all that has been +developed in the discussions of the question, I recommend that they be +immediately admitted as two States. There is no justification for further +delay; and the advisability of making the four Territories into two States +has been clearly established. + +In some of the Territories the legislative assemblies issue licenses for +gambling. The Congress should by law forbid this practice, the harmful +results of which are obvious at a glance. + +The treaty between the United States and the Republic of Panama, under +which the construction of the Panama Canal was made possible, went into +effect with its ratification by the United States Senate on February 23, +1904. The canal properties of the French Canal Company were transferred to +the United States on April 23, 1904, on payment of $40,000,000 to that +company. On April 1, 1905, the Commission was reorganized, and it now +consists of Theodore P. Shonts, Chairman; Charles E. Magoon, Benjamin M. +Harrod, Rear Admiral Mordecai T. Endicott, Brig. Gen. Peter C. Hains, and +Col. Oswald H. Ernst. John F. Stevens was appointed Chief Engineer on July +1 last. Active work in canal construction, mainly preparatory, has been in +progress for less than a year and a half. During that period two points +about the canal have ceased to be open to debate: First, the question of +route; the canal will be built on the Isthmus of Panama. Second, the +question of feasibility; there are no physical obstacles on this route that +American engineering skill will not be able to overcome without serious +difficulty, or that will prevent the completion of the canal within a +reasonable time and at a reasonable cost. This is virtually the unanimous +testimony of the engineers who have investigated the matter for the +Government. + +The point which remains unsettled is the question of type, whether the +canal shall be one of several locks above sea level, or at sea level with a +single tide lock. On this point I hope to lay before the Congress at an +early day the findings of the Advisory Board of American and European +Engineers, that at my invitation have been considering the subject, +together with the report of the Commission thereon, and such comments +thereon or recommendations in reference thereto as may seem necessary. + +The American people is pledged to the speediest possible construction of a +canal adequate to meet the demands which the commerce of the world will +make upon it, and I appeal most earnestly to the Congress to aid in the +fulfillment of the pledge. Gratifying progress has been made during the +past year, and especially during the past four months. The greater part of +the necessary preliminary work has been done. Actual work of excavation +could be begun only on a limited scale till the Canal Zone was made a +healthful place to live in and to work in. The Isthmus had to be sanitated +first. This task has been so thoroughly accomplished that yellow fever has +been virtually extirpated from the Isthmus and general health conditions +vastly improved. The same methods which converted the island of Cuba from a +pest hole, which menaced the health of the world, into a healthful place of +abode, have been applied on the Isthmus with satisfactory results. There is +no reason to doubt that when the plans for water supply, paving, and +sewerage of Panama and Colon and the large labor camps have been fully +carried out, the Isthmus will be, for the tropics, an unusually healthy +place of abode. The work is so far advanced now that the health of all +those employed in canal work is as well guarded as it is on similar work in +this country and elsewhere. + +In addition to sanitating the Isthmus, satisfactory quarters are being +provided for employes and an adequate system of supplying them with +wholesome food at reasonable prices has been created. Hospitals have been +established and equipped that are without their superiors of their kind +anywhere. The country has thus been made fit to work in, and provision has +been made for the welfare and comfort of those who are to do the work. +During the past year a large portion of the plant with which the work is to +be done has been ordered. It is confidently believed that by the middle of +the approaching year a sufficient proportion of this plant will have been +installed to enable us to resume the work of excavation on a large scale. + +What is needed now and without delay is an appropriation by the Congress to +meet the current and accruing expenses of the commission. The first +appropriation of $10,000,000, out of the $135,000,000 authorized by the +Spooner act, was made three years ago. It is nearly exhausted. There is +barely enough of it remaining to carry the commission to the end of the +year. Unless the Congress shall appropriate before that time all work must +cease. To arrest progress for any length of time now, when matters are +advancing so satisfactorily, would be deplorable. There will be no money +with which to meet pay roll obligations and none with which to meet bills +coming due for materials and supplies; and there will be demoralization of +the forces, here and on the Isthmus, now working so harmoniously and +effectively, if there is delay in granting an emergency appropriation. +Estimates of the amount necessary will be found in the accompanying reports +of the Secretary of War and the commission. + +I recommend more adequate provision than has been made heretofore for the +work of the Department of State. Within a few years there has been a very +great increase in the amount and importance of the work to be done by that +department, both in Washington and abroad. This has been caused by the +great increase of our foreign trade, the increase of wealth among our +people, which enables them to travel more generally than heretofore, the +increase of American capital which is seeking investment in foreign +countries, and the growth of our power and weight in the councils of the +civilized world. There has been no corresponding increase of facilities for +doing the work afforded to the department having charge of our foreign +relations. + +Neither at home nor abroad is there a sufficient working force to do the +business properly. In many respects the system which was adequate to the +work of twenty-five years or even ten years ago, is inadequate now, and +should be changed. Our Consular force should be classified, and +appointments should be made to the several classes, with authority to the +Executive to assign the members of each class to duty at such posts as the +interests of the service require, instead of the appointments being made as +at present to specified posts. There should be an adequate inspection +service, so that the department may be able to inform itself how the +business of each Consulate is being done, instead of depending upon casual +private information or rumor. The fee system should be entirely abolished, +and a due equivalent made in salary to the officers who now eke out their +subsistence by means of fees. Sufficient provision should be made for a +clerical force in every Consulate composed entirely of Americans, instead +of the insufficient provision now made, which compels the employment of +great numbers of citizens of foreign countries whose services can be +obtained for less money. At a large part of our Consulates the office +quarters and the clerical force are inadequate to the performance of the +onerous duties imposed by the recent provisions of our immigration laws as +well as by our increasing trade. In many parts of the world the lack of +suitable quarters for our embassies, legations, and Consulates detracts +from the respect in which our officers ought to be held, and seriously +impairs their weight and influence. + +Suitable provision should be made for the expense of keeping our diplomatic +officers more fully informed of what is being done from day to day in the +progress of our diplomatic affairs with other countries. The lack of such +information, caused by insufficient appropriations available for cable +tolls and for clerical and messenger service, frequently puts our officers +at a great disadvantage and detracts from their usefulness. The salary list +should be readjusted. It does not now correspond either to the importance +of the service to be rendered and the degrees of ability and experience +required in the different positions, or to the differences in the cost of +living. In many cases the salaries are quite inadequate. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 3, 1906 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +As a nation we still continue to enjoy a literally unprecedented +prosperity; and it is probable that only reckless speculation and disregard +of legitimate business methods on the part of the business world can +materially mar this prosperity. + +No Congress in our time has done more good work of importance than the +present Congress. There were several matters left unfinished at your last +session, however, which I most earnestly hope you will complete before your +adjournment. + +I again recommend a law prohibiting all corporations from contributing to +the campaign expenses of any party. Such a bill has already past one House +of Congress. Let individuals contribute as they desire; but let us prohibit +in effective fashion all corporations from making contributions for any +political purpose, directly or indirectly. + +Another bill which has just past one House of the Congress and which it is +urgently necessary should be enacted into law is that conferring upon the +Government the right of appeal in criminal cases on questions of law. This +right exists in many of the States; it exists in the District of Columbia +by act of the Congress. It is of course not proposed that in any case a +verdict for the defendant on the merits should be set aside. Recently in +one district where the Government had indicted certain persons for +conspiracy in connection with rebates, the court sustained the defendant's +demurrer; while in another jurisdiction an indictment for conspiracy to +obtain rebates has been sustained by the court, convictions obtained under +it, and two defendants sentenced to imprisonment. The two cases referred to +may not be in real conflict with each other, but it is unfortunate that +there should even be an apparent conflict. At present there is no way by +which the Government can cause such a conflict, when it occurs, to be +solved by an appeal to a higher court; and the wheels of justice are +blocked without any real decision of the question. I can not too strongly +urge the passage of the bill in question. A failure to pass it will result +in seriously hampering the Government in its effort to obtain justice, +especially against wealthy individuals or corporations who do wrong; and +may also prevent the Government from obtaining justice for wage-workers who +are not themselves able effectively to contest a case where the judgment of +an inferior court has been against them. I have specifically in view a +recent decision by a district judge leaving railway employees without +remedy for violation of a certain so-called labor statute. It seems an +absurdity to permit a single district judge, against what may be the +judgment of the immense majority of his colleagues on the bench, to declare +a law solemnly enacted by the Congress to be "unconstitutional," and then +to deny to the Government the right to have the Supreme Court definitely +decide the question. + +It is well to recollect that the real efficiency of the law often depends +not upon the passage of acts as to which there is great public excitement, +but upon the passage of acts of this nature as to which there is not much +public excitement, because there is little public understanding of their +importance, while the interested parties are keenly alive to the +desirability of defeating them. The importance of enacting into law the +particular bill in question is further increased by the fact that the +Government has now definitely begun a policy of resorting to the criminal +law in those trust and interstate commerce cases where such a course offers +a reasonable chance of success. At first, as was proper, every effort was +made to enforce these laws by civil proceedings; but it has become +increasingly evident that the action of the Government in finally deciding, +in certain cases, to undertake criminal proceedings was justifiable; and +tho there have been some conspicuous failures in these cases, we have had +many successes, which have undoubtedly had a deterrent effect upon +evil-doers, whether the penalty inflicted was in the shape of fine or +imprisonment--and penalties of both kinds have already been inflicted by +the courts. Of course, where the judge can see his way to inflict the +penalty of imprisonment the deterrent effect of the punishment on other +offenders is increased; but sufficiently heavy fines accomplish much. Judge +Holt, of the New York district court, in a recent decision admirably stated +the need for treating with just severity offenders of this kind. His +opinion runs in part as follows: + +'The Government's evidence to establish the defendant's guilt was clear, +conclusive, and undisputed. The case was a flagrant one. The transactions +which took place under this illegal contract were very large; the amounts +of rebates returned were considerable; and the amount of the rebate itself +was large, amounting to more than one-fifth of the entire tariff charge for +the transportation of merchandise from this city to Detroit. It is not too +much to say, in my opinion, that if this business was carried on for a +considerable time on that basis--that is, if this discrimination in favor +of this particular shipper was made with an 18 instead of a 23 cent rate +and the tariff rate was maintained as against their competitors--the result +might be and not improbably would be that their competitors would be driven +out of business. This crime is one which in its nature is deliberate and +premeditated. I think over a fortnight elapsed between the date of Palmer's +letter requesting the reduced rate and the answer of the railroad company +deciding to grant it, and then for months afterwards this business was +carried on and these claims for rebates submitted month after month and +checks in payment of them drawn month after month. Such a violation of the +law, in my opinion, in its essential nature, is a very much more heinous +act than the ordinary common, vulgar crimes which come before criminal +courts constantly for punishment and which arise from sudden passion or +temptation. This crime in this case was committed by men of education and +of large business experience, whose standing in the community was such that +they might have been expected to set an example of obedience to law upon +the maintenance of which alone in this country the security of their +property depends. It was committed on behalf of a great railroad +corporation, which, like other railroad corporations, has received +gratuitously from the State large and valuable privileges for the public's +convenience and its own, which performs quasi public functions and which is +charged with the highest obligation in the transaction of its business to +treat the citizens of this country alike, and not to carry on its business +with unjust discriminations between different citizens or different classes +of citizens. This crime in its nature is one usually done with secrecy, and +proof of which it is very difficult to obtain. The interstate commerce act +was past in 1887, nearly twenty years ago. Ever since that time complaints +of the granting of rebates by railroads have been common, urgent, and +insistent, and altho the Congress has repeatedly past legislation +endeavoring to put a stop to this evil, the difficulty of obtaining proof +upon which to bring prosecution in these cases is so great that this is the +first case that has ever been brought in this court, and, as I am formed, +this case and one recently brought in Philadelphia are the only cases that +have ever been brought in the eastern part of this country. In fact, but +few cases of this kind have ever been brought in this country, East or +West. Now, under these circumstances, I am forced to the conclusion, in a +case in which the proof is so clear and the facts are so flagrant, it is +the duty of the court to fix a penalty which shall in some degree be +commensurate with the gravity of the offense. As between the two +defendants, in my opinion, the principal penalty should be imposed on the +corporation. The traffic manager in this case, presumably, acted without +any advantage to himself and without any interest in the transaction, +either by the direct authority or in accordance with what he understood to +be the policy or the wishes of his employer. + +"The sentence of this court in this case is, that the defendant Pomeroy, +for each of the six offenses upon which he has been convicted, be fined the +sum of $1,000, making six fines, amounting in all to the sum of $6,000; and +the defendant, The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, for +each of the six crimes of which it has been convicted, be fined the sum of +$18,000, making six fines amounting in the aggregate to the sum of +$108,000, and judgment to that effect will be entered in this case." + +In connection with this matter, I would like to call attention to the very +unsatisfactory state of our criminal law, resulting in large part from the +habit of setting aside the judgments of inferior courts on technicalities +absolutely unconnected with the merits of the case, and where there is no +attempt to show that there has been any failure of substantial justice. It +would be well to enact a law providing something to the effect that: + +No judgment shall be set aside or new trial granted in any cause, civil or +criminal, on the ground of misdirection of the jury or the improper +admission or rejection of evidence, or for error as to any matter of +pleading or procedure unless, in the opinion of the court to which the +application is made, after an examination of the entire cause, it shall +affirmatively appear that the error complained of has resulted in a +miscarriage of justice. + +In my last message I suggested the enactment of a law in connection with +the issuance of injunctions, attention having been sharply drawn to the +matter by the demand that the right of applying injunctions in labor cases +should be wholly abolished. It is at least doubtful whether a law +abolishing altogether the use of injunctions in such cases would stand the +test of the courts; in which case of course the legislation would be +ineffective. Moreover, I believe it would be wrong altogether to prohibit +the use of injunctions. It is criminal to permit sympathy for criminals to +weaken our hands in upholding the law; and if men seek to destroy life or +property by mob violence there should be no impairment of the power of the +courts to deal with them in the most summary and effective way possible. +But so far as possible the abuse of the power should be provided against by +some such law as I advocated last year. + +In this matter of injunctions there is lodged in the hands of the judiciary +a necessary power which is nevertheless subject to the possibility of grave +abuse. It is a power that should be exercised with extreme care and should +be subject to the jealous scrutiny of all men, and condemnation should be +meted out as much to the judge who fails to use it boldly when necessary as +to the judge who uses it wantonly or oppressively. Of course a judge strong +enough to be fit for his office will enjoin any resort to violence or +intimidation, especially by conspiracy, no matter what his opinion may be +of the rights of the original quarrel. There must be no hesitation in +dealing with disorder. But there must likewise be no such abuse of the +injunctive power as is implied in forbidding laboring men to strive for +their own betterment in peaceful and lawful ways; nor must the injunction +be used merely to aid some big corporation in carrying out schemes for its +own aggrandizement. It must be remembered that a preliminary injunction in +a labor case, if granted without adequate proof (even when authority can be +found to support the conclusions of law on which it is founded), may often +settle the dispute between the parties; and therefore if improperly granted +may do irreparable wrong. Yet there are many judges who assume a +matter-of-course granting of a preliminary injunction to be the ordinary +and proper judicial disposition of such cases; and there have undoubtedly +been flagrant wrongs committed by judges in connection with labor disputes +even within the last few years, altho I think much less often than in +former years. Such judges by their unwise action immensely strengthen the +hands of those who are striving entirely to do away with the power of +injunction; and therefore such careless use of the injunctive process tends +to threaten its very existence, for if the American people ever become +convinced that this process is habitually abused, whether in matters +affecting labor or in matters affecting corporations, it will be well-nigh +impossible to prevent its abolition. + +It may be the highest duty of a judge at any given moment to disregard, not +merely the wishes of individuals of great political or financial power, but +the overwhelming tide of public sentiment; and the judge who does thus +disregard public sentiment when it is wrong, who brushes aside the plea of +any special interest when the pleading is not rounded on righteousness, +performs the highest service to the country. Such a judge is deserving of +all honor; and all honor can not be paid to this wise and fearless judge if +we permit the growth of an absurd convention which would forbid any +criticism of the judge of another type, who shows himself timid in the +presence of arrogant disorder, or who on insufficient grounds grants an +injunction that does grave injustice, or who in his capacity as a +construer, and therefore in part a maker, of the law, in flagrant fashion +thwarts the cause of decent government. The judge has a power over which no +review can be exercised; he himself sits in review upon the acts of both +the executive and legislative branches of the Government; save in the most +extraordinary cases he is amenable only at the bar of public opinion; and +it is unwise to maintain that public opinion in reference to a man with +such power shall neither be exprest nor led. + +The best judges have ever been foremost to disclaim any immunity from +criticism. This has been true since the days of the great English Lord +Chancellor Parker, who said: "Let all people be at liberty to know what I +found my judgment upon; that, so when I have given it in any cause, others +may be at liberty to judge of me." The proprieties of the case were set +forth with singular clearness and good temper by Judge W. H. Taft, when a +United States circuit judge, eleven years ago, in 1895: + +"The opportunity freely and publicly to criticize judicial action is of +vastly more importance to the body politic than the immunity of courts and +judges from unjust aspersions and attack. Nothing tends more to render +judges careful in their decisions and anxiously solicitous to do exact +justice than the consciousness that every act of theirs is to be subjected +to the intelligent scrutiny and candid criticism of their fellow-men. Such +criticism is beneficial in proportion as it is fair, dispassionate, +discriminating, and based on a knowledge of sound legal principles. The +comments made by learned text writers and by the acute editors of the +various law reviews upon judicial decisions are therefore highly useful. +Such critics constitute more or less impartial tribunals of professional +opinion before which each judgment is made to stand or fall on its merits, +and thus exert a strong influence to secure uniformity of decision. But +non-professional criticism also is by no means without its uses, even if +accompanied, as it often is, by a direct attack upon the judicial fairness +and motives of the occupants of the bench; for if the law is but the +essence of common sense, the protest of many average men may evidence a +defect in a judicial conclusion, tho based on the nicest legal reasoning +and profoundest learning. The two important elements of moral character in +a judge are an earnest desire to reach a just conclusion and courage to +enforce it. In so far as fear of public comment does not affect the courage +of a judge, but only spurs him on to search his conscience and to reach the +result which approves itself to his inmost heart such comment serves a +useful purpose. There are few men, whether they are judges for life or for +a shorter term, who do not prefer to earn and hold the respect of all, and +who can not be reached and made to pause and deliberate by hostile public +criticism. In the case of judges having a life tenure, indeed their very +independence makes the right freely to comment on their decisions of +greater importance, because it is the only practical and available +instrument in the hands of a free people to keep such judges alive to the +reasonable demands of those they serve. + +"On the other hand, the danger of destroying the proper influence of +judicial decisions by creating unfounded prejudices against the courts +justifies and requires that unjust attacks shall be met and answered. +Courts must ultimately rest their defense upon the inherent strength of the +opinions they deliver as the ground for their conclusions and must trust to +the calm and deliberate judgment of all the people as their best +vindication." + +There is one consideration which should be taken into account by the good +people who carry a sound proposition to an excess in objecting to any +criticism of a judge's decision. The instinct of the American people as a +whole is sound in this matter. They will not subscribe to the doctrine that +any public servant is to be above all criticism. If the best citizens, +those most competent to express their judgment in such matters, and above +all those belonging to the great and honorable profession of the bar, so +profoundly influential in American life, take the position that there shall +be no criticism of a judge under any circumstances, their view will not be +accepted by the American people as a whole. In such event the people will +turn to, and tend to accept as justifiable, the intemperate and improper +criticism uttered by unworthy agitators. Surely it is a misfortune to leave +to such critics a function, right, in itself, which they are certain to +abuse. Just and temperate criticism, when necessary, is a safeguard against +the acceptance by the people as a whole of that intemperate antagonism +towards the judiciary which must be combated by every right-thinking man, +and which, if it became widespread among the people at large, would +constitute a dire menace to the Republic. + +In connection with the delays of the law, I call your attention and the +attention of the Nation to the prevalence of crime among us, and above all +to the epidemic of lynching and mob violence that springs up, now in one +part of our country, now in another. Each section, North, South, East, or +West, has its own faults; no section can with wisdom spend its time jeering +at the faults of another section; it should be busy trying to amend its own +shortcomings. To deal with the crime of corruption It is necessary to have +an awakened public conscience, and to supplement this by whatever +legislation will add speed and certainty in the execution of the law. When +we deal with lynching even mote is necessary. A great many white men are +lynched, but the crime is peculiarly frequent in respect to black men. The +greatest existing cause of lynching is the perpetration, especially by +black men, of the hideous crime of rape--the most abominable in all the +category of crimes, even worse than murder. Mobs frequently avenge the +commission of this crime by themselves torturing to death the man +committing it; thus avenging in bestial fashion a bestial deed, and +reducing themselves to a level with the criminal. + +Lawlessness grows by what it feeds upon; and when mobs begin to lynch for +rape they speedily extend the sphere of their operations and lynch for many +other kinds of crimes, so that two-thirds of the lynchings are not for rape +at all; while a considerable proportion of the individuals lynched are +innocent of all crime. Governor Candler, of Georgia, stated on one occasion +some years ago: "I can say of a verity that I have, within the last month, +saved the lives of half a dozen innocent Negroes who were pursued by the +mob, and brought them to trial in a court of law in which they were +acquitted." As Bishop Galloway, of Mississippi, has finely said: "When the +rule of a mob obtains, that which distinguishes a high civilization is +surrendered. The mob which lynches a negro charged with rape will in a +little while lynch a white man suspected of crime. Every Christian patriot +in America needs to lift up his voice in loud and eternal protest against +the mob spirit that is threatening the integrity of this Republic." +Governor Jelks, of Alabama, has recently spoken as follows: "The lynching +of any person for whatever crime is inexcusable anywhere--it is a defiance +of orderly government; but the killing of innocent people under any +provocation is infinitely more horrible; and yet innocent people are likely +to die when a mob's terrible lust is once aroused. The lesson is this: No +good citizen can afford to countenance a defiance of the statutes, no +matter what the provocation. The innocent frequently suffer, and, it is my +observation, more usually suffer than the guilty. The white people of the +South indict the whole colored race on the ground that even the better +elements lend no assistance whatever in ferreting out criminals of their +own color. The respectable colored people must learn not to harbor their +criminals, but to assist the officers in bringing them to justice. This is +the larger crime, and it provokes such atrocious offenses as the one at +Atlanta. The two races can never get on until there is an understanding on +the part of both to make common cause with the law-abiding against +criminals of any color." + +Moreover, where any crime committed by a member of one race against a +member of another race is avenged in such fashion that it seems as if not +the individual criminal, but the whole race, is attacked, the result is to +exasperate to the highest degree race feeling. There is but one safe rule +in dealing with black men as with white men; it is the same rule that must +be applied in dealing with rich men and poor men; that is, to treat each +man, whatever his color, his creed, or his social position, with +even-handed justice on his real worth as a man. White people owe it quite +as much to themselves as to the colored race to treat well the colored man +who shows by his life that he deserves such treatment; for it is surely the +highest wisdom to encourage in the colored race all those individuals who +are honest, industrious, law-abiding, and who therefore make good and safe +neighbors and citizens. Reward or punish the individual on his merits as an +individual. Evil will surely come in the end to both races if we substitute +for this just rule the habit of treating all the members of the race, good +and bad, alike. There is no question of "social equality" or "negro +domination" involved; only the question of relentlessly punishing bad men, +and of securing to the good man the right to his life, his liberty, and the +pursuit of his happiness as his own qualities of heart, head, and hand +enable him to achieve it. + +Every colored man should realize that the worst enemy of his race is the +negro criminal, and above all the negro criminal who commits the dreadful +crime of rape; and it should be felt as in the highest degree an offense +against the whole country, and against the colored race in particular, for +a colored man to fail to help the officers of the law in hunting down with +all possible earnestness and zeal every such infamous offender. Moreover, +in my judgment, the crime of rape should always be punished with death, as +is the case with murder; assault with intent to commit rape should be made +a capital crime, at least in the discretion of the court; and provision +should be made by which the punishment may follow immediately upon the +heels of the offense; while the trial should be so conducted that the +victim need not be wantonly shamed while giving testimony, and that the +least possible publicity shall be given to the details. + +The members of the white race on the other hand should understand that +every lynching represents by just so much a loosening of the bands of +civilization; that the spirit of lynching inevitably throws into prominence +in the community all the foul and evil creatures who dwell therein. No man +can take part in the torture of a human being without having his own moral +nature permanently lowered. Every lynching means just so much moral +deterioration in all the children who have any knowledge of it, and +therefore just so much additional trouble for the next generation of +Americans. + +Let justice be both sure and swift; but let it be justice under the law, +and not the wild and crooked savagery of a mob. + +There is another matter which has a direct bearing upon this matter of +lynching and of the brutal crime which sometimes calls it forth and at +other times merely furnishes the excuse for its existence. It is out of the +question for our people as a whole permanently to rise by treading down any +of their own number. Even those who themselves for the moment profit by +such maltreatment of their fellows will in the long run also suffer. No +more shortsighted policy can be imagined than, in the fancied interest of +one class, to prevent the education of another class. The free public +school, the chance for each boy or girl to get a good elementary education, +lies at the foundation of our whole political situation. In every community +the poorest citizens, those who need the schools most, would be deprived of +them if they only received school facilities proportioned to the taxes they +paid. This is as true of one portion of our country as of another. It is as +true for the negro as for the white man. The white man, if he is wise, will +decline to allow the Negroes in a mass to grow to manhood and womanhood +without education. Unquestionably education such as is obtained in our +public schools does not do everything towards making a man a good citizen; +but it does much. The lowest and most brutal criminals, those for instance +who commit the crime of rape, are in the great majority men who have had +either no education or very little; just as they are almost invariably men +who own no property; for the man who puts money by out of his earnings, +like the man who acquires education, is usually lifted above mere brutal +criminality. Of course the best type of education for the colored man, +taken as a whole, is such education as is conferred in schools like Hampton +and Tuskegee; where the boys and girls, the young men and young women, are +trained industrially as well as in the ordinary public school branches. The +graduates of these schools turn out well in the great majority of cases, +and hardly any of them become criminals, while what little criminality +there is never takes the form of that brutal violence which invites lynch +law. Every graduate of these schools--and for the matter of that every +other colored man or woman--who leads a life so useful and honorable as to +win the good will and respect of those whites whose neighbor he or she is, +thereby helps the whole colored race as it can be helped in no other way; +for next to the negro himself, the man who can do most to help the negro is +his white neighbor who lives near him; and our steady effort should be to +better the relations between the two. Great tho the benefit of these +schools has been to their colored pupils and to the colored people, it may +well be questioned whether the benefit, has not been at least as great to +the white people among whom these colored pupils live after they graduate. + +Be it remembered, furthermore, that the individuals who, whether from +folly, from evil temper, from greed for office, or in a spirit of mere base +demagogy, indulge in the inflammatory and incendiary speeches and writings +which tend to arouse mobs and to bring about lynching, not only thus excite +the mob, but also tend by what criminologists call "suggestion," greatly to +increase the likelihood of a repetition of the very crime against which +they are inveighing. When the mob is composed of the people of one race and +the man lynched is of another race, the men who in their speeches and +writings either excite or justify the action tend, of course, to excite a +bitter race feeling and to cause the people of the opposite race to lose +sight of the abominable act of the criminal himself; and in addition, by +the prominence they give to the hideous deed they undoubtedly tend to +excite in other brutal and depraved natures thoughts of committing it. +Swift, relentless, and orderly punishment under the law is the only way by +which criminality of this type can permanently be supprest. + +In dealing with both labor and capital, with the questions affecting both +corporations and trades unions, there is one matter more important to +remember than aught else, and that is the infinite harm done by preachers +of mere discontent. These are the men who seek to excite a violent class +hatred against all men of wealth. They seek to turn wise and proper +movements for the better control of corporations and for doing away with +the abuses connected with wealth, into a campaign of hysterical excitement +and falsehood in which the aim is to inflame to madness the brutal passions +of mankind. The sinister demagogs and foolish visionaries who are always +eager to undertake such a campaign of destruction sometimes seek to +associate themselves with those working for a genuine reform in +governmental and social methods, and sometimes masquerade as such +reformers. In reality they are the worst enemies of the cause they profess +to advocate, just as the purveyors of sensational slander in newspaper or +magazine are the worst enemies of all men who are engaged in an honest +effort to better what is bad in our social and governmental conditions. To +preach hatred of the rich man as such, to carry on a campaign of slander +and invective against him, to seek to mislead and inflame to madness honest +men whose lives are hard and who have not the kind of mental training which +will permit them to appreciate the danger in the doctrines preached--all +this is to commit a crime against the body politic and to be false to every +worthy principle and tradition of American national life. Moreover, while +such preaching and such agitation may give a livelihood and a certain +notoriety to some of those who take part in it, and may result in the +temporary political success of others, in the long run every such movement +will either fail or else will provoke a violent reaction, which will itself +result not merely in undoing the mischief wrought by the demagog and the +agitator, but also in undoing the good that the honest reformer, the true +upholder of popular rights, has painfully and laboriously achieved. +Corruption is never so rife as in communities where the demagog and the +agitator bear full sway, because in such communities all moral bands become +loosened, and hysteria and sensationalism replace the spirit of sound +judgment and fair dealing as between man and man. In sheer revolt against +the squalid anarchy thus produced men are sure in the end to turn toward +any leader who can restore order, and then their relief at being free from +the intolerable burdens of class hatred, violence, and demagogy is such +that they can not for some time be aroused to indignation against misdeeds +by men of wealth; so that they permit a new growth of the very abuses which +were in part responsible for the original outbreak. The one hope for +success for our people lies in a resolute and fearless, but sane and +cool-headed, advance along the path marked out last year by this very +Congress. There must be a stern refusal to be misled into following either +that base creature who appeals and panders to the lowest instincts and +passions in order to arouse one set of Americans against their fellows, or +that other creature, equally base but no baser, who in a spirit of greed, +or to accumulate or add to an already huge fortune, seeks to exploit his +fellow Americans with callous disregard to their welfare of soul and body. +The man who debauches others in order to obtain a high office stands on an +evil equality of corruption with the man who debauches others for financial +profit; and when hatred is sown the crop which springs up can only be +evil. + +The plain people who think--the mechanics, farmers, merchants, workers with +head or hand, the men to whom American traditions are dear, who love their +country and try to act decently by their neighbors, owe it to themselves to +remember that the most damaging blow that can be given popular government +is to elect an unworthy and sinister agitator on a platform of violence and +hypocrisy. Whenever such an issue is raised in this country nothing can be +gained by flinching from it, for in such case democracy is itself on trial, +popular self-government under republican forms is itself on trial. The +triumph of the mob is just as evil a thing as the triumph of the +plutocracy, and to have escaped one danger avails nothing whatever if we +succumb to the other. In the end the honest man, whether rich or poor, who +earns his own living and tries to deal justly by his fellows, has as much +to fear from the insincere and unworthy demagog, promising much and +performing nothing, or else performing nothing but evil, who would set on +the mob to plunder the rich, as from the crafty corruptionist, who, for his +own ends, would permit the common people to be exploited by the very +wealthy. If we ever let this Government fall into the hands of men of +either of these two classes, we shall show ourselves false to America's +past. Moreover, the demagog and the corruptionist often work hand in hand. +There are at this moment wealthy reactionaries of such obtuse morality that +they regard the public servant who prosecutes them when they violate the +law, or who seeks to make them bear their proper share of the public +burdens, as being even more objectionable than the violent agitator who +hounds on the mob to plunder the rich. There is nothing to choose between +such a reactionary and such an agitator; fundamentally they are alike in +their selfish disregard of the rights of others; and it is natural that +they should join in opposition to any movement of which the aim is +fearlessly to do exact and even justice to all. + +I call your attention to the need of passing the bill limiting the number +of hours of employment of railroad employees. The measure is a very +moderate one and I can conceive of no serious objection to it. Indeed, so +far as it is in our power, it should be our aim steadily to reduce the +number of hours of labor, with as a goal the general introduction of an +eight-hour day. There are industries in which it is not possible that the +hours of labor should be reduced; just as there are communities not far +enough advanced for such a movement to be for their good, or, if in the +Tropics, so situated that there is no analogy between their needs and ours +in this matter. On the Isthmus of Panama, for instance, the conditions are +in every way so different from what they are here that an eight-hour day +would be absurd; just as it is absurd, so far as the Isthmus is concerned, +where white labor can not be employed, to bother as to whether the +necessary work is done by alien black men or by alien yellow men. But the +wageworkers of the United States are of so high a grade that alike from the +merely industrial standpoint and from the civic standpoint it should be our +object to do what we can in the direction of securing the general +observance of an eight-hour day. Until recently the eight-hour law on our +Federal statute books has been very scantily observed. Now, however, +largely thru the instrumentality of the Bureau of Labor, it is being +rigidly enforced, and I shall speedily be able to say whether or not there +is need of further legislation in reference thereto; .for our purpose is to +see it obeyed in spirit no less than in letter. Half holidays during summer +should be established for Government employees; it is as desirable for +wageworkers who toil with their hands as for salaried officials whose labor +is mental that there should be a reasonable amount of holiday. + +The Congress at its last session wisely provided for a truant court for the +District of Columbia; a marked step in advance on the path of properly +caring for the children. Let me again urge that the Congress provide for a +thoro investigation of the conditions of child labor and of the labor of +women in the United States. More and more our people are growing to +recognize the fact that the questions which are not merely of industrial +but of social importance outweigh all others; and these two questions most +emphatically come in the category of those which affect in the most +far-reaching way the home life of the Nation. The horrors incident to the +employment of young children in factories or at work anywhere are a blot on +our civilization. It is true that each. State must ultimately settle the +question in its own way; but a thoro official investigation of the matter, +with the results published broadcast, would greatly help toward arousing +the public conscience and securing unity of State action in the matter. +There is, however, one law on the subject which should be enacted +immediately, because there is no need for an investigation in reference +thereto, and the failure to enact it is discreditable to the National +Government. A drastic and thorogoing child-labor law should be enacted for +the District of Columbia and the Territories. + +Among the excellent laws which the Congress past at the last session was an +employers' liability law. It was a marked step in advance to get the +recognition of employers' liability on the statute books; but the law did +not go far enough. In spite of all precautions exercised by employers there +are unavoidable accidents and even deaths involved in nearly every line of +business connected with the mechanic arts. This inevitable sacrifice of +life may be reduced to a minimum, but it can not be completely eliminated. +It is a great social injustice to compel the employee, or rather the family +of the killed or disabled victim, to bear the entire burden of such an +inevitable sacrifice. In other words, society shirks its duty by laying the +whole cost on the victim, whereas the injury comes from what may be called +the legitimate risks of the trade. Compensation for accidents or deaths due +in any line of industry to the actual conditions under which that industry +is carried on, should be paid by that portion of the community for the +benefit of which the industry is carried on--that is, by those who profit +by the industry. If the entire trade risk is placed upon the employer he +will promptly and properly add it to the legitimate cost of production and +assess it proportionately upon the consumers of his commodity. It is +therefore clear to my mind that the law should place this entire "risk of a +trade" upon the employer. Neither the Federal law, nor, as far as I am +informed, the State laws dealing with the question of employers' liability +are sufficiently thorogoing. The Federal law should of course include +employees in navy-yards, arsenals, and the like. + +The commission appointed by the President October 16, 1902, at the request +of both the anthracite coal operators and miners, to inquire into, +consider, and pass upon the questions in controversy in connection with the +strike in the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania and the causes out of +which the controversy arose, in their report, findings, and award exprest +the belief "that the State and Federal governments should provide the +machinery for what may be called the compulsory investigation of +controversies between employers and employees when they arise." This +expression of belief is deserving of the favorable consideration of the +Congress and the enactment of its provisions into law. A bill has already +been introduced to this end. + +Records show that during the twenty years from January 1, 1881, to, +December 31, 1900, there were strikes affecting 117,509 establishments, and +6,105,694 employees were thrown out of employment. During the same period +there were 1,005 lockouts, involving nearly 10,000 establishments, throwing +over one million people out of employment. These strikes and lockouts +involved an estimated loss to employees of $307,000,000 and to employers of +$143,000,000, a total of $450,000,000. The public suffered directly and +indirectly probably as great additional loss. But the money loss, great as +it was, did not measure the anguish and suffering endured by the wives and +children of employees whose pay stopt when their work stopt, or the +disastrous effect of the strike or lockout upon the business of employers, +or the increase in the cost of products and the inconvenience and loss to +the public. + +Many of these strikes and lockouts would not have occurred had the parties +to the dispute been required to appear before an unprejudiced body +representing the nation and, face to face, state the reasons for their +contention. In most instances the dispute would doubtless be found to be +due to a misunderstanding by each of the other's rights, aggravated by an +unwillingness of either party to accept as true the statements of the other +as to the justice or injustice of the matters in dispute. The exercise of a +judicial spirit by a disinterested body representing the Federal +Government, such as would be provided by a commission on conciliation and +arbitration, would tend to create an atmosphere of friendliness and +conciliation between contending parties; and the giving each side an equal +opportunity to present fully its case in the presence of the other would +prevent many disputes from developing into serious strikes or lockouts, +and, in other cases, would enable the commission to persuade the opposing +parties to come to terms. + +In this age of great corporate and labor combinations, neither employers +nor employees should be left completely at the mercy of the stronger party +to a dispute, regardless of the righteousness of their respective claims. +The proposed measure would be in the line of securing recognition of the +fact that in many strikes the public has itself an interest which can not +wisely be disregarded; an interest not merely of general convenience, for +the question of a just and proper public policy must also be considered. In +all legislation of this kind it is well to advance cautiously, testing each +step by the actual results; the step proposed can surely be safely taken, +for the decisions of the commission would not bind the parties in legal +fashion, and yet would give a chance for public opinion to crystallize and +thus to exert its full force for the right. + +It is not wise that the Nation should alienate its remaining coal lands. I +have temporarily withdrawn from settlement all the lands which the +Geological Survey has indicated as containing, or in all probability +containing, coal. The question, however, can be properly settled only by +legislation, which in my judgment should provide for the withdrawal of +these lands from sale or from entry, save in certain especial +circumstances. The ownership would then remain in the United States, which +should not, however, attempt to work them, but permit them to be worked by +private individuals under a royalty system, the Government keeping such +control as to permit it to see that no excessive price was charged +consumers. It would, of course, be as necessary to supervise the rates +charged by the common carriers to transport the product as the rates +charged by those who mine it; and the supervision must extend to the +conduct of the common carriers, so that they shall in no way favor one +competitor at the expense of another. The withdrawal of these coal lands +would constitute a policy analogous to that which has been followed in +withdrawing the forest lands from ordinary settlement. The coal, like the +forests, should be treated as the property of the public and its disposal +should be under conditions which would inure to the benefit of the public +as a whole. + +The present Congress has taken long strides in the direction of securing +proper supervision and control by the National Government over corporations +engaged in interstate business and the enormous majority of corporations of +any size are engaged in interstate business. The passage of the railway +rate bill, and only to a less degree the passage of the pure food bill, and +the provision for increasing and rendering more effective national control +over the beef-packing industry, mark an important advance in the proper +direction. In the short session it will perhaps be difficult to do much +further along this line; and it may be best to wait until the laws have +been in operation for a number of months before endeavoring to increase +their scope, because only operation will show with exactness their merits +and their shortcomings and thus give opportunity to define what further +remedial legislation is needed. Yet in my judgment it will in the end be +advisable in connection with the packing house inspection law to provide +for putting a date on the label and for charging the cost of inspection to +the packers. All these laws have already justified their enactment. The +interstate commerce law, for instance, has rather amusingly falsified the +predictions, both of those who asserted that it would ruin the railroads +and of those who asserted that it did not go far enough and would +accomplish nothing. During the last five months the railroads have shown +increased earnings and some of them unusual dividends; while during the +same period the mere taking effect of the law has produced an +unprecedented, a hitherto unheard of, number of voluntary reductions in +freights and fares by the railroads. Since the founding of the Commission +there has never been a time of equal length in which anything like so many +reduced tariffs have been put into effect. On August 27, for instance, two +days before the new law went into effect, the Commission received notices +of over five thousand separate tariffs which represented reductions from +previous rates. + +It must not be supposed, however, that with the passage of these laws it +will be possible to stop progress along the line of increasing the power of +the National Government over the use of capital interstate commerce. For +example, there will ultimately be need of enlarging the powers of the +Interstate Commerce Commission along several different lines, so as to give +it a larger and more efficient control over the railroads. + +It can not too often be repeated that experience has conclusively shown the +impossibility of securing by the actions of nearly half a hundred different +State legislatures anything but ineffective chaos in the way of dealing +with the great corporations which do not operate exclusively within the +limits of any one State. In some method, whether by a national license law +or in other fashion, we must exercise, and that at an early date, a far +more complete control than at present over these great corporations--a +control that will among other things prevent the evils of excessive +overcapitalization, and that will compel the disclosure by each big +corporation of its stockholders and of its properties and business, whether +owned directly or thru subsidiary or affiliated corporations. This will +tend to put a stop to the securing of inordinate profits by favored +individuals at the expense whether of the general public, the stockholders, +or the wageworkers. Our effort should be not so much to prevent +consolidation as such, but so to supervise and control it as to see that it +results in no harm to the people. The reactionary or ultraconservative +apologists for the misuse of wealth assail the effort to secure such +control as a step toward socialism. As a matter of fact it is these +reactionaries and ultraconservatives who are themselves most potent in +increasing socialistic feeling. One of the most efficient methods of +averting the consequences of a dangerous agitation, which is 80 per cent +wrong, is to remedy the 20 per cent of evil as to which the agitation is +well rounded. The best way to avert the very undesirable move for the +government ownership of railways is to secure by the Government on behalf +of the people as a whole such adequate control and regulation of the great +interstate common carriers as will do away with the evils which give rise +to the agitation against them. So the proper antidote to the dangerous and +wicked agitation against the men of wealth as such is to secure by proper +legislation and executive action the abolition of the grave abuses which +actually do obtain in connection with the business use of wealth under our +present system--or rather no system--of failure to exercise any adequate +control at all. Some persons speak as if the exercise of such governmental +control would do away with the freedom of individual initiative and dwarf +individual effort. This is not a fact. It would be a veritable calamity to +fail to put a premium upon individual initiative, individual capacity and +effort; upon the energy, character, and foresight which it is so important +to encourage in the individual. But as a matter of fact the deadening and +degrading effect of pure socialism, and especially of its extreme form +communism, and the destruction of individual character which they would +bring about, are in part achieved by the wholly unregulated competition +which results in a single individual or corporation rising at the expense +of all others until his or its rise effectually checks all competition and +reduces former competitors to a position of utter inferiority and +subordination. + +In enacting and enforcing such legislation as this Congress already has to +its credit, we are working on a coherent plan, with the steady endeavor to +secure the needed reform by the joint action of the moderate men, the plain +men who do not wish anything hysterical or dangerous, but who do intend to +deal in resolute common-sense fashion with the real and great evils of the +present system. The reactionaries and the violent extremists show symptoms +of joining hands against us. Both assert, for instance, that, if logical, +we should go to government ownership of railroads and the like; the +reactionaries, because on such an issue they think the people would stand +with them, while the extremists care rather to preach discontent and +agitation than to achieve solid results. As a matter of fact, our position +is as remote from that of the Bourbon reactionary as from that of the +impracticable or sinister visionary. We hold that the Government should not +conduct the business of the nation, but that it should exercise such +supervision as will insure its being conducted in the interest of the +nation. Our aim is, so far as may be, to secure, for all decent, hard +working men, equality of opportunity and equality of burden. + +The actual working of our laws has shown that the effort to prohibit all +combination, good or bad, is noxious where it is not ineffective. +Combination of capital like combination of labor is a necessary element of +our present industrial system. It is not possible completely to prevent it; +and if it were possible, such complete prevention would do damage to the +body politic. What we need is not vainly to try to prevent all combination, +but to secure such rigorous and adequate control and supervision of the +combinations as to prevent their injuring the public, or existing in such +form as inevitably to threaten injury--for the mere fact that a combination +has secured practically complete control of a necessary of life would under +any circumstances show that such combination was to be presumed to be +adverse to the public interest. It is unfortunate that our present laws +should forbid all combinations, instead of sharply discriminating between +those combinations which do good and those combinations which do evil. +Rebates, for instance, are as often due to the pressure of big shippers (as +was shown in the investigation of the Standard Oil Company and as has been +shown since by the investigation of the tobacco and sugar trusts) as to the +initiative of big railroads. Often railroads would like to combine for the +purpose of preventing a big shipper from maintaining improper advantages at +the expense of small shippers and of the general public. Such a +combination, instead of being forbidden by law, should be favored. In other +words, it should be permitted to railroads to make agreements, provided +these agreements were sanctioned by the Interstate Commerce Commission and +were published. With these two conditions complied with it is impossible to +see what harm such a combination could do to the public at large. It is a +public evil to have on the statute books a law incapable of full +enforcement because both judges and juries realize that its full +enforcement would destroy the business of the country; for the result is to +make decent railroad men violators of the law against their will, and to +put a premium on the behavior of the wilful wrongdoers. Such a result in +turn tends to throw the decent man and the wilful wrongdoer into close +association, and in the end to drag down the former to the latter's level; +for the man who becomes a lawbreaker in one way unhappily tends to lose all +respect for law and to be willing to break it in many ways. No more +scathing condemnation could be visited upon a law than is contained in the +words of the Interstate Commerce Commission when, in commenting upon the +fact that the numerous joint traffic associations do technically violate +the law, they say: "The decision of the United States Supreme Court in the +Trans-Missouri case and the Joint Traffic Association case has produced no +practical effect upon the railway operations of the country. Such +associations, in fact, exist now as they did before these decisions, and +with the same general effect. In justice to all parties, we ought probably +to add that it is difficult to see how our interstate railways could be +operated with due regard to the interest of the shipper and the railway +without concerted action of the kind afforded thru these associations." + +This means that the law as construed by the Supreme Court is such that the +business of the country can not be conducted without breaking it. I +recommend that you give careful and early consideration to this subject, +and if you find the opinion of the Interstate Commerce Commission +justified, that you amend the law so as to obviate the evil disclosed. + +The question of taxation is difficult in any country, but it is especially +difficult in ours with its Federal system of government. Some taxes should +on every ground be levied in a small district for use in that district. +Thus the taxation of real estate is peculiarly one for the immediate +locality in which the real estate is found. Again, there is no more +legitimate tax for any State than a tax on the franchises conferred by that +State upon street railroads and similar corporations which operate wholly +within the State boundaries, sometimes in one and sometimes in several +municipalities or other minor divisions of the State. But there are many +kinds of taxes which can only be levied by the General Government so as to +produce the best results, because, among other reasons, the attempt to +impose them in one particular State too often results merely in driving the +corporation or individual affected to some other locality or other State. +The National Government has long derived its chief revenue from a tariff on +imports and from an internal or excise tax. In addition to these there is +every reason why, when next our system of taxation is revised, the National +Government should impose a graduated inheritance tax, and, if possible, a +graduated income tax. The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to +the State, because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of +government. Not only should he recognize this obligation in the way he +leads his daily life and in the way he earns and spends his money, but it +should also be recognized by the way in which he pays for the protection +the State gives him. On the one hand, it is desirable that he should assume +his full and proper share of the burden of taxation; on the other hand, it +is quite as necessary that in this kind of taxation, where the men who vote +the tax pay but little of it, there should be clear recognition of the +danger of inaugurating any such system save in a spirit of entire justice +and moderation. Whenever we, as a people, undertake to remodel our taxation +system along the lines suggested, we must make it clear beyond peradventure +that our aim is to distribute the burden of supporting the Government more +equitably than at present; that we intend to treat rich man and poor man on +a basis of absolute equality, and that we regard it as equally fatal to +true democracy to do or permit injustice to the one as to do or permit +injustice to the other. + +I am well aware that such a subject as this needs long and careful study in +order that the people may become familiar with what is proposed to be done, +may clearly see the necessity of proceeding with wisdom and self-restraint, +and may make up their minds just how far they are willing to go in the +matter; while only trained legislators can work out the project in +necessary detail. But I feel that in the near future our national +legislators should enact a law providing for a graduated inheritance tax by +which a steadily increasing rate of duty should be put upon all moneys or +other valuables coming by gift, bequest, or devise to any individual or +corporation. It may be well to make the tax heavy in proportion as the +individual benefited is remote of kin. In any event, in my judgment the pro +rata of the tax should increase very heavily with the increase of the +amount left to any one individual after a certain point has been reached. +It is most desirable to encourage thrift and ambition, and a potent source +of thrift and ambition is the desire on the part of the breadwinner to +leave his children well off. This object can be attained by making the tax +very small on moderate amounts of property left; because the prime object +should be to put a constantly increasing burden on the inheritance of those +swollen fortunes which it is certainly of no benefit to this country to +perpetuate. + +There can be no question of the ethical propriety of the Government thus +determining the conditions upon which any gift or inheritance should be +received. Exactly how far the inheritance tax would, as an incident, have +the effect of limiting the transmission by devise or gift of the enormous +fortunes in question it is not necessary at present to discuss. It is wise +that progress in this direction should be gradual. At first a permanent +national inheritance tax, while it might be more substantial than any such +tax has hitherto been, need not approximate, either in amount or in the +extent of the increase by graduation, to what such a tax should ultimately +be. + +This species of tax has again and again been imposed, altho only +temporarily, by the National Government. It was first imposed by the act of +July 6, 1797, when the makers of the Constitution were alive and at the +head of affairs. It was a graduated tax; tho small in amount, the rate was +increased with the amount left to any individual, exceptions being made in +the case of certain close kin. A similar tax was again imposed by the act +of July 1, 1862; a minimum sum of one thousand dollars in personal property +being excepted from taxation, the tax then becoming progressive according +to the remoteness of kin. The war-revenue act of June 13, 1898, provided +for an inheritance tax on any sum exceeding the value of ten thousand +dollars, the rate of the tax increasing both in accordance with the amounts +left and in accordance with the legatee's remoteness of kin. The Supreme +Court has held that the succession tax imposed at the time of the Civil War +was not a direct tax but an impost or excise which was both constitutional +and valid. More recently the Court, in an opinion delivered by Mr. Justice +White, which contained an exceedingly able and elaborate discussion of the +powers of the Congress to impose death duties, sustained the +constitutionality of the inheritance-tax feature of the war-revenue act of +1898. + +In its incidents, and apart from the main purpose of raising revenue, an +income tax stands on an entirely different footing from an inheritance tax; +because it involves no question of the perpetuation of fortunes swollen to +an unhealthy size. The question is in its essence a question of the proper +adjustment of burdens to benefits. As the law now stands it is undoubtedly +difficult to devise a national income tax which shall be constitutional. +But whether it is absolutely impossible is another question; and if +possible it is most certainly desirable. The first purely income-tax law +was past by the Congress in 1861, but the most important law dealing with +the subject was that of 1894. This the court held to be unconstitutional. + +The question is undoubtedly very intricate, delicate, and troublesome. The +decision of the court was only reached by one majority. It is the law of +the land, and of course is accepted as such and loyally obeyed by all good +citizens. Nevertheless, the hesitation evidently felt by the court as a +whole in coming to a conclusion, when considered together with the previous +decisions on the subject, may perhaps indicate the possibility of devising +a constitutional income-tax law which shall substantially accomplish the +results aimed at. The difficulty of amending the Constitution is so great +that only real necessity can justify a resort thereto. Every effort should +be made in dealing with this subject, as with the subject of the proper +control by the National Government over the use of corporate wealth in +interstate business, to devise legislation which without such action shall +attain the desired end; but if this fails, there will ultimately be no +alternative to a constitutional amendment. + +It would be impossible to overstate (tho it is of course difficult +quantitatively to measure) the effect upon a nation's growth to greatness +of what may be called organized patriotism, which necessarily includes the +substitution of a national feeling for mere local pride; with as a +resultant a high ambition for the whole country. No country can develop its +full strength so long as the parts which make up the whole each put a +feeling of loyalty to the part above the feeling of loyalty to the whole. +This is true of sections and it is just as true of classes. The industrial +and agricultural classes must work together, capitalists and wageworkers +must work together, if the best work of which the country is capable is to +be done. It is probable that a thoroly efficient system of education comes +next to the influence of patriotism in bringing about national success of +this kind. Our federal form of government, so fruitful of advantage to our +people in certain ways, in other ways undoubtedly limits our national +effectiveness. It is not possible, for instance, for the National +Government to take the lead in technical industrial education, to see that +the public school system of this country develops on all its technical, +industrial, scientific, and commercial sides. This must be left primarily +to the several States. Nevertheless, the National Government has control of +the schools of the District of Columbia, and it should see that these +schools promote and encourage the fullest development of the scholars in +both commercial and industrial training. The commercial training should in +one of its branches deal with foreign trade. The industrial training is +even more important. It should be one of our prime objects as a Nation, so +far as feasible, constantly to work toward putting the mechanic, the +wageworker who works with his hands, on a higher plane of efficiency and +reward, so as to increase his effectiveness in the economic world, and the +dignity, the remuneration, and the power of his position in the social +world. Unfortunately, at present the effect of some of the work in the +public schools is in the exactly opposite direction. If boys and girls are +trained merely in literary accomplishments, to the total exclusion of +industrial, manual, and technical training, the tendency is to unfit them +for industrial work and to make them reluctant to go into it, or unfitted +to do well if they do go into it. This is a tendency which should be +strenuously combated. Our industrial development depends largely upon +technical education, including in this term all industrial education, from +that which fits a man to be a good mechanic, a good carpenter, or +blacksmith, to that which fits a man to do the greatest engineering feat. +The skilled mechanic, the skilled workman, can best become such by +technical industrial education. The far-reaching usefulness of institutes +of technology and schools of mines or of engineering is now universally +acknowledged, and no less far--reaching is the effect of a good building or +mechanical trades school, a textile, or watch-making, or engraving school. +All such training must develop not only manual dexterity but industrial +intelligence. In international rivalry this country does not have to fear +the competition of pauper labor as much as it has to fear the educated +labor of specially trained competitors; and we should have the education of +the hand, eye, and brain which will fit us to meet such competition. + +In every possible way we should help the wageworker who toils with his +hands and who must (we hope in a constantly increasing measure) also toil +with his brain. Under the Constitution the National Legislature can do but +little of direct importance for his welfare save where he is engaged in +work which permits it to act under the interstate commerce clause of the +Constitution; and this is one reason why I so earnestly hope that both the +legislative and judicial branches of the Government will construe this +clause of the Constitution in the broadest possible manner. We can, +however, in such a matter as industrial training, in such a matter as child +labor and factory laws, set an example to the States by enacting the most +advanced legislation that can wisely be enacted for the District of +Columbia. + +The only other persons whose welfare is as vital to the welfare of the +whole country as is the welfare of the wageworkers are the tillers of the +soil, the farmers. It is a mere truism to say that no growth of cities, no +growth of wealth, no industrial development can atone for any falling off +in the character and standing of the farming population. During the last +few decades this fact has been recognized with ever-increasing clearness. +There is no longer any failure to realize that farming, at least in certain +branches, must become a technical and scientific profession. This means +that there must be open to farmers the chance for technical and scientific +training, not theoretical merely but of the most severely practical type. +The farmer represents a peculiarly high type of American citizenship, and +he must have the same chance to rise and develop as other American citizens +have. Moreover, it is exactly as true of the farmer, as it is of the +business man and the wageworker, that the ultimate success of the Nation of +which he forms a part must be founded not alone on material prosperity but +upon high moral, mental, and physical development. This education of the +farmer--self-education by preference but also education from the outside, +as with all other men--is peculiarly necessary here in the United States, +where the frontier conditions even in the newest States have now nearly +vanished, where there must be a substitution of a more intensive system of +cultivation for the old wasteful farm management, and where there must be a +better business organization among the farmers themselves. + +Several factors must cooperate in the improvement of the farmer's +condition. He must have the chance to be educated in the widest possible +sense--in the sense which keeps ever in view the intimate relationship +between the theory of education and the facts of life. In all education we +should widen our aims. It is a good thing to produce a certain number of +trained scholars and students; but the education superintended by the State +must seek rather to produce a hundred good citizens than merely one +scholar, and it must be turned now and then from the class book to the +study of the great book of nature itself. This is especially true of the +farmer, as has been pointed out again and again by all observers most +competent to pass practical judgment on the problems of our country life. +All students now realize that education must seek to train the executive +powers of young people and to confer more real significance upon the phrase +"dignity of labor," and to prepare the pupils so that, in addition to each +developing in the highest degree his individual capacity for work, they may +together help create a right public opinion, and show in many ways social +and cooperative spirit. Organization has become necessary in the business +world; and it has accomplished much for good in the world of labor. It is +no less necessary for farmers. Such a movement as the grange movement is +good in itself and is capable of a well-nigh infinite further extension for +good so long as it is kept to its own legitimate business. The benefits to +be derived by the association of farmers for mutual advantage are partly +economic and partly sociological. + +Moreover, while in the long run voluntary efforts will prove more +efficacious than government assistance, while the farmers must primarily do +most for themselves, yet the Government can also do much. The Department of +Agriculture has broken new ground in many directions, and year by year it +finds how it can improve its methods and develop fresh usefulness. Its +constant effort is to give the governmental assistance in the most +effective way; that is, thru associations of farmers rather than to or thru +individual farmers. It is also striving to coordinate its work with the +agricultural departments of the several States, and so far as its own work +is educational to coordinate it with the work of other educational +authorities. Agricultural education is necessarily based upon general +education, but our agricultural educational institutions are wisely +specializing themselves, making their courses relate to the actual teaching +of the agricultural and kindred sciences to young country people or young +city people who wish to live in the country. + +Great progress has already been made among farmers by the creation of +farmers' institutes, of dairy associations, of breeders' associations, +horticultural associations, and the like. A striking example of how the +Government and the farmers can cooperate is shown in connection with the +menace offered to the cotton growers of the Southern States by the advance +of the boll weevil. The Department is doing all it can to organize the +farmers in the threatened districts, just as it has been doing all it can +to organize them in aid of its work to eradicate the cattle fever tick in +the South. The Department can and will cooperate with all such +associations, and it must have their help if its own work is to be done in +the most efficient style. + +Much is now being done for the States of the Rocky Mountains and Great +Plains thru the development of the national policy of irrigation and forest +preservation; no Government policy for the betterment of our internal +conditions has been more fruitful of good than this. The forests of the +White Mountains and Southern Appalachian regions should also be preserved; +and they can not be unless the people of the States in which they lie, thru +their representatives in the Congress, secure vigorous action by the +National Government. + +I invite the attention of the Congress to the estimate of the Secretary of +War for an appropriation to enable him to begin the preliminary work for +the construction of a memorial amphitheater at Arlington. The Grand Army of +the Republic in its national encampment has urged the erection of such an +amphitheater as necessary for the proper observance Of Memorial Day and as +a fitting monument to the soldier and sailor dead buried there. In this I +heartily concur and commend the matter to the favorable consideration of +the Congress. + +I am well aware of how difficult it is to pass a constitutional amendment. +Nevertheless in my judgment the whole question of marriage and divorce +should be relegated to the authority of the National Congress. At present +the wide differences in the laws of the different States on this subject +result in scandals and abuses; and surely there is nothing so vitally +essential to the welfare of the nation, nothing around which the nation +should so bend itself to throw every safeguard, as the home life of the +average citizen. The change would be good from every standpoint. In +particular it would be good because it would confer on the Congress the +power at once to deal radically and efficiently with polygamy; and this +should be done whether or not marriage and divorce are dealt with. It is +neither safe nor proper to leave the question of polygamy to be dealt with +by the several States. Power to deal with it should be conferred on the +National Government. + +When home ties are loosened; when men and women cease to regard a worthy +family life, with all its duties fully performed, and all its +responsibilities lived up to, as the life best worth living; then evil days +for the commonwealth are at hand. There are regions in our land, and +classes of our population, where the birth rate has sunk below the death +rate. Surely it should need no demonstration to show that wilful sterility +is, from the standpoint of the nation, from the standpoint of the human +race, the one sin for which the penalty is national death, race death; a +sin for which there is no atonement; a sin which is the more dreadful +exactly in proportion as the men and women guilty thereof are in other +respects, in character, and bodily and mental powers, those whom for the +sake of the state it would be well to see the fathers and mothers of many +healthy children, well brought up in homes made happy by their presence. No +man, no woman, can shirk the primary duties of life, whether for love of +ease and pleasure, or for any other cause, and retain his or her +self-respect. + +Let me once again call the attention of the Congress to two subjects +concerning which I have frequently before communicated with them. One is +the question of developing American shipping. I trust that a law embodying +in substance the views, or a major part of the views, exprest in the report +on this subject laid before the House at its last session will be past. I +am well aware that in former years objectionable measures have been +proposed in reference to the encouragement of American shipping; but it +seems to me that the proposed measure is as nearly unobjectionable as any +can be. It will of course benefit primarily our seaboard States, such as +Maine, Louisiana, and Washington; but what benefits part of our people in +the end benefits all; just as Government aid to irrigation and forestry in +the West is really of benefit, not only to the Rocky Mountain States, but +to all our country. If it prove impracticable to enact a law for the +encouragement of shipping generally, then at least provision should be made +for better communication with South America, notably for fast mail lines to +the chief South American ports. It is discreditable to us that our business +people, for lack of direct communication in the shape of lines of steamers +with South America, should in that great sister continent be at a +disadvantage compared to the business people of Europe. + +I especially call your attention to the second subject, the condition of +our currency laws. The national bank act has ably served a great purpose in +aiding the enormous business development of the country; and within ten +years there has been an increase in circulation per capita from $21.41 to +$33.08. For several years evidence has been accumulating that additional +legislation is needed. The recurrence of each crop season emphasizes the +defects of the present laws. There must soon be a revision of them, because +to leave them as they are means to incur liability of business disaster. +Since your body adjourned there has been a fluctuation in the interest on +call money from 2 per cent to 30 per cent; and the fluctuation was even +greater during the preceding six months. The Secretary of the Treasury had +to step in and by wise action put a stop to the most violent period of +oscillation. Even worse than such fluctuation is the advance in commercial +rates and the uncertainty felt in the sufficiency of credit even at high +rates. All commercial interests suffer during each crop period. Excessive +rates for call money in New York attract money from the interior banks into +the speculative field; this depletes the fund that would otherwise be +available for commercial uses, and commercial borrowers are forced to pay +abnormal rates; so that each fall a tax, in the shape of increased interest +charges, is placed on the whole commerce of the country. + +The mere statement of these has shows that our present system is seriously +defective. There is need of a change. Unfortunately, however, many of the +proposed changes must be ruled from consideration because they are +complicated, are not easy of comprehension, and tend to, disturb existing +rights and interests. We must also rule out any plan which would materially +impair the value of the United States 2 per cent bonds now pledged to +secure circulations, the issue of which was made under conditions +peculiarly creditable to the Treasury. I do not press any especial plan. +Various plans have recently been proposed by expert committees of bankers. +Among the plans which are possibly feasible and which certainly should +receive your consideration is that repeatedly brought to your attention by +the present Secretary of the Treasury, the essential features of which have +been approved by many prominent bankers and business men. According to this +plan national banks should be permitted to issue a specified proportion of +their capital in notes of a given kind, the issue to be taxed at so high a +rate as to drive the notes back when not wanted in legitimate trade. This +plan would not permit the issue of currency to give banks additional +profits, but to meet the emergency presented by times of stringency. + +I do not say that this is the right system. I only advance it to emphasize +my belief that there is need for the adoption of some system which shall be +automatic and open to all sound banks, so as to avoid all possibility of +discrimination and favoritism. Such a plan would tend to prevent the spasms +of high money and speculation which now obtain in the New York market; for +at present there is too much currency at certain seasons of the year, and +its accumulation at New York tempts bankers to lend it at low rates for +speculative purposes; whereas at other times when the crops are being moved +there is urgent need for a large but temporary increase in the currency +supply. It must never be forgotten that this question concerns business men +generally quite as much as bankers; especially is this true of stockmen, +farmers, and business men in the West; for at present at certain seasons of +the year the difference in interest rates between the East and the West is +from 6 to 10 per cent, whereas in Canada the corresponding difference is +but 2 per cent. Any plan must, of course, guard the interests of western +and southern bankers as carefully as it guards the interests of New York or +Chicago bankers; and must be drawn from the standpoints of the farmer and +the merchant no less than from the standpoints of the city banker and the +country banker. + +The law should be amended so as specifically to provide that the funds +derived from customs duties may be treated by the Secretary of the Treasury +as he treats funds obtained under the internal-revenue laws. There should +be a considerable increase in bills of small denominations. Permission +should be given banks, if necessary under settled restrictions, to retire +their circulation to a larger amount than three millions a month. + +I most earnestly hope that the bill to provide a lower tariff for or else +absolute free trade in Philippine products will become a law. No harm will +come to any American industry; and while there will be some small but real +material benefit to the Filipinos, the main benefit will come by the +showing made as to our purpose to do all in our power for their welfare. So +far our action in the Philippines has been abundantly justified, not mainly +and indeed not primarily because of the added dignity it has given us as a +nation by proving that we are capable honorably and efficiently to bear the +international burdens which a mighty people should bear, but even more +because of the immense benefit that has come to the people of the +Philippine Islands. In these islands we are steadily introducing both +liberty and order, to a greater degree than their people have ever before +known. We have secured justice. We have provided an efficient police force, +and have put down ladronism. Only in the islands of Leyte and Samar is the +authority of our Government resisted and this by wild mountain tribes under +the superstitious inspiration of fakirs and pseudo-religions leaders. We +are constantly increasing the measure of liberty accorded the islanders, +and next spring, if conditions warrant, we shall take a great stride +forward in testing their capacity for self-government by summoning the +first Filipino legislative assembly; and the way in which they stand this +test will largely determine whether the self-government thus granted will +be increased or decreased; for if we have erred at all in the Philippines +it has been in proceeding too rapidly in the direction of granting a large +measure of self-government. We are building roads. We have, for the +immeasurable good of the people, arranged for the building of railroads. +Let us also see to it that they are given free access to our markets. This +nation owes no more imperative duty to itself and mankind than the duty of +managing the affairs of all the islands under the American flag--the +Philippines, Porto Rico, and Hawaii--so as to make it evident that it is in +every way to their advantage that the flag should fly over them. + +American citizenship should be conferred on the citizens of Porto Rico. The +harbor of San Juan in Porto Rico should be dredged and improved. The +expenses of the federal court of Porto Rico should be met from the Federal +Treasury. The administration of the affairs of Porto Rico, together with +those of the Philippines, Hawaii, and our other insular possessions, should +all be directed under one executive department; by preference the +Department of State or the Department of War. + +The needs of Hawaii are peculiar; every aid should be given the islands; +and our efforts should be unceasing to develop them along the lines of a +community of small freeholders, not of great planters with coolie-tilled +estates. Situated as this Territory is, in the middle of the Pacific, there +are duties imposed upon this small community which do not fall in like +degree or manner upon any other American community. This warrants our +treating it differently from the way in which we treat Territories +contiguous to or surrounded by sister Territories or other States, and +justifies the setting aside of a portion of our revenues to be expended for +educational and internal improvements therein. Hawaii is now making an +effort to secure immigration fit in the end to assume the duties and +burdens of full American citizenship, and whenever the leaders in the +various industries of those islands finally adopt our ideals and heartily +join our administration in endeavoring to develop a middle class of +substantial citizens, a way will then be found to deal with the commercial +and industrial problems which now appear to them so serious. The best +Americanism is that which aims for stability and permanency of prosperous +citizenship, rather than immediate returns on large masses of capital. + +Alaska's needs have been partially met, but there must be a complete +reorganization of the governmental system, as I have before indicated to +you. I ask your especial attention to this. Our fellow-citizens who dwell +on the shores of Puget Sound with characteristic energy are arranging to +hold in Seattle the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition. Its special aims +include the upbuilding of Alaska and the development of American commerce +on the Pacific Ocean. This exposition, in its purposes and scope, should +appeal not only to the people of the Pacific slope, but to the people of +the United States at large. Alaska since it was bought has yielded to the +Government eleven millions of dollars of revenue, and has produced nearly +three hundred millions of dollars in gold, furs, and fish. When properly +developed it will become in large degree a land of homes. The countries +bordering the Pacific Ocean have a population more numerous than that of +all the countries of Europe; their annual foreign commerce amounts to over +three billions of dollars, of which the share of the United States is some +seven hundred millions of dollars. If this trade were thoroly understood +and pushed by our manufacturers and producers, the industries not only of +the Pacific slope, but of all our country, and particularly of our +cotton-growing States, would be greatly benefited. Of course, in order to +get these benefits, we must treat fairly the countries with which we +trade. + +It is a mistake, and it betrays a spirit of foolish cynicism, to maintain +that all international governmental action is, and must ever be, based upon +mere selfishness, and that to advance ethical reasons for such action is +always a sign of hypocrisy. This is no more necessarily true of the action +of governments than of the action of individuals. It is a sure sign of a +base nature always to ascribe base motives for the actions of others. +Unquestionably no nation can afford to disregard proper considerations of +self-interest, any more than a private individual can so do. But it is +equally true that the average private individual in any really decent +community does many actions with reference to other men in which he is +guided, not by self-interest, but by public spirit, by regard for the +rights of others, by a disinterested purpose to do good to others, and to +raise the tone of the community as a whole. Similarly, a really great +nation must often act, and as a matter of fact often does act, toward other +nations in a spirit not in the least of mere self-interest, but paying heed +chiefly to ethical reasons; and as the centuries go by this +disinterestedness in international action, this tendency of the individuals +comprising a nation to require that nation to act with justice toward its +neighbors, steadily grows and strengthens. It is neither wise nor right for +a nation to disregard its own needs, and it is foolish--and may be +wicked--to think that other nations will disregard theirs. But it is wicked +for a nation only to regard its own interest, and foolish to believe that +such is the sole motive that actuates any other nation. It should be our +steady aim to raise the ethical standard of national action just as we +strive to raise the ethical standard of individual action. + +Not only must we treat all nations fairly, but we must treat with justice +and good will all immigrants who come here under the law. Whether they are +Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile; whether they come from England or +Germany, Russia, Japan, or Italy, matters nothing. All we have a right to +question is the man's conduct. If he is honest and upright in his dealings +with his neighbor and with the State, then he is entitled to respect and +good treatment. Especially do we need to remember our duty to the stranger +within our gates. It is the sure mark of a low civilization, a low +morality, to abuse or discriminate against or in any way humiliate such +stranger who has come here lawfully and who is conducting himself properly. +To remember this is incumbent on every American citizen, and it is of +course peculiarly incumbent on every Government official, whether of the +nation or of the several States. + +I am prompted to say this by the attitude of hostility here and there +assumed toward the Japanese in this country. This hostility is sporadic and +is limited to a very few places. Nevertheless, it is most discreditable to +us as a people, and it may be fraught with the gravest consequences to the +nation. The friendship between the United States and Japan has been +continuous since the time, over half a century ago, when Commodore Perry, +by his expedition to Japan, first opened the islands to western +civilization. Since then the growth of Japan has been literally astounding. +There is not only nothing to parallel it, but nothing to approach it in the +history of civilized mankind. Japan has a glorious and ancient past. Her +civilization is older than that of the nations of northern Europe--the +nations from whom the people of the United States have chiefly sprung. But +fifty years ago Japan's development was still that of the Middle Ages. +During that fifty years the progress of the country in every walk in life +has been a marvel to mankind, and she now stands as one of the greatest of +civilized nations; great in the arts of war and in the arts of peace; great +in military, in industrial, in artistic development and achievement. +Japanese soldiers and sailors have shown themselves equal in combat to any +of whom history makes note. She has produced great generals and mighty +admirals; her fighting men, afloat and ashore, show all the heroic courage, +the unquestioning, unfaltering loyalty, the splendid indifference to +hardship and death, which marked the Loyal Ronins; and they show also that +they possess the highest ideal of patriotism. Japanese artists of every +kind see their products eagerly sought for in all lands. The industrial and +commercial development of Japan has been phenomenal; greater than that of +any other country during the same period. At the same time the advance in +science and philosophy is no less marked. The admirable management of the +Japanese Red Cross during the late war, the efficiency and humanity of the +Japanese officials, nurses, and doctors, won the respectful admiration of +all acquainted with the facts. Thru the Red Cross the Japanese people sent +over $100,000 to the sufferers of San Francisco, and the gift was accepted +with gratitude by our people. The courtesy of the Japanese, nationally and +individually, has become proverbial. To no other country has there been +such an increasing number of visitors from this land as to Japan. In +return, Japanese have come here in great numbers. They are welcome, +socially and intellectually, in all our colleges and institutions of higher +learning, in all our professional and social bodies. The Japanese have won +in a single generation the right to stand abreast of the foremost and most +enlightened peoples of Europe and America; they have won on their own +merits and by their own exertions the right to treatment on a basis of full +and frank equality. The overwhelming mass of our people cherish a lively +regard and respect for the people of Japan, and in almost every quarter of +the Union the stranger from Japan is treated as he deserves; that is, he is +treated as the stranger from any part of civilized Europe is and deserves +to be treated. But here and there a most unworthy feeling has manifested +itself toward the Japanese--the feeling that has been shown in shutting +them out from the common schools in San Francisco, and in mutterings +against them in one or two other places, because of their efficiency as +workers. To shut them out from the public schools is a wicked absurdity, +when there are no first-class colleges in the land, including the +universities and colleges of California, which do not gladly welcome +Japanese students and on which Japanese students do not reflect credit. We +have as much to learn from Japan as Japan has to learn from us; and no +nation is fit to teach unless it is also willing to learn. Thruout Japan +Americans are well treated, and any failure on the part of Americans at +home to treat the Japanese with a like courtesy and consideration is by +just so much a confession of inferiority in our civilization. + +Our nation fronts on the Pacific, just as it fronts on the Atlantic. We +hope to play a constantly growing part in the great ocean of the Orient. We +wish, as we ought to wish, for a great commercial development in our +dealings with Asia; and it is out of the question that we should +permanently have such development unless we freely and gladly extend to +other nations the same measure of justice and good treatment which we +expect to receive in return. It is only a very small body of our citizens +that act badly. Where the Federal Government has power it will deal +summarily with any such. Where the several States have power I earnestly +ask that they also deal wisely and promptly with such conduct, or else this +small body of wrongdoers may bring shame upon the great mass of their +innocent and right-thinking fellows--that is, upon our nation as a whole. +Good manners should be an international no less than an individual +attribute. I ask fair treatment for the Japanese as I would ask fair +treatment for Germans or Englishmen, Frenchmen, Russians, or Italians. I +ask it as due to humanity and civilization. I ask it as due to ourselves +because we must act uprightly toward all men. + +I recommend to the Congress that an act be past specifically providing for +the naturalization of Japanese who come here intending to become American +citizens. One of the great embarrassments attending the performance of our +international obligations is the fact that the Statutes of the United +States are entirely inadequate. They fail to give to the National +Government sufficiently ample power, thru United States courts and by the +use of the Army and Navy, to protect aliens in the rights secured to them +under solemn treaties which are the law of the land. I therefore earnestly +recommend that the criminal and civil statutes of the United States be so +amended and added to as to enable the President, acting for the United +States Government, which is responsible in our international relations, to +enforce the rights of aliens under treaties. Even as the law now is +something can be done by the Federal Government toward this end, and in the +matter now before me affecting the Japanese everything that it is in my +power to do will be done, and all of the forces, military and civil, of the +United States which I may lawfully employ will be so employed. There +should, however, be no particle of doubt as to the power of the National +Government completely to perform and enforce its own obligations to other +nations. The mob of a single city may at any time perform acts of lawless +violence against some class of foreigners which would plunge us into war. +That city by itself would be powerless to make defense against the foreign +power thus assaulted, and if independent of this (Government it would never +venture to perform or permit the performance of the acts complained of. The +entire power and the whole duty to protect the offending city or the +offending community lies in the hands of the United States Government. It +is unthinkable that we should continue a policy under which a given +locality may be allowed to commit a crime against a friendly nation, and +the United States Government limited, not to preventing the commission of +the crime, but, in the last resort, to defending the people who have +committed it against the consequences of their own wrongdoing. + +Last August an insurrection broke out in Cuba which it speedily grew +evident that the existing Cuban Government was powerless to quell. This +Government was repeatedly asked by the then Cuban Government to intervene, +and finally was notified by the President of Cuba that he intended to +resign; that his decision was irrevocable; that none of the other +constitutional officers would consent to carry on the Government, and that +he was powerless to maintain order. It was evident that chaos was +impending, and there was every probability that if steps were not +immediately taken by this Government to try to restore order the +representatives of various European nations in the island would apply to +their respective governments for armed intervention in order to protect the +lives and property of their citizens. Thanks to the preparedness of our +Navy, I was able immediately to send enough ships to Cuba to prevent the +situation from becoming hopeless; and I furthermore dispatched to Cuba the +Secretary of War and the Assistant Secretary of State, in order that they +might grapple with the situation on the ground. All efforts to secure an +agreement between the contending factions, by which they should themselves +come to an amicable understanding and settle upon some modus vivendi--some +provisional government of their own--failed. Finally the President of the +Republic resigned. The quorum of Congress assembled failed by deliberate +purpose of its members, so that there was no power to act on his +resignation, and the Government came to a halt. In accordance with the +so-called Platt amendment, which was embodied in the constitution of Cuba, +I thereupon proclaimed a provisional government for the island, the +Secretary of War acting as provisional governor until he could be replaced +by Mr. Magoon, the late minister to Panama and governor of the Canal Zone +on the Isthmus; troops were sent to support them and to relieve the Navy, +the expedition being handled with most satisfactory speed and efficiency. +The insurgent chiefs immediately agreed that their troops should lay down +their arms and disband; and the agreement was carried out. The provisional +government has left the personnel of the old government and the old laws, +so far as might be, unchanged, and will thus administer the island for a +few months until tranquillity. can be restored, a new election properly +held, and a new government inaugurated. Peace has come in the island; and +the harvesting of the sugar-cane crop, the great crop of the island, is +about to proceed. + +When the election has been held and the new government inaugurated in +peaceful and orderly fashion the provisional government will come to an +end. I take this opportunity of expressing upon behalf of the American +people, with all possible solemnity, our most earnest hope that the people +of Cuba will realize the imperative need of preserving justice and keeping +order in the Island. The United States wishes nothing of Cuba except that +it shall prosper morally and materially, and wishes nothing of the Cubans +save that they shall be able to preserve order among themselves and +therefore to preserve their independence. If the elections become a farce, +and if the insurrectionary habit becomes confirmed in the Island, it is +absolutely out of the question that the Island should continue independent; +and the United States, which has assumed the sponsorship before the +civilized world for Cuba's career as a nation, would again have to +intervene and to see that the government was managed in such orderly +fashion as to secure the safety cf life and property. The path to be +trodden by those who exercise self-government is always hard, and we should +have every charity and patience with the Cubans as they tread this +difficult path. I have the utmost sympathy with, and regard for, them; but +I most earnestly adjure them solemnly to weigh their responsibilities and +to see that when their new government is started it shall run smoothly, and +with freedom from flagrant denial of right on the one hand, and from +insurrectionary disturbances on the other. + +The Second International Conference of American Republics, held in Mexico +in the years 1901-2, provided for the holding of the third conference +within five years, and committed the fixing of the time and place and the +arrangements for the conference to the governing board of the Bureau of +American Republics, composed of the representatives of all the American +nations in Washington. That board discharged the duty imposed upon it with +marked fidelity and painstaking care, and upon the courteous invitation of +the United States of Brazil the conference was held at Rio de Janeiro, +continuing from the 23d of July to the 29th of August last. Many subjects +of common interest to all the American nations were discust by the +conference, and the conclusions reached, embodied in a series of +resolutions and proposed conventions, will be laid before you upon the +coming in of the final report of the American delegates. They contain many +matters of importance relating to the extension of trade, the increase of +communication, the smoothing away of barriers to free intercourse, and the +promotion of a better knowledge and good understanding between the +different countries represented. The meetings of the conference were +harmonious and the conclusions were reached with substantial unanimity. It +is interesting to observe that in the successive conferences which have +been held the representatives of the different American nations have been +learning' to work together effectively, for, while the First Conference in +Washington in 1889, and the Second Conference in Mexico in 1901-2, occupied +many months, with much time wasted in an unregulated and fruitless +discussion, the Third Conference at Rio exhibited much of the facility in +the practical dispatch of business which characterizes permanent +deliberative bodies, and completed its labors within the period of six +weeks originally allotted for its sessions. + +Quite apart from the specific value of the conclusions reached by the +conference, the example of the representatives of all the American nations +engaging in harmonious and kindly consideration and discussion of subjects +of common interest is itself of great and substantial value for the +promotion of reasonable and considerate treatment of all international +questions. The thanks of this country are due to the Government of Brazil +and to the people of Rio de Janeiro for the generous hospitality with which +our delegates, in common with the others, were received, entertained, and +facilitated in their work. + +Incidentally to the meeting of the conference, the Secretary of State +visited the city of Rio de Janeiro and was cordially received by the +conference, of which he was made an honorary president. The announcement of +his intention to make this visit was followed by most courteous and urgent +invitations from nearly all the countries of South America to visit them as +the guest of their Governments. It was deemed that by the acceptance of +these invitations we might appropriately express the real respect and +friendship in which we hold our sister Republics of the southern continent, +and the Secretary, accordingly, visited Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, +Peru, Panama, and Colombia. He refrained from visiting Paraguay, Bolivia, +and Ecuador only because the distance of their capitals from the seaboard +made it impracticable with the time at his disposal. He carried with him a +message of peace and friendship, and of strong desire for good +understanding and mutual helpfulness; and he was everywhere received in the +spirit of his message. The members of government, the press, the learned +professions, the men of business, and the great masses of the people united +everywhere in emphatic response to his friendly expressions and in doing +honor to the country and cause which he represented. + +In many parts of South America there has been much misunderstanding of the +attitude and purposes of the United States towards the other American +Republics. An idea had become prevalent that our assertion of the Monroe +Doctrine implied, or carried with it, an assumption of superiority, and of +a right to exercise some kind of protectorate over the countries to whose +territory that doctrine applies. Nothing could be farther from the truth. +Yet that impression continued to be a serious barrier to good +understanding, to friendly intercourse, to the introduction of American +capital and the extension of American trade. The impression was so +widespread that apparently it could not be reached by any ordinary means. + +It was part of Secretary Root's mission to dispel this unfounded +impression, and there is just cause to believe that he has succeeded. In an +address to the Third Conference at Rio on the 31st of July--an address of +such note that I send it in, together with this message--he said: + +"We wish for no victories but those of peace; for no territory except our +own; for no sovereignty except the sovereignty over ourselves. We deem the +independence and equal rights of the smallest and weakest member of the +family of nations entitled to as much respect as those of the greatest +empire, and we deem the observance of that respect the chief guaranty of +the weak against the oppression of the strong. We neither claim nor desire +any rights or privileges or powers that we do not freely concede to every +American Republic. We wish to increase our prosperity, to extend our trade, +to grow in wealth, in wisdom, and in spirit, but our conception of the true +way to accomplish this is not to pull down others and profit by their ruin, +but to help all friends to a common prosperity and a common growth, that we +may all become greater and stronger together. Within a few months for the +first time the recognized possessors of every foot of soil upon the +American continents can be and I hope will be represented with the +acknowledged rights of equal sovereign states in the great World Congress +at The Hague. This will be the world's formal and final acceptance of the +declaration that no part of the American continents is to be deemed subject +to colonization. Let us pledge ourselves to aid each other in the full +performance of the duty to humanity which that accepted declaration +implies, so that in time the weakest and most unfortunate of our Republics +may come to march with equal step by the side of the stronger and more +fortunate. Let us help each other to show that for all the races of men the +liberty for which we have fought and labored is the twin sister of justice +and peace. Let us unite in creating and maintaining and making effective an +all-American public opinion, whose power shall influence international +conduct and prevent international wrong, and narrow the causes of war, and +forever preserve our free lands from the burden of such armaments as are +massed behind the frontiers of Europe, and bring us ever nearer to the +perfection of ordered liberty. So shall come security and prosperity, +production and trade, wealth, learning, the arts, and happiness for us +all." + +These words appear to have been received with acclaim in every part of +South America. They have my hearty approval, as I am sure they will have +yours, and I can not be wrong in the conviction that they correctly +represent the sentiments of the whole American people. I can not better +characterize the true attitude of the United States in its assertion of the +Monroe Doctrine than in the words of the distinguished former minister of +foreign affairs of Argentina, Doctor Drago, in his speech welcoming Mr. +Root at Buenos Ayres. He spoke of-- + +"The traditional policy of the United States (which) without accentuating +superiority or seeking preponderance, condemned the oppression of the +nations of this part of the world and the control of their destinies by the +great Powers of Europe." + +It is gratifying to know that in the great city of Buenos Ayres, upon the +arches which spanned the streets, entwined with Argentine and American +flags for the reception of our representative, there were emblazoned not' +only the names of Washington and Jefferson and Marshall, but also, in +appreciative recognition of their services to the cause of South American +independence, the names of James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and +Richard Rush. We take especial pleasure in the graceful courtesy of the +Government of Brazil, which has given to the beautiful and stately building +first used for the meeting of the conference the name of "Palacio Monroe." +Our grateful acknowledgments are due to the Governments and the people of +all the countries visited by the Secretary of State for the courtesy, the +friendship, and the honor shown to our country in their generous +hospitality to him. + +In my message to you on the 5th of December, 1905, I called your attention +to the embarrassment that might be caused to this Government by the +assertion by foreign nations of the right to collect by force of arms +contract debts due by American republics to citizens of the collecting +nation, and to the danger that the process of compulsory collection might +result in the occupation of territory tending to become permanent. I then +said: + +"Our own Government has always refused to enforce such contractual +obligations on behalf of its citizens by an appeal to arms. It is much to +be wisht that all foreign governments would take the same view." + +This subject was one of the topics of consideration at the conference at +Rio and a resolution was adopted by that conference recommending to the +respective governments represented "to consider the advisability of asking +the Second Peace Conference at The Hague to examine the question of the +compulsory collection of public debts, and, in general, means tending to +diminish among nations conflicts of purely pecuniary origin." + +This resolution was supported by the representatives of the United States +in accordance with the following instructions: + +"It has long been the established policy of the United States not to use +its armed forces for the collection of ordinary contract debts due to its +citizens by other governments. We have not considered the use of force for +such a purpose consistent with that respect for the independent sovereignty +of other members of the family of nations which is the most important +principle of international law and the chief protection of weak nations +against the oppression of the strong. It seems to us that the practise is +injurious in its general effect upon the relations of nations and upon the +welfare of weak and disordered states, whose development ought to be +encouraged in the interests of civilization; that it offers frequent +temptation to bullying and oppression and to unnecessary and unjustifiable +warfare. We regret that other powers, whose opinions and sense of justice +we esteem highly, have at times taken a different view and have permitted +themselves, tho we believe with reluctance, to collect such debts by force. +It is doubtless true that the non-payment of public debts may be +accompanied by such circumstances of fraud and wrongdoing or violation of +treaties as to justify the use of force. This Government would be glad to +see an international consideration of the subject which shall discriminate +between such cases and the simple nonperformance of a contract with a +private person, and a resolution in favor of reliance upon peaceful means +in cases of the latter class. + +"It is not felt, however, that the conference at Rio should undertake to +make such a discrimination or to resolve upon such a rule. Most of the +American countries are still debtor nations, while the countries of Europe +are the creditors. If the Rio conference, therefore, were to take such +action it would have the appearance of a meeting of debtors resolving how +their creditors should act, and this would not inspire respect. The true +course is indicated by the terms of the program, which proposes to request +the Second Hague Conference, where both creditors and debtors will be +assembled, to consider the subject." + +Last June trouble which had existed for some time between the Republics of +Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras culminated in war--a war which threatened +to be ruinous to the countries involved and very destructive to the +commercial interests of Americans, Mexicans, and other foreigners who are +taking an important part in the development of these countries. The thoroly +good understanding which exists between the United States and Mexico +enabled this Government and that of Mexico to unite in effective mediation +between the warring Republics; which mediation resulted, not without +long-continued and patient effort, in bringing about a meeting of the +representatives of the hostile powers on board a United States warship as +neutral territory, and peace was there concluded; a peace which resulted in +the saving of thousands of lives and in the prevention of an incalculable +amount of misery and the destruction of property and of the means of +livelihood. The Rio Conference past the following resolution in reference +to this action: + +"That the Third International American Conference shall address to the +Presidents of the United States of America and of the United States of +Mexico a note in which the conference which is being held at Rio expresses +its satisfaction at the happy results of their mediation for the +celebration of peace between the Republics of Guatemala, Honduras, and +Salvador." + +This affords an excellent example of one way in which the influence of the +United States can properly be exercised for the benefit of the peoples of +the Western Hemisphere; that is, by action taken in concert with other +American republics and therefore free from those suspicions and prejudices +which might attach if the action were taken by one alone. In this way it is +possible to exercise a powerful influence toward the substitution of +considerate action in the spirit of justice for the insurrectionary or +international violence which has hitherto been so great a hindrance to the +development of many of our neighbors. Repeated examples of united action by +several or many American republics in favor of peace, by urging cool and +reasonable, instead of excited and belligerent, treatment of international +controversies, can not fail to promote the growth of a general public +opinion among the American nations which will elevate the standards of +international action, strengthen the sense of international duty among +governments, and tell in favor of the peace of mankind. + +I have just returned from a trip to Panama and shall report to you at +length later on the whole subject of the Panama Canal. + +The Algeciras Convention, which was signed by the United States as well as +by most of the powers of Europe, supersedes the previous convention of +1880, which was also signed both by the United States and a majority of the +European powers. This treaty confers upon us equal commercial rights with +all European countries and does not entail a single obligation of any kind +upon us, and I earnestly hope it may be speedily ratified. To refuse to +ratify it would merely mean that we forfeited our commercial rights in +Morocco and would not achieve another object of any kind. In the event of +such refusal we would be left for the first time in a hundred and twenty +years without any commercial treaty with Morocco; and this at a time when +we are everywhere seeking new markets and outlets for trade. + +The destruction of the Pribilof Islands fur seals by pelagic sealing still +continues. The herd which, according to the surveys made in 1874 by +direction of the Congress, numbered 4,700,000, and which, according to the +survey of both American and Canadian commissioners in 1891, amounted to +1,000,000, has now been reduced to about 180,000. This result has been +brought about by Canadian and some other sealing vessels killing the female +seals while in the water during their annual pilgrimage to and from the +south, or in search of food. As a rule the female seal when killed is +pregnant, and also has an unweaned pup on land, so that, for each skin +taken by pelagic sealing, as a rule, three lives are destroyed--the mother, +the unborn offspring, and the nursing pup, which is left to starve to +death. No damage whatever is done to the herd by the carefully regulated +killing on land; the custom of pelagic sealing is solely responsible for +all of the present evil, and is alike indefensible from the economic +standpoint and from the standpoint of humanity. + +In 1896 over 16,000 young seals were found dead from starvation on the +Pribilof Islands. In 1897 it was estimated that since pelagic sealing began +upward of 400,000 adult female seals had been killed at sea, and over +300,000 young seals had died of starvation as the result. The revolting +barbarity of such a practise, as well as the wasteful destruction which it +involves, needs no demonstration and is its own condemnation. The Bering +Sea Tribunal, which sat in Paris in 1893, and which decided against the +claims of the United States to exclusive jurisdiction in the waters of +Bering Sea and to a property right in the fur seals when outside of the +three-mile limit, determined also upon certain regulations which the +Tribunal considered sufficient for the proper protection and preservation +of the fur seal. in, or habitually resorting to, the Bering Sea. The +Tribunal by its regulations established a close season, from the 1st of May +to the 31st of July, and excluded all killing in the waters within 60 miles +around the Pribilof Islands. They also provided that the regulations which +they had determined upon, with a view to the protection and preservation of +the seals, should be submitted every five years to new examination, so as +to enable both interested Governments to consider whether, in the light of +past experience, there was occasion for any modification thereof. + +The regulations have proved plainly inadequate to accomplish the object of +protection and preservation of the fur seals, and for a long time this +Government has been trying in vain to secure from Great Britain such +revision and modification of the regulations as were contemplated and +provided for by the award of the Tribunal of Paris. + +The process of destruction has been accelerated during recent years by the +appearance of a number of Japanese vessels engaged in pelagic sealing. As +these vessels have not been bound even by the inadequate limitations +prescribed by the Tribunal of Paris, they have paid no attention either to +the close season or to the sixty-mile limit imposed upon the Canadians, and +have prosecuted their work up to the very islands themselves. On July 16 +and 17 the crews from several Japanese vessels made raids upon the island +of St. Paul, and before they were beaten off by the very meager and +insufficiently armed guard, they succeeded in killing several hundred seals +and carrying off the skins of most of them. Nearly all the seals killed +were females and the work was done with frightful barbarity. Many of the +seals appear to have been skinned alive and many were found half skinned +and still alive. The raids were repelled only by the use of firearms, and +five of the raiders were killed, two were wounded, and twelve captured, +including the two wounded. Those captured have since been tried and +sentenced to imprisonment. An attack of this kind had been wholly unlookt +for, but such provision of vessels, arms, and ammunition will now be made +that its repetition will not be found profitable. + +Suitable representations regarding the incident have been made to the +Government of Japan, and we are assured that all practicable measures will +be taken by that country to prevent any recurrence of the outrage. On our +part, the guard on the island will be increased and better equipped and +organized, and a better revenue-cutter patrol service about the islands +will be established; next season a United States war vessel will also be +sent there. + +We have not relaxed our efforts to secure an agreement with Great Britain +for adequate protection of the seal herd, and negotiations with Japan for +the same purpose are in progress. + +The laws for the protection of the seals within the jurisdiction of the +United States need revision and amendment. Only the islands of St. Paul and +St. George are now, in terms, included in the Government reservation, and +the other islands are also to be included. The landing of aliens as well as +citizens upon the islands, without a permit from the Department of Commerce +and Labor, for any purpose except in case of stress of weather or for +water, should be prohibited under adequate penalties. The approach of +vessels for the excepted purposes should be regulated. The authority of the +Government agents on the islands should be enlarged, and the chief agent +should have the powers of a committing magistrate. The entrance of a vessel +into the territorial waters surrounding the islands with intent to take +seals should be made a criminal offense and cause of forfeiture. Authority +for seizures in such cases should be given and the presence on any such +vessel of seals or sealskins, or the paraphernalia for taking them, should +be made prima facie evidence of such intent. I recommend what legislation +is needed to accomplish these ends; and I commend to your attention the +report of Mr. Sims, of the Department of Commerce and Labor, on this +subject. + +In case we are compelled to abandon the hope of making arrangements with +other governments to put an end to the hideous cruelty now incident to +pelagic sealing, it will be a question for your serious consideration how +far we should continue to protect and maintain the seal herd on land with +the result of continuing such a practise, and whether it is not better to +end the practice by exterminating the herd ourselves in the most humane way +possible. + +In my last message I advised you that the Emperor of Russia had taken the +initiative in bringing about a second peace conference at The Hague. Under +the guidance of Russia the arrangement of the preliminaries for such a +conference has been progressing during the past year. Progress has +necessarily been slow, owing to the great number of countries to be +consulted upon every question that has arisen. It is a matter of +satisfaction that all of the American Republics have now, for the first +time, been invited to join in the proposed conference. + +The close connection between the subjects to be taken up by the Red Cross +Conference held at Geneva last summer and the subjects which naturally +would come before The Hague Conference made it apparent that it was +desirable to have the work of the Red Cross Conference completed and +considered by the different powers before the meeting at The Hague. The Red +Cross Conference ended its labors on the 6th day of July, and the revised +and amended convention, which was signed by the American delegates, will be +promptly laid before the Senate. + +By the special and highly appreciated courtesy of the Governments of Russia +and the Netherlands, a proposal to call The Hague Conference together at a +time which would conflict with the Conference of the American Republics at +Rio de Janeiro in August was laid aside. No other date has yet been +suggested. A tentative program for the conference has been proposed by the +Government of Russia, and the subjects which it enumerates are undergoing +careful examination and consideration in preparation for the conference. + +It must ever be kept in mind that war is not merely justifiable, but +imperative, upon honorable men, upon an honorable nation, where peace can +only be obtained by the sacrifice of conscientious conviction or of +national welfare. Peace is normally a great good, and normally it coincides +with righteousness; but it is righteousness and not peace which should bind +the conscience of a nation as it should bind the conscience of an +individual; and neither a nation nor an individual can surrender conscience +to another's keeping. Neither can a nation, which is an entity, and which +does not die as individuals die, refrain from taking thought for the +interest of the generations that are to come, no less than for the interest +of the generation of to-day; and no public men have a right, whether from +shortsightedness, from selfish indifference, or from sentimentality, to +sacrifice national interests which are vital in character. A just war is in +the long run far better for a nation's soul than the most prosperous peace +obtained by acquiescence in wrong or injustice. Moreover, tho it is +criminal for a nation not to prepare for war, so that it may escape the +dreadful consequences of being defeated in war, yet it must always be +remembered that even to be defeated in war may be far better than not to +have fought at all. As has been well and finely said, a beaten nation is +not necessarily a disgraced nation; but the nation or man is disgraced if +the obligation to defend right is shirked. + +We should as a nation do everything in our power for the cause of honorable +peace. It is morally as indefensible for a nation to commit a wrong upon +another nation, strong or weak, as for an individual thus to wrong his +fellows. We should do all in our power to hasten the day when there shall +be peace among the nations--a peace based upon justice and not upon +cowardly submission to wrong. We can accomplish a good deal in this +direction, but we can not accomplish everything, and the penalty of +attempting to do too much would almost inevitably be to do worse than +nothing; for it must be remembered that fantastic extremists are not in +reality leaders of the causes which they espouse, but are ordinarily those +who do most to hamper the real leaders of the cause and to damage the cause +itself. As yet there is no likelihood of establishing any kind of +international power, of whatever sort, which can effectively check +wrongdoing, and in these circumstances it would be both a foolish and an +evil thing for a great and free nation to deprive itself of the power to +protect its own rights and even in exceptional cases to stand up for the +rights of others. Nothing would more promote iniquity, nothing would +further defer the reign upon earth of peace and righteousness, than for the +free and enlightened peoples which, tho with much stumbling and many +shortcomings, nevertheless strive toward justice, deliberately to render +themselves powerless while leaving every despotism and barbarism armed and +able to work their wicked will. The chance for the settlement of disputes +peacefully, by arbitration, now depends mainly upon the possession by the +nations that mean to do right of sufficient armed strength to make their +purpose effective. + +The United States Navy is the surest guarantor of peace which this country +possesses. It is earnestly to be wisht that we would profit by the +teachings of history in this matter. A strong and wise people will study +its own failures no less than its triumphs, for there is wisdom to be +learned from the study of both, of the mistake as well as of the success. +For this purpose nothing could be more instructive than a rational study of +the war of 1812, as it is told, for instance, by Captain Mahan. There was +only one way in which that war could have been avoided. If during the +preceding twelve years a navy relatively as strong as that which this +country now has had been built up, and an army provided relatively as good +as that which the country now has, there never would have been the +slightest necessity of fighting the war; and if the necessity had arisen +the war would under such circumstances have ended with our speedy and +overwhelming triumph. But our people during those twelve years refused to +make any preparations whatever, regarding either the Army or the Navy. They +saved a million or two of dollars by so doing; and in mere money paid a +hundredfold for each million they thus saved during the three years of war +which followed--a war which brought untold suffering upon our people, which +at one time threatened the gravest national disaster, and which, in spite +of the necessity of waging it, resulted merely in what was in effect a +drawn battle, while the balance of defeat and triumph was almost even. + +I do not ask that we continue to increase our Navy. I ask merely that it be +maintained at its present strength; and this can be done only if we replace +the obsolete and outworn ships by new and good ones, the equals of any +afloat in any navy. To stop building ships for one year means that for that +year the Navy goes back instead of forward. The old battle ship Texas, for +instance, would now be of little service in a stand-up fight with a +powerful adversary. The old double-turret monitors have outworn their +usefulness, while it was a waste of money to build the modern single-turret +monitors. All these ships should be replaced by others; and this can be +done by a well-settled program of providing for the building each year of +at least one first-class battle ship equal in size and speed to any that +any nation is at the same time building; the armament presumably to consist +of as large a number as possible of very heavy guns of one caliber, +together with smaller guns to repel torpedo attack; while there should be +heavy armor, turbine engines, and in short, every modern device. Of course, +from time to time, cruisers, colliers, torpedo-boat destroyers or torpedo +boats, Will have to be built also. All this, be it remembered, would not +increase our Navy, but would merely keep it at its present strength. +Equally of course, the ships will be absolutely useless if the men aboard +them are not so trained that they can get the best possible service out of +the formidable but delicate and complicated mechanisms intrusted to their +care. The marksmanship of our men has so improved during the last five +years that I deem it within bounds to say that the Navy is more than twice +as efficient, ship for ship, as half a decade ago. The Navy can only attain +proper efficiency if enough officers and men are provided, and if these +officers and men are given the chance (and required to take advantage of +it) to stay continually at sea and to exercise the fleets singly and above +all in squadron, the exercise to be of every kind and to include unceasing +practise at the guns, conducted under conditions that will test +marksmanship in time of war. + +In both the Army and the Navy there is urgent need that everything possible +should be done to maintain the highest standard for the personnel, alike as +regards the officers and the enlisted men. I do not believe that in any +service there is a finer body of enlisted men and of junior officer than we +have in both the Army and the Navy, including the Marine Corps. All +possible encouragement to the enlisted men should be given, in pay and +otherwise, and everything practicable done to render the service attractive +to men of the right type. They should be held to the strictest discharge of +their duty, and in them a spirit should be encouraged which demands not the +mere performance of duty, but the performance of far more than duty, if it +conduces to the honor and the interest of the American nation; and in +return the amplest consideration should be theirs. + +West Point and Annapolis already turn out excellent officers. We do not +need to have these schools made more scholastic. On the contrary we should +never lose sight of the fact that the aim of each school is to turn out a +man who shall be above everything else a fighting man. In the Army in +particular it is not necessary that either the cavalry or infantry officer +should have special mathematical ability. Probably in both schools the best +part of the education is the high standard of character and of professional +morale which it confers. + +But in both services there is urgent need for the establishment of a +principle of selection which will eliminate men after a certain age if they +can not be promoted from the subordinate ranks, and which will bring into +the higher ranks fewer men, and these at an earlier age. This principle of +selection will be objected to by good men of mediocre capacity, who are +fitted to do well while young in the lower positions, but who are not +fitted to do well when at an advanced age they come into positions of +command and of great responsibility. But the desire of these men to be +promoted to positions which they are not competent to fill should not weigh +against the interest of the Navy and the country. At present our men, +especially in the Navy, are kept far too long in the junior grades, and +then, at much too advanced an age, are put quickly thru the senior grades, +often not attaining to these senior grades until they are too old to be of +real use in them; and if they are of real use, being put thru them so +quickly that little benefit to the Navy comes from their having been in +them at all. + +The Navy has one great advantage over the Army in the fact that the +officers of high rank are actually trained in the continual performance of +their duties; that is, in the management of the battle ships and armored +cruisers gathered into fleets. This is not true of the army officers, who +rarely have corresponding chances to exercise command over troops under +service conditions. The conduct of the Spanish war showed the lamentable +loss of life, the useless extravagance, and the inefficiency certain to +result, if during peace the high officials of the War and Navy Departments +are praised and rewarded only if they save money at no matter what cost to +the efficiency of the service, and if the higher officers are given no +chance whatever to exercise and practise command. For years prior to the +Spanish war the Secretaries of War were praised chiefly if they practised +economy; which economy, especially in connection with the quartermaster, +commissary, and medical departments, was directly responsible for most of +the mismanagement that occurred in the war itself--and parenthetically be +it observed that the very people who clamored for the misdirected economy +in the first place were foremost to denounce the mismanagement, loss, and +suffering which were primarily due to this same misdirected economy and to +the lack of preparation it involved. There should soon be an increase in +the number of men for our coast defenses; these men should be of the right +type and properly trained; and there should therefore be an increase of pay +for certain skilled grades, especially in the coast artillery. Money should +be appropriated to permit troops to be massed in body and exercised in +maneuvers, particularly in marching. Such exercise during the summer just +past has been of incalculable benefit to the Army and should under no +circumstances be discontinued. If on these practise marches and in these +maneuvers elderly officers prove unable to bear the strain, they should be +retired at once, for the fact is conclusive as to their unfitness for war; +that is, for the only purpose because of which they should be allowed to +stay in the service. It is a real misfortune to have scores of small +company or regimental posts scattered thruout the country; the Army should +be gathered in a few brigade or division posts; and the generals should be +practised in handling the men in masses. Neglect to provide for all of this +means to incur the risk of future disaster and disgrace. + +The readiness and efficiency of both the Army and Navy in dealing with the +recent sudden crisis in Cuba illustrate afresh their value to the Nation. +This readiness and efficiency would have been very much less had it not +been for the existence of the General Staff in the Army and the General +Board in the Navy; both are essential to the proper development and use of +our military forces afloat and ashore. The troops that were sent to Cuba +were handled flawlessly. It was the swiftest mobilization and dispatch of +troops over sea ever accomplished by our Government. The expedition landed +completely equipped and ready for immediate service, several of its +organizations hardly remaining in Havana over night before splitting up +into detachments and going to their several posts, It was a fine +demonstration of the value and efficiency of the General Staff. Similarly, +it was owing in large part to the General Board that the Navy was able at +the outset to meet the Cuban crisis with such instant efficiency; ship +after ship appearing on the shortest notice at any threatened point, while +the Marine Corps in particular performed indispensable service. The Army +and Navy War Colleges are of incalculable value to the two services, and +they cooperate with constantly increasing efficiency and importance. + +The Congress has most wisely provided for a National Board for the +promotion of rifle practise. Excellent results have already come from this +law, but it does not go far enough. Our Regular Army is so small that in +any great war we should have to trust mainly to volunteers; and in such +event these volunteers should already know how to shoot; for if a soldier +has the fighting edge, and ability to take care of himself in the open, his +efficiency on the line of battle is almost directly Proportionate to +excellence in marksmanship. We should establish shooting galleries in all +the large public and military schools, should maintain national target +ranges in different parts of the country, and should in every way encourage +the formation of rifle clubs thruout all parts of the land. The little +Republic of Switzerland offers us an excellent example in all matters +connected with building up an efficient citizen soldiery. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 3, 1907 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +No nation has greater resources than ours, and I think it can be truthfully +said that the citizens of no nation possess greater energy and industrial +ability. In no nation are the fundamental business conditions sounder than +in ours at this very moment; and it is foolish, when such is the case, for +people to hoard money instead of keeping it in sound banks; for it is such +hoarding that is the immediate occasion of money stringency. Moreover, as a +rule, the business of our people is conducted with honesty and probity, and +this applies alike to farms and factories, to railroads and banks, to all +our legitimate commercial enterprises. + +In any large body of men, however, there are certain to be some who are +dishonest, and if the conditions are such that these men prosper or commit +their misdeeds with impunity, their example is a very evil thing for the +community. Where these men are business men of great sagacity and of +temperament both unscrupulous and reckless, and where the conditions are +such that they act without supervision or control and at first without +effective check from public opinion, they delude many innocent people into +making investments or embarking in kinds of business that are really +unsound. When the misdeeds of these successfully dishonest men are +discovered, suffering comes not only upon them, but upon the innocent men +whom they have misled. It is a painful awakening, whenever it occurs; and, +naturally, when it does occur those who suffer are apt to forget that the +longer it was deferred the more painful it would be. In the effort to +punish the guilty it is both wise and proper to endeavor so far as possible +to minimize the distress of those who have been misled by the guilty. Yet +it is not possible to refrain because of such distress from striving to put +an end to the misdeeds that are the ultimate causes of the suffering, and, +as a means to this end, where possible to punish those responsible for +them. There may be honest differences of opinion as to many governmental +policies; but surely there can be no such differences as to the need of +unflinching perseverance in the war against successful dishonesty. + +In my Message to the Congress on December 5, 1905, I said: + +"If the folly of man mars the general well-being, then those who are +innocent of the folly will have to pay part of the penalty incurred by +those who are guilty of the folly. A panic brought on by the speculative +folly of part of the business community would hurt the whole business +community; but such stoppage of welfare, though it might be severe, would +not be lasting. In the long run, the one vital factor in the permanent +prosperity of the country is the high individual character of the average +American worker, the average American citizen, no matter whether his work +be mental or manual, whether he be farmer or wage-worker, business man or +professional man. + +"In our industrial and social system the interests of all men are so +closely intertwined that in the immense majority of cases a +straight-dealing man, who by his efficiency, by his ingenuity and industry, +benefits himself, must also benefit others. Normally, the man of great +productive capacity who becomes rich by guiding the labor of many other men +does so by enabling them to produce more than they could produce without +his guidance; and both he and they share in the benefit, which comes also +to the public at large. The superficial fact that the sharing may be +unequal must never blind us to the underlying fact that there is this +sharing, and that the benefit comes in some degree to each man concerned.. +Normally, the wageworker, the man of small means, and the average consumer, +as well as the average producer, are all alike helped by making conditions +such that the man of exceptional business ability receives an exceptional +reward for his ability Something can be done by legislation to help the +general prosperity; but no such help of a permanently beneficial character +can be given to the less able and less fortunate save as the results of a +policy which shall inure to the advantage of all industrious and efficient +people who act decently; and this is only another way of saying that any +benefit which comes to the less able and less fortunate must of necessity +come even more to the more able and more fortunate. If, therefore, the less +fortunate man is moved by envy of his more fortunate brother to strike at +the conditions under which they have both, though unequally, prospered, the +result will assuredly be that while damage may come to the one struck at, +it will visit with an even heavier load the one who strikes the blow. Taken +as a whole, we must all go up or go down together. + +"Yet, while not merely admitting, but insisting upon this, it is also true +that where there is no governmental restraint or supervision some of the +exceptional men use their energies, not in ways that are for the common +good, but in ways which tell against this common good. The fortunes amassed +through corporate organization are now so large, and vest such power in +those that wield them, as to make it a matter of necessity to give to the +sovereign--that is, to the Government, which represents the people as a +whole--some effective power of supervision over their corporate use. In +order to insure a healthy social and industrial life, every big corporation +should be held responsible by, and be accountable to, some sovereign strong +enough to control its conduct. I am in no sense hostile to corporations. +This is an age of combination, and any effort to prevent all combination +will be not only useless, but in the end vicious, because of the contempt +for law which the failure to enforce law inevitably produces. We should, +moreover, recognize in cordial and ample fashion the immense good effected +by corporate agencies in a country such as ours, and the wealth of +intellect, energy, and fidelity devoted to their service, and therefore +normally to the service of the public, by their officers and directors. The +corporation has come to stay, just as the trade union has come to stay. +Each can do and has done great good. Each should be favored so long as it +does good. But each should be sharply checked where it acts against law and +justice. + +"The makers of our National Constitution provided especially that the +regulation of interstate commerce should come within the sphere of the +General Government. The arguments in favor of their taking this stand were +even then overwhelming. But they are far stronger to-day, in view of the +enormous development of great business agencies, usually corporate in form. +Experience has shown conclusively that it is useless to try to get any +adequate regulation and supervision of these great corporations by State +action. Such regulation and supervision can only be effectively exercised +by a sovereign whose jurisdiction is coextensive with the field of work of +the corporations--that is, by the National Government. I believe that this +regulation and supervision can be obtained by the enactment of law by the +Congress. Our steady aim should be by legislation, cautiously and carefully +undertaken, but resolutely persevered in, to assert the sovereignty of the +National Government by affirmative action. + +"This is only in form an innovation. In substance it is merely a +restoration; for from the earliest time such regulation of industrial +activities has been recognized in the action of the lawmaking bodies; and +all that I propose is to meet the changed conditions in such manner as will +prevent the Commonwealth abdicating the power it has always possessed, not +only in this country, but also in England before and since this country +became a separate nation. + +"It has been a misfortune that the National laws on this subject have +hitherto been of a negative or prohibitive rather than an affirmative kind, +and still more that they have in part sought to prohibit what could not be +effectively prohibited, and have in part in their prohibitions confounded +what should be allowed and what should not be allowed. It is generally +useless to try to prohibit all restraint on competition, whether this +restraint be reasonable or unreasonable; and where it is not useless it is +generally hurtful. The successful prosecution of one device to evade the +law immediately develops another device to accomplish the same purpose. +What is needed is not sweeping prohibition of every arrangement, good or +bad, which may tend to restrict competition, but such adequate supervision +and regulation as will prevent any restriction of competition from being to +the detriment of the public, as well as such supervision and regulation as +will prevent other abuses in no way connected with restriction of +competition." + +I have called your attention in these quotations to what I have already +said because I am satisfied that it is the duty of the National Government +to embody in action the principles thus expressed. + +No small part of the trouble that we have comes from carrying to an extreme +the national virtue of self-reliance, of independence in initiative and +action. It is wise to conserve this virtue and to provide for its fullest +exercise, compatible with seeing that liberty does not become a liberty to +wrong others. Unfortunately, this is the kind of liberty that the lack of +all effective regulation inevitably breeds. founders of the Constitution +provided that the National Government should have complete and sole control +of interstate commerce. There was then practically no interstate business +save such as was conducted by water, and this the National Government at +once proceeded to regulate in thoroughgoing and effective fashion. +Conditions have now so wholly changed that the interstate commerce by water +is insignificant compared with the amount that goes by land, and almost all +big business concerns are now engaged in interstate commerce. As a result, +it can be but partially and imperfectly controlled or regulated by the +action of any one of the several States; such action inevitably tending to +be either too drastic or else too lax, and in either case ineffective for +purposes of justice. Only the National Government can in thoroughgoing +fashion exercise the needed control. This does not mean that there should +be any extension of Federal authority, for such authority already exists +under the Constitution in amplest and most far-reaching form; but it does +mean that there should be an extension of Federal activity. This is not +advocating centralization. It is merely looking facts in the face, and +realizing that centralization in business has already come and can not be +avoided or undone, and that the public at large can only protect itself +from certain evil effects of this business centralization by providing +better methods for the exercise of control through the authority already +centralized in the National Government by the Constitution itself. There +must be no ball in the healthy constructive course of action which this +Nation has elected to pursue, and has steadily pursued, during the last six +years, as shown both in the legislation of the Congress and the +administration of the law by the Department of Justice. The most vital need +is in connection with the railroads. As to these, in my judgment there +should now be either a national incorporation act or a law licensing +railway companies to engage in interstate commerce upon certain conditions. +The law should be so framed as to give to the Interstate Commerce +Commission power to pass upon the future issue of securities, while ample +means should be provided to enable the Commission, whenever in its judgment +it is necessary, to make a physical valuation of any railroad. As I stated +in my Message to the Congress a year ago, railroads should be given power +to enter into agreements, subject to these argreements being made public in +minute detail and to the consent of the Interstate Commerce Commission +being first obtained. Until the National Government assumes proper control +of interstate commerce, in the exercise of the authority it already +possesses, it will be impossible either to give to or to get from the +railroads full justice. The railroads and all other great corporations will +do well to recognize that this control must come; the only question is as +to what governmental body can most wisely exercise it. The courts will +determine the limits within which the Federal authority can exercise it, +and there will still remain ample work within each State for the railway +commission of that State; and the National Interstate Commerce Commission +will work in harmony with the several State commissions, each within its +own province, to achieve the desired end. + +Moreover, in my judgment there should be additional legislation looking to +the proper control of the great business concerns engaged in interstate +business, this control to be exercised for their own benefit and prosperity +no less than for the protection of investors and of the general public. As +I have repeatedly said in Messages to the Congress and elsewhere, +experience has definitely shown not merely the unwisdom but the futility of +endeavoring to put a stop to all business combinations. Modern industrial +conditions are such that combination is not only necessary but inevitable. +It is so in the world of business just as it is so in the world of labor, +and it is as idle to desire to put an end to all corporations, to all big +combinations of capital, as to desire to put an end to combinations of +labor. Corporation and labor union alike have come to stay. Each if +properly managed is a source of good and not evil. Whenever in either there +is evil, it should be promptly held to account; but it should receive +hearty encouragement so long as it is properly managed. It is profoundly +immoral to put or keep on the statute books a law, nominally in the +interest of public morality that really puts a premium upon public +immorality, by undertaking to forbid honest men from doing what must be +done under modern business conditions, so that the law itself provides that +its own infraction must be the condition precedent upon business success. +To aim at the accomplishment of too much usually means the accomplishment +of too little, and often the doing of positive damage. In my Message to the +Congress a year ago, in speaking of the antitrust laws, I said: + +"The actual working of our laws has shown that the effort to prohibit all +combination, good or bad, is noxious where it is not ineffective. +Combination of capital, like combination of labor, is a necessary element +in our present industrial system. It is not possible completely to prevent +it; and if it were possible, such complete prevention would do damage to +the body politic. What we need is not vainly to try to prevent all +combination, but to secure such rigorous and adequate control and +supervision of the combinations as to prevent their injuring the public, or +existing in such forms as inevitably to threaten injury. It is unfortunate +that our present laws should forbid all combinations instead of sharply +discriminating between those combinations which do evil. Often railroads +would like to combine for the purpose of preventing a big shipper from +maintaining improper advantages at the expense of small shippers and of the +general public. Such a combination, instead of being forbidden by law, +should be favored. It is a public evil to have on the statute books a law +incapable of full enforcement, because both judges and juries realize that +its full enforcement would destroy the business of the country; for the +result is to make decent men violators of the law against their will, and +to put a premium on the behavior of the willful wrongdoers. Such a result +in turn tends to throw the decent man and the willful wrongdoer into close +association, and in the end to drag clown the former to the latter's level; +for the man who becomes a lawbreaker in one way unhappily tends to lose all +respect for law and to be willing to break. it in many ways. No more +scathing condemnation could be visited upon a law than is contained in the +words of the Interstate Commerce Commission when, in commenting upon the +fact that the numerous joint traffic associations do technically violate +the law, they say: 'The decision of the United States Supreme Court in the +Trans-Missouri case and the Joint Traffic Association case has produced no +practical effect upon the railway operations of the country. Such +associations, in fact, exist now as they did before these decisions, and +with the same general effect. In justice to all parties, we ought probably +to add that it is difficult to see how our interstate railways could be +operated with due regard to the interest of the shipper and the railway +without concerted action of the kind afforded through these asociations.' + +"This means that the law as construed by the Supreme Court is such that the +business of the country can not be conducted without breaking it." + +As I have elsewhere said: + +'All this is substantially what I have said over and over again. Surely it +ought not to be necessary to say that it in no shape or way represents any +hostility to corporations as such. On the contrary, it means a frank +recognition of the fact that combinations of capital, like combinations of +labor, are a natural result of modern conditions and of our National +development. As far as in my ability lies my endeavor is and will be to +prevent abuse of power by either and to favor both so long as they do well. +The aim of the National Government is quite as much to favor and protect +honest corporations, honest business men of wealth, as to bring to justice +those individuals and corporations representing dishonest methods. Most +certainly there will be no relaxation by the Government authorities in the +effort to get at any great railroad wrecker--any man who by clever +swindling devices robs investors, oppresses wage-workers, and does +injustice to the general public. But any such move as this is in the +interest of honest railway operators, of honest corporations, and of those +who, when they invest their small savings in stocks and bonds, wish to be +assured that these will represent money honestly expended for legitimate +business purposes. To confer upon the National Government the power for +which I ask would be a check upon overcapitalization and upon the clever +gamblers who benefit by overcapitalization. But it alone would mean an +increase in the value, an increase in the safety of the stocks and bonds of +law-abiding, honestly managed railroads, and would render it far easier to +market their securities. I believe in proper publicity. There has been +complaint of some of the investigations recently carried on, but those who +complain should put the blame where it belongs--upon the misdeeds which are +done in darkness and not upon the investigations which brought them to +light. The Administration is responsible for turning on the light, but it +is not responsible for what the light showed. I ask for full power to be +given the Federal Government, because no single State can by legislation +effectually cope with these powerful corporations engaged in interstate +commerce, and, while doing them full justice, exact from them in return +full justice to others. The conditions of railroad activity, the conditions +of our immense interstate commerce, are such as to make the Central +Government alone competent to exercise full supervision and control. + +"The grave abuses in individual cases of railroad management in the past +represent wrongs not merely to the general public, but, above all, wrongs +to fair-dealing and honest corporations and men of wealth, because they +excite a popular anger and distrust which from the very nature of the case +tends to include in the sweep of its resentment good and bad alike. From +the standpoint of the public I can not too earnestly say that as soon as +the natural and proper resentment aroused by these abuses becomes +indiscriminate and unthinking, it also becomes not merely unwise and +unfair, but calculated to defeat the very ends which those feeling it have +in view. There has been plenty of dishonest work by corporations in the +past. There will not be the slightest let-up in the effort to hunt down and +punish every dishonest man. But the bulk of our business is honestly done. +In the natural indignation the people feel over the dishonesty, it is +essential that they should not lose their heads and get drawn into an +indiscriminate raid upon all corporations, all people of wealth, whether +they do well or ill. Out of any such wild movement good will not come, can +not come, and never has come. On the contrary, the surest way to invite +reaction is to follow the lead of either demagogue or visionary in a +sweeping assault upon property values and upon public confidence, which +would work incalculable damage in the business world and would produce such +distrust of the agitators that in the revulsion the distrust would extend +to honest men who, in sincere and same fashion, are trying to remedy the +evils." + +The antitrust law should not be repealed; but it should be made both more +efficient and more in harmony with actual conditions. It should be so +amended as to forbid only the kind of combination which does harm to the +general public, such amendment to be accompanied by, or to be an incident +of, a grant of supervisory power to the Government over these big concerns +engaged in interstate business. This should be accompanied by provision for +the compulsory publication of accounts and the subjection of books and +papers to the inspection of the Government officials. A beginning has +already been made for such supervision by the establishment of the Bureau +of Corporations. + +The antitrust law should not prohibit combinations that do no injustice to +the public, still less those the existence of which is on the whole of +benefit to the public. But even if this feature of the law were abolished, +there would remain as an equally objectionable feature the difficulty and +delay now incident to its enforcement. The Government must now submit to +irksome and repeated delay before obtaining a final decision of the courts +upon proceedings instituted, and even a favorable decree may mean an empty +victory. Moreover, to attempt to control these corporations by lawsuits +means to impose upon both the Department of Justice and the courts an +impossible burden; it is not feasible to carry on more than a limited +number of such suits. Such a law to be really effective must of course be +administered by an executive body, and not merely by means of lawsuits. The +design should be to prevent the abuses incident to the creation of +unhealthy and improper combinations, instead of waiting until they are in +existence and then attempting to destroy them by civil or criminal +proceedings. + +A combination should not be tolerated if it abuse the power acquired by +combination to the public detriment. No corporation or association of any +kind should be permitted to engage in foreign or interstate commerce that +is formed for the purpose of, or whose operations create, a monopoly or +general control of the production, sale, or distribution of any one or more +of the prime necessities of life or articles of general use and necessity. +Such combinations are against public policy; they violate the common law; +the doors of the courts are closed to those who are parties to them, and I +believe the Congress can close the channels of interstate commerce against +them for its protection. The law should make its prohibitions and +permissions as clear and definite as possible, leaving the least possible +room for arbitrary action, or allegation of such action, on the part of the +Executive, or of divergent interpretations by the courts. Among the points +to be aimed at should be the prohibition of unhealthy competition, such as +by rendering service at an actual loss for the purpose of crushing out +competition, the prevention of inflation of capital, and the prohibition of +a corporation's making exclusive trade with itself a condition of having +any trade with itself. Reasonable agreements between, or combinations of, +corporations should be permitted, provided they are submitted to and +approved by some appropriate Government body. + +The Congress has the power to charter corporations to engage in interstate +and foreign commerce, and a general law can be enacted under the provisions +of which existing corporations could take out Federal charters and new +Federal corporations could be created. An essential provision of such a law +should be a method of predetermining by some Federal board or commission +whether the applicant for a Federal charter was an association or +combination within the restrictions of the Federal law. Provision should +also be made for complete publicity in all matters affecting the public and +complete protection to the investing public and the shareholders in the +matter of issuing corporate securities. If an incorporation law is not +deemed advisable, a license act for big interstate corporations might be +enacted; or a combination of the two might be tried. The supervision +established might be analogous to that now exercised over national banks. +At least, the antitrust act should be supplemented by specific prohibitions +of the methods which experience has shown have been of most service in +enabling monopolistic combinations to crush out competition. The real +owners of a corporation should be compelled to do business in their own +name. The right to hold stock in other corporations should hereafter be +denied to interstate corporations, unless on approval by the Government +officials, and a prerequisite to such approval should be the listing with +the Government of all owners and stockholders, both by the corporation +owning such stock and by the corporation in which such stock is owned. + +To confer upon the National Government, in connection with the amendment I +advocate in the antitrust law, power of supervision over big business +concerns engaged in interstate commerce, would benefit them as it has +benefited the national banks. In the recent business crisis it is +noteworthy that the institutions which failed were institutions which were +not under the supervision and control of the National Government. Those +which were under National control stood the test. + +National control of the kind above advocated would be to the benefit of +every well-managed railway. From the standpoint of the public there is need +for additional tracks, additional terminals, and improvements in the actual +handling of the railroads, and all this as rapidly as possible. Ample, +safe, and speedy transportation facilities are even more necessary than +cheap transportation. Therefore, there is need for the investment of money +which will provide for all these things while at the same time securing as +far as is possible better wages and shorter hours for their employees. +Therefore, while there must be just and reasonable regulation of rates, we +should be the first to protest against any arbitrary and unthinking +movement to cut them down without the fullest and most careful +consideration of all interests concerned and of the actual needs of the +situation. Only a special body of men acting for the National Government +under authority conferred upon it by the Congress is competent to pass +judgment on such a matter. + +Those who fear, from any reason, the extension of Federal activity will do +well to study the history not only of the national banking act but of the +pure-food law, and notably the meat inspection law recently enacted. The +pure-food law was opposed so violently that its passage was delayed for a +decade; yet it has worked unmixed and immediate good. The meat inspection +law was even more violently assailed; and the same men who now denounce the +attitude of the National Government in seeking to oversee and control the +workings of interstate common carriers and business concerns, then asserted +that we were "discrediting and ruining a great American industry." Two +years have not elapsed, and already it has become evident that the great +benefit the law confers upon the public is accompanied by an equal benefit +to the reputable packing establishments. The latter are better off under +the law than they were without it. The benefit to interstate common +carriers and business concerns from the legislation I advocate would be +equally marked. + +Incidentally, in the passage of the pure-food law the action of the various +State food and dairy commissioners showed in striking fashion how much good +for the whole people results from the hearty cooperation of the Federal and +State officials in securing a given reform. It is primarily to the action +of these State commissioners that we owe the enactment of this law; for +they aroused the people, first to demand the enactment and enforcement of +State laws on the subject, and then the enactment of the Federal law, +without which the State laws were largely ineffective. There must be the +closest cooperation between the National and State governments in +administering these laws. + +In my Message to the Congress a year ago I spoke as follows of the +currency: + +"I especially call your attention to the condition of our currency laws. +The national-bank act has ably served a great purpose in aiding the +enormous business development of the country, and within ten years there +has been an increase in circulation per capita from $21.41 to $33.08. For +several years evidence has been accumulating that additional legislation is +needed. The recurrence of each crop season emphasizes the defects of the +present laws. There must soon be a revision of them, because to leave them +as they are means to incur liability of business disaster. Since your body +adjourned there has been a fluctuation in the interest on call money from 2 +per cent to 30 percent, and the fluctuation was even greater during the +preceding six months. The Secretary of the Treasury had to step in and by +wise action put a stop to the most violent period of oscillation. Even +worse than such fluctuation is the advance in commercial rates and the +uncertainty felt in the sufficiency of credit even at high rates. All +commercial interests suffer during each crop period. Excessive rates for +call money in New York attract money from the interior banks into the +speculative field. This depletes the fund that would otherwise be available +for commercial uses, and commercial borrowers are forced to pay abnormal +rates, so that each fall a tax, in the shape of increased interest charges, +is placed on the whole commerce of the country. + +"The mere statement of these facts shows that our present system is +seriously defective. There is need of a change. Unfortunately, however, +many of the proposed changes must be ruled from consideration because they +are complicated, are not easy of comprehension, and tend to disturb +existing rights and interests. We must also rule out any plan which would +materially impair the value of the United States 2 per cent bonds now +pledged to secure circulation, the issue of which was made under conditions +peculiarly creditable to the Treasury. I do not press any especial plan. +Various plans have recently been proposed by expert committees of bankers. +Among the plans which are possibly feasible and which certainly should +receive your consideration is that repeatedly brought to your attention by +the present Secretary of the Treasury, the essential features of which have +been approved by many prominent bankers and business men. According to this +plan national banks should be permitted to issue a specified proportion of +their capital in notes of a given kind, the issue to be taxed at so high a +rate as to drive the notes back when not wanted in legitimate trade. This +plan would not permit the issue of currency to give banks additional +profits, but to meet the emergency presented by times of stringency. + +"I do not say that this is the right system. I only advance it to emphasize +my belief that there is need for the adoption of some system which shall be +automatic and open to all sound banks, so as to avoid all possibility of +discrimination and favoritism. Such a plan would tend to prevent the spasms +of high money and speculation which now obtain in the New York market; for +at present there is too much currency at certain seasons of the year, and +its accumulation at New York tempts bankers to lend it at low rates for +speculative purposes; whereas at other times when the crops are being moved +there is urgent need for a large but temporary increase in the currency +supply. It must never be forgotten that this question concerns business men +generally quite as much as bankers; especially is this true of stockmen, +farmers, and business men in the West; for at present at certain seasons of +the year the difference in interest rates between the East and the West is +from 6 to 10 per cent, whereas in Canada the corresponding difference is +but 2 per cent. Any plan must, of course, guard the interests of western +and southern bankers as carefully as it guards the interests of New York or +Chicago bankers, and must be drawn from the standpoints of the farmer and +the merchant no less than from the standpoints of the city banker and the +country banker." + +I again urge on the Congress the need of immediate attention to this +matter. We need a greater elasticity in our currency; provided, of course, +that we recognize the even greater need of a safe and secure currency. +There must always be the most rigid examination by the National +authorities. Provision should be made for an emergency currency. The +emergency issue should, of course, be made with an effective guaranty, and +upon conditions carefully prescribed by the Government. Such emergency +issue must be based on adequate securities approved by the Government, and +must be issued under a heavy tax. This would permit currency being issued +when the demand for it was urgent, while securing its requirement as the +demand fell off. It is worth investigating to determine whether officers +and directors of national banks should ever be allowed to loan to +themselves. Trust companies should be subject to the same supervision as +banks; legislation to this effect should be enacted for the District of +Columbia and the Territories. + +Yet we must also remember that even the wisest legislation on the subject +can only accomplish a certain amount. No legislation can by any possibility +guarantee the business community against the results of speculative folly +any more than it can guarantee an individual against the results of his +extravagance. When an individual mortgages his house to buy an automobile +he invites disaster; and when wealthy men, or men who pose as such, or are +unscrupulously or foolishly eager to become such, indulge in reckless +speculation--especially if it is accompanied by dishonesty--they jeopardize +not only their own future but the future of all their innocent +fellow-citizens, for the expose the whole business community to panic and +distress. + +The income account of the Nation is in a most satisfactory condition. For +the six fiscal years ending with the 1st of July last, the total +expenditures and revenues of the National Government, exclusive of the +postal revenues and expenditures, were, in round numbers, revenues, +$3,465,000,0000, and expenditures, $3,275,000,000. The net excess of income +over expenditures, including in the latter the fifty millions expended for +the Panama Canal, was one hundred and ninety million dollars for the six +years, an average of about thirty-one millions a year. This represents an +approximation between income and outgo which it would be hard to improve. +The satisfactory working of the present tariff law has been chiefly +responsible for this excellent showing. Nevertheless, there is an evident +and constantly growing feeling among our people that the time is rapidly +approaching when our system of revenue legislation must be revised. + +This country is definitely committed to the protective system and any +effort to uproot it could not but cause widespread industrial disaster. In +other words, the principle of the present tariff law could not with wisdom +be changed. But in a country of such phenomenal growth as ours it is +probably well that every dozen years or so the tariff laws should be +carefully scrutinized so as to see that no excessive or improper benefits +are conferred thereby, that proper revenue is provided, and that our +foreign trade is encouraged. There must always be as a minimum a tariff +which will not only allow for the collection of an ample revenue but which +will at least make good the difference in cost of production here and +abroad; that is, the difference in the labor cost here and abroad, for the. +well-being of the wage-worker must ever be a cardinal point of American +policy. The question should be approached purely from a business +standpoint; both the time and the manner of the change being such as to +arouse the minimum of agitation and disturbance in the business world, and +to give the least play for selfish and factional motives. The sole +consideration should be to see that the sum total of changes represents the +public good. This means that the subject can not with wisdom be dealt with +in the year preceding a Presidential election, because as a matter of fact +experience has conclusively shown that at such a time it is impossible to +get men to treat it from the standpoint of the public good. In my judgment +the wise time to deal with the matter is immediately after such election. + +When our tax laws are revised the question of an income tax and an +inheritance tax should receive the careful attention of our legislators. In +my judgment both of these taxes should be part of our system of Federal +taxation. I speak diffidently about the income tax because one scheme for +an income tax was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court; while in +addition it is a difficult tax to administer in its practical working, and +great care would have to be exercised to see that it was not evaded by the +very men whom it was most desirable to have taxed, for if so evaded it +would, of course, be worse than no tax at all; as the least desirable of +all taxes is the tax which bears heavily upon the honest as compared with +the dishonest man. Nevertheless, a graduated income tax of the proper type +would be a desirable feature of Federal taxation, and it is to be hoped +that one may be devised which the Supreme Court will declare +constitutional. The inheritance tax, however, is both a far better method +of taxation, and far more important for the purpose of having the fortunes +of the country bear in proportion to their increase in size a corresponding +increase and burden of taxation. The Government has the absolute right to +decide as to the terms upon which a man shall receive a bequest or devise +from another, and this point in the devolution of property is especially +appropriate for the imposition of a tax. Laws imposing such taxes have +repeatedly been placed upon the National statute books and as repeatedly +declared constitutional by the courts; and these laws contained the +progressive principle, that is, after a certain amount is reached the +bequest or gift, in life or death, is increasingly burdened and the rate of +taxation is increased in proportion to the remoteness of blood of the man +receiving the bequest. These principles are recognized already in the +leading civilized nations of the world. In Great Britain all the estates +worth $5,000 or less are practically exempt from death duties, while the +increase is such that when an estate exceeds five millions of dollars in +value and passes to a distant kinsman or stranger in blood the Government +receives all told an amount equivalent to nearly a fifth of the whole +estate. In France so much of an inheritance as exceeds $10,000,000 pays +over a fifth to the State if it passes to a distant relative. The German +law is especially interesting to us because it makes the inheritance tax an +imperial measure while allotting to the individual States of the Empire a +portion of the proceeds and permitting them to impose taxes in addition to +those imposed by the Imperial Government. Small inheritances are exempt, +but the tax is so sharply progressive that when the inheritance is still +not very large, provided it is not an agricultural or a forest land, it is +taxed at the rate of 25 per cent if it goes to distant relatives. There is +no reason why in the United States the National Government should not +impose inheritance taxes in addition to those imposed by the States, and +when we last had an inheritance tax about one-half of the States levied +such taxes concurrently with the National Government, making a combined +maximum rate, in some cases as high as 25 per cent. The French law has one +feature which is to be heartily commended. The progressive principle is so +applied that each higher rate is imposed only on the excess above the +amount subject to the next lower rate; so that each increase of rate will +apply only to a certain amount above a certain maximum. The tax should if +possible be made to bear more heavily upon those residing without the +country than within it. A heavy progressive tax upon a very large fortune +is in no way such a tax upon thrift or industry as a like would be on a +small fortune. No advantage comes either to the country as a whole or to +the individuals inheriting the money by permitting the transmission in +their entirety of the enormous fortunes which would be affected by such a +tax; and as an incident to its function of revenue raising, such a tax +would help to preserve a measurable equality of opportunity for the people +of the generations growing to manhood. We have not the slightest sympathy +with that socialistic idea which would try to put laziness, thriftlessness +and inefficiency on a par with industry, thrift and efficiency; which would +strive to break up not merely private property, but what is far more +important, the home, the chief prop upon which our whole civilization +stands. Such a theory, if ever adopted, would mean the ruin of the entire +country--a ruin which would bear heaviest upon the weakest, upon those +least able to shift for themselves. But proposals for legislation such as +this herein advocated are directly opposed to this class of socialistic +theories. Our aim is to recognize what Lincoln pointed out: The fact that +there are some respects in which men are obviously not equal; but also to +insist that there should be an equality of self-respect and of mutual +respect, an equality of rights before the law, and at least an approximate +equality in the conditions under which each man obtains the chance to show +the stuff that is in him when compared to his fellows. + +A few years ago there was loud complaint that the law could not be invoked +against wealthy offenders. There is no such complaint now. The course of +the Department of Justice during the last few years has been such as to +make it evident that no man stands above the law, that no corporation is so +wealthy that it can not be held to account. The Department of Justice has +been as prompt to proceed against the wealthiest malefactor whose crime was +one of greed and cunning as to proceed against the agitator who incites to +brutal violence. Everything that can be done under the existing law, and +with the existing state of public opinion, which so profoundly influences +both the courts and juries, has been done. But the laws themselves need +strengthening in more than one important point; they should be made more +definite, so that no honest man can be led unwittingly to break them, and +so that the real wrongdoer can be readily punished. + +Moreover, there must be the public opinion back of the laws or the laws +themselves will be of no avail. At present, while the average juryman +undoubtedly wishes to see trusts broken up, and is quite ready to fine the +corporation itself, he is very reluctant to find the facts proven beyond a +reasonable doubt when it comes to sending to jail a member of the business +community for indulging in practices which are profoundly unhealthy, but +which, unfortunately, the business community has grown to recognize as +well-nigh normal. Both the present condition of the law and the present +temper of juries render it a task of extreme difficulty to get at the real +wrongdoer in any such case, especially by imprisonment. Yet it is from +every standpoint far preferable to punish the prime offender by +imprisonment rather than to fine the corporation, with the attendant damage +to stockholders. + +The two great evils in the execution of our criminal laws to-day are +sentimentality and technicality. For the latter the remedy must come from +the hands of the legislatures, the courts, and the lawyers. The other must +depend for its cure upon the gradual growth of a sound public opinion which +shall insist that regard for the law and the demands of reason shall +control all other influences and emotions in the jury box. Both of these +evils must be removed or public discontent with the criminal law will +continue. + +Instances of abuse in the granting of injunctions in labor disputes +continue to occur, and the resentment in the minds of those who feel that +their rights are being invaded and their liberty of action and of speech +unwarrantably restrained continues likewise to grow. Much of the attack on +the use of the process of injunction is wholly without warrant; but I am +constrained to express the belief that for some of it there is warrant. +This question is becoming more and more one of prime importance, and unless +the courts will themselves deal with it in effective manner, it is certain +ultimately to demand some form of legislative action. It would be most +unfortunate for our social welfare if we should permit many honest and +law-abiding citizens to feel that they had just cause for regarding our +courts with hostility. I earnestly commend to the attention of the Congress +this matter, so that some way may be devised which will limit the abuse of +injunctions and protect those rights which from time to time it +unwarrantably invades. Moreover, discontent is often expressed with the use +of the process of injunction by the courts, not only in labor disputes, but +where State laws are concerned. I refrain from discussion of this question +as I am informed that it will soon receive the consideration of the Supreme +Court. + +The Federal courts must of course decide ultimately what are the respective +spheres of State and Nation in connection with any law, State or National, +and they must decide definitely and finally in matters affecting individual +citizens, not only as to the rights and wrongs of labor but as to the +rights and wrongs of capital; and the National Government must always see +that the decision of the court is put into effect. The process of +injunction is an essential adjunct of the court's doing its work well; and +as preventive measures are always better than remedial, the wise use of +this process is from every standpoint commendable. But where it is +recklessly or unnecessarily used, the abuse should he censured, above all +by the very men who are properly anxious to prevent any effort to shear the +courts of this necessary power. The court's decision must be final; the +protest is only against the conduct of individual judges in needlessly +anticipating such final decision, or in the tyrannical use of what is +nominally a temporary injunction to accomplish what is in fact a permanent +decision. + +The loss of life and limb from railroad accidents in this country has +become appalling. It is a subject of which the National Government should +take supervision. It might be well to begin by providing for a Federal +inspection of interstate railroads somewhat along the lines of Federal +inspection of steamboats, although not going so far; perhaps at first all +that it would be necessary to have would be some officer whose duty would +be to investigate all accidents on interstate railroads and report in +detail the causes thereof. Such an officer should make it his business to +get into close touch with railroad operating men so as to become thoroughly +familiar with every side of the question, the idea being to work along the +lines of the present steamboat inspection law. + +The National Government should be a model employer. It should demand the +highest quality of service from each of its employees and it should care +for all of them properly in return. Congress should adopt legislation +providing limited but definite compensation for accidents to all workmen +within the scope of the Federal power, including employees of navy yards +and arsenals. In other words, a model employers' liability act, +far-reaching and thoroughgoing, should be enacted which should apply to all +positions, public and private, over which the National Government has +jurisdiction. The number of accidents to wage-workers, including those that +are preventable and those that are not, has become appalling in the +mechanical, manufacturing, and transportation operations of the day. It +works grim hardship to the ordinary wage-worker and his family to have the +effect of such an accident fall solely upon him; and, on the other hand, +there are whole classes of attorneys who exist only by inciting men who may +or may not have been wronged to undertake suits for negligence. As a matter +of fact a suit for negligence is generally an inadequate remedy for the +person injured, while it often causes altogether disproportionate annoyance +to the employer. The law should be made such that the payment for accidents +by the employer would be automatic instead of being a matter for lawsuits. +Workmen should receive certain and definite compensation for all accidents +in industry irrespective of negligence. The employer is the agent of the +public and on his own responsibility and for his own profit he serves the +public. When he starts in motion agencies which create risks for others, he +should take all the ordinary and extraordinary risks involved; and the risk +he thus at the moment assumes will ultimately be assumed, as it ought to +be, by the general public. Only in this way can the shock of the accident +be diffused, instead of falling upon the man or woman least able to bear +it, as is now the case. The community at large should share the burdens as +well as the benefits of industry. By the proposed law, employers would gain +a desirable certainty of obligation and get rid of litigation to determine +it, while the workman and his family would be relieved from a crushing +load. With such a policy would come increased care, and accidents would be +reduced in number. The National laws providing for employers' liability on +railroads engaged in interstate commerce and for safety appliances, as well +as for diminishing the hours any employee of a railroad should be permitted +to work, should all be strengthened wherever in actual practice they have +shown weakness; they should be kept on the statute books in thoroughgoing +form. + +The constitutionality of the employers' liability act passed by the +preceding Congress has been carried before the courts. In two jurisdictions +the law has been declared unconstitutional, and in three jurisdictions its +constitutionality has been affirmed. The question has been carried to the +Supreme Court, the case has been heard by that tribunal, and a decision is +expected at an early date. In the event that the court should affirm the +constitutionality of the act, I urge further legislation along the lines +advocated in my Message to the preceding Congress. The practice of putting +the entire burden of loss to life or limb upon the victim or the victim's +family is a form of social injustice in which the United States stands in +unenviable prominence. In both our Federal and State legislation we have, +with few exceptions, scarcely gone farther than the repeal of the +fellow-servant principle of the old law of liability, and in some of our +States even this slight modification of a completely outgrown principle has +not yet been secured. The legislation of the rest of the industrial world +stands out in striking contrast to our backwardness in this respect. Since +1895 practically every country of Europe, together with Great Britain, New +Zealand, Australia, British Columbia, and the Cape of Good Hope has enacted +legislation embodying in one form or another the complete recognition of +the principle which places upon the employer the entire trade risk in the +various lines of industry. I urge upon the Congress the enactment of a law +which will at the same time bring Federal legislation up to the standard +already established by all the European countries, and which will serve as +a stimulus to the various States to perfect their legislation in this +regard. + +The Congress should consider the extension of the eight-hour law. The +constitutionality of the present law has recently been called into +question, and the Supreme Court has decided that the existing legislation +is unquestionably within the powers of the Congress. The principle of the +eight-hour day should as rapidly and as far as practicable be extended to +the entire work carried on by the Government; and the present law should be +amended to embrace contracts on those public works which the present +wording of the act has been construed to exclude. The general introduction +of the eight-hour day should be the goal toward which we should steadily +tend, and the Government should set the example in this respect. + +Strikes and lockouts, with their attendant loss and suffering, continue to +increase. For the five years ending December 31, 1905, the number of +strikes was greater than those in any previous ten years and was double the +number in the preceding five years. These figures indicate the increasing +need of providing some machinery to deal with this class of disturbance in +the interest alike of the employer, the employee, and the general public. I +renew my previous recommendation that the Congress favorably consider the +matter of creating the machinery for compulsory investigation of such +industrial controversies as are of sufficient magnitude and of sufficient +concern to the people of the country as a whole to warrant the Federal +Government in taking action. + +The need for some provision for such investigation was forcibly illustrated +during the past summer. A strike of telegraph operators seriously +interfered with telegraphic communication, causing great damage to business +interests and serious inconvenience to the general public. Appeals were +made to me from many parts of the country, from city councils, from boards +of trade, from chambers of commerce, and from labor organizations, urging +that steps be taken to terminate the strike. Everything that could with any +propriety be done by a representative of the Government was done, without +avail, and for weeks the public stood by and suffered without recourse of +any kind. Had the machinery existed and had there been authority for +compulsory investigation of the dispute, the public would have been placed +in possession of the merits of the controversy, and public opinion would +probably have brought about a prompt adjustment. + +Each successive step creating machinery for the adjustment of labor +difficulties must be taken with caution, but we should endeavor to make +progress in this direction. + +The provisions of the act of 1898 creating the chairman of the Interstate +Commerce Commission and the Commissioner of Labor a board of mediation in +controversies between interstate railroads and their employees has, for the +first time, been subjected to serious tests within the past year, and the +wisdom of the experiment has been fully demonstrated. The creation of a +board for compulsory investigation in cases where mediation fails and +arbitration is rejected is the next logical step in a progressive program. + +It is certain that for some time to come there will be a constant increase +absolutely, and perhaps relatively, of those among our citizens who dwell +in cities or towns of some size and who work for wages. This means that +there will be an ever-increasing need to consider the problems inseparable +from a great industrial civilization. Where an immense and complex +business, especially in those branches relating to manufacture and +transportation, is transacted by a large number of capitalists who employ a +very much larger number of wage-earners, the former tend more and more to +combine into corporations and the latter into unions. The relations of the +capitalist and wage-worker to one another, and of each to the general +public, are not always easy to adjust; and to put them and keep them on a +satisfactory basis is one of the most important and one of the most +delicate tasks before our whole civilization. Much of the work for the +accomplishment of this end must be done by the individuals concerned +themselves, whether singly or in combination; and the one fundamental fact +that must never be lost track of is that the character of the average man, +whether he be a man of means or a man who works with his hands, is the most +important factor in solving the problem aright. But it is almost equally +important to remember that without good laws it is also impossible to reach +the proper solution. It is idle to hold that without good laws evils such +as child labor, as the over-working of women, as the failure to protect +employees from loss of life or limb, can be effectively reached, any more +than the evils of rebates and stock-watering can be reached without good +laws. To fail to stop these practices by legislation means to force honest +men into them, because otherwise the dishonest who surely will take +advantage of them will have everything their own way. If the States will +correct these evils, well and good; but the Nation must stand ready to aid +them. + +No question growing out of our rapid and complex industrial development is +more important than that of the employment of women and children. The +presence of women in industry reacts with extreme directness upon the +character of the home and upon family life, and the conditions surrounding +the employment of children bear a vital relation to our future citizenship. +Our legislation in those areas under the control of the Congress is very +much behind the legislation of our more progressive States. A thorough and +comprehensive measure should be adopted at this session of the Congress +relating to the employment of women and children in the District of +Columbia and the Territories. The investigation into the condition of women +and children wage-earners recently authorized and directed by the Congress +is now being carried on in the various States, and I recommend that the +appropriation made last year for beginning this work be renewed, in order +that we may have the thorough and comprehensive investigation which the +subject demands. The National Government has as an ultimate resort for +control of child labor the use of the interstate commerce clause to prevent +the products of child labor from entering into interstate commerce. But +before using this it ought certainly to enact model laws on the subject for +the Territories under its own immediate control. + +There is one fundamental proposition which can be laid down as regards all +these matters, namely: While honesty by itself will not solve the problem, +yet the insistence upon honesty--not merely technical honesty, but honesty +in purpose and spirit--is an essential element in arriving at a right +conclusion. Vice in its cruder and more archaic forms shocks everybody; but +there is very urgent need that public opinion should be just as severe in +condemnation of the vice which hides itself behind class or professional +loyalty, or which denies that it is vice if it can escape conviction in the +courts. The public and the representatives of the public, the high +officials, whether on the bench or in executive or legislative positions, +need to remember that often the most dangerous criminals, so far as the +life of the Nation is concerned, are not those who commit the crimes known +to and condemned by the popular conscience for centuries, but those who +commit crimes only rendered possible by the complex conditions of our +modern industrial life. It makes not a particle of difference whether these +crimes are committed by a capitalist or by a laborer, by a leading banker +or manufacturer or railroad man, or by a leading representative of a labor +union. Swindling in stocks, corrupting legislatures, making fortunes by the +inflation of securities, by wrecking railroads, by destroying competitors +through rebates--these forms of wrongdoing in the capitalist, are far more +infamous than any ordinary form of embezzlement or forgery; yet it is a +matter of extreme difficulty to secure the punishment of the man most +guilty of them, most responsible for them. The business man who condones +such conduct stands on a level with the labor man who deliberately supports +a corrupt demagogue and agitator, whether head of a union or head of some +municipality, because he is said to have "stood by the union." The members +of the business community, the educators, or clergymen, who condone and +encourage the first kind of wrongdoing, are no more dangerous to the +community, but are morally even worse, than the labor men who are guilty of +the second type of wrongdoing, because less is to be pardoned those who +have no such excuse as is furnished either by ignorance or by dire need. + +When the Department of Agriculture was founded there was much sneering as +to its usefulness. No Department of the Government, however, has more +emphatically vindicated its usefulness, and none save the Post-Office +Department comes so continually and intimately into touch with the people. +The two citizens whose welfare is in the aggregate most vital to the +welfare of the Nation, and therefore to the welfare of all other citizens, +are the wage-worker who does manual labor and the tiller of the soil, the +farmer. There are, of course, kinds of labor where the work must be purely +mental, and there are other kinds of labor where, under existing +conditions, very little demand indeed is made upon the mind, though I am +glad to say that the proportion of men engaged in this kind of work is +diminishing. But in any community with the solid, healthy qualities which +make up a really great nation the bulk of the people should do work which +calls for the exercise of both body and mind. Progress can not permanently +exist in the abandonment of physical labor, but in the development of +physical labor, so that it shall represent more and more the work of the +trained mind in the trained body. Our school system is gravely defective in +so far as it puts a premium upon mere literary training and tends therefore +to train the boy away from the farm and the workshop. Nothing is more +needed than the best type of industrial school, the school for mechanical +industries in the city, the school for practically teaching agriculture in +the country. The calling of the skilled tiller of the soil, the calling of +the skilled mechanic, should alike be recognized as professions, just as +emphatically as the callings of lawyer, doctor, merchant, or clerk. The +schools recognize this fact and it should equally be recognized in popular +opinion. The young man who has the farsightedness and courage to recognize +it and to get over the idea that it makes a difference whether what he +earns is called salary or wages, and who refuses to enter the crowded field +of the so-called professions, and takes to constructive industry instead, +is reasonably sure of an ample reward in earnings, in health, in +opportunity to marry early, and to establish a home with a fair amount of +freedom from worry. It should be one of our prime objects to put both the +farmer and the mechanic on a higher plane of efficiency and reward, so as +to increase their effectiveness in the economic world, and therefore the +dignity, the remuneration, and the power of their positions in the social +world. + +No growth of cities, no growth of wealth, can make up for any loss in +either the number or the character of the farming population. We of the +United States should realize this above almost all other peoples. We began +our existence as a nation of farmers, and in every great crisis of the past +a peculiar dependence has had to be placed upon the farming population; and +this dependence has hitherto been justified. But it can not be justified in +the future if agriculture is permitted to sink in the scale as compared +with other employments. We can not afford to lose that preeminently typical +American, the farmer who owns his own medium-sized farm. To have his place +taken by either a class of small peasant proprietors, or by a class of +great landlords with tenant-farmed estates would be a veritable calamity. +The growth of our cities is a good thing but only in so far as it does not +mean a growth at the expense of the country farmer. We must welcome the +rise of physical sciences in their application to agricultural practices, +and we must do all we can to render country conditions more easy and +pleasant. There are forces which now tend to bring about both these +results, but they are, as yet, in their infancy. The National Government +through the Department of Agriculture should do all it can by joining with +the State governments and with independent associations of farmers to +encourage the growth in the open farming country of such institutional and +social movements as will meet the demand of the best type of farmers, both +for the improvement of their farms and for the betterment of the life +itself. The Department of Agriculture has in many places, perhaps +especially in certain districts of the South, accomplished an extraordinary +amount by cooperating with and teaching the farmers through their +associations, on their own soil, how to increase their income by managing +their farms better than they were hitherto managed. The farmer must not +lose his independence, his initiative, his rugged self-reliance, yet he +must learn to work in the heartiest cooperation with his fellows, exactly +as the business man has learned to work; and he must prepare to use to +constantly better advantage the knowledge that can be obtained from +agricultural colleges, while he must insist upon a practical curriculum in +the schools in which his children are taught. The Department of Agriculture +and the Department of Commerce and Labor both deal with the fundamental +needs of our people in the production of raw material and its manufacture +and distribution, and, therefore, with the welfare of those who produce it +in the raw state, and of those who manufacture and distribute it. The +Department of Commerce and Labor has but recently been founded but has +already justified its existence; while the Department of Agriculture yields +to no other in the Government in the practical benefits which it produces +in proportion to the public money expended. It must continue in the future +to deal with growing crops as it has dealt in the past, but it must still +further extend its field of usefulness hereafter by dealing with live men, +through a far-reaching study and treatment of the problems of farm life +alike from the industrial and economic and social standpoint. Farmers must +cooperate with one another and with the Government, and the Government can +best give its aid through associations of farmers, so as to deliver to the +farmer the large body of agricultural knowledge which has been accumulated +by the National and State governments and by the agricultural colleges and +schools. + +The grain producing industry of the country, one of the most important in +the United States, deserves special consideration at the hands of the +Congress. Our grain is sold almost exclusively by grades. To secure +satisfactory results in our home markets and to facilitate our trade +abroad, these grades should approximate the highest degree of uniformity +and certainty. The present diverse methods of inspection and grading +throughout the country under different laws and boards, result in confusion +and lack of uniformity, destroying that confidence which is necessary for +healthful trade. Complaints against the present methods have continued for +years and they are growing in volume and intensity, not only in this +country but abroad. I therefore suggest to the Congress the advisability of +a National system of inspection and grading of grain entering into +interstate and foreign commerce as a remedy for the present evils. + +The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute +the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our +National life. We must maintain for our civilization the adequate material +basis without which that civilization can not exist. We must show +foresight, we must look ahead. As a nation we not only enjoy a wonderful +measure of present prosperity but if this prosperity is used aright it is +an earnest of future success such as no other nation will have. The reward +of foresight for this Nation is great and easily foretold. But there must +be the look ahead, there must be a realization of the fact that to waste, +to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of +using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in +the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to +hand down to them amplified and developed. For the last few years, through +several agencies, the Government has been endeavoring to get our people to +look ahead and to substitute a planned and orderly development of our +resources in place of a haphazard striving for immediate profit. Our great +river systems should be developed as National water highways, the +Mississippi, with its tributaries, standing first in importance, and the +Columbia second, although there are many others of importance on the +Pacific, the Atlantic and the Gulf slopes. The National Government should +undertake this work, and I hope a beginning will be made in the present +Congress; and the greatest of all our rivers, the Mississippi, should +receive especial attention. From the Great Lakes to the mouth of the +Mississippi there should be a deep waterway, with deep waterways leading +from it to the East and the West. Such a waterway would practically mean +the extension of our coast line into the very heart of our country. It +would be of incalculable benefit to our people. If begun at once it can be +carried through in time appreciably to relieve the congestion of our great +freight-carrying lines of railroads. The work should be systematically and +continuously carried forward in accordance with some well-conceived plan. +The main streams should be improved to the highest point of efficiency +before the improvement of the branches is attempted; and the work should be +kept free from every faint of recklessness or jobbery. The inland waterways +which lie just back of the whole eastern and southern coasts should +likewise be developed. Moreover, the development of our waterways involves +many other important water problems, all of which should be considered as +part of the same general scheme. The Government dams should be used to +produce hundreds of thousands of horsepower as an incident to improving +navigation; for the annual value of the unused water-power of the United +States perhaps exceeds the annual value of the products of all our mines. +As an incident to creating the deep waterways down the Mississippi, the +Government should build along its whole lower length levees which taken +together with the control of the headwaters, will at once and forever put a +complete stop to all threat of floods in the immensely fertile Delta +region. The territory lying adjacent to the Mississippi along its lower +course will thereby become one of the most prosperous and populous, as it +already is one of the most fertile, farming regions in all the world. I +have appointed an Inland Waterways Commission to study and outline a +comprehensive scheme of development along all the lines indicated. Later I +shall lay its report before the Congress. + +Irrigation should be far more extensively developed than at present, not +only in the States of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, but in many +others, as, for instance, in large portions of the South Atlantic and Gulf +States, where it should go hand in hand with the reclamation of swamp land. +The Federal Government should seriously devote itself to this task, +realizing that utilization of waterways and water-power, forestry, +irrigation, and the reclamation of lands threatened with overflow, are all +interdependent parts of the same problem. The work of the Reclamation +Service in developing the larger opportunities of the western half of our +country for irrigation is more important than almost any other movement. +The constant purpose of the Government in connection with the Reclamation +Service has been to use the water resources of the public lands for the +ultimate greatest good of the greatest number; in other words, to put upon +the land permanent home-makers, to use and develop it for themselves and +for their children and children's children. There has been, of course, +opposition to this work; opposition from some interested men who desire to +exhaust the land for their own immediate profit without regard to the +welfare of the next generation, and opposition from honest and well-meaning +men who did not fully understand the subject or who did not look far enough +ahead. This opposition is, I think, dying away, and our people are +understanding that it would be utterly wrong to allow a few individuals to +exhaust for their own temporary personal profit the resources which ought +to be developed through use so as to be conserved for the permanent common +advantage of the people as a whole. + +The effort of the Government to deal with the public land has been based +upon the same principle as that of the Reclamation Service. The land law +system which was designed to meet the needs of the fertile and well-watered +regions of the Middle West has largely broken down when applied to the +dryer regions of the Great Plains, the mountains, and much of the Pacific +slope, where a farm of 160 acres is inadequate for self-support. In these +regions the system lent itself to fraud, and much land passed out of the +hands of the Government without passing into the hands of the home-maker. +The Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice joined in +prosecuting the offenders against the law; and they have accomplished much, +while where the administration of the law has been defective it has been +changed. But the laws themselves are defective. Three years ago a public +lands commission was appointed to scrutinize the law, and defects, and +recommend a remedy. Their examination specifically showed the existence of +great fraud upon the public domain, and their recommendations for changes +in the law were made with the design of conserving the natural resources of +every part of the public lands by putting it to its best use. Especial +attention was called to the prevention of settlement by the passage of +great areas of public land into the hands of a few men, and to the enormous +waste caused by unrestricted grazing upon the open range. The +recommendations of the Public Lands Commission are sound, for they are +especially in the interest of the actual homemaker; and where the small +home-maker can not at present utilize the land they provide that the +Government shall keep control of it so that it may not be monopolized by a +few men. The Congress has not yet acted upon these recommendations; but +they are so just and proper, so essential to our National welfare, that I +feel confident, if the Congress will take time to consider them, that they +will ultimately be adopted. + +Some such legislation as that proposed is essential in order to preserve +the great stretches of public grazing land which are unfit for cultivation +under present methods and are valuable only for the forage which they +supply. These stretches amount in all to some 300,000,000 acres, and are +open to the free grazing of cattle, sheep, horses and goats, without +restriction. Such a system, or lack of system, means that the range is not +so much used as wasted by abuse. As the West settles the range becomes more +and more over-grazed. Much of it can not be used to advantage unless it is +fenced, for fencing is the only way by which to keep in check the owners of +nomad flocks which roam hither and thither, utterly destroying the pastures +and leaving a waste behind so that their presence is incompatible with the +presence of home-makers. The existing fences are all illegal. Some of them +represent the improper exclusion of actual settlers, actual home-makers, +from territory which is usurped by great cattle companies. Some of them +represent what is in itself a proper effort to use the range for those upon +the land, and to prevent its use by nomadic outsiders. All these fences, +those that are hurtful and those that are beneficial, are alike illegal and +must come down. But it is an outrage that the law should necessitate such +action on the part of the Administration. The unlawful fencing of public +lands for private grazing must be stopped, but the necessity which +occasioned it must be provided for. The Federal Government should have +control of the range, whether by permit or lease, as local necessities may +determine. Such control could secure the great benefit of legitimate +fencing, while at the same time securing and promoting the settlement of +the country. In some places it may be that the tracts of range adjacent to +the homesteads of actual settlers should be allotted to them severally or +in common for the summer grazing of their stock. Elsewhere it may be that a +lease system would serve the purpose; the leases to be temporary and +subject to the rights of settlement, and the amount charged being large +enough merely to permit of the efficient and beneficial control of the +range by the Government, and of the payment to the county of the equivalent +of what it would otherwise receive in taxes. The destruction of the public +range will continue until some such laws as these are enacted. Fully to +prevent the fraud in the public lands which, through the joint action of +the Interior Department and the Department of Justice, we have been +endeavoring to prevent, there must be further legislation, and especially a +sufficient appropriation to permit the Department of the Interior to +examine certain classes of entries on the ground before they pass into +private ownership. The Government should part with its title only to the +actual home-maker, not to the profit-maker who does not care to make a +home. Our prime object is to secure the rights and guard the interests of +the small ranchman, the man who plows and pitches hay for himself. It is +this small ranchman, this actual settler and homemaker, who in the long run +is most hurt by permitting thefts of the public land in whatever form. + +Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess it becomes +foolishness. We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as +inexhaustible; this is not so. The mineral wealth of the country, the coal, +iron, oil, gas, and the like, does not reproduce itself, and therefore is +certain to be exhausted ultimately; and wastefulness in dealing with it +to-day means that our descendants will feel the exhaustion a generation or +two before they otherwise would. But there are certain other forms of waste +which could be entirely stopped--the waste of soil by washing, for +instance, which is among the most dangerous of all wastes now in progress +in the United States, is easily preventable, so that this present enormous +loss of fertility is entirely unnecessary. The preservation or replacement +of the forests is one of the most important means of preventing this loss. +We have made a beginning in forest preservation, but it is only a +beginning. At present lumbering is the fourth greatest industry in the +United States; and yet, so rapid has been the rate of exhaustion of timber +in the United States in the past, and so rapidly is the remainder being +exhausted, that the country is unquestionably on the verge of a timber +famine which will be felt in every household in the land. There has already +been a rise in the price of lumber, but there is certain to be a more rapid +and heavier rise in the future. The present annual consumption of lumber is +certainly three times as great as the annual growth; and if the consumption +and growth continue unchanged, practically all our lumber will be exhausted +in another generation, while long before the limit to complete exhaustion +is reached the growing scarcity will make itself felt in many blighting +ways upon our National welfare. About 20 per cent of our forested territory +is now reserved in National forests; but these do not include the most +valuable timber lauds, and in any event the proportion is too small to +expect that the reserves can accomplish more than a mitigation of the +trouble which is ahead for the nation. Far more drastic action is needed. +Forests can be lumbered so as to give to the public the full use of their +mercantile timber without the slightest detriment to the forest, any more +than it is a detriment to a farm to furnish a harvest; so that there is no +parallel between forests and mines, which can only be completely used by +exhaustion. But forests, if used as all our forests have been used in the +past and as most of them are still used, will be either wholly destroyed, +or so damaged that many decades have to pass before effective use can be +made of them again. All these facts are so obvious that it is extraordinary +that it should be necessary to repeat them. Every business man in the land, +every writer in the newspapers, every man or woman of an ordinary school +education, ought to be able to see that immense quantities of timber are +used in the country, that the forests which supply this timber are rapidly +being exhausted, and that, if no change takes place, exhaustion will come +comparatively soon, and that the effects of it will be felt severely in the +every-day life of our people. Surely, when these facts are so obvious, +there should be no delay in taking preventive measures. Yet we seem as a +nation to be willing to proceed in this matter with happy-go-lucky +indifference even to the immediate future. It is this attitude which +permits the self-interest of a very few persons to weigh for more than the +ultimate interest of all our people. There are persons who find it to their +immense pecuniary benefit to destroy the forests by lumbering. They are to +be blamed for thus sacrificing the future of the Nation as a whole to their +own self-interest of the moment; but heavier blame attaches to the people +at large for permitting such action, whether in the White Mountains, in the +southern Alleghenies, or in the Rockies and Sierras. A big lumbering +company, impatient for immediate returns and not caring to look far enough +ahead, will often deliberately destroy all the good timber in a region, +hoping afterwards to move on to some new country. The shiftless man of +small means, who does not care to become an actual home-maker but would +like immediate profit, will find it to his advantage to take up timber land +simply to turn it over to such a big company, and leave it valueless for +future settlers. A big mine owner, anxious only to develop his mine at the +moment, will care only to cut all the timber that he wishes without regard +to the future--probably net looking ahead to the condition of the country +when the forests are exhausted, any more than he does to the condition when +the mine is worked out. I do not blame these men nearly as much as I blame +the supine public opinion, the indifferent public opinion, which permits +their action to go unchecked. Of course to check the waste of timber means +that there must be on the part of the public the acceptance of a temporary +restriction in the lavish use of the timber, in order to prevent the total +loss of this use in the future. There are plenty of men in public and +private life who actually advocate the continuance of the present system of +unchecked and wasteful extravagance, using as an argument the fact that to +check it will of course mean interference with the ease and comfort of +certain people who now get lumber at less cost than they ought to pay, at +the expense of the future generations. Some of these persons actually +demand that the present forest reserves be thrown open to destruction, +because, forsooth, they think that thereby the price of lumber could be put +down again for two or three or more years. Their attitude is precisely like +that of an agitator protesting against the outlay of money by farmers on +manure and in taking care of their farms generally. Undoubtedly, if the +average farmer were content absolutely to ruin his farm, he could for two +or three years avoid spending any money on it, and yet make a good deal of +money out of it. But only a savage would, in his private affairs, show such +reckless disregard of the future; yet it is precisely this reckless +disregard of the future which the opponents of the forestry system are now +endeavoring to get the people of the United States to show. The only +trouble with the movement for the preservation of our forests is that it +has not gone nearly far enough, and was not begun soon enough. It is a most +fortunate thing, however, that we began it when we did. We should acquire +in the Appalachian and White Mountain regions all the forest lands that it +is possible to acquire for the use of the Nation. These lands, because they +form a National asset, are as emphatically national as the rivers which +they feed, and which flow through so many States before they reach the +ocean. + +There should be no tariff on any forest product grown in this country; and, +in especial, there should be no tariff on wood pulp; due notice of the +change being of course given to those engaged in the business so as to +enable them to adjust themselves to the new conditions. The repeal of the +duty on wood pulp should if possible be accompanied by an agreement with +Canada that there shall be no export duty on Canadian pulp wood. + +In the eastern United States the mineral fuels have already passed into the +hands of large private owners, and those of the West are rapidly following. +It is obvious that these fuels should be conserved and not wasted, and it +would be well to protect the people against unjust and extortionate prices, +so far as that can still be done. What has been accomplished in the great +oil fields of the Indian Territory by the action of the Administration, +offers a striking example of the good results of such a policy. In my +judgment the Government should have the right to keep the fee of the coal, +oil, and gas fields in its own possession and to lease the rights to +develop them under proper regulations; or else, if the Congress will not +adopt this method, the coal deposits should be sold under limitations, to +conserve them as public utilities, the right to mine coal being separated +from the title to the soil. The regulations should permit coal lands to be +worked in sufficient quantity by the several corporations. The present +limitations have been absurd, excessive, and serve no useful purpose, and +often render it necessary that there should be either fraud or close +abandonment of the work of getting out the coal. + +Work on the Panama Canal is proceeding in a highly satisfactory manner. In +March last, John F. Stevens, chairman of the Commission and chief engineer, +resigned, and the Commission was reorganized and constituted as follows: +Lieut. Col. George W. Goethals, Corps. of Engineers, U. S. Army, chairman +and chief engineer; Maj. D. D. Gall-lard, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army; +Maj. William L. Sibert, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army; Civil Engineer H. +H. Rousseau, U. S. Navy; Mr. J. C. S. Blackburn; Col. W. C. Gorgas, U. S. +Army, and Mr. Jackson Smith, Commissioners. This change of authority and +direction went into effect on April 1, without causing a perceptible check +to the progress of the work. In March the total excavation in the Culebra +Cut, where effort was chiefly concentrated, was 815,270 cubic yards. In +April this was increased to 879,527 cubic yards. There was a considerable +decrease in the output for May and June owing partly to the advent of the +rainy season and partly to temporary trouble with the steam shovel men over +the question of wages. This trouble was settled satisfactorily to all +parties and in July the total excavation advanced materially and in August +the grand total from all points in the canal prism by steam shovels and +dredges exceeded all previous United States records, reaching 1,274,404 +cubic yards. In September this record was eclipsed and a total of 1,517,412 +cubic yards was removed. Of this amount 1,481,307 cubic yards were from the +canal prism and 36,105 cubic yards were from accessory works. These results +were achieved in the rainy season with a rainfall in August of 11.89 inches +and in September of 11.65 inches. Finally, in October, the record was again +eclipsed, the total excavation being 1,868,729 cubic yards; a truly +extraordinary record, especially in view of the heavy rainfall, which was +17.1 inches. In fact, experience during the last two rainy seasons +demonstrates that the rains are a less serious obstacle to progress than +has hitherto been supposed. + +Work on the locks and dams at Gatun, which began actively in March last, +has advanced so far that it is thought that masonry work on the locks can +be begun within fifteen months. In order to remove all doubt as to the +satisfactory character of the foundations for the locks of the Canal, the +Secretary of War requested three eminent civil engineers, of special +experience in such construction, Alfred Noble, Frederic P. Stearns and John +R. Freeman, to visit the Isthmus and make thorough personal investigations +of the sites. These gentlemen went to the Isthmus in April and by means of +test pits which had been dug for the purpose, they inspected the proposed +foundations, and also examined the borings that had been made. In their +report to the Secretary of War, under date of May 2, 1907, they said: "We +found that all of the locks, of the dimensions now propesed, will rest upon +rock of such character that it will furnish a safe and stable foundation." +Subsequent new borings, conducted by the present Commission, have fully +confirmed this verdict. They show that the locks will rest on rock for +their entire length. The cross section of the dam and method of +construction will be such as to insure against any slip or sloughing off. +Similar examination of the foundations of the locks and dams on the Pacific +side are in progress. I believe that the locks should be made of a width of +120 feet. + +Last winter bids were requested and received for doing the work of canal +construction by contract. None of them was found to be satisfactory and all +were rejected. It is the unanimous opinion of the present Commission that +the work can be done better, more cheaply, and more quickly by the +Government than by private contractors. Fully 80 per cent of the entire +plant needed for construction has been purchased or contracted for; machine +shops have been erected and equipped for making all needed repairs to the +plant; many thousands of employees have been secured; an effective +organization has been perfected; a recruiting system is in operation which +is capable of furnishing more labor than can be used advantageously; +employees are well sheltered and well fed; salaries paid are satisfactory, +and the work is not only going forward smoothly, but it is producing +results far in advance of the most sanguine anticipations. Under these +favorable conditions, a change in the method of prosecuting the work would +be unwise and unjustifiable, for it would inevitably disorganize existing +conditions, check progress, and increase the cost and lengthen the time of +completing the Canal. + +The chief engineer and all his professional associates are firmly convinced +that the 85 feet level lock canal which they are constructing is the best +that could be desired. Some of them had doubts on this point when they went +to the Isthmus. As the plans have developed under their direction their +doubts have been dispelled. While they may decide upon changes in detail as +construction advances they are in hearty accord in approving the general +plan. They believe that it provides a canal not only adequate to all +demands that will be made upon it but superior in every way to a sea level +canal. I concur in this belief. + +I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress a postal savings +bank system, as recommended by the Postmaster-General. The primary object +is to encourage among our people economy and thrift and by the use of +postal savings banks to give them an opportunity to husband their +resources, particularly those who have not the facilities at hand for +depositing their money in savings banks. Viewed, however, from the +experience of the past few weeks, it is evident that the advantages of such +an institution are till more far-reaching. Timid depositors have withdrawn +their savings for the time being from national banks, trust companies, and +savings banks; individuals have hoarded their cash and the workingmen their +earnings; all of which money has been withheld and kept in hiding or in +safe deposit box to the detriment of prosperity. Through the agency of the +postal savings banks such money would be restored to the channels of trade, +to the mutual benefit of capital and labor. + +I further commend to the Congress the consideration of the +Postmaster-General's recommendation for an extension of the parcel post, +especially on the rural routes. There are now 38,215 rural routes, serving +nearly 15,000,000 people who do not have the advantages of the inhabitants +of cities in obtaining their supplies. These recommendations have been +drawn up to benefit the farmer and the country storekeeper; otherwise, I +should not favor them, for I believe that it is good policy for our +Government to do everything possible to aid the small town and the country +district. It is desirable that the country merchant should not be crushed +out. + +The fourth-class postmasters' convention has passed a very strong +resolution in favor of placing the fourth-class postmasters under the +civil-service law. The Administration has already put into effect the +policy of refusing to remove any fourth-class postmasters save for reasons +connected with the good of the service; and it is endeavoring so far as +possible to remove them from the domain of partisan politics. It would be a +most desirable thing to put the fourth-class postmasters in the classified +service. It is possible that this might be done without Congressional +action, but, as the matter is debatable, I earnestly recommend that the +Congress enact a law providing that they be included under the +civil-service law and put in the classified service. + +Oklahoma has become a State, standing on a full equality with her elder +sisters, and her future is assured by her great natural resources. The duty +of the National Government to guard the personal and property rights of the +Indians within her borders remains of course unchanged. + +I reiterate my recommendations of last year as regards Alaska. Some form of +local self-government should be provided, as simple and inexpensive as +possible; it is impossible for the Congress to devote the necessary time to +all the little details of necessary Alaskan legislation. Road building and +railway building should be encouraged. The Governor of Alaska should +begiven an ample appropriation wherewith to organize a force to preserve +the public peace. Whisky selling to the natives should be made a felony. +The coal land laws should be changed so as to meet the peculiar needs of +the Territory. This should be attended to at once; for the present laws +permit individuals to locate large areas of the public domain for +speculative purposes; and cause an immense amount of trouble, fraud, and +litigation. There should be another judicial division established. As early +as possible lighthouses and buoys should be established as aids to +navigation, especially in and about Prince William Sound, and the survey of +the coast completed. There is need of liberal appropriations for lighting +and buoying the southern coast and improving the aids to navigation in +southeastern Alaska. One of the great industries of Alaska, as of Puget +Sound and the Columbia, is salmon fishing. Gradually, by reason of lack of +proper laws, this industry is being ruined; it should now be taken in +charge, and effectively protected, by the United States Government. + +The courage and enterprise of the citizens of the farnorth-west in their +projected Alaskan-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, to be held in 1909, should +receive liberal encouragement. This exposition is not sentimental in its +conception, but seeks to exploit the natural resources of Alaska and to +promote the commerce, trade, and industry of the Pacific States with their +neighboring States and with our insular possessions and the neighboring +countries of the Pacific. The exposition asks no loan from the Congress but +seeks appropriations for National exhibits and exhibits of the western +dependencies of the General Government. The State of Washington and the +city of Seattle have shown the characteristic western enterprise in large +donations for the conduct of this exposition in which other States are +lending generous assistance. + +The unfortunate failure of the shipping bill at the last session of the +last Congress was followed by the taking off of certain Pacific steamships, +which has greatly hampered the movement of passengers between Hawaii and +the mainland. Unless the Congress is prepared by positive encouragement to +secure proper facilities in the way of shipping between Hawaii and the +mainland, then the coastwise shipping laws should be so far relaxed as to +prevent Hawaii suffering as it is now suffering. I again call your +attention to the capital importance from every standpoint of making Pearl +Harbor available for the largest deep water vessels, and of suitably +fortifying the islan + +The Secretary of War has gone to the Philippines. On his return I shall +submit to you his report on the islands. + +I again recommend that the rights of citizenship be conferred upon the +people of Porto Rico. + +A bureau of mines should be created under the control and direction of the +Secretary of the Interior; the bureau to have power to collect statistics +and make investigations in all matters pertaining to mining and +particularly to the accidents and dangers of the industry. If this can not +now be done, at least additional appropriations should be given the +Interior Department to be used for the study of mining conditions, for the +prevention of fraudulent mining schemes, for carrying on the work of +mapping the mining districts, for studying methods for minimizing the +accidents and dangers in the industry; in short, to aid in all proper ways +the development of the mining industry. + +I strongly recommend to the Congress to provide funds for keeping up the +Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson; these funds to be used through the +existing Hermitage Association for the preservation of a historic building +which should ever be dear to Americans. + +I further recommend that a naval monument be established in the Vicksburg +National Park. This national park gives a unique opportunity for +commemorating the deeds of those gallant men who fought on water, no less +than of those who fought on land, in the great civil War. + +Legislation should be enacted at the present session of the Congress for +the Thirteenth Census. The establishment of the permanent Census Bureau +affords the opportunity for a better census than we have ever had, but in +order to realize the full advantage of the permanent organization, ample +time must be given for preparation. + +There is a constantly growing interest in this country in the question of +the public health. At last the public mind is awake to the fact that many +diseases, notably tuberculosis, are National scourges. The work of the +State and city boards of health should be supplemented by a constantly +increasing interest on the part of the National Government. The Congress +has already provided a bureau of public health and has provided for a +hygienic laboratory. There are other valuable laws relating to the public +health connected with the various departments. This whole branch of the +Government should be strengthened and aided in every way. + +I call attention to two Government commissions which I have appointed and +which have already done excellent work. The first of these has to do with +the organization of the scientific work of the Government, which has grown +up wholly without plan and is in consequence so unwisely distributed among +the Executive Departments that much of its effect is lost for the lack of +proper coordination. This commission's chief object is to introduce a +planned and orderly development and operation in the place of the +ill-assorted and often ineffective grouping and methods of work which have +prevailed. This can not be done without legislation, nor would it be +feasible to deal in detail with so complex an administrative problem by +specific provisions of law. I recommend that the President be given +authority to concentrate related lines of work and reduce duplication by +Executive order through transfer and consolidation of lines of work. + +The second committee, that on Department methods, was instructed to +investigate and report upon the changes needed to place the conduct of the +executive force of the Government on the most economical and effective +basis in the light of the best modern business practice. The committee has +made very satisfactory progress. Antiquated practices and bureaucratic ways +have been abolished, and a general renovation of departmental methods has +been inaugurated. All that can be done by Executive order has already been +accomplished or will be put into effect in the near future. The work of the +main committee and its several assistant committees has produced a +wholesome awakening on the part of the great body of officers and employees +engaged in Government work. In nearly every Department and office there has +been a careful self-inspection for the purpose of remedying any defects +before they could be made the subject of adverse criticism. This has led +individuals to a wider study of the work on which they were engaged, and +this study has resulted in increasing their efficiency in their respective +lines of work. There are recommendations of special importance from the +committee on the subject of personnel and the classification of salaries +which will require legislative action before they can be put into effect. +It is my intention to submit to the Congress in the near future a special +message on those subjects. + +Under our form of government voting is not merely a right but a duty, and, +moreover, a fundamental and necessary duty if a man is to be a good +citizen. It is well to provide that corporations shall not contribute to +Presidential or National campaigns, and furthermore to provide for the +publication of both contributions and expenditures. There is, however, +always danger in laws of this kind, which from their very nature are +difficult of enforcement; the danger being lest they be obeyed only by the +honest, and disobeyed by the unscrupulous, so as to act only as a penalty +upon honest men. Moreover, no such law would hamper an unscrupulous man of +unlimited means from buying his own way into office. There is a very +radical measure which would, I believe, work a substantial improvement in +our system of conducting a campaign, although I am well aware that it will +take some time for people so to familiarize themselves with such a proposal +as to be willing to consider its adoption. The need for collecting large +campaign funds would vanish if Congress provided an appropriation for the +proper and legitimate expenses of each of the great national parties, an +appropriation ample enough to meet the necessity for thorough organization +and machinery, which requires a large expenditure of money. Then the +stipulation should be made that no party receiving campaign funds from the +Treasury should accept more than a fixed amount from any individual +subscriber or donor; and the necessary publicity for receipts and +expenditures could without difficulty be provided. + +There should be a National gallery of art established in the capital city +of this country. This is important not merely to the artistic but to the +material welfare of the country; and the people are to be congratulated on +the fact that the movement to establish such a gallery is taking definite +form under the guidance of the Smithsonian Institution. So far from there +being a tariff on works of art brought into the country, their importation +should be encouraged in every way. There have been no sufficient +collections of objects of art by the Government, and what collections have +been acquired are scattered and are generally placed in unsuitable and +imperfectly lighted galleries. + +The Biological Survey is quietly working for the good of our agricultural +interests, and is an excellent example of a Government bureau which +conducts original scientific research the findings of which are of much +practical utility. For more than twenty years it has studied the food +habits of birds and mammals that are injurious or beneficial to +agriculture, horticulture, and forestry; has distributed illustrated +bulletins on the subject, and has labored to secure legislative protection +for the beneficial species. The cotton boll-weevil, which has recently +overspread the cotton belt of Texas and is steadily extending its range, is +said to cause an annual loss of about $3,000,000. The Biological Survey has +ascertained and gives wide publicity to the fact that at least 43 kinds of +birds prey upon this destructive insect. It has discovered that 57 species +of birds feed upon scale-insects--dreaded enemies of the fruit grower. It +has shown that woodpeckers as a class, by destroying the larvae of +wood-boring insects, are so essential to tree life that it is doubtful if +our forests could exist without them. It has shown that cuckoos and orioles +are the natural enemies of the leaf-eating caterpillars that destroy our +shade and fruit trees; that our quails and sparrows consume annually +hundreds of tons of seeds of noxious weeds; that hawks and owls as a class +(excepting the few that kill poultry and game birds) are markedly +beneficial, spending their lives in catching grasshoppers, mice, and other +pests that prey upon the products of husbandry. It has conducted field +experiments for the purpose of devising and perfecting simple methods for +holding in check the hordes of destructive rodents--rats, mice, rabbits, +gophers, prairie dogs, and ground squirrels--which annually destroy crops +worth many millions of dollars; and it has published practical directions +for the destruction of wolves and coyotes on the stock ranges of the West, +resulting during the past year in an estimated saving of cattle and sheep +valued at upwards of a million dollars. + +It has inaugurated a system of inspection at the principal ports of entry +on both Atlantic and Pacific coasts by means of which the introduction of +noxious mammals and birds is prevented, thus keeping out the mongoose and +certain birds which are as much to be dreaded as the previously introduced +English sparrow and the house rats and mice. + +In the interest of game protection it has cooperated with local officials +in every State in the Union, has striven to promote uniform legislation in +the several States, has rendered important service in enforcing the Federal +law regulating interstate traffic in game, and has shown bow game +protection may be made to yield a large revenue to the State--a revenue +amounting in the case of Illinois to $128,000 in a single year. + +The Biological Survey has explored the faunas and floras of America with +reference to the distribution of animals and plants; it has defined and +mapped the natural life areas--areas in which, by reason of prevailing +climatic conditions, certain kinds of animals and plants occur--and has +pointed out the adaptability of these areas to the cultivation of +particular crops. The results of these investigations are not only of high +educational value but are worth each year to the progressive farmers of the +country many times the cost of maintaining the Survey, which, it may be +added, is exceedingly small. I recommend to Congress that this bureau, +whose usefulness is seriously handicapped by lack of funds, be granted an +appropriation in some degree commensurate with the importance of the work +it is doing. + +I call your especial attention to the unsatisfactory condition of our +foreign mail service, which, because of the lack of American steamship +lines is now largely done through foreign lines, and which, particularly so +far as South and Central America are concerned, is done in a manner which +constitutes a serious barrier to the extension of our commerce. + +The time has come, in my judgment, to set to work seriously to make our +ocean mail service correspond more closely with our recent commercial and +political development. A beginning was made by the ocean mail act of March +3, 1891, but even at that time the act was known to be inadequate in +various particulars. Since that time events have moved rapidly in our +history. We have acquired Hawaii, the Philippines, and lesser islands in +the Pacific. We are steadily prosecuting the great work of uniting at the +Isthmus the waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific. To a greater extent +than seemed probable even a dozen years ago, we may look to an American +future on the sea worthy of the traditions of our past. As the first step +in that direction, and the step most feasible at the present time, I +recommend the extension of the ocean mail act of 1891. This act has stood +for some years free from successful criticism of its principle and purpose. +It was based on theories of the obligations of a great maritime nation, +undisputed in our own land and followed by other nations since the +beginning of steam navigation. Briefly those theories are, that it is the +duty of a first-class Power so far as practicable to carry its ocean mails +under its own flag;that the fast ocean steamships and their crews, required +for such mail service, are valuable auxiliaries to the sea power of a +nation. Furthermore, the construction of such steamships insures the +maintenance in an efficient condition of the shipyards in which our +battleships must be built. + +The expenditure of public money for the Performance of such necessary +functions of government is certainly warranted, nor is it necessary to +dwell upon the incidental benefits to our foreign commerce, to the +shipbuilding industry, and to ship owning and navigation which will +accompany the discharge of these urgent public duties, though they, too, +should have weight. + +The only serious question is whether at this time we can afford to improve +our ocean mail service as it should be improved. All doubt on this subject +is removed by the reports of the Post-Office Department. For the fiscal +year ended June 30, 1907, that Department estimates that the postage +collected on the articles exchanged with foreign countries other than +Canada and Mexico amounted to $6,579,043.48, or $3,637,226.81 more than the +net cost of the service exclusive of the cost of transporting the articles +between the United States exchange post-offices and the United States +post-offices at which they were mailed or delivered. In other words, the +Government of the United States, having assumed a monopoly of carrying the +mails for the people, making a profit of over $3,600,000 by rendering a +cheap and inefficient service. That profit I believe should be devoted to +strengthening maritime power in those directions where it will best promote +our prestige. The country is familiar with the facts of our maritime +impotence in the harbors of the great and friendly Republics of South +America. Following the failure of the shipbuilding bill we lost our only +American line of steamers to Australasia, and that loss on the Pacific has +become a serious embarrassment to the people of Hawaii, and has wholly cut +off the Samoan islands from regular communication with the Pacific coast. +Puget Sound, in the year, has lost over half (four out of seven) of its +American steamers trading with the Orient. + +We now pay under the act of 1891 $4 a statute mile outward to 20-knot +American mail steamships, built according to naval plans, available as +cruisers, and manned by Americans. Steamships of that speed are confined +exclusively to trans-Atlantic trade with New York. To steamships of 16 +knots or over only $2 a mile can be paid, and it is steamships of this +speed and type which are needed to meet the requirements of mail service to +South America, Asia (including the Philippines), and Australia. I strongly +recommend, therefore, a simple amendment to the ocean mail act of 1891 +which shall authorize the Postmaster-General in his discretion to enter +into contracts for the transportation of mails to the Republics of South +America, to Asia, the Philippines, and Australia at a rate not to exceed $4 +a mile for steamships of 16 knots speed or upwards, subject to the +restrictions and obligations of the act of 1891. The profit of $3,600,000 +which has been mentioned will fully cover the maximum annual expenditure +involved in this recommendation, and it is believed will in time establish +the lines so urgently needed. The proposition involves no new principle, +but permits the efficient discharge of public functions now inadequately +performed or not performed at all. + +Not only there is not now, but there never has been, any other nation in +the world so wholly free from the evils of militarism as is ours. There +never has been any other large nation, not even China, which for so long a +period has had relatively to its numbers so small a regular army as has +ours. Never at any time in our history has this Nation suffered from +militarism or been in the remotest danger of suffering from militarism. +Never at any time of our history has the Regular Army been of a size which +caused the slightest appreciable tax upon the tax-paying citizens of the +Nation. Almost always it has been too small in size and underpaid. Never in +our entire history has the Nation suffered in the least particular because +too much care has been given to the Army, too much prominence given it, too +much money spent upon it, or because it has been too large. But again and +again we have suffered because enough care has not been given to it, +because it has been too small, because there has not been sufficient +preparation in advance for possible war. Every foreign war in which we have +engaged has cost us many times the amount which, if wisely expended during +the preceding years of peace on the Regular Army, would have insured the +war ending in but a fraction of the time and but for a fraction of the cost +that was actually the case. As a Nation we have always been shortsighted in +providing for the efficiency of the Army in time of peace. It is nobody's +especial interest to make such provision and no one looks ahead to war at +any period, no matter how remote, as being a serious possibility; while an +improper economy, or rather niggardliness, can be practiced at the expense +of the Army with the certainty that those practicing it will not be called +to account therefor, but that the price will be paid by the unfortunate +persons who happen to be in office when a war does actually come. + +I think it is only lack of foresight that troubles us, not any hostility to +the Army. There are, of course, foolish people who denounce any care of the +Army or Navy as "militarism," but I do not think that these people are +numerous. This country has to contend now, and has had to contend in the +past, with many evils, and there is ample scope for all who would work for +reform. But there is not one evil that now exists, or that ever has existed +in this country, which is, or ever has been, owing in the smallest part to +militarism. Declamation against militarism has no more serious place in an +earnest and intelligent movement for righteousness in this country than +declamation against the worship of Baal or Astaroth. It is declamation +against a non-existent evil, one which never has existed in this country, +and which has not the slightest chance of appearing here. We are glad to +help in any movement for international peace, but this is because we +sincerely believe that it is our duty to help all such movements provided +they are sane and rational, and not because there is any tendency toward +militarism on our part which needs to be cured. The evils we have to fight +are those in connection with industrialism, not militarism. Industry is +always necessary, just as war is sometimes necessary. Each has its price, +and industry in the United States now exacts, and has always exacted, a far +heavier toll of death than all our wars put together. The statistics of the +railroads of this country for the year ended June 30, 1906, the last +contained in the annual statistical report of the Interstate Commerce +Commission, show in that one year a total of 108,324 casualties to persons, +of which 10,618 represent the number of persons killed. In that wonderful +hive of human activity, Pittsburg, the deaths due to industrial accidents +in 1906 were 919, all the result of accidents in mills, mines or on +railroads. For the entire country, therefore, it is safe to say that the +deaths due to industrial accidents aggregate in the neighborhood of twenty +thousand a year. Such a record makes the death rate in all our foreign wars +utterly trivial by comparison. The number of deaths in battle in all the +foreign wars put together, for the last century and a quarter, aggregate +considerably less than one year's death record for our industries. A mere +glance at these figures is sufficient to show the absurdity of the outcry +against militarism. + +But again and again in the past our little Regular Army has rendered +service literally vital to the country, and it may at any time have to do +so in the future. Its standard of efficiency and instruction is higher now +than ever in the past. But it is too small. There are not enough officers; +and it is impossible to secure enough enlisted men. We should maintain in +peace a fairly complete skeleton of a large army. A great and +long-continued war would have to be fought by volunteers. But months would +pass before any large body of efficient volunteers could be put in the +field, and our Regular Army should be large enough to meet any immediate +need. In particular it is essential that we should possess a number of +extra officers trained in peace to perform efficiently the duties urgently +required upon the breaking out of war. + +The Medical Corps should be much larger than the needs of our Regular Army +in war. Yet at present it is smaller than the needs of the service demand +even in peace. The Spanish war occurred less than ten years ago. The chief +loss we suffered in it was by disease among the regiments which never left +the country. At the moment the Nation seemed deeply impressed by this fact; +yet seemingly it has already been forgotten, for not the slightest effort +has been made to prepare a medical corps of sufficient size to prevent the +repetition of the same disaster on a much larger scale if we should ever be +engaged in a serious conflict. The trouble in the Spanish war was not with +the then existing officials of the War Department; it was with the +representatives of the people as a whole who, for the preceding thirty +years, had declined to make the necessary provision for the Army. Unless +ample provision is now made by Congress to put the Medical Corps where it +should be put disaster in the next war is inevitable, and the +responsibility will not lie with those then in charge of the War +Department, but with those who now decline to make the necessary provision. +A well organized medical corps, thoroughly trained before the advent of war +in all the important administrative duties of a military sanitary corps, is +essential to the efficiency of any large army, and especially of a large +volunteer army. Such knowledge of medicine and surgery as is possessed by +the medical profession generally will not alone suffice to make an +efficient military surgeon. He must have, in addition, knowledge of the +administration and sanitation of large field hospitals and camps, in order +to safeguard the health and lives of men intrusted in great numbers to his +care. A bill has long been pending before the Congress for the +reorganization of the Medical Corps; its passage is urgently needed. + +But the Medical Department is not the only department for which increased +provision should be made. The rate of pay for the officers should be +greatly increased; there is no higher type of citizen than the American +regular officer, and he should have a fair reward for his admirable work. +There should be a relatively even greater increase in the pay for the +enlisted men. In especial provision should be made for establishing grades +equivalent to those of warrant officers in the Navy which should be open to +the enlisted men who serve sufficiently long and who do their work well. +Inducements should be offered sufficient to encourage really good men to +make the Army a life occupation. The prime needs of our present Army is to +secure and retain competent noncommissioned officers. This difficulty rests +fundamentally on the question of pay. The noncommissioned officer does not +correspond with an unskilled laborer; he corresponds to the best type of +skilled workman or to the subordinate official in civil institutions. Wages +have greatly increased in outside occupations in the last forty years and +the pay of the soldier, like the pay of the officers, should be +proportionately increased. The first sergeant of a company, if a good man, +must be one of such executive and administrative ability, and such +knowledge of his trade, as to be worth far more than we at present pay him. +The same is true of the regimental sergeant major. These men should be men +who had fully resolved to make the Army a life occupation and they should +be able to look forward to ample reward; while only men properly qualified +should be given a chance to secure these final rewards. The increase over +the present pay need not be great in the lower grades for the first one or +two enlistments, but the increase should be marked for the noncommissioned +officers of the upper grades who serve long enough to make it evident that +they intend to stay permanently in the Army, while additional pay should be +given for high qualifications in target practice. The position of warrant +officer should be established and there should be not only an increase of +pay, but an increase of privileges and allowances and dignity, so as to +make the grade open to noncommissioned officers capable of filling them +desirably from every standpoint. The rate of desertion in our Army now in +time of peace is alarming. The deserter should be treated by public opinion +as a man guilty of the greatest crime; while on the other hand the man who +serves steadily in the Army should be treated as what he is, that is, as +preeminently one of the best citizens of this Republic. After twelve years' +service in the Army, my own belief is that the man should be given a +preference according to his ability for certain types of office over all +civilian applicants without examination. This should also apply, of course, +to the men who have served twelve years in the Navy. A special corps should +be provided to do the manual labor now necessarily demanded of the privates +themselves. + +Among the officers there should be severe examinations to weed out the +unfit up to the grade of major. From that position on appointments should +be solely by selection and it should be understood that a man of merely +average capacity could never get beyond the position of major, while every +man who serves in any grade a certain length of time prior to promotion to +the next grade without getting the promotion to the next grade should be +forthwith retired. The practice marches and field maneuvers of the last two +or three years have been invaluable to the Army. They should be continued +and extended. A rigid and not a perfunctory examination of physical +capacity has been provided for the higher grade officers. This will work +well. Unless an officer has a good physique, unless he can stand hardship, +ride well, and walk fairly, he is not fit for any position, even after he +has become a colonel. Before he has become a colonel the need for physical +fitness in the officers is almost as great as in the enlisted man. I hope +speedily to see introduced into the Army a far more rigid and thoroughgoing +test of horsemanship for all field officers than at present. There should +be a Chief of Cavalry just as there is a Chief of Artillery. + +Perhaps the most important of all legislation needed for the benefit of the +Army is a law to equalize and increase the pay of officers and enlisted men +of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Revenue-Cutter Service. Such a bill +has been prepared, which it is hoped will meet with your favorable +consideration. The next most essential measure is to authorize a number of +extra officers as mentioned above. To make the Army more attractive to +enlisted men, it is absolutely essential to create a service corps, such as +exists in nearly every modern army in the world, to do the skilled and +unskilled labor, inseparably connected with military administration, which +is now exacted, without just compensation, of enlisted men who voluntarily +entered the Army to do service of an altogether different kind. There are a +number of other laws necessary to so organize the Army as to promote its +efficiency and facilitate its rapid expansion in time of war; but the above +are the most important. + +It was hoped The Hague Conference might deal with the question of the +limitation of armaments. But even before it had assembled informal +inquiries had developed that as regards naval armaments, the only ones in +which this country had any interest, it was hopeless to try to devise any +plan for which there was the slightest possibility of securing the assent +of the nations gathered at The Hague. No plan was even proposed which would +have had the assent of more than one first class Power outside of the +United States. The only plan that seemed at all feasible, that of limiting +the size of battleships, met with no favor at all. It is evident, +therefore, that it is folly for this Nation to base any hope of securing +peace on any international agreement as to the limitations of armaments. +Such being the fact it would be most unwise for us to stop the upbuilding +of our Navy. To build one battleship of the best and most advanced type a +year would barely keep our fleet up to its present force. This is not +enough. In my judgment, we should this year provide for four battleships. +But it is idle to build battleships unless in addition to providing the +men, and the means for thorough training, we provide the auxiliaries for +them, unless we provide docks, the coaling stations, the colliers and +supply ships that they need. We are extremely deficient in coaling stations +and docks on the Pacific, and this deficiency should not longer be +permitted to exist. Plenty of torpedo boats and destroyers should be built. +Both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, fortifications of the best type +should be provided for all our greatest harbors. + +We need always to remember that in time of war the Navy is not to be used +to defend harbors and sea-coast cities; we should perfect our system of +coast fortifications. The only efficient use for the Navy is for offense. +The only way in which it can efficiently protect our own coast against the +possible action of a foreign navy is by destroying that foreign navy. For +defense against a hostile fleet which actually attacks them, the coast +cities must depend upon their forts, mines, torpedoes, submarines, and +torpedo boats and destroyers. All of these together are efficient for +defensive purposes, but they in no way supply the place of a thoroughly +efficient navy capable of acting on the offensive; for parrying never yet +won a fight. It can only be won by hard hitting, and an aggressive +sea-going navy alone can do this hard hitting of the offensive type. But +the forts and the like are necessary so that the Navy may be footloose. In +time of war there is sure to be demand, under pressure, of fright, for the +ships to be scattered so as to defend all kind of ports. Under penalty of +terrible disaster, this demand must be refused. The ships must be kept +together, and their objective made the enemies' fleet. If fortifications +are sufficiently strong, no modern navy will venture to attack them, so +long as the foe has in existence a hostile navy of anything like the same +size or efficiency. But unless there exists such a navy then the +fortifications are powerless by themselves to secure the victory. For of +course the mere deficiency means that any resolute enemy can at his leisure +combine all his forces upon one point with the certainty that he can take +it. + +Until our battle fleet is much larger than at present it should never be +split into detachments so far apart that they could not in event of +emergency be speedily united. Our coast line is on the Pacific just as much +as on the Atlantic. The interests of California, Oregon, and Washington are +as emphatically the interests of the whole Union as those of Maine and New +York, of Louisiana and Texas. The battle fleet should now and then be moved +to the Pacific, just as at other times it should be kept in the Atlantic. +When the Isthmian Canal is built the transit of the battle fleet from one +ocean to the other will be comparatively easy. Until it is built I +earnestly hope that the battle fleet will be thus shifted between the two +oceans every year or two. The marksmanship on all our ships has improved +phenomenally during the last five years. Until within the last two or three +years it was not possible to train a battle fleet in squadron maneuvers +under service conditions, and it is only during these last two or three +years that the training under these conditions has become really effective. +Another and most necessary stride in advance is now being taken. The battle +fleet is about starting by the Straits of Magellan to visit the Pacific +coast.. Sixteen battleships are going under the command of Rear-Admiral +Evans, while eight armored cruisers and two other battleships will meet him +at San Francisco, whither certain torpedo destroyers are also going. No +fleet of such size has ever made such a voyage, and it will be of very +great educational use to all engaged in it. The only way by which to teach +officers and men how to handle the fleet so as to meet every possible +strain and emergency in time of war is to have them practice under similar +conditions in time of peace. Moreover, the only way to find out our actual +needs is to perform in time of peace whatever maneuvers might be necessary +in time of war. After war is declared it is too late to find out the needs; +that means to invite disaster. This trip to the Pacific will show what some +of our needs are and will enable us to provide for them. The proper place +for an officer to learn his duty is at sea, and the only way in which a +navy can ever be made efficient is by practice at sea, under all the +conditions which would have to be met if war existed. + +I bespeak the most liberal treatment for the officers and enlisted men of +the Navy. It is true of them, as likewise of the officers and enlisted men +of the Army, that they form a body whose interests should be close to the +heart of every good American. In return the most rigid performance of duty +should be exacted from them. The reward should be ample when they do their +best; and nothing less than their best should be tolerated. It is idle to +hope for the best results when the men in the senior grades come to those +grades late in life and serve too short a time in them. Up to the rank of +lieutenant-commander promotion in the Navy should be as now, by seniority, +subject, however, to such rigid tests as would eliminate the unfit. After +the grade of lieutenant-commander, that is, when we come to the grade of +command rank, the unfit should be eliminated in such manner that only the +conspicuously fit would remain, and sea service should be a principal test +of fitness. Those who are passed by should, after a certain length of +service in their respective grades, be retired. Of a given number of men it +may well be that almost all would make good lieutenants and most of them +good lieutenant-commanders, while only a minority be fit to be captains, +and but three or four to be admirals. Those who object to promotion +otherwise than by mere seniority should reflect upon the elementary fact +that no business in private life could be successfully managed if those who +enter at the lowest rungs of the ladder should each in turn, if he lived, +become the head of the firm, its active director, and retire after he had +held the position a few months. On its face such a scheme is an absurdity. +Chances for improper favoritism can be minimized by a properly formed +board; such as the board of last June, which did such conscientious and +excellent work in elimination. + +If all that ought to be done can not now be done, at least let a beginning +be made. In my last three annual Messages, and in a special Message to the +last Congress, the necessity for legislation that will cause officers of +the line of the Navy to reach the grades of captain and rear-admiral at +less advanced ages and which will cause them to have more sea training and +experience in the highly responsible duties of those grades, so that they +may become thoroughly skillful in handling battleships, divisions, +squadrons, and fleets in action, has been fully explained and urgently +recommended. Upon this subject the Secretary of the Navy has submitted +detailed and definite recommendations which have received my approval, and +which, if enacted into law, will accomplish what is immediately necessary, +and will, as compared with existing law, make a saving of more than five +millions of dollars during the next seven years. The navy personnel act of +1899 has accomplished all that was expected of it in providing satisfactory +periods of service in the several subordinate grades, from the grade of +ensign to the grade of lieutenant-commander, but the law is inadequate in +the upper grades and will continue to be inadequate on account of the +expansion of the personnel since its enactment. Your attention is invited +to the following quotations from the report of the personnel board of 1906, +of which the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was president: + +"Congress has authorized a considerable increase in the number of +midshipmen at the Naval Academy, and these midshipmen upon graduation are +promoted to ensign and lieutenant (junior-grade). But no provision has been +made for a corresponding increase in the upper grades, the result being +that the lower grades will become so congested that a midshipman now in one +of the lowest classes at Annapolis may possibly not be promoted to +lieutenant until he is between 45 and 50 years of age. So it will continue +under the present law, congesting at the top and congesting at the bottom. +The country fails to get from the officers of the service the best that is +in them by not providing opportunity for their normal development and +training. The board believes that this works a serious detriment to the +efficiency of the Navy and is a real menace to the public safety." + +As stated in my special Message to the last Congress: "I am firmly of the +opinion that unless the present conditions of the higher commissioned +personnel is rectified by judicious legislation the future of our Navy will +be gravely compromised." It is also urgently necessary to increase the +efficiency of the Medical Corps of the Navy. Special legislation to this +end has already been proposed; and I trust it may be enacted without +delay. + +It must be remembered that everything done in the Navy to fit it to do well +in time of war must be done in time of peace. Modern wars are short; they +do not last the length of time requisite to build a battleship; and it +takes longer to train the officers and men to do well on a battleship than +it takes to build it. Nothing effective can be done for the Navy once war +has begun, and the result of the war, if the combatants are otherwise +equally matched, will depend upon which power has prepared best in time of +peace. The United States Navy is the best guaranty the Nation has that its +honor and interest will not be neglected; and in addition it offers by far +the best insurance for peace that can by human ingenuity be devised. + +I call attention to the report of the official Board of Visitors to the +Naval Academy at Annapolis which has been forwarded to the Congress. The +report contains this paragraph: + +"Such revision should be made of the courses of study and methods of +conducting and marking examinations as will develop and bring out the +average all-round ability of the midshipman rather than to give him +prominence in any one particular study. The fact should be kept in mind +that the Naval Academy is not a university but a school, the primary object +of which is to educate boys to be efficient naval officers. Changes in +curriculum, therefore, should be in the direction of making the course of +instruction less theoretical and more practical. No portion of any future +class should be graduated in advance of the full four years' course, and +under no circumstances should the standard of instruction be lowered. The +Academy in almost all of its departments is now magnificently equipped, and +it would be very unwise to make the course of instruction less exacting +than it is to-day." + +Acting upon this suggestion I designated three seagoing officers, Capt. +Richard Wainwright, Commander Robert S. Griffin, and Lieut. Commander +Albert L. Key, all graduates of the Academy, to investigate conditions and +to recommend to me the best method of carrying into effect this general +recommendation. These officers performed the duty promptly and +intelligently, and, under the personal direction of Capt. Charles J. +Badger, Superintendent of the Academy, such of the proposed changes as were +deemed to be at present advisable were put into effect at the beginning of +the academic year, October 1, last. The results, I am confident, will be +most beneficial to the Academy, to the midshipmen, and to the Navy. + +In foreign affairs this country's steady policy is to behave toward other +nations as a strong and self-respecting man should behave toward the other +men with whom he is brought into contact. In other words, our aim is +disinterestedly to help other nations where such help can be wisely given +without the appearance of meddling with what does not concern us; to be +careful to act as a good neighbor; and at the same time, in good-natured +fashion, to make it evident that we do not intend to be imposed upon. + +The Second International Peace Conference was convened at The Hague on the +15th of June last and remained in session until the 18th of October. For +the first time the representatives of practically all the civilized +countries of the world united in a temperate and kindly discussion of the +methods by which the causes of war might be narrowed and its injurious +effects reduced. + +Although the agreements reached in the Conference did not in any direction +go to the length hoped for by the more sanguine, yet in many directions +important steps were taken, and upon every subject on the programme there +was such full and considerate discussion as to justify the belief that +substantial progress has been made toward further agreements in the future. +Thirteen conventions were agreed upon embodying the definite conclusions +which had been reached, and resolutions were adopted marking the progress +made in matters upon which agreement was not yet sufficiently complete to +make conventions practicable. + +The delegates of the United States were instructed to favor an agreement +for obligatory arbitration, the establishment of a permanent court of +arbitration to proceed judicially in the hearing and decision of +international causes, the prohibition of force for the collection of +contract debts alleged to be due from governments to citizens of other +countries until after arbitration as to the justice and amount of the debt +and the time and manner of payment, the immunity of private property at +sea, the better definition of the rights of neutrals, and, in case any +measure to that end should be introduced, the limitation of armaments. + +In the field of peaceful disposal of international differences several +important advances were made. First, as to obligatory arbitration. Although +the Conference failed to secure a unanimous agreement upon the details of a +convention for obligatory arbitration, it did resolve as follows; + +"It is unanimous: (1) In accepting the principle for obligatory +arbitration; (2) In declaring that certain differences, and notably those +relating to the interpretation and application of international +conventional stipulations are susceptible of being submitted to obligatory +arbitration without any restriction." + +In view of the fact that as a result of the discussion the vote upon the +definite treaty of obligatory arbitration, which was proposed, stood 32 in +favor to 9 against the adoption of the treaty, there can be little doubt +that the great majority of the countries of the world have reached a point +where they are now ready to apply practically the principles thus +unanimously agreed upon by the Conference. + +The second advance, and a very great one, is the agreement which relates to +the use of force for the collection of contract debts. Your attention is +invited to the paragraphs upon this subject in my Message of December, +1906, and to the resolution of the Third American Conference at Rio in the +summer of 1906. The convention upon this subject adopted by the Conference +substantially as proposed by the American delegates is as follows:: + +"In order to avoid between nations armed conflicts of a purely pecuniary +origin arising from contractual debts claimed of the government of one +country by the government of another country to be due to its nationals, +the signatory Powers agree not to have recourse to armed force for the +collection of such contractual debts. + +"However, this stipulation shall not be applicable when the debtor State +refuses or leaves unanswered an offer to arbitrate, or, in case of +acceptance, makes it impossible to formulate the terms of submission, or, +after arbitration, fails to comply with the award rendered. + +"It is further agreed that arbitration here contemplated shall be in +conformity, as to procedure, with Chapter III of the Convention for the +Pacific Settlement of International Disputes adopted at The Hague, and that +it shall determine, in so far as there shall be no agreement between the +parties, the justice and the amount of the debt, the time and mode of +payment thereof." + +Such a provision would have prevented much injustice and extortion in the +past, and I cannot doubt that its effect in the future will be most +salutary. + +A third advance has been made in amending and perfecting the convention of +1899 for the voluntary settlement of international disputes, and +particularly the extension of those parts of that convention which relate +to commissions of inquiry. The existence of those provisions enabled the +Governments of Great Britain and Russia to avoid war, notwithstanding great +public excitement, at the time of the Dogger Bank incident, and the new +convention agreed upon by the Conference gives practical effect to the +experience gained in that inquiry. + +Substantial progress was also made towards the creation of a permanent +judicial tribunal for the determination of international causes. There was +very full discussion of the proposal for such a court and a general +agreement was finally reached in favor of its creation. The Conference +recommended to the signatory Powers the adoption of a draft upon which it +agreed for the organization of the court, leaving to be determined only the +method by which the judges should be selected. This remaining unsettled +question is plainly one which time and good temper will solve. + +A further agreement of the first importance was that for the creation of an +international prize court. The constitution, organization and procedure of +such a tribunal were provided for in detail. Anyone who recalls the +injustices under which this country suffered as a neutral power during the +early part of the last century can not fail to see in this provision for an +international prize court the great advance which the world is making +towards the substitution of the rule of reason and justice in place of +simple force. Not only will the international prize court be the means of +protecting the interests of neutrals, but it is in itself a step towards +the creation of the more general court for the hearing of international +controversies to which reference has just been made. The organization and +action of such a prize court can not fail to accustom the different +countries to the submission of international questions to the decision of +an international tribunal, and we may confidently expect the results of +such submission to bring about a general agreement upon the enlargement of +the practice. + +Numerous provisions were adopted for reducing the evil effects of war and +for defining the rights and duties of neutrals. + +The Conference also provided for the holding of a third Conference within a +period similar to that which elapsed between the First and Second +Conferences. + +The delegates of the United States worthily represented the spirit of the +American people and maintained with fidelity and ability the policy of our +Government upon all the great questions discussed in the Conference. + +The report of the delegation, together with authenticated copies of the +conventions signed, when received, will be laid before the Senate for its +consideration. + +When we remember how difficult it is for one of our own legislative bodies, +composed of citizens of the same country, speaking the same language, +living under the same laws, and having the same customs, to reach an +agreement, or even to secure a majority upon any difficult and important +subject which is proposed for legislation, it becomes plain that the +representatives of forty-five different countries, speaking many different +languages, accustomed to different methods of procedure, with widely +diverse interests, who discussed so many different subjects and reached +agreements upon so many, are entitled to grateful appreciation for the +wisdom, patience, and moderation with which they have discharged their +duty. The example of this temperate discussion, and the agreements and the +efforts to agree, among representatives of all the nations of the earth, +acting with universal recognition of the supreme obligation to promote +peace, can. not fail to be a powerful influence for good in future +international relations. + +A year ago in consequence of a revolutionary movement in Cuba which +threatened the immediate return to chaos of the island, the United States +intervened, sending down an army and establishing a provisional government +under Governor Magoon. Absolute quiet and prosperity have returned to the +island because of this action. We are now taking steps to provide for +elections in the island and our expectation is within the coming year to be +able to turn the island over again to government chosen by the people +thereof. Cuba is at our doors. It is not possible that this Nation should +permit Cuba again to sink into the condition from which we rescued it. All +that we ask of the Cuban people is that they be prosperous, that they +govern themselves so as to bring content, order and progress to their +island, the Queen of the Antilles; and our only interference has been and +will be to help them achieve these results. + +An invitation has been extended by Japan to the Government and people of +the United States to participate in a great national exposition to be held +at Tokyo from April 1 to October 31, 1912, and in which the principal +countries of the world are to be invited to take part. This is an occasion +of special interest to all the nations of the world, and peculiarly so to +us; for it is the first instance in which such a great national exposition +has been held by a great power dwelling on the Pacific; and all the nations +of Europe and America will, I trust, join in helping to success this first +great exposition ever held by a great nation of Asia. The geographical +relations of Japan and the United States as the possessors of such large +portions of the coasts of the Pacific, the intimate trade relations already +existing between the two countries, the warm friendship which has been +maintained between them without break since the opening of Japan to +intercourse with the western nations, and her increasing wealth and +production, which we regard with hearty goodwill and wish to make the +occasion of mutually beneficial commerce, all unite in making it eminently +desirable that this invitation should be accepted. I heartily recommend +such legislation as will provide in generous fashion for the representation +of this Government and. its people in the proposed exposition. Action +should be taken now. We are apt to underestimate the time necessary for +preparation in such cases. The invitation to the French Exposition of 1900 +was brought to the attention of the Congress by President Cleveland in +December, 1895; and so many are the delays necessary to such proceedings +that the period of font years and a half which then intervened before the +exposition proved none too long for the proper preparation of the +exhibits. + +The adoption of a new tariff by Germany, accompanied by conventions for +reciprocal tariff concessions between that country and most of the other +countries of continental Europe, led the German Government to -ire the +notice necessary to terminate the reciprocal commercial agreement with this +country proclaimed July 13, 1900. The notice was to take effect on the 1st +of March, 1906, and in default of some other arrangements this would have +left the exports from the United States to Germany subject to the general +German tariff duties, from 25 to 50 per cent higher than the conventional +duties imposed upon the goods of most of our competitors for German trade. + +Under a special agreement made between the two Governments in February, +1906, the German Government postponed the operation of their notice until +the 30th of June, 1907. In the meantime, deeming it to be my duty to make +every possible effort to prevent a tariff war between the United States and +Germany arising from misunderstanding by either country of the conditions +existing in the other, and acting upon the invitation of the German +Government, I sent to Berlin a commission composed of competent experts in +the operation and administration of the customs tariff, from the +Departments of the Treasury and Commerce and Labor. This commission was +engaged for several mouths in conference with a similar commission +appointed by the German Government, under instructions, so far as +practicable, to reach a common understanding as to all the facts regarding +the tariffs of the United States and Germany material and relevant to the +trade relations between the two countries. The commission reported, and +upon the basis of the report, a further temporary commercial agreement was +entered into by the two countries, pursuant to which, in the exercise of +the authority conferred upon the President by the third section of the +tariff act of July 24, 1897, I extended the reduced tariff rates provided +for in that section to champagne and all other sparkling wines, and +pursuant to which the German conventional or minimum tariff rates were +extended to about 96 1/2 per cent of all the exports from the United States +to Germany. This agreement is to remain in force until the 30th of June, +1908, and until six months after notice by either party to terminate it. + +The agreement and the report of the commission on which it is based will be +laid before the Congress for its information. + +This careful examination into the tariff relations between the United +States and Germany involved an inquiry into certain of our methods of +administration which had been the cause of much complaint on the part of +German exporters. In this inquiry I became satisfied that certain vicious +and unjustifiable practices had grown up in our customs administration, +notably the practice of determining values of imports upon detective +reports never disclosed to the persons whose interests were affected. The +use of detectives, though often necessary, tends towards abuse, and should +be carefully guarded. Under our practice as I found it to exist in this +case, the abuse had become gross and discreditable. Under it, instead of +seeking information as to the market value of merchandise from the +well-known and respected members of the commercial community in the country +of its production, secret statements were obtained from informers and +discharged employees and business rivals, and upon this kind of secret +evidence the values of imported goods were frequently raised and heavy +penalties were frequently imposed upon importers who were never permitted +to know what the evidence was and who never had an opportunity to meet it. +It is quite probable that this system tended towards an increase of the +duties collected upon imported goods, but I conceive it to be a violation +of law to exact more duties than the law provides, just as it is a +violation to admit goods upon the payment of less than the legal rate of +duty. This practice was repugnant to the spirit of American law and to +American sense of justice. In the judgment of the most competent experts of +the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce and Labor it was +wholly unnecessary for the due collection of the customs revenues, and the +attempt to defend it merely illustrates the demoralization which naturally +follows from a long continued course of reliance upon such methods. I +accordingly caused the regulations governing this branch of the customs +service to be modified so that values are determined upon a hearing in +which all the parties interested have an opportunity to be heard and to +know the evidence against them. Moreover our Treasury agents are accredited +to the government of the country in which they seek information, and in +Germany receive the assistance of the quasi-official chambers of commerce +in determining the actual market value of goods, in accordance with what I +am advised to be the true construction of the law. + +These changes of regulations were adapted to the removal of such manifest +abuses that I have not felt that they ought to be confined to our relations +with Germany; and I have extended their operation to all other countries +which have expressed a desire to enter into similar administrative +relations. + +I ask for authority to reform the agreement with China under which the +indemnity of 1900 was fixed, by remitting and cancelling the obligation of +China for the payment of all that part of the stipulated indemnity which is +in excess of the sum of eleven million, six hundred and fifty-five +thousand, four hundred and ninety-two dollars and sixty-nine cents, and +interest at four per cent. After the rescue of the foreign legations in +Peking during the Boxer troubles in 1900 the Powers required from China the +payment of equitable indemnities to the several nations, and the final +protocol under which the troops were withdrawn, signed at Peking, September +7, 1901, fixed the amount of this indemnity allotted to the United States +at over $20,000,000, and China paid, up to and including the 1st day of +June last, a little over $6,000,000. It was the first intention of this +Government at the proper time, when all claims had been presented and all +expenses ascertained as fully as possible, to revise the estimates and +account, and as a proof of sincere friendship for China voluntarily to +release that country from its legal liability for all payments in excess of +the sum which should prove to be necessary for actual indemnity to the +United States and its citizens. + +This Nation should help in every practicable way in the education of the +Chinese people, so that the vast and populous Empire of China may gradually +adapt itself to modern conditions. One way of doing this is by promoting +the coming of Chinese students to this country and making it attractive to +them to take courses at our universities and higher educational +institutions. Our educators should, so far as possible, take concerted +action toward this end. + +On the courteous invitation of the President of Mexico, the Secretary of +State visited that country in September and October and was received +everywhere with the greatest kindness and hospitality. + +He carried from the Government of the United States to our southern +neighbor a message of respect and good will and of desire for better +acquaintance and increasing friendship. The response from the Government +and the people of Mexico was hearty and sincere. No pains were spared to +manifest the most friendly attitude and feeling toward the United States. + +In view of the close neighborhood of the two countries the relations which +exist between Mexico and the United States are just cause for +gratification. We have a common boundary of over 1,500 miles from the Gulf +of Mexico to the Pacific. Much of it is marked only by the shifting waters +of the Rio Grande. Many thousands of Mexicans are residing upon our side of +the line and it is estimated that over 40,000 Americans are resident in +Mexican territory and that American investments in Mexico amount to over +seven hundred million dollars. The extraordinary industrial and commercial +prosperity of Mexico has been greatly promoted by American enterprise, and +Americans are sharing largely in its results. The foreign trade of the +Republic already exceeds $240,000,000 per annum, and of this two-thirds +both of exports and imports are exchanged with the United States. Under +these circumstances numerous questions necessarily arise between the two +countries. These questions are always approached and disposed of in a +spirit of mutual courtesy and fair dealing. Americans carrying on business +in Mexico testify uniformly to the kindness and consideration with which +they are treated and their sense of the security of their property and +enterprises under the wise administration of the great statesman who has so +long held the office of Chief Magistrate of that Republic. + +The two Governments have been uniting their efforts for a considerable time +past to aid Central America in attaining the degree of peace and order +which have made possible the prosperity of the northern ports of the +Continent. After the peace between Guatemala, Honduras, and Salvador, +celebrated under the circumstances described in my last Message, a new war +broke out between the Republics of Nicaragua, Honduras, and Salvador. The +effort to compose this new difficulty has resulted in the acceptance of the +joint suggestion of the Presidents of Mexico and of the United States for a +general peace conference between all the countries of Central America. On +the 17th day of September last a protocol was signed between the +representatives of the five Central American countries accredited to this +Government agreeing upon a conference to be held in the City of Washington +"in order to devise the means of preserving the good relations among said +Republics and bringing about permanent peace in those countries." The +protocol includes the expression of a wish that the Presidents of the +United States and Mexico should appoint "representatives to lend their good +and impartial offices in a purely friendly way toward the realization of +the objects of the conference." The conference is now in session and will +have our best wishes and, where it is practicable, our friendly +assistance. + +One of the results of the Pan American Conference at Rio Janeiro in the +summer of 1906 has been a great increase in the activity and usefulness of +the International Bureau of American Republics. That institution, which +includes all the American Republics in its membership and brings all their +representatives together, is doing a really valuable work in informing the +people of the United States about the other Republics and in making the +United States known to them. Its action is now limited by appropriations +determined when it was doing a work on a much smaller scale and rendering +much less valuable service. I recommend that the contribution of this +Government to the expenses of the Bureau be made commensurate with its +increased work. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 8, 1908 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: FINANCES. + +The financial standing of the Nation at the present time is excellent, and +the financial management of the Nation's interests by the Government during +the last seven years has shown the most satisfactory results. But our +currency system is imperfect, and it is earnestly to be hoped that the +Currency Commission will be able to propose a thoroughly good system which +will do away with the existing defects. + +During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, there was an +increase in the amount of money in circulation of $902,991,399. The +increase in the per capita during this period was $7.06. Within this time +there were several occasions when it was necessary for the Treasury +Department to come to the relief of the money market by purchases or +redemptions of United States bonds; by increasing deposits in national +banks; by stimulating additional issues of national bank notes, and by +facilitating importations from abroad of gold. Our imperfect currency +system has made these proceedings necessary, and they were effective until +the monetary disturbance in the fall of 1907 immensely increased the +difficulty of ordinary methods of relief. By the middle of November the +available working balance in the Treasury had been reduced to approximately +$5,000,000. Clearing house associations throughout the country had been +obliged to resort to the expedient of issuing clearing house certificates, +to be used as money. In this emergency it was determined to invite +subscriptions for $50,000,000 Panama Canal bonds, and $100,000,000 three +per cent certificates of indebtedness authorized by the act of June 13, +1898. It was proposed to re-deposit in the national banks the proceeds of +these issues, and to permit their use as a basis for additional circulating +notes of national banks. The moral effect of this procedure was so great +that it was necessary to issue only $24,631,980 of the Panama Canal bonds +and $15,436,500 of the certificates of indebtedness. + +During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, the balance +between the net ordinary receipts and the net ordinary expenses of the +Government showed a surplus in the four years 1902, 1903, 1906 and 1907, +and a deficit in the years 1904, 1905, 1908 and a fractional part of the +fiscal year 1909. The net result was a surplus of $99,283,413.54. The +financial operations of the Government during this period, based upon these +differences between receipts and expenditures, resulted in a net reduction +of the interest-bearing debt of the United States from $987,141,040 to +$897,253,990, notwithstanding that there had been two sales of Panama Canal +bonds amounting in the aggregate to $54,631,980, and an issue of three per +cent certificates of indebtedness under the act of June 13, 1998, amounting +to $15,436,500. Refunding operations of the Treasury Department under the +act of March 14, 1900, resulted in the conversion into two per cent consols +of 1930 of $200,309,400 bonds bearing higher rates of interest. A decrease +of $8,687,956 in the annual interest charge resulted from these +operations. + +In short, during the seven years and three months there has been a net +surplus of nearly one hundred millions of receipts over expenditures, a +reduction of the interest-bearing debt by ninety millions, in spite of the +extraordinary expense of the Panama Canal, and a saving of nearly nine +millions on the annual interest charge. This is an exceedingly satisfactory +showing, especially in view of the fact that during this period the Nation +has never hesitated to undertake any expenditure that it regarded as +necessary. There have been no new taxes and no increase of taxes; on the +contrary, some taxes have been taken off; there has been a reduction of +taxation. CORPORATIONS. + +As regards the great corporations engaged in interstate business, and +especially the railroad, I can only repeat what I have already again and +again said in my messages to the Congress, I believe that under the +interstate clause of the Constitution the United States has complete and +paramount right to control all agencies of interstate commerce, and I +believe that the National Government alone can exercise this right with +wisdom and effectiveness so as both to secure justice from, and to do +justice to, the great corporations which are the most important factors in +modern business. I believe that it is worse than folly to attempt to +prohibit all combinations as is done by the Sherman anti-trust law, because +such a law can be enforced only imperfectly and unequally, and its +enforcement works almost as much hardship as good. I strongly advocate that +instead of an unwise effort to prohibit all combinations there shall be +substituted a law which shall expressly permit combinations which are in +the interest of the public, but shall at the same time give to some agency +of the National Government full power of control and supervision over them. +One of the chief features of this control should be securing entire +publicity in all matters which the public has a right to know, and +furthermore, the power, not by judicial but by executive action, to prevent +or put a stop to every form of improper favoritism or other wrongdoing. + +The railways of the country should be put completely under the Interstate +Commerce Commission and removed from the domain of the anti-trust law. The +power of the Commission should be made thoroughgoing, so that it could +exercise complete supervision and control over the issue of securities as +well as over the raising and lowering of rates. As regards rates, at least, +this power should be summary. The power to investigate the financial +operations and accounts of the railways has been one of the most valuable +features in recent legislation. Power to make combinations and traffic +agreements should be explicitly conferred upon the railroads, the +permission of the Commission being first gained and the combination or +agreement being published in all its details. In the interest of the public +the representatives of the public should have complete power to see that +the railroads do their duty by the public, and as a matter of course this +power should also be exercised so as to see that no injustice is done to +the railroads. The shareholders, the employees and the shippers all have +interests that must be guarded. It is to the interest of all of them that +no swindling stock speculation should be allowed, and that there should be +no improper issuance of securities. The guiding intelligences necessary for +the successful building and successful management of railroads should +receive ample remuneration; but no man should be allowed to make money in +connection with railroads out of fraudulent over-capitalization and kindred +stock-gambling performances; there must be no defrauding of investors, +oppression of the farmers and business men who ship freight, or callous +disregard of the rights and needs of the employees. In addition to this the +interests of the shareholders, of the employees, and of the shippers should +all be guarded as against one another. To give any one of them undue and +improper consideration is to do injustice to the others. Rates must be made +as low as is compatible with giving proper returns to all the employees of +the railroad, from the highest to the lowest, and proper returns to the +shareholders; but they must not, for instance, be reduced in such fashion +as to necessitate a cut in the wages of the employees or the abolition of +the proper and legitimate profits of honest shareholders. + +Telegraph and telephone companies engaged in interstate business should be +put under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission. + +It is very earnestly to be wished that our people, through their +representatives, should act in this matter. It is hard to say whether most +damage to the country at large would come from entire failure on the part +of the public to supervise and control the actions of the great +corporations, or from the exercise of the necessary governmental power in a +way which would do injustice and wrong to the corporations. Both the +preachers of an unrestricted individualism, and the preachers of an +oppression which would deny to able men of business the just reward of +their initiative and business sagacity, are advocating policies that would +be fraught with the gravest harm to the whole country. To permit every +lawless capitalist, every law-defying corporation, to take any action, no +matter how iniquitous, in the effort to secure an improper profit and to +build up privilege, would be ruinous to the Republic and would mark the +abandonment of the effort to secure in the industrial world the spirit of +democratic fair dealing. On the other hand, to attack these wrongs in that +spirit of demagogy which can see wrong only when committed by the man of +wealth, and is dumb and blind in the presence of wrong committed against +men of property or by men of no property, is exactly as evil as corruptly +to defend the wrongdoing of men of wealth. The war we wage must be waged +against misconduct, against wrongdoing wherever it is found; and we must +stand heartily for the rights of every decent man, whether he be a man of +great wealth or a man who earns his livelihood as a wage-worker or a tiller +of the soil. + +It is to the interest of all of us that there should be a premium put upon +individual initiative and individual capacity, and an ample reward for the +great directing intelligences alone competent to manage the great business +operations of to-day. It is well to keep in mind that exactly as the +anarchist is the worst enemy of liberty and the reactionary the worst enemy +of order, so the men who defend the rights of property have most to fear +from the wrongdoers of great wealth, and the men who are championing +popular rights have most to fear from the demagogues who in the name of +popular rights would do wrong to and oppress honest business men, honest +men of wealth; for the success of either type of wrongdoer necessarily +invites a violent reaction against the cause the wrongdoer nominally +upholds. In point of danger to the Nation there is nothing to choose +between on the one hand the corruptionist, the bribe-giver, the +bribe-taker, the man who employs his great talent to swindle his +fellow-citizens on a large scale, and, on the other hand, the preacher of +class hatred, the man who, whether from ignorance or from willingness to +sacrifice his country to his ambition, persuades well-meaning but +wrong-headed men to try to destroy the instruments upon which our +prosperity mainly rests. Let each group of men beware of and guard against +the shortcomings to which that group is itself most liable. Too often we +see the business community in a spirit of unhealthy class consciousness +deplore the effort to hold to account under the law the wealthy men who in +their management of great corporations, whether railroads, street railways, +or other industrial enterprises, have behaved in a way that revolts the +conscience of the plain, decent people. Such an attitude can not be +condemned too severely, for men of property should recognize that they +jeopardize the rights of property when they fail heartily to join in the +effort to do away with the abuses of wealth. On the other hand, those who +advocate proper control on behalf of the public, through the State, of +these great corporations, and of the wealth engaged on a giant scale in +business operations, must ever keep in mind that unless they do scrupulous +justice to the corporation, unless they permit ample profit, and cordially +encourage capable men of business so long as they act with honesty, they +are striking at the root of our national well-being; for in the long run, +under the mere pressure of material distress, the people as a whole would +probably go back to the reign of an unrestricted individualism rather than +submit to a control by the State so drastic and so foolish, conceived in a +spirit of such unreasonable and narrow hostility to wealth, as to prevent +business operations from being profitable, and therefore to bring ruin upon +the entire business community, and ultimately upon the entire body of +citizens. + +The opposition to Government control of these great corporations makes its +most effective effort in the shape of an appeal to the old doctrine of +State's rights. Of course there are many sincere men who now believe in +unrestricted individualism in business, just as there were formerly many +sincere men who believed in slavery--that is, in the unrestricted right of +an individual to own another individual. These men do not by themselves +have great weight, however. The effective fight against adequate Government +control and supervision of individual, and especially of corporate, wealth +engaged in interstate business is chiefly done under cover; and especially +under cover of an appeal to State's rights. It is not at all infrequent to +read in the same speech a denunciation of predatory wealth fostered by +special privilege and defiant of both the public welfare and law of the +land, and a denunciation of centralization in the Central Government of the +power to deal with this centralized and organized wealth. Of course the +policy set forth in such twin denunciations amounts to absolutely nothing, +for the first half is nullified by the second half. The chief reason, among +the many sound and compelling reasons, that led to the formation of the +National Government was the absolute need that the Union, and not the +several States, should deal with interstate and foreign commerce; and the +power to deal with interstate commerce was granted absolutely and plenarily +to the Central Government and was exercised completely as regards the only +instruments of interstate commerce known in those days--the waterways, the +highroads, as well as the partnerships of individuals who then conducted +all of what business there was. Interstate commerce is now chiefly +conducted by railroads; and the great corporation has supplanted the mass +of small partnerships or individuals. The proposal to make the National +Government supreme over, and therefore to give it complete control over, +the railroads and other instruments of interstate commerce is merely a +proposal to carry out to the letter one of the prime purposes, if not the +prime purpose, for which the Constitution was rounded. It does not +represent centralization. It represents merely the acknowledgment of the +patent fact that centralization has already come in business. If this +irresponsible outside business power is to be controlled in the interest of +the general public it can only be controlled in one way--by giving adequate +power of control to the one sovereignty capable of exercising such +power--the National Government. Forty or fifty separate state governments +can not exercise that power over corporations doing business in most or all +of them; first, because they absolutely lack the authority to deal with +interstate business in any form; and second, because of the inevitable +conflict of authority sure to arise in the effort to enforce different +kinds of state regulation, often inconsistent with one another and +sometimes oppressive in themselves. Such divided authority can not regulate +commerce with wisdom and effect. The Central Government is the only power +which, without oppression, can nevertheless thoroughly and adequately +control and supervise the large corporations. To abandon the effort for +National control means to abandon the effort for all adequate control and +yet to render likely continual bursts of action by State legislatures, +which can not achieve the purpose sought for, but which can do a great deal +of damage to the corporation without conferring any real benefit on the +public. + +I believe that the more farsighted corporations are themselves coming to +recognize the unwisdom of the violent hostility they have displayed during +the last few years to regulation and control by the National Government of +combinations engaged in interstate business. The truth is that we who +believe in this movement of asserting and exercising a genuine control, in +the public interest, over these great corporations have to contend against +two sets of enemies, who, though nominally opposed to one another, are +really allies in preventing a proper solution of the problem. There are, +first, the big corporation men, and the extreme individualists among +business men, who genuinely believe in utterly unregulated business that +is, in the reign of plutocracy; and, second, the men who, being blind to +the economic movements of the day, believe in a movement of repression +rather than of regulation of corporations, and who denounce both the power +of the railroads and the exercise of the Federal power which alone can +really control the railroads. Those who believe in efficient national +control, on the other hand, do not in the least object to combinations; do +not in the least object to concentration in business administration. On the +contrary, they favor both, with the all important proviso that there shall +be such publicity about their workings, and such thoroughgoing control over +them, as to insure their being in the interest, and not against the +interest, of the general public. We do not object to the concentration of +wealth and administration; but we do believe in the distribution of the +wealth in profits to the real owners, and in securing to the public the +full benefit of the concentrated administration. We believe that with +concentration in administration there can come both be advantage of a +larger ownership and of a more equitable distribution of profits, and at +the same time a better service to the commonwealth. We believe that the +administration should be for the benefit of the many; and that greed and +rascality, practiced on a large scale, should be punished as relentlessly +as if practiced on a small scale. + +We do not for a moment believe that the problem will be solved by any short +and easy method. The solution will come only by pressing various concurrent +remedies. Some of these remedies must lie outside the domain of all +government. Some must lie outside the domain of the Federal Government. But +there is legislation which the Federal Government alone can enact and which +is absolutely vital in order to secure the attainment of our purpose. Many +laws are needed. There should be regulation by the National Government of +the great interstate corporations, including a simple method of account +keeping, publicity, supervision of the issue securities, abolition of +rebates, and of special privileges. There should be short time franchises +for all corporations engaged in public business; including the corporations +which get power from water rights. There should be National as well as +State guardianship of mines and forests. The labor legislation hereinafter +referred to should concurrently be enacted into law. + +To accomplish this, means of course a certain increase in the use of--not +the creation of--power, by the Central Government. The power already +exists; it does not have to be created; the only question is whether it +shall be used or left idle--and meanwhile the corporations over which the +power ought to be exercised will not remain idle. Let those who object to +this increase in the use of the only power available, the national power, +be frank, and admit openly that they propose to abandon any effort to +control the great business corporations and to exercise supervision over +the accumulation and distribution of wealth; for such supervision and +control can only come through this particular kind of increase of power. We +no more believe in that empiricism which demand, absolutely unrestrained +individualism than we do in that empiricism which clamors for a deadening +socialism which would destroy all individual initiative and would ruin the +country with a completeness that not even an unrestrained individualism +itself could achieve. The danger to American democracy lies not in the +least in the concentration of administrative power in responsible and +accountable hands. It lies in having the power insufficiently concentrated, +so that no one can be held responsible to the people for its use. +Concentrated power is palpable, visible, responsible, easily reached, +quickly held to account. Power scattered through many administrators, many +legislators, many men who work behind and through legislators and +administrators, is impalpable, is unseen, is irresponsible, can not be +reached, can not be held to account. Democracy is in peril wherever the +administration of political power is scattered among a variety of men who +work in secret, whose very names are unknown to the common people. It is +not in peril from any man who derives authority from the people, who +exercises it in sight of the people, and who is from time to time compelled +to give an account of its exercise to the people. LABOR. + +There are many matters affecting labor and the status of the wage-worker to +which I should like to draw your attention, but an exhaustive discussion of +the problem in all its aspects is not now necessary. This administration is +nearing its end; and, moreover, under our form of government the solution +of the problem depends upon the action of the States as much as upon the +action of the Nation. Nevertheless, there are certain considerations which +I wish to set before you, because I hope that our people will more and more +keep them in mind. A blind and ignorant resistance to every effort for the +reform of abuses and for the readjustment of society to modern industrial +conditions represents not true conservatism, but an incitement to the +wildest radicalism; for wise radicalism and wise conservatism go hand in +hand, one bent on progress, the other bent on seeing that no change is made +unless in the right direction. I believe in a steady effort, or perhaps it +would be more accurate to say in steady efforts in many different +directions, to bring about a condition of affairs under which the men who +work with hand or with brain, the laborers, the superintendents, the men +who produce for the market and the men who find a market for the articles +produced, shall own a far greater share than at present of the wealth they +produce, and be enabled to invest it in the tools and instruments by which +all work is carried on. As far as possible I hope to see a frank +recognition of the advantages conferred by machinery, organization, and +division of labor, accompanied by an effort to bring about a larger share +in the ownership by wage-worker of railway, mill and factory. In farming, +this simply means that we wish to see the farmer own his own land; we do +not wish to see the farms so large that they become the property of +absentee landlords who farm them by tenants, nor yet so small that the +farmer becomes like a European peasant. Again, the depositors in our +savings banks now number over one-tenth of our entire population. These are +all capitalists, who through the savings banks loan their money to the +workers--that is, in many cases to themselves--to carry on their various +industries. The more we increase their number, the more we introduce the +principles of cooperation into our industry. Every increase in the number +of small stockholders in corporations is a good thing, for the same +reasons; and where the employees are the stockholders the result is +particularly good. Very much of this movement must be outside of anything +that can be accomplished by legislation; but legislation can do a good +deal. Postal savings banks will make it easy for the poorest to keep their +savings in absolute safety. The regulation of the national highways must be +such that they shall serve all people with equal justice. Corporate +finances must be supervised so as to make it far safer than at present for +the man of small means to invest his money in stocks. There must be +prohibition of child labor, diminution of woman labor, shortening of hours +of all mechanical labor; stock watering should be prohibited, and stock +gambling so far as is possible discouraged. There should be a progressive +inheritance tax on large fortunes. Industrial education should be +encouraged. As far as possible we should lighten the burden of taxation on +the small man. We should put a premium upon thrift, hard work, and business +energy; but these qualities cease to be the main factors in accumulating a +fortune long before that fortune reaches a point where it would be +seriously affected by any inheritance tax such as I propose. It is +eminently right that the Nation should fix the terms upon which the great +fortunes are inherited. They rarely do good and they often do harm to those +who inherit them in their entirety. + +PROTECTION FOR WAGEWORKERS. + +The above is the merest sketch, hardly even a sketch in outline, of the +reforms for which we should work. But there is one matter with which the +Congress should deal at this session. There should no longer be any +paltering with the question of taking care of the wage-workers who, under +our present industrial system, become killed, crippled, or worn out as part +of the regular incidents of a given business. The majority of wageworkers +must have their rights secured for them by State action; but the National +Government should legislate in thoroughgoing and far-reaching fashion not +only for all employees of the National Government, but for all persons +engaged in interstate commerce. The object sought for could be achieved to +a measurable degree, as far as those killed or crippled are concerned, by +proper employers' liability laws. As far as concerns those who have been +worn out, I call your attention to the fact that definite steps toward +providing old-age pensions have been taken in many of our private +industries. These may be indefinitely extended through voluntary +association and contributory schemes, or through the agency of savings +banks, as under the recent Massachusetts plan. To strengthen these +practical measures should be our immediate duty; it is not at present +necessary to consider the larger and more general governmental schemes that +most European governments have found themselves obliged to adopt. + +Our present system, or rather no system, works dreadful wrong, and is of +benefit to only one class of people--the lawyers. When a workman is injured +what he needs is not an expensive and doubtful lawsuit, but the certainty +of relief through immediate administrative action. The number of accidents +which result in the death or crippling of wageworkers, in the Union at +large, is simply appalling; in a very few years it runs up a total far in +excess of the aggregate of the dead and wounded in any modern war. No +academic theory about "freedom of contract" or "constitutional liberty to +contract" should be permitted to interfere with this and similar movements. +Progress in civilization has everywhere meant a limitation and regulation +of contract. I call your especial attention to the bulletin of the Bureau +of Labor which gives a statement of the methods of treating the unemployed +in European countries, as this is a subject which in Germany, for instance, +is treated in connection with making provision for worn-out and crippled +workmen. + +Pending a thoroughgoing investigation and action there is certain +legislation which should be enacted at once. The law, passed at the last +session of the Congress, granting compensation to certain classes of +employees of the Government, should be extended to include all employees of +the Government and should be made more liberal in its terms. There is no +good ground for the distinction made in the law between those engaged in +hazardous occupations and those not so engaged. If a man is injured or +killed in any line of work, it was hazardous in his case. Whether 1 per +cent or 10 per cent of those following a given occupation actually suffer +injury or death ought not to have any bearing on the question of their +receiving compensation. It is a grim logic which says to an injured +employee or to the dependents of one killed that he or they are entitled to +no compensation because very few people other than he have been injured or +killed in that occupation. Perhaps one of the most striking omissions in +the law is that it does not embrace peace officers and others whose lives +may be sacrificed in enforcing the laws of the United States. The terms of +the act providing compensation should be made more liberal than in the +present act. A year's compensation is not adequate for a wage-earner's +family in the event of his death by accident in the course of his +employment. And in the event of death occurring, say, ten or eleven months +after the accident, the family would only receive as compensation the +equivalent of one or two months' earnings. In this respect the generosity +of the United States towards its employees compares most unfavorably with +that of every country in Europe--even the poorest. + +The terms of the act are also a hardship in prohibiting payment in cases +where the accident is in any way due to the negligence of the employee. It +is inevitable that daily familiarity with danger will lead men to take +chances that can be construed into negligence. So well is this recognized +that in practically all countries in the civilized world, except the United +States, only a great degree of negligence acts as a bar to securing +compensation. Probably in no other respect is our legislation, both State +and National, so far behind practically the entire civilized world as in +the matter of liability and compensation for accidents in industry. It is +humiliating that at European international congresses on accidents the +United States should be singled out as the most belated among the nations +in respect to employers' liability legislation. This Government is itself a +large employer of labor, and in its dealings with its employees it should +set a standard in this country which would place it on a par with the most +progressive countries in Europe. The laws of the United States in this +respect and the laws of European countries have been summarized in a recent +Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, and no American who reads this summary can +fail to be struck by the great contrast between our practices and theirs--a +contrast not in any sense to our credit. + +The Congress should without further delay pass a model employers' liability +law for the District of Columbia. The employers' liability act recently +declared unconstitutional, on account of apparently including in its +provisions employees engaged in intrastate commerce as well as those +engaged in interstate commerce, has been held by the local courts to be +still in effect so far as its provisions apply to District of Columbia. +There should be no ambiguity on this point. If there is any doubt on the +subject, the law should be reenacted with special reference to the District +of Columbia. This act, however, applies only to employees of common +carriers. In all other occupations the liability law of the District is the +old common law. The severity and injustice of the common law in this matter +has been in some degree or another modified in the majority of our States, +and the only jurisdiction under the exclusive control of the Congress +should be ahead and not behind the States of the Union in this respect. A +comprehensive employers' liability law should be passed for the District of +Columbia. + +I renew my recommendation made in a previous message that half-holidays be +granted during summer to all wageworkers in Government employ. + +I also renew my recommendation that the principle of the eight-hour day +should as rapidly and as far as practicable be extended to the entire work +being carried on by the Government; the present law should be amended to +embrace contracts on those public works which the present wording of the +act seems to exclude. + +THE COURTS. + +I most earnestly urge upon the Congress the duty of increasing the totally +inadequate salaries now given to our Judges. On the whole there is no body +of public servants who do as valuable work, nor whose moneyed reward is so +inadequate compared to their work. Beginning with the Supreme Court, the +Judges should have their salaries doubled. It is not befitting the dignity +of the Nation that its most honored public servants should be paid sums so +small compared to what they would earn in private life that the performance +of public service by them implies an exceedingly heavy pecuniary +sacrifice. + +It is earnestly to be desired that some method should be devised for doing +away with the long delays which now obtain in the administration of +justice, and which operate with peculiar severity against persons of small +means, and favor only the very criminals whom it is most desirable to +punish. These long delays in the final decisions of cases make in the +aggregate a crying evil; and a remedy should be devised. Much of this +intolerable delay is due to improper regard paid to technicalities which +are a mere hindrance to justice. In some noted recent cases this +over-regard for technicalities has resulted in a striking denial of +justice, and flagrant wrong to the body politic. + +At the last election certain leaders of organized labor made a violent and +sweeping attack upon the entire judiciary of the country, an attack couched +in such terms as to include the most upright, honest and broad-minded +judges, no less than those of narrower mind and more restricted outlook. It +was the kind of attack admirably fitted to prevent any successful attempt +to reform abuses of the judiciary, because it gave the champions of the +unjust judge their eagerly desired opportunity to shift their ground into a +championship of just judges who were unjustly assailed. Last year, before +the House Committee on the Judiciary, these same labor leaders formulated +their demands, specifying the bill that contained them, refusing all +compromise, stating they wished the principle of that bill or nothing. They +insisted on a provision that in a labor dispute no injunction should issue +except to protect a property right, and specifically provided that the +right to carry on business should not be construed as a property right; and +in a second provision their bill made legal in a labor dispute any act or +agreement by or between two or more persons that would not have been +unlawful if done by a single person. In other words. this bill legalized +blacklisting and boycotting in every form, legalizing, for instance, those +forms of the secondary boycott which the anthracite coal strike commission +so unreservedly condemned; while the right to carry on a business was +explicitly taken out from under that protection which the law throws over +property. The demand was made that there should be trial by jury in +contempt cases, thereby most seriously impairing the authority of the +courts. All this represented a course of policy which, if carried out, +would mean the enthronement of class privilege in its crudest and most +brutal form, and the destruction of one of the most essential functions of +the judiciary in all civilized lands. + +The violence of the crusade for this legislation, and its complete failure, +illustrate two truths which it is essential our people should learn. In the +first place, they ought to teach the workingman, the laborer, the +wageworker, that by demanding what is improper and impossible he plays into +the hands of his foes. Such a crude and vicious attack upon the courts, +even if it were temporarily successful, would inevitably in the end cause a +violent reaction and would band the great mass of citizens together, +forcing them to stand by all the judges, competent and incompetent alike, +rather than to see the wheels of justice stopped. A movement of this kind +can ultimately result in nothing but damage to those in whose behalf it is +nominally undertaken. This is a most healthy truth, which it is wise for +all our people to learn. Any movement based on that class hatred which at +times assumes the name of "class consciousness" is certain ultimately to +fail, and if it temporarily succeeds, to do far-reaching damage. "Class +consciousness," where it is merely another name for the odious vice of +class selfishness, is equally noxious whether in an employer's association +or in a workingman's association. The movement in question was one in which +the appeal was made to all workingmen to vote primarily, not as American +citizens, but as individuals of a certain class in society. Such an appeal +in the first place revolts the more high-minded and far-sighted among the +persons to whom it is addressed, and in the second place tends to arouse a +strong antagonism among all other classes of citizens, whom it therefore +tends to unite against the very organization on whose behalf it is issued. +The result is therefore unfortunate from every standpoint. This healthy +truth, by the way, will be learned by the socialists if they ever succeed +in establishing in this country an important national party based on such +class consciousness and selfish class interest. + +The wageworkers, the workingmen, the laboring men of the country, by the +way in which they repudiated the effort to get them to cast their votes in +response to an appeal to class hatred, have emphasized their sound +patriotism and Americanism. The whole country has cause to fell pride in +this attitude of sturdy independence, in this uncompromising insistence +upon acting simply as good citizens, as good Americans, without regard to +fancied--and improper--class interests. Such an attitude is an +object-lesson in good citizenship to the entire nation. + +But the extreme reactionaries, the persons who blind themselves to the +wrongs now and then committed by the courts on laboring men, should also +think seriously as to what such a movement as this portends. The judges who +have shown themselves able and willing effectively to check the dishonest +activity of the very rich man who works iniquity by the mismanagement of +corporations, who have shown themselves alert to do justice to the +wageworker, and sympathetic with the needs of the mass of our people, so +that the dweller in the tenement houses, the man who practices a dangerous +trade, the man who is crushed by excessive hours of labor, feel that their +needs are understood by the courts--these judges are the real bulwark of +the courts; these judges, the judges of the stamp of the president-elect, +who have been fearless in opposing labor when it has gone wrong, but +fearless also in holding to strict account corporations that work iniquity, +and far-sighted in seeing that the workingman gets his rights, are the men +of all others to whom we owe it that the appeal for such violent and +mistaken legislation has fallen on deaf ears, that the agitation for its +passage proved to be without substantial basis. The courts are jeopardized +primarily by the action of those Federal and State judges who show +inability or unwillingness to put a stop to the wrongdoing of very rich men +under modern industrial conditions, and inability or unwillingness to give +relief to men of small means or wageworkers who are crushed down by these +modern industrial conditions; who, in other words, fail to understand and +apply the needed remedies for the new wrongs produced by the new and highly +complex social and industrial civilization which has grown up in the last +half century. + +The rapid changes in our social and industrial life which have attended +this rapid growth have made it necessary that, in applying to concrete +cases the great rule of right laid down in our Constitution, there should +be a full understanding and appreciation of the new conditions to which the +rules are to be applied. What would have been an infringement upon liberty +half a century ago may be the necessary safeguard of liberty to-day. What +would have been an injury to property then may be necessary to the +enjoyment of property now. Every judicial decision involves two terms--one, +as interpretation of the law; the other, the understanding of the facts to +which it is to be applied. The great mass of our judicial officers are, I +believe, alive to those changes of conditions which so materially affect +the performance of their judicial duties. Our judicial system is sound and +effective at core, and it remains, and must ever be maintained, as the +safeguard of those principles of liberty and justice which stand at the +foundation of American institutions; for, as Burke finely said, when +liberty and justice are separated, neither is safe. There are, however, +some members of the judicial body who have lagged behind in their +understanding of these great and vital changes in the body politic, whose +minds have never been opened to the new applications of the old principles +made necessary by the new conditions. Judges of this stamp do lasting harm +by their decisions, because they convince poor men in need of protection +that the courts of the land are profoundly ignorant of and out of sympathy +with their needs, and profoundly indifferent or hostile to any proposed +remedy. To such men it seems a cruel mockery to have any court decide +against them on the ground that it desires to preserve "liberty" in a +purely technical form, by withholding liberty in any real and constructive +sense. It is desirable that the legislative body should possess, and +wherever necessary exercise, the power to determine whether in a given case +employers and employees are not on an equal footing, so that the +necessities of the latter compel them to submit to such exactions as to +hours and conditions of labor as unduly to tax their strength; and only +mischief can result when such determination is upset on the ground that +there must be no "interference with the liberty to contract"--often a +merely academic "liberty," the exercise of which is the negation of real +liberty. + +There are certain decisions by various courts which have been exceedingly +detrimental to the rights of wageworkers. This is true of all the decisions +that decide that men and women are, by the Constitution, "guaranteed their +liberty" to contract to enter a dangerous occupation, or to work an +undesirable or improper number of hours, or to work in unhealthy +surroundings; and therefore can not recover damages when maimed in that +occupation and can not be forbidden to work what the legislature decides is +an excessive number of hours, or to carry on the work under conditions +which the legislature decides to be unhealthy. The most dangerous +occupations are often the poorest paid and those where the hours of work +are longest; and in many cases those who go into them are driven by +necessity so great that they have practically no alternative. Decisions +such as those alluded to above nullify the legislative effort to protect +the wage-workers who most need protection from those employers who take +advantage of their grinding need. They halt or hamper the movement for +securing better and more equitable conditions of labor. The talk about +preserving to the misery-hunted beings who make contracts for such service +their "liberty" to make them, is either to speak in a spirit of heartless +irony or else to show an utter lack of knowledge of the conditions of life +among the great masses of our fellow-countrymen, a lack which unfits a +judge to do good service just as it would unfit any executive or +legislative officer. + +There is also, I think, ground for the belief that substantial injustice is +often suffered by employees in consequence of the custom of courts issuing +temporary injunctions without notice to them, and punishing them for +contempt of court in instances where, as a matter of fact, they have no +knowledge of any proceedings. Outside of organized labor there is a +widespread feeling that this system often works great injustice to +wageworkers when their efforts to better their working condition result in +industrial disputes. A temporary injunction procured ex parte may as a +matter of fact have all the effect of a permanent injunction in causing +disaster to the wageworkers' side in such a dispute. Organized labor is +chafing under the unjust restraint which comes from repeated resort to this +plan of procedure. Its discontent has been unwisely expressed, and often +improperly expressed, but there is a sound basis for it, and the orderly +and law-abiding people of a community would be in a far stronger position +for upholding the courts if the undoubtedly existing abuses could be +provided against. + +Such proposals as those mentioned above as advocated by the extreme labor +leaders contain the vital error of being class legislation of the most +offensive kind, and even if enacted into law I believe that the law would +rightly be held unconstitutional. Moreover, the labor people are themselves +now beginning to invoke the use of the power of injunction. During the last +ten years, and within my own knowledge, at least fifty injunctions have +been obtained by labor unions in New York City alone, most of them being to +protect the union label (a "property right"), but some being obtained for +other reasons against employers. The power of injunction is a great +equitable remedy, which should on no account be destroyed. But safeguards +should be erected against its abuse. I believe that some such provisions as +those I advocated a year ago for checking the abuse of the issuance of +temporary injunctions should be adopted. In substance, provision should be +made that no injunction or temporary restraining order issue otherwise than +on notice, except where irreparable injury would otherwise result; and in +such case a hearing on the merits of the order should be had within a short +fixed period, and, if not then continued after hearing, it should forthwith +lapse. Decisions should be rendered immediately, and the chance of delay +minimized in every way. Moreover, I believe that the procedure should be +sharply defined, and the judge required minutely to state the particulars +both of his action and of his reasons therefor, so that the Congress can, +if it desires, examine and investigate the same. + +The chief lawmakers in our country may be, and often are, the judges, +because they are the final seat of authority. Every time they interpret +contract, property, vested rights, due process of law, liberty, they +necessarily enact into law parts of a system of social philosophy, and as +such interpretation is fundamental, they give direction to all law-making. +The decisions of the courts on economic and social questions depend upon +their economic and social philosophy; and for the peaceful progress of our +people during the twentieth century we shall owe most to those judges who +hold to a twentieth century economic and social philosophy and not to a +long outgrown philosophy, which was itself the product of primitive +economic conditions. Of course a judge's views on progressive social +philosophy are entirely second in importance to his possession of a high +and fine character; which means the possession of such elementary virtues +as honesty, courage, and fair-mindedness. The judge who owes his election +to pandering to demagogic sentiments or class hatreds and prejudices, and +the judge who owes either his election or his appointment to the money or +the favor of a great corporation, are alike unworthy to sit on the bench, +are alike traitors to the people; and no profundity of legal learning, or +correctness of abstract conviction on questions of public policy, can serve +as an offset to such shortcomings. But it is also true that judges, like +executives and legislators, should hold sound views on the questions of +public policy which are of vital interest to the people. + +The legislators and executives are chosen to represent the people in +enacting and administering the laws. The judges are not chosen to represent +the people in this sense. Their function is to interpret the laws. The +legislators are responsible for the laws; the judges for the spirit in +which they interpret and enforce the laws. We stand aloof from the reckless +agitators who would make the judges mere pliant tools of popular prejudice +and passion; and we stand aloof from those equally unwise partisans of +reaction and privilege who deny the proposition that, inasmuch as judges +are chosen to serve the interests of the whole people, they should strive +to find out what those interests are, and, so far as they conscientiously +can, should strive to give effect to popular conviction when deliberately +and duly expressed by the lawmaking body. The courts are to be highly +commended and staunchly upheld when they set their faces against wrongdoing +or tyranny by a majority; but they are to be blamed when they fail to +recognize under a government like ours the deliberate judgment of the +majority as to a matter of legitimate policy, when duly expressed by the +legislature. Such lawfully expressed and deliberate judgment should be +given effect by the courts, save in the extreme and exceptional cases where +there has been a clear violation of a constitutional provision. Anything +like frivolity or wantonness in upsetting such clearly taken governmental +action is a grave offense against the Republic. To protest against tyranny, +to protect minorities from oppression, to nullify an act committed in a +spasm of popular fury, is to render a service to the Republic. But for the +courts to arrogate to themselves functions which properly belong to the +legislative bodies is all wrong, and in the end works mischief. The people +should not be permitted to pardon evil and slipshod legislation on the +theory that the court will set it right; they should be taught that the +right way to get rid of a bad law is to have the legislature repeal it, and +not to have the courts by ingenious hair-splitting nullify it. A law may be +unwise and improper; but it should not for these reasons be declared +unconstitutional by a strained interpretation, for the result of such +action is to take away from the people at large their sense of +responsibility and ultimately to destroy their capacity for orderly self +restraint and self government. Under such a popular government as ours, +rounded on the theory that in the long run the will of the people is +supreme, the ultimate safety of the Nation can only rest in training and +guiding the people so that what they will shall be right, and not in +devising means to defeat their will by the technicalities of strained +construction. + +For many of the shortcomings of justice in our country our people as a +whole are themselves to blame, and the judges and juries merely bear their +share together with the public as a whole. It is discreditable to us as a +people that there should be difficulty in convicting murderers, or in +bringing to justice men who as public servants have been guilty of +corruption, or who have profited by the corruption of public servants. The +result is equally unfortunate, whether due to hairsplitting technicalities +in the interpretation of law by judges, to sentimentality and class +consciousness on the part of juries, or to hysteria and sensationalism in +the daily press. For much of this failure of justice no responsibility +whatever lies on rich men as such. We who make up the mass of the people +can not shift the responsibility from our own shoulders. But there is an +important part of the failure which has specially to do with inability to +hold to proper account men of wealth who behave badly. + +The chief breakdown is in dealing with the new relations that arise from +the mutualism, the interdependence of our time. Every new social relation +begets a new type of wrongdoing--of sin, to use an old-fashioned word--and +many years always elapse before society is able to turn this sin into crime +which can be effectively punished at law. During the lifetime of the older +men now alive the social relations have changed far more rapidly than in +the preceding two centuries. The immense growth of corporations, of +business done by associations, and the extreme strain and pressure of +modern life, have produced conditions which render the public confused as +to who its really dangerous foes are; and among the public servants who +have not only shared this confusion, but by some of their acts have +increased it, are certain judges. Marked inefficiency has been shown in +dealing with corporations and in re-settling the proper attitude to be +taken by the public not only towards corporations, but towards labor and +towards the social questions arising out of the factory system and the +enormous growth of our great cities. + +The huge wealth that has been accumulated by a few individuals of recent +years, in what has amounted to a social and industrial revolution, has been +as regards some of these individuals made possible only by the improper use +of the modern corporation. A certain type of modern corporation, with its +officers and agents, its many issues of securities, and its constant +consolidation with allied undertakings, finally becomes an instrument so +complex as to contain a greater number of elements that, under various +judicial decisions, lend themselves to fraud and oppression than any device +yet evolved in the human brain. Corporations are necessary instruments of +modern business. They have been permitted to become a menace largely +because the governmental representatives of the people have worked slowly +in providing for adequate control over them. + +The chief offender in any given case may be an executive, a legislature, or +a judge. Every executive head who advises violent, instead of gradual, +action, or who advocates ill-considered and sweeping measures of reform +(especially if they are tainted with vindictiveness and disregard for the +rights of the minority) is particularly blameworthy. The several +legislatures are responsible for the fact that our laws are often prepared +with slovenly haste and lack of consideration. Moreover, they are often +prepared, and still more frequently amended during passage, at the +suggestion of the very parties against whom they are afterwards enforced. +Our great clusters of corporations, huge trusts and fabulously wealthy +multi-millionaires, employ the very best lawyers they can obtain to pick +flaws in these statutes after their passage; but they also employ a class +of secret agents who seek, under the advice of experts, to render hostile +legislation innocuous by making it unconstitutional, often through the +insertion of what appear on their face to be drastic and sweeping +provisions against the interests of the parties inspiring them; while the +demagogues, the corrupt creatures who introduce blackmailing schemes to +"strike" corporations, and all who demand extreme, and undesirably radical, +measures, show themselves to be the worst enemies of the very public whose +loud-mouthed champions they profess to be. A very striking illustration of +the consequences of carelessness in the preparation of a statute was the +employers' liability law of 1906. In the cases arising under that law, four +out of six courts of first instance held it unconstitutional; six out of +nine justices of the Supreme Court held that its subject-matter was within +the province of congressional action; and four of the nine justices held it +valid. It was, however, adjudged unconstitutional by a bare majority of the +court--five to four. It was surely a very slovenly piece of work to frame +the legislation in such shape as to leave the question open at all. + +Real damage has been done by the manifold and conflicting interpretations +of the interstate commerce law. Control over the great corporations doing +interstate business can be effective only if it is vested with full power +in an administrative department, a branch of the Federal executive, +carrying out a Federal law; it can never be effective if a divided +responsibility is left in both the States and the Nation; it can never be +effective if left in the hands of the courts to be decided by lawsuits. + +The courts hold a place of peculiar and deserved sanctity under our form of +government. Respect for the law is essential to the permanence of our +institutions; and respect for the law is largely conditioned upon respect +for the courts. It is an offense against the Republic to say anything which +can weaken this respect, save for the gravest reason and in the most +carefully guarded manner. Our judges should be held in peculiar honor; and +the duty of respectful and truthful comment and criticism, which should be +binding when we speak of anybody, should be especially binding when we +speak of them. On an average they stand above any other servants of the +community, and the greatest judges have reached the high level held by +those few greatest patriots whom the whole country delights to honor. But +we must face the fact that there are wise and unwise judges, just as there +are wise and unwise executives and legislators. When a president or a +governor behaves improperly or unwisely, the remedy is easy, for his term +is short; the same is true with the legislator, although not to the same +degree, for he is one of many who belong to some given legislative body, +and it is therefore less easy to fix his personal responsibility and hold +him accountable therefor. With a judge, who, being human, is also likely to +err, but whose tenure is for life, there is no similar way of holding him +to responsibility. Under ordinary conditions the only forms of pressure to +which he is in any way amenable are public opinion and the action of his +fellow judges. It is the last which is most immediately effective, and to +which we should look for the reform of abuses. Any remedy applied from +without is fraught with risk. It is far better, from every standpoint, that +the remedy should come from within. In no other nation in the world do the +courts wield such vast and far-reaching power as in the United States. All +that is necessary is that the courts as a whole should exercise this power +with the farsighted wisdom already shown by those judges who scan the +future while they act in the present. Let them exercise this great power +not only honestly and bravely, but with wise insight into the needs and +fixed purposes of the people, so that they may do justice and work equity, +so that they may protect all persons in their rights, and yet break down +the barriers of privilege, which is the foe of right. FORESTS. + +If there is any one duty which more than another we owe it to our children +and our children's children to perform at once, it is to save the forests +of this country, for they constitute the first and most important element +in the conservation of the natural resources of the country. There are of +course two kinds of natural resources, One is the kind which can only be +used as part of a process of exhaustion; this is true of mines, natural oil +and gas wells, and the like. The other, and of course ultimately by far the +most important, includes the resources which can be improved in the process +of wise use; the soil, the rivers, and the forests come under this head. +Any really civilized nation will so use all of these three great national +assets that the nation will have their benefit in the future. Just as a +farmer, after all his life making his living from his farm, will, if he is +an expert farmer, leave it as an asset of increased value to his son, so we +should leave our national domain to our children, increased in value and +not worn out. There are small sections of our own country, in the East and +the West, in the Adriondacks, the White Mountains, and the Appalachians, +and in the Rocky Mountains, where we can already see for ourselves the +damage in the shape of permanent injury to the soil and the river systems +which comes from reckless deforestation. It matters not whether this +deforestation is due to the actual reckless cutting of timber, to the fires +that inevitably follow such reckless cutting of timber, or to reckless and +uncontrolled grazing, especially by the great migratory bands of sheep, the +unchecked wandering of which over the country means destruction to forests +and disaster to the small home makers, the settlers of limited means. + +Shortsighted persons, or persons blinded to the future by desire to make +money in every way out of the present, sometimes speak as if no great +damage would be done by the reckless destruction of our forests. It is +difficult to have patience with the arguments of these persons. Thanks to +our own recklessness in the use of our splendid forests, we have already +crossed the verge of a timber famine in this country, and no measures that +we now take can, at least for many years, undo the mischief that has +already been done. But we can prevent further mischief being done; and it +would be in the highest degree reprehensible to let any consideration of +temporary convenience or temporary cost interfere with such action, +especially as regards the National Forests which the nation can now, at +this very moment, control. + +All serious students of the question are aware of the great damage that has +been done in the Mediterranean countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa by +deforestation. The similar damage that has been done in Eastern Asia is +less well known. A recent investigation into conditions in North China by +Mr. Frank N. Meyer, of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States +Department of Agriculture, has incidentally furnished in very striking +fashion proof of the ruin that comes from reckless deforestation of +mountains, and of the further fact that the damage once done may prove +practically irreparable. So important are these investigations that I +herewith attach as an appendix to my message certain photographs showing +present conditions in China. They show in vivid fashion the appalling +desolation, taking the shape of barren mountains and gravel and +sand-covered plains, which immediately follows and depends upon the +deforestation of the mountains. Not many centuries ago the country of +northern China was one of the most fertile and beautiful spots in the +entire world, and was heavily forested. We know this not only from the old +Chinese records, but from the accounts given by the traveler, Marco Polo. +He, for instance, mentions that in visiting the provinces of Shansi and +Shensi he observed many plantations of mulberry trees. Now there is hardly +a single mulberry tree in either of these provinces, and the culture of the +silkworm has moved farther south, to regions of atmospheric moisture. As an +illustration of the complete change in the rivers, we may take Polo's +statement that a certain river, the Hun Ho, was so large and deep that +merchants ascended it from the sea with heavily laden boats; today this +river is simply a broad sandy bed, with shallow, rapid currents wandering +hither and thither across it, absolutely unnavigable. But we do not have to +depend upon written records. The dry wells, and the wells with water far +below the former watermark, bear testimony to the good days of the past and +the evil days of the present. Wherever the native vegetation has been +allowed to remain, as, for instance, here and there around a sacred temple +or imperial burying ground, there are still huge trees and tangled jungle, +fragments of the glorious ancient forests. The thick, matted forest growth +formerly covered the mountains to their summits. All natural factors +favored this dense forest growth, and as long as it was permitted to exist +the plains at the foot of the mountains were among the most fertile on the +globe, and the whole country was a garden. Not the slightest effort was +made, however, to prevent the unchecked cutting of the trees, or to secure +reforestation. Doubtless for many centuries the tree-cutting by the +inhabitants of the mountains worked but slowly in bringing about the +changes that have now come to pass; doubtless for generations the inroads +were scarcely noticeable. But there came a time when the forest had shrunk +sufficiently to make each year's cutting a serious matter, and from that +time on the destruction proceeded with appalling rapidity; for of course +each year of destruction rendered the forest less able to recuperate, less +able to resist next year's inroad. Mr. Meyer describes the ceaseless +progress of the destruction even now, when there is so little left to +destroy. Every morning men and boys go out armed with mattox or axe, scale +the steepest mountain sides, and cut down and grub out, root and branch, +the small trees and shrubs still to be found. The big trees disappeared +centuries ago, so that now one of these is never seen save in the +neighborhood of temples, where they are artificially protected; and even +here it takes all the watch and care of the tree-loving priests to prevent +their destruction. Each family, each community, where there is no common +care exercised in the interest of all of them to prevent deforestation, +finds its profit in the immediate use of the fuel which would otherwise be +used by some other family or some other community. In the total absence of +regulation of the matter in the interest of the whole people, each small +group is inevitably pushed into a policy of destruction which can not +afford to take thought for the morrow. This is just one of those matters +which it is fatal to leave to unsupervised individual control. The forest +can only be protected by the State, by the Nation; and the liberty of +action of individuals must be conditioned upon what the State or Nation +determines to be necessary for the common safety. + +The lesson of deforestation in China is a lesson which mankind should have +learned many times already from what has occurred in other places. +Denudation leaves naked soil; then gullying cuts down to the bare rock; and +meanwhile the rock-waste buries the bottomlands. When the soil is gone, men +must go; and the process does not take long. + +This ruthless destruction of the forests in northern China has brought +about, or has aided in bringing about, desolation, just as the destruction +of the forests in central Asia aid in bringing ruin to the once rich +central Asian cities; just as the destruction of the forest in northern +Africa helped towards the ruin of a region that was a fertile granary in +Roman days. Shortsighted man, whether barbaric, semi-civilized, or what he +mistakenly regards as fully civilized, when he has destroyed the forests, +has rendered certain the ultimate destruction of the land itself. In +northern China the mountains are now such as are shown by the accompanying +photographs, absolutely barren peaks. Not only have the forests been +destroyed, but because of their destruction the soil has been washed off +the naked rock. The terrible consequence is that it is impossible now to +undo the damage that has been done. Many centuries would have to pass +before soil would again collect, or could be made to collect, in sufficient +quantity once more to support the old-time forest growth. In consequence +the Mongol Desert is practically extending eastward over northern China. +The climate has changed and is still changing. It has changed even within +the last half century, as the work of tree destruction has been +consummated. The great masses of arboreal vegetation on the mountains +formerly absorbed the heat of the sun and sent up currents of cool air +which brought the moisture-laden clouds lower and forced them to +precipitate in rain a part of their burden of water. Now that there is no +vegetation, the barren mountains, scorched by the sun, send up currents of +heated air which drive away instead of attracting the rain clouds, and +cause their moisture to be disseminated. In consequence, instead of the +regular and plentiful rains which existed in these regions of China when +the forests were still in evidence, the unfortunate inhabitants of the +deforested lands now see their crops wither for lack of rainfall, while the +seasons grow more and more irregular; and as the air becomes dryer certain +crops refuse longer to grow at all. That everything dries out faster than +formerly is shown by the fact that the level of the wells all over the land +has sunk perceptibly, many of them having become totally dry. In addition +to the resulting agricultural distress, the watercourses have changed. +Formerly they were narrow and deep, with an abundance of clear water the +year around; for the roots and humus of the forests caught the rainwater +and let it escape by slow, regular seepage. They have now become broad, +shallow stream beds, in which muddy water trickles in slender currents +during the dry seasons, while when it rains there are freshets, and roaring +muddy torrents come tearing down, bringing disaster and destruction +everywhere. Moreover, these floods and freshets, which diversify the +general dryness, wash away from the mountain sides, and either wash away or +cover in the valleys, the rich fertile soil which it took tens of thousands +of years for Nature to form; and it is lost forever, and until the forests +grow again it can not be replaced. The sand and stones from the mountain +sides are washed loose and come rolling down to cover the arable lands, and +in consequence, throughout this part of China, many formerly rich districts +are now sandy wastes, useless for human cultivation and even for pasture. +The cities have been of course seriously affected, for the streams have +gradually ceased to be navigable. There is testimony that even within the +memory of men now living there has been a serious diminution of the +rainfall of northeastern China. The level of the Sungari River in northern +Manchuria has been sensibly lowered during the last fifty years, at least +partly as the result of the indiscriminate rutting of the forests forming +its watershed. Almost all the rivers of northern China have become +uncontrollable, and very dangerous to the dwellers along their banks, as a +direct result of the destruction of the forests. The journey from Pekin to +Jehol shows in melancholy fashion how the soil has been washed away from +whole valleys, so that they have been converted into deserts. + +In northern China this disastrous process has gone on so long and has +proceeded so far that no complete remedy could be applied. There are +certain mountains in China from which the soil is gone so utterly that only +the slow action of the ages could again restore it; although of course much +could be done to prevent the still further eastward extension of the +Mongolian Desert if the Chinese Government would act at once. The +accompanying cuts from photographs show the inconceivable desolation of the +barren mountains in which certain of these rivers rise--mountains, be it +remembered, which formerly supported dense forests of larches and firs, now +unable to produce any wood, and because of their condition a source of +danger to the whole country. The photographs also show the same rivers +after they have passed through the mountains, the beds having become broad +and sandy because of the deforestation of the mountains. One of the +photographs shows a caravan passing through a valley. Formerly, when the +mountains were forested, it was thickly peopled by prosperous peasants. Now +the floods have carried destruction all over the land and the valley is a +stony desert. Another photograph shows a mountain road covered with the +stones and rocks that are brought down in the rainy season from the +mountains which have already been deforested by human hands. Another shows +a pebbly river-bed in southern Manchuria where what was once a great stream +has dried up owing to the deforestation in the mountains. Only some scrub +wood is left, which will disappear within a half century. Yet another shows +the effect of one of the washouts, destroying an arable mountain side, +these washouts being due to the removal of all vegetation; yet in this +photograph the foreground shows that reforestation is still a possibility +in places. + +What has thus happened in northern China, what has happened in Central +Asia, in Palestine, in North Africa, in parts of the Mediterranean +countries of Europe, will surely happen in our country if we do not +exercise that wise forethought which should be one of the chief marks of +any people calling itself civilized. Nothing should be permitted to stand +in the way of the preservation of the forests, and it is criminal to permit +individuals to purchase a little gain for themselves through the +destruction of forests when this destruction is fatal to the well-being of +the whole country in the future. + +INLAND WATERWAYS. + +Action should be begun forthwith, during the present session of the +Congress, for the improvement of our inland waterways--action which will +result in giving us not only navigable but navigated rivers. We have spent +hundreds of millions of dollars upon these waterways, yet the traffic on +nearly all of them is steadily declining. This condition is the direct +result of the absence of any comprehensive and far-seeing plan of waterway +improvement, Obviously we can not continue thus to expend the revenues of +the Government without return. It is poor business to spend money for +inland navigation unless we get it. + +Inquiry into the condition of the Mississippi and its principal tributaries +reveals very many instances of the utter waste caused by the methods which +have hitherto obtained for the so-called "improvement" of navigation. A +striking instance is supplied by the "improvement" of the Ohio, which, +begun in 1824, was continued under a single plan for half a century. In +1875 a new plan was adopted and followed for a quarter of a century. In +1902 still a different plan was adopted and has since been pursued at a +rate which only promises a navigable river in from twenty to one hundred +years longer. + +Such shortsighted, vacillating, and futile methods are accompanied by +decreasing water-borne commerce and increasing traffic congestion on land, +by increasing floods, and by the waste of public money. The remedy lies in +abandoning the methods which have so signally failed and adopting new ones +in keeping with the needs and demands of our people. + +In a report on a measure introduced at the first session of the present +Congress, the Secretary of War said: "The chief defect in the methods +hitherto pursued lies in the absence of executive authority for originating +comprehensive plans covering the country or natural divisions thereof." In +this opinion I heartily concur. The present methods not only fail to give +us inland navigation, but they are injurious to the army as well. What is +virtually a permanent detail of the corps of engineers to civilian duty +necessarily impairs the efficiency of our military establishment. The +military engineers have undoubtedly done efficient work in actual +construction, but they are necessarily unsuited by their training and +traditions to take the broad view, and to gather and transmit to the +Congress the commercial and industrial information and forecasts, upon +which waterway improvement must always so largely rest. Furthermore, they +have failed to grasp the great underlying fact that every stream is a unit +from its source to its mouth, and that all its uses are interdependent. +Prominent officers of the Engineer Corps have recently even gone so far as +to assert in print that waterways are not dependent upon the conservation +of the forests about their headwaters. This position is opposed to all the +recent work of the scientific bureaus of the Government and to the general +experience of mankind. A physician who disbelieved in vaccination would not +be the right man to handle an epidemic of smallpox, nor should we leave a +doctor skeptical about the transmission of yellow fever by the Stegomyia +mosquito in charge of sanitation at Havana or Panama. So with the +improvement of our rivers; it is no longer wise or safe to leave this great +work in the hands of men who fail to grasp the essential relations between +navigation and general development and to assimilate and use the central +facts about our streams. + +Until the work of river improvement is undertaken in a modern way it can +not have results that will meet the needs of this modern nation. These +needs should be met without further dilly-dallying or delay. The plan which +promises the best and quickest results is that of a permanent commission +authorized to coordinate the work of all the Government departments +relating to waterways, and to frame and supervise the execution of a +comprehensive plan. Under such a commission the actual work of construction +might be entrusted to the reclamation service; or to the military engineers +acting with a sufficient number of civilians to continue the work in time +of war; or it might be divided between the reclamation service and the +corps of engineers. Funds should be provided from current revenues if it is +deemed wise--otherwise from the sale of bonds. The essential thing is that +the work should go forward under the best possible plan, and with the least +possible delay. We should have a new type of work and a new organization +for planning and directing it. The time for playing with our waterways is +past. The country demands results. + +NATIONAL PARKS. + +I urge that all our National parks adjacent to National forests be placed +completely under the control of the forest service of the Agricultural +Department, instead of leaving them as they now are, under the Interior +Department and policed by the army. The Congress should provide for +superintendents with adequate corps of first-class civilian scouts, or +rangers, and, further, place the road construction under the superintendent +instead of leaving it with the War Department. Such a change in park +management would result in economy and avoid the difficulties of +administration which now arise from having the responsibility of care and +protection divided between different departments. The need for this course +is peculiarly great in the Yellowstone Park. This, like the Yosemite, is a +great wonderland, and should be kept as a national playground. In both, all +wild things should be protected and the scenery kept wholly unmarred. + +I am happy to say that I have been able to set aside in various parts of +the country small, well-chosen tracts of ground to serve as sanctuaries and +nurseries for wild creatures. + +DENATURED ALCOHOL. + +I had occasion in my message of May 4, 1906, to urge the passage of some +law putting alcohol, used in the arts, industries, and manufactures, upon +the free list--that is, to provide for the withdrawal free of tax of +alcohol which is to be denatured for those purposes. The law of June 7, +1906, and its amendment of March 2, 1907, accomplished what was desired in +that respect, and the use of denatured alcohol, as intended, is making a +fair degree of progress and is entitled to further encouragement and +support from the Congress. + +PURE FOOD. + +The pure food legislation has already worked a benefit difficult to +overestimate. + +INDIAN SERVICE. + +It has been my purpose from the beginning of my administration to take the +Indian Service completely out of the atmosphere of political activity, and +there has been steady progress toward that end. The last remaining +stronghold of politics in that service was the agency system, which had +seen its best days and was gradually falling to pieces from natural or +purely evolutionary causes, but, like all such survivals, was decaying +slowly in its later stages. It seems clear that its extinction had better +be made final now, so that the ground can be cleared for larger +constructive work on behalf of the Indians, preparatory to their induction +into the full measure of responsible citizenship. On November 1 only +eighteen agencies were left on the roster; with two exceptions, where some +legal questions seemed to stand temporarily in the way, these have been +changed to superintendencies, and their heads brought into the classified +civil service. + +SECRET SERVICE. + +Last year an amendment was incorporated in the measure providing for the +Secret Service, which provided that there should be no detail from the +Secret Service and no transfer therefrom. It is not too much to say that +this amendment has been of benefit only, and could be of benefit only, to +the criminal classes. If deliberately introduced for the purpose of +diminishing the effectiveness of war against crime it could not have been +better devised to this end. It forbade the practices that had been followed +to a greater or less extent by the executive heads of various departments +for twenty years. To these practices we owe the securing of the evidence +which enabled us to drive great lotteries out of business and secure a +quarter of a million of dollars in fines from their promoters. These +practices have enabled us to get some of the evidence indispensable in +order in connection with the theft of government land and government timber +by great corporations and by individuals. These practices have enabled us +to get some of the evidence indispensable in order to secure the conviction +of the wealthiest and most formidable criminals with whom the Government +has to deal, both those operating in violation of the anti-trust law and +others. The amendment in question was of benefit to no one excepting to +these criminals, and it seriously hampers the Government in the detection +of crime and the securing of justice. Moreover, it not only affects +departments outside of the Treasury, but it tends to hamper the Secretary +of the Treasury himself in the effort to utilize the employees of his +department so as to best meet the requirements of the public service. It +forbids him from preventing frauds upon the customs service, from +investigating irregularities in branch mints and assay offices, and has +seriously crippled him. It prevents the promotion of employees in the +Secret Service, and this further discourages good effort. In its present +form the restriction operates only to the advantage of the criminal, of the +wrongdoer. The chief argument in favor of the provision was that the +Congressmen did not themselves wish to be investigated by Secret Service +men. Very little of such investigation has been done in the past; but it is +true that the work of the Secret Service agents was partly responsible for +the indictment and conviction of a Senator and a Congressman for land +frauds in Oregon. I do not believe that it is in the public interest to +protect criminally in any branch of the public service, and exactly as we +have again and again during the past seven years prosecuted and convicted +such criminals who were in the executive branch of the Government, so in my +belief we should be given ample means to prosecute them if found in the +legislative branch. But if this is not considered desirable a special +exception could be made in the law prohibiting the use of the Secret +Service force in investigating members of the Congress. It would be far +better to do this than to do what actually was done, and strive to prevent +or at least to hamper effective action against criminals by the executive +branch of the Government. + +POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS. + +I again renew my recommendation for postal savings hanks, for depositing +savings with the security of the Government behind them. The object is to +encourage thrift and economy in the wage-earner and person of moderate +means. In 14 States the deposits in savings banks as reported to the +Comptroller of the Currency amount to $3,590,245,402, or 98.4 per cent of +the entire deposits, while in the remaining 32 States there are only +$70,308,543, or 1.6 per cent, showing conclusively that there are many +localities in the United States where sufficient opportunity is not given +to the people to deposit their savings. The result is that money is kept in +hiding and unemployed. It is believed that in the aggregate vast sums of +money would be brought into circulation through the instrumentality of the +postal savings banks. While there are only 1,453 savings banks reporting to +the Comptroller there are more than 61,000 post-offices, 40,000 of which +are money order offices. Postal savings banks are now in operation in +practically all of the great civilized countries with the exception of the +United States. + +PARCEL POST. + +In my last annual message I commended the Postmaster-General's +recommendation for an extension of the parcel post on the rural routes. The +establishment of a local parcel post on rural routes would be to the mutual +benefit of the farmer and the country storekeeper, and it is desirable that +the routes, serving more than 15,000,000 people, should be utilized to the +fullest practicable extent. An amendment was proposed in the Senate at the +last session, at the suggestion of the Postmaster-General, providing that, +for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability of establishing a +special local parcel post system on the rural routes throughout the United +States, the Postmaster-General be authorized and directed to experiment and +report to the Congress the result of such experiment by establishing a +special local parcel post system on rural delivery routes in not to exceed +four counties in the United States for packages of fourth-class matter +originating on a rural route or at the distributing post office for +delivery by rural carriers. It would seem only proper that such an +experiment should be tried in order to demonstrate the practicability of +the proposition, especially as the Postmaster-General estimates that the +revenue derived from the operation of such a system on all the rural routes +would amount to many million dollars. EDUCATION. + +The share that the National Government should take in the broad work of +education has not received the attention and the care it rightly deserves. +The immediate responsibility for the support and improvement of our +educational systems and institutions rests and should always rest with the +people of the several States acting through their state and local +governments, but the Nation has an opportunity in educational work which +must not be lost and a duty which should no longer be neglected. + +The National Bureau of Education was established more than forty years ago. +Its purpose is to collect and diffuse such information "as shall aid the +people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of +efficient school systems and otherwise promote the cause of education +throughout the country." This purpose in no way conflicts with the +educational work of the States, but may be made of great advantage to the +States by giving them the fullest, most accurate, and hence the most +helpful information and suggestion regarding the best educational systems. +The Nation, through its broader field of activities, its wider opportunity +for obtaining information from all the States and from foreign countries, +is able to do that which not even the richest States can do, and with the +distinct additional advantage that the information thus obtained is used +for the immediate benefit of all our people. + +With the limited means hitherto provided, the Bureau of Education has +rendered efficient service, but the Congress has neglected to adequately +supply the bureau with means to meet the educational growth of the country. +The appropriations for the general work of the bureau, outside education in +Alaska, for the year 1909 are but $87,500--an amount less than they were +ten years ago, and some of the important items in these appropriations are +less than they were thirty years ago. It is an inexcusable waste of public +money to appropriate an amount which is so inadequate as to make it +impossible properly to do the work authorized, and it is unfair to the +great educational interests of the country to deprive them of the value of +the results which can be obtained by proper appropriations. + +I earnestly recommend that this unfortunate state of affairs as regards the +national educational office be remedied by adequate appropriations. This +recommendation is urged by the representatives of our common schools and +great state universities and the leading educators, who all unite in +requesting favorable consideration and action by the Congress upon this +subject. CENSUS. + +I strongly urge that the request of the Director of the Census in +connection with the decennial work so soon to be begun be complied with and +that the appointments to the census force be placed under the civil service +law, waiving the geographical requirements as requested by the Director of +the Census. The supervisors and enumerators should not be appointed under +the civil service law, for the reasons given by the Director. I commend to +the Congress the careful consideration of the admirable report of the +Director of the Census, and I trust that his recommendations will be +adopted and immediate action thereon taken. + +PUBLIC HEALTH. + +It is highly advisable that there should be intelligent action on the part +of the Nation on the question of preserving the health of the country. +Through the practical extermination in San Francisco of disease-bearing +rodents our country has thus far escaped the bubonic plague. This is but +one of the many achievements of American health officers; and it shows what +can be accomplished with a better organization than at present exists. The +dangers to public health from food adulteration and from many other +sources, such as the menace to the physical, mental and moral development +of children from child labor, should be met and overcome. There are +numerous diseases, which are now known to be preventable, which are, +nevertheless, not prevented. The recent International Congress on +Tuberculosis has made us painfully aware of the inadequacy of American +public health legislation. This Nation can not afford to lag behind in the +world-wide battle now being waged by all civilized people with the +microscopic foes of mankind, nor ought we longer to ignore the reproach +that this Government takes more pains to protect the lives of hogs and of +cattle than of human beings. + +REDISTRIBUTION OF BUREAUS. + +The first legislative step to be taken is that for the concentration of the +proper bureaus into one of the existing departments. I therefore urgently +recommend the passage of a bill which shall authorize a redistribution of +the bureaus which shall best accomplish this end. + +GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. + +I recommend that legislation be enacted placing under the jurisdiction of +the Department of Commerce and Labor the Government Printing Office. At +present this office is under the combined control, supervision, and +administrative direction of the President and of the Joint Committee on +Printing of the two Houses of the Congress. The advantage of having the +4,069 employees in this office and the expenditure of the $5,761,377.57 +appropriated therefor supervised by an executive department is obvious, +instead of the present combined supervision. + +SOLDIERS' HOMES. + +All Soldiers' Homes should be placed under the complete jurisdiction and +control of the War Department. + +INDEPENDENT BUREAUS AND COMMISSIONS. + +Economy and sound business policy require that all existing independent +bureaus and commissions should be placed under the jurisdiction of +appropriate executive departments. It is unwise from every standpoint, and +results only in mischief, to have any executive work done save by the +purely executive bodies, under the control of the President; and each such +executive body should be under the immediate supervision of a Cabinet +Minister. STATEHOOD. + +I advocate the immediate admission of New Mexico and Arizona as States. +This should be done at the present session of the Congress. The people of +the two Territories have made it evident by their votes that they will not +come in as one State. The only alternative is to admit them as two, and I +trust that this will be done without delay. + +INTERSTATE FISHERIES. + +I call the attention of the Congress to the importance of the problem of +the fisheries in the interstate waters. On the Great Lakes we are now, +under the very wise treaty of April 11th of this year, endeavoring to come +to an international agreement for the preservation and satisfactory use of +the fisheries of these waters which can not otherwise be achieved. Lake +Erie, for example, has the richest fresh water fisheries in the world; but +it is now controlled by the statutes of two Nations, four States, and one +Province, and in this Province by different ordinances in different +counties. All these political divisions work at cross purposes, and in no +case can they achieve protection to the fisheries, on the one hand, and +justice to the localities and individuals on the other. The case is similar +in Puget Sound. + +But the problem is quite as pressing in the interstate waters of the United +States. The salmon fisheries of the Columbia River are now but a fraction +of what they were twenty-five years ago, and what they would be now if the +United States Government had taken complete charge of them by intervening +between Oregon and Washington. During these twenty-five years the fishermen +of each State have naturally tried to take all they could get, and the two +legislatures have never been able to agree on joint action of any kind +adequate in degree for the protection of the fisheries. At the moment the +fishing on the Oregon side is practically closed, while there is no limit +on the Washington side of any kind, and no one can tell what the courts +will decide as to the very statutes under which this action and non-action +result. Meanwhile very few salmon reach the spawning grounds, and probably +four years hence the fisheries will amount to nothing; and this comes from +a struggle between the associated, or gill-net, fishermen on the one hand, +and the owners of the fishing wheels up the river. The fisheries of the +Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Potomac are also in a bad way. For this +there is no remedy except for the United States to control and legislate +for the interstate fisheries as part of the business of interstate +commerce. In this case the machinery for scientific investigation and for +control already exists in the United States Bureau of Fisheries. In this as +in similar problems the obvious and simple rule should be followed of +having those matters which no particular State can manage taken in hand by +the United States; problems which in the seesaw of conflicting State +legislatures are absolutely unsolvable are easy enough for Congress to +control. + +FISHERIES AND FUR SEALS. + +The federal statute regulating interstate traffic in game should be +extended to include fish. New federal fish hatcheries should be +established. The administration of the Alaskan fur-seal service should be +vested in the Bureau of Fisheries. + +FOREIGN AFFAIRS. + +This Nation's foreign policy is based on the theory that right must be done +between nations precisely as between individuals, and in our actions for +the last ten years we have in this matter proven our faith by our deeds. We +have behaved, and are behaving, towards other nations as in private life an +honorable man would behave towards his fellows. + +LATIN-AMERICAN REPUBLICS. + +The commercial and material progress of the twenty Latin-American Republics +is worthy of the careful attention of the Congress. No other section of the +world has shown a greater proportionate development of its foreign trade +during the last ten years and none other has more special claims on the +interest of the United States. It offers to-day probably larger +opportunities for the legitimate expansion of our commerce than any other +group of countries. These countries will want our products in greatly +increased quantities, and we shall correspondingly need theirs. The +International Bureau of the American Republics is doing a useful work in +making these nations and their resources better known to us, and in +acquainting them not only with us as a people and with our purposes towards +them, but with what we have to exchange for their goods. It is an +international institution supported by all the governments of the two +Americas. + +PANAMA CANAL. + +The work on the Panama Canal is being done with a speed, efficiency and +entire devotion to duty which make it a model for all work of the kind. No +task of such magnitude has ever before been undertaken by any nation; and +no task of the kind has ever been better performed. The men on the isthmus, +from Colonel Goethals and his fellow commissioners through the entire list +of employees who are faithfully doing their duty, have won their right to +the ungrudging respect and gratitude of the American people. + +OCEAN MAIL LINERS. + +I again recommend the extension of the ocean mail act of 1891 so that +satisfactory American ocean mail lines to South America, Asia, the +Philippines, and Australiasia may be established. The creation of such +steamship lines should be the natural corollary of the voyage of the battle +fleet. It should precede the opening of the Panamal Canal. Even under +favorable conditions several years must elapse before such lines can be put +into operation. Accordingly I urge that the Congress act promptly where +foresight already shows that action sooner or later will be inevitable. +HAWAII. + +I call particular attention to the Territory of Hawaii. The importance of +those islands is apparent, and the need of improving their condition and +developing their resources is urgent. In recent years industrial conditions +upon the islands have radically changed, The importation of coolie labor +has practically ceased, and there is now developing such a diversity in +agricultural products as to make possible a change in the land conditions +of the Territory, so that an opportunity may be given to the small land +owner similar to that on the mainland. To aid these changes, the National +Government must provide the necessary harbor improvements on each island, +so that the agricultural products can be carried to the markets of the +world. The coastwise shipping laws should be amended to meet the special +needs of the islands, and the alien contract labor law should be so +modified in its application to Hawaii as to enable American and European +labor to be brought thither. + +We have begun to improve Pearl Harbor for a naval base and to provide the +necessary military fortifications for the protection of the islands, but I +can not too strongly emphasize the need of appropriations for these +purposes of such an amount as will within the shortest possible time make +those islands practically impregnable. It is useless to develop the +industrial conditions of the islands and establish there bases of supply +for our naval and merchant fleets unless we insure, as far as human +ingenuity can, their safety from foreign seizure. + +One thing to be remembered with all our fortifications is that it is almost +useless to make them impregnable from the sea if they are left open to land +attack. This is true even of our own coast, but it is doubly true of our +insular possessions. In Hawaii, for instance, it is worse than useless to +establish a naval station unless we establish it behind fortifications so +strong that no landing force can take them save by regular and +long-continued siege operations. + +THE PHILIPPINES. + +Real progress toward self-government is being made in the Philippine +Islands. The gathering of a Philippine legislative body and Philippine +assembly marks a process absolutely new in Asia, not only as regards +Asiatic colonies of European powers but as regards Asiatic possessions of +other Asiatic powers; and, indeed, always excepting the striking and +wonderful example afforded by the great Empire of Japan, it opens an +entirely new departure when compared with anything which has happened among +Asiatic powers which are their own masters. Hitherto this Philippine +legislature has acted with moderation and self-restraint, and has seemed in +practical fashion to realize the eternal truth that there must always be +government, and that the only way in which any body of individuals can +escape the necessity of being governed by outsiders is to show that they +are able to restrain themselves, to keep down wrongdoing and disorder. The +Filipino people, through their officials, are therefore making real steps +in the direction of self-government. I hope and believe that these steps +mark the beginning of a course which will continue till the Filipinos +become fit to decide for themselves whether they desire to be an +independent nation. But it is well for them (and well also for those +Americans who during the past decade have done so much damage to the +Filipinos by agitation for an immediate independence for which they were +totally unfit) to remember that self-government depends, and must depend, +upon the Filipinos themselves. All we can do is to give them the +opportunity to develop the capacity for self-government. If we had followed +the advice of the foolish doctrinaires who wished us at any time during the +last ten years to turn the Filipino people adrift, we should have shirked +the plainest possible duty and have inflicted a lasting wrong upon the +Filipino people. We have acted in exactly the opposite spirit. We have +given the Filipinos constitutional government--a government based upon +justice--and we have shown that we have governed them for their good and +not for our aggrandizement. At the present time, as during the past ten +years, the inexorable logic of facts shows that this government must be +supplied by us and not by them. We must be wise and generous; we must help +the Filipinos to master the difficult art of self-control, which is simply +another name for self-government. But we can not give them self-government +save in the sense of governing them so that gradually they may, if they are +able, learn to govern themselves. Under the present system of just laws and +sympathetic administration, we have every reason to believe that they are +gradually acquiring the character which lies at the basis of +self-government, and for which, if it be lacking, no system of laws, no +paper constitution, will in any wise serve as a substitute. Our people in +the Philippines have achieved what may legitimately be called a marvelous +success in giving to them a government which marks on the part of those in +authority both the necessary understanding of the people and the necessary +purpose to serve them disinterestedly and in good faith. I trust that +within a generation the time will arrive when the Philippines can decide +for themselves whether it is well for them to become independent, or to +continue under the protection of a strong and disinterested power, able to +guarantee to the islands order at home and protection from foreign +invasion. But no one can prophesy the exact date when it will be wise to +consider independence as a fixed and definite policy. It would be worse +than folly to try to set down such a date in advance, for it must depend +upon the way in which the Philippine people themselves develop the power of +self-mastery. + +PORTO RICO. + +I again recommend that American citizenship be conferred upon the people of +Porto Rico. CUBA. + +In Cuba our occupancy will cease in about two months' time, the Cubans have +in orderly manner elected their own governmental authorities, and the +island will be turned over to them. Our occupation on this occasion has +lasted a little over two years, and Cuba has thriven and prospered under +it. Our earnest hope and one desire is that the people of the island shall +now govern themselves with justice, so that peace and order may be secure. +We will gladly help them to this end; but I would solemnly warn them to +remember the great truth that the only way a people can permanently avoid +being governed from without is to show that they both can and will govern +themselves from within. + +JAPANESE EXPOSITION. + +The Japanese Government has postponed until 1917 the date of the great +international exposition, the action being taken so as to insure ample time +in which to prepare to make the exposition all that it should be made. The +American commissioners have visited Japan and the postponement will merely +give ampler opportunity for America to be represented at the exposition. +Not since the first international exposition has there been one of greater +importance than this will be, marking as it does the fiftieth anniversary +of the ascension to the throne of the Emperor of Japan. The extraordinary +leap to a foremost place among the nations of the world made by Japan +during this half century is something unparalleled in all previous history. +This exposition will fitly commemorate and signalize the giant progress +that has been achieved. It is the first exposition of its kind that has +ever been held in Asia. The United States, because of the ancient +friendship between the two peoples, because each of us fronts on the +Pacific, and because of the growing commercial relations between this +country and Asia, takes a peculiar interest in seeing the exposition made a +success in every way. + +I take this opportunity publicly to state my appreciation of the way in +which in Japan, in Australia, in New Zealand, and in all the States of +South America, the battle fleet has been received on its practice voyage +around the world. The American Government can not too strongly express its +appreciation of the abounding and generous hospitality shown our ships in +every port they visited. + +THE ARMY. + +As regards the Army I call attention to the fact that while our junior +officers and enlisted men stand very high, the present system of promotion +by seniority results in bringing into the higher grades many men of +mediocre capacity who have but a short time to serve. No man should regard +it as his vested right to rise to the highest rank in the Army any more +than in any other profession. It is a curious and by no means creditable +fact that there should be so often a failure on the part of the public and +its representatives to understand the great need, from the standpoint of +the service and the Nation, of refusing to promote respectable, elderly +incompetents. The higher places should be given to the most deserving men +without regard to seniority; at least seniority should be treated as only +one consideration. In the stress of modern industrial competition no +business firm could succeed if those responsible for its management were +chosen simply on the ground that they were the oldest people in its +employment; yet this is the course advocated as regards the Army, and +required by law for all grades except those of general officer. As a matter +of fact, all of the best officers in the highest ranks of the Army are +those who have attained their present position wholly or in part by a +process of selection. + +The scope of retiring boards should be extended so that they could consider +general unfitness to command for any cause, in order to secure a far more +rigid enforcement than at present in the elimination of officers for +mental, physical or temperamental disabilities. But this plan is +recommended only if the Congress does not see fit to provide what in my +judgment is far better; that is, for selection in promotion, and for +elimination for age. Officers who fail to attain a certain rank by a +certain age should be retired--for instance, if a man should not attain +field rank by the time he is 45 he should of course be placed on the +retired list. General officers should be selected as at present, and +one-third of the other promotions should be made by selection, the +selection to be made by the President or the Secretary of War from a list +of at least two candidates proposed for each vacancy by a board of officers +from the arm of the service from which the promotion is to be made. A bill +is now before the Congress having for its object to secure the promotion of +officers to various grades at reasonable ages through a process of +selection, by boards of officers, of the least efficient for retirement +with a percentage of their pay depending upon length of service. The bill, +although not accomplishing all that should be done, is a long step in the +right direction; and I earnestly recommend its passage, or that of a more +completely effective measure. + +The cavalry arm should be reorganized upon modern lines. This is an arm in +which it is peculiarly necessary that the field officers should not be old. +The cavalry is much more difficult to form than infantry, and it should be +kept up to the maximum both in efficiency and in strength, for it can not +be made in a hurry. At present both infantry and artillery are too few in +number for our needs. Especial attention should be paid to development of +the machine gun. A general service corps should be established. As things +are now the average soldier has far too much labor of a nonmilitary +character to perform. + +NATIONAL GUARD. + +Now that the organized militia, the National Guard, has been incorporated +with the Army as a part of the national forces, it behooves the Government +to do every reasonable thing in its power to perfect its efficiency. It +should be assisted in its instruction and otherwise aided more liberally +than heretofore. The continuous services of many well-trained regular +officers will be essential in this connection. Such officers must be +specially trained at service schools best to qualify them as instructors of +the National Guard. But the detailing of officers for training at the +service schools and for duty with the National Guard entails detaching them +from their regiments which are already greatly depleted by detachment of +officers for assignment to duties prescribed by acts of the Congress. + +A bill is now pending before the Congress creating a number of extra +officers in the Army, which if passed, as it ought to be, will enable more +officers to be trained as instructors of the National Guard and assigned to +that duty. In case of war it will be of the utmost importance to have a +large number of trained officers to use for turning raw levies into good +troops. + +There should be legislation to provide a complete plan for organizing the +great body of volunteers behind the Regular Army and National Guard when +war has come. Congressional assistance should be given those who are +endeavoring to promote rifle practice so that our men, in the services or +out of them, may know how to use the rifle. While teams representing the +United States won the rifle and revolver championships of the world against +all comers in England this year, it is unfortunately true that the great +body of our citizens shoot less and less as time goes on. To meet this we +should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all +classes, as well as in the military services, by every means in our power. +Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving the peace +of the world. Fit to hold our own against the strong nations of the earth, +our voice for peace will carry to the ends of the earth. Unprepared, and +therefore unfit, we must sit dumb and helpless to defend ourselves, protect +others, or preserve peace. The first step--in the direction of preparation +to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come--is to +teach our men to shoot. + +THE NAVY. + +I approve the recommendations of the General Board for the increase of the +Navy, calling especial attention to the need of additional destroyers and +colliers, and above all, of the four battleships. It is desirable to +complete as soon as possible a squadron of eight battleships of the best +existing type. The North Dakota, Delaware, Florida, and Utah will form the +first division of this squadron. The four vessels proposed will form the +second division. It will be an improvement on the first, the ships being of +the heavy, single caliber, all big gun type. All the vessels should have +the same tactical qualities--that is, speed and turning circle--and as near +as possible these tactical qualities should be the same as in the four +vessels before named now being built. + +I most earnestly recommend that the General Board be by law turned into a +General Staff. There is literally no excuse whatever for continuing the +present bureau organization of the Navy. The Navy should be treated as a +purely military organization, and everything should be subordinated to the +one object of securing military efficiency. Such military efficiency can +only be guaranteed in time of war if there is the most thorough previous +preparation in time of peace--a preparation, I may add, which will in all +probability prevent any need of war. The Secretary must be supreme, and he +should have as his official advisers a body of line officers who should +themselves have the power to pass upon and coordinate all the work and all +the proposals of the several bureaus. A system of promotion by merit, +either by selection or by exclusion, or by both processes, should be +introduced. It is out of the question, if the present principle of +promotion by mere seniority is kept, to expect to get the best results from +the higher officers. Our men come too old, and stay for too short a time, +in the high command positions. + +Two hospital ships should be provided. The actual experience of the +hospital ship with the fleet in the Pacific has shown the invaluable work +which such a ship does, and has also proved that it is well to have it kept +under the command of a medical officer. As was to be expected, all of the +anticipations of trouble from such a command have proved completely +baseless. It is as absurd to put a hospital ship under a line officer as it +would be to put a hospital on shore under such a command. This ought to +have been realized before, and there is no excuse for failure to realize it +now. + +Nothing better for the Navy from every standpoint has ever occurred than +the cruise of the battle fleet around the world. The improvement of the +ships in every way has been extraordinary, and they have gained far more +experience in battle tactics than they would have gained if they had stayed +in the Atlantic waters. The American people have cause for profound +gratification, both in view of the excellent condition of the fleet as +shown by this cruise, and in view of the improvement the cruise has worked +in this already high condition. I do not believe that there is any other +service in the world in which the average of character and efficiency in +the enlisted men is as high as is now the case in our own. I believe that +the same statement can be made as to our officers, taken as a whole; but +there must be a reservation made in regard to those in the highest +ranks--as to which I have already spoken--and in regard to those who have +just entered the service; because we do not now get full benefit from our +excellent naval school at Annapolis. It is absurd not to graduate the +midshipmen as ensigns; to keep them for two years in such an anomalous +position as at present the law requires is detrimental to them and to the +service. In the academy itself, every first classman should be required in +turn to serve as petty officer and officer; his ability to discharge his +duties as such should be a prerequisite to his going into the line, and his +success in commanding should largely determine his standing at graduation. +The Board of Visitors should be appointed in January, and each member +should be required to give at least six days' service, only from one to +three days' to be performed during June week, which is the least desirable +time for the board to be at Annapolis so far as benefiting the Navy by +their observations is concerned. + +THE WHITE HOUSE, + +Tuesday, December 8, 1908. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OF ADDRESSES BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT *** + +This file should be named suroo10.txt or suroo10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, suroo11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, suroo10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: State of the Union Addresses of Theodore Roosevelt + +Author: Theodore Roosevelt + +Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5032] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 11, 2002] +[Date last updated: December 16, 2004] + +Edition: 11 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OF ADDRESSES BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT *** + + + +This eBook was produced by James Linden. + +The addresses are separated by three asterisks: *** + +Dates of addresses by Theodore Roosevelt in this eBook: + December 3, 1901 + December 2, 1902 + December 7, 1903 + December 6, 1904 + December 5, 1905 + December 3, 1906 + December 3, 1907 + December 8, 1908 + + + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 3, 1901 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +The Congress assembles this year under the shadow of a great calamity. +On the sixth of September, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist +while attending the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, and died in +that city on the fourteenth of that month. + +Of the last seven elected Presidents, he is the third who has been +murdered, and the bare recital of this fact is sufficient to justify +grave alarm among all loyal American citizens. Moreover, the +circumstances of this, the third assassination of an American +President, have a peculiarly sinister significance. Both President +Lincoln and President Garfield were killed by assassins of types +unfortunately not uncommon in history; President Lincoln falling a +victim to the terrible passions aroused by four years of civil war, and +President Garfield to the revengeful vanity of a disappointed +office-seeker. President McKinley was killed by an utterly depraved +criminal belonging to that body of criminals who object to all +governments, good and bad alike, who are against any form of popular +liberty if it is guaranteed by even the most just and liberal laws, and +who are as hostile to the upright exponent of a free people's sober +will as to the tyrannical and irresponsible despot. + +It is not too much to say that at the time of President McKinley's +death he was the most widely loved man in all the United States; while +we have never had any public man of his position who has been so wholly +free from the bitter animosities incident to public life. His political +opponents were the first to bear the heartiest and most generous +tribute to the broad kindliness of nature, the sweetness and gentleness +of character which so endeared him to his close associates. To a +standard of lofty integrity in public life he united the tender +affections and home virtues which are all-important in the make-up of +national character. A gallant soldier in the great war for the Union, +he also shone as an example to all our people because of his conduct in +the most sacred and intimate of home relations. There could be no +personal hatred of him, for he never acted with aught but consideration +for the welfare of others. No one could fail to respect him who knew +him in public or private life. The defenders of those murderous +criminals who seek to excuse their criminality by asserting that it is +exercised for political ends, inveigh against wealth and irresponsible +power. But for this assassination even this base apology cannot be +urged. + +President McKinley was a man of moderate means, a man whose stock +sprang from the sturdy tillers of the soil, who had himself belonged +among the wage-workers, who had entered the Army as a private soldier. +Wealth was not struck at when the President was assassinated, but the +honest toil which is content with moderate gains after a lifetime of +unremitting labor, largely in the service of the public. Still less was +power struck at in the sense that power is irresponsible or centered in +the hands of any one individual. The blow was not aimed at tyranny or +wealth. It was aimed at one of the strongest champions the wage-worker +has ever had; at one of the most faithful representatives of the system +of public rights and representative government who has ever risen to +public office. President McKinley filled that political office for +which the entire people vote, and no President not even Lincoln +himself--was ever more earnestly anxious to represent the well +thought-out wishes of the people; his one anxiety in every crisis was +to keep in closest touch with the people--to find out what they thought +and to endeavor to give expression to their thought, after having +endeavored to guide that thought aright. He had just been reelected to +the Presidency because the majority of our citizens, the majority of +our farmers and wage-workers, believed that he had faithfully upheld +their interests for four years. They felt themselves in close and +intimate touch with him. They felt that he represented so well and so +honorably all their ideals and aspirations that they wished him to +continue for another four years to represent them. + +And this was the man at whom the assassin struck That there might be +nothing lacking to complete the Judas-like infamy of his act, he took +advantage of an occasion when the President was meeting the people +generally; and advancing as if to take the hand out-stretched to him in +kindly and brotherly fellowship, he turned the noble and generous +confidence of the victim into an opportunity to strike the fatal blow. +There is no baser deed in all the annals of crime. + +The shock, the grief of the country, are bitter in the minds of all who +saw the dark days, while the President yet hovered between life and +death. At last the light was stilled in the kindly eyes and the breath +went from the lips that even in mortal agony uttered no words save of +forgiveness to his murderer, of love for his friends, and of faltering +trust in the will of the Most High. Such a death, crowning the glory of +such a life, leaves us with infinite sorrow, but with such pride in +what he had accomplished and in his own personal character, that we +feel the blow not as struck at him, but as struck at the Nation We +mourn a good and great President who is dead; but while we mourn we are +lifted up by the splendid achievements of his life and the grand +heroism with which he met his death. + +When we turn from the man to the Nation, the harm done is so great as +to excite our gravest apprehensions and to demand our wisest and most +resolute action. This criminal was a professed anarchist, inflamed by +the teachings of professed anarchists, and probably also by the +reckless utterances of those who, on the stump and in the public press, +appeal to the dark and evil spirits of malice and greed, envy and +sullen hatred. The wind is sowed by the men who preach such doctrines, +and they cannot escape their share of responsibility for the whirlwind +that is reaped. This applies alike to the deliberate demagogue, to the +exploiter of sensationalism, and to the crude and foolish visionary +who, for whatever reason, apologizes for crime or excites aimless +discontent. + +The blow was aimed not at this President, but at all Presidents; at +every symbol of government. President McKinley was as emphatically the +embodiment of the popular will of the Nation expressed through the +forms of law as a New England town meeting is in similar fashion the +embodiment of the law-abiding purpose and practice of the people of the +town. On no conceivable theory could the murder of the President be +accepted as due to protest against "inequalities in the social order," +save as the murder of all the freemen engaged in a town meeting could +be accepted as a protest against that social inequality which puts a +malefactor in jail. Anarchy is no more an expression of "social +discontent" than picking pockets or wife-beating. + +The anarchist, and especially the anarchist in the United States, is +merely one type of criminal, more dangerous than any other because he +represents the same depravity in a greater degree. The man who +advocates anarchy directly or indirectly, in any shape or fashion, or +the man who apologizes for anarchists and their deeds, makes himself +morally accessory to murder before the fact. The anarchist is a +criminal whose perverted instincts lead him to prefer confusion and +chaos to the most beneficent form of social order. His protest of +concern for workingmen is outrageous in its impudent falsity; for if +the political institutions of this country do not afford opportunity to +every honest and intelligent son of toil, then the door of hope is +forever closed against him. The anarchist is everywhere not merely the +enemy of system and of progress, but the deadly foe of liberty. If ever +anarchy is triumphant, its triumph will last for but one red moment, to +be succeeded, for ages by the gloomy night of despotism. + +For the anarchist himself, whether he preaches or practices his +doctrines, we need not have one particle more concern than for any +ordinary murderer. He is not the victim of social or political +injustice. There are no wrongs to remedy in his case. The cause of his +criminality is to be found in his own evil passions and in the evil +conduct of those who urge him on, not in any failure by others or by +the State to do justice to him or his. He is a malefactor and nothing +else. He is in no sense, in no shape or way, a "product of social +conditions," save as a highwayman is "produced" by the fact than an +unarmed man happens to have a purse. It is a travesty upon the great +and holy names of liberty and freedom to permit them to be invoked in +such a cause. No man or body of men preaching anarchistic doctrines +should be allowed at large any more than if preaching the murder of +some specified private individual. Anarchistic speeches, writings, and +meetings are essentially seditious and treasonable. + +I earnestly recommend to the Congress that in the exercise of its wise +discretion it should take into consideration the coming to this country +of anarchists or persons professing principles hostile to all +government and justifying the murder of those placed in authority. Such +individuals as those who not long ago gathered in open meeting to +glorify the murder of King Humbert of Italy perpetrate a crime, and the +law should ensure their rigorous punishment. They and those like them +should be kept out of this country; and if found here they should be +promptly deported to the country whence they came; and far-reaching +provision should be made for the punishment of those who stay. No +matter calls more urgently for the wisest thought of the Congress. + +The Federal courts should be given jurisdiction over any man who kills +or attempts to kill the President or any man who by the Constitution or +by law is in line of succession for the Presidency, while the +punishment for an unsuccessful attempt should be proportioned to the +enormity of the offense against our institutions. + +Anarchy is a crime against the whole human race; and all mankind should +band against the anarchist. His crime should be made an offense against +the law of nations, like piracy and that form of man-stealing known as +the slave trade; for it is of far blacker infamy than either. It should +be so declared by treaties among all civilized powers. Such treaties +would give to the Federal Government the power of dealing with the +crime. + +A grim commentary upon the folly of the anarchist position was afforded +by the attitude of the law toward this very criminal who had just taken +the life of the President. The people would have torn him limb from +limb if it had not been that the law he defied was at once invoked in +his behalf. So far from his deed being committed on behalf of the +people against the Government, the Government was obliged at once to +exert its full police power to save him from instant death at the hands +of the people. Moreover, his deed worked not the slightest dislocation +in our governmental system, and the danger of a recurrence of such +deeds, no matter how great it might grow, would work only in the +direction of strengthening and giving harshness to the forces of order. +No man will ever be restrained from becoming President by any fear as +to his personal safety. If the risk to the President's life became +great, it would mean that the office would more and more come to be +filled by men of a spirit which would make them resolute and merciless +in dealing with every friend of disorder. This great country will not +fall into anarchy, and if anarchists should ever become a serious +menace to its institutions, they would not merely be stamped out, but +would involve in their own ruin every active or passive sympathizer +with their doctrines. The American people are slow to wrath, but when +their wrath is once kindled it burns like a consuming flame. + +During the last five years business confidence has been restored, and +the nation is to be congratulated because of its present abounding +prosperity. Such prosperity can never be created by law alone, although +it is easy enough to destroy it by mischievous laws. If the hand of the +Lord is heavy upon any country, if flood or drought comes, human wisdom +is powerless to avert the calamity. Moreover, no law can guard us +against the consequences of our own folly. The men who are idle or +credulous, the men who seek gains not by genuine work with head or hand +but by gambling in any form, are always a source of menace not only to +themselves but to others. If the business world loses its head, it +loses what legislation cannot supply. Fundamentally the welfare of each +citizen, and therefore the welfare of the aggregate of citizens which +makes the nation, must rest upon individual thrift and energy, +resolution, and intelligence. Nothing can take the place of this +individual capacity; but wise legislation and honest and intelligent +administration can give it the fullest scope, the largest opportunity +to work to good effect. + +The tremendous and highly complex industrial development which went on +with ever accelerated rapidity during the latter half of the nineteenth +century brings us face to face, at the beginning of the twentieth, with +very serious social problems. The old laws, and the old customs which +had almost the binding force of law, were once quite sufficient to +regulate the accumulation and distribution of wealth. Since the +industrial changes which have so enormously increased the productive +power of mankind, they are no longer sufficient. + +The growth of cities has gone on beyond comparison faster than the +growth of the country, and the upbuilding of the great industrial +centers has meant a startling increase, not merely in the aggregate of +wealth, but in the number of very large individual, and especially of +very large corporate, fortunes. The creation of these great corporate +fortunes has not been due to the tariff nor to any other governmental +action, but to natural causes in the business world, operating in other +countries as they operate in our own. + +The process has aroused much antagonism, a great part of which is +wholly without warrant. It is not true that as the rich have grown +richer the poor have grown poorer. On the contrary, never before has +the average man, the wage-worker, the farmer, the small trader, been so +well off as in this country and at the present time. There have been +abuses connected with the accumulation of wealth; yet it remains true +that a fortune accumulated in legitimate business can be accumulated by +the person specially benefited only on condition of conferring immense +incidental benefits upon others. Successful enterprise, of the type +which benefits all mankind, can only exist if the conditions are such +as to offer great prizes as the rewards of success. + +The captains of industry who have driven the railway systems across +this continent, who have built up our commerce, who have developed our +manufactures, have on the whole done great good to our people. Without +them the material development of which we are so justly proud could +never have taken place. Moreover, we should recognize the immense +importance of this material development of leaving as unhampered as is +compatible with the public good the strong and forceful men upon whom +the success of business operations inevitably rests. The slightest +study of business conditions will satisfy anyone capable of forming a +judgment that the personal equation is the most important factor in a +business operation; that the business ability of the man at the head of +any business concern, big or little, is usually the factor which fixes +the gulf between striking success and hopeless failure. + +An additional reason for caution in dealing with corporations is to be +found in the international commercial conditions of to-day. The same +business conditions which have produced the great aggregations of +corporate and individual wealth have made them very potent factors in +international Commercial competition. Business concerns which have the +largest means at their disposal and are managed by the ablest men are +naturally those which take the lead in the strife for commercial +supremacy among the nations of the world. America has only just begun +to assume that commanding position in the international business world +which we believe will more and more be hers. It is of the utmost +importance that this position be not jeoparded, especially at a time +when the overflowing abundance of our own natural resources and the +skill, business energy, and mechanical aptitude of our people make +foreign markets essential. Under such conditions it would be most +unwise to cramp or to fetter the youthful strength of our Nation. + +Moreover, it cannot too often be pointed out that to strike with +ignorant violence at the interests of one set of men almost inevitably +endangers the interests of all. The fundamental rule in our national +life--the rule which underlies all others--is that, on the whole, and +in the long run, we shall go up or down together. There are exceptions; +and in times of prosperity some will prosper far more, and in times of +adversity, some will suffer far more, than others; but speaking +generally, a period of good times means that all share more or less in +them, and in a period of hard times all feel the stress to a greater or +less degree. It surely ought not to be necessary to enter into any +proof of this statement; the memory of the lean years which began in +1893 is still vivid, and we can contrast them with the conditions in +this very year which is now closing. Disaster to great business +enterprises can never have its effects limited to the men at the top. +It spreads throughout, and while it is bad for everybody, it is worst +for those farthest down. The capitalist may be shorn of his luxuries; +but the wage-worker may be deprived of even bare necessities. + +The mechanism of modern business is so delicate that extreme care must +be taken not to interfere with it in a spirit of rashness or ignorance. +Many of those who have made it their vocation to denounce the great +industrial combinations which are popularly, although with technical +inaccuracy, known as "trusts," appeal especially to hatred and fear. +These are precisely the two emotions, particularly when combined with +ignorance, which unfit men for the exercise of cool and steady +judgment. In facing new industrial conditions, the whole history of the +world shows that legislation will generally be both unwise and +ineffective unless undertaken after calm inquiry and with sober +self-restraint. Much of the legislation directed at the trusts would +have been exceedingly mischievous had it not also been entirely +ineffective. In accordance with a well-known sociological law, the +ignorant or reckless agitator has been the really effective friend of +the evils which he has been nominally opposing. In dealing with +business interests, for the Government to undertake by crude and +ill-considered legislation to do what may turn out to be bad, would be +to incur the risk of such far-reaching national disaster that it would +be preferable to undertake nothing at all. The men who demand the +impossible or the undesirable serve as the allies of the forces with +which they are nominally at war, for they hamper those who would +endeavor to find out in rational fashion what the wrongs really are and +to what extent and in what manner it is practicable to apply remedies. + +All this is true; and yet it is also true that there are real and grave +evils, one of the chief being over-capitalization because of its many +baleful consequences; and a resolute and practical effort must be made +to correct these evils. + +There is a widespread conviction in the minds of the American people +that the great corporations known as trusts are in certain of their +features and tendencies hurtful to the general welfare. This springs +from no spirit of envy or uncharitableness, nor lack of pride in the +great industrial achievements that have placed this country at the head +of the nations struggling for commercial supremacy. It does not rest +upon a lack of intelligent appreciation of the necessity of meeting +changing and changed conditions of trade with new methods, nor upon +ignorance of the fact that combination of capital in the effort to +accomplish great things is necessary when the world's progress demands +that great things be done. It is based upon sincere conviction that +combination and concentration should be, not prohibited, but supervised +and within reasonable limits controlled; and in my judgment this +conviction is right. + +It is no limitation upon property rights or freedom of contract to +require that when men receive from Government the privilege of doing +business under corporate form, which frees them from individual +responsibility, and enables them to call into their enterprises the +capital of the public, they shall do so upon absolutely truthful +representations as to the value of the property in which the capital is +to be invested. Corporations engaged in interstate commerce should be +regulated if they are found to exercise a license working to the public +injury. It should be as much the aim of those who seek for social +betterment to rid the business world of crimes of cunning as to rid the +entire body politic of crimes of violence. Great corporations exist +only because they are created and safeguarded by our institutions; and +it is therefore our right and our duty to see that they work in harmony +with these institutions. + +The first essential in determining how to deal with the great +industrial combinations is knowledge of the facts--publicity. In the +interest of the public, the Government should have the right to inspect +and examine the workings of the great corporations engaged in +interstate business. Publicity is the only sure remedy which we can now +invoke. What further remedies are needed in the way of governmental +regulation, or taxation, can only be determined after publicity has +been obtained, by process of law, and in the course of administration. +The first requisite is knowledge, full and complete--knowledge which +may be made public to the world. + +Artificial bodies, such as corporations and joint stock or other +associations, depending upon any statutory law for their existence or +privileges, should be subject to proper governmental supervision, and +full and accurate information as to their operations should be made +public regularly at reasonable intervals. + +The large corporations, commonly called trusts, though organized in one +State, always do business in many States, often doing very little +business in the State where they are incorporated. There is utter lack +of uniformity in the State laws about them; and as no State has any +exclusive interest in or power over their acts, it has in practice +proved impossible to get adequate regulation through State action. +Therefore, in the interest of the whole people, the Nation should, +without interfering with the power of the States in the matter itself, +also assume power of supervision and regulation over all corporations +doing an interstate business. This is especially true where the +corporation derives a portion of its wealth from the existence of some +monopolistic element or tendency in its business. There would be no +hardship in such supervision; banks are subject to it, and in their +case it is now accepted as a simple matter of course. Indeed, it is +probable that supervision of corporations by the National Government +need not go so far as is now the case with the supervision exercised +over them by so conservative a State as Massachusetts, in order to +produce excellent results. + +When the Constitution was adopted, at the end of the eighteenth +century, no human wisdom could foretell the sweeping changes, alike in +industrial and political conditions, which were to take place by the +beginning of the twentieth century. At that time it was accepted as a +matter of course that the several States were the proper authorities to +regulate, so far as was then necessary, the comparatively insignificant +and strictly localized corporate bodies of the day. The conditions are +now wholly different and wholly different action is called for. I +believe that a law can be framed which will enable the National +Government to exercise control along the lines above indicated; +profiting by the experience gained through the passage and +administration of the Interstate-Commerce Act. If, however, the +judgment of the Congress is that it lacks the constitutional power to +pass such an act, then a constitutional amendment should be submitted +to confer the power. + +There should be created a Cabinet officer, to be known as Secretary of +Commerce and Industries, as provided in the bill introduced at the last +session of the Congress. It should be his province to deal with +commerce in its broadest sense; including among many other things +whatever concerns labor and all matters affecting the great business +corporations and our merchant marine. + +The course proposed is one phase of what should be a comprehensive and +far-reaching scheme of constructive statesmanship for the purpose of +broadening our markets, securing our business interests on a safe +basis, and making firm our new position in the international industrial +world; while scrupulously safeguarding the rights of wage-worker and +capitalist, of investor and private citizen, so as to secure equity as +between man and man in this Republic. + +With the sole exception of the farming interest, no one matter is of +such vital moment to our whole people as the welfare of the +wage-workers. If the farmer and the wage-worker are well off, it is +absolutely certain that all others will be well off too. It is +therefore a matter for hearty congratulation that on the whole wages +are higher to-day in the United States than ever before in our history, +and far higher than in any other country. The standard of living is +also higher than ever before. Every effort of legislator and +administrator should be bent to secure the permanency of this condition +of things and its improvement wherever possible. Not only must our +labor be protected by the tariff, but it should also be protected so +far as it is possible from the presence in this country of any laborers +brought over by contract, or of those who, coming freely, yet represent +a standard of living so depressed that they can undersell our men in +the labor market and drag them to a lower level. I regard it as +necessary, with this end in view, to re-enact immediately the law +excluding Chinese laborers and to strengthen it wherever necessary in +order to make its enforcement entirely effective. + +The National Government should demand the highest quality of service +from its employees; and in return it should be a good employer. If +possible legislation should be passed, in connection with the +Interstate Commerce Law, which will render effective the efforts of +different States to do away with the competition of convict contract +labor in the open labor market. So far as practicable under the +conditions of Government work, provision should be made to render the +enforcement of the eight-hour law easy and certain. In all industries +carried on directly or indirectly for the United States Government +women and children should be protected from excessive hours of labor, +from night work, and from work under unsanitary conditions. The +Government should provide in its contracts that all work should be done +under "fair" conditions, and in addition to setting a high standard +should uphold it by proper inspection, extending if necessary to the +subcontractors. The Government should forbid all night work for women +and children, as well as excessive overtime. For the District of +Columbia a good factory law should be passed; and, as a powerful +indirect aid to such laws, provision should be made to turn the +inhabited alleys, the existence of which is a reproach to our Capital +city, into minor streets, where the inhabitants can live under +conditions favorable to health and morals. + +American wage-workers work with their heads as well as their hands. +Moreover, they take a keen pride in what they are doing; so that, +independent of the reward, they wish to turn out a perfect job. This is +the great secret of our success in competition with the labor of +foreign countries. + +The most vital problem with which this country, and for that matter the +whole civilized world, has to deal, is the problem which has for one +side the betterment of social conditions, moral and physical, in large +cities, and for another side the effort to deal with that tangle of +far-reaching questions which we group together when we speak of +"labor." The chief factor in the success of each man--wage-worker, +farmer, and capitalist alike--must ever be the sum total of his own +individual qualities and abilities. Second only to this comes the power +of acting in combination or association with others. Very great good +has been and will be accomplished by associations or unions of +wage-workers, when managed with forethought, and when they combine +insistence upon their own rights with law-abiding respect for the +rights of others. The display of these qualities in such bodies is a +duty to the nation no less than to the associations themselves. +Finally, there must also in many cases be action by the Government in +order to safeguard the rights and interests of all. Under our +Constitution there is much more scope for such action by the State and +the municipality than by the nation. But on points such as those +touched on above the National Government can act. + +When all is said and done, the rule of brotherhood remains as the +indispensable prerequisite to success in the kind of national life for +which we strive. Each man must work for himself, and unless he so works +no outside help can avail him; but each man must remember also that he +is indeed his brother's keeper, and that while no man who refuses to +walk can be carried with advantage to himself or anyone else, yet that +each at times stumbles or halts, that each at times needs to have the +helping hand outstretched to him. To be permanently effective, aid must +always take the form of helping a man to help himself; and we can all +best help ourselves by joining together in the work that is of common +interest to all. + +Our present immigration laws are unsatisfactory. We need every honest +and efficient immigrant fitted to become an American citizen, every +immigrant who comes here to stay, who brings here a strong body, a +stout heart, a good head, and a resolute purpose to do his duty well in +every way and to bring up his children as law-abiding and God-fearing +members of the community. But there should be a comprehensive law +enacted with the object of working a threefold improvement over our +present system. First, we should aim to exclude absolutely not only all +persons who are known to be believers in anarchistic principles or +members of anarchistic societies, but also all persons who are of a low +moral tendency or of unsavory reputation. This means that we should +require a more thorough system of inspection abroad and a more rigid +system of examination at our immigration ports, the former being +especially necessary. + +The second object of a proper immigration law ought to be to secure by +a careful and not merely perfunctory educational test some intelligent +capacity to appreciate American institutions and act sanely as American +citizens. This would not keep out all anarchists, for many of them +belong to the intelligent criminal class. But it would do what is also +in point, that is, tend to decrease the sum of ignorance, so potent in +producing the envy, suspicion, malignant passion, and hatred of order, +out of which anarchistic sentiment inevitably springs. Finally, all +persons should be excluded who are below a certain standard of economic +fitness to enter our industrial field as competitors with American +labor. There should be proper proof of personal capacity to earn an +American living and enough money to insure a decent start under +American conditions. This would stop the influx of cheap labor, and the +resulting competition which gives rise to so much of bitterness in +American industrial life; and it would dry up the springs of the +pestilential social conditions in our great cities, where anarchistic +organizations have their greatest possibility of growth. + +Both the educational and economic tests in a wise immigration law +should be designed to protect and elevate the general body politic and +social. A very close supervision should be exercised over the steamship +companies which mainly bring over the immigrants, and they should be +held to a strict accountability for any infraction of the law. + +There is general acquiescence in our present tariff system as a +national policy. The first requisite to our prosperity is the +continuity and stability of this economic policy. Nothing could be more +unwise than to disturb the business interests of the country by any +general tariff change at this time. Doubt, apprehension, uncertainty +are exactly what we most wish to avoid in the interest of our +commercial and material well-being. Our experience in the past has +shown that sweeping revisions of the tariff are apt to produce +conditions closely approaching panic in the business world. Yet it is +not only possible, but eminently desirable, to combine with the +stability of our economic system a supplementary system of reciprocal +benefit and obligation with other nations. Such reciprocity is an +incident and result of the firm establishment and preservation of our +present economic policy. It was specially provided for in the present +tariff law. + +Reciprocity must be treated as the handmaiden of protection. Our first +duty is to see that the protection granted by the tariff in every case +where it is needed is maintained, and that reciprocity be sought for so +far as it can safely be done without injury to our home industries. +Just how far this is must be determined according to the individual +case, remembering always that every application of our tariff policy to +meet our shifting national needs must be conditioned upon the cardinal +fact that the duties must never be reduced below the point that will +cover the difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The +well-being of the wage-worker is a prime consideration of our entire +policy of economic legislation. + +Subject to this proviso of the proper protection necessary to our +industrial well-being at home, the principle of reciprocity must +command our hearty support. The phenomenal growth of our export trade +emphasizes the urgency of the need for wider markets and for a liberal +policy in dealing with foreign nations. Whatever is merely petty and +vexatious in the way of trade restrictions should be avoided. The +customers to whom we dispose of our surplus products in the long run, +directly or indirectly, purchase those surplus products by giving us +something in return. Their ability to purchase our products should as +far as possible be secured by so arranging our tariff as to enable us +to take from them those products which we can use without harm to our +own industries and labor, or the use of which will be of marked benefit +to us. + +It is most important that we should maintain the high level of our +present prosperity. We have now reached the point in the development of +our interests where we are not only able to supply our own markets but +to produce a constantly growing surplus for which we must find markets +abroad. To secure these markets we can utilize existing duties in any +case where they are no longer needed for the purpose of protection, or +in any case where the article is not produced here and the duty is no +longer necessary for revenue, as giving us something to offer in +exchange for what we ask. The cordial relations with other nations +which are so desirable will naturally be promoted by the course thus +required by our own interests. + +The natural line of development for a policy of reciprocity will be in +connection with those of our productions which no longer require all of +the support once needed to establish them upon a sound basis, and with +those others where either because of natural or of economic causes we +are beyond the reach of successful competition. + +I ask the attention of the Senate to the reciprocity treaties laid +before it by my predecessor. + +The condition of the American merchant marine is such as to call for +immediate remedial action by the Congress. It is discreditable to us as +a Nation that our merchant marine should be utterly insignificant in +comparison to that of other nations which we overtop in other forms of +business. We should not longer submit to conditions under which only a +trifling portion of our great commerce is carried in our own ships. To +remedy this state of things would not .merely serve to build up our +shipping interests, but it would also result in benefit to all who are +interested in the permanent establishment of a wider market for +American products, and would provide an auxiliary force for the Navy. +Ships work for their own countries just as railroads work for their +terminal points. Shipping lines, if established to the principal +countries with which we have dealings, would be of political as well as +commercial benefit. From every standpoint it is unwise for the United +States to continue to rely upon the ships of competing nations for the +distribution of our goods. It should be made advantageous to carry +American goods in American-built ships. + +At present American shipping is under certain great disadvantages when +put in competition with the shipping of foreign countries. Many of the +fast foreign steamships, at a speed of fourteen knots or above, are +subsidized; and all our ships, sailing vessels and steamers alike, +cargo carriers of slow speed and mail carriers of high speed, have to +meet the fact that the original cost of building American ships is +greater than is the case abroad; that the wages paid American officers +and seamen are very much higher than those paid the officers and seamen +of foreign competing countries; and that the standard of living on our +ships is far superior to the standard of living on the ships of our +commercial rivals. + +Our Government should take such action as will remedy these +inequalities. The American merchant marine should be restored to the +ocean. + +The Act of March 14, 1900, intended unequivocally to establish gold as +the standard money and to maintain at a parity therewith all forms of +money medium in use with us, has been shown to be timely and judicious. +The price of our Government bonds in the world's market, when compared +with the price of similar obligations issued by other nations, is a +flattering tribute to our public credit. This condition it is evidently +desirable to maintain. + +In many respects the National Banking Law furnishes sufficient liberty +for the proper exercise of the banking function; but there seems to be +need of better safeguards against the deranging influence of commercial +crises and financial panics. Moreover, the currency of the country +should be made responsive to the demands of our domestic trade and +commerce. + +The collections from duties on imports and internal taxes continue to +exceed the ordinary expenditures of the Government, thanks mainly to +the reduced army expenditures. The utmost care should be taken not to +reduce the revenues so that there will be any possibility of a deficit; +but, after providing against any such contingency, means should be +adopted which will bring the revenues more nearly within the limit of +our actual needs. In his report to the Congress the Secretary of the +Treasury considers all these questions at length, and I ask your +attention to the report and recommendations. + +I call special attention to the need of strict economy in expenditures. +The fact that our national needs forbid us to be niggardly in providing +whatever is actually necessary to our well-being, should make us doubly +careful to husband our national resources, as each of us husbands his +private resources, by scrupulous avoidance of anything like wasteful or +reckless expenditure. Only by avoidance of spending money on what is +needless or unjustifiable can we legitimately keep our income to the +point required to meet our needs that are genuine. + +In 1887 a measure was enacted for the regulation of interstate +railways, commonly known as the Interstate Commerce Act. The cardinal +provisions of that act were that railway rates should be just and +reasonable and that all shippers, localities, and commodities should be +accorded equal treatment. A commission was created and endowed with +what were supposed to be the necessary powers to execute the provisions +of this act. That law was largely an experiment. Experience has shown +the wisdom of its purposes, but has also shown, possibly that some of +its requirements are wrong, certainly that the means devised for the +enforcement of its provisions are defective. Those who complain of the +management of the railways allege that established rates are not +maintained; that rebates and similar devices are habitually resorted +to; that these preferences are usually in favor of the large shipper; +that they drive out of business the smaller competitor; that while many +rates are too low, many others are excessive; and that gross +preferences are made, affecting both localities and commodities. Upon +the other hand, the railways assert that the law by its very terms +tends to produce many of these illegal practices by depriving carriers +of that right of concerted action which they claim is necessary to +establish and maintain non-discriminating rates. + +The act should be amended. The railway is a public servant. Its rates +should be just to and open to all shippers alike. The Government should +see to it that within its jurisdiction this is so and should provide a +speedy, inexpensive, and effective remedy to that end. At the same time +it must not be forgotten that our railways are the arteries through +which the commercial lifeblood of this Nation flows. Nothing could be +more foolish than the enactment of legislation which would +unnecessarily interfere with the development and operation of these +commercial agencies. The subject is one of great importance and calls +for the earnest attention of the Congress. + +The Department of Agriculture during the past fifteen years has +steadily broadened its work on economic lines, and has accomplished +results of real value in upbuilding domestic and foreign trade. It has +gone into new fields until it is now in touch with all sections of our +country and with two of the island groups that have lately come under +our jurisdiction, whose people must look to agriculture as a +livelihood. It is searching the world for grains, grasses, fruits, and +vegetables specially fitted for introduction into localities in the +several States and Territories where they may add materially to our +resources. By scientific attention to soil survey and possible new +crops, to breeding of new varieties of plants, to experimental +shipments, to animal industry and applied chemistry, very practical aid +has been given our farming and stock-growing interests. The products of +the farm have taken an unprecedented place in our export trade during +the year that has just closed. + +Public opinion throughout the United States has moved steadily toward a +just appreciation of the value of forests, whether planted or of +natural growth. The great part played by them in the creation and +maintenance of the national wealth is now more fully realized than ever +before. + +Wise forest protection does not mean the withdrawal of forest +resources, whether of wood, water, or grass, from contributing their +full share to the welfare of the people, but, on the contrary, gives +the assurance of larger and more certain supplies. The fundamental idea +of forestry is the perpetuation of forests by use. Forest protection is +not an end of itself; it is a means to increase and sustain the +resources of our country and the industries which depend upon them. The +preservation of our forests is an imperative business necessity. We +have come to see clearly that whatever destroys the forest, except to +make way for agriculture, threatens our well being. + +The practical usefulness of the national forest reserves to the mining, +grazing, irrigation, and other interests of the regions in which the +reserves lie has led to a widespread demand by the people of the West +for their protection and extension. The forest reserves will inevitably +be of still greater use in the future than in the past. Additions +should be made to them whenever practicable, and their usefulness +should be increased by a thoroughly business-like management. + +At present the protection of the forest reserves rests with the General +Land Office, the mapping and description of their timber with the +United States Geological Survey, and the preparation of plans for their +conservative use with the Bureau of Forestry, which is also charged +with the general advancement of practical forestry in the United +States. These various functions should be united in the Bureau of +Forestry, to which they properly belong. The present diffusion of +responsibility is bad from every standpoint. It prevents that effective +co-operation between the Government and the men who utilize the +resources of the reserves, without which the interests of both must +suffer. The scientific bureaus generally should be put under the +Department of Agriculture. The President should have by law the power +of transferring lands for use as forest reserves to the Department of +Agriculture. He already has such power in the case of lands needed by +the Departments of War and the Navy. + +The wise administration of the forest reserves will be not less helpful +to the interests which depend on water than to those which depend on +wood and grass. The water supply itself depends upon the forest. In the +arid region it is water, not land, which measures production. The +western half of the United States would sustain a population greater +than that of our whole country to-day if the waters that now run to +waste were saved and used for irrigation. The forest and water problems +are perhaps the most vital internal questions of the United States. + +Certain of the forest reserves should also be made preserves for the +wild forest creatures. All of the reserves should be better protected +from fires. Many of them need special protection because of the great +injury done by live stock, above all by sheep. The increase in deer, +elk, and other animals in the Yellowstone Park shows what may be +expected when other mountain forests are properly protected by law and +properly guarded. Some of these areas have been so denuded of surface +vegetation by overgrazing that the ground breeding birds, including +grouse and quail, and many mammals, including deer, have been +exterminated or driven away. At the same time the water-storing +capacity of the surface has been decreased or destroyed, thus promoting +floods in times of rain and diminishing the flow of streams between +rains. + +In cases where natural conditions have been restored for a few years, +vegetation has again carpeted the ground, birds and deer are coming +back, and hundreds of persons, especially from the immediate +neighborhood, come each summer to enjoy the privilege of camping. Some +at least of the forest reserves should afford perpetual protection to +the native fauna and flora, safe havens of refuge to our rapidly +diminishing wild animals of the larger kinds, and free camping grounds +for the ever-increasing numbers of men and women who have learned to +find rest, health, and recreation in the splendid forests and +flower-clad meadows of our mountains. The forest reserves should be set +apart forever for the use and benefit of our people as a whole and not +sacrificed to the shortsighted greed of a few. + +The forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the streams in flood +and replenishing them in drought they make possible the use of waters +otherwise wasted. They prevent the soil from washing, and so protect +the storage reservoirs from filling up with silt. Forest conservation +is therefore an essential condition of water conservation. + +The forests alone cannot, however, fully regulate and conserve the +waters of the arid region. Great storage works are necessary to +equalize the flow of streams and to save the flood waters. Their +construction has been conclusively shown to be an undertaking too vast +for private effort. Nor can it be best accomplished by the individual +States acting alone. Far-reaching interstate problems are involved; and +the resources of single States would often be inadequate. It is +properly a national function, at least in some of its features. It is +as right for the National Government to make the streams and rivers of +the arid region useful by engineering works for water storage as to +make useful the rivers and harbors of the humid region by engineering +works of another kind. The storing of the floods in reservoirs at the +headwaters of our rivers is but an enlargement of our present policy of +river control, under which levees are built on the lower reaches of the +same streams. + +The Government should construct and maintain these reservoirs as it +does other public works. Where their purpose is to regulate the flow of +streams, the water should be turned freely into the channels in the dry +season to take the same course under the same laws as the natural flow. + +The reclamation of the unsettled arid public lands presents a different +problem. Here it is not enough to regulate the flow of streams. The +object of the Government is to dispose of the land to settlers who will +build homes upon it. To accomplish this object water must be brought +within their reach. + +The pioneer settlers on the arid public domain chose their homes along +streams from which they could themselves divert the water to reclaim +their holdings. Such opportunities are practically gone. There remain, +however, vast areas of public land which can be made available for +homestead settlement, but only by reservoirs and main-line canals +impracticable for private enterprise. These irrigation works should be +built by the National Government. The lands reclaimed by them should be +reserved by the Government for actual settlers, and the cost of +construction should so far as possible be repaid by the land reclaimed. +The distribution of the water, the division of the streams among +irrigators, should be left to the settlers themselves in conformity +with State laws and without interference with those laws or with vested +fights. The policy of the National Government should be to aid +irrigation in the several States and Territories in such manner as will +enable the people in the local communities to help themselves, and as +will stimulate needed reforms in the State laws and regulations +governing irrigation. + +The reclamation and settlement of the arid lands will enrich every +portion of our country, just as the settlement of the Ohio and +Mississippi valleys brought prosperity to the Atlantic States. The +increased demand for manufactured articles will stimulate industrial +production, while wider home markets and the trade of Asia will consume +the larger food supplies and effectually prevent Western competition +with Eastern agriculture. Indeed, the products of irrigation will be +consumed chiefly in upbuilding local centers of mining and other +industries, which would otherwise not come into existence at all. Our +people as a whole will profit, for successful home-making is but +another name for the upbuilding of the nation. + +The necessary foundation has already been laid for the inauguration of +the policy just described. It would be unwise to begin by doing too +much, for a great deal will doubtless be learned, both as to what can +and what cannot be safely attempted, by the early efforts, which must +of necessity be partly experimental in character. At the very beginning +the Government should make clear, beyond shadow of doubt, its intention +to pursue this policy on lines of the broadest public interest. No +reservoir or canal should ever be built to satisfy selfish personal or +local interests; but only in accordance with the advice of trained +experts, after long investigation has shown the locality where all the +conditions combine to make the work most needed and fraught with the +greatest usefulness to the community as a whole. There should be no +extravagance, and the believers in the need of irrigation will most +benefit their cause by seeing to it that it is free from the least +taint of excessive or reckless expenditure of the public moneys. + +Whatever the nation does for the extension of irrigation should +harmonize with, and tend to improve, the condition of those now living +on irrigated land. We are not at the starting point of this +development. Over two hundred millions of private capital has already +been expended in the construction of irrigation works, and many million +acres of arid land reclaimed. A high degree of enterprise and ability +has been shown in the work itself; but as much cannot be said in +reference to the laws relating thereto. The security and value of the +homes created depend largely on the stability of titles to water; but +the majority of these rest on the uncertain foundation of court +decisions rendered in ordinary suits at law. With a few creditable +exceptions, the arid States have failed to provide for the certain and +just division of streams in times of scarcity. Lax and uncertain laws +have made it possible to establish rights to water in excess of actual +uses or necessities, and many streams have already passed into private +ownership, or a control equivalent to ownership. + +Whoever controls a stream practically controls the land it renders +productive, and the doctrine of private ownership of water apart from +land cannot prevail without causing enduring wrong. The recognition of +such ownership, which has been permitted to grow up in the arid +regions, should give way to a more enlightened and larger recognition +of the rights of the public in the control and disposal of the public +water supplies. Laws founded upon conditions obtaining in humid +regions, where water is too abundant to justify hoarding it, have no +proper application in a dry country. + +In the arid States the only right to water which should be recognized +is that of use. In irrigation this right should attach to the land +reclaimed and be inseparable therefrom. Granting perpetual water rights +to others than users, without compensation to the public, is open to +all the objections which apply to giving away perpetual franchises to +the public utilities of cities. A few of the Western States have +already recognized this, and have incorporated in their constitutions +the doctrine of perpetual State ownership of water. + +The benefits which have followed the unaided development of the past +justify the nation's aid and co-operation in the more difficult and +important work yet to be accomplished. Laws so vitally affecting homes +as those which control the water supply will only be effective when +they have the sanction of the irrigators; reforms can only be final and +satisfactory when they come through the enlightenment of the people +most concerned. The larger development which national aid insures +should, however, awaken in every arid State the determination to make +its irrigation system equal in justice and effectiveness that of any +country in the civilized world. Nothing could be more unwise than for +isolated communities to continue to learn everything experimentally, +instead of profiting by what is already known elsewhere. We are dealing +with a new and momentous question, in the pregnant years while +institutions are forming, and what we do will affect not only the +present but future generations. + +Our aim should be not simply to reclaim the largest area of land and +provide homes for the largest number of people, but to create for this +new industry the best possible social and industrial conditions; and +this requires that we not only understand the existing situation, but +avail ourselves of the best experience of the time in the solution of +its problems. A careful study should be made, both by the Nation and +the States, of the irrigation laws and conditions here and abroad. +Ultimately it will probably be necessary for the Nation to co-operate +with the several arid States in proportion as these States by their +legislation and administration show themselves fit to receive it. + +In Hawaii our aim must be to develop the Territory on the traditional +American lines. We do not wish a region of large estates tilled by +cheap labor; we wish a healthy American community of men who themselves +till the farms they own. All our legislation for the islands should be +shaped with this end in view; the well-being of the average home-maker +must afford the true test of the healthy development of the islands. +The land policy should as nearly as possible be modeled on our +homestead system. + +It is a pleasure to say that it is hardly more necessary to report as +to Puerto Rico than as to any State or Territory within our continental +limits. The island is thriving as never before, and it is being +administered efficiently and honestly. Its people are now enjoying +liberty and order under the protection of the United States, and upon +this fact we congratulate them and ourselves. Their material welfare +must be as carefully and jealously considered as the welfare of any +other portion of our country. We have given them the great gift of free +access for their products to the markets of the United States. I ask +the attention of the Congress to the need of legislation concerning the +public lands of Puerto Rico. + +In Cuba such progress has been made toward putting the independent +government of the island upon a firm footing that before the present +session of the Congress closes this will be an accomplished fact. Cuba +will then start as her own mistress; and to the beautiful Queen of the +Antilles, as she unfolds this new page of her destiny, we extend our +heartiest greetings and good wishes. Elsewhere I have discussed the +question of reciprocity. In the case of Cuba, however, there are +weighty reasons of morality and of national interest why the policy +should be held to have a peculiar application, and I most earnestly ask +your attention to the wisdom, indeed to the vital need, of providing +for a substantial reduction in the tariff duties on Cuban imports into +the United States. Cuba has in her constitution affirmed what we +desired: that she should stand, in international matters, in closer and +more friendly relations with us than with any other power; and we are +bound by every consideration of honor and expediency to pass commercial +measures in the interest of her material well-being. + +In the Philippines our problem is larger. They are very rich tropical +islands, inhabited by many varying tribes, representing widely +different stages of progress toward civilization. Our earnest effort is +to help these people upward along the stony and difficult path that +leads to self-government. We hope to make our administration of the +islands honorable to our Nation by making it of the highest benefit to +the Filipinos themselves; and as an earnest of what we intend to do, we +point to what we have done. Already a greater measure of material +prosperity and of governmental honesty and efficiency has been attained +in the Philippines than ever before in their history. + +It is no light task for a nation to achieve the temperamental qualities +without which the institutions of free government are but an empty +mockery. Our people are now successfully governing themselves, because +for more than a thousand years they have been slowly fitting +themselves, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, toward this +end. What has taken us thirty generations to achieve, we cannot expect +to have another race accomplish out of hand, especially when large +portions of that race start very far behind the point which our +ancestors had reached even thirty generations ago. In dealing with the +Philippine people we must show both patience and strength, forbearance +and steadfast resolution. Our aim is high. We do not desire to do for +the islanders merely what has elsewhere been done for tropic peoples by +even the best foreign governments. We hope to do for them what has +never before been done for any people of the tropics--to make them fit +for self-government after the fashion of the really free nations. + +History may safely be challenged to show a single instance in which a +masterful race such as ours, having been forced by the exigencies of +war to take possession of an alien land, has behaved to its inhabitants +with the disinterested zeal for their progress that our people have +shown in the Philippines. To leave the islands at this time would mean +that they would fall into a welter of murderous anarchy. Such desertion +of duty on our part would be a crime against humanity. The character of +Governor Taft and of his associates and subordinates is a proof, if +such be needed, of the sincerity of our effort to give the islanders a +constantly increasing measure of self-government, exactly as fast as +they show themselves fit to exercise it. Since the civil government was +established not an appointment has been made in the islands with any +reference to considerations of political influence, or to aught else +Save the fitness of the man and the needs of the service. + +In our anxiety for the welfare and progress of the Philippines, may be +that here and there we have gone too rapidly in giving them local +self-government. It is on this side that our error, if any, has been +committed. No competent observer, sincerely desirous of finding out the +facts and influenced only by a desire for the welfare of the natives, +can assert that we have not gone far enough. We have gone to the very +verge of safety in hastening the process. To have taken a single step +farther or faster in advance would have been folly and weakness, and +might well have been crime. We are extremely anxious that the natives +shall show the power of governing themselves. We are anxious, first for +their sakes, and next, because it relieves us of a great burden. There +need not be the slightest fear of our not continuing to give them all +the liberty for which they are fit. + +The only fear is test in our overanxiety we give them a degree of +independence for which they are unfit, thereby inviting reaction and +disaster. As fast as there is any reasonable hope that in a given +district the people can govern themselves, self-government has been +given in that district. There is not a locality fitted for +self-government which has not received it. But it may well be that in +certain cases it will have to be withdrawn because the inhabitants show +themselves unfit to exercise it; such instances have already occurred. +In other words, there is not the slightest chance of our failing to +show a sufficiently humanitarian spirit. The danger comes in the +opposite direction. + +There are still troubles ahead in the islands. The insurrection has +become an affair of local banditti and marauders, who deserve no higher +regard than the brigands of portions of the Old World. Encouragement, +direct or indirect, to these insurrectors stands on the same footing as +encouragement to hostile Indians in the days when we still had Indian +wars. Exactly as our aim is to give to the Indian who remains peaceful +the fullest and amplest consideration, but to have it understood that +we will show no weakness if he goes on the warpath, so we must make it +evident, unless we are false to our own traditions and to the demands +of civilization and humanity, that while we will do everything in our +power for the Filipino who is peaceful, we will take the sternest +measures with the Filipino who follows the path of the insurrecto and +the ladrone. + +The heartiest praise is due to large numbers of the natives of the +islands for their steadfast loyalty. The Macabebes have been +conspicuous for their courage and devotion to the flag. I recommend +that the Secretary of War be empowered to take some systematic action +in the way of aiding those of these men who are crippled in the service +and the families of those who are killed. + +The time has come when there should be additional legislation for the +Philippines. Nothing better can be done for the islands than to +introduce industrial enterprises. Nothing would benefit them so much as +throwing them open to industrial development. The connection between +idleness and mischief is proverbial, and the opportunity to do +remunerative work is one of the surest preventatives of war. Of course +no business man will go into the Philippines unless it is to his +interest to do so; and it is immensely to the interest of the islands +that he should go in. It is therefore necessary that the Congress +should pass laws by which the resources of the islands can be +developed; so that franchises (for limited terms of years) can be +granted to companies doing business in them, and every encouragement be +given to the incoming of business men of every kind. + +Not to permit this is to do a wrong to the Philippines. The franchises +must be granted and the business permitted only under regulations which +will guarantee the islands against any kind of improper exploitation. +But the vast natural wealth of the islands must be developed, and the +capital willing to develop it must be given the opportunity. The field +must be thrown open to individual enterprise, which has been the real +factor in the development of every region over which our flag has +flown. It is urgently necessary to enact suitable laws dealing with +general transportation, mining, banking, currency, homesteads, and the +use and ownership of the lands and timber. These laws will give free +play to industrial enterprise; and the commercial development which +will surely follow will accord to the people of the islands the best +proofs of the sincerity of our desire to aid them. + +I call your attention most earnestly to the crying need of a cable to +Hawaii and the Philippines, to be continued from the Philippines to +points in Asia. We should not defer a day longer than necessary the +construction of such a cable. It is demanded not merely for commercial +but for political and military considerations. + +Either the Congress should immediately provide for the construction of +a Government cable, or else an arrangement should be made by which like +advantages to those accruing from a Government cable may be secured to +the Government by contract with a private cable company. + +No single great material work which remains to be undertaken on this +continent is of such consequence to the American people as the building +of a canal across the Isthmus connecting North and South America. Its +importance to the Nation is by no means limited merely to its material +effects upon our business prosperity; and yet with view to these +effects alone it would be to the last degree important for us +immediately to begin it. While its beneficial effects would perhaps be +most marked upon the Pacific Coast and the Gulf and South Atlantic +States, it would also greatly benefit other sections. It is +emphatically a work which it is for the interest of the entire country +to begin and complete as soon as possible; it is one of those great +works which only a great nation can undertake with prospects of +success, and which when done are not only permanent assets in the +nation's material interests, but standing monuments to its constructive +ability. + +I am glad to be able to announce to you that our negotiations on this +subject with Great Britain, conducted on both sides in a spirit of +friendliness and mutual good will and respect, have resulted in my +being able to lay before the Senate a treaty which if ratified will +enable us to begin preparations for an Isthmian canal at any time, and +which guarantees to this Nation every right that it has ever asked in +connection with the canal. In this treaty, the old Clayton-Bulwer +treaty, so long recognized as inadequate to supply the base for the +construction and maintenance of a necessarily American ship canal, is +abrogated. It specifically provides that the United States alone shall +do the work of building and assume the responsibility of safeguarding +the canal and shall regulate its neutral use by all nations on terms of +equality without the guaranty or interference of any outside nation +from any quarter. The signed treaty will at once be laid before the +Senate, and if approved the Congress can then proceed to give effect to +the advantages it secures us by providing for the building of the +canal. + +The true end of every great and free people should be self-respecting +peace; and this Nation most earnestly desires sincere and cordial +friendship with all others. Over the entire world, of recent years, +wars between the great civilized powers have become less and less +frequent. Wars with barbarous or semi-barbarous peoples come in an +entirely different category, being merely a most regrettable but +necessary international police duty which must be performed for the +sake of the welfare of mankind. Peace can only be kept with certainty +where both sides wish to keep it; but more and more the civilized +peoples are realizing the wicked folly of war and are attaining that +condition of just and intelligent regard for the rights of others which +will in the end, as we hope and believe, make world-wide peace +possible. The peace conference at The Hague gave definite expression to +this hope and belief and marked a stride toward their attainment. + +This same peace conference acquiesced in our statement of the Monroe +Doctrine as compatible with the purposes and aims of the conference. + +The Monroe Doctrine should be the cardinal feature of the foreign +policy of all the nations of the two Americas, as it is of the United +States. Just seventy-eight years have passed since President Monroe in +his Annual Message announced that "The American continents are +henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by +any European power." In other words, the Monroe Doctrine is a +declaration that there must be no territorial aggrandizement by any +non-American power at the expense of any American power on American +soil. It is in no wise intended as hostile to any nation in the Old +World. Still less is it intended to give cover to any aggression by one +New World power at the expense of any other. It is simply a step, and a +long step, toward assuring the universal peace of the world by securing +the possibility of permanent peace on this hemisphere. + +During the past century other influences have established the +permanence and independence of the smaller states of Europe. Through +the Monroe Doctrine we hope to be able to safeguard like independence +and secure like permanence for the lesser among the New World nations. + +This doctrine has nothing to do with the commercial relations of any +American power, save that it in truth allows each of them to form such +as it desires. In other words, it is really a guaranty of the +commercial independence of the Americas. We do not ask under this +doctrine for any exclusive commercial dealings with any other American +state. We do not guarantee any state against punishment if it +misconducts itself, provided that punishment does not take the form of +the acquisition of territory by any non-American power. + +Our attitude in Cuba is a sufficient guaranty of our own good faith. We +have not the slightest desire to secure any territory at the expense of +any of our neighbors. We wish to work with them hand in hand, so that +all of us may be uplifted together, and we rejoice over the good +fortune of any of them, we gladly hail their material prosperity and +political stability, and are concerned and alarmed if any of them fall +into industrial or political chaos. We do not wish to see any Old World +military power grow up on this continent, or to be compelled to become +a military power ourselves. The peoples of the Americas can prosper +best if left to work out their own salvation in their own way. + +The work of upbuilding the Navy must be steadily continued. No one +point of our policy, foreign or domestic, is more important than this +to the honor and material welfare, and above all to the peace, of our +nation in the future. Whether we desire it or not, we must henceforth +recognize that we have international duties no less than international +rights. Even if our flag were hauled down in the Philippines and Puerto +Rico, even if we decided not to build the Isthmian Canal, we should +need a thoroughly trained Navy of adequate size, or else be prepared +definitely and for all time to abandon the idea that our nation is +among those whose sons go down to the sea in ships. Unless our commerce +is always to be carried in foreign bottoms, we must have war craft to +protect it. + +Inasmuch, however, as the American people have no thought of abandoning +the path upon which they have entered, and especially in view of the +fact that the building of the Isthmian Canal is fast becoming one of +the matters which the whole people are united in demanding, it is +imperative that our Navy should be put and kept in the highest state of +efficiency, and should be made to answer to our growing needs. So far +from being in any way a provocation to war, an adequate and highly +trained navy is the best guaranty against war, the cheapest and most +effective peace insurance. The cost of building and maintaining such a +navy represents the very lightest premium for insuring peace which this +nation can possibly pay. + +Probably no other great nation in the world is so anxious for peace as +we are. There is not a single civilized power which has anything +whatever to fear from aggressiveness on our part. All we want is peace; +and toward this end we wish to be able to secure the same respect for +our rights from others which we are eager and anxious to extend to +their rights in return, to insure fair treatment to us commercially, +and to guarantee the safety of the American people. + +Our people intend to abide by the Monroe Doctrine and to insist upon it +as the one sure means of securing the peace of the Western Hemisphere. +The Navy offers us the only means of making our insistence upon the +Monroe Doctrine anything but a subject of derision to whatever nation +chooses to disregard it. We desire the peace which comes as of right to +the just man armed; not the peace granted on terms of ignominy to the +craven and the weakling. + +It is not possible to improvise a navy after war breaks out. The ships +must be built and the men trained long in advance. Some auxiliary +vessels can be turned into makeshifts which will do in default of any +better for the minor work, and a proportion of raw men can be mixed +with the highly trained, their shortcomings being made good by the +skill of their fellows; but the efficient fighting force of the Navy +when pitted against an equal opponent will be found almost exclusively +in the war ships that have been regularly built and in the officers and +men who through years of faithful performance of sea duty have been +trained to handle their formidable but complex and delicate weapons +with the highest efficiency. In the late war with Spain the ships that +dealt the decisive blows at Manila and Santiago had been launched from +two to fourteen years, and they were able to do as they did because the +men in the conning towers, the gun turrets, and the engine-rooms had +through long years of practice at sea learned how to do their duty. + +Our present Navy was begun in 1882. At that period our Navy consisted +of a collection of antiquated wooden ships, already almost as out of +place against modern war vessels as the galleys of Alcibiades and +Hamilcar--certainly as the ships of Tromp and Blake. Nor at that time +did we have men fit to handle a modern man-of-war. Under the wise +legislation of the Congress and the successful administration of a +succession of patriotic Secretaries of the Navy, belonging to both +political parties, the work of upbuilding the Navy went on, and ships +equal to any in the world of their kind were continually added; and +what was even more important, these ships were exercised at sea singly +and in squadrons until the men aboard them were able to get the best +possible service out of them. The result was seen in the short war with +Spain, which was decided with such rapidity because of the infinitely +greater preparedness of our Navy than of the Spanish Navy. + +While awarding the fullest honor to the men who actually commanded and +manned the ships which destroyed the Spanish sea forces in the +Philippines and in Cuba, we must not forget that an equal meed of +praise belongs to those without whom neither blow could have been +struck. The Congressmen who voted years in advance the money to lay +down the ships, to build the guns, to buy the armor-plate; the +Department officials and the business men and wage-workers who +furnished what the Congress had authorized; the Secretaries of the Navy +who asked for and expended the appropriations; and finally the officers +who, in fair weather and foul, on actual sea service, trained and +disciplined the crews of the ships when there was no war in sight--all +are entitled to a full share in the glory of Manila and Santiago, and +the respect accorded by every true American to those who wrought such +signal triumph for our country. It was forethought and preparation +which secured us the overwhelming triumph of 1898. If we fail to show +forethought and preparation now, there may come a time when disaster +will befall us instead of triumph; and should this time come, the fault +will rest primarily, not upon those whom the accident of events puts in +supreme command at the moment, but upon those who have failed to +prepare in advance. + +There should be no cessation in the work of completing our Navy. So far +ingenuity has been wholly unable to devise a substitute for the great +war craft whose hammering guns beat out the mastery of the high seas. +It is unsafe and unwise not to provide this year for several additional +Battle ships and heavy armored cruisers, with auxiliary and lighter +craft in proportion; for the exact numbers and character I refer you to +the report of the Secretary of the Navy. But there is something we need +even more than additional ships, and this is additional officers and +men. To provide battle ships and cruisers and then lay them up, with +the expectation of leaving them unmanned until they are needed in +actual war, would be worse than folly; it would be a crime against the +Nation. + +To send any war ship against a competent enemy unless those aboard it +have been trained by years of actual sea service, including incessant +gunnery practice, would be to invite not merely disaster, but the +bitterest shame and humiliation. Four thousand additional seamen and +one thousand additional marines should be provided; and an increase in +the officers should be provided by making a large addition to the +classes at Annapolis. There is one small matter which should be +mentioned in connection with Annapolis. The pretentious and unmeaning +title of "naval cadet" should be abolished; the title of "midshipman," +full of historic association, should be restored. + +Even in time of peace a war ship should be used until it wears out, for +only so can it be kept fit to respond to any emergency. The officers +and men alike should be kept as much as possible on blue water, for it +is there only they can learn their duties as they should be learned. +The big vessels should be manoeuvred in squadrons containing not merely +battle ships, but the necessary proportion of cruisers and scouts. The +torpedo boats should be handled by the younger officers in such manner +as will best fit the latter to take responsibility and meet the +emergencies of actual warfare. + +Every detail ashore which can be performed by a civilian should be so +performed, the officer being kept for his special duty in the sea +service. Above all, gunnery practice should be unceasing. It is +important to have our Navy of adequate size, but it is even more +important that ship for ship it should equal in efficiency any navy in +the world. This is possible only with highly drilled crews and +officers, and this in turn imperatively demands continuous and +progressive instruction in target practice, ship handling, squadron +tactics, and general discipline. Our ships must be assembled in +squadrons actively cruising away from harbors and never long at anchor. +The resulting wear upon engines and hulls must be endured; a battle +ship worn out in long training of officers and men is well paid for by +the results, while, on the other hand, no matter in how excellent +condition, it is useless if the crew be not expert. + +We now have seventeen battle ships appropriated for, of which nine are +completed and have been commissioned for actual service. The remaining +eight will be ready in from two to four years, but it will take at +least that time to recruit and train the men to fight them. It is of +vast concern that we have trained crews ready for the vessels by the +time they are commissioned. Good ships and good guns are simply good +weapons, and the best weapons are useless save in the hands of men who +know how to fight with them. The men must be trained and drilled under +a thorough and well-planned system of progressive instruction, while +the recruiting must be carried on with still greater vigor. Every +effort must be made to exalt the main function of the officer--the +command of men. The leading graduates of the Naval Academy should be +assigned to the combatant branches, the line and marines. + +Many of the essentials of success are already recognized by the General +Board, which, as the central office of a growing staff, is moving +steadily toward a proper war efficiency and a proper efficiency of the +whole Navy, under the Secretary. This General Board, by fostering the +creation of a general staff, is providing for the official and then the +general recognition of our altered conditions as a Nation and of the +true meaning of a great war fleet, which meaning is, first, the best +men, and, second, the best ships. + +Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, vol. 9, +p.6667 + +The Naval Militia forces are State organizations, and are trained for +coast service, and in event of war they will constitute the inner line +of defense. They should receive hearty encouragement from the General +Government. + +But in addition we should at once provide for a National Naval Reserve, +organized and trained under the direction of the Navy Department, and +subject to the call of the Chief Executive whenever war becomes +imminent. It should be a real auxiliary to the naval seagoing peace +establishment, and offer material to be drawn on at once for manning +our ships in time of war. It should be composed of graduates of the +Naval Academy, graduates of the Naval Militia, officers and crews of +coast-line steamers, longshore schooners, fishing vessels, and steam +yachts, together with the coast population about such centers as +lifesaving stations and light-houses. + +The American people must either build and maintain an adequate navy or +else make up their minds definitely to accept a secondary position in +international affairs, not merely in political, but in commercial, +matters. It has been well said that there is no surer way of courting +national disaster than to be "opulent, aggressive, and unarmed." + +It is not necessary to increase our Army beyond its present size at +this time. But it is necessary to keep it at the highest point of +efficiency. The individual units who as officers and enlisted men +compose this Army, are, we have good reason to believe, at least as +efficient as those of any other army in the entire world. It is our +duty to see that their training is of a kind to insure the highest +possible expression of power to these units when acting in combination. + +The conditions of modern war are such as to make an infinitely heavier +demand than ever before upon the individual character and capacity of +the officer and the enlisted man, and to make it far more difficult for +men to act together with effect. At present the fighting must be done +in extended order, which means that each man must act for himself and +at the same time act in combination with others with whom he is no +longer in the old-fashioned elbow-to-elbow touch. Under such conditions +a few men of the highest excellence are worth more than many men +without the special skill which is only found as the result of special +training applied to men of exceptional physique and morale. But +nowadays the most valuable fighting man and the most difficult to +perfect is the rifleman who is also a skillful and daring rider. + +The proportion of our cavalry regiments has wisely been increased. The +American cavalryman, trained to manoeuvre and fight with equal facility +on foot and on horseback, is the best type of soldier for general +purposes now to be found in the world. The ideal cavalryman of the +present day is a man who can fight on foot as effectively as the best +infantryman, and who is in addition unsurpassed in the care and +management of his horse and in his ability to fight on horseback. + +A general staff should be created. As for the present staff and supply +departments, they should be filled by details from the line, the men so +detailed returning after a while to their line duties. It is very +undesirable to have the senior grades of the Army composed of men who +have come to fill the positions by the mere fact of seniority. A system +should be adopted by which there shall be an elimination grade by grade +of those who seem unfit to render the best service in the next grade. +Justice to the veterans of the Civil War who are still in the Army +would seem to require that in the matter of retirements they be given +by law the same privileges accorded to their comrades in the Navy. + +The process of elimination of the least fit should be conducted in a +manner that would render it practically impossible to apply political +or social pressure on behalf of any candidate, so that each man may be +judged purely on his own merits. Pressure for the promotion of civil +officials for political reasons is bad enough, but it is tenfold worse +where applied on behalf of officers of the Army or Navy. Every +promotion and every detail under the War Department must be made solely +with regard to the good of the service and to the capacity and merit of +the man himself. No pressure, political, social, or personal, of any +kind, will be permitted to exercise the least effect in any question of +promotion or detail; and if there is reason to believe that such +pressure is exercised at the instigation of the officer concerned, it +will be held to militate against him. In our Army we cannot afford to +have rewards or duties distributed save on the simple ground that those +who by their own merits are entitled to the rewards get them, and that +those who are peculiarly fit to do the duties are chosen to perform +them. + +Every effort should be made to bring the Army to a constantly +increasing state of efficiency. When on actual service no work save +that directly in the line of such service should be required. The paper +work in the Army, as in the Navy, should be greatly reduced. What is +needed is proved power of command and capacity to work well in the +field. Constant care is necessary to prevent dry rot in the +transportation and commissary departments. + +Our Army is so small and so much scattered that it is very difficult to +give the higher officers (as well as the lower officers and the +enlisted men) a chance to practice manoeuvres in mass and on a +comparatively large scale. In time of need no amount of individual +excellence would avail against the paralysis which would follow +inability to work as a coherent whole, under skillful and daring +leadership. The Congress should provide means whereby it will be +possible to have field exercises by at least a division of regulars, +and if possible also a division of national guardsmen, once a year. +These exercises might take the form of field manoeuvres; or, if on the +Gulf Coast or the Pacific or Atlantic Seaboard, or in the region of the +Great Lakes, the army corps when assembled could be marched from some +inland point to some point on the water, there embarked, disembarked +after a couple of days' journey at some other point, and again marched +inland. Only by actual handling and providing for men in masses while +they are marching, camping, embarking, and disembarking, will it be +possible to train the higher officers to perform their duties well and +smoothly. + +A great debt is owing from the public to the men of the Army and Navy. +They should be so treated as to enable them to reach the highest point +of efficiency, so that they may be able to respond instantly to any +demand made upon them to sustain the interests of the Nation and the +honor of the flag. The individual American enlisted man is probably on +the whole a more formidable fighting man than the regular of any other +army. Every consideration should be shown him, and in return the +highest standard of usefulness should be exacted from him. It is well +worth while for the Congress to consider whether the pay of enlisted +men upon second and subsequent enlistments should not be increased to +correspond with the increased value of the veteran soldier. + +Much good has already come from the act reorganizing the Army, passed +early in the present year. The three prime reforms, all of them of +literally inestimable value, are, first, the substitution of four-year +details from the line for permanent appointments in the so-called staff +divisions; second, the establishment of a corps of artillery with a +chief at the head; third, the establishment of a maximum and minimum +limit for the Army. It would be difficult to overestimate the +improvement in the efficiency of our Army which these three reforms are +making, and have in part already effected. + +The reorganization provided for by the act has been substantially +accomplished. The improved conditions in the Philippines have enabled +the War Department materially to reduce the military charge upon our +revenue and to arrange the number of soldiers so as to bring this +number much nearer to the minimum than to the maximum limit established +by law. There is, however, need of supplementary legislation. Thorough +military education must be provided, and in addition to the regulars +the advantages of this education should be given to the officers of the +National Guard and others in civil life who desire intelligently to fit +themselves for possible military duty. The officers should be given the +chance to perfect themselves by study in the higher branches of this +art. At West Point the education should be of the kind most apt to turn +out men who are good in actual field service; too much stress should +not be laid on mathematics, nor should proficiency therein be held to +establish the right of entry to a corps d'elite. The typical American +officer of the best kind need not be a good mathematician; but he must +be able to master himself, to control others, and to show boldness and +fertility of resource in every emergency. + +Action should be taken in reference to the militia and to the raising +of volunteer forces. Our militia law is obsolete and worthless. The +organization and armament of the National Guard of the several States, +which are treated as militia in the appropriations by the Congress, +should be made identical with those provided for the regular forces. +The obligations and duties of the Guard in time of war should be +carefully defined, and a system established by law under which the +method of procedure of raising volunteer forces should be prescribed in +advance. It is utterly impossible in the excitement and haste of +impending war to do this satisfactorily if the arrangements have not +been made long beforehand. Provision should be made for utilizing in +the first volunteer organizations called out the training of those +citizens who have already had experience under arms, and especially for +the selection in advance of the officers of any force which may be +raised; for careful selection of the kind necessary is impossible after +the outbreak of war. + +That the Army is not at all a mere instrument of destruction has been +shown during the last three years. In the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto +Rico it has proved itself a great constructive force, a most potent +implement for the upbuilding of a peaceful civilization. + +No other citizens deserve so well of the Republic as the veterans, the +survivors of those who saved the Union. They did the one deed which if +left undone would have meant that all else in our history went for +nothing. But for their steadfast prowess in the greatest crisis of our +history, all our annals would be meaningless, and our great experiment +in popular freedom and self-government a gloomy failure. Moreover, they +not only left us a united Nation, but they left us also as a heritage +the memory of the mighty deeds by which the Nation was kept united. We +are now indeed one Nation, one in fact as well as in name; we are +united in our devotion to the flag which is the symbol of national +greatness and unity; and the very completeness of our union enables us +all, in every part of the country, to glory in the valor shown alike by +the sons of the North and the sons of the South in the times that tried +men's souls. + +The men who in the last three years have done so well in the East and +the West Indies and on the mainland of Asia have shown that this +remembrance is not lost. In any serious crisis the United States must +rely for the great mass of its fighting men upon the volunteer soldiery +who do not make a permanent profession of the military career; and +whenever such a crisis arises the deathless memories of the Civil War +will give to Americans the lift of lofty purpose which comes to those +whose fathers have stood valiantly in the forefront of the battle. + +The merit system of making appointments is in its essence as democratic +and American as the common school system itself. It simply means that +in clerical and other positions where the duties are entirely +non-political, all applicants should have a fair field and no favor, +each standing on his merits as he is able to show them by practical +test. Written competitive examinations offer the only available means +in many cases for applying this system. In other cases, as where +laborers are employed, a system of registration undoubtedly can be +widely extended. There are, of course, places where the written +competitive examination cannot be applied, and others where it offers +by no means an ideal solution, but where under existing political +conditions it is, though an imperfect means, yet the best present means +of getting satisfactory results. + +Wherever the conditions have permitted the application of the merit +system in its fullest and widest sense, the gain to the Government has +been immense. The navy-yards and postal service illustrate, probably +better than any other branches of the Government, the great gain in +economy, efficiency, and honesty due to the enforcement of this +principle. + +I recommend the passage of a law which will extend the classified +service to the District of Columbia, or will at least enable the +President thus to extend it. In my judgment all laws providing for the +temporary employment of clerks should hereafter contain a provision +that they be selected under the Civil Service Law. + +It is important to have this system obtain at home, but it is even more +important to have it applied rigidly in our insular possessions. Not an +office should be filled in the Philippines or Puerto Rico with any +regard to the man's partisan affiliations or services, with any regard +to the political, social, or personal influence which he may have at +his command; in short, heed should be paid to absolutely nothing save +the man's own character and capacity and the needs of the service. + +The administration of these islands should be as wholly free from the +suspicion of partisan politics as the administration of the Army and +Navy. All that we ask from the public servant in the Philippines or +Puerto Rico is that he reflect honor on his country by the way in which +he makes that country's rule a benefit to the peoples who have come +under it. This is all that we should ask, and we cannot afford to be +content with less. + +The merit system is simply one method of securing honest and efficient +administration of the Government; and in the long run the sole +justification of any type of government lies in its proving itself both +honest and efficient. + +The consular service is now organized under the provisions of a law +passed in 1856, which is entirely inadequate to existing conditions. +The interest shown by so many commercial bodies throughout the country +in the reorganization of the service is heartily commended to your +attention. Several bills providing for a new consular service have in +recent years been submitted to the Congress. They are based upon the +just principle that appointments to the service should be made only +after a practical test of the applicant's fitness, that promotions +should be governed by trustworthiness, adaptability, and zeal in the +performance of duty, and that the tenure of office should be unaffected +by partisan considerations. + +The guardianship and fostering of our rapidly expanding foreign +commerce, the protection of American citizens resorting to foreign +countries in lawful pursuit of their affairs, and the maintenance of +the dignity of the nation abroad, combine to make it essential that our +consuls should be men of character, knowledge and enterprise. It is +true that the service is now, in the main, efficient, but a standard of +excellence cannot be permanently maintained until the principles set +forth in the bills heretofore submitted to the Congress on this subject +are enacted into law. + +In my judgment the time has arrived when we should definitely make up +our minds to recognize the Indian as an individual and not as a member +of a tribe. The General Allotment Act is a mighty pulverizing engine to +break up the tribal mass. It acts directly upon the family and the +individual. Under its provisions some sixty thousand Indians have +already become citizens of the United States. We should now break up +the tribal funds, doing for them what allotment does for the tribal +lands; that is, they should be divided into individual holdings. There +will be a transition period during which the funds will in many cases +have to be held in trust. This is the case also with the lands. A stop +should be put upon the indiscriminate permission to Indians to lease +their allotments. The effort should be steadily to make the Indian work +like any other man on his own ground. The marriage laws of the Indians +should be made the same as those of the whites. + +In the schools the education should be elementary and largely +industrial. The need of higher education among the Indians is very, +very limited. On the reservations care should be taken to try to suit +the teaching to the needs of the particular Indian. There is no use in +attempting to induce agriculture in a country suited only for cattle +raising, where the Indian should be made a stock grower. The ration +system, which is merely the corral and the reservation system, is +highly detrimental to the Indians. It promotes beggary, perpetuates +pauperism, and stifles industry. It is an effectual barrier to +progress. It must continue to a greater or less degree as long as +tribes are herded on reservations and have everything in common. The +Indian should be treated as an individual--like the white man. During +the change of treatment inevitable hardships will occur; every effort +should be made to minimize these hardships; but we should not because +of them hesitate to make the change. There should be a continuous +reduction in the number of agencies. + +In dealing with the aboriginal races few things are more important than +to preserve them from the terrible physical and moral degradation +resulting from the liquor traffic. We are doing all we can to save our +own Indian tribes from this evil. Wherever by international agreement +this same end can be attained as regards races where we do not possess +exclusive control, every effort should be made to bring it about. + +I bespeak the most cordial support from the Congress and the people for +the St. Louis Exposition to commemorate the One Hundredth Anniversary +of the Louisiana Purchase. This purchase was the greatest instance of +expansion in our history. It definitely decided that we were to become +a great continental republic, by far the foremost power in the Western +Hemisphere. It is one of three or four great landmarks in our +history--the great turning points in our development. It is eminently +fitting that all our people should join with heartiest good will in +commemorating it, and the citizens of St. Louis, of Missouri, of all +the adjacent region, are entitled to every aid in making the +celebration a noteworthy event in our annals. We earnestly hope that +foreign nations will appreciate the deep interest our country takes in +this Exposition, and our view of its importance from every standpoint, +and that they will participate in securing its success. The National +Government should be represented by a full and complete set of +exhibits. + +The people of Charleston, with great energy and civic spirit, are +carrying on an Exposition which will continue throughout most of the +present session of the Congress. I heartily commend this Exposition to +the good will of the people. It deserves all the encouragement that can +be given it. The managers of the Charleston Exposition have requested +the Cabinet officers to place thereat the Government exhibits which +have been at Buffalo, promising to pay the necessary expenses. I have +taken the responsibility of directing that this be done, for I feel +that it is due to Charleston to help her in her praiseworthy effort. In +my opinion the management should not be required to pay all these +expenses. I earnestly recommend that the Congress appropriate at once +the small sum necessary for this purpose. + +The Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo has just closed. Both from the +industrial and the artistic standpoint this Exposition has been in a +high degree creditable and useful, not merely to Buffalo but to the +United States. The terrible tragedy of the President's assassination +interfered materially with its being a financial success. The +Exposition was peculiarly in harmony with the trend of our public +policy, because it represented an effort to bring into closer touch all +the peoples of the Western Hemisphere, and give them an increasing +sense of unity. Such an effort was a genuine service to the entire +American public. + +The advancement of the highest interests of national science and +learning and the custody of objects of art and of the valuable results +of scientific expeditions conducted by the United States have been +committed to the Smithsonian Institution. In furtherance of its +declared purpose--for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge among +men"--the Congress has from time to time given it other important +functions. Such trusts have been executed by the Institution with +notable fidelity. There should be no halt in the work of the +Institution, in accordance with the plans which its Secretary has +presented, for the preservation of the vanishing races of great North +American animals in the National Zoological Park. The urgent needs of +the National Museum are recommended to the favorable consideration of +the Congress. + +Perhaps the most characteristic educational movement of the past fifty +years is that which has created the modern public library and developed +it into broad and active service. There are now over five thousand +public libraries in the United States, the product of this period. In +addition to accumulating material, they are also striving by +organization, by improvement in method, and by co-operation, to give +greater efficiency to the material they hold, to make it more widely +useful, and by avoidance of unnecessary duplication in process to +reduce the cost of its administration. + +In these efforts they naturally look for assistance to the Federal +library, which, though still the Library of Congress, and so entitled, +is the one national library of the United States. Already the largest +single collection of books on the Western Hemisphere, and certain to +increase more rapidly than any other through purchase, exchange, and +the operation of the copyright law, this library has a unique +opportunity to render to the libraries of this country--to American +scholarship--service of the highest importance. It is housed in a +building which is the largest and most magnificent yet erected for +library uses. Resources are now being provided which will develop the +collection properly, equip it with the apparatus and service necessary +to its effective use, render its bibliographic work widely available, +and enable it to become, not merely a center of research, but the chief +factor in great co-operative efforts for the diffusion of knowledge and +the advancement of learning. + +For the sake of good administration, sound economy, and the advancement +of science, the Census Office as now constituted should be made a +permanent Government bureau. This would insure better, cheaper, and +more satisfactory work, in the interest not only of our business but of +statistic, economic, and social science. + +The remarkable growth of the postal service is shown in the fact that +its revenues have doubled and its expenditures have nearly doubled +within twelve years. Its progressive development compels constantly +increasing outlay, but in this period of business energy and prosperity +its receipts grow so much faster than its expenses that the annual +deficit has been steadily reduced from $11,411,779 in 1897 to +$3,923,727 in 1901. Among recent postal advances the success of rural +free delivery wherever established has been so marked, and actual +experience has made its benefits so plain, that the demand for its +extension is general and urgent. + +It is just that the great agricultural population should share in the +improvement of the service. The number of rural routes now in operation +is 6,009, practically all established within three years, and there are +6,000 applications awaiting action. It is expected that the number in +operation at the close of the current fiscal year will reach 8,600. The +mail will then be daily carried to the doors of 5,700,000 of our people +who have heretofore been dependent upon distant offices, and one-third +of all that portion of the country which is adapted to it will be +covered by this kind of service. + +The full measure of postal progress which might be realized has long +been hampered and obstructed by the heavy burden imposed on the +Government through the intrenched and well-understood abuses which have +grown up in connection with second-class mail matter. The extent of +this burden appears when it is stated that while the second-class +matter makes nearly three-fifths of the weight of all the mail, it paid +for the last fiscal year only $4,294,445 of the aggregate postal +revenue of $111,631,193. If the pound rate of postage, which produces +the large loss thus entailed, and which was fixed by the Congress with +the purpose of encouraging the dissemination of public information, +were limited to the legitimate newspapers and periodicals actually +contemplated by the law, no just exception could be taken. That expense +would be the recognized and accepted cost of a liberal public policy +deliberately adopted for a justifiable end. But much of the matter +which enjoys the privileged rate is wholly outside of the intent of the +law, and has secured admission only through an evasion of its +requirements or through lax construction. The proportion of such +wrongly included matter is estimated by postal experts to be one-half +of the whole volume of second-class mail. If it be only one-third or +one-quarter, the magnitude of the burden is apparent. The Post-Office +Department has now undertaken to remove the abuses so far as is +possible by a stricter application of the law; and it should be +sustained in its effort. + +Owing to the rapid growth of our power and our interests on the +Pacific, whatever happens in China must be of the keenest national +concern to us. + +The general terms of the settlement of the questions growing out of the +antiforeign uprisings in China of 1900, having been formulated in a +joint note addressed to China by the representatives of the injured +powers in December last, were promptly accepted by the Chinese +Government. After protracted conferences the plenipotentiaries of the +several powers were able to sign a final protocol with the Chinese +plenipotentiaries on the 7th of last September, setting forth the +measures taken by China in compliance with the demands of the joint +note, and expressing their satisfaction therewith. It will be laid +before the Congress, with a report of the plenipotentiary on behalf of +the United States, Mr. William Woodville Rockhill, to whom high praise +is due for the tact, good judgment, and energy he has displayed in +performing an exceptionally difficult and delicate task. + +The agreement reached disposes in a manner satisfactory to the powers +of the various grounds of complaint, and will contribute materially to +better future relations between China and the powers. Reparation has +been made by China for the murder of foreigners during the uprising and +punishment has been inflicted on the officials, however high in rank, +recognized as responsible for or having participated in the outbreak. +Official examinations have been forbidden for a period of five years in +all cities in which foreigners have been murdered or cruelly treated, +and edicts have been issued making all officials directly responsible +for the future safety of foreigners and for the suppression of violence +against them. + +Provisions have been made for insuring the future safety of the foreign +representatives in Peking by setting aside for their exclusive use a +quarter of the city which the powers can make defensible and in which +they can if necessary maintain permanent military guards; by +dismantling the military works between the capital and the sea; and by +allowing the temporary maintenance of foreign military posts along this +line. An edict has been issued by the Emperor of China prohibiting for +two years the importation of arms and ammunition into China. China has +agreed to pay adequate indemnities to the states, societies, and +individuals for the losses sustained by them and for the expenses of +the military expeditions sent by the various powers to protect life and +restore order. + +Under the provisions of the joint note of December, 1900, China has +agreed to revise the treaties of commerce and navigation and to take +such other steps for the purpose of facilitating foreign trade as the +foreign powers may decide to be needed. + +The Chinese Government has agreed to participate financially in the +work of bettering the water approaches to Shanghai and to Tientsin, the +centers of foreign trade in central and northern China, and an +international conservancy board, in which the Chinese Government is +largely represented, has been provided for the improvement of the +Shanghai River and the control of its navigation. In the same line of +commercial advantages a revision of the present tariff on imports has +been assented to for the purpose of substituting specific for ad +valorem duties, and an expert has been sent abroad on the part of the +United States to assist in this work. A list of articles to remain free +of duty, including flour, cereals, and rice, gold and silver coin and +bullion, has also been agreed upon in the settlement. + +During these troubles our Government has unswervingly advocated +moderation, and has materially aided in bringing about an adjustment +which tends to enhance the welfare of China and to lead to a more +beneficial intercourse between the Empire and the modern world; while +in the critical period of revolt and massacre we did our full share in +safe-guarding life and property, restoring order, and vindicating the +national interest and honor. It behooves us to continue in these paths, +doing what lies in our power to foster feelings of good will, and +leaving no effort untried to work out the great policy of full and fair +intercourse between China and the nations, on a footing of equal rights +and advantages to all. We advocate the "open door" with all that it +implies; not merely the procurement of enlarged commercial +opportunities on the coasts, but access to the interior by the +waterways with which China has been so extraordinarily favored. Only by +bringing the people of China into peaceful and friendly community of +trade with all the peoples of the earth can the work now auspiciously +begun be carried to fruition. In the attainment of this purpose we +necessarily claim parity of treatment, under the conventions, +throughout the Empire for our trade and our citizens with those of all +other powers. + +We view with lively interest and keen hopes of beneficial results the +proceedings of the Pan-American Congress, convoked at the invitation of +Mexico, and now sitting at the Mexican capital. The delegates of the +United States are under the most liberal instructions to cooperate with +their colleagues in all matters promising advantage to the great family +of American commonwealths, as well in their relations among themselves +as in their domestic advancement and in their intercourse with the +world at large. + +My predecessor communicated to the Congress the fact that the Weil and +La Abra awards against Mexico have been adjudged by the highest courts +of our country to have been obtained through fraud and perjury on the +part of the claimants, and that in accordance with the acts of the +Congress the money remaining in the hands of the Secretary of State on +these awards has been returned to Mexico. A considerable portion of the +money received from Mexico on these awards had been paid by this +Government to the claimants before the decision of the courts was +rendered. My judgment is that the Congress should return to Mexico an +amount equal to the sums thus already paid to the claimants. + +The death of Queen Victoria caused the people of the United States deep +and heartfelt sorrow, to which the Government gave full expression. +When President McKinley died, our Nation in turn received from every +quarter of the British Empire expressions of grief and sympathy no less +sincere. The death of the Empress Dowager Frederick of Germany also +aroused the genuine sympathy of the American people; and this sympathy +was cordially reciprocated by Germany when the President was +assassinated. Indeed, from every quarter of the civilized world we +received, at the time of the President's death, assurances of such +grief and regard as to touch the hearts of our people. In the midst of +our affliction we reverently thank the Almighty that we are at peace +with the nations of mankind; and we firmly intend that our policy shall +be such as to continue unbroken these international relations of mutual +respect and good will. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 2, 1902 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +We still continue in a period of unbounded prosperity. This prosperity +is not the creature of law, but undoubtedly the laws under which we +work have been instrumental in creating the conditions which made it +possible, and by unwise legislation it would be easy enough to destroy +it. There will undoubtedly be periods of depression. The wave will +recede; but the tide will advance. This Nation is seated on a continent +flanked by two great oceans. It is composed of men the descendants of +pioneers, or, in a sense, pioneers themselves; of men winnowed out from +among the nations of the Old World by the energy, boldness, and love of +adventure found in their own eager hearts. Such a Nation, so placed, +will surely wrest success from fortune. + +As a people we have played a large part in the world, and we are bent +upon making our future even larger than the past. In particular, the +events of the last four years have definitely decided that, for woe or +for weal, our place must be great among the nations. We may either fall +greatly or succeed greatly; but we can not avoid the endeavor from +which either great failure or great success must come. Even if we +would, we can not play a small part. If we should try, all that would +follow would be that we should play a large part ignobly and +shamefully. + +But our people, the sons of the men of the Civil War, the sons of the +men who had iron in their blood, rejoice in the present and face the +future high of heart and resolute of will. Ours is not the creed of the +weakling and the coward; ours is the gospel of hope and of triumphant +endeavor. We do not shrink from the struggle before us. There are many +problems for us to face at the outset of the twentieth century--grave +problems abroad and still graver at home; but we know that we can solve +them and solve them well, provided only that we bring to the solution +the qualities of head and heart which were shown by the men who, in the +days of Washington, rounded this Government, and, in the days of +Lincoln, preserved it. + +No country has ever occupied a higher plane of material well-being than +ours at the present moment. This well-being is due to no sudden or +accidental causes, but to the play of the economic forces in this +country for over a century; to our laws, our sustained and continuous +policies; above all, to the high individual average of our citizenship. +Great fortunes have been won by those who have taken the lead in this +phenomenal industrial development, and most of these fortunes have been +won not by doing evil, but as an incident to action which has benefited +the community as a whole. Never before has material well-being been so +widely diffused among our people. Great fortunes have been accumulated, +and yet in the aggregate these fortunes are small Indeed when compared +to the wealth of the people as a whole. The plain people are better off +than they have ever been before. The insurance companies, which are +practically mutual benefit societies--especially helpful to men of +moderate means--represent accumulations of capital which are among the +largest in this country. There are more deposits in the savings banks, +more owners of farms, more well-paid wage-workers in this country now +than ever before in our history. Of course, when the conditions have +favored the growth of so much that was good, they have also favored +somewhat the growth of what was evil. It is eminently necessary that we +should endeavor to cut out this evil, but let us keep a due sense of +proportion; let us not in fixing our gaze upon the lesser evil forget +the greater good. The evils are real and some of them are menacing, but +they are the outgrowth, not of misery or decadence, but of +prosperity--of the progress of our gigantic industrial development. +This industrial development must not be checked, but side by side with +it should go such progressive regulation as will diminish the evils. We +should fail in our duty if we did not try to remedy the evils, but we +shall succeed only if we proceed patiently, with practical common sense +as well as resolution, separating the good from the bad and holding on +to the former while endeavoring to get rid of the latter. + +In my Message to the present Congress at its first session I discussed +at length the question of the regulation of those big corporations +commonly doing an interstate business, often with some tendency to +monopoly, which are popularly known as trusts. The experience of the +past year has emphasized, in my opinion, the desirability of the steps +I then proposed. A fundamental requisite of social efficiency is a high +standard of individual energy and excellence; but this is in no wise +inconsistent with power to act in combination for aims which can not so +well be achieved by the individual acting alone. A fundamental base of +civilization is the inviolability of property; but this is in no wise +inconsistent with the right of society to regulate the exercise of the +artificial powers which it confers upon the owners of property, under +the name of corporate franchises, in such a way as to prevent the +misuse of these powers. Corporations, and especially combinations of +corporations, should be managed under public regulation. Experience has +shown that under our system of government the necessary supervision can +not be obtained by State action. It must therefore be achieved by +national action. Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the +contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of +modern industrialism, and the effort to destroy them would be futile +unless accomplished in ways that would work the utmost mischief to the +entire body politic. We can do nothing of good in the way of regulating +and supervising these corporations until we fix clearly in our minds +that we are not attacking the corporations, but endeavoring to do away +with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely +determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public +good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth. The +capitalist who, alone or in conjunction with his fellows, performs some +great industrial feat by which he wins money is a welldoer, not a +wrongdoer, provided only he works in proper and legitimate lines. We +wish to favor such a man when he does well. We wish to supervise and +control his actions only to prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can +do no harm to the honest corporation; and we need not be over tender +about sparing the dishonest corporation. In curbing and regulating the +combinations of capital which are, or may become, injurious to the +public we must be careful not to stop the great enterprises which have +legitimately reduced the cost of production, not to abandon the place +which our country has won in the leadership of the international +industrial world, not to strike down wealth with the result of closing +factories and mines, of turning the wage-worker idle in the streets and +leaving the farmer without a market for what he grows. Insistence upon +the impossible means delay in achieving the possible, exactly as, on +the other hand, the stubborn defense alike of what is good and what is +bad in the existing system, the resolute effort to obstruct any attempt +at betterment, betrays blindness to the historic truth that wise +evolution is the sure safeguard against revolution. + +No more important subject can come before the Congress than this of the +regulation of interstate business. This country can not afford to sit +supine on the plea that under our peculiar system of government we are +helpless in the presence of the new conditions, and unable to grapple +with them or to cut out whatever of evil has arisen in connection with +them. The power of the Congress to regulate interstate commerce is an +absolute and unqualified grant, and without limitations other than +those prescribed by the Constitution. The Congress has constitutional +authority to make all laws necessary and proper for executing this +power, and I am satisfied that this power has not been exhausted by any +legislation now on the statute books. It is evident, therefore, that +evils restrictive of commercial freedom and entailing restraint upon +national commerce fall within the regulative power of the Congress, and +that a wise and reasonable law would be a necessary and proper exercise +of Congressional authority to the end that such evils should be +eradicated. + +I believe that monopolies, unjust discriminations, which prevent or +cripple competition, fraudulent overcapitalization, and other evils in +trust organizations and practices which injuriously affect interstate +trade can be prevented under the power of the Congress to "regulate +commerce with foreign nations and among the several States" through +regulations and requirements operating directly upon such commerce, the +instrumentalities thereof, and those engaged therein. + +I earnestly recommend this subject to the consideration of the Congress +with a view to the passage of a law reasonable in its provisions and +effective in its operations, upon which the questions can be finally +adjudicated that now raise doubts as to the necessity of constitutional +amendment. If it prove impossible to accomplish the purposes above set +forth by such a law, then, assuredly, we should not shrink from +amending the Constitution so as to secure beyond peradventure the power +sought. + +The Congress has not heretofore made any appropriation for the better +enforcement of the antitrust law as it now stands. Very much has been +done by the Department of Justice in securing the enforcement of this +law, but much more could be done if the Congress would make a special +appropriation for this purpose, to be expended under the direction of +the Attorney-General. + +One proposition advocated has been the reduction of the tariff as a +means of reaching the evils of the trusts which fall within the +category I have described. Not merely would this be wholly ineffective, +but the diversion of our efforts in such a direction would mean the +abandonment of all intelligent attempt to do away with these evils. +Many of the largest corporations, many of those which should certainly +be included in any proper scheme of regulation, would not be affected +in the slightest degree by a change in the tariff, save as such change +interfered with the general prosperity of the country. The only +relation of the tariff to big corporations as a whole is that the +tariff makes manufactures profitable, and the tariff remedy proposed +would be in effect simply to make manufactures unprofitable. To remove +the tariff as a punitive measure directed against trusts would +inevitably result in ruin to the weaker competitors who are struggling +against them. Our aim should be not by unwise tariff changes to give +foreign products the advantage over domestic products, but by proper +regulation to give domestic competition a fair chance; and this end can +not be reached by any tariff changes which would affect unfavorably all +domestic competitors, good and bad alike. The question of regulation of +the trusts stands apart from the question of tariff revision. + +Stability of economic policy must always be the prime economic need of +this country. This stability should not be fossilization. The country +has acquiesced in the wisdom of the protective-tariff principle. It is +exceedingly undesirable that this system should be destroyed or that +there should be violent and radical changes therein. Our past +experience shows that great prosperity in this country has always come +under a protective tariff; and that the country can not prosper under +fitful tariff changes at short intervals. Moreover, if the tariff laws +as a whole work well, and if business has prospered under them and is +prospering, it is better to endure for a time slight inconveniences and +inequalities in some schedules than to upset business by too quick and +too radical changes. It is most earnestly to be wished that we could +treat the tariff from the standpoint solely of our business needs. It +is, perhaps, too much to hope that partisanship may be entirely +excluded from consideration of the subject, but at least it can be made +secondary to the business interests of the country--that is, to the +interests of our people as a whole. Unquestionably these business +interests will best be served if together with fixity of principle as +regards the tariff we combine a system which will permit us from time +to time to make the necessary reapplication of the principle to the +shifting national needs. We must take scrupulous care that the +reapplication shall be made in such a way that it will not amount to a +dislocation of our system, the mere threat of which (not to speak of +the performance) would produce paralysis in the business energies of +the community. The first consideration in making these changes would, +of course, be to preserve the principle which underlies our whole +tariff system--that is, the principle of putting American business +interests at least on a full equality with interests abroad, and of +always allowing a sufficient rate of duty to more than cover the +difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The well-being of +the wage-worker, like the well-being of the tiller of the soil, should +be treated as an essential in shaping our whole economic policy. There +must never be any change which will jeopardize the standard of comfort, +the standard of wages of the American wage-worker. + +One way in which the readjustment sought can be reached is by +reciprocity treaties. It is greatly to be desired that such treaties +may be adopted. They can be used to widen our markets and to give a +greater field for the activities of our producers on the one hand, and +on the other hand to secure in practical shape the lowering of duties +when they are no longer needed for protection among our own people, or +when the minimum of damage done may be disregarded for the sake of the +maximum of good accomplished. If it prove impossible to ratify the +pending treaties, and if there seem to be no warrant for the endeavor +to execute others, or to amend the pending treaties so that they can be +ratified, then the same end--to secure reciprocity--should be met by +direct legislation. + +Wherever the tariff conditions are such that a needed change can not +with advantage be made by the application of the reciprocity idea, then +it can be made outright by a lowering of duties on a given product. If +possible, such change should be made only after the fullest +consideration by practical experts, who should approach the subject +from a business standpoint, having in view both the particular +interests affected and the commercial well-being of the people as a +whole. The machinery for providing such careful investigation can +readily be supplied. The executive department has already at its +disposal methods of collecting facts and figures; and if the Congress +desires additional consideration to that which will be given the +subject by its own committees, then a commission of business experts +can be appointed whose duty it should be to recommend action by the +Congress after a deliberate and scientific examination of the various +schedules as they are affected by the changed and changing conditions. +The unhurried and unbiased report of this commission would show what +changes should be made in the various schedules, and how far these +changes could go without also changing the great prosperity which this +country is now enjoying, or upsetting its fixed economic policy. + +The cases in which the tariff can produce a monopoly are so few as to +constitute an inconsiderable factor in the question; but of course if +in any case it be found that a given rate of duty does promote a +monopoly which works ill, no protectionist would object to such +reduction of the duty as would equalize competition. + +In my judgment, the tariff on anthracite coal should be removed, and +anthracite put actually, where it now is nominally, on the free list. +This would have no effect at all save in crises; but in crises it might +be of service to the people. + +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. + +It would be both unwise and unnecessary at this time to attempt to +reconstruct our financial system, which has been the growth of a +century; but some additional legislation is, I think, desirable. The +mere outline of any plan sufficiently comprehensive to meet these +requirements would transgress the appropriate limits of this +communication. It is suggested, however, that all future legislation on +the subject should be with the view of encouraging the use of such +instrumentalities as will automatically supply every legitimate demand +of productive industries and of commerce, not only in the amount, but +in the character of circulation; and of making all kinds of money +interchangeable, and, at the will of the holder, convertible into the +established gold standard. + +I again call your attention to the need of passing a proper immigration +law, covering the points outlined in my Message to you at the first +session of the present Congress; substantially such a bill has already +passed the House. + +How to secure fair treatment alike for labor and for capital, how to +hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether employer or employee, +without weakening individual initiative, without hampering and cramping +the industrial development of the country, is a problem fraught with +great difficulties and one which it is of the highest importance to +solve on lines of sanity and far-sighted common sense as well as of +devotion to the right. This is an era of federation and combination. +Exactly as business men find they must often work through corporations, +and as it is a constant tendency of these corporations to grow larger, +so it is often necessary for laboring men to work in federations, and +these have become important factors of modern industrial life. Both +kinds of federation, capitalistic and labor, can do much good, and as a +necessary corollary they can both do evil. Opposition to each kind of +organization should take the form of opposition to whatever is bad in +the conduct of any given corporation or union--not of attacks upon +corporations as such nor upon unions as such; for some of the most +far-reaching beneficent work for our people has been accomplished +through both corporations and unions. Each must refrain from arbitrary +or tyrannous interference with the rights of others. Organized capital +and organized labor alike should remember that in the long run the +interest of each must be brought into harmony with the interest of the +general public; and the conduct of each must conform to the fundamental +rules of obedience to the law, of individual freedom, and of justice +and fair dealing toward all. Each should remember that in addition to +power it must strive after the realization of healthy, lofty, and +generous ideals. Every employer, every wage-worker, must be guaranteed +his liberty and his right to do as he likes with his property or his +labor so long as he does not infringe upon the rights of others. It is +of the highest importance that employer and employee alike should +endeavor to appreciate each the viewpoint of the other and the sure +disaster that will come upon both in the long run if either grows to +take as habitual an attitude of sour hostility and distrust toward the +other. Few people deserve better of the country than those +representatives both of capital and labor--and there are many such--who +work continually to bring about a good understanding of this kind, +based upon wisdom and upon broad and kindly sympathy between employers +and employed. Above all, we need to remember that any kind of class +animosity in the political world is, if possible, even more wicked, +even more destructive to national welfare, than sectional, race, or +religious animosity. We can get good government only upon condition +that we keep true to the principles upon which this Nation was founded, +and judge each man not as a part of a class, but upon his individual +merits. All that we have a right to ask of any man, rich or poor, +whatever his creed, his occupation, his birthplace, or his residence, +is that he shall act well and honorably by his neighbor and by, his +country. We are neither for the rich man as such nor for the poor man +as such; we are for the upright man, rich or poor. So far as the +constitutional powers of the National Government touch these matters of +general and vital moment to the Nation, they should be exercised in +conformity with the principles above set forth. + +It is earnestly hoped that a secretary of commerce may be created, with +a seat in the Cabinet. The rapid multiplication of questions affecting +labor and capital, the growth and complexity of the organizations +through which both labor and capital now find expression, the steady +tendency toward the employment of capital in huge corporations, and the +wonderful strides of this country toward leadership in the +international business world justify an urgent demand for the creation +of such a position. Substantially all the leading commercial bodies in +this country have united in requesting its creation. It is desirable +that some such measure as that which has already passed the Senate be +enacted into law. The creation of such a department would in itself be +an advance toward dealing with and exercising supervision over the +whole subject of the great corporations doing an interstate business; +and with this end in view, the Congress should endow the department +with large powers, which could be increased as experience might show +the need. + +I hope soon to submit to the Senate a reciprocity treaty with Cuba. On +May 20 last the United States kept its promise to the island by +formally vacating Cuban soil and turning Cuba over to those whom her +own people had chosen as the first officials of the new Republic. + +Cuba lies at our doors, and whatever affects her for good or for ill +affects us also. So much have our people felt this that in the Platt +amendment we definitely took the ground that Cuba must hereafter have +closer political relations with us than with any other power. Thus in a +sense Cuba has become a part of our international political system. +This makes it necessary that in return she should be given some of the +benefits of becoming part of our economic system. It is, from our own +standpoint, a short-sighted and mischievous policy to fail to recognize +this need. Moreover, it is unworthy of a mighty and generous nation, +itself the greatest and most successful republic in history, to refuse +to stretch out a helping hand to a young and weak sister republic just +entering upon its career of independence. We should always fearlessly +insist upon our rights in the face of the strong, and we should with +ungrudging hand do our generous duty by the weak. I urge the adoption +of reciprocity with Cuba not only because it is eminently for our own +interests to control the Cuban market and by every means to foster our +supremacy in the tropical lands and waters south of us, but also +because we, of the giant republic of the north, should make all our +sister nations of the American Continent feel that whenever they will +permit it we desire to show ourselves disinterestedly and effectively +their friend. + +A convention with Great Britain has been concluded, which will be at +once laid before the Senate for ratification, providing for reciprocal +trade arrangements between the United States and Newfoundland on +substantially the lines of the convention formerly negotiated by the +Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine. I believe reciprocal trade relations +will be greatly to the advantage of both countries. + +As civilization grows warfare becomes less and less the normal +condition of foreign relations. The last century has seen a marked +diminution of wars between civilized powers; wars with uncivilized +powers are largely mere matters of international police duty, essential +for the welfare of the world. Wherever possible, arbitration or some +similar method should be employed in lieu of war to settle difficulties +between civilized nations, although as yet the world has not progressed +sufficiently to render it possible, or necessarily desirable, to invoke +arbitration in every case. The formation of the international tribunal +which sits at The Hague is an event of good omen from which great +consequences for the welfare of all mankind may flow. It is far better, +where possible, to invoke such a permanent tribunal than to create +special arbitrators for a given purpose. + +It is a matter of sincere congratulation to our country that the United +States and Mexico should have been the first to use the good offices of +The Hague Court. This was done last summer with most satisfactory +results in the case of a claim at issue between us and our sister +Republic. It is earnestly to be hoped that this first case will serve +as a precedent for others, in which not only the United States but +foreign nations may take advantage of the machinery already in +existence at The Hague. + +I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the Hawaiian +fire claims, which were the subject of careful investigation during the +last session. + +The Congress has wisely provided that we shall build at once an +isthmian canal, if possible at Panama. The Attorney-General reports +that we can undoubtedly acquire good title from the French Panama Canal +Company. Negotiations are now pending with Colombia to secure her +assent to our building the canal. This canal will be one of the +greatest engineering feats of the twentieth century; a greater +engineering feat than has yet been accomplished during the history of +mankind. The work should be carried out as a continuing policy without +regard to change of Administration; and it should be begun under +circumstances which will make it a matter of pride for all +Administrations to continue the policy. + +The canal will be of great benefit to America, and of importance to all +the world. It will be of advantage to us industrially and also as +improving our military position. It will be of advantage to the +countries of tropical America. It is earnestly to be hoped that all of +these countries will do as some of them have already done with signal +success, and will invite to their shores commerce and improve their +material conditions by recognizing that stability and order are the +prerequisites of successful development. No independent nation in +America need have the slightest fear of aggression from the United +States. It behoves each one to maintain order within its own borders +and to discharge its just obligations to foreigners. When this is done, +they can rest assured that, be they strong or weak, they have nothing +to dread from outside interference. More and more the increasing +interdependence and complexity of international political and economic +relations render it incumbent on all civilized and orderly powers to +insist on the proper policing of the world. + +During the fall of 1901 a communication was addressed to the Secretary +of State, asking whether permission would be granted by the President +to a corporation to lay a cable from a point on the California coast to +the Philippine Islands by way of Hawaii. A statement of conditions or +terms upon which such corporation would undertake to lay and operate a +cable was volunteered. + +Inasmuch as the Congress was shortly to convene, and Pacific-cable +legislation had been the subject of consideration by the Congress for +several years, it seemed to me wise to defer action upon the +application until the Congress had first an opportunity to act. The +Congress adjourned without taking any action, leaving the matter in +exactly the same condition in which it stood when the Congress +convened. + +Meanwhile it appears that the Commercial Pacific Cable Company had +promptly proceeded with preparations for laying its cable. It also made +application to the President for access to and use of soundings taken +by the U. S. S. Nero, for the purpose of discovering a practicable +route for a trans-Pacific cable, the company urging that with access to +these soundings it could complete its cable much sooner than if it were +required to take soundings upon its own account. Pending consideration +of this subject, it appeared important and desirable to attach certain +conditions to the permission to examine and use the soundings, if it +should be granted. + +In consequence of this solicitation of the cable company, certain +conditions were formulated, upon which the President was willing to +allow access to these soundings and to consent to the landing and +laying of the cable, subject to any alterations or additions thereto +imposed by the Congress. This was deemed proper, especially as it was +clear that a cable connection of some kind with China, a foreign +country, was a part of the company's plan. This course was, moreover, +in accordance with a line of precedents, including President Grant's +action in the case of the first French cable, explained to the Congress +in his Annual Message of December, 1875, and the instance occurring in +1879 of the second French cable from Brest to St. Pierre, with a branch +to Cape Cod. + +These conditions prescribed, among other things, a maximum rate for +commercial messages and that the company should construct a line from +the Philippine Islands to China, there being at present, as is well +known, a British line from Manila to Hongkong. + +The representatives of the cable company kept these conditions long +under consideration, continuing, in the meantime, to prepare for laying +the cable. They have, however, at length acceded to them, and an +all-American line between our Pacific coast and the Chinese Empire, by +way of Honolulu and the Philippine Islands, is thus provided for, and +is expected within a few months to be ready for business. + +Among the conditions is one reserving the power of the Congress to +modify or repeal any or all of them. A copy of the conditions is +herewith transmitted. + +Of Porto Rico it is only necessary to say that the prosperity of the +island and the wisdom with which it has been governed have been such as +to make it serve as an example of all that is best in insular +administration. + +On July 4 last, on the one hundred and twenty-sixth anniversary of the +declaration of our independence, peace and amnesty were promulgated in +the Philippine Islands. Some trouble has since from time to time +threatened with the Mohammedan Moros, but with the late insurrectionary +Filipinos the war has entirely ceased. Civil government has now been +introduced. Not only does each Filipino enjoy such rights to life, +liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as he has never before known +during the recorded history of the islands, but the people taken as a +whole now enjoy a measure of self-government greater than that granted +to any other Orientals by any foreign power and greater than that +enjoyed by any other Orientals under their own governments, save the +Japanese alone. We have not gone too far in granting these rights of +liberty and self-government; but we have certainly gone to the limit +that in the interests of the Philippine people themselves it was wise +or just to go. To hurry matters, to go faster than we are now going, +would entail calamity on the people of the islands. No policy ever +entered into by the American people has vindicated itself in more +signal manner than the policy of holding the Philippines. The triumph +of our arms, above all the triumph of our laws and principles, has come +sooner than we had any right to expect. Too much praise can not be +given to the Army for what it has done in the Philippines both in +warfare and from an administrative standpoint in preparing the way for +civil government; and similar credit belongs to the civil authorities +for the way in which they have planted the seeds of self-government in +the ground thus made ready for them. The courage, the unflinching +endurance, the high soldierly efficiency; and the general +kind-heartedness and humanity of our troops have been strikingly +manifested. There now remain only some fifteen thousand troops in the +islands. All told, over one hundred thousand have been sent there. Of +course, there have been individual instances of wrongdoing among them. +They warred under fearful difficulties of climate and surroundings; and +under the strain of the terrible provocations which they continually +received from their foes, occasional instances of cruel retaliation +occurred. Every effort has been made to prevent such cruelties, and +finally these efforts have been completely successful. Every effort has +also been made to detect and punish the wrongdoers. After making all +allowance for these misdeeds, it remains true that few indeed have been +the instances in which war has been waged by a civilized power against +semicivilized or barbarous forces where there has been so little +wrongdoing by the victors as in the Philippine Islands. On the other +hand, the amount of difficult, important, and beneficent work which has +been done is well-nigh incalculable. + +Taking the work of the Army and the civil authorities together, it may +be questioned whether anywhere else in modern times the world has seen +a better example of real constructive statesmanship than our people +have given in the Philippine Islands. High praise should also be given +those Filipinos, in the aggregate very numerous, who have accepted the +new conditions and joined with our representatives to work with hearty +good will for the welfare of the islands. + +The Army has been reduced to the minimum allowed by law. It is very +small for the size of the Nation, and most certainly should be kept at +the highest point of efficiency. The senior officers are given scant +chance under ordinary conditions to exercise commands commensurate with +their rank, under circumstances which would fit them to do their duty +in time of actual war. A system of maneuvering our Army in bodies of +some little size has been begun and should be steadily continued. +Without such maneuvers it is folly to expect that in the event of +hostilities with any serious foe even a small army corps could be +handled to advantage. Both our officers and enlisted men are such that +we can take hearty pride in them. No better material can be found. But +they must be thoroughly trained, both as individuals and in the mass. +The marksmanship of the men must receive special attention. In the +circumstances of modern warfare the man must act far more on his own +individual responsibility than ever before, and the high individual +efficiency of the unit is of the utmost importance. Formerly this unit +was the regiment; it is now not the regiment, not even the troop or +company; it is the individual soldier. Every effort must be made to +develop every workmanlike and soldierly quality in both the officer and +the enlisted man. + +I urgently call your attention to the need of passing a bill providing +for a general staff and for the reorganization of the supply +departments on the lines of the bill proposed by the Secretary of War +last year. When the young officers enter the Army from West Point they +probably stand above their compeers in any other military service. +Every effort should be made, by training, by reward of merit, by +scrutiny into their careers and capacity, to keep them of the same high +relative excellence throughout their careers. + +The measure providing for the reorganization of the militia system and +for securing the highest efficiency in the National Guard, which has +already passed the House, should receive prompt attention and action. +It is of great importance that the relation of the National Guard to +the militia and volunteer forces of the United States should be +defined, and that in place of our present obsolete laws a practical and +efficient system should be adopted. + +Provision should be made to enable the Secretary of War to keep cavalry +and artillery horses, worn-out in long performance of duty. Such horses +fetch but a trifle when sold; and rather than turn them out to the +misery awaiting them when thus disposed of, it would be better to +employ them at light work around the posts, and when necessary to put +them painlessly to death. + +For the first time in our history naval maneuvers on a large scale are +being held under the immediate command of the Admiral of the Navy. +Constantly increasing attention is being paid to the gunnery of the +Navy, but it is yet far from what it should be. I earnestly urge that +the increase asked for by the Secretary of the Navy in the +appropriation for improving the markmanship be granted. In battle the +only shots that count are the shots that hit. It is necessary to +provide ample funds for practice with the great guns in time of peace. +These funds must provide not only for the purchase of projectiles, but +for allowances for prizes to encourage the gun crews, and especially +the gun pointers, and for perfecting an intelligent system under which +alone it is possible to get good practice. + +There should be no halt in the work of building up the Navy, providing +every year additional fighting craft. We are a very rich country, vast +in extent of territory and great in population; a country, moreover, +which has an Army diminutive indeed when compared with that of any +other first-class power. We have deliberately made our own certain +foreign policies which demand the possession of a first-class navy. The +isthmian canal will greatly increase the efficiency of our Navy if the +Navy is of sufficient size; but if we have an inadequate navy, then the +building of the canal would be merely giving a hostage to any power of +superior strength. The Monroe Doctrine should be treated as the +cardinal feature of American foreign policy; but it would be worse than +idle to assert it unless we intended to back it up, and it can be +backed up only by a thoroughly good navy. A good navy is not a +provocative of war. It is the surest guaranty of peace. + +Each individual unit of our Navy should be the most efficient of its +kind as regards both material and personnel that is to be found in the +world. I call your special attention to the need of providing for the +manning of the ships. Serious trouble threatens us if we can not do +better than we are now doing as regards securing the services of a +sufficient number of the highest type of sailormen, of sea mechanics. +The veteran seamen of our war ships are of as high a type as can be +found in any navy which rides the waters of the world; they are +unsurpassed in daring, in resolution, in readiness, in thorough +knowledge of their profession. They deserve every consideration that +can be shown them. But there are not enough of them. It is no more +possible to improvise a crew than it is possible to improvise a war +ship. To build the finest ship, with the deadliest battery, and to send +it afloat with a raw crew, no matter how brave they were individually, +would be to insure disaster if a foe of average capacity were +encountered. Neither ships nor men can be improvised when war has +begun. + +We need a thousand additional officers in order to properly man the +ships now provided for and under construction. The classes at the Naval +School at Annapolis should be greatly enlarged. At the same time that +we thus add the officers where we need them, we should facilitate the +retirement of those at the head of the list whose usefulness has become +impaired. Promotion must be fostered if the service is to be kept +efficient. + +The lamentable scarcity of officers, and the large number of recruits +and of unskilled men necessarily put aboard the new vessels as they +have been commissioned, has thrown upon our officers, and especially on +the lieutenants and junior grades, unusual labor and fatigue and has +gravely strained their powers of endurance. Nor is there sign of any +immediate let-up in this strain. It must continue for some time longer, +until more officers are graduated from Annapolis, and until the +recruits become trained and skillful in their duties. In these +difficulties incident upon the development of our war fleet the conduct +of all our officers has been creditable to the service, and the +lieutenants and junior grades in particular have displayed an ability +and a steadfast cheerfulness which entitles them to the ungrudging +thanks of all who realize the disheartening trials and fatigues to +which they are of necessity subjected. + +There is not a cloud on the horizon at present. There seems not the +slightest chance of trouble with a foreign power. We most earnestly +hope that this state of things may continue; and the way to insure its +continuance is to provide for a thoroughly efficient navy. The refusal +to maintain such a navy would invite trouble, and if trouble came would +insure disaster. Fatuous self-complacency or vanity, or +short-sightedness in refusing to prepare for danger, is both foolish +and wicked in such a nation as ours; and past experience has shown that +such fatuity in refusing to recognize or prepare for any crisis in +advance is usually succeeded by a mad panic of hysterical fear once the +crisis has actually arrived. + +The striking increase in the revenues of the Post-Office Department +shows clearly the prosperity of our people and the increasing activity +of the business of the country. + +The receipts of the Post-Office Department for the fiscal year ending +June 30 last amounted to $121,848,047.26, an increase of $10,216,853.87 +over the preceding year, the largest increase known in the history of +the postal service. The magnitude of this increase will best appear +from the fact that the entire postal receipts for the year 1860 +amounted to but $8,518,067. + +Rural free-delivery service is no longer in the experimental stage; it +has become a fixed policy. The results following its introduction have +fully justified the Congress in the large appropriations made for its +establishment and extension. The average yearly increase in post-office +receipts in the rural districts of the country is about two per cent. +We are now able, by actual results, to show that where rural +free-delivery service has been established to such an extent as to +enable us to make comparisons the yearly increase has been upward of +ten per cent. + +On November 1, 1902, 11,650 rural free-delivery routes had been +established and were in operation, covering about one-third of the +territory of the United States available for rural free-delivery +service. There are now awaiting the action of the Department petitions +and applications for the establishment of 10,748 additional routes. +This shows conclusively the want which the establishment of the service +has met and the need of further extending it as rapidly as possible. It +is justified both by the financial results and by the practical +benefits to our rural population; it brings the men who live on the +soil into close relations with the active business world; it keeps the +farmer in daily touch with the markets; it is a potential educational +force; it enhances the value of farm property, makes farm life far +pleasanter and less isolated, and will do much to check the undesirable +current from country to city. + +It is to be hoped that the Congress will make liberal appropriations +for the continuance of the service already established and for its +further extension. + +Few subjects of more importance have been taken up by the Congress in +recent years than the inauguration of the system of nationally-aided +irrigation for the arid regions of the far West. A good beginning +therein has been made. Now that this policy of national irrigation has +been adopted, the need of thorough and scientific forest protection +will grow more rapidly than ever throughout the public-land States. + +Legislation should be provided for the protection of the game, and the +wild creatures generally, on the forest reserves. The senseless +slaughter of game, which can by judicious protection be permanently +preserved on our national reserves for the people as a whole, should be +stopped at once. It is, for instance, a serious count against our +national good sense to permit the present practice of butchering off +such a stately and beautiful creature as the elk for its antlers or +tusks. + +So far as they are available for agriculture, and to whatever extent +they may be reclaimed under the national irrigation law, the remaining +public lands should be held rigidly for the home builder, the settler +who lives on his land, and for no one else. In their actual use the +desert-land law, the timber and stone law, and the commutation clause +of the homestead law have been so perverted from the intention with +which they were enacted as to permit the acquisition of large areas of +the public domain for other than actual settlers and the consequent +prevention of settlement. Moreover, the approaching exhaustion of the +public ranges has of late led to much discussion as to the best manner +of using these public lands in the West which are suitable chiefly or +only for grazing. The sound and steady development of the West depends +upon the building up of homes therein. Much of our prosperity as a +nation has been due to the operation of the homestead law. On the other +hand, we should recognize the fact that in the grazing region the man +who corresponds to the homesteader may be unable to settle permanently +if only allowed to use the same amount of pasture land that his +brother, the homesteader, is allowed to use of arable land. One hundred +and sixty acres of fairly rich and well-watered soil, or a much smaller +amount of irrigated land, may keep a family in plenty, whereas no one +could get a living from one hundred and sixty acres of dry pasture land +capable of supporting at the outside only one head of cattle to every +ten acres. In the past great tracts of the public domain have been +fenced in by persons having no title thereto, in direct defiance of the +law forbidding the maintenance or construction of any such unlawful +inclosure of public land. For various reasons there has been little +interference with such inclosures in the past, but ample notice has now +been given the trespassers, and all the resources at the command of the +Government will hereafter be used to put a stop to such trespassing. + +In view of the capital importance of these matters, I commend them to +the earnest consideration of the Congress, and if the Congress finds +difficulty in dealing with them from lack of thorough knowledge of the +subject, I recommend that provision be made for a commission of experts +specially to investigate and report upon the complicated questions +involved. + +I especially urge upon the Congress the need of wise legislation for +Alaska. It is not to our credit as a nation that Alaska, which has been +ours for thirty-five years, should still have as poor a system Of laws +as is the case. No country has a more valuable possession--in mineral +wealth, in fisheries, furs, forests, and also in land available for +certain kinds of farming and stockgrowing. It is a territory of great +size and varied resources, well fitted to support a large permanent +population. Alaska needs a good land law and such provisions for +homesteads and pre-emptions as will encourage permanent settlement. We +should shape legislation with a view not to the exploiting and +abandoning of the territory, but to the building up of homes therein. +The land laws should be liberal in type, so as to hold out inducements +to the actual settler whom we most desire to see take possession of the +country. The forests of Alaska should be protected, and, as a secondary +but still important matter, the game also, and at the same time it is +imperative that the settlers should be allowed to cut timber, under +proper regulations, for their own use. Laws should be enacted to +protect the Alaskan salmon fisheries against the greed which would +destroy them. They should be preserved as a permanent industry and food +supply. Their management and control should be turned over to the +Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Alaska should have a Delegate in the +Congress. It would be well if a Congressional committee could visit +Alaska and investigate its needs on the ground. + +In dealing with the Indians our aim should be their ultimate absorption +into the body of our people. But in many cases this absorption must and +should be very slow. In portions of the Indian Territory the mixture of +blood has gone on at the same time with progress in wealth and +education, so that there are plenty of men with varying degrees of +purity of Indian blood who are absolutely indistinguishable in point of +social, political, and economic ability from their white associates. +There are other tribes which have as yet made no perceptible advance +toward such equality. To try to force such tribes too fast is to +prevent their going forward at all. Moreover, the tribes live under +widely different conditions. Where a tribe has made considerable +advance and lives on fertile farming soil it is possible to allot the +members lands in severalty much as is the case with white settlers. +There are other tribes where such a course is not desirable. On the +arid prairie lands the effort should be to induce the Indians to lead +pastoral rather than agricultural lives, and to permit them to settle +in villages rather than to force them into isolation. + +The large Indian schools situated remote from any Indian reservation do +a special and peculiar work of great importance. But, excellent though +these are, an immense amount of additional work must be done on the +reservations themselves among the old, and above all among the young, +Indians. + +The first and most important step toward the absorption of the Indian +is to teach him to earn his living; yet it is not necessarily to be +assumed that in each community all Indians must become either tillers +of the soil or stock raisers. Their industries may properly be +diversified, and those who show special desire or adaptability for +industrial or even commercial pursuits should be encouraged so far as +practicable to follow out each his own bent. + +Every effort should be made to develop the Indian along the lines of +natural aptitude, and to encourage the existing native industries +peculiar to certain tribes, such as the various kinds of basket +weaving, canoe building, smith work, and blanket work. Above all, the +Indian boys and girls should be given confident command of colloquial +English, and should ordinarily be prepared for a vigorous struggle with +the conditions under which their people live, rather than for immediate +absorption into some more highly developed community. + +The officials who represent the Government in dealing with the Indians +work under hard conditions, and also under conditions which render it +easy to do wrong and very difficult to detect wrong. Consequently they +should be amply paid on the one hand, and on the other hand a +particularly high standard of conduct should be demanded from them, and +where misconduct can be proved the punishment should be exemplary. + +In no department of governmental work in recent years has there been +greater success than in that of giving scientific aid to the farming +population, thereby showing them how most efficiently to help +themselves. There is no need of insisting upon its importance, for the +welfare of the farmer is fundamentally necessary to the welfare of the +Republic as a whole. In addition to such work as quarantine against +animal and vegetable plagues, and warring against them when here +introduced, much efficient help has been rendered to the farmer by the +introduction of new plants specially fitted for cultivation under the +peculiar conditions existing in different portions of the country. New +cereals have been established in the semi-arid West. For instance, the +practicability of producing the best types of macaroni wheats in +regions of an annual rainfall of only ten inches or thereabouts has +been conclusively demonstrated. Through the introduction of new rices +in Louisiana and Texas the production of rice in this country has been +made to about equal the home demand. In the South-west the possibility +of regrassing overstocked range lands has been demonstrated; in the +North many new forage crops have been introduced, while in the East it +has been shown that some of our choicest fruits can be stored and +shipped in such a way as to find a profitable market abroad. + +I again recommend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the +plans of the Smithsonian Institution for making the Museum under its +charge worthy of the Nation, and for preserving at the National Capital +not only records of the vanishing races of men but of the animals of +this continent which, like the buffalo, will soon become extinct unless +specimens from which their representatives may be renewed are sought in +their native regions and maintained there in safety. + +The District of Columbia is the only part of our territory in which the +National Government exercises local or municipal functions, and where +in consequence the Government has a free hand in reference to certain +types of social and economic legislation which must be essentially +local or municipal in their character. The Government should see to it, +for instance, that the hygienic and sanitary legislation affecting +Washington is of a high character. The evils of slum dwellings, whether +in the shape of crowded and congested tenement-house districts or of +the back-alley type, should never be permitted to grow up in +Washington. The city should be a model in every respect for all the +cities of the country. The charitable and correctional systems of the +District should receive consideration at the hands of the Congress to +the end that they may embody the results of the most advanced thought +in these fields. Moreover, while Washington is not a great industrial +city, there is some industrialism here, and our labor legislation, +while it would not be important in itself, might be made a model for +the rest of the Nation. We should pass, for instance, a wise +employer's-liability act for the District of Columbia, and we need such +an act in our navy-yards. Railroad companies in the District ought to +be required by law to block their frogs. + +The safety-appliance law, for the better protection of the lives and +limbs of railway employees, which was passed in 1893, went into full +effect on August 1, 1901. It has resulted in averting thousands of +casualties. Experience shows, however, the necessity of additional +legislation to perfect this law. A bill to provide for this passed the +Senate at the last session. It is to be hoped that some such measure +may now be enacted into law. + +There is a growing tendency to provide for the publication of masses of +documents for which there is no public demand and for the printing of +which there is no real necessity. Large numbers of volumes are turned +out by the Government printing presses for which there is no +justification. Nothing should be printed by any of the Departments +unless it contains something of permanent value, and the Congress could +with advantage cut down very materially on all the printing which it +has now become customary to provide. The excessive cost of Government +printing is a strong argument against the position of those who are +inclined on abstract grounds to advocate the Government's doing any +work which can with propriety be left in private hands. + +Gratifying progress has been made during the year in the extension of +the merit system of making appointments in the Government service. It +should be extended by law to the District of Columbia. It is much to be +desired that our consular system be established by law on a basis +providing for appointment and promotion only in consequence of proved +fitness. + +Through a wise provision of the Congress at its last session the White +House, which had become disfigured by incongruous additions and +changes, has now been restored to what it was planned to be by +Washington. In making the restorations the utmost care has been +exercised to come as near as possible to the early plans and to +supplement these plans by a careful study of such buildings as that of +the University of Virginia, which was built by Jefferson. The White +House is the property of the Nation, and so far as is compatible with +living therein it should be kept as it originally was, for the same +reasons that we keep Mount Vernon as it originally was. The stately +simplicity of its architecture is an expression of the character of the +period in which it was built, and is in accord with the purposes it was +designed to serve. It is a good thing to preserve such buildings as +historic monuments which keep alive our sense of continuity with the +Nation's past. + +The reports of the several Executive Departments are submitted to the +Congress with this communication. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 7, 1903 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +The country is to be congratulated on the amount of substantial +achievement which has marked the past year both as regards our foreign +and as regards our domestic policy. + +With a nation as with a man the most important things are those of the +household, and therefore the country is especially to be congratulated +on what has been accomplished in the direction of providing for the +exercise of supervision over the great corporations and combinations of +corporations engaged in interstate commerce. The Congress has created +the Department of Commerce and Labor, including the Bureau of +Corporations, with for the first time authority to secure proper +publicity of such proceedings of these great corporations as the public +has the right to know. It has provided for the expediting of suits for +the enforcement of the Federal anti-trust law; and by another law it +has secured equal treatment to all producers in the transportation of +their goods, thus taking a long stride forward in making effective the +work of the Interstate Commerce Commission. + +The establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor, with the +Bureau of Corporations thereunder, marks a real advance in the +direction of doing all that is possible for the solution of the +questions vitally affecting capitalists and wage-workers. The act +creating Department was approved on February 14, 1903, and two days +later the head of the Department was nominated and confirmed by the +Senate. Since then the work of organization has been pushed as rapidly +as the initial appropriations permitted, and with due regard to +thoroughness and the broad purposes which the Department is designed to +serve. After the transfer of the various bureaus and branches to the +Department at the beginning of the current fiscal year, as provided for +in the act, the personnel comprised 1,289 employees in Washington and +8,836 in the country at large. The scope of the Department's duty and +authority embraces the commercial and industrial interests of the +Nation. It is not designed to restrict or control the fullest liberty +of legitimate business action, but to secure exact and authentic +information which will aid the Executive in enforcing existing laws, +and which will enable the Congress to enact additional legislation, if +any should be found necessary, in order to prevent the few from +obtaining privileges at the expense of diminished opportunities for the +many. + +The preliminary work of the Bureau of Corporations in the Department +has shown the wisdom of its creation. Publicity in corporate affairs +will tend to do away with ignorance, and will afford facts upon which +intelligent action may be taken. Systematic, intelligent investigation +is already developing facts the knowledge of which is essential to a +right understanding of the needs and duties of the business world. The +corporation which is honestly and fairly organized, whose managers in +the conduct of its business recognize their obligation to deal squarely +with their stockholders, their competitors, and the public, has nothing +to fear from such supervision. The purpose of this Bureau is not to +embarrass or assail legitimate business, but to aid in bringing about a +better industrial condition--a condition under which there shall be +obedience to law and recognition of public obligation by all +corporations, great or small. The Department of Commerce and Labor will +be not only the clearing house for information regarding the business +transactions of the Nation, but the executive arm of the Government to +aid in strengthening our domestic and foreign markets, in perfecting +our transportation facilities, in building up our merchant marine, in +preventing the entrance of undesirable immigrants, in improving +commercial and industrial conditions, and in bringing together on +common ground those necessary partners in industrial progress--capital +and labor. Commerce between the nations is steadily growing in volume, +and the tendency of the times is toward closer trade relations. +Constant watchfulness is needed to secure to Americans the chance to +participate to the best advantage in foreign trade; and we may +confidently expect that the new Department will justify the expectation +of its creators by the exercise of this watchfulness, as well as by the +businesslike administration of such laws relating to our internal +affairs as are intrusted to its care. + +In enacting the laws above enumerated the Congress proceeded on sane +and conservative lines. Nothing revolutionary was attempted; but a +common-sense and successful effort was made in the direction of seeing +that corporations are so handled as to subserve the public good. The +legislation was moderate. It was characterized throughout by the idea +that we were not attacking corporations, but endeavoring to provide for +doing away with any evil in them; that we drew the line against +misconduct, not against wealth; gladly recognizing the great good done +by the capitalist who alone, or in conjunction with his fellows, does +his work along proper and legitimate lines. The purpose of the +legislation, which purpose will undoubtedly be fulfilled, was to favor +such a man when he does well, and to supervise his action only to +prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can do no harm to the honest +corporation. The only corporation that has cause to dread it is the +corporation which shrinks from the light, and about the welfare of such +corporations we need not be oversensitive. The work of the Department +of Commerce and Labor has been conditioned upon this theory, of +securing fair treatment alike for labor and for capital. + +The consistent policy of the National Government, so far as it has the +power, is to hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether employer or +employee; but to refuse to weaken individual initiative or to hamper or +cramp the industrial development of the country. We recognize that this +is an era of federation and combination, in which great capitalistic +corporations and labor unions have become factors of tremendous +importance in all industrial centers. Hearty recognition is given the +far-reaching, beneficent work which has been accomplished through both +corporations and unions, and the line as between different +corporations, as between different unions, is drawn as it is between +different individuals; that is, it is drawn on conduct, the effort +being to treat both organized capital and organized labor alike; asking +nothing save that the interest of each shall be brought into harmony +with the interest of the general public, and that the conduct of each +shall conform to the fundamental rules of obedience to law, of +individual freedom, and of justice and fair dealing towards all. +Whenever either corporation, labor union, or individual disregards the +law or acts in a spirit of arbitrary and tyrannous interference with +the rights of others, whether corporations or individuals, then where +the Federal Government has jurisdiction, it will see to it that the +misconduct is stopped, paying not the slightest heed to the position or +power of the corporation, the union or the individual, but only to one +vital fact--that is, the question whether or not the conduct of the +individual or aggregate of individuals is in accordance with the law of +the land. Every man must be guaranteed his liberty and his right to do +as he likes with his property or his labor, so long as he does not +infringe the rights of others. No man is above the law and no man is +below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to +obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a +favor. + +We have cause as a nation to be thankful for the steps that have been +so successfully taken to put these principles into effect. The progress +has been by evolution, not by revolution. Nothing radical has been +done; the action has been both moderate and resolute. Therefore the +work will stand. There shall be no backward step. If in the working of +the laws it proves desirable that they shall at any point be expanded +or amplified, the amendment can be made as its desirability is shown. +Meanwhile they are being administered with judgment, but with +insistence upon obedience to them, and their need has been emphasized +in signal fashion by the events of the past year. + +From all sources, exclusive of the postal service, the receipts of the +Government for the last fiscal year aggregated $560,396,674. The +expenditures for the same period were $506,099,007, the surplus for the +fiscal year being $54,297,667. The indications are that the surplus for +the present fiscal year will be very small, if indeed there be any +surplus. From July to November the receipts from customs were, +approximately, nine million dollars less than the receipts from the +same source for a corresponding portion of last year. Should this +decrease continue at the same ratio throughout the fiscal year, the +surplus would be reduced by, approximately, thirty million dollars. +Should the revenue from customs suffer much further decrease during the +fiscal year, the surplus would vanish. A large surplus is certainly +undesirable. Two years ago the war taxes were taken off with the +express intention of equalizing the governmental receipts and +expenditures, and though the first year thereafter still showed a +surplus, it now seems likely that a substantial equality of revenue and +expenditure will be attained. Such being the case it is of great moment +both to exercise care and economy in appropriations, and to scan +sharply any change in our fiscal revenue system which may reduce our +income. The need of strict economy in our expenditures is emphasized by +the fact that we can not afford to be parsimonious in providing for +what is essential to our national well-being. Careful economy wherever +possible will alone prevent our income from falling below the point +required in order to meet our genuine needs. + +The integrity of our currency is beyond question, and under present +conditions it would be unwise and unnecessary to attempt a +reconstruction of our entire monetary system. The same liberty should +be granted the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit customs receipts as +is granted him in the deposit of receipts from other sources. In my +Message of December 2, 1902, I called attention to certain needs of the +financial situation, and I again ask the consideration of the Congress +for these questions. + +During the last session of the Congress at the suggestion of a joint +note from the Republic of Mexico and the Imperial Government of China, +and in harmony with an act of the Congress appropriating $25,000 to pay +the expenses thereof, a commission was appointed to confer with the +principal European countries in the hope that some plan might be +devised whereby a fixed rate of exchange could be assured between the +gold-standard countries and the silver-standard countries. This +commission has filed its preliminary report, which has been made +public. I deem it important that the commission be continued, and that +a sum of money be appropriated sufficient to pay the expenses of its +further labors. + +A majority of our people desire that steps be taken in the interests of +American shipping, so that we may once more resume our former position +in the ocean carrying trade. But hitherto the differences of opinion as +to the proper method of reaching this end have been so wide that it has +proved impossible to secure the adoption of any particular scheme. +Having in view these facts, I recommend that the Congress direct the +Secretary of the Navy, the Postmaster-General, and the Secretary of +Commerce and Labor, associated with such a representation from the +Senate and House of Representatives as the Congress in its wisdom may +designate, to serve as a commission for the purpose of investigating +and reporting to the Congress at its next session what legislation is +desirable or necessary for the development of the American merchant +marine and American commerce, and incidentally of a national ocean mail +service of adequate auxiliary naval crusiers and naval reserves. While +such a measure is desirable in any event, it is especially desirable at +this time, in view of the fact that our present governmental contract +for ocean mail with the American Line will expire in 1905. Our ocean +mail act was passed in 1891. In 1895 our 20-knot transatlantic mail +line was equal to any foreign line. Since then the Germans have put on +23-knot, steamers, and the British have contracted for 24-knot +steamers. Our service should equal the best. If it does not, the +commercial public will abandon it. If we are to stay in the business it +ought to be with a full understanding of the advantages to the country +on one hand, and on the other with exact knowledge of the cost and +proper methods of carrying it on. Moreover, lines of cargo ships are of +even more importance than fast mail lines; save so far as the latter +can be depended upon to furnish swift auxiliary cruisers in time of +war. The establishment of new lines of cargo ships to South America, to +Asia, and elsewhere would be much in the interest of our commercial +expansion. + +We can not have too much immigration of the right kind, and we should +have none at all of the wrong kind. The need is to devise some system +by which undesirable immigrants shall be kept out entirely, while +desirable immigrants are properly distributed throughout the country. +At present some districts which need immigrants have none; and in +others, where the population is already congested, immigrants come in +such numbers as to depress the conditions of life for those already +there. During the last two years the immigration service at New York +has been greatly improved, and the corruption and inefficiency which +formerly obtained there have been eradicated. This service has just +been investigated by a committee of New York citizens of high standing, +Messrs. Arthur V. Briesen, Lee K. Frankel, Eugene A. Philbin, Thomas W. +Hynes, and Ralph Trautman. Their report deals with the whole situation +at length, and concludes with certain recommendations for +administrative and legislative action. It is now receiving the +attention of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. + +The special investigation of the subject of naturalization under the +direction of the Attorney-General, and the consequent prosecutions +reveal a condition of affairs calling for the immediate attention of +the Congress. Forgeries and perjuries of shameless and flagrant +character have been perpetrated, not only in the dense centers of +population, but throughout the country; and it is established beyond +doubt that very many so-called citizens of the United States have no +title whatever to that right, and are asserting and enjoying the +benefits of the same through the grossest frauds. It is never to be +forgotten that citizenship is, to quote the words recently used by the +Supreme Court of the United States, an "inestimable heritage," whether +it proceeds from birth within the country or is obtained by +naturalization; and we poison the sources of our national character and +strength at the fountain, if the privilege is claimed and exercised +without right, and by means of fraud and corruption. The body politic +can not be sound and healthy if many of its constituent members claim +their standing through the prostitution of the high right and calling +of citizenship. It should mean something to become a citizen of the +United States; and in the process no loophole whatever should be left +open to fraud. + +The methods by which these frauds--now under full investigation with a +view to meting out punishment and providing adequate remedies--are +perpetrated, include many variations of procedure by which false +certificates of citizenship are forged in their entirety; or genuine +certificates fraudulently or collusively obtained in blank are filled +in by the criminal conspirators; or certificates are obtained on +fraudulent statements as to the time of arrival and residence in this +country; or imposition and substitution of another party for the real +petitioner occur in court; or certificates are made the subject of +barter and sale and transferred from the rightful holder to those not +entitled to them; or certificates are forged by erasure of the original +names and the insertion of the names of other persons not entitled to +the same. + +It is not necessary for me to refer here at large to the causes leading +to this state of affairs. The desire for naturalization is heartily to +be commended where it springs from a sincere and permanent intention to +become citizens, and a real appreciation of the privilege. But it is a +source of untold evil and trouble where it is traceable to selfish and +dishonest motives, such as the effort by artificial and improper means, +in wholesale fashion to create voters who are ready-made tools of +corrupt politicians, or the desire to evade certain labor laws creating +discriminations against alien labor. All good citizens, whether +naturalized or native born, are equally interested in protecting our +citizenship against fraud in any form, and, on the other hand, in +affording every facility for naturalization to those who in good faith +desire to share alike our privileges and our responsibilities. + +The Federal grand jury lately in session in New York City dealt with +this subject and made a presentment which states the situation briefly +and forcibly and contains important suggestions for the consideration +of the Congress. This presentment is included as an appendix to the +report of the Attorney-General. + +In my last annual Message, in connection with the subject of the due +regulation of combinations of capital which are or may become injurious +to the public, I recommend a special appropriation for the better +enforcement of the antitrust law as it now stands, to be extended under +the direction of the Attorney-General. Accordingly (by the legislative, +executive, and judicial appropriation act of February 25, 1903, 32 +Stat., 854, 904), the Congress appropriated, for the purpose of +enforcing the various Federal trust and interstate-commerce laws, the +sum of five hundred thousand dollars, to be expended under the +direction of the Attorney-General in the employment of special counsel +and agents in the Department of Justice to conduct proceedings and +prosecutions under said laws in the courts of the United States. I now +recommend, as a matter of the utmost importance and urgency, the +extension of the purposes of this appropriation, so that it may be +available, under the direction of the Attorney-General, and until used, +for the due enforcement of the laws of the United States in general and +especially of the civil and criminal laws relating to public lands and +the laws relating to postal crimes and offenses and the subject of +naturalization. Recent investigations have shown a deplorable state of +affairs in these three matters of vital concern. By various frauds and +by forgeries and perjuries, thousands of acres of the public domain, +embracing lands of different character and extending through various +sections of the country, have been dishonestly acquired. It is hardly +necessary to urge the importance of recovering these dishonest +acquisitions, stolen from the people, and of promptly and duly +punishing the offenders. I speak in another part of this Message of the +widespread crimes by which the sacred right of citizenship is falsely +asserted and that "inestimable heritage" perverted to base ends. By +similar means--that is, through frauds, forgeries, and perjuries, and +by shameless briberies--the laws relating to the proper conduct of the +public service in general and to the due administration of the +Post-Office Department have been notoriously violated, and many +indictments have been found, and the consequent prosecutions are in +course of hearing or on the eve thereof. For the reasons thus +indicated, and so that the Government may be prepared to enforce +promptly and with the greatest effect the due penalties for such +violations of law, and to this end may be furnished with sufficient +instrumentalities and competent legal assistance for the investigations +and trials which will be necessary at many different points of the +country, I urge upon the Congress the necessity of making the said +appropriation available for immediate use for all such purposes, to be +expended under the direction of the Attorney-General. + +Steps have been taken by the State Department looking to the making of +bribery an extraditable offense with foreign powers. The need of more +effective treaties covering this crime is manifest. The exposures and +prosecutions of official corruption in St. Louis, Mo., and other cities +and States have resulted in a number of givers and takers of bribes +becoming fugitives in foreign lands. Bribery has not been included in +extradition treaties heretofore, as the necessity for it has not +arisen. While there may have been as much official corruption in former +years, there has been more developed and brought to light in the +immediate past than in the preceding century of our country's history. +It should be the policy of the United States to leave no place on earth +where a corrupt man fleeing from this country can rest in peace. There +is no reason why bribery should not be included in all treaties as +extraditable. The recent amended treaty with Mexico, whereby this crime +was put in the list of extraditable offenses, has established a +salutary precedent in this regard. Under this treaty the State +Department has asked, and Mexico has granted, the extradition of one of +the St. Louis bribe givers. + +There can be no crime more serious than bribery. Other offenses violate +one law while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law. Under +our form of Government all authority is vested in the people and by +them delegated to those who represent them in official capacity. There +can be no offense heavier than that of him in whom such a sacred trust +has been reposed, who sells it for his own gain and enrichment; and no +less heavy is the offense of the bribe giver. He is worse than the +thief, for the thief robs the individual, while the corrupt official +plunders an entire city or State. He is as wicked as the murderer, for +the murderer may only take one life against the law, while the corrupt +official and the man who corrupts the official alike aim at the +assassination of the commonwealth itself. Government of the people, by +the people, for the people will perish from the face of the earth if +bribery is tolerated. The givers and takers of bribes stand on an evil +pre-eminence of infamy. The exposure and punishment of public +corruption is an honor to a nation, not a disgrace. The shame lies in +toleration, not in correction. No city or State, still less the Nation, +can be injured by the enforcement of law. As long as public plunderers +when detected can find a haven of refuge in any foreign land and avoid +punishment, just so long encouragement is given them to continue their +practices. If we fail to do all that in us lies to stamp out corruption +we can not escape our share of responsibility for the guilt. The first +requisite of successful self-government is unflinching enforcement of +the law and the cutting out of corruption. + +For several years past the rapid development of Alaska and the +establishment of growing American interests in regions theretofore +unsurveyed and imperfectly known brought into prominence the urgent +necessity of a practical demarcation of the boundaries between the +jurisdictions of the United States and Great Britain. Although the +treaty of 1825 between Great Britain and Russia, the provisions of +which were copied in the treaty of 1867, whereby Russia conveyed Alaska +to the United States, was positive as to the control, first by Russia +and later by the United States, of a strip of territory along the +continental mainland from the western shore of Portland Canal to Mount +St. Elias, following and surrounding the indentations of the coast and +including the islands to the westward, its description of the landward +margin of the strip was indefinite, resting on the supposed existence +of a continuous ridge or range of mountains skirting the coast, as +figured in the charts of the early navigators. It had at no time been +possible for either party in interest to lay down, under the authority +of the treaty, a line so obviously exact according to its provisions as +to command the assent of the other. For nearly three-fourths of a +century the absence of tangible local interests demanding the exercise +of positive jurisdiction on either side of the border left the question +dormant. In 1878 questions of revenue administration on the Stikine +River led to the establishment of a provisional demarcation, crossing +the channel between two high peaks on either side about twenty-four +miles above the river mouth. In 1899 similar questions growing out of +the extraordinary development of mining interests in the region about +the head of Lynn Canal brought about a temporary modus vivendi, by +which a convenient separation was made at the watershed divides of the +White and Chilkoot passes and to the north of Klukwan, on the Klehini +River. These partial and tentative adjustments could not, in the very +nature of things, be satisfactory or lasting. A permanent disposition +of the matter became imperative. + +After unavailing attempts to reach an understanding through a Joint +High Commission, followed by prolonged negotiations, conducted in an +amicable spirit, a convention between the United States and Great +Britain was signed, January 24, 1903, providing for an examination of +the subject by a mixed tribunal of six members, three on a side, with a +view to its final disposition. Ratifications were exchanged on March 3 +last, whereupon the two Governments appointed their respective members. +Those on behalf of the United States were Elihu Root, Secretary of War, +Henry Cabot Lodge, a Senator of the United States, and George Turner, +an ex-Senator of the United States, while Great Britain named the Right +Honourable Lord Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir Louis +Amable Jette, K. C. M. G., retired judge of the Supreme Court of +Quebec, and A. B. Aylesworth, K. C., of Toronto. This Tribunal met in +London on September 3, under the Presidency of Lord Alverstone. The +proceedings were expeditious, and marked by a friendly and +conscientious spirit. The respective cases, counter cases, and +arguments presented the issues clearly and fully. On the 20th of +October a majority of the Tribunal reached and signed an agreement on +all the questions submitted by the terms of the Convention. By this +award the right of the United States to the control of a continuous +strip or border of the mainland shore, skirting all the tide-water +inlets and sinuosities of the coast, is confirmed; the entrance to +Portland Canal (concerning which legitimate doubt appeared) is defined +as passing by Tongass Inlet and to the northwestward of Wales and +Pearse islands; a line is drawn from the head of Portland Canal to the +fifty-sixth degree of north latitude; and the interior border line of +the strip is fixed by lines connecting certain mountain summits lying +between Portland Canal and Mount St. Elias, and running along the crest +of the divide separating the coast slope from the inland watershed at +the only part of the frontier where the drainage ridge approaches the +coast within the distance of ten marine leagues stipulated by the +treaty as the extreme width of the strip around the heads of Lynn Canal +and its branches. + +While the line so traced follows the provisional demarcation of 1878 at +the crossing of the Stikine River, and that of 1899 at the summits of +the White and Chilkoot passes, it runs much farther inland from the +Klehini than the temporary line of the later modus vivendi, and leaves +the entire mining district of the Porcupine River and Glacier Creek +within the jurisdiction of the United States. + +The result is satisfactory in every way. It is of great material +advantage to our people in the Far Northwest. It has removed from the +field of discussion and possible danger a question liable to become +more acutely accentuated with each passing year. Finally, it has +furnished a signal proof of the fairness and good will with which two +friendly nations can approach and determine issues involving national +sovereignty and by their nature incapable of submission to a third +power for adjudication. + +The award is self-executing on the vital points. To make it effective +as regards the others it only remains for the two Governments to +appoint, each on its own behalf, one or more scientific experts, who +shall, with all convenient speed, proceed together to lay down the +boundary line in accordance with the decision of the majority of the +Tribunal. I recommend that the Congress make adequate provision for the +appointment, compensation, and expenses of the members to serve on this +joint boundary commission on the part of the United States. + +It will be remembered that during the second session of the last +Congress Great Britain, Germany, and Italy formed an alliance for the +purpose of blockading the ports of Venezuela and using such other means +of pressure as would secure a settlement of claims due, as they +alleged, to certain of their subjects. Their employment of force for +the collection of these claims was terminated by an agreement brought +about through the offices of the diplomatic representatives of the +United States at Caracas and the Government at Washington, thereby +ending a situation which was bound to cause increasing friction, and +which jeoparded the peace of the continent. Under this agreement +Venezuela agreed to set apart a certain percentage of the customs +receipts of two of her ports to be applied to the payment of whatever +obligations might be ascertained by mixed commissions appointed for +that purpose to be due from her, not only to the three powers already +mentioned, whose proceedings against her had resulted in a state of +war, but also to the United States, France, Spain, Belgium, the +Netherland Sweden and Norway, and Mexico, who had not employed force +for the collection of the claims alleged to be due to certain of their +citizens. + +A demand was then made by the so-called blockading powers that the sums +ascertained to be due to their citizens by such mixed commissions +should be accorded payment in full before anything was paid upon the +claims of any of the so-called peace powers. Venezuela, on the other +hand, insisted that all her creditors should be paid upon a basis of +exact equality. During the efforts to adjust this dispute it was +suggested by the powers in interest that it should be referred to me +for decision, but I was clearly of the opinion that a far wiser course +would be to submit the question to the Permanent Court of Arbitration +at The Hague. It seemed to me to offer an admirable opportunity to +advance the practice of the peaceful settlement of disputes between +nations and to secure for the Hague Tribunal a memorable increase of +its practical importance. The nations interested in the controversy +were so numerous and in many instances so powerful as to make it +evident that beneficent results would follow from their appearance at +the same time before the bar of that august tribunal of peace. + +Our hopes in that regard have been realized. Russia and Austria are +represented in the persons of the learned and distinguished jurists who +compose the Tribunal, while Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, +Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, Mexico, the United +States, and Venezuela are represented by their respective agents and +counsel. Such an imposing concourse of nations presenting their +arguments to and invoking the decision of that high court of +international justice and international peace can hardly fail to secure +a like submission of many future controversies. The nations now +appearing there will find it far easier to appear there a second time, +while no nation can imagine its just pride will be lessened by +following the example now presented. This triumph of the principle of +international arbitration is a subject of warm congratulation and +offers a happy augury for the peace of the world. + +There seems good ground for the belief that there has been a real +growth among the civilized nations of a sentiment which will permit a +gradual substitution of other methods than the method of war in the +settlement of disputes. It is not pretended that as yet we are near a +position in which it will be possible wholly to prevent war, or that a +just regard for national interest and honor will in all cases permit of +the settlement of international disputes by arbitration; but by a +mixture of prudence and firmness with wisdom we think it is possible to +do away with much of the provocation and excuse for war, and at least +in many cases to substitute some other and more rational method for the +settlement of disputes. The Hague Court offers so good an example of +what can be done in the direction of such settlement that it should be +encouraged in every way. + +Further steps should be taken. In President McKinley's annual Message +of December 5, 1898, he made the following recommendation: + +"The experiences of the last year bring forcibly home to us a sense of +the burdens and the waste of war. We desire in common with most +civilized nations, to reduce to the lowest possible point the damage +sustained in time of war by peaceable trade and commerce. It is true we +may suffer in such cases less than other communities, but all nations +are damaged more or less by the state of uneasiness and apprehension +into which an outbreak of hostilities throws the entire commercial +world. It should be our object, therefore, to minimize, so far as +practicable, this inevitable loss and disturbance. This purpose can +probably best be accomplished by an international agreement to regard +all private property at sea as exempt from capture or destruction by +the forces of belligerent powers. The United States Government has for +many years advocated this humane and beneficent principle, and is now +in a position to recommend it to other powers without the imputation of +selfish motives. I therefore suggest for your consideration that the +Executive be authorized to correspond with the governments of the +principal maritime powers with a view of incorporating into the +permanent law of civilized nations the principle of the exemption of +all private property at sea, not contraband of war, from capture or +destruction by belligerent powers." + +I cordially renew this recommendation. + +The Supreme Court, speaking on December 11. 1899, through Peckham, J., +said: + +"It is, we think, historically accurate to say that this Government has +always been, in its views, among the most advanced of the governments +of the world in favor of mitigating, as to all non-combatants, the +hardships and horrors of war. To accomplish that object it has always +advocated those rules which would in most cases do away with the right +to capture the private property of an enemy on the high seas." + +I advocate this as a matter of humanity and morals. It is anachronistic +when private property is respected on land that it should not be +respected at sea. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that shipping +represents, internationally speaking, a much more generalized species +of private property than is the case with ordinary property on +land--that is, property found at sea is much less apt than is the case +with property found on land really to belong to any one nation. Under +the modern system of corporate ownership the flag of a vessel often +differs from the flag which would mark the nationality of the real +ownership and money control of the vessel; and the cargo may belong to +individuals of yet a different nationality. Much American capital is +now invested in foreign ships; and among foreign nations it often +happens that the capital of one is largely invested in the shipping of +another. Furthermore, as a practical matter, it may be mentioned that +while commerce destroying may cause serious loss and great annoyance, +it can never be more than a subsidiary factor in bringing to terms a +resolute foe. This is now well recognized by all of our naval experts. +The fighting ship, not the commerce destroyer, is the vessel whose +feats add renown to a nation's history, and establish her place among +the great powers of the world. + +Last year the Interparliamentary Union for International Arbitration +met at Vienna, six hundred members of the different legislatures of +civilized countries attending. It was provided that the next meeting +should be in 1904 at St. Louis, subject to our Congress extending an +invitation. Like the Hague Tribunal, this Interparliamentary Union is +one of the forces tending towards peace among the nations of the earth, +and it is entitled to our support. I trust the invitation can be +extended. + +Early in July, having received intelligence, which happily turned out +to be erroneous, of the assassination of our vice-consul at Beirut, I +dispatched a small squadron to that port for such service as might be +found necessary on arrival. Although the attempt on the life of our +vice-consul had not been successful, yet the outrage was symptomatic of +a state of excitement and disorder which demanded immediate attention. +The arrival of the vessels had the happiest result. A feeling of +security at once took the place of the former alarm and disquiet; our +officers were cordially welcomed by the consular body and the leading +merchants, and ordinary business resumed its activity. The Government +of the Sultan gave a considerate hearing to the representations of our +minister; the official who was regarded as responsible for the +disturbed condition of affairs was removed. Our relations with the +Turkish Government remain friendly; our claims rounded on inequitable +treatment of some of our schools and missions appear to be in process +of amicable adjustment. + +The signing of a new commercial treaty with China, which took place at +Shanghai on the 8th of October, is a cause for satisfaction. This act, +the result of long discussion and negotiation, places our commercial +relations with the great Oriental Empire on a more satisfactory footing +than they have ever heretofore enjoyed. It provides not only for the +ordinary rights and privileges of diplomatic and consular officers, but +also for an important extension of our commerce by increased facility +of access to Chinese ports, and for the relief of trade by the removal +of some of the obstacles which have embarrassed it in the past. The +Chinese Government engages, on fair and equitable conditions, which +will probably be accepted by the principal commercial nations, to +abandon the levy of "liken" and other transit dues throughout the +Empire, and to introduce other desirable administrative reforms. Larger +facilities are to be given to our citizens who desire to carry on +mining enterprises in China. We have secured for our missionaries a +valuable privilege, the recognition of their right to rent and lease in +perpetuity such property as their religious societies may need in all +parts of the Empire. And, what was an indispensable condition for the +advance and development of our commerce in Manchuria, China, by treaty +with us, has opened to foreign commerce the cities of Mukden, the +capital of the province of Manchuria, and An-tung, an important port on +the Yalu River, on the road to Korea. The full measure of development +which our commerce may rightfully expect can hardly be looked for until +the settlement of the present abnormal state of things in the Empire; +but the foundation for such development has at last been laid. + +I call your attention to the reduced cost in maintaining the consular +service for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, as shown in the +annual report of the Auditor for the State and other Departments, as +compared with the year previous. For the year under consideration the +excess of expenditures over receipts on account of the consular service +amounted to $26,125.12, as against $96,972.50 for the year ending June +30, 1902, and $147,040.16 for the year ending June 30, 1901. This is +the best showing in this respect for the consular service for the past +fourteen years, and the reduction in the cost of the service to the +Government has been made in spite of the fact that the expenditures for +the year in question were more than $20,000 greater than for the +previous year. + +The rural free-delivery service has been steadily extended. The +attention of the Congress is asked to the question of the compensation +of the letter carriers and clerks engaged in the postal service, +especially on the new rural free-delivery routes. More routes have been +installed since the first of July last than in any like period in the +Department's history. While a due regard to economy must be kept in +mind in the establishment of new routes, yet the extension of the rural +free-delivery system must be continued, for reasons of sound public +policy. No governmental movement of recent years has resulted in +greater immediate benefit to the people of the country districts. Rural +free delivery, taken in connection with the telephone, the bicycle, and +the trolley, accomplishes much toward lessening the isolation of farm +life and making it brighter and more attractive. In the immediate past +the lack of just such facilities as these has driven many of the more +active and restless young men and women from the farms to the cities; +for they rebelled at loneliness and lack of mental companionship. It is +unhealthy and undesirable for the cities to grow at the expense of the +country; and rural free delivery is not only a good thing in itself, +but is good because it is one of the causes which check this +unwholesome tendency towards the urban concentration of our population +at the expense of the country districts. It is for the same reason that +we sympathize with and approve of the policy of building good roads. +The movement for good roads is one fraught with the greatest benefit to +the country districts. + +I trust that the Congress will continue to favor in all proper ways the +Louisiana Purchase Exposition. This Exposition commemorates the +Louisiana purchase, which was the first great step in the expansion +which made us a continental nation. The expedition of Lewis and Clark +across the continent followed thereon, and marked the beginning of the +process of exploration and colonization which thrust our national +boundaries to the Pacific. The acquisition of the Oregon country, +including the present States of Oregon and Washington, was a fact of +immense importance in our history; first giving us our place on the +Pacific seaboard, and making ready the way for our ascendency in the +commerce of the greatest of the oceans. The centennial of our +establishment upon the western coast by the expedition of Lewis and +Clark is to be celebrated at Portland, Oregon, by an exposition in the +summer of 1905, and this event should receive recognition and support +from the National Government. + +I call your special attention to the Territory of Alaska. The country +is developing rapidly, and it has an assured future. The mineral wealth +is great and has as yet hardly been tapped. The fisheries, if wisely +handled and kept under national control, will be a business as +permanent as any other, and of the utmost importance to the people. The +forests if properly guarded will form another great source of wealth. +Portions of Alaska are fitted for farming and stock raising, although +the methods must be adapted to the peculiar conditions of the country. +Alaska is situated in the far north; but so are Norway and Sweden and +Finland; and Alaska can prosper and play its part in the New World just +as those nations have prospered and played their parts in the Old +World. Proper land laws should be enacted; and the survey of the public +lands immediately begun. Coal-land laws should be provided whereby the +coal-land entryman may make his location and secure patent under +methods kindred to those now prescribed for homestead and mineral +entrymen. Salmon hatcheries, exclusively under Government control, +should be established. The cable should be extended from Sitka +westward. Wagon roads and trails should be built, and the building of +railroads promoted in all legitimate ways. Light-houses should be built +along the coast. Attention should be paid to the needs of the Alaska +Indians; provision should be made for an officer, with deputies, to +study their needs, relieve their immediate wants, and help them adapt +themselves to the new conditions. + +The commission appointed to investigate, during the season of 1903, the +condition and needs of the Alaskan salmon fisheries, has finished its +work in the field, and is preparing a detailed report thereon. A +preliminary report reciting the measures immediately required for the +protection and preservation of the salmon industry has already been +submitted to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor for his attention and +for the needed action. + +I recommend that an appropriation be made for building light-houses in +Hawaii, and taking possession of those already built. The Territory +should be reimbursed for whatever amounts it has already expended for +light-houses. The governor should be empowered to suspend or remove any +official appointed by him, without submitting the matter to the +legislature. + +Of our insular possessions the Philippines and Porto Rico it is +gratifying to say that their steady progress has been such as to make +it unnecessary to spend much time in discussing them. Yet the Congress +should ever keep in mind that a peculiar obligation rests upon us to +further in every way the welfare of these communities. The Philippines +should be knit closer to us by tariff arrangements. It would, of +course, be impossible suddenly to raise the people of the islands to +the high pitch of industrial prosperity and of governmental efficiency +to which they will in the end by degrees attain; and the caution and +moderation shown in developing them have been among the main reasons +why this development has hitherto gone on so smoothly. Scrupulous care +has been taken in the choice of governmental agents, and the entire +elimination of partisan politics from the public service. The condition +of the islanders is in material things far better than ever before, +while their governmental, intellectual, and moral advance has kept pace +with their material advance. No one people ever benefited another +people more than we have benefited the Filipinos by taking possession +of the islands. + +The cash receipts of the General Land Office for the last fiscal year +were $11,024,743.65, an increase of $4,762,816.47 over the preceding +year. Of this sum, approximately, $8,461,493 will go to the credit of +the fund for the reclamation of arid land, making the total of this +fund, up to the 30th of June, 1903, approximately, $16,191,836. + +A gratifying disposition has been evinced by those having unlawful +inclosures of public land to remove their fences. Nearly two million +acres so inclosed have been thrown open on demand. In but comparatively +few cases has it been necessary to go into court to accomplish this +purpose. This work will be vigorously prosecuted until all unlawful +inclosures have been removed. + +Experience has shown that in the western States themselves, as well as +in the rest of the country, there is widespread conviction that certain +of the public-land laws and the resulting administrative practice no +longer meet the present needs. The character and uses of the remaining +public lands differ widely from those of the public lands which +Congress had especially in view when these laws were passed. The +rapidly increasing rate of disposal of the public lands is not followed +by a corresponding increase in home building. There is a tendency to +mass in large holdings public lands, especially timber and grazing +lands, and thereby to retard settlement. I renew and emphasize my +recommendation of last year that so far as they are available for +agriculture in its broadest sense, and to whatever extent they may be +reclaimed under the national irrigation law, the remaining public lands +should be held rigidly for the home builder. The attention of the +Congress is especially directed to the timber and stone law, the +desert-land law, and the commutation clause of the homestead law, which +in their operation have in many respects conflicted with wise +public-land policy. The discussions in the Congress and elsewhere have +made it evident that there is a wide divergence of opinions between +those holding opposite views on these subjects; and that the opposing +sides have strong and convinced representatives of weight both within +and without the Congress; the differences being not only as to matters +of opinion but as to matters of fact. In order that definite +information may be available for the use of the Congress, I have +appointed a commission composed of W. A. Richards, Commissioner of the +General Land Office; Gifford Pinchot, Chief of the Bureau of Forestry +of the Department of Agriculture, and F. H. Newell, Chief Hydrographer +of the Geological Survey, to report at the earliest practicable moment +upon the condition, operation, and effect of the present land laws and +on the use, condition, disposal, and settlement of the public lands. +The commission will report especially what changes in organization, +laws, regulations, and practice affecting the public lands are needed +to effect the largest practicable disposition of the public lands to +actual settlers who will build permanent homes upon them, and to secure +in permanence the fullest and most effective use of the resources of +the public lands; and it will make such other reports and +recommendations as its study of these questions may suggest. The +commission is to report immediately upon those points concerning which +its judgment is clear; on any point upon which it has doubt it will +take the time necessary to make investigation and reach a final +judgment. + +The work of reclamation of the arid lands of the West is progressing +steadily and satisfactorily under the terms of the law setting aside +the proceeds from the disposal of public lands. The corps of engineers +known as the Reclamation Service, which is conducting the surveys and +examinations, has been thoroughly organized, especial pains being taken +to secure under the civil-service rules a body of skilled, experienced, +and efficient men. Surveys and examinations are progressing throughout +the arid States and Territories, plans for reclaiming works being +prepared and passed upon by boards of engineers before approval by the +Secretary of the Interior. In Arizona and Nevada, in localities where +such work is pre-eminently needed, construction has already been begun. +In other parts of the arid West various projects are well advanced +towards the drawing up of contracts, these being delayed in part by +necessities of reaching agreements or understanding as regards rights +of way or acquisition of real estate. Most of the works contemplated +for construction are of national importance, involving interstate +questions or the securing of stable, self-supporting communities in the +midst of vast tracts of vacant land. The Nation as a whole is of course +the gainer by the creation of these homes, adding as they do to the +wealth and stability of the country, and furnishing a home market for +the products of the East and South. The reclamation law, while perhaps +not ideal, appears at present to answer the larger needs for which it +is designed. Further legislation is not recommended until the +necessities of change are more apparent. + +The study of the opportunities of reclamation of the vast extent of +arid land shows that whether this reclamation is done by individuals, +corporations, or the State, the sources of water supply must be +effectively protected and the reservoirs guarded by the preservation of +the forests at the headwaters of the streams. The engineers making the +preliminary examinations continually emphasize this need and urge that +the remaining public lands at the headwaters of the important streams +of the West be reserved to insure permanency of water supply for +irrigation. Much progress in forestry has been made during the past +year. The necessity for perpetuating our forest resources, whether in +public or private hands, is recognized now as never before. The demand +for forest reserves has become insistent in the West, because the West +must use the water, wood, and summer range which only such reserves can +supply. Progressive lumbermen are striving, through forestry, to give +their business permanence. Other great business interests are awakening +to the need of forest preservation as a business matter. The +Government's forest work should receive from the Congress hearty +support, and especially support adequate for the protection of the +forest reserves against fire. The forest-reserve policy of the +Government has passed beyond the experimental stage and has reached a +condition where scientific methods are essential to its successful +prosecution. The administrative features of forest reserves are at +present unsatisfactory, being divided between three Bureaus of two +Departments. It is therefore recommended that all matters pertaining to +forest reserves, except those involving or pertaining to land titles, +be consolidated in the Bureau of Forestry of the Department of +Agriculture. + +The cotton-growing States have recently been invaded by a weevil that +has done much damage and threatens the entire cotton industry. I +suggest to the Congress the prompt enactment of such remedial +legislation as its judgment may approve. + +In granting patents to foreigners the proper course for this country to +follow is to give the same advantages to foreigners here that the +countries in which these foreigners dwell extend in return to our +citizens; that is, to extend the benefits of our patent laws on +inventions and the like where in return the articles would be +patentable in the foreign countries concerned--where an American could +get a corresponding patent in such countries. + +The Indian agents should not be dependent for their appointment or +tenure of office upon considerations of partisan politics; the practice +of appointing, when possible, ex-army officers or bonded +superintendents to the vacancies that occur is working well. Attention +is invited to the widespread illiteracy due to lack of public schools +in the Indian Territory. Prompt heed should be paid to the need of +education for the children in this Territory. + +In my last annual Message the attention of the Congress was called to +the necessity of enlarging the safety-appliance law, and it is +gratifying to note that this law was amended in important respects. +With the increasing railway mileage of the country, the greater number +of men employed, and the use of larger and heavier equipment, the +urgency for renewed effort to prevent the loss of life and limb upon +the railroads of the country, particularly to employees, is apparent. +For the inspection of water craft and the Life-Saving Service upon the +water the Congress has built up an elaborate body of protective +legislation and a thorough method of inspection and is annually +spending large sums of money. It is encouraging to observe that the +Congress is alive to the interests of those who are employed upon our +wonderful arteries of commerce--the railroads--who so safely transport +millions of passengers and billions of tons of freight. The Federal +inspection, of safety appliances, for which the Congress is now making +appropriations, is a service analogous to that which the Government has +upheld for generations in regard to vessels, and it is believed will +prove of great practical benefit, both to railroad employees and the +traveling public. As the greater part of commerce is interstate and +exclusively under the control of the Congress the needed safety and +uniformity must be secured by national legislation. + +No other class of our citizens deserves so well of the Nation as those +to whom the Nation owes its very being, the veterans of the civil war. +Special attention is asked to the excellent work of the Pension Bureau +in expediting and disposing of pension claims. During the fiscal year +ending July 1, 1903, the Bureau settled 251,982 claims, an average of +825 claims for each working day of the year. The number of settlements +since July 1, 1903, has been in excess of last year's average, +approaching 1,000 claims for each working day, and it is believed that +the work of the Bureau will be current at the close of the present +fiscal year. + +During the year ended June 30 last 25,566 persons were appointed +through competitive examinations under the civil-service rules. This +was 12,672 more than during the preceding year, and 40 per cent of +those who passed the examinations. This abnormal growth was largely +occasioned by the extension of classification to the rural +free-delivery service and the appointment last year of over 9,000 rural +carriers. A revision of the civil-service rules took effect on April 15 +last, which has greatly improved their operation. The completion of the +reform of the civil service is recognized by good citizens everywhere +as a matter of the highest public importance, and the success of the +merit system largely depends upon the effectiveness of the rules and +the machinery provided for their enforcement. A very gratifying spirit +of friendly co-operation exists in all the Departments of the +Government in the enforcement and uniform observance of both the letter +and spirit of the civil-service act. Executive orders of July 3, 1902; +March 26, 1903, and July 8, 1903, require that appointments of all +unclassified laborers, both in the Departments at Washington and in the +field service, shall be made with the assistance of the United States +Civil Service Commission, under a system of registration to test the +relative fitness of applicants for appointment or employment. This +system is competitive, and is open to all citizens of the United States +qualified in respect to age, physical ability, moral character, +industry, and adaptability for manual labor; except that in case of +veterans of the Civil War the element of age is omitted. This system of +appointment is distinct from the classified service and does not +classify positions of mere laborer under the civil-service act and +rules. Regulations in aid thereof have been put in operation in several +of the Departments and are being gradually extended in other parts of +the service. The results have been very satisfactory, as extravagance +has been checked by decreasing the number of unnecessary positions and +by increasing the efficiency of the employees remaining. + +The Congress, as the result of a thorough investigation of the +charities and reformatory institutions in the District of Columbia, by +a joint select committee of the two Houses which made its report in +March, 1898, created in the act approved June 6, 1900, a board of +charities for the District of Columbia, to consist of five residents of +the District, appointed by the President of the United States, by and +with the advice and consent of the Senate, each for a term of three +years, to serve without compensation. President McKinley appointed five +men who had been active and prominent in the public charities in +Washington, all of whom upon taking office July 1, 1900, resigned from +the different charities with which they had been connected. The members +of the board have been reappointed in successive years. The board +serves under the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. The board +gave its first year to a careful and impartial study of the special +problems before it, and has continued that study every year in the +light of the best practice in public charities elsewhere. Its +recommendations in its annual reports to the Congress through the +Commissioners of the District of Columbia "for the economical and +efficient administration of the charities and reformatories of the +District of Columbia," as required by the act creating it, have been +based upon the principles commended by the joint select committee of +the Congress in its report of March, 1898, and approved by the best +administrators of public charities, and make for the desired +systematization and improvement of the affairs under its supervision. +They are worthy of favorable consideration by the Congress. + +The effect of the laws providing a General Staff for the Army and for +the more effective use of the National Guard has been excellent. Great +improvement has been made in the efficiency of our Army in recent +years. Such schools as those erected at Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley +and the institution of fall maneuver work accomplish satisfactory +results. The good effect of these maneuvers upon the National Guard is +marked, and ample appropriation should be made to enable the guardsmen +of the several States to share in the benefit. The Government should as +soon as possible secure suitable permanent camp sites for military +maneuvers in the various sections of the country. The service thereby +rendered not only to the Regular Army, but to the National Guard of the +several States, will be so great as to repay many times over the +relatively small expense. We should not rest satisfied with what has +been done, however. The only people who are contented with a system of +promotion by mere seniority are those who are contented with the +triumph of mediocrity over excellence. On the other hand, a system +which encouraged the exercise of social or political favoritism in +promotions would be even worse. But it would surely be easy to devise a +method of promotion from grade to grade in which the opinion of the +higher officers of the service upon the candidates should be decisive +upon the standing and promotion of the latter. Just such a system now +obtains at West Point. The quality of each year's work determines the +standing of that year's class, the man being dropped or graduated into +the next class in the relative position which his military superiors +decide to be warranted by his merit. In other words, ability, energy, +fidelity, and all other similar qualities determine the rank of a man +year after year in West Point, and his standing in the Army when he +graduates from West Point; but from that time on, all effort to find +which man is best or worst, and reward or punish him accordingly, is +abandoned; no brilliancy, no amount of hard work, no eagerness in the +performance of duty, can advance him, and no slackness or indifference +that falls short of a court-martial offense can retard him. Until this +system is changed we can not hope that our officers will be of as high +grade as we have a right to expect, considering the material upon which +we draw. Moreover, when a man renders such service as Captain Pershing +rendered last spring in the Moro campaign, it ought to be possible +to reward him without at once jumping him to the grade of +brigadier-general. + +Shortly after the enunciation of that famous principle of American +foreign policy now known as the "Monroe Doctrine," President Monroe, in +a special Message to Congress on January 30, 1824, spoke as follows: +"The Navy is the arm from which our Government will always derive most +aid in support of our rights. Every power engaged in war will know the +strength of our naval power, the number of our ships of each class, +their condition, and the promptitude with which we may bring them into +service, and will pay due consideration to that argument." + +I heartily congratulate the Congress upon the steady progress in +building up the American Navy. We can not afford a let-up in this great +work. To stand still means to go back. There should be no cessation in +adding to the effective units of the fighting strength of the fleet. +Meanwhile the Navy Department and the officers of the Navy are doing +well their part by providing constant service at sea under conditions +akin to those of actual warfare. Our officers and enlisted men are +learning to handle the battleships, cruisers, and torpedo boats with +high efficiency in fleet and squadron formations, and the standard of +marksmanship is being steadily raised. The best work ashore is +indispensable, but the highest duty of a naval officer is to exercise +command at sea. + +The establishment of a naval base in the Philippines ought not to be +longer postponed. Such a base is desirable in time of peace; in time of +war it would be indispensable, and its lack would be ruinous. Without +it our fleet would be helpless. Our naval experts are agreed that Subig +Bay is the proper place for the purpose. The national interests require +that the work of fortification and development of a naval station at +Subig Bay be begun at an early date; for under the best conditions it +is a work which will consume much time. + +It is eminently desirable, however, that there should be provided a +naval general staff on lines similar to those of the General Staff +lately created for the Army. Within the Navy Department itself the +needs of the service have brought about a system under which the duties +of a general staff are partially performed; for the Bureau of +Navigation has under its direction the War College, the Office of Naval +Intelligence, and the Board of Inspection, and has been in close touch +with the General Board of the Navy. But though under the excellent +officers at their head, these boards and bureaus do good work, they +have not the authority of a general staff, and have not sufficient +scope to insure a proper readiness for emergencies. We need the +establishment by law of a body of trained officers, who shall exercise +a systematic control of the military affairs of the Navy, and be +authorized advisers of the Secretary concerning it. + +By the act of June 28, 1902, the Congress authorized the President to +enter into treaty with Colombia for the building of the canal across +the Isthmus of Panama; it being provided that in the event of failure +to secure such treaty after the lapse of a reasonable time, recourse +should be had to building a canal through Nicaragua. It has not been +necessary to consider this alternative, as I am enabled to lay before +the Senate a treaty providing for the building of the canal across the +Isthmus of Panama. This was the route which commended itself to the +deliberate judgment of the Congress, and we can now acquire by treaty +the right to construct the canal over this route. The question now, +therefore, is not by which route the isthmian canal shall be built, for +that question has been definitely and irrevocably decided. The question +is simply whether or not we shall have an isthmian canal. + +When the Congress directed that we should take the Panama route under +treaty with Colombia, the essence of the condition, of course, referred +not to the Government which controlled that route, but to the route +itself; to the territory across which the route lay, not to the name +which for the moment the territory bore on the map. The purpose of the +law was to authorize the President to make a treaty with the power in +actual control of the Isthmus of Panama. This purpose has been +fulfilled. + +In the year 1846 this Government entered into a treaty with New +Granada, the predecessor upon the Isthmus of the Republic of Colombia +and of the present Republic of Panama, by which treaty it was provided +that the Government and citizens of the United States should always +have free and open right of way or transit across the Isthmus of Panama +by any modes of communication that might be constructed, while in turn +our Government guaranteed the perfect neutrality of the above-mentioned +Isthmus with the view that the free transit from the one to the other +sea might not be interrupted or embarrassed. The treaty vested in the +United States a substantial property right carved out of the rights of +sovereignty and property which New Granada then had and possessed over +the said territory. The name of New Granada has passed away and its +territory has been divided. Its successor, the Government of Colombia, +has ceased to own any property in the Isthmus. A new Republic, that of +Panama, which was at one time a sovereign state, and at another time a +mere department of the successive confederations known as New Granada +and Columbia, has now succeeded to the rights which first one and then +the other formerly exercised over the Isthmus. But as long as the +Isthmus endures, the mere geographical fact of its existence, and the +peculiar interest therein which is required by our position, perpetuate +the solemn contract which binds the holders of the territory to respect +our right to freedom of transit across it, and binds us in return to +safeguard for the Isthmus and the world the exercise of that +inestimable privilege. The true interpretation of the obligations upon +which the United States entered in this treaty of 1846 has been given +repeatedly in the utterances of Presidents and Secretaries of State. +Secretary Cuss in 1858 officially stated the position of this +Government as follows: + +"The progress of events has rendered the interoceanic route across the +narrow portion of Central America vastly important to the commercial +world, and especially to the United States, whose possessions extend +along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and demand the speediest and +easiest modes of communication. While the rights of sovereignty of the +states occupying this region should always be respected, we shall +expect that these rights be exercised in a spirit befitting the +occasion and the wants and circumstances that have arisen. Sovereignty +has its duties as well as its rights, and none of these local +governments, even if administered with more regard to the just demands +of other nations than they have been, would be permitted, in a spirit +of Eastern isolation, to close the gates of intercourse on the great +highways of the world, and justify the act by the pretension that these +avenues of trade and travel belong to them and that they choose to shut +them, or, what is almost equivalent, to encumber them with such unjust +relations as would prevent their general use." + +Seven years later, in 1865, Mr. Seward in different communications took +the following position: + +"The United States have taken and will take no interest in any question +of internal revolution in the State of Panama, or any State of the +United States of Colombia, but will maintain a perfect neutrality in +connection with such domestic altercations. The United States will, +nevertheless, hold themselves ready to protect the transit trade across +the Isthmus against invasion of either domestic or foreign disturbers +of the peace of the State of Panama. Neither the text nor the spirit of +the stipulation in that article by which the United States engages to +preserve the neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama, imposes an obligation +on this Government to comply with the requisition of the President of +the United States of Colombia for a force to protect the Isthmus of +Panama from a body of insurgents of that country. The purpose of the +stipulation was to guarantee the Isthmus against seizure or invasion by +a foreign power only." + +Attorney-General Speed, under date of November 7, 1865, advised +Secretary Seward as follows: + +"From this treaty it can not be supposed that New Granada invited the +United States to become a party to the intestine troubles of that +Government, nor did the United States become bound to take sides in the +domestic broils of New Granada. The United States did guarantee New +Granada in the sovereignty and property over the territory. This was as +against other and foreign governments." + +For four hundred years, ever since shortly after the discovery of this +hemisphere, the canal across the Isthmus has been planned. For two +score years it has been worked at. When made it is to last for the +ages. It is to alter the geography of a continent and the trade routes +of the world. We have shown by every treaty we have negotiated or +attempted to negotiate with the peoples in control of the Isthmus and +with foreign nations in reference thereto our consistent good faith in +observing our obligations; on the one hand to the peoples of the +Isthmus, and on the other hand to the civilized world whose commercial +rights we are safeguarding and guaranteeing by our action. We have done +our duty to others in letter and in spirit, and we have shown the +utmost forbearance in exacting our own rights. + +Last spring, under the act above referred to, a treaty concluded +between the representatives of the Republic of Colombia and of our +Government was ratified by the Senate. This treaty was entered into at +the urgent solicitation of the people of Colombia and after a body of +experts appointed by our Government especially to go into the matter of +the routes across the Isthmus had pronounced unanimously in favor of +the Panama route. In drawing up this treaty every concession was made +to the people and to the Government of Colombia. We were more than just +in dealing with them. Our generosity was such as to make it a serious +question whether we had not gone too far in their interest at the +expense of our own; for in our scrupulous desire to pay all possible +heed, not merely to the real but even to the fancied rights of our +weaker neighbor, who already owed so much to our protection and +forbearance, we yielded in all possible ways to her desires in drawing +up the treaty. Nevertheless the Government of Colombia not merely +repudiated the treaty, but repudiated it in such manner as to make it +evident by the time the Colombian Congress adjourned that not the +scantiest hope remained of ever getting a satisfactory treaty from +them. The Government of Colombia made the treaty, and yet when the +Colombian Congress was called to ratify it the vote against +ratification was unanimous. It does not appear that the Government made +any real effort to secure ratification. + +Immediately after the adjournment of the Congress a revolution broke +out in Panama. The people of Panama had long been discontented with the +Republic of Colombia, and they had been kept quiet only by the prospect +of the conclusion of the treaty, which was to them a matter of vital +concern. When it became evident that the treaty was hopelessly lost, +the people of Panama rose literally as one man. Not a shot was fired by +a single man on the Isthmus in the interest of the Colombian +Government. Not a life was lost in the accomplishment of the +revolution. The Colombian troops stationed on the Isthmus, who had long +been unpaid, made common cause with the people of Panama, and with +astonishing unanimity the new Republic was started. The duty of the +United States in the premises was clear. In strict accordance with the +principles laid down by Secretaries Cass and Seward in the official +documents above quoted, the United States gave notice that it would +permit the landing of no expeditionary force, the arrival of which +would mean chaos and destruction along the line of the railroad and of +the proposed Canal, and an interruption of transit as an inevitable +consequence. The de facto Government of Panama was recognized in the +following telegram to Mr. Ehrman: + +"The people of Panama have, by apparently unanimous movement, dissolved +their political connection with the Republic of Colombia and resumed +their independence. When you are satisfied that a de facto government, +republican in form and without substantial opposition from its own +people, has been established in the State of Panama, you will enter +into relations with it as the responsible government of the territory +and look to it for all due action to protect the persons and property +of citizens of the United States and to keep open the isthmian transit, +in accordance with the obligations of existing treaties governing the +relations of the United States to that Territory." + +The Government of Colombia was notified of our action by the following +telegram to Mr. Beaupre: + +"The people of Panama having, by an apparently unanimous movement, +dissolved their political connection with the Republic of Colombia and +resumed their independence, and having adopted a Government of their +own, republican in form, with which the Government of the United States +of America has entered into relations, the President of the United +States, in accordance with the ties of friendship which have so long +and so happily existed between the respective nations, most earnestly +commends to the Governments of Colombia and of Panama the peaceful and +equitable settlement of all questions at issue between them. He holds +that he is bound not merely by treaty obligations, but by the interests +of civilization, to see that the peaceful traffic of the world across +the Isthmus of Panama shall not longer be disturbed by a constant +succession of unnecessary and wasteful civil wars." + +When these events happened, fifty-seven years had elapsed since the +United States had entered into its treaty with New Granada. During that +time the Governments of New Granada and of its successor, Colombia, +have been in a constant state of flux. The following is a partial list +of the disturbances on the Isthmus of Panama during the period in +question as reported to us by our consuls. It is not possible to give a +complete list, and some of the reports that speak of "revolutions" must +mean unsuccessful revolutions. May 22, 1850.--Outbreak; two Americans +killed. War vessel demanded to quell outbreak. October, +1850.--Revolutionary plot to bring about independence of the Isthmus. +July 22, 1851.--Revolution in four southern provinces. November 14, +1851.--Outbreak at Chagres. Man-of-war requested for Chagres. June 27, +1853.--Insurrection at Bogota, and consequent disturbance on Isthmus. +War vessel demanded. May 23, 1854--Political disturbances; war vessel +requested. June 28, 1854.--Attempted revolution. October 24, +1854.--Independence of Isthmus demanded by provincial legislature. +April, 1856.--Riot, and massacre of Americans. May 4, 1856.--Riot. May +18, 1856.--Riot. June 3, 1856.--Riot. October 2, 1856.--Conflict +between two native parties. United States forces landed. December 18, +1858.--Attempted secession of Panama. April, 1859.--Riots. September, +1860.--Outbreak. October 4, 1860.--Landing of United States forces in +consequence. May 23, 1861.--Intervention of the United States forces +required by intendente. October 2, 1861.--Insurrection and civil war. +April 4, 1862.--Measures to prevent rebels crossing Isthmus. June 13, +1862.--Mosquera's troops refused admittance to Panama. March, +1865.--Revolution, and United States troops landed. August, +1865.--Riots; unsuccessful attempt to invade Panama. March, +1866.--Unsuccessful revolution. April, 1867.--Attempt to overthrow +Government. August, 1867.--Attempt at revolution. July 5, +1868.--Revolution; provisional government inaugurated. August 29, +1868.--Revolution; provisional government overthrown. April, +1871.--Revolution; followed apparently by counter revolution. April, +1873.--Revolution and civil war which lasted to October, 1875. August, +1876.--Civil war which lasted until April, 1877. July, +1878.--Rebellion. December, 1878.--Revolt. April, 1879.--Revolution. +June, 1879.--Revolution. March, 1883.--Riot. May, 1883.--Riot. June, +1884.--Revolutionary attempt. December, 1884.--Revolutionary attempt. +January, 1885.--Revolutionary disturbances. March, 1885.--Revolution. +April, 1887.--Disturbance on Panama Railroad. November, +1887.--Disturbance on line of canal. January, 1889.--Riot. January, +1895.--Revolution which lasted until April. March, 1895.--Incendiary +attempt. October, 1899.--Revolution. February, 1900, to July, +1900.--Revolution. January, 1901--Revolution. July, +1901.--Revolutionary disturbances. September, 1901.--City of Colon +taken by rebels. March, 1902.--Revolutionary disturbances. July, +1902.--Revolution. The above is only a partial list of the revolutions, +rebellions, insurrections, riots, and other outbreaks that have +occurred during the period in question; yet they number 53 for the 57 +years. It will be noted that one of them lasted for nearly three years +before it was quelled; another for nearly a year. In short, the +experience of over half a century has shown Colombia to be utterly +incapable of keeping order on the Isthmus. Only the active interference +of the United States has enabled her to preserve so much as a semblance +of sovereignty. Had it not been for the exercise by the United States +of the police power in her interest, her connection with the Isthmus +would have been sundered long ago. In 1856, in 1860, in 1873, in 1885, +in 1901, and again in 1902, sailors and marines from United States war +ships were forced to land in order to patrol the Isthmus, to protect +life and property, and to see that the transit across the Isthmus was +kept open. In 1861, in 1862, in 1885, and in 1900, the Colombian +Government asked that the United States Government would land troops to +protect its interests and maintain order on the Isthmus. Perhaps the +most extraordinary request is that which has just been received and +which runs as follows: + +"Knowing that revolution has already commenced in Panama [an eminent +Colombian] says that if the Government of the United States will land +troops to preserve Colombian sovereignty, and the transit, if requested +by Colombian charge d'affaires, this Government will declare martial +law; and, by virtue of vested constitutional authority, when public +order is disturbed, will approve by decree ratification of the canal +treaty as signed; or, if the Government of the United States prefers, +will call extra session of the Congress--with new and friendly +members--next May to approve the treaty. [An eminent Colombian] has the +perfect confidence of vice-president, he says, and if it became +necessary will go to the Isthmus or send representatives there to +adjust matters along above lines to the satisfaction of the people +there." + +This dispatch is noteworthy from two standpoints. Its offer of +immediately guaranteeing the treaty to us is in sharp contrast with the +positive and contemptuous refusal of the Congress which has just closed +its sessions to consider favorably such a treaty; it shows that the +Government which made the treaty really had absolute control over the +situation, but did not choose to exercise this control. The dispatch +further calls on us to restore order and secure Colombian supremacy in +the Isthmus from which the Colombian Government has just by its action +decided to bar us by preventing the construction of the canal. + +The control, in the interest of the commerce and traffic of the whole +civilized world, of the means of undisturbed transit across the Isthmus +of Panama has become of transcendent importance to the United States. +We have repeatedly exercised this control by intervening in the course +of domestic dissension, and by protecting the territory from foreign +invasion. In 1853 Mr. Everett assured the Peruvian minister that we +should not hesitate to maintain the neutrality of the Isthmus in the +case of war between Peru and Colombia. In 1864 Colombia, which has +always been vigilant to avail itself of its privileges conferred by the +treaty, expressed its expectation that in the event of war between Peru +and Spain the United States would carry into effect the guaranty of +neutrality. There have been few administrations of the State Department +in which this treaty has not, either by the one side or the other, been +used as a basis of more or less important demands. It was said by Mr. +Fish in 1871 that the Department of State had reason to believe that an +attack upon Colombian sovereignty on the Isthmus had, on several +occasions, been averted by warning from this Government. In 1886, when +Colombia was under the menace of hostilities from Italy in the Cerruti +case, Mr. Bayard expressed the serious concern that the United States +could not but feel, that a European power should resort to force +against a sister republic of this hemisphere, as to the sovereign and +uninterrupted use of a part of whose territory we are guarantors under +the solemn faith of a treaty. + +The above recital of facts establishes beyond question: First, that the +United States has for over half a century patiently and in good faith +carried out its obligations under the treaty of 1846; second, that when +for the first time it became possible for Colombia to do anything in +requital of the services thus repeatedly rendered to it for fifty-seven +years by the United States, the Colombian Government peremptorily and +offensively refused thus to do its part, even though to do so would +have been to its advantage and immeasurably to the advantage of the +State of Panama, at that time under its jurisdiction; third, that +throughout this period revolutions, riots, and factional disturbances +of every kind have occurred one after the other in almost uninterrupted +succession, some of them lasting for months and even for years, while +the central government was unable to put them down or to make peace +with the rebels; fourth, that these disturbances instead of showing any +sign of abating have tended to grow more numerous and more serious in +the immediate past; fifth, that the control of Colombia over the +Isthmus of Panama could not be maintained without the armed +intervention and assistance of the United States. In other words, the +Government of Colombia, though wholly unable to maintain order on the +Isthmus, has nevertheless declined to ratify a treaty the conclusion of +which opened the only chance to secure its own stability and to +guarantee permanent peace on, and the construction of a canal across, +the Isthmus. + +Under such circumstances the Government of the United States would have +been guilty of folly and weakness, amounting in their sum to a crime +against the Nation, had it acted otherwise than it did when the +revolution of November 3 last took place in Panama. This great +enterprise of building the interoceanic canal can not be held up to +gratify the whims, or out of respect to the governmental impotence, or +to the even more sinister and evil political peculiarities, of people +who, though they dwell afar off, yet, against the wish of the actual +dwellers on the Isthmus, assert an unreal supremacy over the territory. +The possession of a territory fraught with such peculiar capacities as +the Isthmus in question carries with it obligations to mankind. The +course of events has shown that this canal can not be built by private +enterprise, or by any other nation than our own; therefore it must be +built by the United States. + +Every effort has been made by the Government of the United States to +persuade Colombia to follow a course which was essentially not only to +our interests and to the interests of the world, but to the interests +of Colombia itself. These efforts have failed; and Colombia, by her +persistence in repulsing the advances that have been made, has forced +us, for the sake of our own honor, and of the interest and well-being, +not merely of our own people, but of the people of the Isthmus of +Panama and the people of the civilized countries of the world, to take +decisive steps to bring to an end a condition of affairs which had +become intolerable. The new Republic of Panama immediately offered to +negotiate a treaty with us. This treaty I herewith submit. By it our +interests are better safeguarded than in the treaty with Colombia which +was ratified by the Senate at its last session. It is better in its +terms than the treaties offered to us by the Republics of Nicaragua and +Costa Rica. At last the right to begin this great undertaking is made +available. Panama has done her part. All that remains is for the +American Congress to do its part, and forthwith this Republic will +enter upon the execution of a project colossal in its size and of +well-nigh incalculable possibilities for the good of this country and +the nations of mankind. + +By the provisions of the treaty the United States guarantees and will +maintain the independence of the Republic of Panama. There is granted +to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of +a strip ten miles wide and extending three nautical miles into the sea +at either terminal, with all lands lying outside of the zone necessary +for the construction of the canal or for its auxiliary works, and with +the islands in the Bay of Panama. The cities of Panama and Colon are +not embraced in the canal zone, but the United States assumes their +sanitation and, in case of need, the maintenance of order therein; the +United States enjoys within the granted limits all the rights, power, +and authority which it would possess were it the sovereign of the +territory to the exclusion of the exercise of sovereign rights by the +Republic. All railway and canal property rights belonging to Panama and +needed for the canal pass to the United States, including any property +of the respective companies in the cities of Panama and Colon; the +works, property, and personnel of the canal and railways are exempted +from taxation as well in the cities of Panama and Colon as in the canal +zone and its dependencies. Free immigration of the personnel and +importation of supplies for the construction and operation of the canal +are granted. Provision is made for the use of military force and the +building of fortifications by the United States for the protection of +the transit. In other details, particularly as to the acquisition of +the interests of the New Panama Canal Company and the Panama Railway by +the United States and the condemnation of private property for the uses +of the canal, the stipulations of the Hay-Herran treaty are closely +followed, while the compensation to be given for these enlarged grants +remains the same, being ten millions of dollars payable on exchange of +ratifications; and, beginning nine years from that date, an annual +payment of $250,000 during the life of the convention. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 6, 1904 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +The Nation continues to enjoy noteworthy prosperity. Such prosperity is +of course primarily due to the high individual average of our +citizenship, taken together with our great natural resources; but an +important factor therein is the working of our long-continued +governmental policies. The people have emphatically expressed their +approval of the principles underlying these policies, and their desire +that these principles be kept substantially unchanged, although of +course applied in a progressive spirit to meet changing conditions. + +The enlargement of scope of the functions of the National Government +required by our development as a nation involves, of course, increase +of expense; and the period of prosperity through which the country is +passing justifies expenditures for permanent improvements far greater +than would be wise in hard times. Battle ships and forts, public +buildings, and improved waterways are investments which should be made +when we have the money; but abundant revenues and a large surplus +always invite extravagance, and constant care should be taken to guard +against unnecessary increase of the ordinary expenses of government. +The cost of doing Government business should be regulated with the same +rigid scrutiny as the cost of doing a private business. + +In the vast and complicated mechanism of our modern civilized life the +dominant note is the note of industrialism; and the relations of +capital and labor, and especially of organized capital and organized +labor, to each other and to the public at large come second in +importance only to the intimate questions of family life. Our peculiar +form of government, with its sharp division of authority between the +Nation and the several States, has been on the whole far more +advantageous to our development than a more strongly centralized +government. But it is undoubtedly responsible for much of the +difficulty of meeting with adequate legislation the new problems +presented by the total change in industrial conditions on this +continent during the last half century. In actual practice it has +proved exceedingly difficult, and in many cases impossible, to get +unanimity of wise action among the various States on these subjects. +From the very nature of the case this is especially true of the laws +affecting the employment of capital in huge masses. + +With regard to labor the problem is no less important, but it is +simpler. As long as the States retain the primary control of the police +power the circumstances must be altogether extreme which require +interference by the Federal authorities, whether in the way of +safeguarding the rights of labor or in the way of seeing that wrong is +not done by unruly persons who shield themselves behind the name of +labor. If there is resistance to the Federal courts, interference with +the mails, or interstate commerce, or molestation of Federal property, +or if the State authorities in some crisis which they are unable to +face call for help, then the Federal Government may interfere; but +though such interference may be caused by a condition of things arising +out of trouble connected with some question of labor, the interference +itself simply takes the form of restoring order without regard to the +questions which have caused the breach of order--for to keep order is a +primary duty and in a time of disorder and violence all other questions +sink into abeyance until order has been restored. In the District of +Columbia and in the Territories the Federal law covers the entire field +of government; but the labor question is only acute in populous centers +of commerce, manufactures, or mining. Nevertheless, both in the +enactment and in the enforcement of law the Federal Government within +its restricted sphere should set an example to the State governments, +especially in a matter so vital as this affecting labor. I believe that +under modern industrial conditions it is often necessary, and even +where not necessary it is yet often wise, that there should be +organization of labor in order better to secure the rights of the +individual wage-worker. All encouragement should be given to any such +organization so long as it is conducted with a due and decent regard +for the rights of others. There are in this country some labor unions +which have habitually, and other labor unions which have often, been +among the most effective agents in working for good citizenship and for +uplifting the condition of those whose welfare should be closest to our +hearts. But when any labor union seeks improper ends, or seeks to +achieve proper ends by improper means, all good citizens and more +especially all honorable public servants must oppose the wrongdoing as +resolutely as they would oppose the wrongdoing of any great +corporation. Of course any violence, brutality, or corruption, should +not for one moment be tolerated. Wage-workers have an entire right to +organize and by all peaceful and honorable means to endeavor to +persuade their fellows to join with them in organizations. They have a +legal right, which, according to circumstances, may or may not be a +moral right, to refuse to work in company with men who decline to join +their organizations. They have under no circumstances the right to +commit violence upon these, whether capitalists or wage-workers, who +refuse to support their organizations, or who side with those with whom +they are at odds; for mob rule is intolerable in any form. + +The wage-workers are peculiarly entitled to the protection and the +encouragement of the law. From the very nature of their occupation +railroad men, for instance, are liable to be maimed in doing the +legitimate work of their profession, unless the railroad companies are +required by law to make ample provision for their safety. The +Administration has been zealous in enforcing the existing law for this +purpose. That law should be amended and strengthened. Wherever the +National Government has power there should be a stringent employer's +liability law, which should apply to the Government itself where the +Government is an employer of labor. + +In my Message to the Fifty-seventh Congress, at its second session, I +urged the passage of an employer's liability law for the District of +Columbia. I now renew that recommendation, and further recommend that +the Congress appoint a commission to make a comprehensive study of +employer's liability with the view of extending the provisions of a +great and constitutional law to all employments within the scope of +Federal power. + +The Government has recognized heroism upon the water, and bestows +medals of honor upon those persons who by extreme and heroic daring +have endangered their lives in saving, or endeavoring to save, lives +from the perils of the sea in the waters over which the United States +has jurisdiction, or upon an American vessel. This recognition should +be extended to cover cases of conspicuous bravery and self-sacrifice in +the saving of life in private employments under the jurisdiction of the +United States, and particularly in the land commerce of the Nation. + +The ever-increasing casualty list upon our railroads is a matter of +grave public concern, and urgently calls for action by the Congress. In +the matter of speed and comfort of railway travel our railroads give at +least as good service as those of any other nation, and there is no +reason why this service should not also be as safe as human ingenuity +can make it. Many of our leading roads have been foremost in the +adoption of the most approved safeguards for the protection of +travelers and employees, yet the list of clearly avoidable accidents +continues unduly large. The passage of a law requiring the adoption of +a block-signal system has been proposed to the Congress. I earnestly +concur in that recommendation, and would also point out to the Congress +the urgent need of legislation in the interest of the public safety +limiting the hours of labor for railroad employees in train service +upon railroads engaged in interstate commerce, and providing that only +trained and experienced persons be employed in positions of +responsibility connected with the operation of trains. Of course +nothing can ever prevent accidents caused by human weakness or +misconduct; and there should be drastic punishment for any railroad +employee, whether officer or man, who by issuance of wrong orders or by +disobedience of orders causes disaster. The law of 1901, requiring +interstate railroads to make monthly reports of all accidents to +passengers and employees on duty, should also be amended so as to +empower the Government to make a personal investigation, through proper +officers, of all accidents involving loss of life which seem to require +investigation, with a requirement that the results of such +investigation be made public. + +The safety-appliance law, as amended by the act of March 2, 1903, has +proved beneficial to railway employees, and in order that its +provisions may be properly carried out, the force of inspectors +provided for by appropriation should be largely increased. This service +is analogous to the Steamboat-Inspection Service, and deals with even +more important interests. It has passed the experimental stage and +demonstrated its utility, and should receive generous recognition by +the Congress. + +There is no objection to employees of the Government forming or +belonging to unions; but the Government can neither discriminate for +nor discriminate against nonunion men who are in its employment, or who +seek to be employed under it. Moreover, it is a very grave impropriety +for Government employees to band themselves together for the purpose of +extorting improperly high salaries from the Government. Especially is +this true of those within the classified service. The letter carriers, +both municipal and rural, are as a whole an excellent body of public +servants. They should be amply paid. But their payment must be obtained +by arguing their claims fairly and honorably before the Congress, and +not by banding together for the defeat of those Congressmen who refuse +to give promises which they can not in conscience give. The +Administration has already taken steps to prevent and punish abuses of +this nature; but it will be wise for the Congress to supplement this +action by legislation. + +Much can be done by the Government in labor matters merely by giving +publicity to certain conditions. The Bureau of Labor has done excellent +work of this kind in many different directions. I shall shortly lay +before you in a special message the full report of the investigation of +the Bureau of Labor into the Colorado mining strike, as this was a +strike in which certain very evil forces, which are more or less at +work everywhere under the conditions of modern industrialism, became +startlingly prominent. It is greatly to be wished that the Department +of Commerce and Labor, through the Labor Bureau, should compile and +arrange for the Congress a list of the labor laws of the various +States, and should be given the means to investigate and report to the +Congress upon the labor conditions in the manufacturing and mining +regions throughout the country, both as to wages, as to hours of labor, +as to the labor of women and children, and as to the effect in the +various labor centers of immigration from abroad. In this investigation +especial attention should be paid to the conditions of child labor and +child-labor legislation in the several States. Such an investigation +must necessarily take into account many of the problems with which this +question of child labor is connected. These problems can be actually +met, in most cases, only by the States themselves; but the lack of +proper legislation in one State in such a matter as child labor often +renders it excessively difficult to establish protective restriction +upon the work in another State having the same industries, so that the +worst tends to drag down the better. For this reason, it would be well +for the Nation at least to endeavor to secure comprehensive information +as to the conditions of labor of children in the different States. Such +investigation and publication by the National Government would tend +toward the securing of approximately uniform legislation of the proper +character among the several States. + +When we come to deal with great corporations the need for the +Government to act directly is far greater than in the case of labor, +because great corporations can become such only by engaging in +interstate commerce, and interstate commerce is peculiarly the field of +the General Government. It is an absurdity to expect to eliminate the +abuses in great corporations by State action. It is difficult to be +patient with an argument that such matters should be left to the States +because more than one State pursues the policy of creating on easy +terms corporations which are never operated within that State at all, +but in other States whose laws they ignore. The National Government +alone can deal adequately with these great corporations. To try to deal +with them in an intemperate, destructive, or demagogic spirit would, in +all probability, mean that nothing whatever would be accomplished, and, +with absolute certainty, that if anything were accomplished it would be +of a harmful nature. The American people need to continue to show the +very qualities that they have shown--that is, moderation, good sense, +the earnest desire to avoid doing any damage, and yet the quiet +determination to proceed, step by step, without halt and without hurry, +in eliminating or at least in minimizing whatever of mischief or evil +there is to interstate commerce in the conduct of great corporations. +They are acting in no spirit of hostility to wealth, either individual +or corporate. They are not against the rich man any more than against +the poor man. On the contrary, they are friendly alike toward rich man +and toward poor man, provided only that each acts in a spirit of +justice and decency toward his fellows. Great corporations are +necessary, and only men of great and singular mental power can manage +such corporations successfully, and such men must have great rewards. +But these corporations should be managed with due regard to the +interest of the public as a whole. Where this can be done under the +present laws it must be done. Where these laws come short others should +be enacted to supplement them. + +Yet we must never forget the determining factor in every kind of work, +of head or hand, must be the man's own good sense, courage, and +kindliness. More important than any legislation is the gradual growth +of a feeling of responsibility and forbearance among capitalists, and +wage-workers alike; a feeling of respect on the part of each man for +the rights of others; a feeling of broad community of interest, not +merely of capitalists among themselves, and of wage-workers among +themselves, but of capitalists and wage-workers in their relations to +each other, and of both in their relations to their fellows who with +them make up the body politic. There are many captains of industry, +many labor leaders, who realize this. A recent speech by the president +of one of our great railroad systems to the employees of that system +contains sound common sense. It rims in part as follows: + +"It is my belief we can better serve each other, better understand the +man as well as his business, when meeting face to face, exchanging +views, and realizing from personal contact we serve but one interest, +that of our mutual prosperity. + +"Serious misunderstandings can not occur where personal good will +exists and opportunity for personal explanation is present. + +"In my early business life I had experience with men of affairs of a +character to make me desire to avoid creating a like feeling of +resentment to myself and the interests in my charge, should fortune +ever place me in authority, and I am solicitous of a measure of +confidence on the part of the public and our employees that I shall +hope may be warranted by the fairness and good fellowship I intend +shall prevail in our relationship. + +"But do not feel I am disposed to grant unreasonable requests, spend +the money of our company unnecessarily or without value received, nor +expect the days of mistakes are disappearing, or that cause for +complaint will not continually occur; simply to correct such abuses as +may be discovered, to better conditions as fast as reasonably may be +expected, constantly striving, with varying success, for that +improvement we all desire, to convince you there is a force at work in +the right direction, all the time making progress--is the disposition +with which I have come among you, asking your good will and +encouragement. + +"The day has gone by when a corporation can be handled successfully in +defiance of the public will, even though that will be unreasonable and +wrong. A public may be led, but not driven, and I prefer to go with it +and shape or modify, in a measure, its opinion, rather than be swept +from my bearings, with loss to myself and the interests in my charge. + +"Violent prejudice exists towards corporate activity and capital today, +much of it founded in reason, more in apprehension, and a large measure +is due to the personal traits of arbitrary, unreasonable, incompetent, +and offensive men in positions of authority. The accomplishment of +results by indirection, the endeavor to thwart the intention, if not +the expressed letter of the law (the will of the people), a disregard +of the rights of others, a disposition to withhold what is due, to +force by main strength or inactivity a result not justified, depending +upon the weakness of the claimant and his indisposition to become +involved in litigation, has created a sentiment harmful in the extreme +and a disposition to consider anything fair that gives gain to the +individual at the expense of the company. + +"If corporations are to continue to do the world's work, as they are +best fitted to, these qualities in their representatives that have +resulted in the present prejudice against them must be relegated to the +background. The corporations must come out into the open and see and be +seen. They must take the public into their confidence and ask for what +they want, and no more, and be prepared to explain satisfactorily what +advantage will accrue to the public if they are given their desires; +for they are permitted to exist not that they may make money solely, +but that they may effectively serve those from whom they derive their +power. + +"Publicity, and not secrecy, will win hereafter, and laws be construed +by their intent and not by their letter, otherwise public utilities +will be owned and operated by the public which created them, even +though the service be less efficient and the result less satisfactory +from a financial standpoint." + +The Bureau of Corporations has made careful preliminary investigation +of many important corporations. It will make a special report on the +beef industry. + +The policy of the Bureau is to accomplish the purposes of its creation +by co-operation, not antagonism; by making constructive legislation, +not destructive prosecution, the immediate object of its inquiries; by +conservative investigation of law and fact, and by refusal to issue +incomplete and hence necessarily inaccurate reports. Its policy being +thus one of open inquiry into, and not attack upon, business, the +Bureau has been able to gain not only the confidence, but, better +still, the cooperation of men engaged in legitimate business. + +The Bureau offers to the Congress the means of getting at the cost of +production of our various great staples of commerce. + +Of necessity the careful investigation of special corporations will +afford the Commissioner knowledge of certain business facts, the +publication of which might be an improper infringement of private +rights. The method of making public the results of these investigations +affords, under the law, a means for the protection of private rights. +The Congress will have all facts except such as would give to another +corporation information which would injure the legitimate business of a +competitor and destroy the incentive for individual superiority and +thrift. + +The Bureau has also made exhaustive examinations into the legal +condition under which corporate business is carried on in the various +States; into all judicial decisions on the subject; and into the +various systems of corporate taxation in use. I call special attention +to the report of the chief of the Bureau; and I earnestly ask that the +Congress carefully consider the report and recommendations of the +Commissioner on this subject. + +The business of insurance vitally affects the great mass of the people +of the United States and is national and not local in its application. +It involves a multitude of transactions among the people of the +different States and between American companies and foreign +governments. I urge that the Congress carefully consider whether the +power of the Bureau of Corporations can not constitutionally be +extended to cover interstate transactions in insurance. + +Above all else, we must strive to keep the highways of commerce open to +all on equal terms; and to do this it is necessary to put a complete +stop to all rebates. Whether the shipper or the railroad is to blame +makes no difference; the rebate must be stopped, the abuses of the +private car and private terminal-track and side-track systems must be +stopped, and the legislation of the Fifty-eighth Congress which +declares it to be unlawful for any person or corporation to offer, +grant, give, solicit, accept, or receive any rebate, concession, or +discrimination in respect of the transportation of any property in +interstate or foreign commerce whereby such property shall by any +device whatever be transported at a less rate than that named in the +tariffs published by the carrier must be enforced. For some time after +the enactment of the Act to Regulate Commerce it remained a mooted +question whether that act conferred upon the Interstate Commerce +Commission the power, after it had found a challenged rate to be +unreasonable, to declare what thereafter should, prima facie, be the +reasonable maximum rate for the transportation in dispute. The Supreme +Court finally resolved that question in the negative, so that as the +law now stands the Commission simply possess the bare power to denounce +a particular rate as unreasonable. While I am of the opinion that at +present it would be undesirable, if it were not impracticable, finally +to clothe the Commission with general authority to fix railroad rates, +I do believe that, as a fair security to shippers, the Commission +should be vested with the power, where a given rate has been challenged +and after full hearing found to be unreasonable, to decide, subject to +judicial review, what shall be a reasonable rate to take its place; the +ruling of the Commission to take effect immediately, and to obtain +unless and until it is reversed by the court of review. The Government +must in increasing degree supervise and regulate the workings of the +railways engaged in interstate commerce; and such increased supervision +is the only alternative to an increase of the present evils on the one +hand or a still more radical policy on the other. In my judgment the +most important legislative act now needed as regards the regulation of +corporations is this act to confer on the Interstate Commerce +Commission the power to revise rates and regulations, the revised rate +to at once go into effect, and stay in effect unless and until the +court of review reverses it. + +Steamship companies engaged in interstate commerce and protected in our +coastwise trade should be held to a strict observance of the interstate +commerce act. + +In pursuing the set plan to make the city of Washington an example to +other American municipalities several points should be kept in mind by +the legislators. In the first place, the people of this country should +clearly understand that no amount of industrial prosperity, and above +all no leadership in international industrial competition, can in any +way atone for the sapping of the vitality of those who are usually +spoken of as the working classes. The farmers, the mechanics, the +skilled and unskilled laborers, the small shop keepers, make up the +bulk of the population of any country; and upon their well-being, +generation after generation, the well-being of the country and the race +depends. Rapid development in wealth and industrial leadership is a +good thing, but only if it goes hand in hand with improvement, and not +deterioration, physical and moral. The over-crowding of cities and the +draining of country districts are unhealthy and even dangerous symptoms +in our modern life. We should not permit overcrowding in cities. In +certain European cities it is provided by law that the population of +towns shall not be allowed to exceed a very limited density for a given +area, so that the increase in density must be continually pushed back +into a broad zone around the center of the town, this zone having great +avenues or parks within it. The death-rate statistics show a terrible +increase in mortality, and especially in infant mortality, in +overcrowded tenements. The poorest families in tenement houses live in +one room, and it appears that in these one-room tenements the average +death rate for a number of given cities at home and abroad is about +twice what it is in a two-room tenement, four times what it is in a +three-room tenement, and eight times what it is in a tenement +consisting of four rooms or over. These figures vary somewhat for +different cities, but they approximate in each city those given above; +and in all cases the increase of mortality, and especially of infant +mortality, with the decrease in the number of rooms used by the family +and with the consequent overcrowding is startling. The slum exacts a +heavy total of death from those who dwell therein; and this is the case +not merely in the great crowded slums of high buildings in New York and +Chicago, but in the alley slums of Washington. In Washington people can +not afford to ignore the harm that this causes. No Christian and +civilized community can afford to show a happy-go-lucky lack of concern +for the youth of to-day; for, if so, the community will have to pay a +terrible penalty of financial burden and social degradation in the +to-morrow. There should be severe child-labor and factory-inspection +laws. It is very desirable that married women should not work in +factories. The prime duty of the man is to work, to be the breadwinner; +the prime duty of the woman is to be the mother, the housewife. All +questions of tariff and finance sink into utter insignificance when +compared with the tremendous, the vital importance of trying to shape +conditions so that these two duties of the man and of the woman can be +fulfilled under reasonably favorable circumstances. If a race does not +have plenty of children, or if the children do not grow up, or if when +they grow up they are unhealthy in body and stunted or vicious in mind, +then that race is decadent, and no heaping up of wealth, no splendor of +momentary material prosperity, can avail in any degree as offsets. The +Congress has the same power of legislation for the District of Columbia +which the State legislatures have for the various States. The problems +incident to our highly complex modern industrial civilization, with its +manifold and perplexing tendencies both for good and for evil, are far +less sharply accentuated in the city of Washington than in most other +cities. For this very reason it is easier to deal with the various +phases of these problems in Washington, and the District of Columbia +government should be a model for the other municipal governments of the +Nation, in all such matters as supervision of the housing of the poor, +the creation of small parks in the districts inhabited by the poor, in +laws affecting labor, in laws providing for the taking care of the +children, in truant laws, and in providing schools. + +In the vital matter of taking care of children, much advantage could be +gained by a careful study of what has been accomplished in such States +as Illinois and Colorado by the juvenile courts. The work of the +juvenile court is really a work of character building. It is now +generally recognized that young boys and young girls who go wrong +should not be treated as criminals, not even necessarily as needing +reformation, but rather as needing to have their characters formed, and +for this end to have them tested and developed by a system of +probation. Much admirable work has been done in many of our +Commonwealths by earnest men and women who have made a special study of +the needs of those classes of children which furnish the greatest +number of juvenile offenders, and therefore the greatest number of +adult offenders; and by their aid, and by profiting by the experiences +of the different States and cities in these matters, it would be easy +to provide a good code for the District of Columbia. + +Several considerations suggest the need for a systematic investigation +into and improvement of housing conditions in Washington. The hidden +residential alleys are breeding grounds of vice and disease, and should +be opened into minor streets. For a number of years influential +citizens have joined with the District Commissioners in the vain +endeavor to secure laws permitting the condemnation of insanitary +dwellings. The local death rates, especially from preventable diseases, +are so unduly high as to suggest that the exceptional wholesomeness of +Washington's better sections is offset by bad conditions in her poorer +neighborhoods. A special "Commission on Housing and Health Conditions +in the National Capital" would not only bring about the reformation of +existing evils, but would also formulate an appropriate building code +to protect the city from mammoth brick tenements and other evils which +threaten to develop here as they have in other cities. That the +Nation's Capital should be made a model for other municipalities is an +ideal which appeals to all patriotic citizens everywhere, and such a +special Commission might map out and organize the city's future +development in lines of civic social service, just as Major L'Enfant +and the recent Park Commission planned the arrangement of her streets +and parks. + +It is mortifying to remember that Washington has no compulsory school +attendance law and that careful inquiries indicate the habitual absence +from school of some twenty per cent of all children between the ages of +eight and fourteen. It must be evident to all who consider the problems +of neglected child life or the benefits of compulsory education in +other cities that one of the most urgent needs of the National Capital +is a law requiring the school attendance of all children, this law to +be enforced by attendance agents directed by the board of education. + +Public play grounds are necessary means for the development of +wholesome citizenship in modern cities. It is important that the work +inaugurated here through voluntary efforts should be taken up and +extended through Congressional appropriation of funds sufficient to +equip and maintain numerous convenient small play grounds upon land +which can be secured without purchase or rental. It is also desirable +that small vacant places be purchased and reserved as small-park play +grounds in densely settled sections of the city which now have no +public open spaces and are destined soon to be built up solidly. All +these needs should be met immediately. To meet them would entail +expenses; but a corresponding saving could be made by stopping the +building of streets and levelling of ground for purposes largely +speculative in outlying parts of the city. + +There are certain offenders, whose criminality takes the shape of +brutality and cruelty towards the weak, who need a special type of +punishment. The wife-beater, for example, is inadequately punished by +imprisonment; for imprisonment may often mean nothing to him, while it +may cause hunger and want to the wife and children who have been the +victims of his brutality. Probably some form of corporal punishment +would be the most adequate way of meeting this kind of crime. + +The Department of Agriculture has grown into an educational institution +with a faculty of two thousand specialists making research into all the +sciences of production. The Congress appropriates, directly and +indirectly, six millions of dollars annually to carry on this work. It +reaches every State and Territory in the Union and the islands of the +sea lately come under our flag. Co-operation is had with the State +experiment stations, and with many other institutions and individuals. +The world is carefully searched for new varieties of grains, fruits, +grasses, vegetables, trees, and shrubs, suitable to various localities +in our country; and marked benefit to our producers has resulted. + +The activities of our age in lines of research have reached the tillers +of the soil and inspired them with ambition to know more of the +principles that govern the forces of nature with which they have to +deal. Nearly half of the people of this country devote their energies +to growing things from the soil. Until a recent date little has been +done to prepare these millions for their life work. In most lines of +human activity college-trained men are the leaders. The farmer had no +opportunity for special training until the Congress made provision for +it forty years ago. During these years progress has been made and +teachers have been prepared. Over five thousand students are in +attendance at our State agricultural colleges. The Federal Government +expends ten millions of dollars annually toward this education and for +research in Washington and in the several States and Territories. The +Department of Agriculture has given facilities for post-graduate work +to five hundred young men during the last seven years, preparing them +for advance lines of work in the Department and in the State +institutions. + +The facts concerning meteorology and its relations to plant and animal +life are being systematically inquired into. Temperature and moisture +are controlling factors in all agricultural operations. The seasons of +the cyclones of the Caribbean Sea and their paths are being forecasted +with increasing accuracy. The cold winds that come from the north are +anticipated and their times and intensity told to farmers, gardeners, +and fruiterers in all southern localities. + +We sell two hundred and fifty million dollars' worth of animals and +animal products to foreign countries every year, in addition to +supplying our own people more cheaply and abundantly than any other +nation is able to provide for its people. Successful manufacturing +depends primarily on cheap food, which accounts to a considerable +extent for our growth in this direction. The Department of Agriculture, +by careful inspection of meats, guards the health of our people and +gives clean bills of health to deserving exports; it is prepared to +deal promptly with imported diseases of animals, and maintain the +excellence of our flocks and herds in this respect. There should be an +annual census of the live stock of the Nation. + +We sell abroad about six hundred million dollars' worth of plants and +their products every year. Strenuous efforts are being made to import +from foreign countries such grains as are suitable to our varying +localities. Seven years ago we bought three-fourths of our rice; by +helping the rice growers on the Gulf coast to secure seeds from the +Orient suited to their conditions, and by giving them adequate +protection, they now supply home demand and export to the islands of +the Caribbean Sea and to other rice-growing countries. Wheat and other +grains have been imported from light-rainfall countries to our lands in +the West and Southwest that have not grown crops because of light +precipitation, resulting in an extensive addition to our cropping area +and our home-making territory that can not be irrigated. Ten million +bushels of first-class macaroni wheat were grown from these +experimental importations last year. Fruits suitable to our soils and +climates are being imported from all the countries of the Old +World--the fig from Turkey, the almond from Spain, the date from +Algeria, the mango from India. We are helping our fruit growers to get +their crops into European markets by studying methods of preservation +through refrigeration, packing, and handling, which have been quite +successful. We are helping our hop growers by importing varieties that +ripen earlier and later than the kinds they have been raising, thereby +lengthening the harvesting season. The cotton crop of the country is +threatened with root rot, the bollworm, and the boll weevil. Our +pathologists will find immune varieties that will resist the root +disease, and the bollworm can be dealt with, but the boll weevil is a +serious menace to the cotton crop. It is a Central American insect that +has become acclimated in Texas and has done great damage. A scientist +of the Department of Agriculture has found the weevil at home in +Guatemala being kept in check by an ant, which has been brought to our +cotton fields for observation. It is hoped that it may serve a good +purpose. + +The soils of the country are getting attention from the farmer's +standpoint, and interesting results are following. We have duplicates +of the soils that grow the wrapper tobacco in Sumatra and the filler +tobacco in Cuba. It will be only a question of time when the large +amounts paid to these countries will be paid to our own people. The +reclamation of alkali lands is progressing, to give object lessons to +our people in methods by which worthless lands may be made productive. + +The insect friends and enemies of the farmer are getting attention. The +enemy of the San Jose scale was found near the Great Wall of China, and +is now cleaning up all our orchards. The fig-fertilizing insect +imported from Turkey has helped to establish an industry in California +that amounts to from fifty to one hundred tons of dried figs annually, +and is extending over the Pacific coast. A parasitic fly from South +Africa is keeping in subjection the black scale, the worst pest of the +orange and lemon industry in California. + +Careful preliminary work is being done towards producing our own silk. +The mulberry is being distributed in large numbers, eggs are being +imported and distributed, improved reels were imported from Europe last +year, and two expert reelers were brought to Washington to reel the +crop of cocoons and teach the art to our own people. + +The crop-reporting system of the Department of Agriculture is being +brought closer to accuracy every year. It has two hundred and fifty +thousand reporters selected from people in eight vocations in life. It +has arrangements with most European countries for interchange of +estimates, so that our people may know as nearly as possible with what +they must compete. + +During the two and a half years that have elapsed since the passage of +the reclamation act rapid progress has been made in the surveys and +examinations of the opportunities for reclamation in the thirteen +States and three Territories of the arid West. Construction has already +been begun on the largest and most important of the irrigation works, +and plans are being completed for works which will utilize the funds +now available. The operations are being carried on by the Reclamation +Service, a corps of engineers selected through competitive +civil-service examinations. This corps includes experienced consulting +and constructing engineers as well as various experts in mechanical and +legal matters, and is composed largely of men who have spent most of +their lives in practical affairs connected with irrigation. The larger +problems have been solved and it now remains to execute with care, +economy, and thoroughness the work which has been laid out. All +important details are being carefully considered by boards of +consulting engineers, selected for their thorough knowledge and +practical experience. Each project is taken up on the ground by +competent men and viewed from the standpoint of the creation of +prosperous homes, and of promptly refunding to the Treasury the cost of +construction. The reclamation act has been found to be remarkably +complete and effective, and so broad in its provisions that a wide +range of undertakings has been possible under it. At the same time, +economy is guaranteed by the fact that the funds must ultimately be +returned to be used over again. + +It is the cardinal principle of the forest-reserve policy of this +Administration that the reserves are for use. Whatever interferes with +the use of their resources is to be avoided by every possible means. +But these resources must be used in such a way as to make them +permanent. + +The forest policy of the Government is just now a subject of vivid +public interest throughout the West and to the people of the United +States in general. The forest reserves themselves are of extreme value +to the present as well as to the future welfare of all the western +public-land States. They powerfully affect the use and disposal of the +public lands. They are of special importance because they preserve the +water supply and the supply of timber for domestic purposes, and so +promote settlement under the reclamation act. Indeed, they are +essential to the welfare of every one of the great interests of the +West. + +Forest reserves are created for two principal purposes. The first is to +preserve the water supply. This is their most important use. The +principal users of the water thus preserved are irrigation ranchers and +settlers, cities and towns to whom their municipal water supplies are +of the very first importance, users and furnishers of water power, and +the users of water for domestic, manufacturing, mining, and other +purposes. All these are directly dependent upon the forest reserves. + +The second reason for which forest reserves are created is to preserve +the timber supply for various classes of wood users. Among the more +important of these are settlers under the reclamation act and other +acts, for whom a cheap and accessible supply of timber for domestic +uses is absolutely necessary; miners and prospectors, who are in +serious danger of losing their timber supply by fire or through export +by lumber companies when timber lands adjacent to their mines pass into +private ownership; lumbermen, transportation companies, builders, and +commercial interests in general. + +Although the wisdom of creating forest reserves is nearly everywhere +heartily recognized, yet in a few localities there has been +misunderstanding and complaint. The following statement is therefore +desirable: + +The forest reserve policy can be successful only when it has the full +support of the people of the West. It can not safely, and should not in +any case, be imposed upon them against their will. But neither can we +accept the views of those whose only interest in the forest is +temporary; who are anxious to reap what they have not sown and then +move away, leaving desolation behind them. On the contrary, it is +everywhere and always the interest of the permanent settler and the +permanent business man, the man with a stake in the country, which must +be considered and which must decide. + +The making of forest reserves within railroad and wagon-road land-grant +limits will hereafter, as for the past three years, be so managed as to +prevent the issue, under the act of June 4, 1897, of base for exchange +or lieu selection (usually called scrip). In all cases where forest +reserves within areas covered by land grants appear to be essential to +the prosperity of settlers, miners, or others, the Government lands +within such proposed forest reserves will, as in the recent past, be +withdrawn from sale or entry pending the completion of such +negotiations with the owners of the land grants as will prevent the +creation of so-called scrip. + +It was formerly the custom to make forest reserves without first +getting definite and detailed information as to the character of land +and timber within their boundaries. This method of action often +resulted in badly chosen boundaries and consequent injustice to +settlers and others. Therefore this Administration adopted the present +method of first withdrawing the land from disposal, followed by careful +examination on the ground and the preparation of detailed maps and +descriptions, before any forest reserve is created. + +I have repeatedly called attention to the confusion which exists in +Government forest matters because the work is scattered among three +independent organizations. The United States is the only one of the +great nations in which the forest work of the Government is not +concentrated under one department, in consonance with the plainest +dictates of good administration and common sense. The present +arrangement is bad from every point of view. Merely to mention it is to +prove that it should be terminated at once. As I have repeatedly +recommended, all the forest work of the Government should be +concentrated in the Department of Agriculture, where the larger part of +that work is already done, where practically all of the trained +foresters of the Government are employed, where chiefly in Washington +there is comprehensive first-class knowledge of the problems of the +reserves acquired on the ground, where all problems relating to growth +from the soil are already gathered, and where all the sciences +auxiliary to forestry are at hand for prompt and effective +co-operation. These reasons are decisive in themselves, but it should +be added that the great organizations of citizens whose interests are +affected by the forest-reserves, such as the National Live Stock +Association, the National Wool Growers' Association, the American +Mining Congress, the national Irrigation Congress, and the National +Board of Trade, have uniformly, emphatically, and most of them +repeatedly, expressed themselves in favor of placing all Government +forest work in the Department of Agriculture because of the peculiar +adaptation of that Department for it. It is true, also, that the forest +services of nearly all the great nations of the world are under the +respective departments of agriculture, while in but two of the smaller +nations and in one colony are they under the department of the +interior. This is the result of long and varied experience and it +agrees fully with the requirements of good administration in our own +case. + +The creation of a forest service in the Department of Agriculture will +have for its important results: + +First. A better handling of all forest work; because it will be under a +single head, and because the vast and indispensable experience of the +Department in all matters pertaining to the forest reserves, to +forestry in general, and to other forms of production from the soil, +will be easily and rapidly accessible. + +Second. The reserves themselves, being handled from the point of view +of the man in the field, instead of the man in the office, will be more +easily and more widely useful to the people of the West than has been +the case hitherto. + +Third. Within a comparatively short time the reserves will become +self-supporting. This is important, because continually and rapidly +increasing appropriations will be necessary for the proper care of this +exceedingly important interest of the Nation, and they can and should +he offset by returns from the National forests. Under similar +circumstances the forest possessions of other great nations form an +important source of revenue to their governments. + +Every administrative officer concerned is convinced of the necessity +for the proposed consolidation of forest work in the Department of +Agriculture, and I myself have urged it more than once in former +messages. Again I commend it to the early and favorable consideration +of the Congress. The interests of the Nation at large and of the West +in particular have suffered greatly because of the delay. + +I call the attention of the Congress again to the report and +recommendation of the Commission on the Public Lands forwarded by me to +the second session of the present Congress. The Commission has +prosecuted its investigations actively during the past season, and a +second report is now in an advanced stage of preparation. + +In connection with the work of the forest reserves I desire again to +urge upon the Congress the importance of authorizing the President to +set aside certain portions of these reserves or other public lands as +game refuges for the preservation of the bison, the wapiti, and other +large beasts once so abundant in our woods and mountains and on our +great plains, and now tending toward extinction. Every support should +be given to the authorities of the Yellowstone Park in their successful +efforts at preserving the large creatures therein; and at very little +expense portions of the public domain in other regions which are wholly +unsuited to agricultural settlement could be similarly utilized. We owe +it to future generations to keep alive the noble and beautiful +creatures which by their presence add such distinctive character to the +American wilderness. The limits of the Yellowstone Park should be +extended southwards. The Canyon of the Colorado should be made a +national park; and the national-park system should include the Yosemite +and as many as possible of the groves of giant trees in California. + +The veterans of the Civil War have a claim upon the Nation such as no +other body of our citizens possess. The Pension Bureau has never in its +history been managed in a more satisfactory manner than is now the +case. + +The progress of the Indians toward civilization, though not rapid, is +perhaps all that could be hoped for in view of the circumstances. +Within the past year many tribes have shown, in a degree greater than +ever before, an appreciation of the necessity of work. This changed +attitude is in part due to the policy recently pursued of reducing the +amount of subsistence to the Indians, and thus forcing them, through +sheer necessity, to work for a livelihood. The policy, though severe, +is a useful one, but it is to be exercised only with judgment and with +a full understanding of the conditions which exist in each community +for which it is intended. On or near the Indian reservations there is +usually very little demand for labor, and if the Indians are to earn +their living and when work can not be furnished from outside (which is +always preferable), then it must be furnished by the Government. +Practical instruction of this kind would in a few years result in the +forming of habits of regular industry, which would render the Indian a +producer and would effect a great reduction in the cost of his +maintenance. + +It is commonly declared that the slow advance of the Indians is due to +the unsatisfactory character of the men appointed to take immediate +charge of them, and to some extent this is true. While the standard of +the employees in the Indian Service shows great improvement over that +of bygone years, and while actual corruption or flagrant dishonesty is +now the rare exception, it is nevertheless the fact that the salaries +paid Indian agents are not large enough to attract the best men to that +field of work. To achieve satisfactory results the official in charge +of an Indian tribe should possess the high qualifications which are +required in the manager of a large business, but only in exceptional +cases is it possible to secure men of such a type for these positions. +Much better service, however, might be obtained from those now holding +the places were it practicable to get out of them the best that is in +them, and this should be done by bringing them constantly into closer +touch with their superior officers. An agent who has been content to +draw his salary, giving in return the least possible equivalent in +effort and service, may, by proper treatment, by suggestion and +encouragement, or persistent urging, be stimulated to greater effort +and induced to take a more active personal interest in his work. + +Under existing conditions an Indian agent in the distant West may be +wholly out of touch with the office of the Indian Bureau. He may very +well feel that no one takes a personal interest in him or his efforts. +Certain routine duties in the way of reports and accounts are required +of him, but there is no one with whom he may intelligently consult on +matters vital to his work, except after long delay. Such a man would be +greatly encouraged and aided by personal contact with some one whose +interest in Indian affairs and whose authority in the Indian Bureau +were greater than his own, and such contact would be certain to arouse +and constantly increase the interest he takes in his work. + +The distance which separates the agents--the workers in the field--from +the Indian Office in Washington is a chief obstacle to Indian progress. +Whatever shall more closely unite these two branches of the Indian +Service, and shall enable them to co-operate more heartily and more +effectively, will be for the increased efficiency of the work and the +betterment of the race for whose improvement the Indian Bureau was +established. The appointment of a field assistant to the Commissioner +of Indian Affairs would be certain to insure this good end. Such an +official, if possessed of the requisite energy and deep interest in the +work, would be a most efficient factor in bringing into closer +relationship and a more direct union of effort the Bureau in Washington +and its agents in the field; and with the co-operation of its branches +thus secured the Indian Bureau would, in measure fuller than ever +before, lift up the savage toward that self-help and self-reliance +which constitute the man. + +In 1907 there will be held at Hampton Roads the tricentennial +celebration of the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, with which the +history of what has now become the United States really begins. I +commend this to your favorable consideration. It is an event of prime +historic significance, in which all the people of the United States +should feel, and should show, great and general interest. + +In the Post-Office Department the service has increased in efficiency, +and conditions as to revenue and expenditure continue satisfactory. The +increase of revenue during the year was $9,358,181.10, or 6.9 per cent, +the total receipts amounting to $143,382,624.34. The expenditures were +$152,362,116.70, an increase of about 9 per cent over the previous +year, being thus $8,979,492.36 in excess of the current revenue. +Included in these expenditures was a total appropriation of +$152,956,637.35 for the continuation and extension of the rural +free-delivery service, which was an increase of $4,902,237.35 over the +amount expended for this purpose in the preceding fiscal year. Large as +this expenditure has been the beneficent results attained in extending +the free distribution of mails to the residents of rural districts have +justified the wisdom of the outlay. Statistics brought down to the 1st +of October, 1904, show that on that date there were 27,138 rural routes +established, serving approximately 12,000,000 of people in rural +districts remote from post-offices, and that there were pending at that +time 3,859 petitions for the establishment of new rural routes. +Unquestionably some part of the general increase in receipts is due to +the increased postal facilities which the rural service has afforded. +The revenues have also been aided greatly by amendments in the +classification of mail matter, and the curtailment of abuses of the +second-class mailing privilege. The average increase in the volume of +mail matter for the period beginning with 1902 and ending June, 1905 +(that portion for 1905 being estimated), is 40.47 per cent, as compared +with 25.46 per cent for the period immediately preceding, and 15.92 for +the four-year period immediately preceding that. + +Our consular system needs improvement. Salaries should be substituted +for fees, and the proper classification, grading, and transfer of +consular officers should be provided. I am not prepared to say that a +competitive system of examinations for appointment would work well; but +by law it should be provided that consuls should be familiar, according +to places for which they apply, with the French, German, or Spanish +languages, and should possess acquaintance with the resources of the +United States. + +The collection of objects of art contemplated in section 5586 of the +Revised Statutes should be designated and established as a National +Gallery of Art; and the Smithsonian Institution should be authorized to +accept any additions to said collection that may be received by gift, +bequest, or devise. + +It is desirable to enact a proper National quarantine law. It is most +undesirable that a State should on its own initiative enforce +quarantine regulations which are in effect a restriction upon +interstate and international commerce. The question should properly be +assumed by the Government alone. The Surgeon-General of the National +Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service has repeatedly and +convincingly set forth the need for such legislation. + +I call your attention to the great extravagance in printing and binding +Government publications, and especially to the fact that altogether too +many of these publications are printed. There is a constant tendency to +increase their number and their volume. It is an understatement to say +that no appreciable harm would be caused by, and substantial benefit +would accrue from, decreasing the amount of printing now done by at +least one-half. Probably the great majority of the Government reports +and the like now printed are never read at all, and furthermore the +printing of much of the material contained in many of the remaining +ones serves no useful purpose whatever. + +The attention of the Congress should be especially given to the +currency question, and that the standing committees on the matter in +the two Houses charged with the duty, take up the matter of our +currency and see whether it is not possible to secure an agreement in +the business world for bettering the system; the committees should +consider the question of the retirement of the greenbacks and the +problem of securing in our currency such elasticity as is consistent +with safety. Every silver dollar should be made by law redeemable in +gold at the option of the holder. + +I especially commend to your immediate attention the encouragement of +our merchant marine by appropriate legislation. + +The growing importance of the Orient as a field for American exports +drew from my predecessor, President McKinley, an urgent request for its +special consideration by the Congress. In his message of 1898 he +stated: + +"In this relation, as showing the peculiar volume and value of our +trade with China and the peculiarly favorable conditions which exist +for their expansion in the normal course of trade, I refer to the +communication addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives +by the Secretary of the Treasury on the 14th of last June, with its +accompanying letter of the Secretary of State, recommending an +appropriation for a commission to study the industrial and commercial +conditions in the Chinese Empire and to report as to the opportunities +for and the obstacles to the enlargement of markets in China for the +raw products and manufactures of the United States. Action was not +taken thereon during the last session. I cordially urge that the +recommendation receive at your hands the consideration which its +importance and timeliness merit." + +In his annual message of 1889 he again called attention to this +recommendation, quoting it, and stated further: + +"I now renew this recommendation, as the importance of the subject has +steadily grown since it was first submitted to you, and no time should +be lost in studying for ourselves the resources of this great field for +American trade and enterprise." + +The importance of securing proper information and data with a view to +the enlargement of our trade with Asia is undiminished. Our consular +representatives in China have strongly urged a place for permanent +display of American products in some prominent trade center of that +Empire, under Government control and management, as an effective means +of advancing our export trade therein. I call the attention of the +Congress to the desirability of carrying out these suggestions. + +In dealing with the questions of immigration and naturalization it is +indispensable to keep certain facts ever before the minds of those who +share in enacting the laws. First and foremost, let us remember that +the question of being a good American has nothing whatever to do with a +man's birthplace any more than it has to do with his creed. In every +generation from the time this Government was founded men of foreign +birth have stood in the very foremost rank of good citizenship, and +that not merely in one but in every field of American activity; while +to try to draw a distinction between the man whose parents came to this +country and the man whose ancestors came to it several generations back +is a mere absurdity. Good Americanism is a matter of heart, of +conscience, of lofty aspiration, of sound common sense, but not of +birthplace or of creed. The medal of honor, the highest prize to be won +by those who serve in the Army and the Navy of the United States +decorates men born here, and it also decorates men born in Great +Britain and Ireland, in Germany, in Scandinavia, in France, and +doubtless in other countries also. In the field of statesmanship, in +the field of business, in the field of philanthropic endeavor, it is +equally true that among the men of whom we are most proud as Americans +no distinction whatever can be drawn between those who themselves or +whose parents came over in sailing ship or steamer from across the +water and those whose ancestors stepped ashore into the wooded +wilderness at Plymouth or at the mouth of the Hudson, the Delaware, or +the James nearly three centuries ago. No fellow-citizen of ours is +entitled to any peculiar regard because of the way in which he worships +his Maker, or because of the birthplace of himself or his parents, nor +should he be in any way discriminated against therefor. Each must stand +on his worth as a man and each is entitled to be judged solely thereby. + +There is no danger of having too many immigrants of the right kind. It +makes no difference from what country they come. If they are sound in +body and in mind, and, above all, if they are of good character, so +that we can rest assured that their children and grandchildren will be +worthy fellow-citizens of our children and grandchildren, then we +should welcome them with cordial hospitality. + +But the citizenship of this country should not be debased. It is vital +that we should keep high the standard of well-being among our +wage-workers, and therefore we should not admit masses of men whose +standards of living and whose personal customs and habits are such that +they tend to lower the level of the American wage-worker; and above all +we should not admit any man of an unworthy type, any man concerning +whom we can say that he will himself be a bad citizen, or that his +children and grandchildren will detract from instead of adding to the +sum of the good citizenship of the country. Similarly we should take +the greatest care about naturalization. Fraudulent naturalization, the +naturalization of improper persons, is a curse to our Government; and +it is the affair of every honest voter, wherever born, to see that no +fraudulent voting is allowed, that no fraud in connection with +naturalization is permitted. + +In the past year the cases of false, fraudulent, and improper +naturalization of aliens coming to the attention of the executive +branches of the Government have increased to an alarming degree. +Extensive sales of forged certificates of naturalization have been +discovered, as well as many cases of naturalization secured by perjury +and fraud; and in addition, instances have accumulated showing that +many courts issue certificates of naturalization carelessly and upon +insufficient evidence. + +Under the Constitution it is in the power of the Congress "to establish +a uniform rule of naturalization," and numerous laws have from time to +time been enacted for that purpose, which have been supplemented in a +few States by State laws having special application. The Federal +statutes permit naturalization by any court of record in the United +States having common-law jurisdiction and a seal and clerk, except the +police court of the District of Columbia, and nearly all these courts +exercise this important function. It results that where so many courts +of such varying grades have jurisdiction, there is lack of uniformity +in the rules applied in conferring naturalization. Some courts are +strict and others lax. An alien who may secure naturalization in one +place might be denied it in another, and the intent of the +constitutional provision is in fact defeated. Furthermore, the +certificates of naturalization issued by the courts differ widely in +wording and appearance, and when they are brought into use in foreign +countries, are frequently subject to suspicion. + +There should be a comprehensive revision of the naturalization laws. +The courts having power to naturalize should be definitely named by +national authority; the testimony upon which naturalization may be +conferred should be definitely prescribed; publication of impending +naturalization applications should be required in advance of their +hearing in court; the form and wording of all certificates issued +should be uniform throughout the country, and the courts should be +required to make returns to the Secretary of State at stated periods of +all naturalizations conferred. + +Not only are the laws relating to naturalization now defective, but +those relating to citizenship of the United States ought also to be +made the subject of scientific inquiry with a view to probable further +legislation. By what acts expatriation may be assumed to have been +accomplished, how long an American citizen may reside abroad and +receive the protection of our passport, whether any degree of +protection should be extended to one who has made the declaration of +intention to become a citizen of the United States but has not secured +naturalization, are questions of serious import, involving personal +rights and often producing friction between this Government and foreign +governments. Yet upon these question our laws are silent. I recommend +that an examination be made into the subjects of citizenship, +expatriation, and protection of Americans abroad, with a view to +appropriate legislation. + +The power of the Government to protect the integrity of the elections +of its own officials is inherent and has been recognized and affirmed +by repeated declarations of the Supreme Court. There is no enemy of +free government more dangerous and none so insidious as the corruption +of the electorate. No one defends or excuses corruption, and it would +seem to follow that none would oppose vigorous measures to eradicate +it. I recommend the enactment of a law directed against bribery and +corruption in Federal elections. The details of such a law may be +safely left to the wise discretion of the Congress, but it should go as +far as under the Constitution it is possible to go, and should include +severe penalties against him who gives or receives a bribe intended to +influence his act or opinion as an elector; and provisions for the +publication not only of the expenditures for nominations and elections +of all candidates but also of all contributions received and +expenditures made by political committees. + +No subject is better worthy the attention of the Congress than that +portion of the report of the Attorney-General dealing with the long +delays and the great obstruction to justice experienced in the cases of +Beavers, Green and Gaynor, and Benson. Were these isolated and special +cases, I should not call your attention to them; but the difficulties +encountered as regards these men who have been indicted for criminal +practices are not exceptional; they are precisely similar in kind to +what occurs again and again in the case of criminals who have +sufficient means to enable them to take advantage of a system of +procedure which has grown up in the Federal courts and which amounts in +effect to making the law easy of enforcement against the man who has no +money, and difficult of enforcement, even to the point of sometimes +securing immunity, as regards the man who has money. In criminal cases +the writ of the United States should run throughout its borders. The +wheels of justice should not be clogged, as they have been clogged in +the cases above mentioned, where it has proved absolutely impossible to +bring the accused to the place appointed by the Constitution for his +trial. Of recent years there has been grave and increasing complaint of +the difficulty of bringing to justice those criminals whose +criminality, instead of being against one person in the Republic, is +against all persons in the Republic, because it is against the Republic +itself. Under any circumstance and from the very nature of the case it +is often exceedingly difficult to secure proper punishment of those who +have been guilty of wrongdoing against the Government. By the time the +offender can be brought into court the popular wrath against him has +generally subsided; and there is in most instances very slight danger +indeed of any prejudice existing in the minds of the jury against him. +At present the interests of the innocent man are amply safeguarded; but +the interests of the Government, that is, the interests of honest +administration, that is the interests of the people, are not recognized +as they should be. No subject better warrants the attention of the +Congress. Indeed, no subject better warrants the attention of the bench +and the bar throughout the United States. + +Alaska, like all our Territorial acquisitions, has proved resourceful +beyond the expectations of those who made the purchase. It has become +the home of many hardy, industrious, and thrifty American citizens. +Towns of a permanent character have been built. The extent of its +wealth in minerals, timber, fisheries, and agriculture, while great, is +probably not comprehended yet in any just measure by our people. We do +know, however, that from a very small beginning its products have grown +until they are a steady and material contribution to the wealth of the +nation. Owing to the immensity of Alaska and its location in the far +north, it is a difficult matter to provide many things essential to its +growth and to the happiness and comfort of its people by private +enterprise alone. It should, therefore, receive reasonable aid from the +Government. The Government has already done excellent work for Alaska +in laying cables and building telegraph lines. This work has been done +in the most economical and efficient way by the Signal Corps of the +Army. + +In some respects it has outgrown its present laws, while in others +those laws have been found to be inadequate. In order to obtain +information upon which I could rely I caused an official of the +Department of Justice, in whose judgment I have confidence, to visit +Alaska during the past summer for the purpose of ascertaining how +government is administered there and what legislation is actually +needed at present. A statement of the conditions found to exist, +together with some recommendations and the reasons therefor, in which I +strongly concur, will be found in the annual report of the +Attorney-General. In some instances I feel that the legislation +suggested is so imperatively needed that I am moved briefly to +emphasize the Attorney-General's proposals. + +Under the Code of Alaska as it now stands many purely administrative +powers and duties, including by far the most important, devolve upon +the district judges or upon the clerks of the district court acting +under the direction of the judges, while the governor, upon whom these +powers and duties should logically fall, has nothing specific to do +except to make annual reports, issue Thanksgiving Day proclamations, +and appoint Indian policemen and notaries public. I believe it +essential to good government in Alaska, and therefore recommend, that +the Congress divest the district judges and the clerks of their courts +of the administrative or executive functions that they now exercise and +cast them upon the governor. This would not be an innovation; it would +simply conform the government of Alaska to fundamental principles, +making the governorship a real instead of a merely nominal office, and +leaving the judges free to give their entire attention to their +judicial duties and at the same time removing them from a great deal of +the strife that now embarrasses the judicial office in Alaska. + +I also recommend that the salaries of the district judges and district +attorneys in Alaska be increased so as to make them equal to those +received by corresponding officers in the United States after deducting +the difference in the cost of living; that the district attorneys +should be prohibited from engaging in private practice; that United +States commissioners be appointed by the governor of the Territory +instead of by the district judges, and that a fixed salary be provided +for them to take the place of the discredited "fee system," which +should be abolished in all offices; that a mounted constabulary be +created to police the territory outside the limits of incorporated +towns--a vast section now wholly without police protection; and that +some provision be made to at least lessen the oppressive delays and +costs that now attend the prosecution of appeals from the district +court of Alaska. There should be a division of the existing judicial +districts, and an increase in the number of judges. + +Alaska should have a Delegate in the Congress. Where possible, the +Congress should aid in the construction of needed wagon roads. +Additional light-houses should be provided. In my judgment, it is +especially important to aid in such manner as seems just and feasible +in the construction of a trunk line of railway to connect the Gulf of +Alaska with the Yukon River through American territory. This would be +most beneficial to the development of the resources of the Territory, +and to the comfort and welfare of its people. + +Salmon hatcheries should be established in many different streams, so +as to secure the preservation of this valuable food fish. Salmon +fisheries and canneries should be prohibited on certain of the rivers +where the mass of those Indians dwell who live almost exclusively on +fish. + +The Alaskan natives are kindly, intelligent, anxious to learn, and +willing to work. Those who have come under the influence of +civilization, even for a limited period, have proved their capability +of becoming self-supporting, self-respecting citizens, and ask only for +the just enforcement of law and intelligent instruction and +supervision. Others, living in more remote regions, primitive, simple +hunters and fisher folk, who know only the life of the woods and the +waters, are daily being confronted with twentieth-century civilization +with all of its complexities. Their country is being overrun by +strangers, the game slaughtered and driven away, the streams depleted +of fish, and hitherto unknown and fatal diseases brought to them, all +of which combine to produce a state of abject poverty and want which +must result in their extinction. Action in their interest is demanded +by every consideration of justice and humanity. + +The needs of these people are: + +The abolition of the present fee system, whereby the native is +degraded, imposed upon, and taught the injustice of law. + +The establishment of hospitals at central points, so that contagious +diseases that are brought to them continually by incoming whites may be +localized and not allowed to become epidemic, to spread death and +destitution over great areas. + +The development of the educational system in the form of practical +training in such industries as will assure the Indians self-support +under the changed conditions in which they will have to live. + +The duties of the office of the governor should be extended to include +the supervision of Indian affairs, with necessary assistants in +different districts. He should be provided with the means and the power +to protect and advise the native people, to furnish medical treatment +in time of epidemics, and to extend material relief in periods of +famine and extreme destitution. + +The Alaskan natives should be given the right to acquire, hold, and +dispose of property upon the same conditions as given other +inhabitants; and the privilege of citizenship should be given to such +as may be able to meet certain definite requirements. In Hawaii +Congress should give the governor power to remove all the officials +appointed under him. The harbor of Honolulu should be dredged. The +Marine-Hospital Service should be empowered to study leprosy in the +islands. I ask special consideration for the report and recommendation +of the governor of Porto Rico. + +In treating of our foreign policy and of the attitude that this great +Nation should assume in the world at large, it is absolutely necessary +to consider the Army and the Navy, and the Congress, through which the +thought of the Nation finds its expression, should keep ever vividly in +mind the fundamental fact that it is impossible to treat our foreign +policy, whether this policy takes shape in the effort to secure justice +for others or justice for ourselves, save as conditioned upon the +attitude we are willing to take toward our Army, and especially toward +our Navy. It is not merely unwise, it is contemptible, for a nation, as +for an individual, to use high-sounding language to proclaim its +purposes, or to take positions which are ridiculous if unsupported by +potential force, and then to refuse to provide this force. If there is +no intention of providing and of keeping the force necessary to back up +a strong attitude, then it is far better not to assume such an +attitude. + +The steady aim of this Nation, as of all enlightened nations, should be +to strive to bring ever nearer the day when there shall prevail +throughout the world the peace of justice. There are kinds of peace +which are highly undesirable, which are in the long run as destructive +as any war. Tyrants and oppressors have many times made a wilderness +and called it peace. Many times peoples who were slothful or timid or +shortsighted, who had been enervated by ease or by luxury, or misled by +false teachings, have shrunk in unmanly fashion from doing duty that +was stern and that needed self-sacrifice, and have sought to hide from +their own minds their shortcomings, their ignoble motives, by calling +them love of peace. The peace of tyrannous terror, the peace of craven +weakness, the peace of injustice, all these should be shunned as we +shun unrighteous war. The goal to set before us as a nation, the goal +which should be set before all mankind, is the attainment of the peace +of justice, of the peace which comes when each nation is not merely +safe-guarded in its own rights, but scrupulously recognizes and +performs its duty toward others. Generally peace tells for +righteousness; but if there is conflict between the two, then our +fealty is due-first to the cause of righteousness. Unrighteous wars are +common, and unrighteous peace is rare; but both should be shunned. The +right of freedom and the responsibility for the exercise of that right +can not be divorced. One of our great poets has well and finely said +that freedom is not a gift that tarries long in the hands of cowards. +Neither does it tarry long in the hands of those too slothful, too +dishonest, or too unintelligent to exercise it. The eternal vigilance +which is the price of liberty must be exercised, sometimes to guard +against outside foes; although of course far more often to guard +against our own selfish or thoughtless shortcomings. + +If these self-evident truths are kept before us, and only if they are +so kept before us, we shall have a clear idea of what our foreign +policy in its larger aspects should be. It is our duty to remember that +a nation has no more right to do injustice to another nation, strong or +weak, than an individual has to do injustice to another individual; +that the same moral law applies in one case as in the other. But we +must also remember that it is as much the duty of the Nation to guard +its own rights and its own interests as it is the duty of the +individual so to do. Within the Nation the individual has now delegated +this right to the State, that is, to the representative of all the +individuals, and it is a maxim of the law that for every wrong there is +a remedy. But in international law we have not advanced by any means as +far as we have advanced in municipal law. There is as yet no judicial +way of enforcing a right in international law. When one nation wrongs +another or wrongs many others, there is no tribunal before which the +wrongdoer can be brought. Either it is necessary supinely to acquiesce +in the wrong, and thus put a premium upon brutality and aggression, or +else it is necessary for the aggrieved nation valiantly to stand up for +its rights. Until some method is devised by which there shall be a +degree of international control over offending nations, it would be a +wicked thing for the most civilized powers, for those with most sense +of international obligations and with keenest and most generous +appreciation of the difference between right and wrong, to disarm. If +the great civilized nations of the present day should completely +disarm, the result would mean an immediate recrudescence of barbarism +in one form or another. Under any circumstances a sufficient armament +would have to be kept up to serve the purposes of international police; +and until international cohesion and the sense of international duties +and rights are far more advanced than at present, a nation desirous +both of securing respect for itself and of doing good to others must +have a force adequate for the work which it feels is allotted to it as +its part of the general world duty. Therefore it follows that a +self-respecting, just, and far-seeing nation should on the one hand +endeavor by every means to aid in the development of the various +movements which tend to provide substitutes for war, which tend to +render nations in their actions toward one another, and indeed toward +their own peoples, more responsive to the general sentiment of humane +and civilized mankind; and on the other hand that it should keep +prepared, while scrupulously avoiding wrongdoing itself, to repel any +wrong, and in exceptional cases to take action which in a more advanced +stage of international relations would come under the head of the +exercise of the international police. A great free people owes it to +itself and to all mankind not to sink into helplessness before the +powers of evil. + +We are in every way endeavoring to help on, with cordial good will, +every movement which will tend to bring us into more friendly relations +with the rest of mankind. In pursuance of this policy I shall shortly +lay before the Senate treaties of arbitration with all powers which are +willing to enter into these treaties with us. It is not possible at +this period of the world's development to agree to arbitrate all +matters, but there are many matters of possible difference between us +and other nations which can be thus arbitrated. Furthermore, at the +request of the Interparliamentary Union, an eminent body composed of +practical statesmen from all countries, I have asked the Powers to join +with this Government in a second Hague conference, at which it is hoped +that the work already so happily begun at The Hague may be carried some +steps further toward completion. This carries out the desire expressed +by the first Hague conference itself. + +It is not true that the United States feels any land hunger or +entertains any projects as regards the other nations of the Western +Hemisphere save such as are for their welfare. All that this country +desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and +prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count +upon our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act +with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, +if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no +interference from the United States. Chronic wrongdoing, or an +impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized +society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention +by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence +of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United +States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or +impotence, to the exercise of an international police power. If every +country washed by the Caribbean Sea would show the progress in stable +and just civilization which with the aid of the Platt amendment Cuba +has shown since our troops left the island, and which so many of the +republics in both Americas are constantly and brilliantly showing, all +question of interference by this Nation with their affairs would be at +an end. Our interests and those of our southern neighbors are in +reality identical. They have great natural riches, and if within their +borders the reign of law and justice obtains, prosperity is sure to +come to them. While they thus obey the primary laws of civilized +society they may rest assured that they will be treated by us in a +spirit of cordial and helpful sympathy. We would interfere with them +only in the last resort, and then only if it became evident that their +inability or unwillingness to do justice at home and abroad had +violated the rights of the United States or had invited foreign +aggression to the detriment of the entire body of American nations. It +is a mere truism to say that every nation, whether in America or +anywhere else, which desires to maintain its freedom, its independence, +must ultimately realize that the right of such independence can not be +separated from the responsibility of making good use of it. + +In asserting the Monroe Doctrine, in taking such steps as we have taken +in regard to Cuba, Venezuela, and Panama, and in endeavoring to +circumscribe the theater of war in the Far East, and to secure the open +door in China, we have acted in our own interest as well as in the +interest of humanity at large. There are, however, cases in which, +while our own interests are not greatly involved, strong appeal is made +to our sympathies. Ordinarily it is very much wiser and more useful for +us to concern ourselves with striving for our own moral and material +betterment here at home than to concern ourselves with trying to better +the condition of things in other nations. We have plenty of sins of our +own to war against, and under ordinary circumstances we can do more for +the general uplifting of humanity by striving with heart and soul to +put a stop to civic corruption, to brutal lawlessness and violent race +prejudices here at home than by passing resolutions about wrongdoing +elsewhere. Nevertheless there are occasional crimes committed on so +vast a scale and of such peculiar horror as to make us doubt whether it +is not our manifest duty to endeavor at least to show our disapproval +of the deed and our sympathy with those who have suffered by it. The +cases must be extreme in which such a course is justifiable. There must +be no effort made to remove the mote from our brother's eye if we +refuse to remove the beam from our own. But in extreme cases action may +be justifiable and proper. What form the action shall take must depend +upon the circumstances of the case; that is, upon the degree of the +atrocity and upon our power to remedy it. The cases in which we could +interfere by force of arms as we interfered to put a stop to +intolerable conditions in Cuba are necessarily very few. Yet it is not +to be expected that a people like ours, which in spite of certain very +obvious shortcomings, nevertheless as a whole shows by its consistent +practice its belief in the principles of civil and religious liberty +and of orderly freedom, a people among whom even the worst crime, like +the crime of lynching, is never more than sporadic, so that individuals +and not classes are molested in their fundamental rights--it is +inevitable that such a nation should desire eagerly to give expression +to its horror on an occasion like that of the massacre of the Jews in +Kishenef, or when it witnesses such systematic and long-extended +cruelty and oppression as the cruelty and oppression of which the +Armenians have been the victims, and which have won for them the +indignant pity of the civilized world. + +Even where it is not possible to secure in other nations the observance +of the principles which we accept as axiomatic, it is necessary for us +firmly to insist upon the rights of our own citizens without regard to +their creed or race; without regard to whether they were born here or +born abroad. It has proved very difficult to secure from Russia the +right for our Jewish fellow-citizens to receive passports and travel +through Russian territory. Such conduct is not only unjust and +irritating toward us, but it is difficult to see its wisdom from +Russia's standpoint. No conceivable good is accomplished by it. If an +American Jew or an American Christian misbehaves himself in Russia he +can at once be driven out; but the ordinary American Jew, like the +ordinary American Christian, would behave just about as he behaves +here, that is, behave as any good citizen ought to behave; and where +this is the case it is a wrong against which we are entitled to protest +to refuse him his passport without regard to his conduct and character, +merely on racial and religious grounds. In Turkey our difficulties +arise less from the way in which our citizens are sometimes treated +than from the indignation inevitably excited in seeing such fearful +misrule as has been witnessed both in Armenia and Macedonia. + +The strong arm of the Government in enforcing respect for its just +rights in international matters is the Navy of the United States. I +most earnestly recommend that there be no halt in the work of +upbuilding the American Navy. There is no more patriotic duty before us +a people than to keep the Navy adequate to the needs of this country's +position. We have undertaken to build the Isthmian Canal. We have +undertaken to secure for ourselves our just share in the trade of the +Orient. We have undertaken to protect our citizens from proper +treatment in foreign lands. We continue steadily to insist on the +application of the Monroe Doctrine to the Western Hemisphere. Unless +our attitude in these and all similar matters is to be a mere boastful +sham we can not afford to abandon our naval programme. Our voice is now +potent for peace, and is so potent because we are not afraid of war. +But our protestations upon behalf of peace would neither receive nor +deserve the slightest attention if we were impotent to make them good. + +The war which now unfortunately rages in the far East has emphasized in +striking fashion the new possibilities of naval warfare. The lessons +taught are both strategic and tactical, and are political as well as +military. The experiences of the war have shown in conclusive fashion +that while sea-going and sea-keeping torpedo destroyers are +indispensable, and fast lightly armed and armored cruisers very useful, +yet that the main reliance, the main standby, in any navy worthy the +name must be the great battle ships, heavily armored and heavily +gunned. Not a Russian or Japanese battle ship has been sunk by a +torpedo boat, or by gunfire, while among the less protected ships, +cruiser after cruiser has been destroyed whenever the hostile squadrons +have gotten within range of one another's weapons. There will always be +a large field of usefulness for cruisers, especially of the more +formidable type. We need to increase the number of torpedo-boat +destroyers, paying less heed to their having a knot or two extra speed +than to their capacity to keep the seas for weeks, and, if necessary, +for months at a time. It is wise to build submarine torpedo boats, as +under certain circumstances they might be very useful. But most of all +we need to continue building our fleet of battle ships, or ships so +powerfully armed that they can inflict the maximum of damage upon our +opponents, and so well protected that they can suffer a severe +hammering in return without fatal impairment of their ability to fight +and maneuver. Of course ample means must be provided for enabling the +personnel of the Navy to be brought to the highest point of efficiency. +Our great fighting ships and torpedo boats must be ceaselessly trained +and maneuvered in squadrons. The officers and men can only learn their +trade thoroughly by ceaseless practice on the high seas. In the event +of war it would be far better to have no ships at all than to have +ships of a poor and ineffective type, or ships which, however good, +were yet manned by untrained and unskillful crews. The best officers +and men in a poor ship could do nothing against fairly good opponents; +and on the other hand a modern war ship is useless unless the officers +and men aboard her have become adepts in their duties. The marksmanship +in our Navy has improved in an extraordinary degree during the last +three years, and on the whole the types of our battleships are +improving; but much remains to be done. Sooner or later we shall have +to provide for some method by which there will be promotions for merit +as well as for seniority, or else retirement all those who after a +certain age have not advanced beyond a certain grade; while no effort +must be spared to make the service attractive to the enlisted men in +order that they may be kept as long as possible in it. Reservation +public schools should be provided wherever there are navy-yards. + +Within the last three years the United States has set an example in +disarmament where disarmament was proper. By law our Army is fixed at a +maximum of one hundred thousand and a minimum of sixty thousand men. +When there was insurrection in the Philippines we kept the Army at the +maximum. Peace came in the Philippines, and now our Army has been +reduced to the minimum at which it is possible to keep it with due +regard to its efficiency. The guns now mounted require twenty-eight +thousand men, if the coast fortifications are to be adequately manned. +Relatively to the Nation, it is not now so large as the police force of +New York or Chicago relatively to the population of either city. We +need more officers; there are not enough to perform the regular army +work. It is very important that the officers of the Army should be +accustomed to handle their men in masses, as it is also important that +the National Guard of the several States should be accustomed to actual +field maneuvering, especially in connection with the regulars. For this +reason we are to be congratulated upon the success of the field +maneuvers at Manassas last fall, maneuvers in which a larger number of +Regulars and National Guard took part than was ever before assembled +together in time of peace. No other civilized nation has, relatively to +its population, such a diminutive Army as ours; and while the Army is +so small we are not to be excused if we fail to keep it at a very high +grade of proficiency. It must be incessantly practiced; the standard +for the enlisted men should be kept very high, while at the same time +the service should be made as attractive as possible; and the standard +for the officers should be kept even higher--which, as regards the +upper ranks, can best be done by introducing some system of selection +and rejection into the promotions. We should be able, in the event of +some sudden emergency, to put into the field one first-class army +corps, which should be, as a whole, at least the equal of any body of +troops of like number belonging to any other nation. + +Great progress has been made in protecting our coasts by adequate +fortifications with sufficient guns. We should, however, pay much more +heed than at present to the development of an extensive system of +floating mines for use in all our more important harbors. These mines +have been proved to be a most formidable safeguard against hostile +fleets. + +I earnestly call the attention of the Congress to the need of amending +the existing law relating to the award of Congressional medals of honor +in the Navy so as to provide that they may be awarded to commissioned +officers and warrant officers as well as to enlisted men. These justly +prized medals are given in the Army alike to the officers and the +enlisted men, and it is most unjust that the commissioned officers and +warrant officers of the Navy should not in this respect have the same +rights as their brethren in the Army and as the enlisted men of the +Navy. + +In the Philippine Islands there has been during the past year a +continuation of the steady progress which has obtained ever since our +troops definitely got the upper hand of the insurgents. The Philippine +people, or, to speak more accurately, the many tribes, and even races, +sundered from one another more or less sharply, who go to make up the +people of the Philippine Islands, contain many elements of good, and +some elements which we have a right to hope stand for progress. At +present they are utterly incapable of existing in independence at all +or of building up a civilization of their own. I firmly believe that we +can help them to rise higher and higher in the scale of civilization +and of capacity for self-government, and I most earnestly hope that in +the end they will be able to stand, if not entirely alone, yet in some +such relation to the United States as Cuba now stands. This end is not +yet in sight, and it may be indefinitely postponed if our people are +foolish enough to turn the attention of the Filipinos away from the +problems of achieving moral and material prosperity, of working for a +stable, orderly, and just government, and toward foolish and dangerous +intrigues for a complete independence for which they are as yet totally +unfit. + +On the other hand our people must keep steadily before their minds the +fact that the justification for our stay in the Philippines must +ultimately rest chiefly upon the good we are able to do in the islands. +I do not overlook the fact that in the development of our interests in +the Pacific Ocean and along its coasts, the Philippines have played and +will play an important part; and that our interests have been served in +more than one way by the possession of the islands. But our chief +reason for continuing to hold them must be that we ought in good faith +to try to do our share of the world's work, and this particular piece +of work has been imposed upon us by the results of the war with Spain. +The problem presented to us in the Philippine Islands is akin to, but +not exactly like, the problems presented to the other great civilized +powers which have possessions in the Orient. There are points of +resemblance in our work to the work which is being done by the British +in India and Egypt, by the French in Algiers, by the Dutch in Java, by +the Russians in Turkestan, by the Japanese in Formosa; but more +distinctly than any of these powers we are endeavoring to develop the +natives themselves so that they shall take an ever-increasing share in +their own government, and as far as is prudent we are already admitting +their representatives to a governmental equality with our own. There +are commissioners, judges, and governors in the islands who are +Filipinos and who have exactly the same share in the government of the +islands as have their colleagues who are Americans, while in the lower +ranks, of course, the great majority of the public servants are +Filipinos. Within two years we shall be trying the experiment of an +elective lower house in the Philippine legislature. It may be that the +Filipinos will misuse this legislature, and they certainly will misuse +it if they are misled by foolish persons here at home into starting an +agitation for their own independence or into any factious or improper +action. In such case they will do themselves no good and will stop for +the time being all further effort to advance them and give them a +greater share in their own government. But if they act with wisdom and +self-restraint, if they show that they are capable of electing a +legislature which in its turn is capable of taking a sane and efficient +part in the actual work of government, they can rest assured that a +full and increasing measure of recognition will be given them. Above +all they should remember that their prime needs are moral and +industrial, not political. It is a good thing to try the experiment of +giving them a legislature; but it is a far better thing to give them +schools, good roads, railroads which will enable them to get their +products to market, honest courts, an honest and efficient +constabulary, and all that tends to produce order, peace, fair dealing +as between man and man, and habits of intelligent industry and thrift. +If they are safeguarded against oppression, and if their real wants, +material and spiritual, are studied intelligently and in a spirit of +friendly sympathy, much more good will be done them than by any effort +to give them political power, though this effort may in its own proper +time and place be proper enough. + +Meanwhile our own people should remember that there is need for the +highest standard of conduct among the Americans sent to the Philippine +Islands, not only among the public servants but among the private +individuals who go to them. It is because I feel this so deeply that in +the administration of these islands I have positively refused to permit +any discrimination whatsoever for political reasons and have insisted +that in choosing the public servants consideration should be paid +solely to the worth of the men chosen and to the needs of the islands. +There is no higher body of men in our public service than we have in +the Philippine Islands under Governor Wright and his associates. So far +as possible these men should be given a free hand, and their +suggestions should receive the hearty backing both of the Executive and +of the Congress. There is need of a vigilant and disinterested support +of our public servants in the Philippines by good citizens here in the +United States. Unfortunately hitherto those of our people here at home +who have specially claimed to be the champions of the Filipinos have in +reality been their worst enemies. This will continue to be the case as +long as they strive to make the Filipinos independent, and stop all +industrial development of the islands by crying out against the laws +which would bring it on the ground that capitalists must not "exploit" +the islands. Such proceedings are not only unwise, but are most harmful +to the Filipinos, who do not need independence at all, but who do need +good laws, good public servants, and the industrial development that +can only come if the investment, of American and foreign capital in the +islands is favored in all legitimate ways. + +Every measure taken concerning the islands should be taken primarily +with a view to their advantage. We should certainly give them lower +tariff rates on their exports to the United States; if this is not done +it will be a wrong to extend our shipping laws to them. I earnestly +hope for the immediate enactment into law of the legislation now +pending to encourage American capital to seek investment in the islands +in railroads, in factories, in plantations, and in lumbering and +mining. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 5, 1905 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +The people of this country continue to enjoy great prosperity. +Undoubtedly there will be ebb and flow in such prosperity, and this ebb +and flow will be felt more or less by all members of the community, +both by the deserving and the undeserving. Against the wrath of the +Lord the wisdom of man cannot avail; in time of flood or drought human +ingenuity can but partially repair the disaster. A general failure of +crops would hurt all of us. Again, if the folly of man mars the general +well-being, then those who are innocent of the folly will have to pay +part of the penalty incurred by those who are guilty of the folly. A +panic brought on by the speculative folly of part of the business +community would hurt the whole business community. But such stoppage of +welfare, though it might be severe, would not be lasting. In the long +run the one vital factor in the permanent prosperity of the country is +the high individual character of the average American worker, the +average American citizen, no matter whether his work be mental or +manual, whether he be farmer or wage-worker, business man or +professional man. + +In our industrial and social system the interests of all men are so +closely intertwined that in the immense majority of cases a +straight-dealing man who by his efficiency, by his ingenuity and +industry, benefits himself must also benefit others. Normally the man +of great productive capacity who becomes rich by guiding the labor of +many other men does so by enabling them to produce more than they could +produce without his guidance; and both he and they share in the +benefit, which comes also to the public at large. The superficial fact +that the sharing may be unequal must never blind us to the underlying +fact that there is this sharing, and that the benefit comes in some +degree to each man concerned. Normally the wage-worker, the man of +small means, and the average consumer, as well as the average producer, +are all alike helped by making conditions such that the man of +exceptional business ability receives an exceptional reward for his +ability. Something can be done by legislation to help the general +prosperity; but no such help of a permanently beneficial character can +be given to the less able and less fortunate, save as the results of a +policy which shall inure to the advantage of all industrious and +efficient people who act decently; and this is only another way of +saying that any benefit which comes to the less able and less fortunate +must of necessity come even more to the more able and more fortunate. +If, therefore, the less fortunate man is moved by envy of his more +fortunate brother to strike at the conditions under which they have +both, though unequally, prospered, the result will assuredly be that +while danger may come to the one struck at, it will visit with an even +heavier load the one who strikes the blow. Taken as a whole we must all +go up or down together. + +Yet, while not merely admitting, but insisting upon this, it is also +true that where there is no governmental restraint or supervision some +of the exceptional men use their energies not in ways that are for the +common good, but in ways which tell against this common good. The +fortunes amassed through corporate organization are now so large, and +vest such power in those that wield them, as to make it a matter of +necessity to give to the sovereign--that is, to the Government, which +represents the people as a whole--some effective power of supervision +over their corporate use. In order to insure a healthy social and +industrial life, every big corporation should be held responsible by, +and be accountable to, some sovereign strong enough to control its +conduct. I am in no sense hostile to corporations. This is an age of +combination, and any effort to prevent all combination will be not only +useless, but in the end vicious, because of the contempt for law which +the failure to enforce law inevitably produces. We should, moreover, +recognize in cordial and ample fashion the immense good effected by +corporate agencies in a country such as ours, and the wealth of +intellect, energy, and fidelity devoted to their service, and therefore +normally to the service of the public, by their officers and directors. +The corporation has come to stay, just as the trade union has come to +stay. Each can do and has done great good. Each should be favored so +long as it does good. But each should be sharply checked where it acts +against law and justice. + +So long as the finances of the Nation are kept upon an honest basis no +other question of internal economy with which the Congress has the +power to deal begins to approach in importance the matter of +endeavoring to secure proper industrial conditions under which the +individuals--and especially the great corporations--doing an interstate +business are to act. The makers of our National Constitution provided +especially that the regulation of interstate commerce should come +within the sphere of the General Government. The arguments in favor of +their taking this stand were even then overwhelming. But they are far +stronger today, in view of the enormous development of great business +agencies, usually corporate in form. Experience has shown conclusively +that it is useless to try to get any adequate regulation and +supervision of these great corporations by State action. Such +regulation and supervision can only be effectively exercised by a +sovereign whose jurisdiction is coextensive with the field of work of +the corporations--that is, by the National Government. I believe that +this regulation and supervision can be obtained by the enactment of law +by the Congress. If this proves impossible, it will certainly be +necessary ultimately to confer in fullest form such power upon the +National Government by a proper amendment of the Constitution. It would +obviously be unwise to endeavor to secure such an amendment until it is +certain that the result cannot be obtained under the Constitution as it +now is. The laws of the Congress and of the several States hitherto, as +passed upon by the courts, have resulted more often in showing that the +States have no power in the matter than that the National Government +has power; so that there at present exists a very unfortunate condition +of things, under which these great corporations doing an interstate +business occupy the position of subjects without a sovereign, neither +any State Government nor the National Government having effective +control over them. Our steady aim should be by legislation, cautiously +and carefully undertaken, but resolutely persevered in, to assert the +sovereignty of the National Government by affirmative action. + +This is only in form an innovation. In substance it is merely a +restoration; for from the earliest time such regulation of industrial +activities has been recognized in the action of the lawmaking bodies; +and all that I propose is to meet the changed conditions in such manner +as will prevent the Commonwealth abdicating the power it has always +possessed not only in this country, but also in England before and +since this country became a separate Nation. + +It has been a misfortune that the National laws on this subject have +hitherto been of a negative or prohibitive rather than an affirmative +kind, and still more that they have in part sought to prohibit what +could not be effectively prohibited, and have in part in their +prohibitions confounded what should be allowed and what should not be +allowed. It is generally useless to try to prohibit all restraint on +competition, whether this restraint be reasonable or unreasonable; and +where it is not useless it is generally hurtful. Events have shown that +it is not possible adequately to secure the enforcement of any law of +this kind by incessant appeal to the courts. The Department of Justice +has for the last four years devoted more attention to the enforcement +of the anti-trust legislation than to anything else. Much has been +accomplished, particularly marked has been the moral effect of the +prosecutions; but it is increasingly evident that there will be a very +insufficient beneficial result in the way of economic change. The +successful prosecution of one device to evade the law immediately +develops another device to accomplish the same purpose. What is needed +is not sweeping prohibition of every arrangement, good or bad, which +may tend to restrict competition, but such adequate supervision and +regulation as will prevent any restriction of competition from being to +the detriment of the public--as well as such supervision and regulation +as will prevent other abuses in no way connected with restriction of +competition. Of these abuses, perhaps the chief, although by no means +the only one, is overcapitalization--generally itself the result of +dishonest promotion--because of the myriad evils it brings in its +train; for such overcapitalization often means an inflation that +invites business panic; it always conceals the true relation of the +profit earned to the capital actually invested, and it creates a burden +of interest payments which is a fertile cause of improper reduction in +or limitation of wages; it damages the small investor, discourages +thrift, and encourages gambling and speculation; while perhaps worst of +all is the trickiness and dishonesty which it implies--for harm to +morals is worse than any possible harm to material interests, and the +debauchery of politics and business by great dishonest corporations is +far worse than any actual material evil they do the public. Until the +National Government obtains, in some manner which the wisdom of the +Congress may suggest, proper control over the big corporations engaged +in interstate commerce--that is, over the great majority of the big +corporations--it will be impossible to deal adequately with these +evils. + +I am well aware of the difficulties of the legislation that I am +suggesting, and of the need of temperate and cautious action in +securing it. I should emphatically protest against improperly radical +or hasty action. The first thing to do is to deal with the great +corporations engaged in the business of interstate transportation. As I +said in my message of December 6 last, the immediate and most pressing +need, so far as legislation is concerned, is the enactment into law of +some scheme to secure to the agents of the Government such supervision +and regulation of the rates charged by the railroads of the country +engaged in interstate traffic as shall summarily and effectively +prevent the imposition of unjust or unreasonable rates. It must include +putting a complete stop to rebates in every shape and form. This power +to regulate rates, like all similar powers over the business world, +should be exercised with moderation, caution, and self-restraint; but +it should exist, so that it can be effectively exercised when the need +arises. + +The first consideration to be kept in mind is that the power should be +affirmative and should be given to some administrative body created by +the Congress. If given to the present Interstate Commerce Commission, +or to a reorganized Interstate Commerce Commission, such commission +should be made unequivocally administrative. I do not believe in the +Government interfering with private business more than is necessary. I +do not believe in the Government undertaking any work which can with +propriety be left in private hands. But neither do I believe in the +Government flinching from overseeing any work when it becomes evident +that abuses are sure to obtain therein unless there is governmental +supervision. It is not my province to indicate the exact terms of the +law which should be enacted; but I call the attention of the Congress +to certain existing conditions with which it is desirable to deal, In +my judgment the most important provision which such law should contain +is that conferring upon some competent administrative body the power to +decide, upon the case being brought before it, whether a given rate +prescribed by a railroad is reasonable and just, and if it is found to +be unreasonable and unjust, then, after full investigation of the +complaint, to prescribe the limit of rate beyond which it shall not be +lawful to go--the maximum reasonable rate, as it is commonly +called--this decision to go into effect within a reasonable time and to +obtain from thence onward, subject to review by the courts. It +sometimes happens at present not that a rate is too high but that a +favored shipper is given too low a rate. In such case the commission +would have the right to fix this already established minimum rate as +the maximum; and it would need only one or two such decisions by the +commission to cure railroad companies of the practice of giving +improper minimum rates. I call your attention to the fact that my +proposal is not to give the commission power to initiate or originate +rates generally, but to regulate a rate already fixed or originated by +the roads, upon complaint and after investigation. A heavy penalty +should be exacted from any corporation which fails to respect an order +of the commission. I regard this power to establish a maximum rate as +being essential to any scheme of real reform in the matter of railway +regulation. The first necessity is to secure it; and unless it is +granted to the commission there is little use in touching the subject +at all. + +Illegal transactions often occur under the forms of law. It has often +occurred that a shipper has been told by a traffic officer to buy a +large quantity of some commodity and then after it has been bought an +open reduction is made in the rate to take effect immediately, the +arrangement resulting to the profit of one shipper and the one railroad +and to the damage of all their competitors; for it must not be +forgotten that the big shippers are at least as much to blame as any +railroad in the matter of rebates. The law should make it clear so that +nobody can fail to understand that any kind of commission paid on +freight shipments, whether in this form or in the form of fictitious +damages, or of a concession, a free pass, reduced passenger rate, or +payment of brokerage, is illegal. It is worth while considering whether +it would not be wise to confer on the Government the right of civil +action against the beneficiary of a rebate for at least twice the value +of the rebate; this would help stop what is really blackmail. Elevator +allowances should be stopped, for they have now grown to such an extent +that they are demoralizing and are used as rebates. + +The best possible regulation of rates would, of course, be that +regulation secured by an honest agreement among the railroads +themselves to carry out the law. Such a general agreement would, for +instance, at once put a stop to the efforts of any one big shipper or +big railroad to discriminate against or secure advantages over some +rival; and such agreement would make the railroads themselves agents +for enforcing the law. The power vested in the Government to put a stop +to agreements to the detriment of the public should, in my judgment, be +accompanied by power to permit, under specified conditions and careful +supervision, agreements clearly in the interest of the public. But, in +my judgment, the necessity for giving this further power is by no means +as great as the necessity for giving the commission or administrative +body the other powers I have enumerated above; and it may well be +inadvisable to attempt to vest this particular power in the commission +or other administrative body until it already possesses and is +exercising what I regard as by far the most important of all the powers +I recommend--as indeed the vitally important power--that to fix a given +maximum rate, which rate, after the lapse of a reasonable time, goes +into full effect, subject to review by the courts. + +All private-car lines, industrial roads, refrigerator charges, and the +like should be expressly put under the supervision of the Interstate +Commerce Commission or some similar body so far as rates, and +agreements practically affecting rates, are concerned. The private car +owners and the owners of industrial railroads are entitled to a fair +and reasonable compensation on their investment, but neither private +cars nor industrial railroads nor spur tracks should be utilized as +devices for securing preferential rates. A rebate in icing charges, or +in mileage, or in a division of the rate for refrigerating charges is +just as pernicious as a rebate in any other way. No lower rate should +apply on goods imported than actually obtains on domestic goods from +the American seaboard to destination except in cases where water +competition is the controlling influence. There should be publicity of +the accounts of common carriers; no common carrier engaged in +interstate business should keep any books or memoranda other than those +reported pursuant to law or regulation, and these books or memoranda +should be open to the inspection of the Government. Only in this way +can violations or evasions of the law be surely detected. A system of +examination of railroad accounts should be provided similar to that now +conducted into the National banks by the bank examiners; a few +first-class railroad accountants, if they had proper direction and +proper authority to inspect books and papers, could accomplish much in +preventing willful violations of the law. It would not be necessary for +them to examine into the accounts of any railroad unless for good +reasons they were directed to do so by the Interstate Commerce +Commission. It is greatly to be desired that some way might be found by +which an agreement as to transportation within a State intended to +operate as a fraud upon the Federal interstate commerce laws could be +brought under the jurisdiction of the Federal authorities. At present +it occurs that large shipments of interstate traffic are controlled by +concessions on purely State business, which of course amounts to an +evasion of the law. The commission should have power to enforce fair +treatment by the great trunk lines of lateral and branch lines. + +I urge upon the Congress the need of providing for expeditious action +by the Interstate Commerce Commission in all these matters, whether in +regulating rates for transportation or for storing or for handling +property or commodities in transit. The history of the cases litigated +under the present commerce act shows that its efficacy has been to a +great degree destroyed by the weapon of delay, almost the most +formidable weapon in the hands of those whose purpose it is to violate +the law. + +Let me most earnestly say that these recommendations are not made in +any spirit of hostility to the railroads. On ethical grounds, on +grounds of right, such hostility would be intolerable; and on grounds +of mere National self-interest we must remember that such hostility +would tell against the welfare not merely of some few rich men, but of +a multitude of small investors, a multitude of railway employes, wage +workers, and most severely against the interest of the public as a +whole. I believe that on the whole our railroads have done well and not +ill; but the railroad men who wish to do well should not be exposed to +competition with those who have no such desire, and the only way to +secure this end is to give to some Government tribunal the power to see +that justice is done by the unwilling exactly as it is gladly done by +the willing. Moreover, if some Government body is given increased power +the effect will be to furnish authoritative answer on behalf of the +railroad whenever irrational clamor against it is raised, or whenever +charges made against it are disproved. I ask this legislation not only +in the interest of the public but in the interest of the honest +railroad man and the honest shipper alike, for it is they who are +chiefly jeoparded by the practices of their dishonest competitors. This +legislation should be enacted in a spirit as remote as possible from +hysteria and rancor. If we of the American body politic are true to the +traditions we have inherited we shall always scorn any effort to make +us hate any man because he is rich, just as much as we should scorn any +effort to make us look down upon or treat contemptuously any man +because he is poor. We judge a man by his conduct--that is, by his +character--and not by his wealth or intellect. If he makes his fortune +honestly, there is no just cause of quarrel with him. Indeed, we have +nothing but the kindliest feelings of admiration for the successful +business man who behaves decently, whether he has made his success by +building or managing a railroad or by shipping goods over that +railroad. The big railroad men and big shippers are simply Americans of +the ordinary type who have developed to an extraordinary degree certain +great business qualities. They are neither better nor worse than their +fellow-citizens of smaller means. They are merely more able in certain +lines and therefore exposed to certain peculiarly strong temptations. +These temptations have not sprung newly into being; the exceptionally +successful among mankind have always been exposed to them; but they +have grown amazingly in power as a result of the extraordinary +development of industrialism along new lines, and under these new +conditions, which the law-makers of old could not foresee and therefore +could not provide against, they have become so serious and menacing as +to demand entirely new remedies. It is in the interest of the best type +of railroad man and the best type of shipper no less than of the public +that there should be Governmental supervision and regulation of these +great business operations, for the same reason that it is in the +interest of the corporation which wishes to treat its employes aright +that there should be an effective Employers' Liability act, or an +effective system of factory laws to prevent the abuse of women and +children. All such legislation frees the corporation that wishes to do +well from being driven into doing ill, in order to compete with its +rival, which prefers to do ill. We desire to set up a moral standard. +There can be no delusion more fatal to the Nation than the delusion +that the standard of profits, of business prosperity, is sufficient in +judging any business or political question--from rate legislation to +municipal government. Business success, whether for the individual or +for the Nation, is a good thing only so far as it is accompanied by and +develops a high standard of conduct--honor, integrity, civic courage. +The kind of business prosperity that blunts the standard of honor, that +puts an inordinate value on mere wealth, that makes a man ruthless and +conscienceless in trade, and weak and cowardly in citizenship, is not a +good thing at all, but a very bad thing for the Nation. This Government +stands for manhood first and for business only as an adjunct of +manhood. + +The question of transportation lies at the root of all industrial +success, and the revolution in transportation which has taken place +during the last half century has been the most important factor in the +growth of the new industrial conditions. Most emphatically we do not +wish to see the man of great talents refused the reward for his +talents. Still less do we wish to see him penalized but we do desire to +see the system of railroad transportation so handled that the strong +man shall be given no advantage over the weak man. We wish to insure as +fair treatment for the small town as for the big city; for the small +shipper as for the big shipper. In the old days the highway of +commerce, whether by water or by a road on land, was open to all; it +belonged to the public and the traffic along it was free. At present +the railway is this highway, and we must do our best to see that it is +kept open to all on equal terms. Unlike the old highway it is a very +difficult and complex thing to manage, and it is far better that it +should be managed by private individuals than by the Government. But it +can only be so managed on condition that justice is done the public. It +is because, in my judgment, public ownership of railroads is highly +undesirable and would probably in this country entail far-reaching +disaster, but I wish to see such supervision and regulation of them in +the interest of the public as will make it evident that there is no +need for public ownership. The opponents of Government regulation dwell +upon the difficulties to be encountered and the intricate and involved +nature of the problem. Their contention is true. It is a complicated +and delicate problem, and all kinds of difficulties are sure to arise +in connection with any plan of solution, while no plan will bring all +the benefits hoped for by its more optimistic adherents. Moreover, +under any healthy plan, the benefits will develop gradually and not +rapidly. Finally, we must clearly understand that the public servants +who are to do this peculiarly responsible and delicate work must +themselves be of the highest type both as regards integrity and +efficiency. They must be well paid, for otherwise able men cannot in +the long run be secured; and they must possess a lofty probity which +will revolt as quickly at the thought of pandering to any gust of +popular prejudice against rich men as at the thought of anything even +remotely resembling subserviency to rich men. But while I fully admit +the difficulties in the way, I do not for a moment admit that these +difficulties warrant us in stopping in our effort to secure a wise and +just system. They should have no other effect than to spur us on to the +exercise of the resolution, the even-handed justice, and the fertility +of resource, which we like to think of as typically American, and which +will in the end achieve good results in this as in other fields of +activity. The task is a great one and underlies the task of dealing +with the whole industrial problem. But the fact that it is a great +problem does not warrant us in shrinking from the attempt to solve it. +At present we face such utter lack of supervision, such freedom from +the restraints of law, that excellent men have often been literally +forced into doing what they deplored because otherwise they were left +at the mercy of unscrupulous competitors. To rail at and assail the men +who have done as they best could under such conditions accomplishes +little. What we need to do is to develop an orderly system, and such a +system can only come through the gradually increased exercise of the +right of efficient Government control. + +In my annual message to the Fifty-eighth Congress, at its third +session, I called attention to the necessity for legislation requiring +the use of block signals upon railroads engaged in interstate commerce. +The number of serious collisions upon unblocked roads that have +occurred within the past year adds force to the recommendation then +made. The Congress should provide, by appropriate legislation, for the +introduction of block signals upon all railroads engaged in interstate +commerce at the earliest practicable date, as a measure of increased +safety to the traveling public. + +Through decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States and the +lower Federal courts in cases brought before them for adjudication the +safety appliance law has been materially strengthened, and the +Government has been enabled to secure its effective enforcement in +almost all cases, with the result that the condition of railroad +equipment throughout the country is much improved and railroad employes +perform their duties under safer conditions than heretofore. The +Government's most effective aid in arriving at this result has been its +inspection service, and that these improved conditions are not more +general is due to the insufficient number of inspectors employed. The +inspection service has fully demonstrated its usefulness, and in +appropriating for its maintenance the Congress should make provision +for an increase in the number of inspectors. + +The excessive hours of labor to which railroad employes in train +service are in many cases subjected is also a matter which may well +engage the serious attention of the Congress. The strain, both mental +and physical, upon those who are engaged in the movement and operation +of railroad trains under modern conditions is perhaps greater than that +which exists in any other industry, and if there are any reasons for +limiting by law the hours of labor in any employment, they certainly +apply with peculiar force to the employment of those upon whose +vigilance and alertness in the performance of their duties the safety +of all who travel by rail depends. + +In my annual message to the Fifty-seventh Congress, at its second +session, I recommended the passage of an employers' liability law for +the District of Columbia and in our navy yards. I renewed that +recommendation in my message to the Fifty-eighth Congress, at its +second session, and further suggested the appointment of a commission +to make a comprehensive study of employers' liability, with a view to +the enactment of a wise and Constitutional law covering the subject, +applicable to all industries within the scope of the Federal power. I +hope that such a law will be prepared and enacted as speedily as +possible. + +The National Government has, as a rule, but little occasion to deal +with the formidable group of problems connected more or less directly +with what is known as the labor question, for in the great majority of +cases these problems must be dealt with by the State and municipal +authorities, and not by the National Government. The National +Government has control of the District of Columbia, however, and it +should see to it that the City of Washington is made a model city in +all respects, both as regards parks, public playgrounds, proper +regulation of the system of housing, so as to do away with the evils of +alley tenements, a proper system of education, a proper system of +dealing with truancy and juvenile offenders, a proper handling of the +charitable work of the District. Moreover, there should be proper +factory laws to prevent all abuses in the employment of women and +children in the District. These will be useful chiefly as object +lessons, but even this limited amount of usefulness would be of real +National value. + +There has been demand for depriving courts of the power to issue +injunctions in labor disputes. Such special limitation of the equity +powers of our courts would be most unwise. It is true that some judges +have misused this power; but this does not justify a denial of the +power any more than an improper exercise of the power to call a strike +by a labor leader would justify the denial of the right to strike. The +remedy is to regulate the procedure by requiring the judge to give due +notice to the adverse parties before granting the writ, the hearing to +be ex parte if the adverse party does not appear at the time and place +ordered. What is due notice must depend upon the facts of the case; it +should not be used as a pretext to permit violation of law or the +jeopardizing of life or property. Of course, this would not authorize +the issuing of a restraining order or injunction in any case in which +it is not already authorized by existing law. + +I renew the recommendation I made in my last annual message for an +investigation by the Department of Commerce and Labor of general labor +conditions, especial attention to be paid to the conditions of child +labor and child-labor legislation in the several States. Such an +investigation should take into account the various problems with which +the question of child labor is connected. It is true that these +problems can be actually met in most cases only by the States +themselves, but it would be well for the Nation to endeavor to secure +and publish comprehensive information as to the conditions of the labor +of children in the different States, so as to spur up those that are +behindhand and to secure approximately uniform legislation of a high +character among the several States. In such a Republic as ours the one +thing that we cannot afford to neglect is the problem of turning out +decent citizens. The future of the Nation depends upon the citizenship +of the generations to come; the children of today are those who +tomorrow will shape the destiny of our land, and we cannot afford to +neglect them. The Legislature of Colorado has recommended that the +National Government provide some general measure for the protection +from abuse of children and dumb animals throughout the United States. I +lay the matter before you for what I trust will be your favorable +consideration. + +The Department of Commerce and Labor should also make a thorough +investigation of the conditions of women in industry. Over five million +American women are now engaged in gainful occupations; yet there is an +almost complete dearth of data upon which to base any trustworthy +conclusions as regards a subject as important as it is vast and +complicated. There is need of full knowledge on which to base action +looking toward State and municipal legislation for the protection of +working women. The introduction of women into industry is working +change and disturbance in the domestic and social life of the Nation. +The decrease in marriage, and especially in the birth rate, has been +coincident with it. We must face accomplished facts, and the adjustment +of factory conditions must be made, but surely it can be made with less +friction and less harmful effects on family life than is now the case. +This whole matter in reality forms one of the greatest sociological +phenomena of our time; it is a social question of the first importance, +of far greater importance than any merely political or economic +question can be, and to solve it we need ample data, gathered in a sane +and scientific spirit in the course of an exhaustive investigation. + +In any great labor disturbance not only are employer and employe +interested, but a third party--the general public. Every considerable +labor difficulty in which interstate commerce is involved should be +investigated by the Government and the facts officially reported to the +public. + +The question of securing a healthy, self-respecting, and mutually +sympathetic attitude as between employer and employe, capitalist and +wage-worker, is a difficult one. All phases of the labor problem prove +difficult when approached. But the underlying principles, the root +principles, in accordance with which the problem must be solved are +entirely simple. We can get justice and right dealing only if we put as +of paramount importance the principle of treating a man on his worth as +a man rather than with reference to his social position, his occupation +or the class to which he belongs. There are selfish and brutal men in +all ranks of life. If they are capitalists their selfishness and +brutality may take the form of hard indifference to suffering, greedy +disregard of every moral restraint which interferes with the +accumulation of wealth, and cold-blooded exploitation of the weak; or, +if they are laborers, the form of laziness, of sullen envy of the more +fortunate, and of willingness to perform deeds of murderous violence. +Such conduct is just as reprehensible in one case as in the other, and +all honest and farseeing men should join in warring against it wherever +it becomes manifest. Individual capitalist and individual wage-worker, +corporation and union, are alike entitled to the protection of the law, +and must alike obey the law. Moreover, in addition to mere obedience to +the law, each man, if he be really a good citizen, must show broad +sympathy for his neighbor and genuine desire to look at any question +arising between them from the standpoint of that neighbor no less than +from his own, and to this end it is essential that capitalist and +wage-worker should consult freely one with the other, should each +strive to bring closer the day when both shall realize that they are +properly partners and not enemies. To approach the questions which +inevitably arise between them solely from the standpoint which treats +each side in the mass as the enemy of the other side in the mass is +both wicked and foolish. In the past the most direful among the +influences which have brought about the downfall of republics has ever +been the growth of the class spirit, the growth of the spirit which +tends to make a man subordinate the welfare of the public as a whole to +the welfare of the particular class to which he belongs, the +substitution of loyalty to a class for loyalty to the Nation. This +inevitably brings about a tendency to treat each man not on his merits +as an individual, but on his position as belonging to a certain class +in the community. If such a spirit grows up in this Republic it will +ultimately prove fatal to us, as in the past it has proved fatal to +every community in which it has become dominant. Unless we continue to +keep a quick and lively sense of the great fundamental truth that our +concern is with the individual worth of the individual man, this +Government cannot permanently hold the place which it has achieved +among the nations. The vital lines of cleavage among our people do not +correspond, and indeed run at right angles to, the lines of cleavage +which divide occupation from occupation, which divide wage-workers from +capitalists, farmers from bankers, men of small means from men of large +means, men who live in the towns from men who live in the country; for +the vital line of cleavage is the line which divides the honest man who +tries to do well by his neighbor from the dishonest man who does ill by +his neighbor. In other words, the standard we should establish is the +standard of conduct, not the standard of occupation, of means, or of +social position. It is the man's moral quality, his attitude toward the +great questions which concern all humanity, his cleanliness of life, +his power to do his duty toward himself and toward others, which really +count; and if we substitute for the standard of personal judgment which +treats each man according to his merits, another standard in accordance +with which all men of one class are favored and all men of another +class discriminated against, we shall do irreparable damage to the body +politic. I believe that our people are too sane, too self-respecting, +too fit for self-government, ever to adopt such an attitude. This +Government is not and never shall be government by a plutocracy. This +Government is not and never shall be government by a mob. It shall +continue to be in the future what it has been in the past, a Government +based on the theory that each man, rich or poor, is to be treated +simply and solely on his worth as a man, that all his personal and +property rights are to be safeguarded, and that he is neither to wrong +others nor to suffer wrong from others. + +The noblest of all forms of government is self-government; but it is +also the most difficult. We who possess this priceless boon, and who +desire to hand it on to our children and our children's children, +should ever bear in mind the thought so finely expressed by Burke: "Men +are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their +disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites; in proportion +as they are disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good in +preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a +controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the +less of it there be within the more there must be without. It is +ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate +minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters." + +The great insurance companies afford striking examples of corporations +whose business has extended so far beyond the jurisdiction of the +States which created them as to preclude strict enforcement of +supervision and regulation by the parent States. In my last annual +message I recommended "that the Congress carefully consider whether the +power of the Bureau of Corporations cannot constitutionally be extended +to cover interstate transactions in insurance." + +Recent events have emphasized the importance of an early and exhaustive +consideration of this question, to see whether it is not possible to +furnish better safeguards than the several States have been able to +furnish against corruption of the flagrant kind which has been exposed. +It has been only too clearly shown that certain of the men at the head +of these large corporations take but small note of the ethical +distinction between honesty and dishonesty; they draw the line only +this side of what may be called law-honesty, the kind of honesty +necessary in order to avoid falling into the clutches of the law. Of +course the only complete remedy for this condition must be found in an +aroused public conscience, a higher sense of ethical conduct in the +community at large, and especially among business men and in the great +profession of the law, and in the growth of a spirit which condemns all +dishonesty, whether in rich man or in poor man, whether it takes the +shape of bribery or of blackmail. But much can be done by legislation +which is not only drastic but practical. There is need of a far +stricter and more uniform regulation of the vast insurance interests of +this country. The United States should in this respect follow the +policy of other nations by providing adequate national supervision of +commercial interests which are clearly national in character. My +predecessors have repeatedly recognized that the foreign business of +these companies is an important part of our foreign commercial +relations. During the administrations of Presidents Cleveland, +Harrison, and McKinley the State Department exercised its influence, +through diplomatic channels, to prevent unjust discrimination by +foreign countries against American insurance companies. These +negotiations illustrated the propriety of the Congress recognizing the +National character of insurance, for in the absence of Federal +legislation the State Department could only give expression to the +wishes of the authorities of the several States, whose policy was +ineffective through want of uniformity. + +I repeat my previous recommendation that the Congress should also +consider whether the Federal Government has any power or owes any duty +with respect to domestic transactions in insurance of an interstate +character. That State supervision has proved inadequate is generally +conceded. The burden upon insurance companies, and therefore their +policy holders, of conflicting regulations of many States, is +unquestioned, while but little effective check is imposed upon any able +and unscrupulous man who desires to exploit the company in his own +interest at the expense of the policy holders and of the public. The +inability of a State to regulate effectively insurance corporations +created under the laws of other States and transacting the larger part +of their business elsewhere is also clear. As a remedy for this evil of +conflicting, ineffective, and yet burdensome regulations there has been +for many years a widespread demand for Federal supervision. The +Congress has already recognized that interstate insurance may be a +proper subject for Federal legislation, for in creating the Bureau of +Corporations it authorized it to publish and supply useful information +concerning interstate corporations, "including corporations engaged in +insurance." It is obvious that if the compilation of statistics be the +limit of the Federal power it is wholly ineffective to regulate this +form of commercial intercourse between the States, and as the insurance +business has outgrown in magnitude the possibility of adequate State +supervision, the Congress should carefully consider whether further +legislation can be bad. What is said above applies with equal force to +fraternal and benevolent organizations which contract for life +insurance. + +There is more need of stability than of the attempt to attain an ideal +perfection in the methods of raising revenue; and the shock and strain +to the business world certain to attend any serious change in these +methods render such change inadvisable unless for grave reason. It is +not possible to lay down any general rule by which to determine the +moment when the reasons for will outweigh the reasons against such a +change. Much must depend, not merely on the needs, but on the desires, +of the people as a whole; for needs and desires are not necessarily +identical. Of course, no change can be made on lines beneficial to, or +desired by, one section or one State only. There must be something like +a general agreement among the citizens of the several States, as +represented in the Congress, that the change is needed and desired in +the interest of the people, as a whole; and there should then be a +sincere, intelligent, and disinterested effort to make it in such shape +as will combine, so far as possible, the maximum of good to the people +at large with the minimum of necessary disregard for the special +interests of localities or classes. But in time of peace the revenue +must on the average, taking a series of years together, equal the +expenditures or else the revenues must be increased. Last year there +was a deficit. Unless our expenditures can be kept within the revenues +then our revenue laws must be readjusted. It is as yet too early to +attempt to outline what shape such a readjustment should take, for it +is as yet too early to say whether there will be need for it. It should +be considered whether it is not desirable that the tariff laws should +provide for applying as against or in favor of any other nation maximum +and minimum tariff rates established by the Congress, so as to secure a +certain reciprocity of treatment between other nations and ourselves. +Having in view even larger considerations of policy than those of a +purely economic nature, it would, in my judgment, be well to endeavor +to bring about closer commercial connections with the other peoples of +this continent. I am happy to be able to announce to you that Russia +now treats us on the most-favored-nation basis. + +I earnestly recommend to 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 the United States Land Office. 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." + +Every consideration of prudence demands the addition of the element of +elasticity to our currency system. The evil does not consist in an +inadequate volume of money, but in the rigidity of this volume, which +does not respond as it should to the varying needs of communities and +of seasons. Inflation must be avoided; but some provision should be +made that will insure a larger volume of money during the Fall and +Winter months than in the less active seasons of the year; so that the +currency will contract against speculation, and will expand for the +needs of legitimate business. At present the Treasury Department is at +irregularly recurring intervals obliged, in the interest of the +business world--that is, in the interests of the American public--to +try to avert financial crises by providing a remedy which should be +provided by Congressional action. + +At various times I have instituted investigations into the organization +and conduct of the business of the executive departments. While none of +these inquiries have yet progressed far enough to warrant final +conclusions, they have already confirmed and emphasized the general +impression that the organization of the departments is often faulty in +principle and wasteful in results, while many of their business methods +are antiquated and inefficient. There is every reason why our executive +governmental machinery should be at least as well planned, economical, +and efficient as the best machinery of the great business +organizations, which at present is not the case. To make it so is a +task of complex detail and essentially executive in its nature; +probably no legislative body, no matter how wise and able, could +undertake it with reasonable prospect of success. I recommend that the +Congress consider this subject with a view to provide by legislation +for the transfer, distribution, consolidation, and assignment of duties +and executive organizations or parts of organizations, and for the +changes in business methods, within or between the several departments, +that will best promote the economy, efficiency, and high character of +the Government work. + +In my last annual message I said: + +"The power of the Government to protect the integrity of the elections +of its own officials is inherent and has been recognized and affirmed +by repeated declarations of the Supreme Court. There is no enemy of +free government more dangerous and none so insidious as the corruption +of the electorate. No one defends or excuses corruption, and it would +seem to follow that none would oppose vigorous measures to eradicate +it. I recommend the enactment of a law directed against bribery and +corruption in Federal elections. The details of such a law may be +safely left to the wise discretion of the Congress, but it should go as +far as under the Constitution it is possible to go, and should include +severe penalties against him who gives or receives a bribe intended to +influence his act or opinion as an elector; and provisions for the +publication not only of the expenditures for nominations and elections +of all candidates, but also of all contributions received and +expenditures made by political committees." + +I desire to repeat this recommendation. In political campaigns in a +country as large and populous as ours it is inevitable that there +should be much expense of an entirely legitimate kind. This, of course, +means that many contributions, and some of them of large size, must be +made, and, as a matter of fact, in any big political contest such +contributions are always made to both sides. It is entirely proper both +to give and receive them, unless there is an improper motive connected +with either gift or reception. If they are extorted by any kind of +pressure or promise, express or implied, direct or indirect, in the way +of favor or immunity, then the giving or receiving becomes not only +improper but criminal. It will undoubtedly be difficult, as a matter of +practical detail, to shape an act which shall guard with reasonable +certainty against such misconduct; but if it is possible to secure by +law the full and verified publication in detail of all the sums +contributed to and expended by the candidates or committees of any +political parties, the result cannot but be wholesome. All +contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any +political purpose should be forbidden by law; directors should not be +permitted to use stockholders' money for such purposes; and, moreover, +a prohibition of this kind would be, as far as it went, an effective +method of stopping the evils aimed at in corrupt practices acts. Not +only should both the National and the several State Legislatures forbid +any officer of a corporation from using the money of the corporation in +or about any election, but they should also forbid such use of money in +connection with any legislation save by the employment of counsel in +public manner for distinctly legal services. + +The first conference of nations held at The Hague in 1899, being unable +to dispose of all the business before it, recommended the consideration +and settlement of a number of important questions by another conference +to be called subsequently and at an early date. These questions were +the following: (1) The rights and duties of neutrals; (2) the +limitation of the armed forces on land and sea, and of military +budgets; (3) the use of new types and calibres of military and naval +guns; (4) the inviolability of private property at sea in times of war; +(5) the bombardment of ports, cities, and villages by naval forces. In +October, 1904, at the instance of the Interparliamentary Union, which, +at a conference held in the United States, and attended by the +lawmakers of fifteen different nations, had reiterated the demand for a +second conference of nations, I issued invitations to all the powers +signatory to The Hague Convention to send delegates to such a +conference, and suggested that it be again held at The Hague. In its +note of December 16, 1904, the United States Government communicated to +the representatives of foreign governments its belief that the +conference could be best arranged under the provisions of the present +Hague treaty. + +From all the powers acceptance was received, coupled in some cases with +the condition that we should wait until the end of the war then waging +between Russia and Japan. The Emperor of Russia, immediately after the +treaty of peace which so happily terminated this war, in a note +presented to the President on September 13, through Ambassador Rosen, +took the initiative in recommending that the conference be now called. +The United States Government in response expressed its cordial +acquiescence, and stated that it would, as a matter of course, take +part in the new conference and endeavor to further its aims. We assume +that all civilized governments will support the movement, and that the +conference is now an assured fact. This Government will do everything +in its power to secure the success of the conference, to the end that +substantial progress may be made in the cause of international peace, +justice, and good will. + +This renders it proper at this time to say something as to the general +attitude of this Government toward peace. More and more war is coming +to be looked upon as in itself a lamentable and evil thing. A wanton or +useless war, or a war of mere aggression--in short, any war begun or +carried on in a conscienceless spirit, is to be condemned as a +peculiarly atrocious crime against all humanity. We can, however, do +nothing of permanent value for peace unless we keep ever clearly in +mind the ethical element which lies at the root of the problem. Our aim +is righteousness. Peace is normally the hand-maiden of rightousness; +but when peace and righteousness conflict then a great and upright +people can never for a moment hesitate to follow the path which leads +toward righteousness, even though that path also leads to war. There +are persons who advocate peace at any price; there are others who, +following a false analogy, think that because it is no longer necessary +in civilized countries for individuals to protect their rights with a +strong hand, it is therefore unnecessary for nations to be ready to +defend their rights. These persons would do irreparable harm to any +nation that adopted their principles, and even as it is they seriously +hamper the cause which they advocate by tending to render it absurd in +the eyes of sensible and patriotic men. There can be no worse foe of +mankind in general, and of his own country in particular, than the +demagogue of war, the man who in mere folly or to serve his own selfish +ends continually rails at and abuses other nations, who seeks to excite +his countrymen against foreigners on insufficient pretexts, who excites +and inflames a perverse and aggressive national vanity, and who may on +occasions wantonly bring on conflict between his nation and some other +nation. But there are demagogues of peace just as there are demagogues +of war, and in any such movement as this for The Hague conference it is +essential not to be misled by one set of extremists any more than by +the other. Whenever it is possible for a nation or an individual to +work for real peace, assuredly it is failure of duty not so to strive, +but if war is necessary and righteous then either the man or the nation +shrinking from it forfeits all title to self-respect. We have scant +sympathy with the sentimentalist who dreads oppression less than +physical suffering, who would prefer a shameful peace to the pain and +toil sometimes lamentably necessary in order to secure a righteous +peace. As yet there is only a partial and imperfect analogy between +international law and internal or municipal law, because there is no +sanction of force for executing the former while there is in the case +of the latter. The private citizen is protected in his rights by the +law, because the law rests in the last resort upon force exercised +through the forms of law. A man does not have to defend his rights with +his own hand, because he can call upon the police, upon the sheriff's +posse, upon the militia, or in certain extreme cases upon the army, to +defend him. But there is no such sanction of force for international +law. At present there could be no greater calamity than for the free +peoples, the enlightened, independent, and peace-loving peoples, to +disarm while yet leaving it open to any barbarism or despotism to +remain armed. So long as the world is as unorganized as now the armies +and navies of those peoples who on the whole stand for justice, offer +not only the best, but the only possible, security for a just peace. +For instance, if the United States alone, or in company only with the +other nations that on the whole tend to act justly, disarmed, we might +sometimes avoid bloodshed, but we would cease to be of weight in +securing the peace of justice--the real peace for which the most +law-abiding and high-minded men must at times be willing to fight. As +the world is now, only that nation is equipped for peace that knows how +to fight, and that will not shrink from fighting if ever the conditions +become such that war is demanded in the name of the highest morality. + +So much it is emphatically necessary to say in order both that the +position of the United States may not be misunderstood, and that a +genuine effort to bring nearer the day of the peace of justice among +the nations may not be hampered by a folly which, in striving to +achieve the impossible, would render it hopeless to attempt the +achievement of the practical. But, while recognizing most clearly all +above set forth, it remains our clear duty to strive in every +practicable way to bring nearer the time when the sword shall not be +the arbiter among nations. At present the practical thing to do is to +try to minimize the number of cases in which it must be the arbiter, +and to offer, at least to all civilized powers, some substitute for war +which will be available in at least a considerable number of instances. +Very much can be done through another Hague conference in this +direction, and I most earnestly urge that this Nation do all in its +power to try to further the movement and to make the result of the +decisions of The Hague conference effective. I earnestly hope that the +conference may be able to devise some way to make arbitration between +nations the customary way of settling international disputes in all +save a few classes of cases, which should themselves be as sharply +defined and rigidly limited as the present governmental and social +development of the world will permit. If possible, there should be a +general arbitration treaty negotiated among all the nations represented +at the conference. Neutral rights and property should be protected at +sea as they are protected on land. There should be an international +agreement to this purpose and a similar agreement defining contraband +of war. + +During the last century there has been a distinct diminution in the +number of wars between the most civilized nations. International +relations have become closer and the development of The Hague tribunal +is not only a symptom of this growing closeness of relationship, but is +a means by which the growth can be furthered. Our aim should be from +time to time to take such steps as may be possible toward creating +something like an organization of the civilized nations, because as the +world becomes more highly organized the need for navies and armies will +diminish. It is not possible to secure anything like an immediate +disarmament, because it would first be necessary to settle what peoples +are on the whole a menace to the rest of mankind, and to provide +against the disarmament of the rest being turned into a movement which +would really chiefly benefit these obnoxious peoples; but it may be +possible to exercise some check upon the tendency to swell indefinitely +the budgets for military expenditure. Of course such an effort could +succeed only if it did not attempt to do too much; and if it were +undertaken in a spirit of sanity as far removed as possible from a +merely hysterical pseudo-philanthropy. It is worth while pointing out +that since the end of the insurrection in the Philippines this Nation +has shown its practical faith in the policy of disarmament by reducing +its little army one-third. But disarmament can never be of prime +importance; there is more need to get rid of the causes of war than of +the implements of war. + +I have dwelt much on the dangers to be avoided by steering clear of any +mere foolish sentimentality because my wish for peace is so genuine and +earnest; because I have a real and great desire that this second Hague +conference may mark a long stride forward in the direction of securing +the peace of justice throughout the world. No object is better worthy +the attention of enlightened statesmanship than the establishment of a +surer method than now exists of securing justice as between nations, +both for the protection of the little nations and for the prevention of +war between the big nations. To this aim we should endeavor not only to +avert bloodshed, but, above all, effectively to strengthen the forces +of right. The Golden Rule should be, and as the world grows in morality +it will be, the guiding rule of conduct among nations as among +individuals; though the Golden Rule must not be construed, in fantastic +manner, as forbidding the exercise of the police power. This mighty and +free Republic should ever deal with all other States, great or small, +on a basis of high honor, respecting their rights as jealously as it +safeguards its own. + +One of the most effective instruments for peace is the Monroe Doctrine +as it has been and is being gradually developed by this Nation and +accepted by other nations. No other policy could have been as efficient +in promoting peace in the Western Hemisphere and in giving to each +nation thereon the chance to develop along its own lines. If we had +refused to apply the doctrine to changing conditions it would now be +completely outworn, would not meet any of the needs of the present day, +and, indeed, would probably by this time have sunk into complete +oblivion. It is useful at home, and is meeting with recognition abroad +because we have adapted our application of it to meet the growing and +changing needs of the hemisphere. When we announce a policy such as the +Monroe Doctrine we thereby commit ourselves to the consequences of the +policy, and those consequences from time to time alter. It is out of +the question to claim a right and yet shirk the responsibility for its +exercise. Not only we, but all American republics who are benefited by +the existence of the doctrine, must recognize the obligations each +nation is under as regards foreign peoples no less than its duty to +insist upon its own rights. + +That our rights and interests are deeply concerned in the maintenance +of the doctrine is so clear as hardly to need argument. This is +especially true in view of the construction of the Panama Canal. As a +mere matter of self-defense we must exercise a close watch over the +approaches to this canal; and this means that we must be thoroughly +alive to our interests in the Caribbean Sea. + +There are certain essential points which must never be forgotten as +regards the Monroe Doctrine. In the first place we must as a Nation +make it evident that we do not intend to treat it in any shape or way +as an excuse for aggrandizement on our part at the expense of the +republics to the south. We must recognize the fact that in some South +American countries there has been much suspicion lest we should +interpret the Monroe Doctrine as in some way inimical to their +interests, and we must try to convince all the other nations of this +continent once and for all that no just and orderly Government has +anything to fear from us. There are certain republics to the south of +us which have already reached such a point of stability, order, and +prosperity that they themselves, though as yet hardly consciously, are +among the guarantors of this doctrine. These republics we now meet not +only on a basis of entire equality, but in a spirit of frank and +respectful friendship, which we hope is mutual. If all of the republics +to the south of us will only grow as those to which I allude have +already grown, all need for us to be the especial champions of the +doctrine will disappear, for no stable and growing American Republic +wishes to see some great non-American military power acquire territory +in its neighborhood. All that this country desires is that the other +republics on this continent shall be happy and prosperous; and they +cannot be happy and prosperous unless they maintain order within their +boundaries and behave with a just regard for their obligations toward +outsiders. It must be understood that under no circumstances will the +United States use the Monroe Doctrine as a cloak for territorial +aggression. We desire peace with all the world, but perhaps most of all +with the other peoples of the American Continent. There are, of course, +limits to the wrongs which any self-respecting nation can endure. It is +always possible that wrong actions toward this Nation, or toward +citizens of this Nation, in some State unable to keep order among its +own people, unable to secure justice from outsiders, and unwilling to +do justice to those outsiders who treat it well, may result in our +having to take action to protect our rights; but such action will not +be taken with a view to territorial aggression, and it will be taken at +all only with extreme reluctance and when it has become evident that +every other resource has been exhausted. + +Moreover, we must make it evident that we do not intend to permit the +Monroe Doctrine to be used by any nation on this Continent as a shield +to protect it from the consequences of its own misdeeds against foreign +nations. If a republic to the south of us commits a tort against a +foreign nation, such as an outrage against a citizen of that nation, +then the Monroe Doctrine does not force us to interfere to prevent +punishment of the tort, save to see that the punishment does not assume +the form of territorial occupation in any shape. The case is more +difficult when it refers to a contractual obligation. Our own +Government has always refused to enforce such contractual obligations +on behalf, of its citizens by an appeal to arms. It is much to be +wished that all foreign governments would take the same view. But they +do not; and in consequence we are liable at any time to be brought face +to face with disagreeable alternatives. On the one hand, this country +would certainly decline to go to war to prevent a foreign government +from collecting a just debt; on the other hand, it is very inadvisable +to permit any foreign power to take possession, even temporarily, of +the custom houses of an American Republic in order to enforce the +payment of its obligations; for such temporary occupation might turn +into a permanent occupation. The only escape from these alternatives +may at any time be that we must ourselves undertake to bring about some +arrangement by which so much as possible of a just obligation shall be +paid. It is far better that this country should put through such an +arrangement, rather than allow any foreign country to undertake it. To +do so insures the defaulting republic from having to pay debt of an +improper character under duress, while it also insures honest creditors +of the republic from being passed by in the interest of dishonest or +grasping creditors. Moreover, for the United States to take such a +position offers the only possible way of insuring us against a clash +with some foreign power. The position is, therefore, in the interest of +peace as well as in the interest of justice. It is of benefit to our +people; it is of benefit to foreign peoples; and most of all it is +really of benefit to the people of the country concerned. + +This brings me to what should be one of the fundamental objects of the +Monroe Doctrine. We must ourselves in good faith try to help upward +toward peace and order those of our sister republics which need such +help. Just as there has been a gradual growth of the ethical element in +the relations of one individual to another, so we are, even though +slowly, more and more coming to recognize the duty of bearing one +another's burdens, not only as among individuals, but also as among +nations. + +Santo Domingo, in her turn, has now made an appeal to us to help her, +and not only every principle of wisdom but every generous instinct +within us bids us respond to the appeal. It is not of the slightest +consequence whether we grant the aid needed by Santo Domingo as an +incident to the wise development of the Monroe Doctrine or because we +regard the case of Santo Domingo as standing wholly by itself, and to +be treated as such, and not on general principles or with any reference +to the Monroe Doctrine. The important point is to give the needed aid, +and the case is certainly sufficiently peculiar to deserve to be judged +purely on its own merits. The conditions in Santo Domingo have for a +number of years grown from bad to worse until a year ago all society +was on the verge of dissolution. Fortunately, just at this time a ruler +sprang up in Santo Domingo, who, with his colleagues, saw the dangers +threatening their country and appealed to the friendship of the only +great and powerful neighbor who possessed the power, and as they hoped +also the will to help them. There was imminent danger of foreign +intervention. The previous rulers of Santo Domingo had recklessly +incurred debts, and owing to her internal disorders she had ceased to +be able to provide means of paying the debts. The patience of her +foreign creditors had become exhausted, and at least two foreign +nations were on the point of intervention, and were only prevented from +intervening by the unofficial assurance of this Government that it +would itself strive to help Santo Domingo in her hour of need. In the +case of one of these nations, only the actual opening of negotiations +to this end by our Government prevented the seizure of territory in +Santo Domingo by a European power. Of the debts incurred some were +just, while some were not of a character which really renders it +obligatory on or proper for Santo Domingo to pay them in full. But she +could not pay any of them unless some stability was assured her +Government and people. + +Accordingly, the Executive Department of our Government negotiated a +treaty under which we are to try to help the Dominican people to +straighten out their finances. This treaty is pending before the +Senate. In the meantime a temporary arrangement has been made which +will last until the Senate has had time to take action upon the treaty. +Under this arrangement the Dominican Government has appointed Americans +to all the important positions in the customs service and they are +seeing to the honest collection of the revenues, turning over 45 per +cent. to the Government for running expenses and putting the other 55 +per cent. into a safe depository for equitable division in case the +treaty shall be ratified, among the various creditors, whether European +or American. + +The Custom Houses offer well-nigh the only sources of revenue in Santo +Domingo, and the different revolutions usually have as their real aim +the obtaining of these Custom Houses. The mere fact that the Collectors +of Customs are Americans, that they are performing their duties with +efficiency and honesty, and that the treaty is pending in the Senate +gives a certain moral power to the Government of Santo Domingo which it +has not had before. This has completely discouraged all revolutionary +movement, while it has already produced such an increase in the +revenues that the Government is actually getting more from the 45 per +cent. that the American Collectors turn over to it than it got formerly +when it took the entire revenue. It is enabling the poor, harassed +people of Santo Domingo once more to turn their attention to industry +and to be free from the cure of interminable revolutionary disturbance. +It offers to all bona-fide creditors, American and European, the only +really good chance to obtain that to which they are justly entitled, +while it in return gives to Santo Domingo the only opportunity of +defense against claims which it ought not to pay, for now if it meets +the views of the Senate we shall ourselves thoroughly examine all these +claims, whether American or foreign, and see that none that are +improper are paid. There is, of course, opposition to the treaty from +dishonest creditors, foreign and American, and from the professional +revolutionists of the island itself. We have already reason to believe +that some of the creditors who do not dare expose their claims to +honest scrutiny are endeavoring to stir up sedition in the island and +opposition to the treaty. In the meantime, I have exercised the +authority vested in me by the joint resolution of the Congress to +prevent the introduction of arms into the island for revolutionary +purposes. + +Under the course taken, stability and order and all the benefits of +peace are at last coming to Santo Domingo, danger of foreign +intervention has been suspended, and there is at last a prospect that +all creditors will get justice, no more and no less. If the arrangement +is terminated by the failure of the treaty chaos will follow; and if +chaos follows, sooner or later this Government may be involved in +serious difficulties with foreign Governments over the island, or else +may be forced itself to intervene in the island in some unpleasant +fashion. Under the proposed treaty the independence of the island is +scrupulously respected, the danger of violation of the Monroe Doctrine +by the intervention of foreign powers vanishes, and the interference of +our Government is minimized, so that we shall only act in conjunction +with the Santo Domingo authorities to secure the proper administration +of the customs, and therefore to secure the payment of just debts and +to secure the Dominican Government against demands for unjust debts. +The proposed method will give the people of Santo Domingo the same +chance to move onward and upward which we have already given to the +people of Cuba. It will be doubly to our discredit as a Nation if we +fail to take advantage of this chance; for it will be of damage to +ourselves, and it will be of incalculable damage to Santo Domingo. +Every consideration of wise policy, and, above all, every consideration +of large generosity, bids us meet the request of Santo Domingo as we +are now trying to meet it. + +We cannot consider the question of our foreign policy without at the +same time treating of the Army and the Navy. We now have a very small +army indeed, one well-nigh infinitesimal when compared With the army of +any other large nation. Of course the army we do have should be as +nearly perfect of its kind and for its size as is possible. I do not +believe that any army in the world has a better average of enlisted men +or a better type of junior officer; but the army should be trained to +act effectively in a mass. Provision should be made by sufficient +appropriations for manoeuvers of a practical kind, so that the troops +may learn how to take care of themselves under actual service +conditions; every march, for instance, being made with the soldier +loaded exactly as he would be in active campaign. The Generals and +Colonels would thereby have opportunity of handling regiments, +brigades, and divisions, and the commissary and medical departments +would be tested in the field. Provision should be made for the exercise +at least of a brigade and by preference of a division in marching and +embarking at some point on our coast and disembarking at some other +point and continuing its march. The number of posts in which the army +is kept in time of peace should be materially diminished and the posts +that are left made correspondingly larger. No local interests should be +allowed to stand in the way of assembling the greater part of the +troops which would at need form our field armies in stations of such +size as will permit the best training to be given to the personnel of +all grades, including the high officers and staff officers. To +accomplish this end we must have not company or regimental garrisons, +but brigade and division garrisons. Promotion by mere seniority can +never result in a thoroughly efficient corps of officers in the higher +ranks unless there accompanies it a vigorous weeding-out process. Such +a weeding-out process--that is, such a process of selection--is a chief +feature of the four years' course of the young officer at West Point. +There is no good reason why it should stop immediately upon his +graduation. While at West Point he is dropped unless he comes up to a +certain standard of excellence, and when he graduates he takes rank in +the army according to his rank of graduation. The results are good at +West Point; and there should be in the army itself something that will +achieve the same end. After a certain age has been reached the average +officer is unfit to do good work below a certain grade. Provision +should be made for the promotion of exceptionally meritorious men over +the heads of their comrades and for the retirement of all men who have +reached a given age without getting beyond a given rank; this age of +retirement of course changing from rank to rank. In both the army and +the navy there should be some principle of selection, that is, of +promotion for merit, and there should be a resolute effort to eliminate +the aged officers of reputable character who possess no special +efficiency. + +There should be an increase in the coast artillery force, so that our +coast fortifications can be in some degree adequately manned. There is +special need for an increase and reorganization of the Medical +Department of the army. In both the army and navy there must be the +same thorough training for duty in the staff corps as in the fighting +line. Only by such training in advance can we be sure that in actual +war field operations and those at sea will be carried on successfully. +The importance of this was shown conclusively in the Spanish-American +and the Russo-Japanese wars. The work of the medical departments in the +Japanese army and navy is especially worthy of study. I renew my +recommendation of January 9, 1905, as to the Medical Department of the +army and call attention to the equal importance of the needs of the +staff corps of the navy. In the Medical Department of the navy the +first in importance is the reorganization of the Hospital Corps, on the +lines of the Gallinger bill, (S. 3,984, February 1, 1904), and the +reapportionment of the different grades of the medical officers to meet +service requirements. It seems advisable also that medical officers of +the army and navy should have similar rank and pay in their respective +grades, so that their duties can be carried on without friction when +they are brought together. The base hospitals of the navy should be put +in condition to meet modern requirements and hospital ships be +provided. Unless we now provide with ample forethought for the medical +needs of the army and navy appalling suffering of a preventable kind is +sure to occur if ever the country goes to war. It is not reasonable to +expect successful administration in time of war of a department which +lacks a third of the number of officers necessary to perform the +medical service in time of peace. We need men who are not merely +doctors; they must be trained in the administration of military medical +service. + +Our navy must, relatively to the navies of other nations, always be of +greater size than our army. We have most wisely continued for a number +of years to build up our navy, and it has now reached a fairly high +standard of efficiency. This standard of efficiency must not only be +maintained, but increased. It does not seem to be necessary, however, +that the navy should--at least in the immediate future--be increased +beyond the present number of units. What is now clearly necessary is to +substitute efficient for inefficient units as the latter become worn +out or as it becomes apparent that they are useless. Probably the +result would be attained by adding a single battleship to our navy each +year, the superseded or outworn vessels being laid up or broken up as +they are thus replaced. The four single-turret monitors built +immediately after the close of the Spanish war, for instance, are +vessels which would be of but little use in the event of war. The money +spent upon them could have been more usefully spent in other ways. Thus +it would have been far better never to have built a single one of these +monitors and to have put the money into an ample supply of reserve +guns. Most of the smaller cruisers and gunboats, though they serve a +useful purpose so far as they are needed for international police work, +would not add to the strength of our navy in a conflict with a serious +foe. There is urgent need of providing a large increase in the number +of officers, and especially in the number of enlisted men. + +Recent naval history has emphasized certain lessons which ought not to, +but which do, need emphasis. Seagoing torpedo boats or destroyers are +indispensable, not only for making night attacks by surprise upon an +enemy, but even in battle for finishing already crippled ships. Under +exceptional circumstances submarine boats would doubtless be of use. +Fast scouts are needed. The main strength of the navy, however, lies, +and can only lie, in the great battleships, the heavily armored, +heavily gunned vessels which decide the mastery of the seas. +Heavy-armed cruisers also play a most useful part, and unarmed +cruisers, if swift enough, are very useful as scouts. Between +antagonists of approximately equal prowess the comparative perfection +of the instruments of war will ordinarily determine the fight. But it +is, of course, true that the man behind the gun, the man in the engine +room, and the man in the conning tower, considered not only +individually, but especially with regard to the way in which they work +together, are even more important than the weapons with which they +work. The most formidable battleship is, of course, helpless against +even a light cruiser if the men aboard it are unable to hit anything +with their guns, and thoroughly well-handled cruisers may count +seriously in an engagement with much superior vessels, if the men +aboard the latter are ineffective, whether from lack of training or +from any other cause. Modern warships are most formidable mechanisms +when well handled, but they are utterly useless when not well handled, +and they cannot be handled at all without long and careful training. +This training can under no circumstance be given when once war has +broken out. No fighting ship of the first class should ever be laid up +save for necessary repairs, and her crew should be kept constantly +exercised on the high seas, so that she may stand at the highest point +of perfection. To put a new and untrained crew upon the most powerful +battleship and send it out to meet a formidable enemy is not only to +invite, but to insure, disaster and disgrace. To improvise crews at the +outbreak of a war, so far as the serious fighting craft are concerned, +is absolutely hopeless. If the officers and men are not thoroughly +skilled in, and have not been thoroughly trained to, their duties, it +would be far better to keep the ships in port during hostilities than +to send them against a formidable opponent, for the result could only +be that they would be either sunk or captured. The marksmanship of our +navy is now on the whole in a gratifying condition, and there has been +a great improvement in fleet practice. We need additional seamen; we +need a large store of reserve guns; we need sufficient money for ample +target practice, ample practice of every kind at sea. We should +substitute for comparatively inefficient types--the old third-class +battleship Texas, the single-turreted monitors above mentioned, and, +indeed, all the monitors and some of the old cruisers--efficient, +modern seagoing vessels. Seagoing torpedo-boat destroyers should be +substituted for some of the smaller torpedo boats. During the present +Congress there need be no additions to the aggregate number of units of +the navy. Our navy, though very small relatively to the navies of other +nations, is for the present sufficient in point of numbers for our +needs, and while we must constantly strive to make its efficiency +higher, there need be no additions to the total of ships now built and +building, save in the way of substitution as above outlined. I +recommend the report of the Secretary of the Navy to the careful +consideration of the Congress, especially with a view to the +legislation therein advocated. + +During the past year evidence has accumulated to confirm the +expressions contained in my last two annual messages as to the +importance of revising by appropriate legislation our system of +naturalizing aliens. I appointed last March a commission to make a +careful examination of our naturalization laws, and to suggest +appropriate measures to avoid the notorious abuses resulting from the +improvident of unlawful granting of citizenship. This commission, +composed of an officer of the Department of State, of the Department of +Justice, and of the Department of Commerce and Labor, has discharged +the duty imposed upon it, and has submitted a report, which will be +transmitted to the Congress for its consideration, and, I hope, for its +favor, able action. + +The distinguishing recommendations of the commission are: + +First--A Federal Bureau of Naturalization, to be established in the +Department of Commerce and Labor, to supervise the administration of +the naturalization laws and to receive returns of naturalizations +pending and accomplished. + +Second--Uniformity of naturalization certificates, fees to be charged, +and procedure. + +Third--More exacting qualifications for citizenship. + +Fourth--The preliminary declaration of intention to be abolished and no +alien to be naturalized until at least ninety days after the filing of +his petition. + +Fifth--Jurisdiction to naturalize aliens to be confined to United +States district courts and to such State courts as have jurisdiction in +civil actions in which the amount in controversy is unlimited; in +cities of over 100,000 inhabitants the United States district courts to +have exclusive jurisdiction in the naturalization of the alien +residents of such cities. + +In my last message I asked the attention of the Congress to the urgent +need of action to make our criminal law more effective; and I most +earnestly request that you pay heed to the report of the Attorney +General on this subject. Centuries ago it was especially needful to +throw every safeguard round the accused. The danger then was lest he +should be wronged by the State. The danger is now exactly the reverse. +Our laws and customs tell immensely in favor of the criminal and +against the interests of the public he has wronged. Some antiquated and +outworn rules which once safeguarded the threatened rights of private +citizens, now merely work harm to the general body politic. The +criminal law of the United States stands in urgent need of revision. +The criminal process of any court of the United States should run +throughout the entire territorial extent of our country. The delays of +the criminal law, no less than of the civil, now amount to a very great +evil. + +There seems to be no statute of the United States which provides for +the punishment of a United States Attorney or other officer of the +Government who corruptly agrees to wrongfully do or wrongfully refrain +from doing any act when the consideration for such corrupt agreement is +other than one possessing money value. This ought to be remedied by +appropriate legislation. Legislation should also be enacted to cover +explicitly, unequivocally, and beyond question breach of trust in the +shape of prematurely divulging official secrets by an officer or +employe of the United States, and to provide a suitable penalty +therefor. Such officer or employe owes the duty to the United States to +guard carefully and not to divulge or in any manner use, prematurely, +information which is accessible to the officer or employe by reason of +his official position. Most breaches of public trust are already +covered by the law, and this one should be. It is impossible, no matter +how much care is used, to prevent the occasional appointment to the +public service of a man who when tempted proves unfaithful; but every +means should be provided to detect and every effort made to punish the +wrongdoer. So far as in my power see each and every such wrongdoer +shall be relentlessly hunted down; in no instance in the past has he +been spared; in no instance in the future shall he be spared. His crime +is a crime against every honest man in the Nation, for it is a crime +against the whole body politic. Yet in dwelling on such misdeeds it is +unjust not to add that they are altogether exceptional, and that on the +whole the employes of the Government render upright and faithful +service to the people. There are exceptions, notably in one or two +branches of the service, but at no time in the Nation's history has the +public service of the Nation taken as a whole stood on a higher plane +than now, alike as regards honesty and as regards efficiency. + +Once again I call your attention to the condition of the public land +laws. Recent developments have given new urgency to the need for such +changes as will fit these laws to actual present conditions. The honest +disposal and right use of the remaining public lands is of fundamental +importance. The iniquitous methods by which the monopolizing of the +public lands is being brought about under the present laws are becoming +more generally known, but the existing laws do not furnish effective +remedies. The recommendations of the Public Lands Commission upon this +subject are wise and should be given effect. + +The creation of small irrigated farms under the Reclamation act is a +powerful offset to the tendency of certain other laws to foster or +permit monopoly of the land. Under that act the construction of great +irrigation works has been proceeding rapidly and successfully, the +lands reclaimed are eagerly taken up, and the prospect that the policy +of National irrigation will accomplish all that was expected of it is +bright. The act should be extended to include the State of Texas. + +The Reclamation act derives much of its value from the fact that it +tends to secure the greatest possible number of homes on the land, and +to create communities of freeholders, in part by settlement on public +lands, in part by forcing the subdivision of large private holdings +before they can get water from Government irrigation works. The law +requires that no right to the use of water for land in private +ownership shall be sold for a tract exceeding 160 acres to any one land +owner. This provision has excited active and powerful hostility, but +the success of the law itself depends on the wise and firm enforcement +of it. We cannot afford to substitute tenants for freeholders on the +public domain. + +The greater part of the remaining public lands can not be irrigated. +They are at present and will probably always be of greater value for +grazing than for any other purpose. This fact has led to the grazing +homestead of 640 acres in Nebraska and to the proposed extension of it +to other States. It is argued that a family can not be supported on 160 +acres of arid grazing land. This is obviously true, but neither can a +family be supported on 640 acres of much of the land to which it is +proposed to apply the grazing homestead. To establish universally any +such arbitrary limit would be unwise at the present time. It would +probably result on the one hand in enlarging the holdings of some of +the great land owners, and on the other in needless suffering and +failure on the part of a very considerable proportion of the bona fide +settlers who give faith to the implied assurance of the Government that +such an area is sufficient. The best use of the public grazing lands +requires the careful examination and classification of these lands in +order to give each settler land enough to support his family and no +more. While this work is being done, and until the lands are settled, +the Government should take control of the open range, under reasonable +regulations suited to local needs, following the general policy already +in successful operation on the forest reserves. It is probable that the +present grazing value of the open public range is scarcely more than +half what it once was or what it might easily be again under careful +regulation. + +The forest policy of the Administration appears to enjoy the unbroken +support of the people. The great users of timber are themselves +forwarding the movement for forest preservation. All organized +opposition to the forest preserves in the West has disappeared. Since +the consolidation of all Government forest work in the National Forest +Service there has been a rapid and notable gain in the usefulness of +the forest reserves to the people and in public appreciation of their +value. The National parks within or adjacent to forest reserves should +be transferred to the charge of the Forest Service also. + +The National Government already does something in connection with the +construction and maintenance of the great system of levees along the +lower course of the Mississippi; in my judgment it should do much more. + +To the spread of our trade in peace and the defense of our flag in war +a great and prosperous merchant marine is indispensable. We should have +ships of our own and seamen of our own to convey our goods to neutral +markets, and in case of need to reinforce our battle line. It cannot +but be a source of regret and uneasiness to us that the lines of +communication with our sister republics of South America should be +chiefly under foreign control. It is not a good thing that American +merchants and manufacturers should have to send their goods and letters +to South America via Europe if they wish security and dispatch. Even on +the Pacific, where our ships have held their own better than on the +Atlantic, our merchant flag is now threatened through the liberal aid +bestowed by other Governments on their own steam lines. I ask your +earnest consideration of the report with which the Merchant Marine +Commission has followed its long and careful inquiry. + +I again heartily commend to your favorable consideration the +tercentennial celebration at Jamestown, Va. Appreciating the +desirability of this commemoration, the Congress passed an act, March +3, 1905, authorizing in the year 1907, on and near the waters of +Hampton Roads, in the State of Virginia, an international naval, +marine, and military celebration in honor of this event. By the +authority vested in me by this act, I have made proclamation of said +celebration, and have issued, in conformity with its instructions, +invitations to all the nations of the earth to participate, by sending +their naval vessels and such military organizations as may be +practicable. This celebration would fail of its full purpose unless it +were enduring in its results and commensurate with the importance of +the event to be celebrated, the event from which our Nation dates its +birth. I earnestly hope that this celebration, already indorsed by the +Congress of the United States, and by the Legislatures of sixteen +States since the action of the Congress, will receive such additional +aid at your hands as will make it worthy of the great event it is +intended to celebrate, and thereby enable the Government of the United +States to make provision for the exhibition of its own resources, and +likewise enable our people who have undertaken the work of such a +celebration to provide suitable and proper entertainment and +instruction in the historic events of our country for all who may visit +the exposition and to whom we have tendered our hospitality. + +It is a matter of unmixed satisfaction once more to call attention to +the excellent work of the Pension Bureau; for the veterans of the civil +war have a greater claim upon us than any other class of our citizens. +To them, first of all among our people, honor is due. + +Seven years ago my lamented predecessor, President McKinley, stated +that the time had come for the Nation to care for the graves of the +Confederate dead. I recommend that the Congress take action toward this +end. The first need is to take charge of the graves of the Confederate +dead who died in Northern prisons. + +The question of immigration is of vital interest to this country. In +the year ending June 30, 1905, there came to the United States +1,026,000 alien immigrants. In other words, in the single year that has +just elapsed there came to this country a greater number of people than +came here during the one hundred and sixty-nine years of our Colonial +life which intervened between the first landing at Jamestown and the +Declaration of Independence. It is clearly shown in the report of the +Commissioner General of Immigration that while much of this enormous +immigration is undoubtedly healthy and natural, a considerable +proportion is undesirable from one reason or another; moreover, a +considerable proportion of it, probably a very large proportion, +including most of the undesirable class, does not come here of its own +initiative, but because of the activity of the agents of the great +transportation companies. These agents are distributed throughout +Europe, and by the offer of all kinds of inducements they wheedle and +cajole many immigrants, often against their best interest, to come +here. The most serious obstacle we have to encounter in the effort to +secure a proper regulation of the immigration to these shores arises +from the determined opposition of the foreign steamship lines who have +no interest whatever in the matter save to increase the returns on +their capital by carrying masses of immigrants hither in the steerage +quarters of their ships. + +As I said in my last message to the Congress, we cannot have too much +immigration of the right sort and we should have none whatever of the +wrong sort. Of course, it is desirable that even the right kind of +immigration should be properly distributed in this country. We need +more of such immigration for the South; and special effort should be +made to secure it. Perhaps it would be possible to limit the number of +immigrants allowed to come in any one year to New York and other +Northern cities, while leaving unlimited the number allowed to come to +the South; always provided, however, that a stricter effort is made to +see that only immigrants of the right kind come to our country +anywhere. In actual practice it has proved so difficult to enforce the +migration laws where long stretches of frontier marked by an imaginary +line alone intervene between us and our neighbors that I recommend that +no immigrants be allowed to come in from Canada and Mexico save natives +of the two countries themselves. As much as possible should be done to +distribute the immigrants upon the land and keep them away from the +contested tenement-house districts of the great cities. But +distribution is a palliative, not a cure. The prime need is to keep out +all immigrants who will not make good American citizens. The laws now +existing for the exclusion of undesirable immigrants should be +strengthened. Adequate means should be adopted, enforced by sufficient +penalties, to compel steamship companies engaged in the passenger +business to observe in good faith the law which forbids them to +encourage or solicit immigration to the United States. Moreover, there +should be a sharp limitation imposed upon all vessels coming to our +ports as to the number of immigrants in ratio to the tonnage which each +vessel can carry. This ratio should be high enough to insure the coming +hither of as good a class of aliens as possible. Provision should be +made for the surer punishment of those who induce aliens to come to +this country under promise or assurance of employment. It should be +made possible to inflict a sufficiently heavy penalty on any employer +violating this law to deter him from taking the risk. It seems to me +wise that there should be an international conference held to deal with +this question of immigration, which has more than a merely National +significance; such a conference could, among other things, enter at +length into the method for securing a thorough inspection of would-be +immigrants at the ports from which they desire to embark before +permitting them to embark. + +In dealing with this question it is unwise to depart from the old +American tradition and to discriminate for or against any man who +desires to come here and become a citizen, save on the ground of that +man's fitness for citizenship. It is our right and duty to consider his +moral and social quality. His standard of living should be such that he +will not, by pressure of competition, lower the standard of living of +our own wage-workers; for it must ever be a prime object of our +legislation to keep high their standard of living. If the man who seeks +to come here is from the moral and social standpoint of such a +character as to bid fair to add value to the community he should be +heartily welcomed. We cannot afford to pay heed to whether he is of one +creed or another, of one nation, or another. We cannot afford to +consider whether he is Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile; whether +he is Englishman or Irishman, Frenchman or German, Japanese, Italian, +Scandinavian, Slav, or Magyar. What we should desire to find out is the +individual quality of the individual man. In my judgment, with this end +in view, we shall have to prepare through our own agents a far more +rigid inspection in the countries from which the immigrants come. It +will be a great deal better to have fewer immigrants, but all of the +right kind, than a great number of immigrants, many of whom are +necessarily of the wrong kind. As far as possible we wish to limit the +immigration to this country to persons who propose to become citizens +of this country, and we can well afford to insist upon adequate +scrutiny of the character of those who are thus proposed for future +citizenship. There should be an increase in the stringency of the laws +to keep out insane, idiotic, epileptic, and pauper immigrants. But this +is by no means enough. Not merely the Anarchist, but every man of +Anarchistic tendencies, all violent and disorderly people, all people +of bad character, the incompetent, the lazy, the vicious, the +physically unfit, defective, or degenerate should be kept out. The +stocks out of which American citizenship is to be built should be +strong and healthy, sound in body, mind, and character. If it be +objected that the Government agents would not always select well, the +answer is that they would certainly select better than do the agents +and brokers of foreign steamship companies, the people who now do +whatever selection is done. + +The questions arising in connection with Chinese immigration stand by +themselves. The conditions in China are such that the entire Chinese +coolie class, that is, the class of Chinese laborers, skilled and +unskilled, legitimately come under the head of undesirable immigrants +to this country, because of their numbers, the low wages for which they +work, and their low standard of living. Not only is it to the interest +of this country to keep them out, but the Chinese authorities do not +desire that they should be admitted. At present their entrance is +prohibited by laws amply adequate to accomplish this purpose. These +laws have been, are being, and will be, thoroughly enforced. The +violations of them are so few in number as to be infinitesimal and can +be entirely disregarded. This is no serious proposal to alter the +immigration law as regards the Chinese laborer, skilled or unskilled, +and there is no excuse for any man feeling or affecting to feel the +slightest alarm on the subject. + +But in the effort to carry out the policy of excluding Chinese +laborers, Chinese coolies, grave injustice and wrong have been done by +this Nation to the people of China, and therefore ultimately to this +Nation itself. Chinese students, business and professional men of all +kinds--not only merchants, but bankers, doctors, manufacturers, +professors, travelers, and the like--should be encouraged to come here, +and treated on precisely the same footing that we treat students, +business men, travelers, and the like of other nations. Our laws and +treaties should be framed, not so as to put these people in the +excepted classes, but to state that we will admit all Chinese, except +Chinese of the coolie class, Chinese skilled or unskilled laborers. +There would not be the least danger that any such provision would +result in any relaxation of the law about laborers. These will, under +all conditions, be kept out absolutely. But it will be more easy to see +that both justice and courtesy are shown, as they ought to be shown, to +other Chinese, if the law or treaty is framed as above suggested. +Examinations should be completed at the port of departure from China. +For this purpose there should be provided a more adequate Consular +Service in China than we now have. The appropriations both for the +offices of the Consuls and for the office forces in the consulates +should be increased. + +As a people we have talked much of the open door in China, and we +expect, and quite rightly intend to insist upon, justice being shown us +by the Chinese. But we cannot expect to receive equity unless we do +equity. We cannot ask the Chinese to do to us what we are unwilling to +do to them. They would have a perfect right to exclude our laboring men +if our laboring men threatened to come into their country in such +numbers as to jeopardize the well-being of the Chinese population; and +as, mutatis mutandis, these were the conditions with which Chinese +immigration actually brought this people face to face, we had and have +a perfect right, which the Chinese Government in no way contests, to +act as we have acted in the matter of restricting coolie immigration. +That this right exists for each country was explicitly acknowledged in +the last treaty between the two countries. But we must treat the +Chinese student, traveler, and business man in a spirit of the broadest +justice and courtesy if we expect similar treatment to be accorded to +our own people of similar rank who go to China. Much trouble has come +during the past Summer from the organized boycott against American +goods which has been started in China. The main factor in producing +this boycott has been the resentment felt by the students and business +people of China, by all the Chinese leaders, against the harshness of +our law toward educated Chinamen of the professional and business +classes. This Government has the friendliest feeling for China and +desires China's well-being. We cordially sympathize with the announced +purpose of Japan to stand for the integrity of China. Such an attitude +tends to the peace of the world. + +The civil service law has been on the statute books for twenty-two +years. Every President and a vast majority of heads of departments who +have been in office during that period have favored a gradual extension +of the merit system. The more thoroughly its principles have been +understood, the greater has been the favor with which the law has been +regarded by administration officers. Any attempt to carry on the great +executive departments of the Government without this law would +inevitably result in chaos. The Civil Service Commissioners are doing +excellent work, and their compensation is inadequate considering the +service they perform. + +The statement that the examinations are not practical in character is +based on a misapprehension of the practice of the Commission. The +departments are invariably consulted as to the requirements desired and +as to the character of questions that shall be asked. General +invitations are frequently sent out to all heads of departments asking +whether any changes in the scope or character of examinations are +required. In other words, the departments prescribe the requirements +and qualifications desired, and the Civil Service Commission +co-operates with them in securing persons with these qualifications and +insuring open and impartial competition. In a large number of +examinations (as, for example, those for trades positions), there are +no educational requirements whatever, and a person who can neither read +nor write may pass with a high average. Vacancies in the service are +filled with reasonable expedition, and the machinery of the Commission, +which reaches every part of the country, is the best agency that has +yet been devised for finding people with the most suitable +qualifications for the various offices to be filled. Written +competitive examinations do not make an ideal method for filling +positions, but they do represent an immeasurable advance upon the +"spoils" method, under which outside politicians really make the +appointments nominally made by the executive officers, the appointees +being chosen by the politicians in question, in the great majority of +cases, for reasons totally unconnected with the needs of the service or +of the public. + +Statistics gathered by the Census Bureau show that the tenure of office +in the Government service does not differ materially from that enjoyed +by employes of large business corporations. Heads of executive +departments and members of the Commission have called my attention to +the fact that the rule requiring a filing of charges and three days' +notice before an employe could be separated from the service for +inefficiency has served no good purpose whatever, because that is not a +matter upon which a hearing of the employe found to be inefficient can +be of any value, and in practice the rule providing for such notice and +hearing has merely resulted in keeping in a certain number of +incompetents, because of the reluctance of the heads of departments and +bureau chiefs to go through the required procedure. Experience has +shown that this rule is wholly ineffective to save any man, if a +superior for improper reasons wishes to remove him, and is mischievous +because it sometimes serves to keep in the service incompetent men not +guilty of specific wrongdoing. Having these facts in view the rule has +been amended by providing that where the inefficiency or incapacity +comes within the personal knowledge of the head of a department the +removal may be made without notice, the reasons therefor being filed +and made a record of the department. The absolute right of the removal +rests where it always has rested, with the head of a department; any +limitation of this absolute right results in grave injury to the public +service. The change is merely one of procedure; it was much needed, and +it is producing good results. + +The civil service law is being energetically and impartially enforced, +and in the large majority of cases complaints of violations of either +the law or rules are discovered to be unfounded. In this respect this +law compares very favorably with any other Federal statute. The +question of politics in the appointment and retention of the men +engaged in merely ministerial work has been practically eliminated in +almost the entire field of Government employment covered by the civil +service law. The action of the Congress in providing the commission +with its own force instead of requiring it to rely on detailed clerks +has been justified by the increased work done at a smaller cost to the +Government. I urge upon the Congress a careful consideration of the +recommendations contained in the annual report of the commission. + +Our copyright laws urgently need revision. They are imperfect in +definition, confused and inconsistent in expression; they omit +provision for many articles which, under modern reproductive processes +are entitled to protection; they impose hardships upon the copyright +proprietor which are not essential to the fair protection of the +public; they are difficult for the courts to interpret and impossible +for the Copyright Office to administer with satisfaction to the public. +Attempts to improve them by amendment have been frequent, no less than +twelve acts for the purpose having been passed since the Revised +Statutes. To perfect them by further amendment seems impracticable. A +complete revision of them is essential. Such a revision, to meet modern +conditions, has been found necessary in Germany, Austria, Sweden, and +other foreign countries, and bills embodying it are pending in England +and the Australian colonies. It has been urged here, and proposals for +a commission to undertake it have, from time to time, been pressed upon +the Congress. The inconveniences of the present conditions being so +great, an attempt to frame appropriate legislation has been made by the +Copyright Office, which has called conferences of the various interests +especially and practically concerned with the operation of the +copyright laws. It has secured from them suggestions as to the changes +necessary; it has added from its own experience and investigations, and +it has drafted a bill which embodies such of these changes and +additions as, after full discussion and expert criticism, appeared to +be sound and safe. In form this bill would replace the existing +insufficient and inconsistent laws by one general copyright statute. It +will be presented to the Congress at the coming session. It deserves +prompt consideration. + +I recommend that a law be enacted to regulate inter-State commerce in +misbranded and adulterated foods, drinks, and drugs. Such law would +protect legitimate manufacture and commerce, and would tend to secure +the health and welfare of the consuming public. Traffic in food-stuffs +which have been debased or adulterated so as to injure health or to +deceive purchasers should be forbidden. + +The law forbidding the emission of dense black or gray smoke in the +city of Washington has been sustained by the courts. Something has been +accomplished under it, but much remains to be done if we would preserve +the capital city from defacement by the smoke nuisance. Repeated +prosecutions under the law have not had the desired effect. I recommend +that it be made more stringent by increasing both the minimum and +maximum fine; by providing for imprisonment in cases of repeated +violation, and by affording the remedy of injunction against the +continuation of the operation of plants which are persistent offenders. +I recommend, also, an increase in the number of inspectors, whose duty +it shall be to detect violations of the act. + +I call your attention to the generous act of the State of California in +conferring upon the United States Government the ownership of the +Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove. There should be no +delay in accepting the gift, and appropriations should be made for the +including thereof in the Yosemite National Park, and for the care and +policing of the park. California has acted most wisely, as well as with +great magnanimity, in the matter. There are certain mighty natural +features of our land which should be preserved in perpetuity for our +children and our children's children. In my judgment, the Grand Canyon +of the Colorado should be made into a National park. It is greatly to +be wished that the State of New York should copy as regards Niagara +what the State of California has done as regards the Yosemite. Nothing +should be allowed to interfere with the preservation of Niagara Falls +in all their beauty and majesty. If the State cannot see to this, then +it is earnestly to be wished that she should be willing to turn it over +to the National Government, which should in such case (if possible, in +conjunction with the Canadian Government) assume the burden and +responsibility of preserving unharmed Niagara Falls; just as it should +gladly assume a similar burden and responsibility for the Yosemite +National Park, and as it has already assumed them for the Yellowstone +National Park. Adequate provision should be made by the Congress for +the proper care and supervision of all these National parks. The +boundaries of the Yellowstone National Park should be extended to the +south and east, to take in such portions of the abutting forest +reservations as will enable the Government to protect the elk on their +Winter range. + +The most characteristic animal of the Western plains was the great, +shaggy-maned wild ox, the bison, commonly known as buffalo. Small +fragments of herds exist in a domesticated state here and there, a few +of them in the Yellowstone Park. Such a herd as that on the Flat-head +Reservation should not be allowed to go out of existence. Either on +some reservation or on some forest reserve like the Wichita reserve and +game refuge provision should be made for the preservation of such a +herd. I believe that the scheme would be of economic advantage, for the +robe of the buffalo is of high market value, and the same is true of +the robe of the crossbred animals. + +I call your especial attention to the desirability of giving to the +members of the Life Saving Service pensions such as are given to +firemen and policemen in all our great cities. The men in the Life +Saving Service continually and in the most matter of fact way do deeds +such as make Americans proud of their country. They have no political +influence, and they live in such remote places that the really heroic +services they continually render receive the scantiest recognition from +the public. It is unjust for a great nation like this to permit these +men to become totally disabled or to meet death in the performance of +their hazardous duty and yet to give them no sort of reward. If one of +them serves thirty years of his life in such a position he should +surely be entitled to retire on half pay, as a fireman or policeman +does, and if he becomes totally incapacitated through accident or +sickness, or loses his health in the discharge of his duty, he or his +family should receive a pension just as any soldier should. I call your +attention with especial earnestness to this matter because it appeals +not only to our judgment but to our sympathy; for the people on whose +behalf I ask it are comparatively few in number, render incalculable +service of a particularly dangerous kind, and have no one to speak for +them. + +During the year just past, the phase of the Indian question which has +been most sharply brought to public attention is the larger legal +significance of the Indian's induction into citizenship. This has made +itself manifest not only in a great access of litigation in which the +citizen Indian figures as a party defendant and in a more widespread +disposition to levy local taxation upon his personalty, but in a +decision of the United States Supreme Court which struck away the main +prop on which has hitherto rested the Government's benevolent effort to +protect him against the evils of intemperance. The court holds, in +effect, that when an Indian becomes, by virtue of an allotment of land +to him, a citizen of the State in which his land is situated, he passes +from under Federal control in such matters as this, and the acts of the +Congress prohibiting the sale or gift to him of intoxicants become +substantially inoperative. It is gratifying to note that the States and +municipalities of the West which have most at stake in the welfare of +the Indians are taking up this subject and are trying to supply, in a +measure at least, the abdication of its trusteeship forced upon the +Federal Government. Nevertheless, I would urgently press upon the +attention of the Congress the question whether some amendment of the +internal revenue laws might not be of aid in prosecuting those +malefactors, known in the Indian country as "bootleggers," who are +engaged at once in defrauding the United States Treasury of taxes and, +what is far more important, in debauching the Indians by carrying +liquors illicitly into territory still completely under Federal +jurisdiction. + +Among the crying present needs of the Indians are more day schools +situated in the midst of their settlements, more effective instruction +in the industries pursued on their own farms, and a more liberal +tension of the field-matron service, which means the education of the +Indian women in the arts of home making. Until the mothers are well +started in the right direction we cannot reasonably expect much from +the children who are soon to form an integral part of our American +citizenship. Moreover the excuse continually advanced by male adult +Indians for refusing offers of remunerative employment at a distance +from their homes is that they dare not leave their families too long +out of their sight. One effectual remedy for this state of things is to +employ the minds and strengthen the moral fibre of the Indian +women--the end to which the work of the field matron is especially +directed. I trust that the Congress will make its appropriations for +Indian day schools and field matrons as generous as may consist with +the other pressing demands upon its providence. + +During the last year the Philippine Islands have been slowly recovering +from the series of disasters which, since American occupation, have +greatly reduced the amount of agricultural products below what was +produced in Spanish times. The war, the rinderpest, the locusts, the +drought, and the cholera have been united as causes to prevent a return +of the prosperity much needed in the islands. The most serious is the +destruction by the rinderpest of more than 75 per cent of the draught +cattle, because it will take several years of breeding to restore the +necessary number of these indispensable aids to agriculture. The +commission attempted to supply by purchase from adjoining countries the +needed cattle, but the experiments made were unsuccessful. Most of the +cattle imported were unable to withstand the change of climate and the +rigors of the voyage and died from other diseases than rinderpest. + +The income of the Philippine Government has necessarily been reduced by +reason of the business and agricultural depression in the islands, and +the Government has been obliged to exercise great economy to cut down +its expenses, to reduce salaries, and in every way to avoid a deficit. +It has adopted an internal revenue law, imposing taxes on cigars, +cigarettes, and distilled liquors, and abolishing the old Spanish +industrial taxes. The law has not operated as smoothly as was hoped, +and although its principle is undoubtedly correct, it may need +amendments for the purpose of reconciling the people to its provisions. +The income derived from it has partly made up for the reduction in +customs revenue. + +There has been a marked increase in the number of Filipinos employed in +the civil service, and a corresponding decrease in the number of +Americans. The Government in every one of its departments has been +rendered more efficient by elimination of undesirable material and the +promotion of deserving public servants. + +Improvements of harbors, roads, and bridges continue, although the +cutting down of the revenue forbids the expenditure of any great amount +from current income for these purposes. Steps are being taken, by +advertisement for competitive bids, to secure the construction and +maintenance of 1,000 miles of railway by private corporations under the +recent enabling legislation of the Congress. The transfer of the friar +lands, in accordance with the contract made some two years ago, has +been completely effected, and the purchase money paid. Provision has +just been made by statute for the speedy settlement in a special +proceeding in the Supreme Court of controversies over the possession +and title of church buildings and rectories arising between the Roman +Catholic Church and schismatics claiming under ancient municipalities. +Negotiations and hearings for the settlement of the amount due to the +Roman Catholic Church for rent and occupation of churches and rectories +by the army of the United States are in progress, and it is hoped a +satisfactory conclusion may be submitted to the Congress before the end +of the session. + +Tranquillity has existed during the past year throughout the +Archipelago, except in the Province of Cavite, the Province of Batangas +and the Province of Samar, and in the Island of Jolo among the Moros. +The Jolo disturbance was put an end to by several sharp and short +engagements, and now peace prevails in the Moro Province, Cavite, the +mother of ladrones in the Spanish times, is so permeated with the +traditional sympathy of the people for ladronism as to make it +difficult to stamp out the disease. Batangas was only disturbed by +reason of the fugitive ladrones from Cavite, Samar was thrown into +disturbance by the uneducated and partly savage peoples living in the +mountains, who, having been given by the municipal code more power than +they were able to exercise discreetly, elected municipal officers who +abused their trusts, compelled the people raising hemp to sell it at a +much less price than it was worth, and by their abuses drove their +people into resistance to constituted authority. Cavite and Samar are +instances of reposing too much confidence in the self-governing power +of a people. The disturbances have all now been suppressed, and it is +hoped that with these lessons local governments can be formed which +will secure quiet and peace to the deserving inhabitants. The incident +is another proof of the fact that if there has been any error as +regards giving self-government in the Philippines it has been in the +direction of giving it too quickly, not too slowly. A year from next +April the first legislative assembly for the islands will be held. On +the sanity and self-restraint of this body much will depend so far as +the future self-government of the islands is concerned. + +The most encouraging feature of the whole situation has been the very +great interest taken by the common people in education and the great +increase in the number of enrolled students in the public schools. The +increase was from 300,000 to half a million pupils. The average +attendance is about 70 per cent. The only limit upon the number of +pupils seems to be the capacity of the government to furnish teachers +and school houses. + +The agricultural conditions of the islands enforce more strongly than +ever the argument in favor of reducing the tariff on the products of +the Philippine Islands entering the United States. I earnestly +recommend that the tariff now imposed by the Dingley bill upon the +products of the Philippine Islands be entirely removed, except the +tariff on sugar and tobacco, and that that tariff be reduced to 25 per +cent of the present rates under the Dingley act; that after July 1, +1909, the tariff upon tobacco and sugar produced in the Philippine +Islands be entirely removed, and that free trade between the islands +and the United States in the products of each country then be provided +for by law. + +A statute in force, enacted April 15, 1904, suspends the operation of +the coastwise laws of the United States upon the trade between the +Philippine Islands and the United States until July 1, 1906. I +earnestly recommend that this suspension be postponed until July 1, +1909. I think it of doubtful utility to apply the coastwise laws to the +trade between the United States and the Philippines under any +circumstances, because I am convinced that it will do no good whatever +to American bottoms, and will only interfere and be an obstacle to the +trade between the Philippines and the United States, but if the +coastwise law must be thus applied, certainly it ought not to have +effect until free trade is enjoyed between the people of the United +States and the people of the Philippine Islands in their respective +products. + +I do not anticipate that free trade between the islands and the United +States will produce a revolution in the sugar and tobacco production of +the Philippine Islands. So primitive are the methods of agriculture in +the Philippine Islands, so slow is capital in going to the islands, so +many difficulties surround a large agricultural enterprise in the +islands, that it will be many, many years before the products of those +islands will have any effect whatever upon the markets of the United +States. The problem of labor is also a formidable one with the sugar +and tobacco producers in the islands. The best friends of the Filipino +people and the people themselves are utterly opposed to the admission +of Chinese coolie labor. Hence the only solution is the training of +Filipino labor, and this will take a long time. The enactment of a law +by the Congress of the United States making provision for free trade +between the islands and the United States, however, will be of great +importance from a political and sentimental standpoint; and, while its +actual benefit has doubtless been exaggerated by the people of the +islands, they will accept this measure of justice as an indication that +the people of the United States are anxious to aid the people of the +Philippine Islands in every way, and especially in the agricultural +development of their archipelago. It will aid the Filipinos without +injuring interests in America. + +In my judgment immediate steps should be taken for the fortification of +Hawaii. This is the most important point in the Pacific to fortify in +order to conserve the interests of this country. It would be hard to +overstate the importance of this need. Hawaii is too heavily taxed. +Laws should be enacted setting aside for a period of, say, twenty years +75 per cent of the internal revenue and customs receipts from Hawaii as +a special fund to be expended in the islands for educational and public +buildings, and for harbor improvements and military and naval defenses. +It cannot be too often repeated that our aim must be to develop the +territory of Hawaii on traditional American lines. That territory has +serious commercial and industrial problems to reckon with; but no +measure of relief can be considered which looks to legislation +admitting Chinese and restricting them by statute to field labor and +domestic service. The status of servility can never again be tolerated +on American soil. We cannot concede that the proper solution of its +problems is special legislation admitting to Hawaii a class of laborers +denied admission to the other States and Territories. There are +obstacles, and great obstacles, in the way of building up a +representative American community in the Hawaiian Islands; but it is +not in the American character to give up in the face of difficulty. +Many an American Commonwealth has been built up against odds equal to +those that now confront Hawaii. + +No merely half-hearted effort to meet its problems as other American +communities have met theirs can be accepted as final. Hawaii shall +never become a territory in which a governing class of rich planters +exists by means of coolie labor. Even if the rate of growth of the +Territory is thereby rendered slower, the growth must only take place +by the admission of immigrants fit in the end to assume the duties and +burdens of full American citizenship. Our aim must be to develop the +Territory on the same basis of stable citizenship as exists on this +continent. + +I earnestly advocate the adoption of legislation which will explicitly +confer American citizenship on all citizens of Porto Rico. There is, in +my judgment, no excuse for failure to do this. The harbor of San Juan +should be dredged and improved. The expenses of the Federal Court of +Porto Rico should be met from the Federal Treasury and not from the +Porto Rican treasury. The elections in Porto Rico should take place +every four years, and the Legislature should meet in session every two +years. The present form of government in Porto Rico, which provides for +the appointment by the President of the members of the Executive +Council or upper house of the Legislature, has proved satisfactory and +has inspired confidence in property owners and investors. I do not deem +it advisable at the present time to change this form in any material +feature. The problems and needs of the island are industrial and +commercial rather than political. + +I wish to call the attention of the Congress to one question which +affects our insular possessions generally; namely, the need of an +increased liberality in the treatment of the whole franchise question +in these islands. In the proper desire to prevent the islands being +exploited by speculators and to have them develop in the interests of +their own people an error has been made in refusing to grant +sufficiently liberal terms to induce the investment of American capital +in the Philippines and in Porto Rico. Elsewhere in this message I have +spoken strongly against the jealousy of mere wealth, and especially of +corporate wealth as such. But it is particularly regrettable to allow +any such jealousy to be developed when we are dealing either with our +insular or with foreign affairs. The big corporation has achieved its +present position in the business world simply because it is the most +effective instrument in business competition. In foreign affairs we +cannot afford to put our people at a disadvantage with their +competitors by in any way discriminating against the efficiency of our +business organizations. In the same way we cannot afford to allow our +insular possessions to lag behind in industrial development from any +twisted jealousy of business success. It is, of course, a mere truism +to say that the business interests of the islands will only be +developed if it becomes the financial interest of somebody to develop +them. Yet this development is one of the things most earnestly to be +wished for in the interest of the islands themselves. We have been +paying all possible heed to the political and educational interests of +the islands, but, important though these objects are, it is not less +important that we should favor their industrial development. The +Government can in certain ways help this directly, as by building good +roads; but the fundamental and vital help must be given through the +development of the industries of the islands, and a most efficient +means to this end is to encourage big American corporations to start +industries in them, and this means to make it advantageous for them to +do so. To limit the ownership of mining claims, as has been done in the +Philippines, is absurd. In both the Philippines and Porto Rico the +limit of holdings of land should be largely raised. + +I earnestly ask that Alaska be given an elective delegate. Some person +should be chosen who can speak with authority of the needs of the +Territory. The Government should aid in the construction of a railroad +from the Gulf of Alaska to the Yukon River, in American territory. In +my last two messages I advocated certain additional action on behalf of +Alaska. I shall not now repeat those recommendations, but I shall lay +all my stress upon the one recommendation of giving to Alaska some one +authorized to speak for it. I should prefer that the delegate was made +elective, but if this is not deemed wise, then make him appointive. At +any rate, give Alaska some person whose business it shall be to speak +with authority on her behalf to the Congress. The natural resources of +Alaska are great. Some of the chief needs of the peculiarly energetic, +self-reliant, and typically American white population of Alaska were +set forth in my last message. I also earnestly ask your attention to +the needs of the Alaskan Indians. All Indians who are competent should +receive the full rights of American citizenship. It is, for instance, a +gross and indefensible wrong to deny to such hard-working, +decent-living Indians as the Metlakahtlas the right to obtain licenses +as captains, pilots, and engineers; the right to enter mining claims, +and to profit by the homestead law. These particular Indians are +civilized and are competent and entitled to be put on the same basis +with the white men round about them. + +I recommend that Indian Territory and Oklahoma be admitted as one State +and that New Mexico and Arizona be admitted as one State. There is no +obligation upon us to treat territorial subdivisions, which are matters +of convenience only, as binding us on the question of admission to +Statehood. Nothing has taken up more time in the Congress during the +past few years than the question as to the Statehood to be granted to +the four Territories above mentioned, and after careful consideration +of all that has been developed in the discussions of the question, I +recommend that they be immediately admitted as two States. There is no +justification for further delay; and the advisability of making the +four Territories into two States has been clearly established. + +In some of the Territories the legislative assemblies issue licenses +for gambling. The Congress should by law forbid this practice, the +harmful results of which are obvious at a glance. + +The treaty between the United States and the Republic of Panama, under +which the construction of the Panama Canal was made possible, went into +effect with its ratification by the United States Senate on February +23, 1904. The canal properties of the French Canal Company were +transferred to the United States on April 23, 1904, on payment of +$40,000,000 to that company. On April 1, 1905, the Commission was +reorganized, and it now consists of Theodore P. Shonts, Chairman; +Charles E. Magoon, Benjamin M. Harrod, Rear Admiral Mordecai T. +Endicott, Brig. Gen. Peter C. Hains, and Col. Oswald H. Ernst. John F. +Stevens was appointed Chief Engineer on July 1 last. Active work in +canal construction, mainly preparatory, has been in progress for less +than a year and a half. During that period two points about the canal +have ceased to be open to debate: First, the question of route; the +canal will be built on the Isthmus of Panama. Second, the question of +feasibility; there are no physical obstacles on this route that +American engineering skill will not be able to overcome without serious +difficulty, or that will prevent the completion of the canal within a +reasonable time and at a reasonable cost. This is virtually the +unanimous testimony of the engineers who have investigated the matter +for the Government. + +The point which remains unsettled is the question of type, whether the +canal shall be one of several locks above sea level, or at sea level +with a single tide lock. On this point I hope to lay before the +Congress at an early day the findings of the Advisory Board of American +and European Engineers, that at my invitation have been considering the +subject, together with the report of the Commission thereon, and such +comments thereon or recommendations in reference thereto as may seem +necessary. + +The American people is pledged to the speediest possible construction +of a canal adequate to meet the demands which the commerce of the world +will make upon it, and I appeal most earnestly to the Congress to aid +in the fulfillment of the pledge. Gratifying progress has been made +during the past year, and especially during the past four months. The +greater part of the necessary preliminary work has been done. Actual +work of excavation could be begun only on a limited scale till the +Canal Zone was made a healthful place to live in and to work in. The +Isthmus had to be sanitated first. This task has been so thoroughly +accomplished that yellow fever has been virtually extirpated from the +Isthmus and general health conditions vastly improved. The same methods +which converted the island of Cuba from a pest hole, which menaced the +health of the world, into a healthful place of abode, have been applied +on the Isthmus with satisfactory results. There is no reason to doubt +that when the plans for water supply, paving, and sewerage of Panama +and Colon and the large labor camps have been fully carried out, the +Isthmus will be, for the tropics, an unusually healthy place of abode. +The work is so far advanced now that the health of all those employed +in canal work is as well guarded as it is on similar work in this +country and elsewhere. + +In addition to sanitating the Isthmus, satisfactory quarters are being +provided for employes and an adequate system of supplying them with +wholesome food at reasonable prices has been created. Hospitals have +been established and equipped that are without their superiors of their +kind anywhere. The country has thus been made fit to work in, and +provision has been made for the welfare and comfort of those who are to +do the work. During the past year a large portion of the plant with +which the work is to be done has been ordered. It is confidently +believed that by the middle of the approaching year a sufficient +proportion of this plant will have been installed to enable us to +resume the work of excavation on a large scale. + +What is needed now and without delay is an appropriation by the +Congress to meet the current and accruing expenses of the commission. +The first appropriation of $10,000,000, out of the $135,000,000 +authorized by the Spooner act, was made three years ago. It is nearly +exhausted. There is barely enough of it remaining to carry the +commission to the end of the year. Unless the Congress shall +appropriate before that time all work must cease. To arrest progress +for any length of time now, when matters are advancing so +satisfactorily, would be deplorable. There will be no money with which +to meet pay roll obligations and none with which to meet bills coming +due for materials and supplies; and there will be demoralization of the +forces, here and on the Isthmus, now working so harmoniously and +effectively, if there is delay in granting an emergency appropriation. +Estimates of the amount necessary will be found in the accompanying +reports of the Secretary of War and the commission. + +I recommend more adequate provision than has been made heretofore for +the work of the Department of State. Within a few years there has been +a very great increase in the amount and importance of the work to be +done by that department, both in Washington and abroad. This has been +caused by the great increase of our foreign trade, the increase of +wealth among our people, which enables them to travel more generally +than heretofore, the increase of American capital which is seeking +investment in foreign countries, and the growth of our power and weight +in the councils of the civilized world. There has been no corresponding +increase of facilities for doing the work afforded to the department +having charge of our foreign relations. + +Neither at home nor abroad is there a sufficient working force to do +the business properly. In many respects the system which was adequate +to the work of twenty-five years or even ten years ago, is inadequate +now, and should be changed. Our Consular force should be classified, +and appointments should be made to the several classes, with authority +to the Executive to assign the members of each class to duty at such +posts as the interests of the service require, instead of the +appointments being made as at present to specified posts. There should +be an adequate inspection service, so that the department may be able +to inform itself how the business of each Consulate is being done, +instead of depending upon casual private information or rumor. The fee +system should be entirely abolished, and a due equivalent made in +salary to the officers who now eke out their subsistence by means of +fees. Sufficient provision should be made for a clerical force in every +Consulate composed entirely of Americans, instead of the insufficient +provision now made, which compels the employment of great numbers of +citizens of foreign countries whose services can be obtained for less +money. At a large part of our Consulates the office quarters and the +clerical force are inadequate to the performance of the onerous duties +imposed by the recent provisions of our immigration laws as well as by +our increasing trade. In many parts of the world the lack of suitable +quarters for our embassies, legations, and Consulates detracts from the +respect in which our officers ought to be held, and seriously impairs +their weight and influence. + +Suitable provision should be made for the expense of keeping our +diplomatic officers more fully informed of what is being done from day +to day in the progress of our diplomatic affairs with other countries. +The lack of such information, caused by insufficient appropriations +available for cable tolls and for clerical and messenger service, +frequently puts our officers at a great disadvantage and detracts from +their usefulness. The salary list should be readjusted. It does not now +correspond either to the importance of the service to be rendered and +the degrees of ability and experience required in the different +positions, or to the differences in the cost of living. In many cases +the salaries are quite inadequate. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 3, 1906 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +As a nation we still continue to enjoy a literally unprecedented +prosperity; and it is probable that only reckless speculation and +disregard of legitimate business methods on the part of the business +world can materially mar this prosperity. + +No Congress in our time has done more good work of importance than the +present Congress. There were several matters left unfinished at your +last session, however, which I most earnestly hope you will complete +before your adjournment. + +I again recommend a law prohibiting all corporations from contributing +to the campaign expenses of any party. Such a bill has already past one +House of Congress. Let individuals contribute as they desire; but let +us prohibit in effective fashion all corporations from making +contributions for any political purpose, directly or indirectly. + +Another bill which has just past one House of the Congress and which it +is urgently necessary should be enacted into law is that conferring +upon the Government the right of appeal in criminal cases on questions +of law. This right exists in many of the States; it exists in the +District of Columbia by act of the Congress. It is of course not +proposed that in any case a verdict for the defendant on the merits +should be set aside. Recently in one district where the Government had +indicted certain persons for conspiracy in connection with rebates, the +court sustained the defendant's demurrer; while in another jurisdiction +an indictment for conspiracy to obtain rebates has been sustained by +the court, convictions obtained under it, and two defendants sentenced +to imprisonment. The two cases referred to may not be in real conflict +with each other, but it is unfortunate that there should even be an +apparent conflict. At present there is no way by which the Government +can cause such a conflict, when it occurs, to be solved by an appeal to +a higher court; and the wheels of justice are blocked without any real +decision of the question. I can not too strongly urge the passage of +the bill in question. A failure to pass it will result in seriously +hampering the Government in its effort to obtain justice, especially +against wealthy individuals or corporations who do wrong; and may also +prevent the Government from obtaining justice for wage-workers who are +not themselves able effectively to contest a case where the judgment of +an inferior court has been against them. I have specifically in view a +recent decision by a district judge leaving railway employees without +remedy for violation of a certain so-called labor statute. It seems an +absurdity to permit a single district judge, against what may be the +judgment of the immense majority of his colleagues on the bench, +to declare a law solemnly enacted by the Congress to be +"unconstitutional," and then to deny to the Government the right to +have the Supreme Court definitely decide the question. + +It is well to recollect that the real efficiency of the law often +depends not upon the passage of acts as to which there is great public +excitement, but upon the passage of acts of this nature as to which +there is not much public excitement, because there is little public +understanding of their importance, while the interested parties are +keenly alive to the desirability of defeating them. The importance of +enacting into law the particular bill in question is further increased +by the fact that the Government has now definitely begun a policy of +resorting to the criminal law in those trust and interstate commerce +cases where such a course offers a reasonable chance of success. At +first, as was proper, every effort was made to enforce these laws by +civil proceedings; but it has become increasingly evident that the +action of the Government in finally deciding, in certain cases, to +undertake criminal proceedings was justifiable; and though there have +been some conspicuous failures in these cases, we have had many +successes, which have undoubtedly had a deterrent effect upon +evil-doers, whether the penalty inflicted was in the shape of fine or +imprisonment--and penalties of both kinds have already been inflicted +by the courts. Of course, where the judge can see his way to inflict +the penalty of imprisonment the deterrent effect of the punishment on +other offenders is increased; but sufficiently heavy fines accomplish +much. Judge Holt, of the New York district court, in a recent decision +admirably stated the need for treating with just severity offenders of +this kind. His opinion runs in part as follows: + +'The Government's evidence to establish the defendant's guilt was +clear, conclusive, and undisputed. The case was a flagrant one. The +transactions which took place under this illegal contract were very +large; the amounts of rebates returned were considerable; and the +amount of the rebate itself was large, amounting to more than one-fifth +of the entire tariff charge for the transportation of merchandise from +this city to Detroit. It is not too much to say, in my opinion, that if +this business was carried on for a considerable time on that +basis--that is, if this discrimination in favor of this particular +shipper was made with an 18 instead of a 23 cent rate and the tariff +rate was maintained as against their competitors--the result might be +and not improbably would be that their competitors would be driven out +of business. This crime is one which in its nature is deliberate and +premeditated. I think over a fortnight elapsed between the date of +Palmer's letter requesting the reduced rate and the answer of the +railroad company deciding to grant it, and then for months afterwards +this business was carried on and these claims for rebates submitted +month after month and checks in payment of them drawn month after +month. Such a violation of the law, in my opinion, in its essential +nature, is a very much more heinous act than the ordinary common, +vulgar crimes which come before criminal courts constantly for +punishment and which arise from sudden passion or temptation. This +crime in this case was committed by men of education and of large +business experience, whose standing in the community was such that they +might have been expected to set an example of obedience to law upon the +maintenance of which alone in this country the security of their +property depends. It was committed on behalf of a great railroad +corporation, which, like other railroad corporations, has received +gratuitously from the State large and valuable privileges for the +public's convenience and its own, which performs quasi public functions +and which is charged with the highest obligation in the transaction of +its business to treat the citizens of this country alike, and not to +carry on its business with unjust discriminations between different +citizens or different classes of citizens. This crime in its nature is +one usually done with secrecy, and proof of which it is very difficult +to obtain. The interstate commerce act was past in 1887, nearly twenty +years ago. Ever since that time complaints of the granting of rebates +by railroads have been common, urgent, and insistent, and although the +Congress has repeatedly past legislation endeavoring to put a stop to +this evil, the difficulty of obtaining proof upon which to bring +prosecution in these cases is so great that this is the first case that +has ever been brought in this court, and, as I am formed, this case and +one recently brought in Philadelphia are the only cases that have ever +been brought in the eastern part of this country. In fact, but few +cases of this kind have ever been brought in this country, East or +West. Now, under these circumstances, I am forced to the conclusion, in +a case in which the proof is so clear and the facts are so flagrant, it +is the duty of the court to fix a penalty which shall in some degree be +commensurate with the gravity of the offense. As between the two +defendants, in my opinion, the principal penalty should be imposed on +the corporation. The traffic manager in this case, presumably, acted +without any advantage to himself and without any interest in the +transaction, either by the direct authority or in accordance with what +he understood to be the policy or the wishes of his employer. + +"The sentence of this court in this case is, that the defendant +Pomeroy, for each of the six offenses upon which he has been convicted, +be fined the sum of $1,000, making six fines, amounting in all to the +sum of $6,000; and the defendant, The New York Central and Hudson River +Railroad Company, for each of the six crimes of which it has been +convicted, be fined the sum of $18,000, making six fines amounting in +the aggregate to the sum of $108,000, and judgment to that effect will +be entered in this case." + +In connection with this matter, I would like to call attention to the +very unsatisfactory state of our criminal law, resulting in large part +from the habit of setting aside the judgments of inferior courts on +technicalities absolutely unconnected with the merits of the case, and +where there is no attempt to show that there has been any failure of +substantial justice. It would be well to enact a law providing +something to the effect that: + +No judgment shall be set aside or new trial granted in any cause, civil +or criminal, on the ground of misdirection of the jury or the improper +admission or rejection of evidence, or for error as to any matter of +pleading or procedure unless, in the opinion of the court to which the +application is made, after an examination of the entire cause, it shall +affirmatively appear that the error complained of has resulted in a +miscarriage of justice. + +In my last message I suggested the enactment of a law in connection +with the issuance of injunctions, attention having been sharply drawn +to the matter by the demand that the right of applying injunctions in +labor cases should be wholly abolished. It is at least doubtful whether +a law abolishing altogether the use of injunctions in such cases would +stand the test of the courts; in which case of course the legislation +would be ineffective. Moreover, I believe it would be wrong altogether +to prohibit the use of injunctions. It is criminal to permit sympathy +for criminals to weaken our hands in upholding the law; and if men seek +to destroy life or property by mob violence there should be no +impairment of the power of the courts to deal with them in the most +summary and effective way possible. But so far as possible the abuse of +the power should be provided against by some such law as I advocated +last year. + +In this matter of injunctions there is lodged in the hands of the +judiciary a necessary power which is nevertheless subject to the +possibility of grave abuse. It is a power that should be exercised with +extreme care and should be subject to the jealous scrutiny of all men, +and condemnation should be meted out as much to the judge who fails to +use it boldly when necessary as to the judge who uses it wantonly or +oppressively. Of course a judge strong enough to be fit for his office +will enjoin any resort to violence or intimidation, especially by +conspiracy, no matter what his opinion may be of the rights of the +original quarrel. There must be no hesitation in dealing with disorder. +But there must likewise be no such abuse of the injunctive power as is +implied in forbidding laboring men to strive for their own betterment +in peaceful and lawful ways; nor must the injunction be used merely to +aid some big corporation in carrying out schemes for its own +aggrandizement. It must be remembered that a preliminary injunction in +a labor case, if granted without adequate proof (even when authority +can be found to support the conclusions of law on which it is founded), +may often settle the dispute between the parties; and therefore if +improperly granted may do irreparable wrong. Yet there are many judges +who assume a matter-of-course granting of a preliminary injunction to +be the ordinary and proper judicial disposition of such cases; and +there have undoubtedly been flagrant wrongs committed by judges in +connection with labor disputes even within the last few years, although +I think much less often than in former years. Such judges by their +unwise action immensely strengthen the hands of those who are striving +entirely to do away with the power of injunction; and therefore such +careless use of the injunctive process tends to threaten its very +existence, for if the American people ever become convinced that this +process is habitually abused, whether in matters affecting labor or in +matters affecting corporations, it will be well-nigh impossible to +prevent its abolition. + +It may be the highest duty of a judge at any given moment to disregard, +not merely the wishes of individuals of great political or financial +power, but the overwhelming tide of public sentiment; and the judge who +does thus disregard public sentiment when it is wrong, who brushes +aside the plea of any special interest when the pleading is not rounded +on righteousness, performs the highest service to the country. Such a +judge is deserving of all honor; and all honor can not be paid to this +wise and fearless judge if we permit the growth of an absurd convention +which would forbid any criticism of the judge of another type, who +shows himself timid in the presence of arrogant disorder, or who on +insufficient grounds grants an injunction that does grave injustice, or +who in his capacity as a construer, and therefore in part a maker, of +the law, in flagrant fashion thwarts the cause of decent government. +The judge has a power over which no review can be exercised; he himself +sits in review upon the acts of both the executive and legislative +branches of the Government; save in the most extraordinary cases he is +amenable only at the bar of public opinion; and it is unwise to +maintain that public opinion in reference to a man with such power +shall neither be exprest nor led. + +The best judges have ever been foremost to disclaim any immunity from +criticism. This has been true since the days of the great English Lord +Chancellor Parker, who said: "Let all people be at liberty to know what +I found my judgment upon; that, so when I have given it in any cause, +others may be at liberty to judge of me." The proprieties of the case +were set forth with singular clearness and good temper by Judge W. H. +Taft, when a United States circuit judge, eleven years ago, in 1895: + +"The opportunity freely and publicly to criticize judicial action is of +vastly more importance to the body politic than the immunity of courts +and judges from unjust aspersions and attack. Nothing tends more to +render judges careful in their decisions and anxiously solicitous to do +exact justice than the consciousness that every act of theirs is to be +subjected to the intelligent scrutiny and candid criticism of their +fellow-men. Such criticism is beneficial in proportion as it is fair, +dispassionate, discriminating, and based on a knowledge of sound legal +principles. The comments made by learned text writers and by the acute +editors of the various law reviews upon judicial decisions are +therefore highly useful. Such critics constitute more or less impartial +tribunals of professional opinion before which each judgment is made to +stand or fall on its merits, and thus exert a strong influence to +secure uniformity of decision. But non-professional criticism also is +by no means without its uses, even if accompanied, as it often is, by a +direct attack upon the judicial fairness and motives of the occupants +of the bench; for if the law is but the essence of common sense, the +protest of many average men may evidence a defect in a judicial +conclusion, though based on the nicest legal reasoning and profoundest +learning. The two important elements of moral character in a judge are +an earnest desire to reach a just conclusion and courage to enforce it. +In so far as fear of public comment does not affect the courage of a +judge, but only spurs him on to search his conscience and to reach the +result which approves itself to his inmost heart such comment serves a +useful purpose. There are few men, whether they are judges for life or +for a shorter term, who do not prefer to earn and hold the respect of +all, and who can not be reached and made to pause and deliberate by +hostile public criticism. In the case of judges having a life tenure, +indeed their very independence makes the right freely to comment on +their decisions of greater importance, because it is the only practical +and available instrument in the hands of a free people to keep such +judges alive to the reasonable demands of those they serve. + +"On the other hand, the danger of destroying the proper influence of +judicial decisions by creating unfounded prejudices against the courts +justifies and requires that unjust attacks shall be met and answered. +Courts must ultimately rest their defense upon the inherent strength of +the opinions they deliver as the ground for their conclusions and must +trust to the calm and deliberate judgment of all the people as their +best vindication." + +There is one consideration which should be taken into account by the +good people who carry a sound proposition to an excess in objecting to +any criticism of a judge's decision. The instinct of the American +people as a whole is sound in this matter. They will not subscribe to +the doctrine that any public servant is to be above all criticism. If +the best citizens, those most competent to express their judgment in +such matters, and above all those belonging to the great and honorable +profession of the bar, so profoundly influential in American life, take +the position that there shall be no criticism of a judge under any +circumstances, their view will not be accepted by the American people +as a whole. In such event the people will turn to, and tend to accept +as justifiable, the intemperate and improper criticism uttered by +unworthy agitators. Surely it is a misfortune to leave to such critics +a function, right, in itself, which they are certain to abuse. Just and +temperate criticism, when necessary, is a safeguard against the +acceptance by the people as a whole of that intemperate antagonism +towards the judiciary which must be combated by every right-thinking +man, and which, if it became widespread among the people at large, +would constitute a dire menace to the Republic. + +In connection with the delays of the law, I call your attention and the +attention of the Nation to the prevalence of crime among us, and above +all to the epidemic of lynching and mob violence that springs up, now +in one part of our country, now in another. Each section, North, South, +East, or West, has its own faults; no section can with wisdom spend its +time jeering at the faults of another section; it should be busy trying +to amend its own shortcomings. To deal with the crime of corruption It +is necessary to have an awakened public conscience, and to supplement +this by whatever legislation will add speed and certainty in the +execution of the law. When we deal with lynching even mote is +necessary. A great many white men are lynched, but the crime is +peculiarly frequent in respect to black men. The greatest existing +cause of lynching is the perpetration, especially by black men, of the +hideous crime of rape--the most abominable in all the category of +crimes, even worse than murder. Mobs frequently avenge the commission +of this crime by themselves torturing to death the man committing it; +thus avenging in bestial fashion a bestial deed, and reducing +themselves to a level with the criminal. + +Lawlessness grows by what it feeds upon; and when mobs begin to lynch +for rape they speedily extend the sphere of their operations and lynch +for many other kinds of crimes, so that two-thirds of the lynchings are +not for rape at all; while a considerable proportion of the individuals +lynched are innocent of all crime. Governor Candler, of Georgia, stated +on one occasion some years ago: "I can say of a verity that I have, +within the last month, saved the lives of half a dozen innocent Negroes +who were pursued by the mob, and brought them to trial in a court of +law in which they were acquitted." As Bishop Galloway, of Mississippi, +has finely said: "When the rule of a mob obtains, that which +distinguishes a high civilization is surrendered. The mob which lynches +a negro charged with rape will in a little while lynch a white man +suspected of crime. Every Christian patriot in America needs to lift up +his voice in loud and eternal protest against the mob spirit that is +threatening the integrity of this Republic." Governor Jelks, of +Alabama, has recently spoken as follows: "The lynching of any person +for whatever crime is inexcusable anywhere--it is a defiance of orderly +government; but the killing of innocent people under any provocation is +infinitely more horrible; and yet innocent people are likely to die +when a mob's terrible lust is once aroused. The lesson is this: No good +citizen can afford to countenance a defiance of the statutes, no matter +what the provocation. The innocent frequently suffer, and, it is my +observation, more usually suffer than the guilty. The white people of +the South indict the whole colored race on the ground that even the +better elements lend no assistance whatever in ferreting out criminals +of their own color. The respectable colored people must learn not to +harbor their criminals, but to assist the officers in bringing them to +justice. This is the larger crime, and it provokes such atrocious +offenses as the one at Atlanta. The two races can never get on until +there is an understanding on the part of both to make common cause with +the law-abiding against criminals of any color." + +Moreover, where any crime committed by a member of one race against a +member of another race is avenged in such fashion that it seems as if +not the individual criminal, but the whole race, is attacked, the +result is to exasperate to the highest degree race feeling. There is +but one safe rule in dealing with black men as with white men; it is +the same rule that must be applied in dealing with rich men and poor +men; that is, to treat each man, whatever his color, his creed, or his +social position, with even-handed justice on his real worth as a man. +White people owe it quite as much to themselves as to the colored race +to treat well the colored man who shows by his life that he deserves +such treatment; for it is surely the highest wisdom to encourage in the +colored race all those individuals who are honest, industrious, +law-abiding, and who therefore make good and safe neighbors and +citizens. Reward or punish the individual on his merits as an +individual. Evil will surely come in the end to both races if we +substitute for this just rule the habit of treating all the members of +the race, good and bad, alike. There is no question of "social +equality" or "negro domination" involved; only the question of +relentlessly punishing bad men, and of securing to the good man the +right to his life, his liberty, and the pursuit of his happiness as his +own qualities of heart, head, and hand enable him to achieve it. + +Every colored man should realize that the worst enemy of his race is +the negro criminal, and above all the negro criminal who commits the +dreadful crime of rape; and it should be felt as in the highest degree +an offense against the whole country, and against the colored race in +particular, for a colored man to fail to help the officers of the law +in hunting down with all possible earnestness and zeal every such +infamous offender. Moreover, in my judgment, the crime of rape should +always be punished with death, as is the case with murder; assault with +intent to commit rape should be made a capital crime, at least in the +discretion of the court; and provision should be made by which the +punishment may follow immediately upon the heels of the offense; while +the trial should be so conducted that the victim need not be wantonly +shamed while giving testimony, and that the least possible publicity +shall be given to the details. + +The members of the white race on the other hand should understand that +every lynching represents by just so much a loosening of the bands of +civilization; that the spirit of lynching inevitably throws into +prominence in the community all the foul and evil creatures who dwell +therein. No man can take part in the torture of a human being without +having his own moral nature permanently lowered. Every lynching means +just so much moral deterioration in all the children who have any +knowledge of it, and therefore just so much additional trouble for the +next generation of Americans. + +Let justice be both sure and swift; but let it be justice under the +law, and not the wild and crooked savagery of a mob. + +There is another matter which has a direct bearing upon this matter of +lynching and of the brutal crime which sometimes calls it forth and at +other times merely furnishes the excuse for its existence. It is out of +the question for our people as a whole permanently to rise by treading +down any of their own number. Even those who themselves for the moment +profit by such maltreatment of their fellows will in the long run also +suffer. No more shortsighted policy can be imagined than, in the +fancied interest of one class, to prevent the education of another +class. The free public school, the chance for each boy or girl to get a +good elementary education, lies at the foundation of our whole +political situation. In every community the poorest citizens, those who +need the schools most, would be deprived of them if they only received +school facilities proportioned to the taxes they paid. This is as true +of one portion of our country as of another. It is as true for the +negro as for the white man. The white man, if he is wise, will decline +to allow the Negroes in a mass to grow to manhood and womanhood without +education. Unquestionably education such as is obtained in our public +schools does not do everything towards making a man a good citizen; but +it does much. The lowest and most brutal criminals, those for instance +who commit the crime of rape, are in the great majority men who have +had either no education or very little; just as they are almost +invariably men who own no property; for the man who puts money by out +of his earnings, like the man who acquires education, is usually lifted +above mere brutal criminality. Of course the best type of education for +the colored man, taken as a whole, is such education as is conferred in +schools like Hampton and Tuskegee; where the boys and girls, the young +men and young women, are trained industrially as well as in the +ordinary public school branches. The graduates of these schools turn +out well in the great majority of cases, and hardly any of them become +criminals, while what little criminality there is never takes the form +of that brutal violence which invites lynch law. Every graduate of +these schools--and for the matter of that every other colored man or +woman--who leads a life so useful and honorable as to win the good will +and respect of those whites whose neighbor he or she is, thereby helps +the whole colored race as it can be helped in no other way; for next to +the negro himself, the man who can do most to help the negro is his +white neighbor who lives near him; and our steady effort should be to +better the relations between the two. Great though the benefit of these +schools has been to their colored pupils and to the colored people, it +may well be questioned whether the benefit, has not been at least as +great to the white people among whom these colored pupils live after +they graduate. + +Be it remembered, furthermore, that the individuals who, whether from +folly, from evil temper, from greed for office, or in a spirit of mere +base demagogy, indulge in the inflammatory and incendiary speeches and +writings which tend to arouse mobs and to bring about lynching, not +only thus excite the mob, but also tend by what criminologists call +"suggestion," greatly to increase the likelihood of a repetition of the +very crime against which they are inveighing. When the mob is composed +of the people of one race and the man lynched is of another race, the +men who in their speeches and writings either excite or justify the +action tend, of course, to excite a bitter race feeling and to cause +the people of the opposite race to lose sight of the abominable act of +the criminal himself; and in addition, by the prominence they give to +the hideous deed they undoubtedly tend to excite in other brutal and +depraved natures thoughts of committing it. Swift, relentless, and +orderly punishment under the law is the only way by which criminality +of this type can permanently be supprest. + +In dealing with both labor and capital, with the questions affecting +both corporations and trades unions, there is one matter more important +to remember than aught else, and that is the infinite harm done by +preachers of mere discontent. These are the men who seek to excite a +violent class hatred against all men of wealth. They seek to turn wise +and proper movements for the better control of corporations and for +doing away with the abuses connected with wealth, into a campaign of +hysterical excitement and falsehood in which the aim is to inflame to +madness the brutal passions of mankind. The sinister demagogs and +foolish visionaries who are always eager to undertake such a campaign +of destruction sometimes seek to associate themselves with those +working for a genuine reform in governmental and social methods, and +sometimes masquerade as such reformers. In reality they are the worst +enemies of the cause they profess to advocate, just as the purveyors of +sensational slander in newspaper or magazine are the worst enemies of +all men who are engaged in an honest effort to better what is bad in +our social and governmental conditions. To preach hatred of the rich +man as such, to carry on a campaign of slander and invective against +him, to seek to mislead and inflame to madness honest men whose lives +are hard and who have not the kind of mental training which will permit +them to appreciate the danger in the doctrines preached--all this is to +commit a crime against the body politic and to be false to every worthy +principle and tradition of American national life. Moreover, while such +preaching and such agitation may give a livelihood and a certain +notoriety to some of those who take part in it, and may result in the +temporary political success of others, in the long run every such +movement will either fail or else will provoke a violent reaction, +which will itself result not merely in undoing the mischief wrought by +the demagog and the agitator, but also in undoing the good that the +honest reformer, the true upholder of popular rights, has painfully and +laboriously achieved. Corruption is never so rife as in communities +where the demagog and the agitator bear full sway, because in such +communities all moral bands become loosened, and hysteria and +sensationalism replace the spirit of sound judgment and fair dealing as +between man and man. In sheer revolt against the squalid anarchy thus +produced men are sure in the end to turn toward any leader who can +restore order, and then their relief at being free from the intolerable +burdens of class hatred, violence, and demagogy is such that they can +not for some time be aroused to indignation against misdeeds by men of +wealth; so that they permit a new growth of the very abuses which were +in part responsible for the original outbreak. The one hope for success +for our people lies in a resolute and fearless, but sane and +cool-headed, advance along the path marked out last year by this very +Congress. There must be a stern refusal to be misled into following +either that base creature who appeals and panders to the lowest +instincts and passions in order to arouse one set of Americans against +their fellows, or that other creature, equally base but no baser, who +in a spirit of greed, or to accumulate or add to an already huge +fortune, seeks to exploit his fellow Americans with callous disregard +to their welfare of soul and body. The man who debauches others in +order to obtain a high office stands on an evil equality of corruption +with the man who debauches others for financial profit; and when hatred +is sown the crop which springs up can only be evil. + +The plain people who think--the mechanics, farmers, merchants, workers +with head or hand, the men to whom American traditions are dear, who +love their country and try to act decently by their neighbors, owe it +to themselves to remember that the most damaging blow that can be given +popular government is to elect an unworthy and sinister agitator on a +platform of violence and hypocrisy. Whenever such an issue is raised in +this country nothing can be gained by flinching from it, for in such +case democracy is itself on trial, popular self-government under +republican forms is itself on trial. The triumph of the mob is just as +evil a thing as the triumph of the plutocracy, and to have escaped one +danger avails nothing whatever if we succumb to the other. In the end +the honest man, whether rich or poor, who earns his own living and +tries to deal justly by his fellows, has as much to fear from the +insincere and unworthy demagog, promising much and performing nothing, +or else performing nothing but evil, who would set on the mob to +plunder the rich, as from the crafty corruptionist, who, for his own +ends, would permit the common people to be exploited by the very +wealthy. If we ever let this Government fall into the hands of men of +either of these two classes, we shall show ourselves false to America's +past. Moreover, the demagog and the corruptionist often work hand in +hand. There are at this moment wealthy reactionaries of such obtuse +morality that they regard the public servant who prosecutes them when +they violate the law, or who seeks to make them bear their proper share +of the public burdens, as being even more objectionable than the +violent agitator who hounds on the mob to plunder the rich. There is +nothing to choose between such a reactionary and such an agitator; +fundamentally they are alike in their selfish disregard of the rights +of others; and it is natural that they should join in opposition to any +movement of which the aim is fearlessly to do exact and even justice to +all. + +I call your attention to the need of passing the bill limiting the +number of hours of employment of railroad employees. The measure is a +very moderate one and I can conceive of no serious objection to it. +Indeed, so far as it is in our power, it should be our aim steadily to +reduce the number of hours of labor, with as a goal the general +introduction of an eight-hour day. There are industries in which it is +not possible that the hours of labor should be reduced; just as there +are communities not far enough advanced for such a movement to be for +their good, or, if in the Tropics, so situated that there is no analogy +between their needs and ours in this matter. On the Isthmus of Panama, +for instance, the conditions are in every way so different from what +they are here that an eight-hour day would be absurd; just as it is +absurd, so far as the Isthmus is concerned, where white labor can not +be employed, to bother as to whether the necessary work is done by +alien black men or by alien yellow men. But the wageworkers of the +United States are of so high a grade that alike from the merely +industrial standpoint and from the civic standpoint it should be our +object to do what we can in the direction of securing the general +observance of an eight-hour day. Until recently the eight-hour law on +our Federal statute books has been very scantily observed. Now, +however, largely through the instrumentality of the Bureau of Labor, it +is being rigidly enforced, and I shall speedily be able to say whether +or not there is need of further legislation in reference thereto; .for +our purpose is to see it obeyed in spirit no less than in letter. Half +holidays during summer should be established for Government employees; +it is as desirable for wageworkers who toil with their hands as for +salaried officials whose labor is mental that there should be a +reasonable amount of holiday. + +The Congress at its last session wisely provided for a truant court for +the District of Columbia; a marked step in advance on the path of +properly caring for the children. Let me again urge that the Congress +provide for a thorough investigation of the conditions of child labor +and of the labor of women in the United States. More and more our +people are growing to recognize the fact that the questions which are +not merely of industrial but of social importance outweigh all others; +and these two questions most emphatically come in the category of those +which affect in the most far-reaching way the home life of the Nation. +The horrors incident to the employment of young children in factories +or at work anywhere are a blot on our civilization. It is true that +each. State must ultimately settle the question in its own way; but a +thorough official investigation of the matter, with the results +published broadcast, would greatly help toward arousing the public +conscience and securing unity of State action in the matter. There is, +however, one law on the subject which should be enacted immediately, +because there is no need for an investigation in reference thereto, and +the failure to enact it is discreditable to the National Government. A +drastic and thoroughgoing child-labor law should be enacted for the +District of Columbia and the Territories. + +Among the excellent laws which the Congress past at the last session +was an employers' liability law. It was a marked step in advance to get +the recognition of employers' liability on the statute books; but the +law did not go far enough. In spite of all precautions exercised by +employers there are unavoidable accidents and even deaths involved in +nearly every line of business connected with the mechanic arts. This +inevitable sacrifice of life may be reduced to a minimum, but it can +not be completely eliminated. It is a great social injustice to compel +the employee, or rather the family of the killed or disabled victim, to +bear the entire burden of such an inevitable sacrifice. In other words, +society shirks its duty by laying the whole cost on the victim, whereas +the injury comes from what may be called the legitimate risks of the +trade. Compensation for accidents or deaths due in any line of industry +to the actual conditions under which that industry is carried on, +should be paid by that portion of the community for the benefit of +which the industry is carried on--that is, by those who profit by the +industry. If the entire trade risk is placed upon the employer he will +promptly and properly add it to the legitimate cost of production and +assess it proportionately upon the consumers of his commodity. It is +therefore clear to my mind that the law should place this entire "risk +of a trade" upon the employer. Neither the Federal law, nor, as far as +I am informed, the State laws dealing with the question of employers' +liability are sufficiently thoroughgoing. The Federal law should of +course include employees in navy-yards, arsenals, and the like. + +The commission appointed by the President October 16, 1902, at the +request of both the anthracite coal operators and miners, to inquire +into, consider, and pass upon the questions in controversy in +connection with the strike in the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania +and the causes out of which the controversy arose, in their report, +findings, and award exprest the belief "that the State and Federal +governments should provide the machinery for what may be called the +compulsory investigation of controversies between employers and +employees when they arise." This expression of belief is deserving of +the favorable consideration of the Congress and the enactment of its +provisions into law. A bill has already been introduced to this end. + +Records show that during the twenty years from January 1, 1881, to, +December 31, 1900, there were strikes affecting 117,509 establishments, +and 6,105,694 employees were thrown out of employment. During the same +period there were 1,005 lockouts, involving nearly 10,000 +establishments, throwing over one million people out of employment. +These strikes and lockouts involved an estimated loss to employees of +$307,000,000 and to employers of $143,000,000, a total of $450,000,000. +The public suffered directly and indirectly probably as great +additional loss. But the money loss, great as it was, did not measure +the anguish and suffering endured by the wives and children of +employees whose pay stopt when their work stopt, or the disastrous +effect of the strike or lockout upon the business of employers, or the +increase in the cost of products and the inconvenience and loss to the +public. + +Many of these strikes and lockouts would not have occurred had the +parties to the dispute been required to appear before an unprejudiced +body representing the nation and, face to face, state the reasons for +their contention. In most instances the dispute would doubtless be +found to be due to a misunderstanding by each of the other's rights, +aggravated by an unwillingness of either party to accept as true the +statements of the other as to the justice or injustice of the matters +in dispute. The exercise of a judicial spirit by a disinterested body +representing the Federal Government, such as would be provided by a +commission on conciliation and arbitration, would tend to create an +atmosphere of friendliness and conciliation between contending parties; +and the giving each side an equal opportunity to present fully its case +in the presence of the other would prevent many disputes from +developing into serious strikes or lockouts, and, in other cases, would +enable the commission to persuade the opposing parties to come to +terms. + +In this age of great corporate and labor combinations, neither +employers nor employees should be left completely at the mercy of the +stronger party to a dispute, regardless of the righteousness of their +respective claims. The proposed measure would be in the line of +securing recognition of the fact that in many strikes the public has +itself an interest which can not wisely be disregarded; an interest not +merely of general convenience, for the question of a just and proper +public policy must also be considered. In all legislation of this kind +it is well to advance cautiously, testing each step by the actual +results; the step proposed can surely be safely taken, for the +decisions of the commission would not bind the parties in legal +fashion, and yet would give a chance for public opinion to crystallize +and thus to exert its full force for the right. + +It is not wise that the Nation should alienate its remaining coal +lands. I have temporarily withdrawn from settlement all the lands which +the Geological Survey has indicated as containing, or in all +probability containing, coal. The question, however, can be properly +settled only by legislation, which in my judgment should provide for +the withdrawal of these lands from sale or from entry, save in certain +especial circumstances. The ownership would then remain in the United +States, which should not, however, attempt to work them, but permit +them to be worked by private individuals under a royalty system, the +Government keeping such control as to permit it to see that no +excessive price was charged consumers. It would, of course, be as +necessary to supervise the rates charged by the common carriers to +transport the product as the rates charged by those who mine it; and +the supervision must extend to the conduct of the common carriers, so +that they shall in no way favor one competitor at the expense of +another. The withdrawal of these coal lands would constitute a policy +analogous to that which has been followed in withdrawing the forest +lands from ordinary settlement. The coal, like the forests, should be +treated as the property of the public and its disposal should be under +conditions which would inure to the benefit of the public as a whole. + +The present Congress has taken long strides in the direction of +securing proper supervision and control by the National Government over +corporations engaged in interstate business and the enormous majority +of corporations of any size are engaged in interstate business. The +passage of the railway rate bill, and only to a less degree the passage +of the pure food bill, and the provision for increasing and rendering +more effective national control over the beef-packing industry, mark an +important advance in the proper direction. In the short session it will +perhaps be difficult to do much further along this line; and it may be +best to wait until the laws have been in operation for a number of +months before endeavoring to increase their scope, because only +operation will show with exactness their merits and their shortcomings +and thus give opportunity to define what further remedial legislation +is needed. Yet in my judgment it will in the end be advisable in +connection with the packing house inspection law to provide for putting +a date on the label and for charging the cost of inspection to the +packers. All these laws have already justified their enactment. The +interstate commerce law, for instance, has rather amusingly falsified +the predictions, both of those who asserted that it would ruin the +railroads and of those who asserted that it did not go far enough and +would accomplish nothing. During the last five months the railroads +have shown increased earnings and some of them unusual dividends; while +during the same period the mere taking effect of the law has produced +an unprecedented, a hitherto unheard of, number of voluntary reductions +in freights and fares by the railroads. Since the founding of the +Commission there has never been a time of equal length in which +anything like so many reduced tariffs have been put into effect. On +August 27, for instance, two days before the new law went into effect, +the Commission received notices of over five thousand separate tariffs +which represented reductions from previous rates. + +It must not be supposed, however, that with the passage of these laws +it will be possible to stop progress along the line of increasing the +power of the National Government over the use of capital interstate +commerce. For example, there will ultimately be need of enlarging the +powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission along several different +lines, so as to give it a larger and more efficient control over the +railroads. + +It can not too often be repeated that experience has conclusively shown +the impossibility of securing by the actions of nearly half a hundred +different State legislatures anything but ineffective chaos in the way +of dealing with the great corporations which do not operate exclusively +within the limits of any one State. In some method, whether by a +national license law or in other fashion, we must exercise, and that at +an early date, a far more complete control than at present over these +great corporations--a control that will among other things prevent the +evils of excessive overcapitalization, and that will compel the +disclosure by each big corporation of its stockholders and of its +properties and business, whether owned directly or through subsidiary +or affiliated corporations. This will tend to put a stop to the +securing of inordinate profits by favored individuals at the expense +whether of the general public, the stockholders, or the wageworkers. +Our effort should be not so much to prevent consolidation as such, but +so to supervise and control it as to see that it results in no harm to +the people. The reactionary or ultraconservative apologists for the +misuse of wealth assail the effort to secure such control as a step +toward socialism. As a matter of fact it is these reactionaries and +ultraconservatives who are themselves most potent in increasing +socialistic feeling. One of the most efficient methods of averting the +consequences of a dangerous agitation, which is 80 per cent wrong, is +to remedy the 20 per cent of evil as to which the agitation is well +rounded. The best way to avert the very undesirable move for the +government ownership of railways is to secure by the Government on +behalf of the people as a whole such adequate control and regulation of +the great interstate common carriers as will do away with the evils +which give rise to the agitation against them. So the proper antidote +to the dangerous and wicked agitation against the men of wealth as such +is to secure by proper legislation and executive action the abolition +of the grave abuses which actually do obtain in connection with the +business use of wealth under our present system--or rather no +system--of failure to exercise any adequate control at all. Some +persons speak as if the exercise of such governmental control would do +away with the freedom of individual initiative and dwarf individual +effort. This is not a fact. It would be a veritable calamity to fail to +put a premium upon individual initiative, individual capacity and +effort; upon the energy, character, and foresight which it is so +important to encourage in the individual. But as a matter of fact the +deadening and degrading effect of pure socialism, and especially of its +extreme form communism, and the destruction of individual character +which they would bring about, are in part achieved by the wholly +unregulated competition which results in a single individual or +corporation rising at the expense of all others until his or its rise +effectually checks all competition and reduces former competitors to a +position of utter inferiority and subordination. + +In enacting and enforcing such legislation as this Congress already has +to its credit, we are working on a coherent plan, with the steady +endeavor to secure the needed reform by the joint action of the +moderate men, the plain men who do not wish anything hysterical or +dangerous, but who do intend to deal in resolute common-sense fashion +with the real and great evils of the present system. The reactionaries +and the violent extremists show symptoms of joining hands against us. +Both assert, for instance, that, if logical, we should go to government +ownership of railroads and the like; the reactionaries, because on such +an issue they think the people would stand with them, while the +extremists care rather to preach discontent and agitation than to +achieve solid results. As a matter of fact, our position is as remote +from that of the Bourbon reactionary as from that of the impracticable +or sinister visionary. We hold that the Government should not conduct +the business of the nation, but that it should exercise such +supervision as will insure its being conducted in the interest of the +nation. Our aim is, so far as may be, to secure, for all decent, hard +working men, equality of opportunity and equality of burden. + +The actual working of our laws has shown that the effort to prohibit +all combination, good or bad, is noxious where it is not ineffective. +Combination of capital like combination of labor is a necessary element +of our present industrial system. It is not possible completely to +prevent it; and if it were possible, such complete prevention would do +damage to the body politic. What we need is not vainly to try to +prevent all combination, but to secure such rigorous and adequate +control and supervision of the combinations as to prevent their +injuring the public, or existing in such form as inevitably to threaten +injury--for the mere fact that a combination has secured practically +complete control of a necessary of life would under any circumstances +show that such combination was to be presumed to be adverse to the +public interest. It is unfortunate that our present laws should forbid +all combinations, instead of sharply discriminating between those +combinations which do good and those combinations which do evil. +Rebates, for instance, are as often due to the pressure of big shippers +(as was shown in the investigation of the Standard Oil Company and as +has been shown since by the investigation of the tobacco and sugar +trusts) as to the initiative of big railroads. Often railroads would +like to combine for the purpose of preventing a big shipper from +maintaining improper advantages at the expense of small shippers and of +the general public. Such a combination, instead of being forbidden by +law, should be favored. In other words, it should be permitted to +railroads to make agreements, provided these agreements were sanctioned +by the Interstate Commerce Commission and were published. With these +two conditions complied with it is impossible to see what harm such a +combination could do to the public at large. It is a public evil to +have on the statute books a law incapable of full enforcement because +both judges and juries realize that its full enforcement would destroy +the business of the country; for the result is to make decent railroad +men violators of the law against their will, and to put a premium on +the behavior of the wilful wrongdoers. Such a result in turn tends to +throw the decent man and the wilful wrongdoer into close association, +and in the end to drag down the former to the latter's level; for the +man who becomes a lawbreaker in one way unhappily tends to lose all +respect for law and to be willing to break it in many ways. No more +scathing condemnation could be visited upon a law than is contained in +the words of the Interstate Commerce Commission when, in commenting +upon the fact that the numerous joint traffic associations do +technically violate the law, they say: "The decision of the United +States Supreme Court in the Trans-Missouri case and the Joint Traffic +Association case has produced no practical effect upon the railway +operations of the country. Such associations, in fact, exist now as +they did before these decisions, and with the same general effect. In +justice to all parties, we ought probably to add that it is difficult +to see how our interstate railways could be operated with due regard to +the interest of the shipper and the railway without concerted action of +the kind afforded through these associations." + +This means that the law as construed by the Supreme Court is such that +the business of the country can not be conducted without breaking it. I +recommend that you give careful and early consideration to this +subject, and if you find the opinion of the Interstate Commerce +Commission justified, that you amend the law so as to obviate the evil +disclosed. + +The question of taxation is difficult in any country, but it is +especially difficult in ours with its Federal system of government. +Some taxes should on every ground be levied in a small district for use +in that district. Thus the taxation of real estate is peculiarly one +for the immediate locality in which the real estate is found. Again, +there is no more legitimate tax for any State than a tax on the +franchises conferred by that State upon street railroads and similar +corporations which operate wholly within the State boundaries, +sometimes in one and sometimes in several municipalities or other minor +divisions of the State. But there are many kinds of taxes which can +only be levied by the General Government so as to produce the best +results, because, among other reasons, the attempt to impose them in +one particular State too often results merely in driving the +corporation or individual affected to some other locality or other +State. The National Government has long derived its chief revenue from +a tariff on imports and from an internal or excise tax. In addition to +these there is every reason why, when next our system of taxation is +revised, the National Government should impose a graduated inheritance +tax, and, if possible, a graduated income tax. The man of great wealth +owes a peculiar obligation to the State, because he derives special +advantages from the mere existence of government. Not only should he +recognize this obligation in the way he leads his daily life and in the +way he earns and spends his money, but it should also be recognized by +the way in which he pays for the protection the State gives him. On the +one hand, it is desirable that he should assume his full and proper +share of the burden of taxation; on the other hand, it is quite as +necessary that in this kind of taxation, where the men who vote the tax +pay but little of it, there should be clear recognition of the danger +of inaugurating any such system save in a spirit of entire justice and +moderation. Whenever we, as a people, undertake to remodel our taxation +system along the lines suggested, we must make it clear beyond +peradventure that our aim is to distribute the burden of supporting the +Government more equitably than at present; that we intend to treat rich +man and poor man on a basis of absolute equality, and that we regard it +as equally fatal to true democracy to do or permit injustice to the one +as to do or permit injustice to the other. + +I am well aware that such a subject as this needs long and careful +study in order that the people may become familiar with what is +proposed to be done, may clearly see the necessity of proceeding with +wisdom and self-restraint, and may make up their minds just how far +they are willing to go in the matter; while only trained legislators +can work out the project in necessary detail. But I feel that in the +near future our national legislators should enact a law providing for a +graduated inheritance tax by which a steadily increasing rate of duty +should be put upon all moneys or other valuables coming by gift, +bequest, or devise to any individual or corporation. It may be well to +make the tax heavy in proportion as the individual benefited is remote +of kin. In any event, in my judgment the pro rata of the tax should +increase very heavily with the increase of the amount left to any one +individual after a certain point has been reached. It is most desirable +to encourage thrift and ambition, and a potent source of thrift and +ambition is the desire on the part of the breadwinner to leave his +children well off. This object can be attained by making the tax very +small on moderate amounts of property left; because the prime object +should be to put a constantly increasing burden on the inheritance of +those swollen fortunes which it is certainly of no benefit to this +country to perpetuate. + +There can be no question of the ethical propriety of the Government +thus determining the conditions upon which any gift or inheritance +should be received. Exactly how far the inheritance tax would, as an +incident, have the effect of limiting the transmission by devise or +gift of the enormous fortunes in question it is not necessary at +present to discuss. It is wise that progress in this direction should +be gradual. At first a permanent national inheritance tax, while it +might be more substantial than any such tax has hitherto been, need not +approximate, either in amount or in the extent of the increase by +graduation, to what such a tax should ultimately be. + +This species of tax has again and again been imposed, although only +temporarily, by the National Government. It was first imposed by the +act of July 6, 1797, when the makers of the Constitution were alive and +at the head of affairs. It was a graduated tax; though small in amount, +the rate was increased with the amount left to any individual, +exceptions being made in the case of certain close kin. A similar tax +was again imposed by the act of July 1, 1862; a minimum sum of one +thousand dollars in personal property being excepted from taxation, the +tax then becoming progressive according to the remoteness of kin. The +war-revenue act of June 13, 1898, provided for an inheritance tax on +any sum exceeding the value of ten thousand dollars, the rate of the +tax increasing both in accordance with the amounts left and in +accordance with the legatee's remoteness of kin. The Supreme Court has +held that the succession tax imposed at the time of the Civil War was +not a direct tax but an impost or excise which was both constitutional +and valid. More recently the Court, in an opinion delivered by Mr. +Justice White, which contained an exceedingly able and elaborate +discussion of the powers of the Congress to impose death duties, +sustained the constitutionality of the inheritance-tax feature of the +war-revenue act of 1898. + +In its incidents, and apart from the main purpose of raising revenue, +an income tax stands on an entirely different footing from an +inheritance tax; because it involves no question of the perpetuation of +fortunes swollen to an unhealthy size. The question is in its essence a +question of the proper adjustment of burdens to benefits. As the law +now stands it is undoubtedly difficult to devise a national income tax +which shall be constitutional. But whether it is absolutely impossible +is another question; and if possible it is most certainly desirable. +The first purely income-tax law was past by the Congress in 1861, but +the most important law dealing with the subject was that of 1894. This +the court held to be unconstitutional. + +The question is undoubtedly very intricate, delicate, and troublesome. +The decision of the court was only reached by one majority. It is the +law of the land, and of course is accepted as such and loyally obeyed +by all good citizens. Nevertheless, the hesitation evidently felt by +the court as a whole in coming to a conclusion, when considered +together with the previous decisions on the subject, may perhaps +indicate the possibility of devising a constitutional income-tax law +which shall substantially accomplish the results aimed at. The +difficulty of amending the Constitution is so great that only real +necessity can justify a resort thereto. Every effort should be made in +dealing with this subject, as with the subject of the proper control by +the National Government over the use of corporate wealth in interstate +business, to devise legislation which without such action shall attain +the desired end; but if this fails, there will ultimately be no +alternative to a constitutional amendment. + +It would be impossible to overstate (though it is of course difficult +quantitatively to measure) the effect upon a nation's growth to +greatness of what may be called organized patriotism, which necessarily +includes the substitution of a national feeling for mere local pride; +with as a resultant a high ambition for the whole country. No country +can develop its full strength so long as the parts which make up the +whole each put a feeling of loyalty to the part above the feeling of +loyalty to the whole. This is true of sections and it is just as true +of classes. The industrial and agricultural classes must work together, +capitalists and wageworkers must work together, if the best work of +which the country is capable is to be done. It is probable that a +thoroughly efficient system of education comes next to the influence of +patriotism in bringing about national success of this kind. Our federal +form of government, so fruitful of advantage to our people in certain +ways, in other ways undoubtedly limits our national effectiveness. It +is not possible, for instance, for the National Government to take the +lead in technical industrial education, to see that the public school +system of this country develops on all its technical, industrial, +scientific, and commercial sides. This must be left primarily to the +several States. Nevertheless, the National Government has control of +the schools of the District of Columbia, and it should see that these +schools promote and encourage the fullest development of the scholars +in both commercial and industrial training. The commercial training +should in one of its branches deal with foreign trade. The industrial +training is even more important. It should be one of our prime objects +as a Nation, so far as feasible, constantly to work toward putting the +mechanic, the wageworker who works with his hands, on a higher plane of +efficiency and reward, so as to increase his effectiveness in the +economic world, and the dignity, the remuneration, and the power of his +position in the social world. Unfortunately, at present the effect of +some of the work in the public schools is in the exactly opposite +direction. If boys and girls are trained merely in literary +accomplishments, to the total exclusion of industrial, manual, and +technical training, the tendency is to unfit them for industrial work +and to make them reluctant to go into it, or unfitted to do well if +they do go into it. This is a tendency which should be strenuously +combated. Our industrial development depends largely upon technical +education, including in this term all industrial education, from that +which fits a man to be a good mechanic, a good carpenter, or +blacksmith, to that which fits a man to do the greatest engineering +feat. The skilled mechanic, the skilled workman, can best become such +by technical industrial education. The far-reaching usefulness of +institutes of technology and schools of mines or of engineering is now +universally acknowledged, and no less far--reaching is the effect of a +good building or mechanical trades school, a textile, or watch-making, +or engraving school. All such training must develop not only manual +dexterity but industrial intelligence. In international rivalry this +country does not have to fear the competition of pauper labor as much +as it has to fear the educated labor of specially trained competitors; +and we should have the education of the hand, eye, and brain which will +fit us to meet such competition. + +In every possible way we should help the wageworker who toils with his +hands and who must (we hope in a constantly increasing measure) also +toil with his brain. Under the Constitution the National Legislature +can do but little of direct importance for his welfare save where he is +engaged in work which permits it to act under the interstate commerce +clause of the Constitution; and this is one reason why I so earnestly +hope that both the legislative and judicial branches of the Government +will construe this clause of the Constitution in the broadest possible +manner. We can, however, in such a matter as industrial training, in +such a matter as child labor and factory laws, set an example to the +States by enacting the most advanced legislation that can wisely be +enacted for the District of Columbia. + +The only other persons whose welfare is as vital to the welfare of the +whole country as is the welfare of the wageworkers are the tillers of +the soil, the farmers. It is a mere truism to say that no growth of +cities, no growth of wealth, no industrial development can atone for +any falling off in the character and standing of the farming +population. During the last few decades this fact has been recognized +with ever-increasing clearness. There is no longer any failure to +realize that farming, at least in certain branches, must become a +technical and scientific profession. This means that there must be open +to farmers the chance for technical and scientific training, not +theoretical merely but of the most severely practical type. The farmer +represents a peculiarly high type of American citizenship, and he must +have the same chance to rise and develop as other American citizens +have. Moreover, it is exactly as true of the farmer, as it is of the +business man and the wageworker, that the ultimate success of the +Nation of which he forms a part must be founded not alone on material +prosperity but upon high moral, mental, and physical development. This +education of the farmer--self-education by preference but also +education from the outside, as with all other men--is peculiarly +necessary here in the United States, where the frontier conditions even +in the newest States have now nearly vanished, where there must be a +substitution of a more intensive system of cultivation for the old +wasteful farm management, and where there must be a better business +organization among the farmers themselves. + +Several factors must cooperate in the improvement of the farmer's +condition. He must have the chance to be educated in the widest +possible sense--in the sense which keeps ever in view the intimate +relationship between the theory of education and the facts of life. In +all education we should widen our aims. It is a good thing to produce a +certain number of trained scholars and students; but the education +superintended by the State must seek rather to produce a hundred good +citizens than merely one scholar, and it must be turned now and then +from the class book to the study of the great book of nature itself. +This is especially true of the farmer, as has been pointed out again +and again by all observers most competent to pass practical judgment on +the problems of our country life. All students now realize that +education must seek to train the executive powers of young people and +to confer more real significance upon the phrase "dignity of labor," +and to prepare the pupils so that, in addition to each developing in +the highest degree his individual capacity for work, they may together +help create a right public opinion, and show in many ways social and +cooperative spirit. Organization has become necessary in the business +world; and it has accomplished much for good in the world of labor. It +is no less necessary for farmers. Such a movement as the grange +movement is good in itself and is capable of a well-nigh infinite +further extension for good so long as it is kept to its own legitimate +business. The benefits to be derived by the association of farmers for +mutual advantage are partly economic and partly sociological. + +Moreover, while in the long run voluntary efforts will prove more +efficacious than government assistance, while the farmers must +primarily do most for themselves, yet the Government can also do much. +The Department of Agriculture has broken new ground in many directions, +and year by year it finds how it can improve its methods and develop +fresh usefulness. Its constant effort is to give the governmental +assistance in the most effective way; that is, through associations of +farmers rather than to or through individual farmers. It is also +striving to coordinate its work with the agricultural departments of +the several States, and so far as its own work is educational to +coordinate it with the work of other educational authorities. +Agricultural education is necessarily based upon general education, but +our agricultural educational institutions are wisely specializing +themselves, making their courses relate to the actual teaching of the +agricultural and kindred sciences to young country people or young city +people who wish to live in the country. + +Great progress has already been made among farmers by the creation of +farmers' institutes, of dairy associations, of breeders' associations, +horticultural associations, and the like. A striking example of how the +Government and the farmers can cooperate is shown in connection with +the menace offered to the cotton growers of the Southern States by the +advance of the boll weevil. The Department is doing all it can to +organize the farmers in the threatened districts, just as it has been +doing all it can to organize them in aid of its work to eradicate the +cattle fever tick in the South. The Department can and will cooperate +with all such associations, and it must have their help if its own work +is to be done in the most efficient style. + +Much is now being done for the States of the Rocky Mountains and Great +Plains through the development of the national policy of irrigation and +forest preservation; no Government policy for the betterment of our +internal conditions has been more fruitful of good than this. The +forests of the White Mountains and Southern Appalachian regions should +also be preserved; and they can not be unless the people of the States +in which they lie, through their representatives in the Congress, +secure vigorous action by the National Government. + +I invite the attention of the Congress to the estimate of the Secretary +of War for an appropriation to enable him to begin the preliminary work +for the construction of a memorial amphitheater at Arlington. The Grand +Army of the Republic in its national encampment has urged the erection +of such an amphitheater as necessary for the proper observance Of +Memorial Day and as a fitting monument to the soldier and sailor dead +buried there. In this I heartily concur and commend the matter to the +favorable consideration of the Congress. + +I am well aware of how difficult it is to pass a constitutional +amendment. Nevertheless in my judgment the whole question of marriage +and divorce should be relegated to the authority of the National +Congress. At present the wide differences in the laws of the different +States on this subject result in scandals and abuses; and surely there +is nothing so vitally essential to the welfare of the nation, nothing +around which the nation should so bend itself to throw every safeguard, +as the home life of the average citizen. The change would be good from +every standpoint. In particular it would be good because it would +confer on the Congress the power at once to deal radically and +efficiently with polygamy; and this should be done whether or not +marriage and divorce are dealt with. It is neither safe nor proper to +leave the question of polygamy to be dealt with by the several States. +Power to deal with it should be conferred on the National Government. + +When home ties are loosened; when men and women cease to regard a +worthy family life, with all its duties fully performed, and all its +responsibilities lived up to, as the life best worth living; then evil +days for the commonwealth are at hand. There are regions in our land, +and classes of our population, where the birth rate has sunk below the +death rate. Surely it should need no demonstration to show that wilful +sterility is, from the standpoint of the nation, from the standpoint of +the human race, the one sin for which the penalty is national death, +race death; a sin for which there is no atonement; a sin which is the +more dreadful exactly in proportion as the men and women guilty thereof +are in other respects, in character, and bodily and mental powers, +those whom for the sake of the state it would be well to see the +fathers and mothers of many healthy children, well brought up in homes +made happy by their presence. No man, no woman, can shirk the primary +duties of life, whether for love of ease and pleasure, or for any other +cause, and retain his or her self-respect. + +Let me once again call the attention of the Congress to two subjects +concerning which I have frequently before communicated with them. One +is the question of developing American shipping. I trust that a law +embodying in substance the views, or a major part of the views, exprest +in the report on this subject laid before the House at its last session +will be past. I am well aware that in former years objectionable +measures have been proposed in reference to the encouragement of +American shipping; but it seems to me that the proposed measure is as +nearly unobjectionable as any can be. It will of course benefit +primarily our seaboard States, such as Maine, Louisiana, and +Washington; but what benefits part of our people in the end benefits +all; just as Government aid to irrigation and forestry in the West is +really of benefit, not only to the Rocky Mountain States, but to all +our country. If it prove impracticable to enact a law for the +encouragement of shipping generally, then at least provision should be +made for better communication with South America, notably for fast mail +lines to the chief South American ports. It is discreditable to us that +our business people, for lack of direct communication in the shape of +lines of steamers with South America, should in that great sister +continent be at a disadvantage compared to the business people of +Europe. + +I especially call your attention to the second subject, the condition +of our currency laws. The national bank act has ably served a great +purpose in aiding the enormous business development of the country; and +within ten years there has been an increase in circulation per capita +from $21.41 to $33.08. For several years evidence has been accumulating +that additional legislation is needed. The recurrence of each crop +season emphasizes the defects of the present laws. There must soon be a +revision of them, because to leave them as they are means to incur +liability of business disaster. Since your body adjourned there has +been a fluctuation in the interest on call money from 2 per cent to 30 +per cent; and the fluctuation was even greater during the preceding six +months. The Secretary of the Treasury had to step in and by wise action +put a stop to the most violent period of oscillation. Even worse than +such fluctuation is the advance in commercial rates and the uncertainty +felt in the sufficiency of credit even at high rates. All commercial +interests suffer during each crop period. Excessive rates for call +money in New York attract money from the interior banks into the +speculative field; this depletes the fund that would otherwise be +available for commercial uses, and commercial borrowers are forced to +pay abnormal rates; so that each fall a tax, in the shape of increased +interest charges, is placed on the whole commerce of the country. + +The mere statement of these has shows that our present system is +seriously defective. There is need of a change. Unfortunately, however, +many of the proposed changes must be ruled from consideration because +they are complicated, are not easy of comprehension, and tend to, +disturb existing rights and interests. We must also rule out any plan +which would materially impair the value of the United States 2 per cent +bonds now pledged to secure circulations, the issue of which was made +under conditions peculiarly creditable to the Treasury. I do not press +any especial plan. Various plans have recently been proposed by expert +committees of bankers. Among the plans which are possibly feasible and +which certainly should receive your consideration is that repeatedly +brought to your attention by the present Secretary of the Treasury, the +essential features of which have been approved by many prominent +bankers and business men. According to this plan national banks should +be permitted to issue a specified proportion of their capital in notes +of a given kind, the issue to be taxed at so high a rate as to drive +the notes back when not wanted in legitimate trade. This plan would not +permit the issue of currency to give banks additional profits, but to +meet the emergency presented by times of stringency. + +I do not say that this is the right system. I only advance it to +emphasize my belief that there is need for the adoption of some system +which shall be automatic and open to all sound banks, so as to avoid +all possibility of discrimination and favoritism. Such a plan would +tend to prevent the spasms of high money and speculation which now +obtain in the New York market; for at present there is too much +currency at certain seasons of the year, and its accumulation at New +York tempts bankers to lend it at low rates for speculative purposes; +whereas at other times when the crops are being moved there is urgent +need for a large but temporary increase in the currency supply. It must +never be forgotten that this question concerns business men generally +quite as much as bankers; especially is this true of stockmen, farmers, +and business men in the West; for at present at certain seasons of the +year the difference in interest rates between the East and the West is +from 6 to 10 per cent, whereas in Canada the corresponding difference +is but 2 per cent. Any plan must, of course, guard the interests of +western and southern bankers as carefully as it guards the interests of +New York or Chicago bankers; and must be drawn from the standpoints of +the farmer and the merchant no less than from the standpoints of the +city banker and the country banker. + +The law should be amended so as specifically to provide that the funds +derived from customs duties may be treated by the Secretary of the +Treasury as he treats funds obtained under the internal-revenue laws. +There should be a considerable increase in bills of small +denominations. Permission should be given banks, if necessary under +settled restrictions, to retire their circulation to a larger amount +than three millions a month. + +I most earnestly hope that the bill to provide a lower tariff for or +else absolute free trade in Philippine products will become a law. No +harm will come to any American industry; and while there will be some +small but real material benefit to the Filipinos, the main benefit will +come by the showing made as to our purpose to do all in our power for +their welfare. So far our action in the Philippines has been abundantly +justified, not mainly and indeed not primarily because of the added +dignity it has given us as a nation by proving that we are capable +honorably and efficiently to bear the international burdens which a +mighty people should bear, but even more because of the immense benefit +that has come to the people of the Philippine Islands. In these islands +we are steadily introducing both liberty and order, to a greater degree +than their people have ever before known. We have secured justice. We +have provided an efficient police force, and have put down ladronism. +Only in the islands of Leyte and Samar is the authority of our +Government resisted and this by wild mountain tribes under the +superstitious inspiration of fakirs and pseudo-religions leaders. We +are constantly increasing the measure of liberty accorded the +islanders, and next spring, if conditions warrant, we shall take a +great stride forward in testing their capacity for self-government by +summoning the first Filipino legislative assembly; and the way in which +they stand this test will largely determine whether the self-government +thus granted will be increased or decreased; for if we have erred at +all in the Philippines it has been in proceeding too rapidly in the +direction of granting a large measure of self-government. We are +building roads. We have, for the immeasurable good of the people, +arranged for the building of railroads. Let us also see to it that they +are given free access to our markets. This nation owes no more +imperative duty to itself and mankind than the duty of managing the +affairs of all the islands under the American flag--the Philippines, +Porto Rico, and Hawaii--so as to make it evident that it is in every +way to their advantage that the flag should fly over them. + +American citizenship should be conferred on the citizens of Porto Rico. +The harbor of San Juan in Porto Rico should be dredged and improved. +The expenses of the federal court of Porto Rico should be met from the +Federal Treasury. The administration of the affairs of Porto Rico, +together with those of the Philippines, Hawaii, and our other insular +possessions, should all be directed under one executive department; by +preference the Department of State or the Department of War. + +The needs of Hawaii are peculiar; every aid should be given the +islands; and our efforts should be unceasing to develop them along the +lines of a community of small freeholders, not of great planters with +coolie-tilled estates. Situated as this Territory is, in the middle of +the Pacific, there are duties imposed upon this small community which +do not fall in like degree or manner upon any other American community. +This warrants our treating it differently from the way in which we +treat Territories contiguous to or surrounded by sister Territories or +other States, and justifies the setting aside of a portion of our +revenues to be expended for educational and internal improvements +therein. Hawaii is now making an effort to secure immigration fit in +the end to assume the duties and burdens of full American citizenship, +and whenever the leaders in the various industries of those islands +finally adopt our ideals and heartily join our administration in +endeavoring to develop a middle class of substantial citizens, a way +will then be found to deal with the commercial and industrial problems +which now appear to them so serious. The best Americanism is that which +aims for stability and permanency of prosperous citizenship, rather +than immediate returns on large masses of capital. + +Alaska's needs have been partially met, but there must be a complete +reorganization of the governmental system, as I have before indicated +to you. I ask your especial attention to this. Our fellow-citizens who +dwell on the shores of Puget Sound with characteristic energy are +arranging to hold in Seattle the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition. Its +special aims include the upbuilding of Alaska and the development of +American commerce on the Pacific Ocean. This exposition, in its +purposes and scope, should appeal not only to the people of the Pacific +slope, but to the people of the United States at large. Alaska since it +was bought has yielded to the Government eleven millions of dollars of +revenue, and has produced nearly three hundred millions of dollars in +gold, furs, and fish. When properly developed it will become in large +degree a land of homes. The countries bordering the Pacific Ocean have +a population more numerous than that of all the countries of Europe; +their annual foreign commerce amounts to over three billions of +dollars, of which the share of the United States is some seven hundred +millions of dollars. If this trade were thoroughly understood and +pushed by our manufacturers and producers, the industries not only of +the Pacific slope, but of all our country, and particularly of our +cotton-growing States, would be greatly benefited. Of course, in order +to get these benefits, we must treat fairly the countries with which we +trade. + +It is a mistake, and it betrays a spirit of foolish cynicism, to +maintain that all international governmental action is, and must ever +be, based upon mere selfishness, and that to advance ethical reasons +for such action is always a sign of hypocrisy. This is no more +necessarily true of the action of governments than of the action of +individuals. It is a sure sign of a base nature always to ascribe base +motives for the actions of others. Unquestionably no nation can afford +to disregard proper considerations of self-interest, any more than a +private individual can so do. But it is equally true that the average +private individual in any really decent community does many actions +with reference to other men in which he is guided, not by +self-interest, but by public spirit, by regard for the rights of +others, by a disinterested purpose to do good to others, and to raise +the tone of the community as a whole. Similarly, a really great nation +must often act, and as a matter of fact often does act, toward other +nations in a spirit not in the least of mere self-interest, but paying +heed chiefly to ethical reasons; and as the centuries go by this +disinterestedness in international action, this tendency of the +individuals comprising a nation to require that nation to act with +justice toward its neighbors, steadily grows and strengthens. It is +neither wise nor right for a nation to disregard its own needs, and it +is foolish--and may be wicked--to think that other nations will +disregard theirs. But it is wicked for a nation only to regard its own +interest, and foolish to believe that such is the sole motive that +actuates any other nation. It should be our steady aim to raise the +ethical standard of national action just as we strive to raise the +ethical standard of individual action. + +Not only must we treat all nations fairly, but we must treat with +justice and good will all immigrants who come here under the law. +Whether they are Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile; whether they +come from England or Germany, Russia, Japan, or Italy, matters nothing. +All we have a right to question is the man's conduct. If he is honest +and upright in his dealings with his neighbor and with the State, then +he is entitled to respect and good treatment. Especially do we need to +remember our duty to the stranger within our gates. It is the sure mark +of a low civilization, a low morality, to abuse or discriminate against +or in any way humiliate such stranger who has come here lawfully and +who is conducting himself properly. To remember this is incumbent on +every American citizen, and it is of course peculiarly incumbent on +every Government official, whether of the nation or of the several +States. + +I am prompted to say this by the attitude of hostility here and there +assumed toward the Japanese in this country. This hostility is sporadic +and is limited to a very few places. Nevertheless, it is most +discreditable to us as a people, and it may be fraught with the gravest +consequences to the nation. The friendship between the United States +and Japan has been continuous since the time, over half a century ago, +when Commodore Perry, by his expedition to Japan, first opened the +islands to western civilization. Since then the growth of Japan has +been literally astounding. There is not only nothing to parallel it, +but nothing to approach it in the history of civilized mankind. Japan +has a glorious and ancient past. Her civilization is older than that of +the nations of northern Europe--the nations from whom the people of the +United States have chiefly sprung. But fifty years ago Japan's +development was still that of the Middle Ages. During that fifty years +the progress of the country in every walk in life has been a marvel to +mankind, and she now stands as one of the greatest of civilized +nations; great in the arts of war and in the arts of peace; great in +military, in industrial, in artistic development and achievement. +Japanese soldiers and sailors have shown themselves equal in combat to +any of whom history makes note. She has produced great generals and +mighty admirals; her fighting men, afloat and ashore, show all the +heroic courage, the unquestioning, unfaltering loyalty, the splendid +indifference to hardship and death, which marked the Loyal Ronins; and +they show also that they possess the highest ideal of patriotism. +Japanese artists of every kind see their products eagerly sought for in +all lands. The industrial and commercial development of Japan has been +phenomenal; greater than that of any other country during the same +period. At the same time the advance in science and philosophy is no +less marked. The admirable management of the Japanese Red Cross during +the late war, the efficiency and humanity of the Japanese officials, +nurses, and doctors, won the respectful admiration of all acquainted +with the facts. Through the Red Cross the Japanese people sent over +$100,000 to the sufferers of San Francisco, and the gift was accepted +with gratitude by our people. The courtesy of the Japanese, nationally +and individually, has become proverbial. To no other country has there +been such an increasing number of visitors from this land as to Japan. +In return, Japanese have come here in great numbers. They are welcome, +socially and intellectually, in all our colleges and institutions of +higher learning, in all our professional and social bodies. The +Japanese have won in a single generation the right to stand abreast of +the foremost and most enlightened peoples of Europe and America; they +have won on their own merits and by their own exertions the right to +treatment on a basis of full and frank equality. The overwhelming mass +of our people cherish a lively regard and respect for the people of +Japan, and in almost every quarter of the Union the stranger from Japan +is treated as he deserves; that is, he is treated as the stranger from +any part of civilized Europe is and deserves to be treated. But here +and there a most unworthy feeling has manifested itself toward the +Japanese--the feeling that has been shown in shutting them out from the +common schools in San Francisco, and in mutterings against them in one +or two other places, because of their efficiency as workers. To shut +them out from the public schools is a wicked absurdity, when there are +no first-class colleges in the land, including the universities and +colleges of California, which do not gladly welcome Japanese students +and on which Japanese students do not reflect credit. We have as much +to learn from Japan as Japan has to learn from us; and no nation is fit +to teach unless it is also willing to learn. Throughout Japan Americans +are well treated, and any failure on the part of Americans at home to +treat the Japanese with a like courtesy and consideration is by just so +much a confession of inferiority in our civilization. + +Our nation fronts on the Pacific, just as it fronts on the Atlantic. We +hope to play a constantly growing part in the great ocean of the +Orient. We wish, as we ought to wish, for a great commercial +development in our dealings with Asia; and it is out of the question +that we should permanently have such development unless we freely and +gladly extend to other nations the same measure of justice and good +treatment which we expect to receive in return. It is only a very small +body of our citizens that act badly. Where the Federal Government has +power it will deal summarily with any such. Where the several States +have power I earnestly ask that they also deal wisely and promptly with +such conduct, or else this small body of wrongdoers may bring shame +upon the great mass of their innocent and right-thinking fellows--that +is, upon our nation as a whole. Good manners should be an international +no less than an individual attribute. I ask fair treatment for the +Japanese as I would ask fair treatment for Germans or Englishmen, +Frenchmen, Russians, or Italians. I ask it as due to humanity and +civilization. I ask it as due to ourselves because we must act +uprightly toward all men. + +I recommend to the Congress that an act be past specifically providing +for the naturalization of Japanese who come here intending to become +American citizens. One of the great embarrassments attending the +performance of our international obligations is the fact that the +Statutes of the United States are entirely inadequate. They fail to +give to the National Government sufficiently ample power, through +United States courts and by the use of the Army and Navy, to protect +aliens in the rights secured to them under solemn treaties which are +the law of the land. I therefore earnestly recommend that the criminal +and civil statutes of the United States be so amended and added to as +to enable the President, acting for the United States Government, which +is responsible in our international relations, to enforce the rights of +aliens under treaties. Even as the law now is something can be done by +the Federal Government toward this end, and in the matter now before me +affecting the Japanese everything that it is in my power to do will be +done, and all of the forces, military and civil, of the United States +which I may lawfully employ will be so employed. There should, however, +be no particle of doubt as to the power of the National Government +completely to perform and enforce its own obligations to other nations. +The mob of a single city may at any time perform acts of lawless +violence against some class of foreigners which would plunge us into +war. That city by itself would be powerless to make defense against the +foreign power thus assaulted, and if independent of this Government it +would never venture to perform or permit the performance of the acts +complained of. The entire power and the whole duty to protect the +offending city or the offending community lies in the hands of the +United States Government. It is unthinkable that we should continue a +policy under which a given locality may be allowed to commit a crime +against a friendly nation, and the United States Government limited, +not to preventing the commission of the crime, but, in the last resort, +to defending the people who have committed it against the consequences +of their own wrongdoing. + +Last August an insurrection broke out in Cuba which it speedily grew +evident that the existing Cuban Government was powerless to quell. This +Government was repeatedly asked by the then Cuban Government to +intervene, and finally was notified by the President of Cuba that he +intended to resign; that his decision was irrevocable; that none of the +other constitutional officers would consent to carry on the Government, +and that he was powerless to maintain order. It was evident that chaos +was impending, and there was every probability that if steps were not +immediately taken by this Government to try to restore order the +representatives of various European nations in the island would apply +to their respective governments for armed intervention in order to +protect the lives and property of their citizens. Thanks to the +preparedness of our Navy, I was able immediately to send enough ships +to Cuba to prevent the situation from becoming hopeless; and I +furthermore dispatched to Cuba the Secretary of War and the Assistant +Secretary of State, in order that they might grapple with the situation +on the ground. All efforts to secure an agreement between the +contending factions, by which they should themselves come to an +amicable understanding and settle upon some modus vivendi--some +provisional government of their own--failed. Finally the President of +the Republic resigned. The quorum of Congress assembled failed by +deliberate purpose of its members, so that there was no power to act on +his resignation, and the Government came to a halt. In accordance with +the so-called Platt amendment, which was embodied in the constitution +of Cuba, I thereupon proclaimed a provisional government for the +island, the Secretary of War acting as provisional governor until he +could be replaced by Mr. Magoon, the late minister to Panama and +governor of the Canal Zone on the Isthmus; troops were sent to support +them and to relieve the Navy, the expedition being handled with most +satisfactory speed and efficiency. The insurgent chiefs immediately +agreed that their troops should lay down their arms and disband; and +the agreement was carried out. The provisional government has left the +personnel of the old government and the old laws, so far as might be, +unchanged, and will thus administer the island for a few months until +tranquillity can be restored, a new election properly held, and a new +government inaugurated. Peace has come in the island; and the +harvesting of the sugar-cane crop, the great crop of the island, is +about to proceed. + +When the election has been held and the new government inaugurated in +peaceful and orderly fashion the provisional government will come to an +end. I take this opportunity of expressing upon behalf of the American +people, with all possible solemnity, our most earnest hope that the +people of Cuba will realize the imperative need of preserving justice +and keeping order in the Island. The United States wishes nothing of +Cuba except that it shall prosper morally and materially, and wishes +nothing of the Cubans save that they shall be able to preserve order +among themselves and therefore to preserve their independence. If the +elections become a farce, and if the insurrectionary habit becomes +confirmed in the Island, it is absolutely out of the question that the +Island should continue independent; and the United States, which has +assumed the sponsorship before the civilized world for Cuba's career as +a nation, would again have to intervene and to see that the government +was managed in such orderly fashion as to secure the safety of life and +property. The path to be trodden by those who exercise self-government +is always hard, and we should have every charity and patience with the +Cubans as they tread this difficult path. I have the utmost sympathy +with, and regard for, them; but I most earnestly adjure them solemnly +to weigh their responsibilities and to see that when their new +government is started it shall run smoothly, and with freedom from +flagrant denial of right on the one hand, and from insurrectionary +disturbances on the other. + +The Second International Conference of American Republics, held in +Mexico in the years 1901-2, provided for the holding of the third +conference within five years, and committed the fixing of the time and +place and the arrangements for the conference to the governing board of +the Bureau of American Republics, composed of the representatives of +all the American nations in Washington. That board discharged the duty +imposed upon it with marked fidelity and painstaking care, and upon the +courteous invitation of the United States of Brazil the conference was +held at Rio de Janeiro, continuing from the 23d of July to the 29th of +August last. Many subjects of common interest to all the American +nations were discust by the conference, and the conclusions reached, +embodied in a series of resolutions and proposed conventions, will be +laid before you upon the coming in of the final report of the American +delegates. They contain many matters of importance relating to the +extension of trade, the increase of communication, the smoothing away +of barriers to free intercourse, and the promotion of a better +knowledge and good understanding between the different countries +represented. The meetings of the conference were harmonious and the +conclusions were reached with substantial unanimity. It is interesting +to observe that in the successive conferences which have been held the +representatives of the different American nations have been learning to +work together effectively, for, while the First Conference in +Washington in 1889, and the Second Conference in Mexico in 1901-2, +occupied many months, with much time wasted in an unregulated and +fruitless discussion, the Third Conference at Rio exhibited much of the +facility in the practical dispatch of business which characterizes +permanent deliberative bodies, and completed its labors within the +period of six weeks originally allotted for its sessions. + +Quite apart from the specific value of the conclusions reached by the +conference, the example of the representatives of all the American +nations engaging in harmonious and kindly consideration and discussion +of subjects of common interest is itself of great and substantial value +for the promotion of reasonable and considerate treatment of all +international questions. The thanks of this country are due to the +Government of Brazil and to the people of Rio de Janeiro for the +generous hospitality with which our delegates, in common with the +others, were received, entertained, and facilitated in their work. + +Incidentally to the meeting of the conference, the Secretary of State +visited the city of Rio de Janeiro and was cordially received by the +conference, of which he was made an honorary president. The +announcement of his intention to make this visit was followed by most +courteous and urgent invitations from nearly all the countries of South +America to visit them as the guest of their Governments. It was deemed +that by the acceptance of these invitations we might appropriately +express the real respect and friendship in which we hold our sister +Republics of the southern continent, and the Secretary, accordingly, +visited Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Panama, and Colombia. +He refrained from visiting Paraguay, Bolivia, and Ecuador only because +the distance of their capitals from the seaboard made it impracticable +with the time at his disposal. He carried with him a message of peace +and friendship, and of strong desire for good understanding and mutual +helpfulness; and he was everywhere received in the spirit of his +message. The members of government, the press, the learned professions, +the men of business, and the great masses of the people united +everywhere in emphatic response to his friendly expressions and in +doing honor to the country and cause which he represented. + +In many parts of South America there has been much misunderstanding of +the attitude and purposes of the United States towards the other +American Republics. An idea had become prevalent that our assertion of +the Monroe Doctrine implied, or carried with it, an assumption of +superiority, and of a right to exercise some kind of protectorate over +the countries to whose territory that doctrine applies. Nothing could +be farther from the truth. Yet that impression continued to be a +serious barrier to good understanding, to friendly intercourse, to the +introduction of American capital and the extension of American trade. +The impression was so widespread that apparently it could not be +reached by any ordinary means. + +It was part of Secretary Root's mission to dispel this unfounded +impression, and there is just cause to believe that he has succeeded. +In an address to the Third Conference at Rio on the 31st of July--an +address of such note that I send it in, together with this message--he +said: + +"We wish for no victories but those of peace; for no territory except +our own; for no sovereignty except the sovereignty over ourselves. We +deem the independence and equal rights of the smallest and weakest +member of the family of nations entitled to as much respect as those of +the greatest empire, and we deem the observance of that respect the +chief guaranty of the weak against the oppression of the strong. We +neither claim nor desire any rights or privileges or powers that we do +not freely concede to every American Republic. We wish to increase our +prosperity, to extend our trade, to grow in wealth, in wisdom, and in +spirit, but our conception of the true way to accomplish this is not to +pull down others and profit by their ruin, but to help all friends to a +common prosperity and a common growth, that we may all become greater +and stronger together. Within a few months for the first time the +recognized possessors of every foot of soil upon the American +continents can be and I hope will be represented with the acknowledged +rights of equal sovereign states in the great World Congress at The +Hague. This will be the world's formal and final acceptance of the +declaration that no part of the American continents is to be deemed +subject to colonization. Let us pledge ourselves to aid each other in +the full performance of the duty to humanity which that accepted +declaration implies, so that in time the weakest and most unfortunate +of our Republics may come to march with equal step by the side of the +stronger and more fortunate. Let us help each other to show that for +all the races of men the liberty for which we have fought and labored +is the twin sister of justice and peace. Let us unite in creating and +maintaining and making effective an all-American public opinion, whose +power shall influence international conduct and prevent international +wrong, and narrow the causes of war, and forever preserve our free +lands from the burden of such armaments as are massed behind the +frontiers of Europe, and bring us ever nearer to the perfection of +ordered liberty. So shall come security and prosperity, production and +trade, wealth, learning, the arts, and happiness for us all." + +These words appear to have been received with acclaim in every part of +South America. They have my hearty approval, as I am sure they will +have yours, and I can not be wrong in the conviction that they +correctly represent the sentiments of the whole American people. I can +not better characterize the true attitude of the United States in its +assertion of the Monroe Doctrine than in the words of the distinguished +former minister of foreign affairs of Argentina, Doctor Drago, in his +speech welcoming Mr. Root at Buenos Ayres. He spoke of-- + +"The traditional policy of the United States (which) without +accentuating superiority or seeking preponderance, condemned the +oppression of the nations of this part of the world and the control of +their destinies by the great Powers of Europe." + +It is gratifying to know that in the great city of Buenos Ayres, upon +the arches which spanned the streets, entwined with Argentine and +American flags for the reception of our representative, there were +emblazoned not' only the names of Washington and Jefferson and +Marshall, but also, in appreciative recognition of their services to +the cause of South American independence, the names of James Monroe, +John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Richard Rush. We take especial +pleasure in the graceful courtesy of the Government of Brazil, which +has given to the beautiful and stately building first used for the +meeting of the conference the name of "Palacio Monroe." Our grateful +acknowledgments are due to the Governments and the people of all the +countries visited by the Secretary of State for the courtesy, the +friendship, and the honor shown to our country in their generous +hospitality to him. + +In my message to you on the 5th of December, 1905, I called your +attention to the embarrassment that might be caused to this Government +by the assertion by foreign nations of the right to collect by force of +arms contract debts due by American republics to citizens of the +collecting nation, and to the danger that the process of compulsory +collection might result in the occupation of territory tending to +become permanent. I then said: + +"Our own Government has always refused to enforce such contractual +obligations on behalf of its citizens by an appeal to arms. It is much +to be wisht that all foreign governments would take the same view." + +This subject was one of the topics of consideration at the conference +at Rio and a resolution was adopted by that conference recommending to +the respective governments represented "to consider the advisability of +asking the Second Peace Conference at The Hague to examine the question +of the compulsory collection of public debts, and, in general, means +tending to diminish among nations conflicts of purely pecuniary +origin." + +This resolution was supported by the representatives of the United +States in accordance with the following instructions: + +"It has long been the established policy of the United States not to +use its armed forces for the collection of ordinary contract debts due +to its citizens by other governments. We have not considered the use of +force for such a purpose consistent with that respect for the +independent sovereignty of other members of the family of nations which +is the most important principle of international law and the chief +protection of weak nations against the oppression of the strong. It +seems to us that the practise is injurious in its general effect upon +the relations of nations and upon the welfare of weak and disordered +states, whose development ought to be encouraged in the interests of +civilization; that it offers frequent temptation to bullying and +oppression and to unnecessary and unjustifiable warfare. We regret that +other powers, whose opinions and sense of justice we esteem highly, +have at times taken a different view and have permitted themselves, +though we believe with reluctance, to collect such debts by force. It +is doubtless true that the non-payment of public debts may be +accompanied by such circumstances of fraud and wrongdoing or violation +of treaties as to justify the use of force. This Government would be +glad to see an international consideration of the subject which shall +discriminate between such cases and the simple nonperformance of a +contract with a private person, and a resolution in favor of reliance +upon peaceful means in cases of the latter class. + +"It is not felt, however, that the conference at Rio should undertake +to make such a discrimination or to resolve upon such a rule. Most of +the American countries are still debtor nations, while the countries of +Europe are the creditors. If the Rio conference, therefore, were to +take such action it would have the appearance of a meeting of debtors +resolving how their creditors should act, and this would not inspire +respect. The true course is indicated by the terms of the program, +which proposes to request the Second Hague Conference, where both +creditors and debtors will be assembled, to consider the subject." + +Last June trouble which had existed for some time between the Republics +of Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras culminated in war--a war which +threatened to be ruinous to the countries involved and very destructive +to the commercial interests of Americans, Mexicans, and other +foreigners who are taking an important part in the development of these +countries. The thoroughly good understanding which exists between the +United States and Mexico enabled this Government and that of Mexico to +unite in effective mediation between the warring Republics; which +mediation resulted, not without long-continued and patient effort, in +bringing about a meeting of the representatives of the hostile powers +on board a United States warship as neutral territory, and peace was +there concluded; a peace which resulted in the saving of thousands of +lives and in the prevention of an incalculable amount of misery and the +destruction of property and of the means of livelihood. The Rio +Conference past the following resolution in reference to this action: + +"That the Third International American Conference shall address to the +Presidents of the United States of America and of the United States of +Mexico a note in which the conference which is being held at Rio +expresses its satisfaction at the happy results of their mediation for +the celebration of peace between the Republics of Guatemala, Honduras, +and Salvador." + +This affords an excellent example of one way in which the influence of +the United States can properly be exercised for the benefit of the +peoples of the Western Hemisphere; that is, by action taken in concert +with other American republics and therefore free from those suspicions +and prejudices which might attach if the action were taken by one +alone. In this way it is possible to exercise a powerful influence +toward the substitution of considerate action in the spirit of justice +for the insurrectionary or international violence which has hitherto +been so great a hindrance to the development of many of our neighbors. +Repeated examples of united action by several or many American +republics in favor of peace, by urging cool and reasonable, instead of +excited and belligerent, treatment of international controversies, can +not fail to promote the growth of a general public opinion among the +American nations which will elevate the standards of international +action, strengthen the sense of international duty among governments, +and tell in favor of the peace of mankind. + +I have just returned from a trip to Panama and shall report to you at +length later on the whole subject of the Panama Canal. + +The Algeciras Convention, which was signed by the United States as well +as by most of the powers of Europe, supersedes the previous convention +of 1880, which was also signed both by the United States and a majority +of the European powers. This treaty confers upon us equal commercial +rights with all European countries and does not entail a single +obligation of any kind upon us, and I earnestly hope it may be speedily +ratified. To refuse to ratify it would merely mean that we forfeited +our commercial rights in Morocco and would not achieve another object +of any kind. In the event of such refusal we would be left for the +first time in a hundred and twenty years without any commercial treaty +with Morocco; and this at a time when we are everywhere seeking new +markets and outlets for trade. + +The destruction of the Pribilof Islands fur seals by pelagic sealing +still continues. The herd which, according to the surveys made in 1874 +by direction of the Congress, numbered 4,700,000, and which, according +to the survey of both American and Canadian commissioners in 1891, +amounted to 1,000,000, has now been reduced to about 180,000. This +result has been brought about by Canadian and some other sealing +vessels killing the female seals while in the water during their annual +pilgrimage to and from the south, or in search of food. As a rule the +female seal when killed is pregnant, and also has an unweaned pup on +land, so that, for each skin taken by pelagic sealing, as a rule, three +lives are destroyed--the mother, the unborn offspring, and the nursing +pup, which is left to starve to death. No damage whatever is done to +the herd by the carefully regulated killing on land; the custom of +pelagic sealing is solely responsible for all of the present evil, and +is alike indefensible from the economic standpoint and from the +standpoint of humanity. + +In 1896 over 16,000 young seals were found dead from starvation on the +Pribilof Islands. In 1897 it was estimated that since pelagic sealing +began upward of 400,000 adult female seals had been killed at sea, and +over 300,000 young seals had died of starvation as the result. The +revolting barbarity of such a practise, as well as the wasteful +destruction which it involves, needs no demonstration and is its own +condemnation. The Bering Sea Tribunal, which sat in Paris in 1893, and +which decided against the claims of the United States to exclusive +jurisdiction in the waters of Bering Sea and to a property right in the +fur seals when outside of the three-mile limit, determined also upon +certain regulations which the Tribunal considered sufficient for the +proper protection and preservation of the fur seal in, or habitually +resorting to, the Bering Sea. The Tribunal by its regulations +established a close season, from the 1st of May to the 31st of July, +and excluded all killing in the waters within 60 miles around the +Pribilof Islands. They also provided that the regulations which they +had determined upon, with a view to the protection and preservation of +the seals, should be submitted every five years to new examination, so +as to enable both interested Governments to consider whether, in the +light of past experience, there was occasion for any modification +thereof. + +The regulations have proved plainly inadequate to accomplish the object +of protection and preservation of the fur seals, and for a long time +this Government has been trying in vain to secure from Great Britain +such revision and modification of the regulations as were contemplated +and provided for by the award of the Tribunal of Paris. + +The process of destruction has been accelerated during recent years by +the appearance of a number of Japanese vessels engaged in pelagic +sealing. As these vessels have not been bound even by the inadequate +limitations prescribed by the Tribunal of Paris, they have paid no +attention either to the close season or to the sixty-mile limit imposed +upon the Canadians, and have prosecuted their work up to the very +islands themselves. On July 16 and 17 the crews from several Japanese +vessels made raids upon the island of St. Paul, and before they were +beaten off by the very meager and insufficiently armed guard, they +succeeded in killing several hundred seals and carrying off the skins +of most of them. Nearly all the seals killed were females and the work +was done with frightful barbarity. Many of the seals appear to have +been skinned alive and many were found half skinned and still alive. +The raids were repelled only by the use of firearms, and five of the +raiders were killed, two were wounded, and twelve captured, including +the two wounded. Those captured have since been tried and sentenced to +imprisonment. An attack of this kind had been wholly unlookt for, but +such provision of vessels, arms, and ammunition will now be made that +its repetition will not be found profitable. + +Suitable representations regarding the incident have been made to the +Government of Japan, and we are assured that all practicable measures +will be taken by that country to prevent any recurrence of the outrage. +On our part, the guard on the island will be increased and better +equipped and organized, and a better revenue-cutter patrol service +about the islands will be established; next season a United States war +vessel will also be sent there. + +We have not relaxed our efforts to secure an agreement with Great +Britain for adequate protection of the seal herd, and negotiations with +Japan for the same purpose are in progress. + +The laws for the protection of the seals within the jurisdiction of the +United States need revision and amendment. Only the islands of St. Paul +and St. George are now, in terms, included in the Government +reservation, and the other islands are also to be included. The landing +of aliens as well as citizens upon the islands, without a permit from +the Department of Commerce and Labor, for any purpose except in case of +stress of weather or for water, should be prohibited under adequate +penalties. The approach of vessels for the excepted purposes should be +regulated. The authority of the Government agents on the islands should +be enlarged, and the chief agent should have the powers of a committing +magistrate. The entrance of a vessel into the territorial waters +surrounding the islands with intent to take seals should be made a +criminal offense and cause of forfeiture. Authority for seizures in +such cases should be given and the presence on any such vessel of seals +or sealskins, or the paraphernalia for taking them, should be made +prima facie evidence of such intent. I recommend what legislation is +needed to accomplish these ends; and I commend to your attention the +report of Mr. Sims, of the Department of Commerce and Labor, on this +subject. + +In case we are compelled to abandon the hope of making arrangements +with other governments to put an end to the hideous cruelty now +incident to pelagic sealing, it will be a question for your serious +consideration how far we should continue to protect and maintain the +seal herd on land with the result of continuing such a practise, and +whether it is not better to end the practice by exterminating the herd +ourselves in the most humane way possible. + +In my last message I advised you that the Emperor of Russia had taken +the initiative in bringing about a second peace conference at The +Hague. Under the guidance of Russia the arrangement of the +preliminaries for such a conference has been progressing during the +past year. Progress has necessarily been slow, owing to the great +number of countries to be consulted upon every question that has +arisen. It is a matter of satisfaction that all of the American +Republics have now, for the first time, been invited to join in the +proposed conference. + +The close connection between the subjects to be taken up by the Red +Cross Conference held at Geneva last summer and the subjects which +naturally would come before The Hague Conference made it apparent that +it was desirable to have the work of the Red Cross Conference completed +and considered by the different powers before the meeting at The Hague. +The Red Cross Conference ended its labors on the 6th day of July, and +the revised and amended convention, which was signed by the American +delegates, will be promptly laid before the Senate. + +By the special and highly appreciated courtesy of the Governments of +Russia and the Netherlands, a proposal to call The Hague Conference +together at a time which would conflict with the Conference of the +American Republics at Rio de Janeiro in August was laid aside. No other +date has yet been suggested. A tentative program for the conference has +been proposed by the Government of Russia, and the subjects which it +enumerates are undergoing careful examination and consideration in +preparation for the conference. + +It must ever be kept in mind that war is not merely justifiable, but +imperative, upon honorable men, upon an honorable nation, where peace +can only be obtained by the sacrifice of conscientious conviction or of +national welfare. Peace is normally a great good, and normally it +coincides with righteousness; but it is righteousness and not peace +which should bind the conscience of a nation as it should bind the +conscience of an individual; and neither a nation nor an individual can +surrender conscience to another's keeping. Neither can a nation, which +is an entity, and which does not die as individuals die, refrain from +taking thought for the interest of the generations that are to come, no +less than for the interest of the generation of to-day; and no public +men have a right, whether from shortsightedness, from selfish +indifference, or from sentimentality, to sacrifice national interests +which are vital in character. A just war is in the long run far better +for a nation's soul than the most prosperous peace obtained by +acquiescence in wrong or injustice. Moreover, though it is criminal for +a nation not to prepare for war, so that it may escape the dreadful +consequences of being defeated in war, yet it must always be remembered +that even to be defeated in war may be far better than not to have +fought at all. As has been well and finely said, a beaten nation is not +necessarily a disgraced nation; but the nation or man is disgraced if +the obligation to defend right is shirked. + +We should as a nation do everything in our power for the cause of +honorable peace. It is morally as indefensible for a nation to commit a +wrong upon another nation, strong or weak, as for an individual thus to +wrong his fellows. We should do all in our power to hasten the day when +there shall be peace among the nations--a peace based upon justice and +not upon cowardly submission to wrong. We can accomplish a good deal in +this direction, but we can not accomplish everything, and the penalty +of attempting to do too much would almost inevitably be to do worse +than nothing; for it must be remembered that fantastic extremists are +not in reality leaders of the causes which they espouse, but are +ordinarily those who do most to hamper the real leaders of the cause +and to damage the cause itself. As yet there is no likelihood of +establishing any kind of international power, of whatever sort, which +can effectively check wrongdoing, and in these circumstances it would +be both a foolish and an evil thing for a great and free nation to +deprive itself of the power to protect its own rights and even in +exceptional cases to stand up for the rights of others. Nothing would +more promote iniquity, nothing would further defer the reign upon earth +of peace and righteousness, than for the free and enlightened peoples +which, though with much stumbling and many shortcomings, nevertheless +strive toward justice, deliberately to render themselves powerless +while leaving every despotism and barbarism armed and able to work +their wicked will. The chance for the settlement of disputes +peacefully, by arbitration, now depends mainly upon the possession by +the nations that mean to do right of sufficient armed strength to make +their purpose effective. + +The United States Navy is the surest guarantor of peace which this +country possesses. It is earnestly to be wisht that we would profit by +the teachings of history in this matter. A strong and wise people will +study its own failures no less than its triumphs, for there is wisdom +to be learned from the study of both, of the mistake as well as of the +success. For this purpose nothing could be more instructive than a +rational study of the war of 1812, as it is told, for instance, by +Captain Mahan. There was only one way in which that war could have been +avoided. If during the preceding twelve years a navy relatively as +strong as that which this country now has had been built up, and an +army provided relatively as good as that which the country now has, +there never would have been the slightest necessity of fighting the +war; and if the necessity had arisen the war would under such +circumstances have ended with our speedy and overwhelming triumph. But +our people during those twelve years refused to make any preparations +whatever, regarding either the Army or the Navy. They saved a million +or two of dollars by so doing; and in mere money paid a hundredfold for +each million they thus saved during the three years of war which +followed--a war which brought untold suffering upon our people, which +at one time threatened the gravest national disaster, and which, in +spite of the necessity of waging it, resulted merely in what was in +effect a drawn battle, while the balance of defeat and triumph was +almost even. + +I do not ask that we continue to increase our Navy. I ask merely that +it be maintained at its present strength; and this can be done only if +we replace the obsolete and outworn ships by new and good ones, the +equals of any afloat in any navy. To stop building ships for one year +means that for that year the Navy goes back instead of forward. The old +battle ship Texas, for instance, would now be of little service in a +stand-up fight with a powerful adversary. The old double-turret +monitors have outworn their usefulness, while it was a waste of money +to build the modern single-turret monitors. All these ships should be +replaced by others; and this can be done by a well-settled program of +providing for the building each year of at least one first-class battle +ship equal in size and speed to any that any nation is at the same time +building; the armament presumably to consist of as large a number as +possible of very heavy guns of one caliber, together with smaller guns +to repel torpedo attack; while there should be heavy armor, turbine +engines, and in short, every modern device. Of course, from time to +time, cruisers, colliers, torpedo-boat destroyers or torpedo boats, +Will have to be built also. All this, be it remembered, would not +increase our Navy, but would merely keep it at its present strength. +Equally of course, the ships will be absolutely useless if the men +aboard them are not so trained that they can get the best possible +service out of the formidable but delicate and complicated mechanisms +intrusted to their care. The marksmanship of our men has so improved +during the last five years that I deem it within bounds to say that the +Navy is more than twice as efficient, ship for ship, as half a decade +ago. The Navy can only attain proper efficiency if enough officers and +men are provided, and if these officers and men are given the chance +(and required to take advantage of it) to stay continually at sea and +to exercise the fleets singly and above all in squadron, the exercise +to be of every kind and to include unceasing practise at the guns, +conducted under conditions that will test marksmanship in time of war. + +In both the Army and the Navy there is urgent need that everything +possible should be done to maintain the highest standard for the +personnel, alike as regards the officers and the enlisted men. I do not +believe that in any service there is a finer body of enlisted men and +of junior officer than we have in both the Army and the Navy, including +the Marine Corps. All possible encouragement to the enlisted men should +be given, in pay and otherwise, and everything practicable done to +render the service attractive to men of the right type. They should be +held to the strictest discharge of their duty, and in them a spirit +should be encouraged which demands not the mere performance of duty, +but the performance of far more than duty, if it conduces to the honor +and the interest of the American nation; and in return the amplest +consideration should be theirs. + +West Point and Annapolis already turn out excellent officers. We do not +need to have these schools made more scholastic. On the contrary we +should never lose sight of the fact that the aim of each school is to +turn out a man who shall be above everything else a fighting man. In +the Army in particular it is not necessary that either the cavalry or +infantry officer should have special mathematical ability. Probably in +both schools the best part of the education is the high standard of +character and of professional morale which it confers. + +But in both services there is urgent need for the establishment of a +principle of selection which will eliminate men after a certain age if +they can not be promoted from the subordinate ranks, and which will +bring into the higher ranks fewer men, and these at an earlier age. +This principle of selection will be objected to by good men of mediocre +capacity, who are fitted to do well while young in the lower positions, +but who are not fitted to do well when at an advanced age they come +into positions of command and of great responsibility. But the desire +of these men to be promoted to positions which they are not competent +to fill should not weigh against the interest of the Navy and the +country. At present our men, especially in the Navy, are kept far too +long in the junior grades, and then, at much too advanced an age, are +put quickly through the senior grades, often not attaining to these +senior grades until they are too old to be of real use in them; and if +they are of real use, being put through them so quickly that little +benefit to the Navy comes from their having been in them at all. + +The Navy has one great advantage over the Army in the fact that the +officers of high rank are actually trained in the continual performance +of their duties; that is, in the management of the battle ships and +armored cruisers gathered into fleets. This is not true of the army +officers, who rarely have corresponding chances to exercise command +over troops under service conditions. The conduct of the Spanish war +showed the lamentable loss of life, the useless extravagance, and the +inefficiency certain to result, if during peace the high officials of +the War and Navy Departments are praised and rewarded only if they save +money at no matter what cost to the efficiency of the service, and if +the higher officers are given no chance whatever to exercise and +practise command. For years prior to the Spanish war the Secretaries of +War were praised chiefly if they practised economy; which economy, +especially in connection with the quartermaster, commissary, and +medical departments, was directly responsible for most of the +mismanagement that occurred in the war itself--and parenthetically be +it observed that the very people who clamored for the misdirected +economy in the first place were foremost to denounce the mismanagement, +loss, and suffering which were primarily due to this same misdirected +economy and to the lack of preparation it involved. There should soon +be an increase in the number of men for our coast defenses; these men +should be of the right type and properly trained; and there should +therefore be an increase of pay for certain skilled grades, especially +in the coast artillery. Money should be appropriated to permit troops +to be massed in body and exercised in maneuvers, particularly in +marching. Such exercise during the summer just past has been of +incalculable benefit to the Army and should under no circumstances be +discontinued. If on these practise marches and in these maneuvers +elderly officers prove unable to bear the strain, they should be +retired at once, for the fact is conclusive as to their unfitness for +war; that is, for the only purpose because of which they should be +allowed to stay in the service. It is a real misfortune to have scores +of small company or regimental posts scattered throughout the country; +the Army should be gathered in a few brigade or division posts; and the +generals should be practised in handling the men in masses. Neglect to +provide for all of this means to incur the risk of future disaster and +disgrace. + +The readiness and efficiency of both the Army and Navy in dealing with +the recent sudden crisis in Cuba illustrate afresh their value to the +Nation. This readiness and efficiency would have been very much less +had it not been for the existence of the General Staff in the Army and +the General Board in the Navy; both are essential to the proper +development and use of our military forces afloat and ashore. The +troops that were sent to Cuba were handled flawlessly. It was the +swiftest mobilization and dispatch of troops over sea ever accomplished +by our Government. The expedition landed completely equipped and ready +for immediate service, several of its organizations hardly remaining in +Havana over night before splitting up into detachments and going to +their several posts, It was a fine demonstration of the value and +efficiency of the General Staff. Similarly, it was owing in large part +to the General Board that the Navy was able at the outset to meet the +Cuban crisis with such instant efficiency; ship after ship appearing on +the shortest notice at any threatened point, while the Marine Corps in +particular performed indispensable service. The Army and Navy War +Colleges are of incalculable value to the two services, and they +cooperate with constantly increasing efficiency and importance. + +The Congress has most wisely provided for a National Board for the +promotion of rifle practise. Excellent results have already come from +this law, but it does not go far enough. Our Regular Army is so small +that in any great war we should have to trust mainly to volunteers; and +in such event these volunteers should already know how to shoot; for if +a soldier has the fighting edge, and ability to take care of himself in +the open, his efficiency on the line of battle is almost directly +Proportionate to excellence in marksmanship. We should establish +shooting galleries in all the large public and military schools, should +maintain national target ranges in different parts of the country, and +should in every way encourage the formation of rifle clubs throughout +all parts of the land. The little Republic of Switzerland offers us an +excellent example in all matters connected with building up an +efficient citizen soldiery. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 3, 1907 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +No nation has greater resources than ours, and I think it can be +truthfully said that the citizens of no nation possess greater energy +and industrial ability. In no nation are the fundamental business +conditions sounder than in ours at this very moment; and it is foolish, +when such is the case, for people to hoard money instead of keeping it +in sound banks; for it is such hoarding that is the immediate occasion +of money stringency. Moreover, as a rule, the business of our people is +conducted with honesty and probity, and this applies alike to farms and +factories, to railroads and banks, to all our legitimate commercial +enterprises. + +In any large body of men, however, there are certain to be some who are +dishonest, and if the conditions are such that these men prosper or +commit their misdeeds with impunity, their example is a very evil thing +for the community. Where these men are business men of great sagacity +and of temperament both unscrupulous and reckless, and where the +conditions are such that they act without supervision or control and at +first without effective check from public opinion, they delude many +innocent people into making investments or embarking in kinds of +business that are really unsound. When the misdeeds of these +successfully dishonest men are discovered, suffering comes not only +upon them, but upon the innocent men whom they have misled. It is a +painful awakening, whenever it occurs; and, naturally, when it does +occur those who suffer are apt to forget that the longer it was +deferred the more painful it would be. In the effort to punish the +guilty it is both wise and proper to endeavor so far as possible to +minimize the distress of those who have been misled by the guilty. Yet +it is not possible to refrain because of such distress from striving to +put an end to the misdeeds that are the ultimate causes of the +suffering, and, as a means to this end, where possible to punish those +responsible for them. There may be honest differences of opinion as to +many governmental policies; but surely there can be no such differences +as to the need of unflinching perseverance in the war against +successful dishonesty. + +In my Message to the Congress on December 5, 1905, I said: + +"If the folly of man mars the general well-being, then those who are +innocent of the folly will have to pay part of the penalty incurred by +those who are guilty of the folly. A panic brought on by the +speculative folly of part of the business community would hurt the +whole business community; but such stoppage of welfare, though it might +be severe, would not be lasting. In the long run, the one vital factor +in the permanent prosperity of the country is the high individual +character of the average American worker, the average American citizen, +no matter whether his work be mental or manual, whether he be farmer or +wage-worker, business man or professional man. + +"In our industrial and social system the interests of all men are so +closely intertwined that in the immense majority of cases a +straight-dealing man, who by his efficiency, by his ingenuity and +industry, benefits himself, must also benefit others. Normally, the man +of great productive capacity who becomes rich by guiding the labor of +many other men does so by enabling them to produce more than they could +produce without his guidance; and both he and they share in the +benefit, which comes also to the public at large. The superficial fact +that the sharing may be unequal must never blind us to the underlying +fact that there is this sharing, and that the benefit comes in some +degree to each man concerned.. Normally, the wageworker, the man of +small means, and the average consumer, as well as the average producer, +are all alike helped by making conditions such that the man of +exceptional business ability receives an exceptional reward for his +ability Something can be done by legislation to help the general +prosperity; but no such help of a permanently beneficial character can +be given to the less able and less fortunate save as the results of a +policy which shall inure to the advantage of all industrious and +efficient people who act decently; and this is only another way of +saying that any benefit which comes to the less able and less fortunate +must of necessity come even more to the more able and more fortunate. +If, therefore, the less fortunate man is moved by envy of his more +fortunate brother to strike at the conditions under which they have +both, though unequally, prospered, the result will assuredly be that +while damage may come to the one struck at, it will visit with an even +heavier load the one who strikes the blow. Taken as a whole, we must +all go up or go down together. + +"Yet, while not merely admitting, but insisting upon this, it is also +true that where there is no governmental restraint or supervision some +of the exceptional men use their energies, not in ways that are for the +common good, but in ways which tell against this common good. The +fortunes amassed through corporate organization are now so large, and +vest such power in those that wield them, as to make it a matter of +necessity to give to the sovereign--that is, to the Government, which +represents the people as a whole--some effective power of supervision +over their corporate use. In order to insure a healthy social and +industrial life, every big corporation should be held responsible by, +and be accountable to, some sovereign strong enough to control its +conduct. I am in no sense hostile to corporations. This is an age of +combination, and any effort to prevent all combination will be not only +useless, but in the end vicious, because of the contempt for law which +the failure to enforce law inevitably produces. We should, moreover, +recognize in cordial and ample fashion the immense good effected by +corporate agencies in a country such as ours, and the wealth of +intellect, energy, and fidelity devoted to their service, and therefore +normally to the service of the public, by their officers and directors. +The corporation has come to stay, just as the trade union has come to +stay. Each can do and has done great good. Each should be favored so +long as it does good. But each should be sharply checked where it acts +against law and justice. + +"The makers of our National Constitution provided especially that the +regulation of interstate commerce should come within the sphere of the +General Government. The arguments in favor of their taking this stand +were even then overwhelming. But they are far stronger to-day, in view +of the enormous development of great business agencies, usually +corporate in form. Experience has shown conclusively that it is useless +to try to get any adequate regulation and supervision of these great +corporations by State action. Such regulation and supervision can only +be effectively exercised by a sovereign whose jurisdiction is +coextensive with the field of work of the corporations--that is, by the +National Government. I believe that this regulation and supervision can +be obtained by the enactment of law by the Congress. Our steady aim +should be by legislation, cautiously and carefully undertaken, but +resolutely persevered in, to assert the sovereignty of the National +Government by affirmative action. + +"This is only in form an innovation. In substance it is merely a +restoration; for from the earliest time such regulation of industrial +activities has been recognized in the action of the lawmaking bodies; +and all that I propose is to meet the changed conditions in such manner +as will prevent the Commonwealth abdicating the power it has always +possessed, not only in this country, but also in England before and +since this country became a separate nation. + +"It has been a misfortune that the National laws on this subject have +hitherto been of a negative or prohibitive rather than an affirmative +kind, and still more that they have in part sought to prohibit what +could not be effectively prohibited, and have in part in their +prohibitions confounded what should be allowed and what should not be +allowed. It is generally useless to try to prohibit all restraint on +competition, whether this restraint be reasonable or unreasonable; and +where it is not useless it is generally hurtful. The successful +prosecution of one device to evade the law immediately develops another +device to accomplish the same purpose. What is needed is not sweeping +prohibition of every arrangement, good or bad, which may tend to +restrict competition, but such adequate supervision and regulation as +will prevent any restriction of competition from being to the detriment +of the public, as well as such supervision and regulation as will +prevent other abuses in no way connected with restriction of +competition." + +I have called your attention in these quotations to what I have already +said because I am satisfied that it is the duty of the National +Government to embody in action the principles thus expressed. + +No small part of the trouble that we have comes from carrying to an +extreme the national virtue of self-reliance, of independence in +initiative and action. It is wise to conserve this virtue and to +provide for its fullest exercise, compatible with seeing that liberty +does not become a liberty to wrong others. Unfortunately, this is the +kind of liberty that the lack of all effective regulation inevitably +breeds. The founders of the Constitution provided that the National +Government should have complete and sole control of interstate +commerce. There was then practically no interstate business save such +as was conducted by water, and this the National Government at once +proceeded to regulate in thoroughgoing and effective fashion. +Conditions have now so wholly changed that the interstate commerce by +water is insignificant compared with the amount that goes by land, and +almost all big business concerns are now engaged in interstate +commerce. As a result, it can be but partially and imperfectly +controlled or regulated by the action of any one of the several States; +such action inevitably tending to be either too drastic or else too +lax, and in either case ineffective for purposes of justice. Only the +National Government can in thoroughgoing fashion exercise the needed +control. This does not mean that there should be any extension of +Federal authority, for such authority already exists under the +Constitution in amplest and most far-reaching form; but it does mean +that there should be an extension of Federal activity. This is not +advocating centralization. It is merely looking facts in the face, and +realizing that centralization in business has already come and can not +be avoided or undone, and that the public at large can only protect +itself from certain evil effects of this business centralization by +providing better methods for the exercise of control through the +authority already centralized in the National Government by the +Constitution itself. There must be no ball in the healthy constructive +course of action which this Nation has elected to pursue, and has +steadily pursued, during the last six years, as shown both in the +legislation of the Congress and the administration of the law by the +Department of Justice. The most vital need is in connection with the +railroads. As to these, in my judgment there should now be either a +national incorporation act or a law licensing railway companies to +engage in interstate commerce upon certain conditions. The law should +be so framed as to give to the Interstate Commerce Commission power to +pass upon the future issue of securities, while ample means should be +provided to enable the Commission, whenever in its judgment it is +necessary, to make a physical valuation of any railroad. As I stated in +my Message to the Congress a year ago, railroads should be given power +to enter into agreements, subject to these agreements being made public +in minute detail and to the consent of the Interstate Commerce +Commission being first obtained. Until the National Government assumes +proper control of interstate commerce, in the exercise of the authority +it already possesses, it will be impossible either to give to or to get +from the railroads full justice. The railroads and all other great +corporations will do well to recognize that this control must come; the +only question is as to what governmental body can most wisely exercise +it. The courts will determine the limits within which the Federal +authority can exercise it, and there will still remain ample work +within each State for the railway commission of that State; and the +National Interstate Commerce Commission will work in harmony with the +several State commissions, each within its own province, to achieve the +desired end. + +Moreover, in my judgment there should be additional legislation looking +to the proper control of the great business concerns engaged in +interstate business, this control to be exercised for their own benefit +and prosperity no less than for the protection of investors and of the +general public. As I have repeatedly said in Messages to the Congress +and elsewhere, experience has definitely shown not merely the unwisdom +but the futility of endeavoring to put a stop to all business +combinations. Modern industrial conditions are such that combination is +not only necessary but inevitable. It is so in the world of business +just as it is so in the world of labor, and it is as idle to desire to +put an end to all corporations, to all big combinations of capital, as +to desire to put an end to combinations of labor. Corporation and labor +union alike have come to stay. Each if properly managed is a source of +good and not evil. Whenever in either there is evil, it should be +promptly held to account; but it should receive hearty encouragement so +long as it is properly managed. It is profoundly immoral to put or keep +on the statute books a law, nominally in the interest of public +morality that really puts a premium upon public immorality, by +undertaking to forbid honest men from doing what must be done under +modern business conditions, so that the law itself provides that its +own infraction must be the condition precedent upon business success. +To aim at the accomplishment of too much usually means the +accomplishment of too little, and often the doing of positive damage. +In my Message to the Congress a year ago, in speaking of the antitrust +laws, I said: + +"The actual working of our laws has shown that the effort to prohibit +all combination, good or bad, is noxious where it is not ineffective. +Combination of capital, like combination of labor, is a necessary +element in our present industrial system. It is not possible completely +to prevent it; and if it were possible, such complete prevention would +do damage to the body politic. What we need is not vainly to try to +prevent all combination, but to secure such rigorous and adequate +control and supervision of the combinations as to prevent their +injuring the public, or existing in such forms as inevitably to +threaten injury. It is unfortunate that our present laws should forbid +all combinations instead of sharply discriminating between those +combinations which do evil. Often railroads would like to combine for +the purpose of preventing a big shipper from maintaining improper +advantages at the expense of small shippers and of the general public. +Such a combination, instead of being forbidden by law, should be +favored. It is a public evil to have on the statute books a law +incapable of full enforcement, because both judges and juries realize +that its full enforcement would destroy the business of the country; +for the result is to make decent men violators of the law against their +will, and to put a premium on the behavior of the willful wrongdoers. +Such a result in turn tends to throw the decent man and the willful +wrongdoer into close association, and in the end to drag down the +former to the latter's level; for the man who becomes a lawbreaker in +one way unhappily tends to lose all respect for law and to be willing +to break it in many ways. No more scathing condemnation could be +visited upon a law than is contained in the words of the Interstate +Commerce Commission when, in commenting upon the fact that the numerous +joint traffic associations do technically violate the law, they say: +The decision of the United States Supreme Court in the Trans-Missouri +case and the Joint Traffic Association case has produced no practical +effect upon the railway operations of the country. Such associations, +in fact, exist now as they did before these decisions, and with the +same general effect. In justice to all parties, we ought probably to +add that it is difficult to see how our interstate railways could be +operated with due regard to the interest of the shipper and the railway +without concerted action of the kind afforded through these +associations. + +"This means that the law as construed by the Supreme Court is such that +the business of the country can not be conducted without breaking it." + +As I have elsewhere said: + +"All this is substantially what I have said over and over again. Surely +it ought not to be necessary to say that it in no shape or way +represents any hostility to corporations as such. On the contrary, it +means a frank recognition of the fact that combinations of capital, +like combinations of labor, are a natural result of modern conditions +and of our National development. As far as in my ability lies my +endeavor is and will be to prevent abuse of power by either and to +favor both so long as they do well. The aim of the National Government +is quite as much to favor and protect honest corporations, honest +business men of wealth, as to bring to justice those individuals and +corporations representing dishonest methods. Most certainly there will +be no relaxation by the Government authorities in the effort to get at +any great railroad wrecker--any man who by clever swindling devices +robs investors, oppresses wage-workers, and does injustice to the +general public. But any such move as this is in the interest of honest +railway operators, of honest corporations, and of those who, when they +invest their small savings in stocks and bonds, wish to be assured that +these will represent money honestly expended for legitimate business +purposes. To confer upon the National Government the power for which I +ask would be a check upon overcapitalization and upon the clever +gamblers who benefit by overcapitalization. But it alone would mean an +increase in the value, an increase in the safety of the stocks and +bonds of law-abiding, honestly managed railroads, and would render it +far easier to market their securities. I believe in proper publicity. +There has been complaint of some of the investigations recently carried +on, but those who complain should put the blame where it belongs--upon +the misdeeds which are done in darkness and not upon the investigations +which brought them to light. The Administration is responsible for +turning on the light, but it is not responsible for what the light +showed. I ask for full power to be given the Federal Government, +because no single State can by legislation effectually cope with these +powerful corporations engaged in interstate commerce, and, while doing +them full justice, exact from them in return full justice to others. +The conditions of railroad activity, the conditions of our immense +interstate commerce, are such as to make the Central Government alone +competent to exercise full supervision and control. + +"The grave abuses in individual cases of railroad management in the +past represent wrongs not merely to the general public, but, above all, +wrongs to fair-dealing and honest corporations and men of wealth, +because they excite a popular anger and distrust which from the very +nature of the case tends to include in the sweep of its resentment good +and bad alike. From the standpoint of the public I can not too +earnestly say that as soon as the natural and proper resentment aroused +by these abuses becomes indiscriminate and unthinking, it also becomes +not merely unwise and unfair, but calculated to defeat the very ends +which those feeling it have in view. There has been plenty of dishonest +work by corporations in the past. There will not be the slightest +let-up in the effort to hunt down and punish every dishonest man. But +the bulk of our business is honestly done. In the natural indignation +the people feel over the dishonesty, it is essential that they should +not lose their heads and get drawn into an indiscriminate raid upon all +corporations, all people of wealth, whether they do well or ill. Out of +any such wild movement good will not come, can not come, and never has +come. On the contrary, the surest way to invite reaction is to follow +the lead of either demagogue or visionary in a sweeping assault upon +property values and upon public confidence, which would work +incalculable damage in the business world and would produce such +distrust of the agitators that in the revulsion the distrust would +extend to honest men who, in sincere and same fashion, are trying to +remedy the evils." + +The antitrust law should not be repealed; but it should be made both +more efficient and more in harmony with actual conditions. It should be +so amended as to forbid only the kind of combination which does harm to +the general public, such amendment to be accompanied by, or to be an +incident of, a grant of supervisory power to the Government over these +big concerns engaged in interstate business. This should be accompanied +by provision for the compulsory publication of accounts and the +subjection of books and papers to the inspection of the Government +officials. A beginning has already been made for such supervision by +the establishment of the Bureau of Corporations. + +The antitrust law should not prohibit combinations that do no injustice +to the public, still less those the existence of which is on the whole +of benefit to the public. But even if this feature of the law were +abolished, there would remain as an equally objectionable feature the +difficulty and delay now incident to its enforcement. The Government +must now submit to irksome and repeated delay before obtaining a final +decision of the courts upon proceedings instituted, and even a +favorable decree may mean an empty victory. Moreover, to attempt to +control these corporations by lawsuits means to impose upon both the +Department of Justice and the courts an impossible burden; it is not +feasible to carry on more than a limited number of such suits. Such a +law to be really effective must of course be administered by an +executive body, and not merely by means of lawsuits. The design should +be to prevent the abuses incident to the creation of unhealthy and +improper combinations, instead of waiting until they are in existence +and then attempting to destroy them by civil or criminal proceedings. + +A combination should not be tolerated if it abuse the power acquired by +combination to the public detriment. No corporation or association of +any kind should be permitted to engage in foreign or interstate +commerce that is formed for the purpose of, or whose operations create, +a monopoly or general control of the production, sale, or distribution +of any one or more of the prime necessities of life or articles of +general use and necessity. Such combinations are against public policy; +they violate the common law; the doors of the courts are closed to +those who are parties to them, and I believe the Congress can close the +channels of interstate commerce against them for its protection. The +law should make its prohibitions and permissions as clear and definite +as possible, leaving the least possible room for arbitrary action, or +allegation of such action, on the part of the Executive, or of +divergent interpretations by the courts. Among the points to be aimed +at should be the prohibition of unhealthy competition, such as by +rendering service at an actual loss for the purpose of crushing out +competition, the prevention of inflation of capital, and the +prohibition of a corporation's making exclusive trade with itself a +condition of having any trade with itself. Reasonable agreements +between, or combinations of, corporations should be permitted, provided +they are submitted to and approved by some appropriate Government body. + +The Congress has the power to charter corporations to engage in +interstate and foreign commerce, and a general law can be enacted under +the provisions of which existing corporations could take out Federal +charters and new Federal corporations could be created. An essential +provision of such a law should be a method of predetermining by some +Federal board or commission whether the applicant for a Federal charter +was an association or combination within the restrictions of the +Federal law. Provision should also be made for complete publicity in +all matters affecting the public and complete protection to the +investing public and the shareholders in the matter of issuing +corporate securities. If an incorporation law is not deemed advisable, +a license act for big interstate corporations might be enacted; or a +combination of the two might be tried. The supervision established +might be analogous to that now exercised over national banks. At least, +the antitrust act should be supplemented by specific prohibitions of +the methods which experience has shown have been of most service in +enabling monopolistic combinations to crush out competition. The real +owners of a corporation should be compelled to do business in their own +name. The right to hold stock in other corporations should hereafter be +denied to interstate corporations, unless on approval by the Government +officials, and a prerequisite to such approval should be the listing +with the Government of all owners and stockholders, both by the +corporation owning such stock and by the corporation in which such +stock is owned. + +To confer upon the National Government, in connection with the +amendment I advocate in the antitrust law, power of supervision over +big business concerns engaged in interstate commerce, would benefit +them as it has benefited the national banks. In the recent business +crisis it is noteworthy that the institutions which failed were +institutions which were not under the supervision and control of the +National Government. Those which were under National control stood the +test. + +National control of the kind above advocated would be to the benefit of +every well-managed railway. From the standpoint of the public there is +need for additional tracks, additional terminals, and improvements in +the actual handling of the railroads, and all this as rapidly as +possible. Ample, safe, and speedy transportation facilities are even +more necessary than cheap transportation. Therefore, there is need for +the investment of money which will provide for all these things while +at the same time securing as far as is possible better wages and +shorter hours for their employees. Therefore, while there must be just +and reasonable regulation of rates, we should be the first to protest +against any arbitrary and unthinking movement to cut them down without +the fullest and most careful consideration of all interests concerned +and of the actual needs of the situation. Only a special body of men +acting for the National Government under authority conferred upon it by +the Congress is competent to pass judgment on such a matter. + +Those who fear, from any reason, the extension of Federal activity will +do well to study the history not only of the national banking act but +of the pure-food law, and notably the meat inspection law recently +enacted. The pure-food law was opposed so violently that its passage +was delayed for a decade; yet it has worked unmixed and immediate good. +The meat inspection law was even more violently assailed; and the same +men who now denounce the attitude of the National Government in seeking +to oversee and control the workings of interstate common carriers and +business concerns, then asserted that we were "discrediting and ruining +a great American industry." Two years have not elapsed, and already it +has become evident that the great benefit the law confers upon the +public is accompanied by an equal benefit to the reputable packing +establishments. The latter are better off under the law than they were +without it. The benefit to interstate common carriers and business +concerns from the legislation I advocate would be equally marked. + +Incidentally, in the passage of the pure-food law the action of the +various State food and dairy commissioners showed in striking fashion +how much good for the whole people results from the hearty cooperation +of the Federal and State officials in securing a given reform. It is +primarily to the action of these State commissioners that we owe the +enactment of this law; for they aroused the people, first to demand the +enactment and enforcement of State laws on the subject, and then the +enactment of the Federal law, without which the State laws were largely +ineffective. There must be the closest cooperation between the National +and State governments in administering these laws. + +In my Message to the Congress a year ago I spoke as follows of the +currency: + +"I especially call your attention to the condition of our currency +laws. The national-bank act has ably served a great purpose in aiding +the enormous business development of the country, and within ten years +there has been an increase in circulation per capita from $21.41 to +$33.08. For several years evidence has been accumulating that +additional legislation is needed. The recurrence of each crop season +emphasizes the defects of the present laws. There must soon be a +revision of them, because to leave them as they are means to incur +liability of business disaster. Since your body adjourned there has +been a fluctuation in the interest on call money from 2 per cent to 30 +percent, and the fluctuation was even greater during the preceding six +months. The Secretary of the Treasury had to step in and by wise action +put a stop to the most violent period of oscillation. Even worse than +such fluctuation is the advance in commercial rates and the uncertainty +felt in the sufficiency of credit even at high rates. All commercial +interests suffer during each crop period. Excessive rates for call +money in New York attract money from the interior banks into the +speculative field. This depletes the fund that would otherwise be +available for commercial uses, and commercial borrowers are forced to +pay abnormal rates, so that each fall a tax, in the shape of increased +interest charges, is placed on the whole commerce of the country. + +"The mere statement of these facts shows that our present system is +seriously defective. There is need of a change. Unfortunately, however, +many of the proposed changes must be ruled from consideration because +they are complicated, are not easy of comprehension, and tend to +disturb existing rights and interests. We must also rule out any plan +which would materially impair the value of the United States 2 per cent +bonds now pledged to secure circulation, the issue of which was made +under conditions peculiarly creditable to the Treasury. I do not press +any especial plan. Various plans have recently been proposed by expert +committees of bankers. Among the plans which are possibly feasible and +which certainly should receive your consideration is that repeatedly +brought to your attention by the present Secretary of the Treasury, the +essential features of which have been approved by many prominent +bankers and business men. According to this plan national banks should +be permitted to issue a specified proportion of their capital in notes +of a given kind, the issue to be taxed at so high a rate as to drive +the notes back when not wanted in legitimate trade. This plan would not +permit the issue of currency to give banks additional profits, but to +meet the emergency presented by times of stringency. + +"I do not say that this is the right system. I only advance it to +emphasize my belief that there is need for the adoption of some system +which shall be automatic and open to all sound banks, so as to avoid +all possibility of discrimination and favoritism. Such a plan would +tend to prevent the spasms of high money and speculation which now +obtain in the New York market; for at present there is too much +currency at certain seasons of the year, and its accumulation at New +York tempts bankers to lend it at low rates for speculative purposes; +whereas at other times when the crops are being moved there is urgent +need for a large but temporary increase in the currency supply. It must +never be forgotten that this question concerns business men generally +quite as much as bankers; especially is this true of stockmen, farmers, +and business men in the West; for at present at certain seasons of the +year the difference in interest rates between the East and the West is +from 6 to 10 per cent, whereas in Canada the corresponding difference +is but 2 per cent. Any plan must, of course, guard the interests of +western and southern bankers as carefully as it guards the interests of +New York or Chicago bankers, and must be drawn from the standpoints of +the farmer and the merchant no less than from the standpoints of the +city banker and the country banker." + +I again urge on the Congress the need of immediate attention to this +matter. We need a greater elasticity in our currency; provided, of +course, that we recognize the even greater need of a safe and secure +currency. There must always be the most rigid examination by the +National authorities. Provision should be made for an emergency +currency. The emergency issue should, of course, be made with an +effective guaranty, and upon conditions carefully prescribed by the +Government. Such emergency issue must be based on adequate securities +approved by the Government, and must be issued under a heavy tax. This +would permit currency being issued when the demand for it was urgent, +while securing its requirement as the demand fell off. It is worth +investigating to determine whether officers and directors of national +banks should ever be allowed to loan to themselves. Trust companies +should be subject to the same supervision as banks; legislation to this +effect should be enacted for the District of Columbia and the +Territories. + +Yet we must also remember that even the wisest legislation on the +subject can only accomplish a certain amount. No legislation can by any +possibility guarantee the business community against the results of +speculative folly any more than it can guarantee an individual against +the results of his extravagance. When an individual mortgages his house +to buy an automobile he invites disaster; and when wealthy men, or men +who pose as such, or are unscrupulously or foolishly eager to become +such, indulge in reckless speculation--especially if it is accompanied +by dishonesty--they jeopardize not only their own future but the future +of all their innocent fellow-citizens, for the expose the whole +business community to panic and distress. + +The income account of the Nation is in a most satisfactory condition. +For the six fiscal years ending with the 1st of July last, the total +expenditures and revenues of the National Government, exclusive of the +postal revenues and expenditures, were, in round numbers, revenues, +$3,465,000,0000, and expenditures, $3,275,000,000. The net excess of +income over expenditures, including in the latter the fifty millions +expended for the Panama Canal, was one hundred and ninety million +dollars for the six years, an average of about thirty-one millions a +year. This represents an approximation between income and outgo which +it would be hard to improve. The satisfactory working of the present +tariff law has been chiefly responsible for this excellent showing. +Nevertheless, there is an evident and constantly growing feeling among +our people that the time is rapidly approaching when our system of +revenue legislation must be revised. + +This country is definitely committed to the protective system and any +effort to uproot it could not but cause widespread industrial disaster. +In other words, the principle of the present tariff law could not with +wisdom be changed. But in a country of such phenomenal growth as ours +it is probably well that every dozen years or so the tariff laws should +be carefully scrutinized so as to see that no excessive or improper +benefits are conferred thereby, that proper revenue is provided, and +that our foreign trade is encouraged. There must always be as a minimum +a tariff which will not only allow for the collection of an ample +revenue but which will at least make good the difference in cost of +production here and abroad; that is, the difference in the labor cost +here and abroad, for the well-being of the wage-worker must ever be a +cardinal point of American policy. The question should be approached +purely from a business standpoint; both the time and the manner of the +change being such as to arouse the minimum of agitation and disturbance +in the business world, and to give the least play for selfish and +factional motives. The sole consideration should be to see that the sum +total of changes represents the public good. This means that the +subject can not with wisdom be dealt with in the year preceding a +Presidential election, because as a matter of fact experience has +conclusively shown that at such a time it is impossible to get men to +treat it from the standpoint of the public good. In my judgment the +wise time to deal with the matter is immediately after such election. + +When our tax laws are revised the question of an income tax and an +inheritance tax should receive the careful attention of our +legislators. In my judgment both of these taxes should be part of our +system of Federal taxation. I speak diffidently about the income tax +because one scheme for an income tax was declared unconstitutional by +the Supreme Court; while in addition it is a difficult tax to +administer in its practical working, and great care would have to be +exercised to see that it was not evaded by the very men whom it was +most desirable to have taxed, for if so evaded it would, of course, be +worse than no tax at all; as the least desirable of all taxes is the +tax which bears heavily upon the honest as compared with the dishonest +man. Nevertheless, a graduated income tax of the proper type would be a +desirable feature of Federal taxation, and it is to be hoped that one +may be devised which the Supreme Court will declare constitutional. The +inheritance tax, however, is both a far better method of taxation, and +far more important for the purpose of having the fortunes of the +country bear in proportion to their increase in size a corresponding +increase and burden of taxation. The Government has the absolute right +to decide as to the terms upon which a man shall receive a bequest or +devise from another, and this point in the devolution of property is +especially appropriate for the imposition of a tax. Laws imposing such +taxes have repeatedly been placed upon the National statute books and +as repeatedly declared constitutional by the courts; and these laws +contained the progressive principle, that is, after a certain amount is +reached the bequest or gift, in life or death, is increasingly burdened +and the rate of taxation is increased in proportion to the remoteness +of blood of the man receiving the bequest. These principles are +recognized already in the leading civilized nations of the world. In +Great Britain all the estates worth $5,000 or less are practically +exempt from death duties, while the increase is such that when an +estate exceeds five millions of dollars in value and passes to a +distant kinsman or stranger in blood the Government receives all told +an amount equivalent to nearly a fifth of the whole estate. In France +so much of an inheritance as exceeds $10,000,000 pays over a fifth to +the State if it passes to a distant relative. The German law is +especially interesting to us because it makes the inheritance tax an +imperial measure while allotting to the individual States of the Empire +a portion of the proceeds and permitting them to impose taxes in +addition to those imposed by the Imperial Government. Small +inheritances are exempt, but the tax is so sharply progressive that +when the inheritance is still not very large, provided it is not an +agricultural or a forest land, it is taxed at the rate of 25 per cent +if it goes to distant relatives. There is no reason why in the United +States the National Government should not impose inheritance taxes in +addition to those imposed by the States, and when we last had an +inheritance tax about one-half of the States levied such taxes +concurrently with the National Government, making a combined maximum +rate, in some cases as high as 25 per cent. The French law has one +feature which is to be heartily commended. The progressive principle is +so applied that each higher rate is imposed only on the excess above +the amount subject to the next lower rate; so that each increase of +rate will apply only to a certain amount above a certain maximum. The +tax should if possible be made to bear more heavily upon those residing +without the country than within it. A heavy progressive tax upon a very +large fortune is in no way such a tax upon thrift or industry as a like +would be on a small fortune. No advantage comes either to the country +as a whole or to the individuals inheriting the money by permitting the +transmission in their entirety of the enormous fortunes which would be +affected by such a tax; and as an incident to its function of revenue +raising, such a tax would help to preserve a measurable equality of +opportunity for the people of the generations growing to manhood. We +have not the slightest sympathy with that socialistic idea which would +try to put laziness, thriftlessness and inefficiency on a par with +industry, thrift and efficiency; which would strive to break up not +merely private property, but what is far more important, the home, the +chief prop upon which our whole civilization stands. Such a theory, if +ever adopted, would mean the ruin of the entire country--a ruin which +would bear heaviest upon the weakest, upon those least able to shift +for themselves. But proposals for legislation such as this herein +advocated are directly opposed to this class of socialistic theories. +Our aim is to recognize what Lincoln pointed out: The fact that there +are some respects in which men are obviously not equal; but also to +insist that there should be an equality of self-respect and of mutual +respect, an equality of rights before the law, and at least an +approximate equality in the conditions under which each man obtains the +chance to show the stuff that is in him when compared to his fellows. + +A few years ago there was loud complaint that the law could not be +invoked against wealthy offenders. There is no such complaint now. The +course of the Department of Justice during the last few years has been +such as to make it evident that no man stands above the law, that no +corporation is so wealthy that it can not be held to account. The +Department of Justice has been as prompt to proceed against the +wealthiest malefactor whose crime was one of greed and cunning as to +proceed against the agitator who incites to brutal violence. Everything +that can be done under the existing law, and with the existing state of +public opinion, which so profoundly influences both the courts and +juries, has been done. But the laws themselves need strengthening in +more than one important point; they should be made more definite, so +that no honest man can be led unwittingly to break them, and so that +the real wrongdoer can be readily punished. + +Moreover, there must be the public opinion back of the laws or the laws +themselves will be of no avail. At present, while the average juryman +undoubtedly wishes to see trusts broken up, and is quite ready to fine +the corporation itself, he is very reluctant to find the facts proven +beyond a reasonable doubt when it comes to sending to jail a member of +the business community for indulging in practices which are profoundly +unhealthy, but which, unfortunately, the business community has grown +to recognize as well-nigh normal. Both the present condition of the law +and the present temper of juries render it a task of extreme difficulty +to get at the real wrongdoer in any such case, especially by +imprisonment. Yet it is from every standpoint far preferable to punish +the prime offender by imprisonment rather than to fine the corporation, +with the attendant damage to stockholders. + +The two great evils in the execution of our criminal laws to-day are +sentimentality and technicality. For the latter the remedy must come +from the hands of the legislatures, the courts, and the lawyers. The +other must depend for its cure upon the gradual growth of a sound +public opinion which shall insist that regard for the law and the +demands of reason shall control all other influences and emotions in +the jury box. Both of these evils must be removed or public discontent +with the criminal law will continue. + +Instances of abuse in the granting of injunctions in labor disputes +continue to occur, and the resentment in the minds of those who feel +that their rights are being invaded and their liberty of action and of +speech unwarrantably restrained continues likewise to grow. Much of the +attack on the use of the process of injunction is wholly without +warrant; but I am constrained to express the belief that for some of it +there is warrant. This question is becoming more and more one of prime +importance, and unless the courts will themselves deal with it in +effective manner, it is certain ultimately to demand some form of +legislative action. It would be most unfortunate for our social welfare +if we should permit many honest and law-abiding citizens to feel that +they had just cause for regarding our courts with hostility. I +earnestly commend to the attention of the Congress this matter, so that +some way may be devised which will limit the abuse of injunctions and +protect those rights which from time to time it unwarrantably invades. +Moreover, discontent is often expressed with the use of the process of +injunction by the courts, not only in labor disputes, but where State +laws are concerned. I refrain from discussion of this question as I am +informed that it will soon receive the consideration of the Supreme +Court. + +The Federal courts must of course decide ultimately what are the +respective spheres of State and Nation in connection with any law, +State or National, and they must decide definitely and finally in +matters affecting individual citizens, not only as to the rights and +wrongs of labor but as to the rights and wrongs of capital; and the +National Government must always see that the decision of the court is +put into effect. The process of injunction is an essential adjunct of +the court's doing its work well; and as preventive measures are always +better than remedial, the wise use of this process is from every +standpoint commendable. But where it is recklessly or unnecessarily +used, the abuse should he censured, above all by the very men who are +properly anxious to prevent any effort to shear the courts of this +necessary power. The court's decision must be final; the protest is +only against the conduct of individual judges in needlessly +anticipating such final decision, or in the tyrannical use of what is +nominally a temporary injunction to accomplish what is in fact a +permanent decision. + +The loss of life and limb from railroad accidents in this country has +become appalling. It is a subject of which the National Government +should take supervision. It might be well to begin by providing for a +Federal inspection of interstate railroads somewhat along the lines of +Federal inspection of steamboats, although not going so far; perhaps at +first all that it would be necessary to have would be some officer +whose duty would be to investigate all accidents on interstate +railroads and report in detail the causes thereof. Such an officer +should make it his business to get into close touch with railroad +operating men so as to become thoroughly familiar with every side of +the question, the idea being to work along the lines of the present +steamboat inspection law. + +The National Government should be a model employer. It should demand +the highest quality of service from each of its employees and it should +care for all of them properly in return. Congress should adopt +legislation providing limited but definite compensation for accidents +to all workmen within the scope of the Federal power, including +employees of navy yards and arsenals. In other words, a model +employers' liability act, far-reaching and thoroughgoing, should be +enacted which should apply to all positions, public and private, over +which the National Government has jurisdiction. The number of accidents +to wage-workers, including those that are preventable and those that +are not, has become appalling in the mechanical, manufacturing, and +transportation operations of the day. It works grim hardship to the +ordinary wage-worker and his family to have the effect of such an +accident fall solely upon him; and, on the other hand, there are whole +classes of attorneys who exist only by inciting men who may or may not +have been wronged to undertake suits for negligence. As a matter of +fact a suit for negligence is generally an inadequate remedy for the +person injured, while it often causes altogether disproportionate +annoyance to the employer. The law should be made such that the payment +for accidents by the employer would be automatic instead of being a +matter for lawsuits. Workmen should receive certain and definite +compensation for all accidents in industry irrespective of negligence. +The employer is the agent of the public and on his own responsibility +and for his own profit he serves the public. When he starts in motion +agencies which create risks for others, he should take all the ordinary +and extraordinary risks involved; and the risk he thus at the moment +assumes will ultimately be assumed, as it ought to be, by the general +public. Only in this way can the shock of the accident be diffused, +instead of falling upon the man or woman least able to bear it, as is +now the case. The community at large should share the burdens as well +as the benefits of industry. By the proposed law, employers would gain +a desirable certainty of obligation and get rid of litigation to +determine it, while the workman and his family would be relieved from a +crushing load. With such a policy would come increased care, and +accidents would be reduced in number. The National laws providing for +employers' liability on railroads engaged in interstate commerce and +for safety appliances, as well as for diminishing the hours any +employee of a railroad should be permitted to work, should all be +strengthened wherever in actual practice they have shown weakness; they +should be kept on the statute books in thoroughgoing form. + +The constitutionality of the employers' liability act passed by the +preceding Congress has been carried before the courts. In two +jurisdictions the law has been declared unconstitutional, and in three +jurisdictions its constitutionality has been affirmed. The question has +been carried to the Supreme Court, the case has been heard by that +tribunal, and a decision is expected at an early date. In the event +that the court should affirm the constitutionality of the act, I urge +further legislation along the lines advocated in my Message to the +preceding Congress. The practice of putting the entire burden of loss +to life or limb upon the victim or the victim's family is a form of +social injustice in which the United States stands in unenviable +prominence. In both our Federal and State legislation we have, with few +exceptions, scarcely gone farther than the repeal of the fellow-servant +principle of the old law of liability, and in some of our States even +this slight modification of a completely outgrown principle has not yet +been secured. The legislation of the rest of the industrial world +stands out in striking contrast to our backwardness in this respect. +Since 1895 practically every country of Europe, together with Great +Britain, New Zealand, Australia, British Columbia, and the Cape of Good +Hope has enacted legislation embodying in one form or another the +complete recognition of the principle which places upon the employer +the entire trade risk in the various lines of industry. I urge upon the +Congress the enactment of a law which will at the same time bring +Federal legislation up to the standard already established by all the +European countries, and which will serve as a stimulus to the various +States to perfect their legislation in this regard. + +The Congress should consider the extension of the eight-hour law. The +constitutionality of the present law has recently been called into +question, and the Supreme Court has decided that the existing +legislation is unquestionably within the powers of the Congress. The +principle of the eight-hour day should as rapidly and as far as +practicable be extended to the entire work carried on by the +Government; and the present law should be amended to embrace contracts +on those public works which the present wording of the act has been +construed to exclude. The general introduction of the eight-hour day +should be the goal toward which we should steadily tend, and the +Government should set the example in this respect. + +Strikes and lockouts, with their attendant loss and suffering, continue +to increase. For the five years ending December 31, 1905, the number of +strikes was greater than those in any previous ten years and was double +the number in the preceding five years. These figures indicate the +increasing need of providing some machinery to deal with this class of +disturbance in the interest alike of the employer, the employee, and +the general public. I renew my previous recommendation that the +Congress favorably consider the matter of creating the machinery for +compulsory investigation of such industrial controversies as are of +sufficient magnitude and of sufficient concern to the people of the +country as a whole to warrant the Federal Government in taking action. + +The need for some provision for such investigation was forcibly +illustrated during the past summer. A strike of telegraph operators +seriously interfered with telegraphic communication, causing great +damage to business interests and serious inconvenience to the general +public. Appeals were made to me from many parts of the country, from +city councils, from boards of trade, from chambers of commerce, and +from labor organizations, urging that steps be taken to terminate the +strike. Everything that could with any propriety be done by a +representative of the Government was done, without avail, and for weeks +the public stood by and suffered without recourse of any kind. Had the +machinery existed and had there been authority for compulsory +investigation of the dispute, the public would have been placed in +possession of the merits of the controversy, and public opinion would +probably have brought about a prompt adjustment. + +Each successive step creating machinery for the adjustment of labor +difficulties must be taken with caution, but we should endeavor to make +progress in this direction. + +The provisions of the act of 1898 creating the chairman of the +Interstate Commerce Commission and the Commissioner of Labor a board of +mediation in controversies between interstate railroads and their +employees has, for the first time, been subjected to serious tests +within the past year, and the wisdom of the experiment has been fully +demonstrated. The creation of a board for compulsory investigation in +cases where mediation fails and arbitration is rejected is the next +logical step in a progressive program. + +It is certain that for some time to come there will be a constant +increase absolutely, and perhaps relatively, of those among our +citizens who dwell in cities or towns of some size and who work for +wages. This means that there will be an ever-increasing need to +consider the problems inseparable from a great industrial civilization. +Where an immense and complex business, especially in those branches +relating to manufacture and transportation, is transacted by a large +number of capitalists who employ a very much larger number of +wage-earners, the former tend more and more to combine into +corporations and the latter into unions. The relations of the +capitalist and wage-worker to one another, and of each to the general +public, are not always easy to adjust; and to put them and keep them on +a satisfactory basis is one of the most important and one of the most +delicate tasks before our whole civilization. Much of the work for the +accomplishment of this end must be done by the individuals concerned +themselves, whether singly or in combination; and the one fundamental +fact that must never be lost track of is that the character of the +average man, whether he be a man of means or a man who works with his +hands, is the most important factor in solving the problem aright. But +it is almost equally important to remember that without good laws it is +also impossible to reach the proper solution. It is idle to hold that +without good laws evils such as child labor, as the over-working of +women, as the failure to protect employees from loss of life or limb, +can be effectively reached, any more than the evils of rebates and +stock-watering can be reached without good laws. To fail to stop these +practices by legislation means to force honest men into them, because +otherwise the dishonest who surely will take advantage of them will +have everything their own way. If the States will correct these evils, +well and good; but the Nation must stand ready to aid them. + +No question growing out of our rapid and complex industrial development +is more important than that of the employment of women and children. +The presence of women in industry reacts with extreme directness upon +the character of the home and upon family life, and the conditions +surrounding the employment of children bear a vital relation to our +future citizenship. Our legislation in those areas under the control of +the Congress is very much behind the legislation of our more +progressive States. A thorough and comprehensive measure should be +adopted at this session of the Congress relating to the employment of +women and children in the District of Columbia and the Territories. The +investigation into the condition of women and children wage-earners +recently authorized and directed by the Congress is now being carried +on in the various States, and I recommend that the appropriation made +last year for beginning this work be renewed, in order that we may have +the thorough and comprehensive investigation which the subject demands. +The National Government has as an ultimate resort for control of child +labor the use of the interstate commerce clause to prevent the products +of child labor from entering into interstate commerce. But before using +this it ought certainly to enact model laws on the subject for the +Territories under its own immediate control. + +There is one fundamental proposition which can be laid down as regards +all these matters, namely: While honesty by itself will not solve the +problem, yet the insistence upon honesty--not merely technical honesty, +but honesty in purpose and spirit--is an essential element in arriving +at a right conclusion. Vice in its cruder and more archaic forms shocks +everybody; but there is very urgent need that public opinion should be +just as severe in condemnation of the vice which hides itself behind +class or professional loyalty, or which denies that it is vice if it +can escape conviction in the courts. The public and the representatives +of the public, the high officials, whether on the bench or in executive +or legislative positions, need to remember that often the most +dangerous criminals, so far as the life of the Nation is concerned, are +not those who commit the crimes known to and condemned by the popular +conscience for centuries, but those who commit crimes only rendered +possible by the complex conditions of our modern industrial life. It +makes not a particle of difference whether these crimes are committed +by a capitalist or by a laborer, by a leading banker or manufacturer or +railroad man, or by a leading representative of a labor union. +Swindling in stocks, corrupting legislatures, making fortunes by the +inflation of securities, by wrecking railroads, by destroying +competitors through rebates--these forms of wrongdoing in the +capitalist, are far more infamous than any ordinary form of +embezzlement or forgery; yet it is a matter of extreme difficulty to +secure the punishment of the man most guilty of them, most responsible +for them. The business man who condones such conduct stands on a level +with the labor man who deliberately supports a corrupt demagogue and +agitator, whether head of a union or head of some municipality, because +he is said to have "stood by the union." The members of the business +community, the educators, or clergymen, who condone and encourage the +first kind of wrongdoing, are no more dangerous to the community, but +are morally even worse, than the labor men who are guilty of the second +type of wrongdoing, because less is to be pardoned those who have no +such excuse as is furnished either by ignorance or by dire need. When +the Department of Agriculture was founded there was much sneering as to +its usefulness. No Department of the Government, however, has more +emphatically vindicated its usefulness, and none save the Post-Office +Department comes so continually and intimately into touch with the +people. The two citizens whose welfare is in the aggregate most vital +to the welfare of the Nation, and therefore to the welfare of all other +citizens, are the wage-worker who does manual labor and the tiller of +the soil, the farmer. There are, of course, kinds of labor where the +work must be purely mental, and there are other kinds of labor where, +under existing conditions, very little demand indeed is made upon the +mind, though I am glad to say that the proportion of men engaged in +this kind of work is diminishing. But in any community with the solid, +healthy qualities which make up a really great nation the bulk of the +people should do work which calls for the exercise of both body and +mind. Progress can not permanently exist in the abandonment of physical +labor, but in the development of physical labor, so that it shall +represent more and more the work of the trained mind in the trained +body. Our school system is gravely defective in so far as it puts a +premium upon mere literary training and tends therefore to train the +boy away from the farm and the workshop. Nothing is more needed than +the best type of industrial school, the school for mechanical +industries in the city, the school for practically teaching agriculture +in the country. The calling of the skilled tiller of the soil, the +calling of the skilled mechanic, should alike be recognized as +professions, just as emphatically as the callings of lawyer, doctor, +merchant, or clerk. The schools recognize this fact and it should +equally be recognized in popular opinion. The young man who has the +farsightedness and courage to recognize it and to get over the idea +that it makes a difference whether what he earns is called salary or +wages, and who refuses to enter the crowded field of the so-called +professions, and takes to constructive industry instead, is reasonably +sure of an ample reward in earnings, in health, in opportunity to marry +early, and to establish a home with a fair amount of freedom from +worry. It should be one of our prime objects to put both the farmer and +the mechanic on a higher plane of efficiency and reward, so as to +increase their effectiveness in the economic world, and therefore the +dignity, the remuneration, and the power of their positions in the +social world. + +No growth of cities, no growth of wealth, can make up for any loss in +either the number or the character of the farming population. We of the +United States should realize this above almost all other peoples. We +began our existence as a nation of farmers, and in every great crisis +of the past a peculiar dependence has had to be placed upon the farming +population; and this dependence has hitherto been justified. But it can +not be justified in the future if agriculture is permitted to sink in +the scale as compared with other employments. We can not afford to lose +that preeminently typical American, the farmer who owns his own +medium-sized farm. To have his place taken by either a class of small +peasant proprietors, or by a class of great landlords with +tenant-farmed estates would be a veritable calamity. The growth of our +cities is a good thing but only in so far as it does not mean a growth +at the expense of the country farmer. We must welcome the rise of +physical sciences in their application to agricultural practices, and +we must do all we can to render country conditions more easy and +pleasant. There are forces which now tend to bring about both these +results, but they are, as yet, in their infancy. The National +Government through the Department of Agriculture should do all it can +by joining with the State governments and with independent associations +of farmers to encourage the growth in the open farming country of such +institutional and social movements as will meet the demand of the best +type of farmers, both for the improvement of their farms and for the +betterment of the life itself. The Department of Agriculture has in +many places, perhaps especially in certain districts of the South, +accomplished an extraordinary amount by cooperating with and teaching +the farmers through their associations, on their own soil, how to +increase their income by managing their farms better than they were +hitherto managed. The farmer must not lose his independence, his +initiative, his rugged self-reliance, yet he must learn to work in the +heartiest cooperation with his fellows, exactly as the business man has +learned to work; and he must prepare to use to constantly better +advantage the knowledge that can be obtained from agricultural +colleges, while he must insist upon a practical curriculum in the +schools in which his children are taught. The Department of Agriculture +and the Department of Commerce and Labor both deal with the fundamental +needs of our people in the production of raw material and its +manufacture and distribution, and, therefore, with the welfare of those +who produce it in the raw state, and of those who manufacture and +distribute it. The Department of Commerce and Labor has but recently +been founded but has already justified its existence; while the +Department of Agriculture yields to no other in the Government in the +practical benefits which it produces in proportion to the public money +expended. It must continue in the future to deal with growing crops as +it has dealt in the past, but it must still further extend its field of +usefulness hereafter by dealing with live men, through a far-reaching +study and treatment of the problems of farm life alike from the +industrial and economic and social standpoint. Farmers must cooperate +with one another and with the Government, and the Government can best +give its aid through associations of farmers, so as to deliver to the +farmer the large body of agricultural knowledge which has been +accumulated by the National and State governments and by the +agricultural colleges and schools. + +The grain producing industry of the country, one of the most important +in the United States, deserves special consideration at the hands of +the Congress. Our grain is sold almost exclusively by grades. To secure +satisfactory results in our home markets and to facilitate our trade +abroad, these grades should approximate the highest degree of +uniformity and certainty. The present diverse methods of inspection and +grading throughout the country under different laws and boards, result +in confusion and lack of uniformity, destroying that confidence which +is necessary for healthful trade. Complaints against the present +methods have continued for years and they are growing in volume and +intensity, not only in this country but abroad. I therefore suggest to +the Congress the advisability of a National system of inspection and +grading of grain entering into interstate and foreign commerce as a +remedy for the present evils. + +The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use +constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other +problem of our National life. We must maintain for our civilization the +adequate material basis without which that civilization can not exist. +We must show foresight, we must look ahead. As a nation we not only +enjoy a wonderful measure of present prosperity but if this prosperity +is used aright it is an earnest of future success such as no other +nation will have. The reward of foresight for this Nation is great and +easily foretold. But there must be the look ahead, there must be a +realization of the fact that to waste, to destroy, our natural +resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to +increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our +children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to +them amplified and developed. For the last few years, through several +agencies, the Government has been endeavoring to get our people to look +ahead and to substitute a planned and orderly development of our +resources in place of a haphazard striving for immediate profit. Our +great river systems should be developed as National water highways, the +Mississippi, with its tributaries, standing first in importance, and +the Columbia second, although there are many others of importance on +the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Gulf slopes. The National Government +should undertake this work, and I hope a beginning will be made in the +present Congress; and the greatest of all our rivers, the Mississippi, +should receive especial attention. From the Great Lakes to the mouth of +the Mississippi there should be a deep waterway, with deep waterways +leading from it to the East and the West. Such a waterway would +practically mean the extension of our coast line into the very heart of +our country. It would be of incalculable benefit to our people. If +begun at once it can be carried through in time appreciably to relieve +the congestion of our great freight-carrying lines of railroads. The +work should be systematically and continuously carried forward in +accordance with some well-conceived plan. The main streams should be +improved to the highest point of efficiency before the improvement of +the branches is attempted; and the work should be kept free from every +faint of recklessness or jobbery. The inland waterways which lie just +back of the whole eastern and southern coasts should likewise be +developed. Moreover, the development of our waterways involves many +other important water problems, all of which should be considered as +part of the same general scheme. The Government dams should be used to +produce hundreds of thousands of horsepower as an incident to improving +navigation; for the annual value of the unused water-power of the +United States perhaps exceeds the annual value of the products of all +our mines. As an incident to creating the deep waterways down the +Mississippi, the Government should build along its whole lower length +levees which taken together with the control of the headwaters, will at +once and forever put a complete stop to all threat of floods in the +immensely fertile Delta region. The territory lying adjacent to the +Mississippi along its lower course will thereby become one of the most +prosperous and populous, as it already is one of the most fertile, +farming regions in all the world. I have appointed an Inland Waterways +Commission to study and outline a comprehensive scheme of development +along all the lines indicated. Later I shall lay its report before the +Congress. + +Irrigation should be far more extensively developed than at present, +not only in the States of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, but +in many others, as, for instance, in large portions of the South +Atlantic and Gulf States, where it should go hand in hand with the +reclamation of swamp land. The Federal Government should seriously +devote itself to this task, realizing that utilization of waterways and +water-power, forestry, irrigation, and the reclamation of lands +threatened with overflow, are all interdependent parts of the same +problem. The work of the Reclamation Service in developing the larger +opportunities of the western half of our country for irrigation is more +important than almost any other movement. The constant purpose of the +Government in connection with the Reclamation Service has been to use +the water resources of the public lands for the ultimate greatest good +of the greatest number; in other words, to put upon the land permanent +home-makers, to use and develop it for themselves and for their +children and children's children. There has been, of course, opposition +to this work; opposition from some interested men who desire to exhaust +the land for their own immediate profit without regard to the welfare +of the next generation, and opposition from honest and well-meaning men +who did not fully understand the subject or who did not look far enough +ahead. This opposition is, I think, dying away, and our people are +understanding that it would be utterly wrong to allow a few individuals +to exhaust for their own temporary personal profit the resources which +ought to be developed through use so as to be conserved for the +permanent common advantage of the people as a whole. + +The effort of the Government to deal with the public land has been +based upon the same principle as that of the Reclamation Service. The +land law system which was designed to meet the needs of the fertile and +well-watered regions of the Middle West has largely broken down when +applied to the dryer regions of the Great Plains, the mountains, and +much of the Pacific slope, where a farm of 160 acres is inadequate for +self-support. In these regions the system lent itself to fraud, and +much land passed out of the hands of the Government without passing +into the hands of the home-maker. The Department of the Interior and +the Department of Justice joined in prosecuting the offenders against +the law; and they have accomplished much, while where the +administration of the law has been defective it has been changed. But +the laws themselves are defective. Three years ago a public lands +commission was appointed to scrutinize the law, and defects, and +recommend a remedy. Their examination specifically showed the existence +of great fraud upon the public domain, and their recommendations for +changes in the law were made with the design of conserving the natural +resources of every part of the public lands by putting it to its best +use. Especial attention was called to the prevention of settlement by +the passage of great areas of public land into the hands of a few men, +and to the enormous waste caused by unrestricted grazing upon the open +range. The recommendations of the Public Lands Commission are sound, +for they are especially in the interest of the actual homemaker; and +where the small home-maker can not at present utilize the land they +provide that the Government shall keep control of it so that it may not +be monopolized by a few men. The Congress has not yet acted upon these +recommendations; but they are so just and proper, so essential to our +National welfare, that I feel confident, if the Congress will take time +to consider them, that they will ultimately be adopted. + +Some such legislation as that proposed is essential in order to +preserve the great stretches of public grazing land which are unfit for +cultivation under present methods and are valuable only for the forage +which they supply. These stretches amount in all to some 300,000,000 +acres, and are open to the free grazing of cattle, sheep, horses and +goats, without restriction. Such a system, or lack of system, means +that the range is not so much used as wasted by abuse. As the West +settles the range becomes more and more over-grazed. Much of it can not +be used to advantage unless it is fenced, for fencing is the only way +by which to keep in check the owners of nomad flocks which roam hither +and thither, utterly destroying the pastures and leaving a waste behind +so that their presence is incompatible with the presence of +home-makers. The existing fences are all illegal. Some of them +represent the improper exclusion of actual settlers, actual +home-makers, from territory which is usurped by great cattle companies. +Some of them represent what is in itself a proper effort to use the +range for those upon the land, and to prevent its use by nomadic +outsiders. All these fences, those that are hurtful and those that are +beneficial, are alike illegal and must come down. But it is an outrage +that the law should necessitate such action on the part of the +Administration. The unlawful fencing of public lands for private +grazing must be stopped, but the necessity which occasioned it must be +provided for. The Federal Government should have control of the range, +whether by permit or lease, as local necessities may determine. Such +control could secure the great benefit of legitimate fencing, while at +the same time securing and promoting the settlement of the country. In +some places it may be that the tracts of range adjacent to the +homesteads of actual settlers should be allotted to them severally or +in common for the summer grazing of their stock. Elsewhere it may be +that a lease system would serve the purpose; the leases to be temporary +and subject to the rights of settlement, and the amount charged being +large enough merely to permit of the efficient and beneficial control +of the range by the Government, and of the payment to the county of the +equivalent of what it would otherwise receive in taxes. The destruction +of the public range will continue until some such laws as these are +enacted. Fully to prevent the fraud in the public lands which, through +the joint action of the Interior Department and the Department of +Justice, we have been endeavoring to prevent, there must be further +legislation, and especially a sufficient appropriation to permit the +Department of the Interior to examine certain classes of entries on the +ground before they pass into private ownership. The Government should +part with its title only to the actual home-maker, not to the +profit-maker who does not care to make a home. Our prime object is to +secure the rights and guard the interests of the small ranchman, the +man who plows and pitches hay for himself. It is this small ranchman, +this actual settler and homemaker, who in the long run is most hurt by +permitting thefts of the public land in whatever form. + +Optimism is a good characteristic, but if carried to an excess it +becomes foolishness. We are prone to speak of the resources of this +country as inexhaustible; this is not so. The mineral wealth of the +country, the coal, iron, oil, gas, and the like, does not reproduce +itself, and therefore is certain to be exhausted ultimately; and +wastefulness in dealing with it to-day means that our descendants will +feel the exhaustion a generation or two before they otherwise would. +But there are certain other forms of waste which could be entirely +stopped--the waste of soil by washing, for instance, which is among the +most dangerous of all wastes now in progress in the United States, is +easily preventable, so that this present enormous loss of fertility is +entirely unnecessary. The preservation or replacement of the forests is +one of the most important means of preventing this loss. We have made a +beginning in forest preservation, but it is only a beginning. At +present lumbering is the fourth greatest industry in the United States; +and yet, so rapid has been the rate of exhaustion of timber in the +United States in the past, and so rapidly is the remainder being +exhausted, that the country is unquestionably on the verge of a timber +famine which will be felt in every household in the land. There has +already been a rise in the price of lumber, but there is certain to be +a more rapid and heavier rise in the future. The present annual +consumption of lumber is certainly three times as great as the annual +growth; and if the consumption and growth continue unchanged, +practically all our lumber will be exhausted in another generation, +while long before the limit to complete exhaustion is reached the +growing scarcity will make itself felt in many blighting ways upon our +National welfare. About 20 per cent of our forested territory is now +reserved in National forests; but these do not include the most +valuable timber lauds, and in any event the proportion is too small to +expect that the reserves can accomplish more than a mitigation of the +trouble which is ahead for the nation. Far more drastic action is +needed. Forests can be lumbered so as to give to the public the full +use of their mercantile timber without the slightest detriment to the +forest, any more than it is a detriment to a farm to furnish a harvest; +so that there is no parallel between forests and mines, which can only +be completely used by exhaustion. But forests, if used as all our +forests have been used in the past and as most of them are still used, +will be either wholly destroyed, or so damaged that many decades have +to pass before effective use can be made of them again. All these facts +are so obvious that it is extraordinary that it should be necessary to +repeat them. Every business man in the land, every writer in the +newspapers, every man or woman of an ordinary school education, ought +to be able to see that immense quantities of timber are used in the +country, that the forests which supply this timber are rapidly being +exhausted, and that, if no change takes place, exhaustion will come +comparatively soon, and that the effects of it will be felt severely in +the every-day life of our people. Surely, when these facts are so +obvious, there should be no delay in taking preventive measures. Yet we +seem as a nation to be willing to proceed in this matter with +happy-go-lucky indifference even to the immediate future. It is this +attitude which permits the self-interest of a very few persons to weigh +for more than the ultimate interest of all our people. There are +persons who find it to their immense pecuniary benefit to destroy the +forests by lumbering. They are to be blamed for thus sacrificing the +future of the Nation as a whole to their own self-interest of the +moment; but heavier blame attaches to the people at large for +permitting such action, whether in the White Mountains, in the southern +Alleghenies, or in the Rockies and Sierras. A big lumbering company, +impatient for immediate returns and not caring to look far enough +ahead, will often deliberately destroy all the good timber in a region, +hoping afterwards to move on to some new country. The shiftless man of +small means, who does not care to become an actual home-maker but would +like immediate profit, will find it to his advantage to take up timber +land simply to turn it over to such a big company, and leave it +valueless for future settlers. A big mine owner, anxious only to +develop his mine at the moment, will care only to cut all the timber +that he wishes without regard to the future--probably net looking ahead +to the condition of the country when the forests are exhausted, any +more than he does to the condition when the mine is worked out. I do +not blame these men nearly as much as I blame the supine public +opinion, the indifferent public opinion, which permits their action to +go unchecked. Of course to check the waste of timber means that there +must be on the part of the public the acceptance of a temporary +restriction in the lavish use of the timber, in order to prevent the +total loss of this use in the future. There are plenty of men in public +and private life who actually advocate the continuance of the present +system of unchecked and wasteful extravagance, using as an argument the +fact that to check it will of course mean interference with the ease +and comfort of certain people who now get lumber at less cost than they +ought to pay, at the expense of the future generations. Some of these +persons actually demand that the present forest reserves be thrown open +to destruction, because, forsooth, they think that thereby the price of +lumber could be put down again for two or three or more years. Their +attitude is precisely like that of an agitator protesting against the +outlay of money by farmers on manure and in taking care of their farms +generally. Undoubtedly, if the average farmer were content absolutely +to ruin his farm, he could for two or three years avoid spending any +money on it, and yet make a good deal of money out of it. But only a +savage would, in his private affairs, show such reckless disregard of +the future; yet it is precisely this reckless disregard of the future +which the opponents of the forestry system are now endeavoring to get +the people of the United States to show. The only trouble with the +movement for the preservation of our forests is that it has not gone +nearly far enough, and was not begun soon enough. It is a most +fortunate thing, however, that we began it when we did. We should +acquire in the Appalachian and White Mountain regions all the forest +lands that it is possible to acquire for the use of the Nation. These +lands, because they form a National asset, are as emphatically national +as the rivers which they feed, and which flow through so many States +before they reach the ocean. + +There should be no tariff on any forest product grown in this country; +and, in especial, there should be no tariff on wood pulp; due notice of +the change being of course given to those engaged in the business so as +to enable them to adjust themselves to the new conditions. The repeal +of the duty on wood pulp should if possible be accompanied by an +agreement with Canada that there shall be no export duty on Canadian +pulp wood. + +In the eastern United States the mineral fuels have already passed into +the hands of large private owners, and those of the West are rapidly +following. It is obvious that these fuels should be conserved and not +wasted, and it would be well to protect the people against unjust and +extortionate prices, so far as that can still be done. What has been +accomplished in the great oil fields of the Indian Territory by the +action of the Administration, offers a striking example of the good +results of such a policy. In my judgment the Government should have the +right to keep the fee of the coal, oil, and gas fields in its own +possession and to lease the rights to develop them under proper +regulations; or else, if the Congress will not adopt this method, the +coal deposits should be sold under limitations, to conserve them as +public utilities, the right to mine coal being separated from the title +to the soil. The regulations should permit coal lands to be worked in +sufficient quantity by the several corporations. The present +limitations have been absurd, excessive, and serve no useful purpose, +and often render it necessary that there should be either fraud or +close abandonment of the work of getting out the coal. + +Work on the Panama Canal is proceeding in a highly satisfactory manner. +In March last, John F. Stevens, chairman of the Commission and chief +engineer, resigned, and the Commission was reorganized and constituted +as follows: Lieut. Col. George W. Goethals, Corps. of Engineers, U. S. +Army, chairman and chief engineer; Maj. D. D. Gall-lard, Corps of +Engineers, U. S. Army; Maj. William L. Sibert, Corps of Engineers, U. +S. Army; Civil Engineer H. H. Rousseau, U. S. Navy; Mr. J. C. S. +Blackburn; Col. W. C. Gorgas, U. S. Army, and Mr. Jackson Smith, +Commissioners. This change of authority and direction went into effect +on April 1, without causing a perceptible check to the progress of the +work. In March the total excavation in the Culebra Cut, where effort +was chiefly concentrated, was 815,270 cubic yards. In April this was +increased to 879,527 cubic yards. There was a considerable decrease in +the output for May and June owing partly to the advent of the rainy +season and partly to temporary trouble with the steam shovel men over +the question of wages. This trouble was settled satisfactorily to all +parties and in July the total excavation advanced materially and in +August the grand total from all points in the canal prism by steam +shovels and dredges exceeded all previous United States records, +reaching 1,274,404 cubic yards. In September this record was eclipsed +and a total of 1,517,412 cubic yards was removed. Of this amount +1,481,307 cubic yards were from the canal prism and 36,105 cubic yards +were from accessory works. These results were achieved in the rainy +season with a rainfall in August of 11.89 inches and in September of +11.65 inches. Finally, in October, the record was again eclipsed, the +total excavation being 1,868,729 cubic yards; a truly extraordinary +record, especially in view of the heavy rainfall, which was 17.1 +inches. In fact, experience during the last two rainy seasons +demonstrates that the rains are a less serious obstacle to progress +than has hitherto been supposed. + +Work on the locks and dams at Gatun, which began actively in March +last, has advanced so far that it is thought that masonry work on the +locks can be begun within fifteen months. In order to remove all doubt +as to the satisfactory character of the foundations for the locks of +the Canal, the Secretary of War requested three eminent civil +engineers, of special experience in such construction, Alfred Noble, +Frederic P. Stearns and John R. Freeman, to visit the Isthmus and make +thorough personal investigations of the sites. These gentlemen went to +the Isthmus in April and by means of test pits which had been dug for +the purpose, they inspected the proposed foundations, and also examined +the borings that had been made. In their report to the Secretary of +War, under date of May 2, 1907, they said: "We found that all of the +locks, of the dimensions now proposed, will rest upon rock of such +character that it will furnish a safe and stable foundation." +Subsequent new borings, conducted by the present Commission, have fully +confirmed this verdict. They show that the locks will rest on rock for +their entire length. The cross section of the dam and method of +construction will be such as to insure against any slip or sloughing +off. Similar examination of the foundations of the locks and dams on +the Pacific side are in progress. I believe that the locks should be +made of a width of 120 feet. + +Last winter bids were requested and received for doing the work of +canal construction by contract. None of them was found to be +satisfactory and all were rejected. It is the unanimous opinion of the +present Commission that the work can be done better, more cheaply, and +more quickly by the Government than by private contractors. Fully 80 +per cent of the entire plant needed for construction has been purchased +or contracted for; machine shops have been erected and equipped for +making all needed repairs to the plant; many thousands of employees +have been secured; an effective organization has been perfected; a +recruiting system is in operation which is capable of furnishing more +labor than can be used advantageously; employees are well sheltered and +well fed; salaries paid are satisfactory, and the work is not only +going forward smoothly, but it is producing results far in advance of +the most sanguine anticipations. Under these favorable conditions, a +change in the method of prosecuting the work would be unwise and +unjustifiable, for it would inevitably disorganize existing conditions, +check progress, and increase the cost and lengthen the time of +completing the Canal. + +The chief engineer and all his professional associates are firmly +convinced that the 85 feet level lock canal which they are constructing +is the best that could be desired. Some of them had doubts on this +point when they went to the Isthmus. As the plans have developed under +their direction their doubts have been dispelled. While they may decide +upon changes in detail as construction advances they are in hearty +accord in approving the general plan. They believe that it provides a +canal not only adequate to all demands that will be made upon it but +superior in every way to a sea level canal. I concur in this belief. + +I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress a postal +savings bank system, as recommended by the Postmaster-General. The +primary object is to encourage among our people economy and thrift and +by the use of postal savings banks to give them an opportunity to +husband their resources, particularly those who have not the facilities +at hand for depositing their money in savings banks. Viewed, however, +from the experience of the past few weeks, it is evident that the +advantages of such an institution are till more far-reaching. Timid +depositors have withdrawn their savings for the time being from +national banks, trust companies, and savings banks; individuals have +hoarded their cash and the workingmen their earnings; all of which +money has been withheld and kept in hiding or in safe deposit box to +the detriment of prosperity. Through the agency of the postal savings +banks such money would be restored to the channels of trade, to the +mutual benefit of capital and labor. + +I further commend to the Congress the consideration of the +Postmaster-General's recommendation for an extension of the parcel +post, especially on the rural routes. There are now 38,215 rural +routes, serving nearly 15,000,000 people who do not have the advantages +of the inhabitants of cities in obtaining their supplies. These +recommendations have been drawn up to benefit the farmer and the +country storekeeper; otherwise, I should not favor them, for I believe +that it is good policy for our Government to do everything possible to +aid the small town and the country district. It is desirable that the +country merchant should not be crushed out. + +The fourth-class postmasters' convention has passed a very strong +resolution in favor of placing the fourth-class postmasters under the +civil-service law. The Administration has already put into effect the +policy of refusing to remove any fourth-class postmasters save for +reasons connected with the good of the service; and it is endeavoring +so far as possible to remove them from the domain of partisan politics. +It would be a most desirable thing to put the fourth-class postmasters +in the classified service. It is possible that this might be done +without Congressional action, but, as the matter is debatable, I +earnestly recommend that the Congress enact a law providing that they +be included under the civil-service law and put in the classified +service. + +Oklahoma has become a State, standing on a full equality with her elder +sisters, and her future is assured by her great natural resources. The +duty of the National Government to guard the personal and property +rights of the Indians within her borders remains of course unchanged. + +I reiterate my recommendations of last year as regards Alaska. Some +form of local self-government should be provided, as simple and +inexpensive as possible; it is impossible for the Congress to devote +the necessary time to all the little details of necessary Alaskan +legislation. Road building and railway building should be encouraged. +The Governor of Alaska should be given an ample appropriation wherewith +to organize a force to preserve the public peace. Whisky selling to the +natives should be made a felony. The coal land laws should be changed +so as to meet the peculiar needs of the Territory. This should be +attended to at once; for the present laws permit individuals to locate +large areas of the public domain for speculative purposes; and cause an +immense amount of trouble, fraud, and litigation. There should be +another judicial division established. As early as possible lighthouses +and buoys should be established as aids to navigation, especially in +and about Prince William Sound, and the survey of the coast completed. +There is need of liberal appropriations for lighting and buoying the +southern coast and improving the aids to navigation in southeastern +Alaska. One of the great industries of Alaska, as of Puget Sound and +the Columbia, is salmon fishing. Gradually, by reason of lack of proper +laws, this industry is being ruined; it should now be taken in charge, +and effectively protected, by the United States Government. + +The courage and enterprise of the citizens of the far north-west in +their projected Alaskan-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, to be held in 1909, +should receive liberal encouragement. This exposition is not +sentimental in its conception, but seeks to exploit the natural +resources of Alaska and to promote the commerce, trade, and industry of +the Pacific States with their neighboring States and with our insular +possessions and the neighboring countries of the Pacific. The +exposition asks no loan from the Congress but seeks appropriations for +National exhibits and exhibits of the western dependencies of the +General Government. The State of Washington and the city of Seattle +have shown the characteristic western enterprise in large donations for +the conduct of this exposition in which other States are lending +generous assistance. + +The unfortunate failure of the shipping bill at the last session of the +last Congress was followed by the taking off of certain Pacific +steamships, which has greatly hampered the movement of passengers +between Hawaii and the mainland. Unless the Congress is prepared by +positive encouragement to secure proper facilities in the way of +shipping between Hawaii and the mainland, then the coastwise shipping +laws should be so far relaxed as to prevent Hawaii suffering as it is +now suffering. I again call your attention to the capital importance +from every standpoint of making Pearl Harbor available for the largest +deep water vessels, and of suitably fortifying the island. + +The Secretary of War has gone to the Philippines. On his return I shall +submit to you his report on the islands. + +I again recommend that the rights of citizenship be conferred upon the +people of Porto Rico. + +A bureau of mines should be created under the control and direction of +the Secretary of the Interior; the bureau to have power to collect +statistics and make investigations in all matters pertaining to mining +and particularly to the accidents and dangers of the industry. If this +can not now be done, at least additional appropriations should be given +the Interior Department to be used for the study of mining conditions, +for the prevention of fraudulent mining schemes, for carrying on the +work of mapping the mining districts, for studying methods for +minimizing the accidents and dangers in the industry; in short, to aid +in all proper ways the development of the mining industry. + +I strongly recommend to the Congress to provide funds for keeping up +the Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson; these funds to be used +through the existing Hermitage Association for the preservation of a +historic building which should ever be dear to Americans. + +I further recommend that a naval monument be established in the +Vicksburg National Park. This national park gives a unique opportunity +for commemorating the deeds of those gallant men who fought on water, +no less than of those who fought on land, in the great civil War. + +Legislation should be enacted at the present session of the Congress +for the Thirteenth Census. The establishment of the permanent Census +Bureau affords the opportunity for a better census than we have ever +had, but in order to realize the full advantage of the permanent +organization, ample time must be given for preparation. + +There is a constantly growing interest in this country in the question +of the public health. At last the public mind is awake to the fact that +many diseases, notably tuberculosis, are National scourges. The work of +the State and city boards of health should be supplemented by a +constantly increasing interest on the part of the National Government. +The Congress has already provided a bureau of public health and has +provided for a hygienic laboratory. There are other valuable laws +relating to the public health connected with the various departments. +This whole branch of the Government should be strengthened and aided in +every way. + +I call attention to two Government commissions which I have appointed +and which have already done excellent work. The first of these has to +do with the organization of the scientific work of the Government, +which has grown up wholly without plan and is in consequence so +unwisely distributed among the Executive Departments that much of its +effect is lost for the lack of proper coordination. This commission's +chief object is to introduce a planned and orderly development and +operation in the place of the ill-assorted and often ineffective +grouping and methods of work which have prevailed. This can not be done +without legislation, nor would it be feasible to deal in detail with so +complex an administrative problem by specific provisions of law. I +recommend that the President be given authority to concentrate related +lines of work and reduce duplication by Executive order through +transfer and consolidation of lines of work. + +The second committee, that on Department methods, was instructed to +investigate and report upon the changes needed to place the conduct of +the executive force of the Government on the most economical and +effective basis in the light of the best modern business practice. The +committee has made very satisfactory progress. Antiquated practices and +bureaucratic ways have been abolished, and a general renovation of +departmental methods has been inaugurated. All that can be done by +Executive order has already been accomplished or will be put into +effect in the near future. The work of the main committee and its +several assistant committees has produced a wholesome awakening on the +part of the great body of officers and employees engaged in Government +work. In nearly every Department and office there has been a careful +self-inspection for the purpose of remedying any defects before they +could be made the subject of adverse criticism. This has led +individuals to a wider study of the work on which they were engaged, +and this study has resulted in increasing their efficiency in their +respective lines of work. There are recommendations of special +importance from the committee on the subject of personnel and the +classification of salaries which will require legislative action before +they can be put into effect. It is my intention to submit to the +Congress in the near future a special message on those subjects. + +Under our form of government voting is not merely a right but a duty, +and, moreover, a fundamental and necessary duty if a man is to be a +good citizen. It is well to provide that corporations shall not +contribute to Presidential or National campaigns, and furthermore to +provide for the publication of both contributions and expenditures. +There is, however, always danger in laws of this kind, which from their +very nature are difficult of enforcement; the danger being lest they be +obeyed only by the honest, and disobeyed by the unscrupulous, so as to +act only as a penalty upon honest men. Moreover, no such law would +hamper an unscrupulous man of unlimited means from buying his own way +into office. There is a very radical measure which would, I believe, +work a substantial improvement in our system of conducting a campaign, +although I am well aware that it will take some time for people so to +familiarize themselves with such a proposal as to be willing to +consider its adoption. The need for collecting large campaign funds +would vanish if Congress provided an appropriation for the proper and +legitimate expenses of each of the great national parties, an +appropriation ample enough to meet the necessity for thorough +organization and machinery, which requires a large expenditure of +money. Then the stipulation should be made that no party receiving +campaign funds from the Treasury should accept more than a fixed amount +from any individual subscriber or donor; and the necessary publicity +for receipts and expenditures could without difficulty be provided. + +There should be a National gallery of art established in the capital +city of this country. This is important not merely to the artistic but +to the material welfare of the country; and the people are to be +congratulated on the fact that the movement to establish such a gallery +is taking definite form under the guidance of the Smithsonian +Institution. So far from there being a tariff on works of art brought +into the country, their importation should be encouraged in every way. +There have been no sufficient collections of objects of art by the +Government, and what collections have been acquired are scattered and +are generally placed in unsuitable and imperfectly lighted galleries. + +The Biological Survey is quietly working for the good of our +agricultural interests, and is an excellent example of a Government +bureau which conducts original scientific research the findings of +which are of much practical utility. For more than twenty years it has +studied the food habits of birds and mammals that are injurious or +beneficial to agriculture, horticulture, and forestry; has distributed +illustrated bulletins on the subject, and has labored to secure +legislative protection for the beneficial species. The cotton +boll-weevil, which has recently overspread the cotton belt of Texas and +is steadily extending its range, is said to cause an annual loss of +about $3,000,000. The Biological Survey has ascertained and gives wide +publicity to the fact that at least 43 kinds of birds prey upon this +destructive insect. It has discovered that 57 species of birds feed +upon scale-insects--dreaded enemies of the fruit grower. It has shown +that woodpeckers as a class, by destroying the larvae of wood-boring +insects, are so essential to tree life that it is doubtful if our +forests could exist without them. It has shown that cuckoos and orioles +are the natural enemies of the leaf-eating caterpillars that destroy +our shade and fruit trees; that our quails and sparrows consume +annually hundreds of tons of seeds of noxious weeds; that hawks and +owls as a class (excepting the few that kill poultry and game birds) +are markedly beneficial, spending their lives in catching grasshoppers, +mice, and other pests that prey upon the products of husbandry. It has +conducted field experiments for the purpose of devising and perfecting +simple methods for holding in check the hordes of destructive +rodents--rats, mice, rabbits, gophers, prairie dogs, and ground +squirrels--which annually destroy crops worth many millions of dollars; +and it has published practical directions for the destruction of wolves +and coyotes on the stock ranges of the West, resulting during the past +year in an estimated saving of cattle and sheep valued at upwards of a +million dollars. + +It has inaugurated a system of inspection at the principal ports of +entry on both Atlantic and Pacific coasts by means of which the +introduction of noxious mammals and birds is prevented, thus keeping +out the mongoose and certain birds which are as much to be dreaded as +the previously introduced English sparrow and the house rats and mice. + +In the interest of game protection it has cooperated with local +officials in every State in the Union, has striven to promote uniform +legislation in the several States, has rendered important service in +enforcing the Federal law regulating interstate traffic in game, and +has shown how game protection may be made to yield a large revenue to +the State--a revenue amounting in the case of Illinois to $128,000 in a +single year. + +The Biological Survey has explored the faunas and floras of America +with reference to the distribution of animals and plants; it has +defined and mapped the natural life areas--areas in which, by reason of +prevailing climatic conditions, certain kinds of animals and plants +occur--and has pointed out the adaptability of these areas to the +cultivation of particular crops. The results of these investigations +are not only of high educational value but are worth each year to the +progressive farmers of the country many times the cost of maintaining +the Survey, which, it may be added, is exceedingly small. I recommend +to Congress that this bureau, whose usefulness is seriously handicapped +by lack of funds, be granted an appropriation in some degree +commensurate with the importance of the work it is doing. + +I call your especial attention to the unsatisfactory condition of our +foreign mail service, which, because of the lack of American steamship +lines is now largely done through foreign lines, and which, +particularly so far as South and Central America are concerned, is done +in a manner which constitutes a serious barrier to the extension of our +commerce. + +The time has come, in my judgment, to set to work seriously to make our +ocean mail service correspond more closely with our recent commercial +and political development. A beginning was made by the ocean mail act +of March 3, 1891, but even at that time the act was known to be +inadequate in various particulars. Since that time events have moved +rapidly in our history. We have acquired Hawaii, the Philippines, and +lesser islands in the Pacific. We are steadily prosecuting the great +work of uniting at the Isthmus the waters of the Atlantic and the +Pacific. To a greater extent than seemed probable even a dozen years +ago, we may look to an American future on the sea worthy of the +traditions of our past. As the first step in that direction, and the +step most feasible at the present time, I recommend the extension of +the ocean mail act of 1891. This act has stood for some years free from +successful criticism of its principle and purpose. It was based on +theories of the obligations of a great maritime nation, undisputed in +our own land and followed by other nations since the beginning of steam +navigation. Briefly those theories are, that it is the duty of a +first-class Power so far as practicable to carry its ocean mails under +its own flag; that the fast ocean steamships and their crews, required +for such mail service, are valuable auxiliaries to the sea power of a +nation. Furthermore, the construction of such steamships insures the +maintenance in an efficient condition of the shipyards in which our +battleships must be built. + +The expenditure of public money for the Performance of such necessary +functions of government is certainly warranted, nor is it necessary to +dwell upon the incidental benefits to our foreign commerce, to the +shipbuilding industry, and to ship owning and navigation which will +accompany the discharge of these urgent public duties, though they, +too, should have weight. + +The only serious question is whether at this time we can afford to +improve our ocean mail service as it should be improved. All doubt on +this subject is removed by the reports of the Post-Office Department. +For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1907, that Department estimates that +the postage collected on the articles exchanged with foreign countries +other than Canada and Mexico amounted to $6,579,043.48, or +$3,637,226.81 more than the net cost of the service exclusive of the +cost of transporting the articles between the United States exchange +post-offices and the United States post-offices at which they were +mailed or delivered. In other words, the Government of the United +States, having assumed a monopoly of carrying the mails for the people, +making a profit of over $3,600,000 by rendering a cheap and inefficient +service. That profit I believe should be devoted to strengthening +maritime power in those directions where it will best promote our +prestige. The country is familiar with the facts of our maritime +impotence in the harbors of the great and friendly Republics of South +America. Following the failure of the shipbuilding bill we lost our +only American line of steamers to Australasia, and that loss on the +Pacific has become a serious embarrassment to the people of Hawaii, and +has wholly cut off the Samoan islands from regular communication with +the Pacific coast. Puget Sound, in the year, has lost over half (four +out of seven) of its American steamers trading with the Orient. + +We now pay under the act of 1891 $4 a statute mile outward to 20-knot +American mail steamships, built according to naval plans, available as +cruisers, and manned by Americans. Steamships of that speed are +confined exclusively to trans-Atlantic trade with New York. To +steamships of 16 knots or over only $2 a mile can be paid, and it is +steamships of this speed and type which are needed to meet the +requirements of mail service to South America, Asia (including the +Philippines), and Australia. I strongly recommend, therefore, a simple +amendment to the ocean mail act of 1891 which shall authorize the +Postmaster-General in his discretion to enter into contracts for the +transportation of mails to the Republics of South America, to Asia, the +Philippines, and Australia at a rate not to exceed $4 a mile for +steamships of 16 knots speed or upwards, subject to the restrictions +and obligations of the act of 1891. The profit of $3,600,000 which has +been mentioned will fully cover the maximum annual expenditure involved +in this recommendation, and it is believed will in time establish the +lines so urgently needed. The proposition involves no new principle, +but permits the efficient discharge of public functions now +inadequately performed or not performed at all. + +Not only there is not now, but there never has been, any other nation +in the world so wholly free from the evils of militarism as is ours. +There never has been any other large nation, not even China, which for +so long a period has had relatively to its numbers so small a regular +army as has ours. Never at any time in our history has this Nation +suffered from militarism or been in the remotest danger of suffering +from militarism. Never at any time of our history has the Regular Army +been of a size which caused the slightest appreciable tax upon the +tax-paying citizens of the Nation. Almost always it has been too small +in size and underpaid. Never in our entire history has the Nation +suffered in the least particular because too much care has been given +to the Army, too much prominence given it, too much money spent upon +it, or because it has been too large. But again and again we have +suffered because enough care has not been given to it, because it has +been too small, because there has not been sufficient preparation in +advance for possible war. Every foreign war in which we have engaged +has cost us many times the amount which, if wisely expended during the +preceding years of peace on the Regular Army, would have insured the +war ending in but a fraction of the time and but for a fraction of the +cost that was actually the case. As a Nation we have always been +shortsighted in providing for the efficiency of the Army in time of +peace. It is nobody's especial interest to make such provision and no +one looks ahead to war at any period, no matter how remote, as being a +serious possibility; while an improper economy, or rather +niggardliness, can be practiced at the expense of the Army with the +certainty that those practicing it will not be called to account +therefor, but that the price will be paid by the unfortunate persons +who happen to be in office when a war does actually come. + +I think it is only lack of foresight that troubles us, not any +hostility to the Army. There are, of course, foolish people who +denounce any care of the Army or Navy as "militarism," but I do not +think that these people are numerous. This country has to contend now, +and has had to contend in the past, with many evils, and there is ample +scope for all who would work for reform. But there is not one evil that +now exists, or that ever has existed in this country, which is, or ever +has been, owing in the smallest part to militarism. Declamation against +militarism has no more serious place in an earnest and intelligent +movement for righteousness in this country than declamation against the +worship of Baal or Astaroth. It is declamation against a non-existent +evil, one which never has existed in this country, and which has not +the slightest chance of appearing here. We are glad to help in any +movement for international peace, but this is because we sincerely +believe that it is our duty to help all such movements provided they +are sane and rational, and not because there is any tendency toward +militarism on our part which needs to be cured. The evils we have to +fight are those in connection with industrialism, not militarism. +Industry is always necessary, just as war is sometimes necessary. Each +has its price, and industry in the United States now exacts, and has +always exacted, a far heavier toll of death than all our wars put +together. The statistics of the railroads of this country for the year +ended June 30, 1906, the last contained in the annual statistical +report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, show in that one year a +total of 108,324 casualties to persons, of which 10,618 represent the +number of persons killed. In that wonderful hive of human activity, +Pittsburg, the deaths due to industrial accidents in 1906 were 919, all +the result of accidents in mills, mines or on railroads. For the entire +country, therefore, it is safe to say that the deaths due to industrial +accidents aggregate in the neighborhood of twenty thousand a year. Such +a record makes the death rate in all our foreign wars utterly trivial +by comparison. The number of deaths in battle in all the foreign wars +put together, for the last century and a quarter, aggregate +considerably less than one year's death record for our industries. A +mere glance at these figures is sufficient to show the absurdity of the +outcry against militarism. + +But again and again in the past our little Regular Army has rendered +service literally vital to the country, and it may at any time have to +do so in the future. Its standard of efficiency and instruction is +higher now than ever in the past. But it is too small. There are not +enough officers; and it is impossible to secure enough enlisted men. We +should maintain in peace a fairly complete skeleton of a large army. A +great and long-continued war would have to be fought by volunteers. But +months would pass before any large body of efficient volunteers could +be put in the field, and our Regular Army should be large enough to +meet any immediate need. In particular it is essential that we should +possess a number of extra officers trained in peace to perform +efficiently the duties urgently required upon the breaking out of war. + +The Medical Corps should be much larger than the needs of our Regular +Army in war. Yet at present it is smaller than the needs of the service +demand even in peace. The Spanish war occurred less than ten years ago. +The chief loss we suffered in it was by disease among the regiments +which never left the country. At the moment the Nation seemed deeply +impressed by this fact; yet seemingly it has already been forgotten, +for not the slightest effort has been made to prepare a medical corps +of sufficient size to prevent the repetition of the same disaster on a +much larger scale if we should ever be engaged in a serious conflict. +The trouble in the Spanish war was not with the then existing officials +of the War Department; it was with the representatives of the people as +a whole who, for the preceding thirty years, had declined to make the +necessary provision for the Army. Unless ample provision is now made by +Congress to put the Medical Corps where it should be put disaster in +the next war is inevitable, and the responsibility will not lie with +those then in charge of the War Department, but with those who now +decline to make the necessary provision. A well organized medical +corps, thoroughly trained before the advent of war in all the important +administrative duties of a military sanitary corps, is essential to the +efficiency of any large army, and especially of a large volunteer army. +Such knowledge of medicine and surgery as is possessed by the medical +profession generally will not alone suffice to make an efficient +military surgeon. He must have, in addition, knowledge of the +administration and sanitation of large field hospitals and camps, in +order to safeguard the health and lives of men intrusted in great +numbers to his care. A bill has long been pending before the Congress +for the reorganization of the Medical Corps; its passage is urgently +needed. + +But the Medical Department is not the only department for which +increased provision should be made. The rate of pay for the officers +should be greatly increased; there is no higher type of citizen than +the American regular officer, and he should have a fair reward for his +admirable work. There should be a relatively even greater increase in +the pay for the enlisted men. In especial provision should be made for +establishing grades equivalent to those of warrant officers in the Navy +which should be open to the enlisted men who serve sufficiently long +and who do their work well. Inducements should be offered sufficient to +encourage really good men to make the Army a life occupation. The prime +needs of our present Army is to secure and retain competent +noncommissioned officers. This difficulty rests fundamentally on the +question of pay. The noncommissioned officer does not correspond with +an unskilled laborer; he corresponds to the best type of skilled +workman or to the subordinate official in civil institutions. Wages +have greatly increased in outside occupations in the last forty years +and the pay of the soldier, like the pay of the officers, should be +proportionately increased. The first sergeant of a company, if a good +man, must be one of such executive and administrative ability, and such +knowledge of his trade, as to be worth far more than we at present pay +him. The same is true of the regimental sergeant major. These men +should be men who had fully resolved to make the Army a life occupation +and they should be able to look forward to ample reward; while only men +properly qualified should be given a chance to secure these final +rewards. The increase over the present pay need not be great in the +lower grades for the first one or two enlistments, but the increase +should be marked for the noncommissioned officers of the upper grades +who serve long enough to make it evident that they intend to stay +permanently in the Army, while additional pay should be given for high +qualifications in target practice. The position of warrant officer +should be established and there should be not only an increase of pay, +but an increase of privileges and allowances and dignity, so as to make +the grade open to noncommissioned officers capable of filling them +desirably from every standpoint. The rate of desertion in our Army now +in time of peace is alarming. The deserter should be treated by public +opinion as a man guilty of the greatest crime; while on the other hand +the man who serves steadily in the Army should be treated as what he +is, that is, as preeminently one of the best citizens of this Republic. +After twelve years' service in the Army, my own belief is that the man +should be given a preference according to his ability for certain types +of office over all civilian applicants without examination. This should +also apply, of course, to the men who have served twelve years in the +Navy. A special corps should be provided to do the manual labor now +necessarily demanded of the privates themselves. + +Among the officers there should be severe examinations to weed out the +unfit up to the grade of major. From that position on appointments +should be solely by selection and it should be understood that a man of +merely average capacity could never get beyond the position of major, +while every man who serves in any grade a certain length of time prior +to promotion to the next grade without getting the promotion to the +next grade should be forthwith retired. The practice marches and field +maneuvers of the last two or three years have been invaluable to the +Army. They should be continued and extended. A rigid and not a +perfunctory examination of physical capacity has been provided for the +higher grade officers. This will work well. Unless an officer has a +good physique, unless he can stand hardship, ride well, and walk +fairly, he is not fit for any position, even after he has become a +colonel. Before he has become a colonel the need for physical fitness +in the officers is almost as great as in the enlisted man. I hope +speedily to see introduced into the Army a far more rigid and +thoroughgoing test of horsemanship for all field officers than at +present. There should be a Chief of Cavalry just as there is a Chief of +Artillery. + +Perhaps the most important of all legislation needed for the benefit of +the Army is a law to equalize and increase the pay of officers and +enlisted men of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Revenue-Cutter +Service. Such a bill has been prepared, which it is hoped will meet +with your favorable consideration. The next most essential measure is +to authorize a number of extra officers as mentioned above. To make the +Army more attractive to enlisted men, it is absolutely essential to +create a service corps, such as exists in nearly every modern army in +the world, to do the skilled and unskilled labor, inseparably connected +with military administration, which is now exacted, without just +compensation, of enlisted men who voluntarily entered the Army to do +service of an altogether different kind. There are a number of other +laws necessary to so organize the Army as to promote its efficiency and +facilitate its rapid expansion in time of war; but the above are the +most important. + +It was hoped The Hague Conference might deal with the question of the +limitation of armaments. But even before it had assembled informal +inquiries had developed that as regards naval armaments, the only ones +in which this country had any interest, it was hopeless to try to +devise any plan for which there was the slightest possibility of +securing the assent of the nations gathered at The Hague. No plan was +even proposed which would have had the assent of more than one first +class Power outside of the United States. The only plan that seemed at +all feasible, that of limiting the size of battleships, met with no +favor at all. It is evident, therefore, that it is folly for this +Nation to base any hope of securing peace on any international +agreement as to the limitations of armaments. Such being the fact it +would be most unwise for us to stop the upbuilding of our Navy. To +build one battleship of the best and most advanced type a year would +barely keep our fleet up to its present force. This is not enough. In +my judgment, we should this year provide for four battleships. But it +is idle to build battleships unless in addition to providing the men, +and the means for thorough training, we provide the auxiliaries for +them, unless we provide docks, the coaling stations, the colliers and +supply ships that they need. We are extremely deficient in coaling +stations and docks on the Pacific, and this deficiency should not +longer be permitted to exist. Plenty of torpedo boats and destroyers +should be built. Both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, +fortifications of the best type should be provided for all our greatest +harbors. + +We need always to remember that in time of war the Navy is not to be +used to defend harbors and sea-coast cities; we should perfect our +system of coast fortifications. The only efficient use for the Navy is +for offense. The only way in which it can efficiently protect our own +coast against the possible action of a foreign navy is by destroying +that foreign navy. For defense against a hostile fleet which actually +attacks them, the coast cities must depend upon their forts, mines, +torpedoes, submarines, and torpedo boats and destroyers. All of these +together are efficient for defensive purposes, but they in no way +supply the place of a thoroughly efficient navy capable of acting on +the offensive; for parrying never yet won a fight. It can only be won +by hard hitting, and an aggressive sea-going navy alone can do this +hard hitting of the offensive type. But the forts and the like are +necessary so that the Navy may be footloose. In time of war there is +sure to be demand, under pressure, of fright, for the ships to be +scattered so as to defend all kind of ports. Under penalty of terrible +disaster, this demand must be refused. The ships must be kept together, +and their objective made the enemies' fleet. If fortifications are +sufficiently strong, no modern navy will venture to attack them, so +long as the foe has in existence a hostile navy of anything like the +same size or efficiency. But unless there exists such a navy then the +fortifications are powerless by themselves to secure the victory. For +of course the mere deficiency means that any resolute enemy can at his +leisure combine all his forces upon one point with the certainty that +he can take it. + +Until our battle fleet is much larger than at present it should never +be split into detachments so far apart that they could not in event of +emergency be speedily united. Our coast line is on the Pacific just as +much as on the Atlantic. The interests of California, Oregon, and +Washington are as emphatically the interests of the whole Union as +those of Maine and New York, of Louisiana and Texas. The battle fleet +should now and then be moved to the Pacific, just as at other times it +should be kept in the Atlantic. When the Isthmian Canal is built the +transit of the battle fleet from one ocean to the other will be +comparatively easy. Until it is built I earnestly hope that the battle +fleet will be thus shifted between the two oceans every year or two. +The marksmanship on all our ships has improved phenomenally during the +last five years. Until within the last two or three years it was not +possible to train a battle fleet in squadron maneuvers under service +conditions, and it is only during these last two or three years that +the training under these conditions has become really effective. +Another and most necessary stride in advance is now being taken. The +battle fleet is about starting by the Straits of Magellan to visit the +Pacific coast.. Sixteen battleships are going under the command of +Rear-Admiral Evans, while eight armored cruisers and two other +battleships will meet him at San Francisco, whither certain torpedo +destroyers are also going. No fleet of such size has ever made such a +voyage, and it will be of very great educational use to all engaged in +it. The only way by which to teach officers and men how to handle the +fleet so as to meet every possible strain and emergency in time of war +is to have them practice under similar conditions in time of peace. +Moreover, the only way to find out our actual needs is to perform in +time of peace whatever maneuvers might be necessary in time of war. +After war is declared it is too late to find out the needs; that means +to invite disaster. This trip to the Pacific will show what some of our +needs are and will enable us to provide for them. The proper place for +an officer to learn his duty is at sea, and the only way in which a +navy can ever be made efficient is by practice at sea, under all the +conditions which would have to be met if war existed. + +I bespeak the most liberal treatment for the officers and enlisted men +of the Navy. It is true of them, as likewise of the officers and +enlisted men of the Army, that they form a body whose interests should +be close to the heart of every good American. In return the most rigid +performance of duty should be exacted from them. The reward should be +ample when they do their best; and nothing less than their best should +be tolerated. It is idle to hope for the best results when the men in +the senior grades come to those grades late in life and serve too short +a time in them. Up to the rank of lieutenant-commander promotion in the +Navy should be as now, by seniority, subject, however, to such +rigid tests as would eliminate the unfit. After the grade of +lieutenant-commander, that is, when we come to the grade of command +rank, the unfit should be eliminated in such manner that only the +conspicuously fit would remain, and sea service should be a principal +test of fitness. Those who are passed by should, after a certain length +of service in their respective grades, be retired. Of a given number of +men it may well be that almost all would make good lieutenants and most +of them good lieutenant-commanders, while only a minority be fit to be +captains, and but three or four to be admirals. Those who object to +promotion otherwise than by mere seniority should reflect upon the +elementary fact that no business in private life could be successfully +managed if those who enter at the lowest rungs of the ladder should +each in turn, if he lived, become the head of the firm, its active +director, and retire after he had held the position a few months. On +its face such a scheme is an absurdity. Chances for improper favoritism +can be minimized by a properly formed board; such as the board of last +June, which did such conscientious and excellent work in elimination. + +If all that ought to be done can not now be done, at least let a +beginning be made. In my last three annual Messages, and in a special +Message to the last Congress, the necessity for legislation that will +cause officers of the line of the Navy to reach the grades of captain +and rear-admiral at less advanced ages and which will cause them to +have more sea training and experience in the highly responsible duties +of those grades, so that they may become thoroughly skillful in +handling battleships, divisions, squadrons, and fleets in action, has +been fully explained and urgently recommended. Upon this subject the +Secretary of the Navy has submitted detailed and definite +recommendations which have received my approval, and which, if enacted +into law, will accomplish what is immediately necessary, and will, as +compared with existing law, make a saving of more than five millions of +dollars during the next seven years. The navy personnel act of 1899 has +accomplished all that was expected of it in providing satisfactory +periods of service in the several subordinate grades, from the grade of +ensign to the grade of lieutenant-commander, but the law is inadequate +in the upper grades and will continue to be inadequate on account of +the expansion of the personnel since its enactment. Your attention is +invited to the following quotations from the report of the personnel +board of 1906, of which the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was +president: + +"Congress has authorized a considerable increase in the number of +midshipmen at the Naval Academy, and these midshipmen upon graduation +are promoted to ensign and lieutenant (junior-grade). But no provision +has been made for a corresponding increase in the upper grades, the +result being that the lower grades will become so congested that a +midshipman now in one of the lowest classes at Annapolis may possibly +not be promoted to lieutenant until he is between 45 and 50 years of +age. So it will continue under the present law, congesting at the top +and congesting at the bottom. The country fails to get from the +officers of the service the best that is in them by not providing +opportunity for their normal development and training. The board +believes that this works a serious detriment to the efficiency of the +Navy and is a real menace to the public safety." + +As stated in my special Message to the last Congress: "I am firmly of +the opinion that unless the present conditions of the higher +commissioned personnel is rectified by judicious legislation the future +of our Navy will be gravely compromised." It is also urgently necessary +to increase the efficiency of the Medical Corps of the Navy. Special +legislation to this end has already been proposed; and I trust it may +be enacted without delay. + +It must be remembered that everything done in the Navy to fit it to do +well in time of war must be done in time of peace. Modern wars are +short; they do not last the length of time requisite to build a +battleship; and it takes longer to train the officers and men to do +well on a battleship than it takes to build it. Nothing effective can +be done for the Navy once war has begun, and the result of the war, if +the combatants are otherwise equally matched, will depend upon which +power has prepared best in time of peace. The United States Navy is the +best guaranty the Nation has that its honor and interest will not be +neglected; and in addition it offers by far the best insurance for +peace that can by human ingenuity be devised. + +I call attention to the report of the official Board of Visitors to the +Naval Academy at Annapolis which has been forwarded to the Congress. +The report contains this paragraph: + +"Such revision should be made of the courses of study and methods of +conducting and marking examinations as will develop and bring out the +average all-round ability of the midshipman rather than to give him +prominence in any one particular study. The fact should be kept in mind +that the Naval Academy is not a university but a school, the primary +object of which is to educate boys to be efficient naval officers. +Changes in curriculum, therefore, should be in the direction of making +the course of instruction less theoretical and more practical. No +portion of any future class should be graduated in advance of the full +four years' course, and under no circumstances should the standard of +instruction be lowered. The Academy in almost all of its departments is +now magnificently equipped, and it would be very unwise to make the +course of instruction less exacting than it is to-day." + +Acting upon this suggestion I designated three seagoing officers, Capt. +Richard Wainwright, Commander Robert S. Griffin, and Lieut. Commander +Albert L. Key, all graduates of the Academy, to investigate conditions +and to recommend to me the best method of carrying into effect this +general recommendation. These officers performed the duty promptly and +intelligently, and, under the personal direction of Capt. Charles J. +Badger, Superintendent of the Academy, such of the proposed changes as +were deemed to be at present advisable were put into effect at the +beginning of the academic year, October 1, last. The results, I am +confident, will be most beneficial to the Academy, to the midshipmen, +and to the Navy. + +In foreign affairs this country's steady policy is to behave toward +other nations as a strong and self-respecting man should behave toward +the other men with whom he is brought into contact. In other words, our +aim is disinterestedly to help other nations where such help can be +wisely given without the appearance of meddling with what does not +concern us; to be careful to act as a good neighbor; and at the same +time, in good-natured fashion, to make it evident that we do not intend +to be imposed upon. + +The Second International Peace Conference was convened at The Hague on +the 15th of June last and remained in session until the 18th of +October. For the first time the representatives of practically all the +civilized countries of the world united in a temperate and kindly +discussion of the methods by which the causes of war might be narrowed +and its injurious effects reduced. + +Although the agreements reached in the Conference did not in any +direction go to the length hoped for by the more sanguine, yet in many +directions important steps were taken, and upon every subject on the +programme there was such full and considerate discussion as to justify +the belief that substantial progress has been made toward further +agreements in the future. Thirteen conventions were agreed upon +embodying the definite conclusions which had been reached, and +resolutions were adopted marking the progress made in matters upon +which agreement was not yet sufficiently complete to make conventions +practicable. + +The delegates of the United States were instructed to favor an +agreement for obligatory arbitration, the establishment of a permanent +court of arbitration to proceed judicially in the hearing and decision +of international causes, the prohibition of force for the collection of +contract debts alleged to be due from governments to citizens of other +countries until after arbitration as to the justice and amount of the +debt and the time and manner of payment, the immunity of private +property at sea, the better definition of the rights of neutrals, and, +in case any measure to that end should be introduced, the limitation of +armaments. + +In the field of peaceful disposal of international differences several +important advances were made. First, as to obligatory arbitration. +Although the Conference failed to secure a unanimous agreement upon the +details of a convention for obligatory arbitration, it did resolve as +follows; + +"It is unanimous: (1) In accepting the principle for obligatory +arbitration; (2) In declaring that certain differences, and notably +those relating to the interpretation and application of international +conventional stipulations are susceptible of being submitted to +obligatory arbitration without any restriction." + +In view of the fact that as a result of the discussion the vote upon +the definite treaty of obligatory arbitration, which was proposed, +stood 32 in favor to 9 against the adoption of the treaty, there can be +little doubt that the great majority of the countries of the world have +reached a point where they are now ready to apply practically the +principles thus unanimously agreed upon by the Conference. + +The second advance, and a very great one, is the agreement which +relates to the use of force for the collection of contract debts. Your +attention is invited to the paragraphs upon this subject in my Message +of December, 1906, and to the resolution of the Third American +Conference at Rio in the summer of 1906. The convention upon this +subject adopted by the Conference substantially as proposed by the +American delegates is as follows: + +"In order to avoid between nations armed conflicts of a purely +pecuniary origin arising from contractual debts claimed of the +government of one country by the government of another country to be +due to its nationals, the signatory Powers agree not to have recourse +to armed force for the collection of such contractual debts. + +"However, this stipulation shall not be applicable when the debtor +State refuses or leaves unanswered an offer to arbitrate, or, in case +of acceptance, makes it impossible to formulate the terms of +submission, or, after arbitration, fails to comply with the award +rendered. + +"It is further agreed that arbitration here contemplated shall be in +conformity, as to procedure, with Chapter III of the Convention for the +Pacific Settlement of International Disputes adopted at The Hague, and +that it shall determine, in so far as there shall be no agreement +between the parties, the justice and the amount of the debt, the time +and mode of payment thereof." + +Such a provision would have prevented much injustice and extortion in +the past, and I cannot doubt that its effect in the future will be most +salutary. + +A third advance has been made in amending and perfecting the convention +of 1899 for the voluntary settlement of international disputes, and +particularly the extension of those parts of that convention which +relate to commissions of inquiry. The existence of those provisions +enabled the Governments of Great Britain and Russia to avoid war, +notwithstanding great public excitement, at the time of the Dogger Bank +incident, and the new convention agreed upon by the Conference gives +practical effect to the experience gained in that inquiry. + +Substantial progress was also made towards the creation of a permanent +judicial tribunal for the determination of international causes. There +was very full discussion of the proposal for such a court and a general +agreement was finally reached in favor of its creation. The Conference +recommended to the signatory Powers the adoption of a draft upon which +it agreed for the organization of the court, leaving to be determined +only the method by which the judges should be selected. This remaining +unsettled question is plainly one which time and good temper will +solve. + +A further agreement of the first importance was that for the creation +of an international prize court. The constitution, organization and +procedure of such a tribunal were provided for in detail. Anyone who +recalls the injustices under which this country suffered as a neutral +power during the early part of the last century can not fail to see in +this provision for an international prize court the great advance which +the world is making towards the substitution of the rule of reason and +justice in place of simple force. Not only will the international prize +court be the means of protecting the interests of neutrals, but it is +in itself a step towards the creation of the more general court for the +hearing of international controversies to which reference has just been +made. The organization and action of such a prize court can not fail to +accustom the different countries to the submission of international +questions to the decision of an international tribunal, and we may +confidently expect the results of such submission to bring about a +general agreement upon the enlargement of the practice. + +Numerous provisions were adopted for reducing the evil effects of war +and for defining the rights and duties of neutrals. + +The Conference also provided for the holding of a third Conference +within a period similar to that which elapsed between the First and +Second Conferences. + +The delegates of the United States worthily represented the spirit of +the American people and maintained with fidelity and ability the policy +of our Government upon all the great questions discussed in the +Conference. + +The report of the delegation, together with authenticated copies of the +conventions signed, when received, will be laid before the Senate for +its consideration. + +When we remember how difficult it is for one of our own legislative +bodies, composed of citizens of the same country, speaking the same +language, living under the same laws, and having the same customs, to +reach an agreement, or even to secure a majority upon any difficult and +important subject which is proposed for legislation, it becomes plain +that the representatives of forty-five different countries, speaking +many different languages, accustomed to different methods of procedure, +with widely diverse interests, who discussed so many different subjects +and reached agreements upon so many, are entitled to grateful +appreciation for the wisdom, patience, and moderation with which they +have discharged their duty. The example of this temperate discussion, +and the agreements and the efforts to agree, among representatives of +all the nations of the earth, acting with universal recognition of the +supreme obligation to promote peace, can not fail to be a powerful +influence for good in future international relations. + +A year ago in consequence of a revolutionary movement in Cuba which +threatened the immediate return to chaos of the island, the United +States intervened, sending down an army and establishing a provisional +government under Governor Magoon. Absolute quiet and prosperity have +returned to the island because of this action. We are now taking steps +to provide for elections in the island and our expectation is within +the coming year to be able to turn the island over again to government +chosen by the people thereof. Cuba is at our doors. It is not possible +that this Nation should permit Cuba again to sink into the condition +from which we rescued it. All that we ask of the Cuban people is that +they be prosperous, that they govern themselves so as to bring content, +order and progress to their island, the Queen of the Antilles; and our +only interference has been and will be to help them achieve these +results. + +An invitation has been extended by Japan to the Government and people +of the United States to participate in a great national exposition to +be held at Tokyo from April 1 to October 31, 1912, and in which the +principal countries of the world are to be invited to take part. This +is an occasion of special interest to all the nations of the world, and +peculiarly so to us; for it is the first instance in which such a great +national exposition has been held by a great power dwelling on the +Pacific; and all the nations of Europe and America will, I trust, join +in helping to success this first great exposition ever held by a great +nation of Asia. The geographical relations of Japan and the United +States as the possessors of such large portions of the coasts of the +Pacific, the intimate trade relations already existing between the two +countries, the warm friendship which has been maintained between them +without break since the opening of Japan to intercourse with the +western nations, and her increasing wealth and production, which we +regard with hearty goodwill and wish to make the occasion of mutually +beneficial commerce, all unite in making it eminently desirable that +this invitation should be accepted. I heartily recommend such +legislation as will provide in generous fashion for the representation +of this Government and its people in the proposed exposition. Action +should be taken now. We are apt to underestimate the time necessary for +preparation in such cases. The invitation to the French Exposition of +1900 was brought to the attention of the Congress by President +Cleveland in December, 1895; and so many are the delays necessary to +such proceedings that the period of font years and a half which then +intervened before the exposition proved none too long for the proper +preparation of the exhibits. + +The adoption of a new tariff by Germany, accompanied by conventions for +reciprocal tariff concessions between that country and most of the +other countries of continental Europe, led the German Government to +give the notice necessary to terminate the reciprocal commercial +agreement with this country proclaimed July 13, 1900. The notice was to +take effect on the 1st of March, 1906, and in default of some other +arrangements this would have left the exports from the United States to +Germany subject to the general German tariff duties, from 25 to 50 per +cent higher than the conventional duties imposed upon the goods of most +of our competitors for German trade. + +Under a special agreement made between the two Governments in February, +1906, the German Government postponed the operation of their notice +until the 30th of June, 1907. In the meantime, deeming it to be my duty +to make every possible effort to prevent a tariff war between the +United States and Germany arising from misunderstanding by either +country of the conditions existing in the other, and acting upon the +invitation of the German Government, I sent to Berlin a commission +composed of competent experts in the operation and administration of +the customs tariff, from the Departments of the Treasury and Commerce +and Labor. This commission was engaged for several mouths in conference +with a similar commission appointed by the German Government, under +instructions, so far as practicable, to reach a common understanding as +to all the facts regarding the tariffs of the United States and Germany +material and relevant to the trade relations between the two countries. +The commission reported, and upon the basis of the report, a further +temporary commercial agreement was entered into by the two countries, +pursuant to which, in the exercise of the authority conferred upon the +President by the third section of the tariff act of July 24, 1897, I +extended the reduced tariff rates provided for in that section to +champagne and all other sparkling wines, and pursuant to which the +German conventional or minimum tariff rates were extended to about 96 +1/2 per cent of all the exports from the United States to Germany. This +agreement is to remain in force until the 30th of June, 1908, and until +six months after notice by either party to terminate it. + +The agreement and the report of the commission on which it is based +will be laid before the Congress for its information. + +This careful examination into the tariff relations between the United +States and Germany involved an inquiry into certain of our methods of +administration which had been the cause of much complaint on the part +of German exporters. In this inquiry I became satisfied that certain +vicious and unjustifiable practices had grown up in our customs +administration, notably the practice of determining values of imports +upon detective reports never disclosed to the persons whose interests +were affected. The use of detectives, though often necessary, tends +towards abuse, and should be carefully guarded. Under our practice as I +found it to exist in this case, the abuse had become gross and +discreditable. Under it, instead of seeking information as to the +market value of merchandise from the well-known and respected members +of the commercial community in the country of its production, secret +statements were obtained from informers and discharged employees and +business rivals, and upon this kind of secret evidence the values of +imported goods were frequently raised and heavy penalties were +frequently imposed upon importers who were never permitted to know what +the evidence was and who never had an opportunity to meet it. It is +quite probable that this system tended towards an increase of the +duties collected upon imported goods, but I conceive it to be a +violation of law to exact more duties than the law provides, just as it +is a violation to admit goods upon the payment of less than the legal +rate of duty. This practice was repugnant to the spirit of American law +and to American sense of justice. In the judgment of the most competent +experts of the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce and +Labor it was wholly unnecessary for the due collection of the customs +revenues, and the attempt to defend it merely illustrates the +demoralization which naturally follows from a long continued course of +reliance upon such methods. I accordingly caused the regulations +governing this branch of the customs service to be modified so that +values are determined upon a hearing in which all the parties +interested have an opportunity to be heard and to know the evidence +against them. Moreover our Treasury agents are accredited to the +government of the country in which they seek information, and in +Germany receive the assistance of the quasi-official chambers of +commerce in determining the actual market value of goods, in accordance +with what I am advised to be the true construction of the law. + +These changes of regulations were adapted to the removal of such +manifest abuses that I have not felt that they ought to be confined to +our relations with Germany; and I have extended their operation to all +other countries which have expressed a desire to enter into similar +administrative relations. + +I ask for authority to reform the agreement with China under which the +indemnity of 1900 was fixed, by remitting and cancelling the obligation +of China for the payment of all that part of the stipulated indemnity +which is in excess of the sum of eleven million, six hundred and +fifty-five thousand, four hundred and ninety-two dollars and sixty-nine +cents, and interest at four per cent. After the rescue of the foreign +legations in Peking during the Boxer troubles in 1900 the Powers +required from China the payment of equitable indemnities to the several +nations, and the final protocol under which the troops were withdrawn, +signed at Peking, September 7, 1901, fixed the amount of this indemnity +allotted to the United States at over $20,000,000, and China paid, up +to and including the 1st day of June last, a little over $6,000,000. It +was the first intention of this Government at the proper time, when all +claims had been presented and all expenses ascertained as fully as +possible, to revise the estimates and account, and as a proof of +sincere friendship for China voluntarily to release that country from +its legal liability for all payments in excess of the sum which should +prove to be necessary for actual indemnity to the United States and its +citizens. + +This Nation should help in every practicable way in the education of +the Chinese people, so that the vast and populous Empire of China may +gradually adapt itself to modern conditions. One way of doing this is +by promoting the coming of Chinese students to this country and making +it attractive to them to take courses at our universities and higher +educational institutions. Our educators should, so far as possible, +take concerted action toward this end. + +On the courteous invitation of the President of Mexico, the Secretary +of State visited that country in September and October and was received +everywhere with the greatest kindness and hospitality. + +He carried from the Government of the United States to our southern +neighbor a message of respect and good will and of desire for better +acquaintance and increasing friendship. The response from the +Government and the people of Mexico was hearty and sincere. No pains +were spared to manifest the most friendly attitude and feeling toward +the United States. + +In view of the close neighborhood of the two countries the relations +which exist between Mexico and the United States are just cause for +gratification. We have a common boundary of over 1,500 miles from the +Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. Much of it is marked only by the +shifting waters of the Rio Grande. Many thousands of Mexicans are +residing upon our side of the line and it is estimated that over 40,000 +Americans are resident in Mexican territory and that American +investments in Mexico amount to over seven hundred million dollars. The +extraordinary industrial and commercial prosperity of Mexico has been +greatly promoted by American enterprise, and Americans are sharing +largely in its results. The foreign trade of the Republic already +exceeds $240,000,000 per annum, and of this two-thirds both of exports +and imports are exchanged with the United States. Under these +circumstances numerous questions necessarily arise between the two +countries. These questions are always approached and disposed of in a +spirit of mutual courtesy and fair dealing. Americans carrying on +business in Mexico testify uniformly to the kindness and consideration +with which they are treated and their sense of the security of their +property and enterprises under the wise administration of the great +statesman who has so long held the office of Chief Magistrate of that +Republic. + +The two Governments have been uniting their efforts for a considerable +time past to aid Central America in attaining the degree of peace and +order which have made possible the prosperity of the northern ports of +the Continent. After the peace between Guatemala, Honduras, and +Salvador, celebrated under the circumstances described in my last +Message, a new war broke out between the Republics of Nicaragua, +Honduras, and Salvador. The effort to compose this new difficulty has +resulted in the acceptance of the joint suggestion of the Presidents of +Mexico and of the United States for a general peace conference between +all the countries of Central America. On the 17th day of September last +a protocol was signed between the representatives of the five Central +American countries accredited to this Government agreeing upon a +conference to be held in the City of Washington "in order to devise the +means of preserving the good relations among said Republics and +bringing about permanent peace in those countries." The protocol +includes the expression of a wish that the Presidents of the United +States and Mexico should appoint "representatives to lend their good +and impartial offices in a purely friendly way toward the realization +of the objects of the conference." The conference is now in session and +will have our best wishes and, where it is practicable, our friendly +assistance. + +One of the results of the Pan American Conference at Rio Janeiro in the +summer of 1906 has been a great increase in the activity and usefulness +of the International Bureau of American Republics. That institution, +which includes all the American Republics in its membership and brings +all their representatives together, is doing a really valuable work in +informing the people of the United States about the other Republics and +in making the United States known to them. Its action is now limited by +appropriations determined when it was doing a work on a much smaller +scale and rendering much less valuable service. I recommend that the +contribution of this Government to the expenses of the Bureau be made +commensurate with its increased work. + +*** + +State of the Union Address +Theodore Roosevelt +December 8, 1908 + +To the Senate and House of Representatives: + +FINANCES. + +The financial standing of the Nation at the present time is excellent, +and the financial management of the Nation's interests by the +Government during the last seven years has shown the most satisfactory +results. But our currency system is imperfect, and it is earnestly to +be hoped that the Currency Commission will be able to propose a +thoroughly good system which will do away with the existing defects. + +During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, there was +an increase in the amount of money in circulation of $902,991,399. The +increase in the per capita during this period was $7.06. Within this +time there were several occasions when it was necessary for the +Treasury Department to come to the relief of the money market by +purchases or redemptions of United States bonds; by increasing deposits +in national banks; by stimulating additional issues of national bank +notes, and by facilitating importations from abroad of gold. Our +imperfect currency system has made these proceedings necessary, and +they were effective until the monetary disturbance in the fall of 1907 +immensely increased the difficulty of ordinary methods of relief. By +the middle of November the available working balance in the Treasury +had been reduced to approximately $5,000,000. Clearing house +associations throughout the country had been obliged to resort to the +expedient of issuing clearing house certificates, to be used as money. +In this emergency it was determined to invite subscriptions for +$50,000,000 Panama Canal bonds, and $100,000,000 three per cent +certificates of indebtedness authorized by the act of June 13, 1898. It +was proposed to re-deposit in the national banks the proceeds of these +issues, and to permit their use as a basis for additional circulating +notes of national banks. The moral effect of this procedure was so +great that it was necessary to issue only $24,631,980 of the Panama +Canal bonds and $15,436,500 of the certificates of indebtedness. + +During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, the balance +between the net ordinary receipts and the net ordinary expenses of the +Government showed a surplus in the four years 1902, 1903, 1906 and +1907, and a deficit in the years 1904, 1905, 1908 and a fractional part +of the fiscal year 1909. The net result was a surplus of +$99,283,413.54. The financial operations of the Government during this +period, based upon these differences between receipts and expenditures, +resulted in a net reduction of the interest-bearing debt of the United +States from $987,141,040 to $897,253,990, notwithstanding that there +had been two sales of Panama Canal bonds amounting in the aggregate to +$54,631,980, and an issue of three per cent certificates of +indebtedness under the act of June 13, 1998, amounting to $15,436,500. +Refunding operations of the Treasury Department under the act of March +14, 1900, resulted in the conversion into two per cent consols of 1930 +of $200,309,400 bonds bearing higher rates of interest. A decrease of +$8,687,956 in the annual interest charge resulted from these +operations. + +In short, during the seven years and three months there has been a net +surplus of nearly one hundred millions of receipts over expenditures, a +reduction of the interest-bearing debt by ninety millions, in spite of +the extraordinary expense of the Panama Canal, and a saving of nearly +nine millions on the annual interest charge. This is an exceedingly +satisfactory showing, especially in view of the fact that during this +period the Nation has never hesitated to undertake any expenditure that +it regarded as necessary. There have been no new taxes and no increase +of taxes; on the contrary, some taxes have been taken off; there has +been a reduction of taxation. + +CORPORATIONS. + +As regards the great corporations engaged in interstate business, and +especially the railroad, I can only repeat what I have already again +and again said in my messages to the Congress, I believe that under the +interstate clause of the Constitution the United States has complete +and paramount right to control all agencies of interstate commerce, and +I believe that the National Government alone can exercise this right +with wisdom and effectiveness so as both to secure justice from, and to +do justice to, the great corporations which are the most important +factors in modern business. I believe that it is worse than folly to +attempt to prohibit all combinations as is done by the Sherman +anti-trust law, because such a law can be enforced only imperfectly and +unequally, and its enforcement works almost as much hardship as good. I +strongly advocate that instead of an unwise effort to prohibit all +combinations there shall be substituted a law which shall expressly +permit combinations which are in the interest of the public, but shall +at the same time give to some agency of the National Government full +power of control and supervision over them. One of the chief features +of this control should be securing entire publicity in all matters +which the public has a right to know, and furthermore, the power, not +by judicial but by executive action, to prevent or put a stop to every +form of improper favoritism or other wrongdoing. + +The railways of the country should be put completely under the +Interstate Commerce Commission and removed from the domain of the +anti-trust law. The power of the Commission should be made +thoroughgoing, so that it could exercise complete supervision and +control over the issue of securities as well as over the raising and +lowering of rates. As regards rates, at least, this power should be +summary. The power to investigate the financial operations and accounts +of the railways has been one of the most valuable features in recent +legislation. Power to make combinations and traffic agreements should +be explicitly conferred upon the railroads, the permission of the +Commission being first gained and the combination or agreement being +published in all its details. In the interest of the public the +representatives of the public should have complete power to see that +the railroads do their duty by the public, and as a matter of course +this power should also be exercised so as to see that no injustice is +done to the railroads. The shareholders, the employees and the shippers +all have interests that must be guarded. It is to the interest of all +of them that no swindling stock speculation should be allowed, and that +there should be no improper issuance of securities. The guiding +intelligences necessary for the successful building and successful +management of railroads should receive ample remuneration; but no man +should be allowed to make money in connection with railroads out of +fraudulent over-capitalization and kindred stock-gambling performances; +there must be no defrauding of investors, oppression of the farmers and +business men who ship freight, or callous disregard of the rights and +needs of the employees. In addition to this the interests of the +shareholders, of the employees, and of the shippers should all be +guarded as against one another. To give any one of them undue and +improper consideration is to do injustice to the others. Rates must be +made as low as is compatible with giving proper returns to all the +employees of the railroad, from the highest to the lowest, and proper +returns to the shareholders; but they must not, for instance, be +reduced in such fashion as to necessitate a cut in the wages of the +employees or the abolition of the proper and legitimate profits of +honest shareholders. + +Telegraph and telephone companies engaged in interstate business should +be put under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission. + +It is very earnestly to be wished that our people, through their +representatives, should act in this matter. It is hard to say whether +most damage to the country at large would come from entire failure on +the part of the public to supervise and control the actions of the +great corporations, or from the exercise of the necessary governmental +power in a way which would do injustice and wrong to the corporations. +Both the preachers of an unrestricted individualism, and the preachers +of an oppression which would deny to able men of business the just +reward of their initiative and business sagacity, are advocating +policies that would be fraught with the gravest harm to the whole +country. To permit every lawless capitalist, every law-defying +corporation, to take any action, no matter how iniquitous, in the +effort to secure an improper profit and to build up privilege, would be +ruinous to the Republic and would mark the abandonment of the effort to +secure in the industrial world the spirit of democratic fair dealing. +On the other hand, to attack these wrongs in that spirit of demagogy +which can see wrong only when committed by the man of wealth, and is +dumb and blind in the presence of wrong committed against men of +property or by men of no property, is exactly as evil as corruptly to +defend the wrongdoing of men of wealth. The war we wage must be waged +against misconduct, against wrongdoing wherever it is found; and we +must stand heartily for the rights of every decent man, whether he be a +man of great wealth or a man who earns his livelihood as a wage-worker +or a tiller of the soil. + +It is to the interest of all of us that there should be a premium put +upon individual initiative and individual capacity, and an ample reward +for the great directing intelligences alone competent to manage the +great business operations of to-day. It is well to keep in mind that +exactly as the anarchist is the worst enemy of liberty and the +reactionary the worst enemy of order, so the men who defend the rights +of property have most to fear from the wrongdoers of great wealth, and +the men who are championing popular rights have most to fear from the +demagogues who in the name of popular rights would do wrong to and +oppress honest business men, honest men of wealth; for the success of +either type of wrongdoer necessarily invites a violent reaction against +the cause the wrongdoer nominally upholds. In point of danger to the +Nation there is nothing to choose between on the one hand the +corruptionist, the bribe-giver, the bribe-taker, the man who employs +his great talent to swindle his fellow-citizens on a large scale, and, +on the other hand, the preacher of class hatred, the man who, whether +from ignorance or from willingness to sacrifice his country to his +ambition, persuades well-meaning but wrong-headed men to try to destroy +the instruments upon which our prosperity mainly rests. Let each group +of men beware of and guard against the shortcomings to which that group +is itself most liable. Too often we see the business community in a +spirit of unhealthy class consciousness deplore the effort to hold to +account under the law the wealthy men who in their management of great +corporations, whether railroads, street railways, or other industrial +enterprises, have behaved in a way that revolts the conscience of the +plain, decent people. Such an attitude can not be condemned too +severely, for men of property should recognize that they jeopardize the +rights of property when they fail heartily to join in the effort to do +away with the abuses of wealth. On the other hand, those who advocate +proper control on behalf of the public, through the State, of these +great corporations, and of the wealth engaged on a giant scale in +business operations, must ever keep in mind that unless they do +scrupulous justice to the corporation, unless they permit ample profit, +and cordially encourage capable men of business so long as they act +with honesty, they are striking at the root of our national well-being; +for in the long run, under the mere pressure of material distress, the +people as a whole would probably go back to the reign of an +unrestricted individualism rather than submit to a control by the State +so drastic and so foolish, conceived in a spirit of such unreasonable +and narrow hostility to wealth, as to prevent business operations from +being profitable, and therefore to bring ruin upon the entire business +community, and ultimately upon the entire body of citizens. + +The opposition to Government control of these great corporations makes +its most effective effort in the shape of an appeal to the old doctrine +of State's rights. Of course there are many sincere men who now believe +in unrestricted individualism in business, just as there were formerly +many sincere men who believed in slavery--that is, in the unrestricted +right of an individual to own another individual. These men do not by +themselves have great weight, however. The effective fight against +adequate Government control and supervision of individual, and +especially of corporate, wealth engaged in interstate business is +chiefly done under cover; and especially under cover of an appeal to +State's rights. It is not at all infrequent to read in the same speech +a denunciation of predatory wealth fostered by special privilege and +defiant of both the public welfare and law of the land, and a +denunciation of centralization in the Central Government of the power +to deal with this centralized and organized wealth. Of course the +policy set forth in such twin denunciations amounts to absolutely +nothing, for the first half is nullified by the second half. The chief +reason, among the many sound and compelling reasons, that led to the +formation of the National Government was the absolute need that the +Union, and not the several States, should deal with interstate and +foreign commerce; and the power to deal with interstate commerce was +granted absolutely and plenarily to the Central Government and was +exercised completely as regards the only instruments of interstate +commerce known in those days--the waterways, the highroads, as well as +the partnerships of individuals who then conducted all of what business +there was. Interstate commerce is now chiefly conducted by railroads; +and the great corporation has supplanted the mass of small partnerships +or individuals. The proposal to make the National Government supreme +over, and therefore to give it complete control over, the railroads and +other instruments of interstate commerce is merely a proposal to carry +out to the letter one of the prime purposes, if not the prime purpose, +for which the Constitution was rounded. It does not represent +centralization. It represents merely the acknowledgment of the patent +fact that centralization has already come in business. If this +irresponsible outside business power is to be controlled in the +interest of the general public it can only be controlled in one way--by +giving adequate power of control to the one sovereignty capable of +exercising such power--the National Government. Forty or fifty separate +state governments can not exercise that power over corporations doing +business in most or all of them; first, because they absolutely lack +the authority to deal with interstate business in any form; and second, +because of the inevitable conflict of authority sure to arise in the +effort to enforce different kinds of state regulation, often +inconsistent with one another and sometimes oppressive in themselves. +Such divided authority can not regulate commerce with wisdom and +effect. The Central Government is the only power which, without +oppression, can nevertheless thoroughly and adequately control and +supervise the large corporations. To abandon the effort for National +control means to abandon the effort for all adequate control and yet to +render likely continual bursts of action by State legislatures, which +can not achieve the purpose sought for, but which can do a great deal +of damage to the corporation without conferring any real benefit on the +public. + +I believe that the more farsighted corporations are themselves coming +to recognize the unwisdom of the violent hostility they have displayed +during the last few years to regulation and control by the National +Government of combinations engaged in interstate business. The truth is +that we who believe in this movement of asserting and exercising a +genuine control, in the public interest, over these great corporations +have to contend against two sets of enemies, who, though nominally +opposed to one another, are really allies in preventing a proper +solution of the problem. There are, first, the big corporation men, and +the extreme individualists among business men, who genuinely believe in +utterly unregulated business that is, in the reign of plutocracy; and, +second, the men who, being blind to the economic movements of the day, +believe in a movement of repression rather than of regulation of +corporations, and who denounce both the power of the railroads and the +exercise of the Federal power which alone can really control the +railroads. Those who believe in efficient national control, on the +other hand, do not in the least object to combinations; do not in the +least object to concentration in business administration. On the +contrary, they favor both, with the all important proviso that there +shall be such publicity about their workings, and such thoroughgoing +control over them, as to insure their being in the interest, and not +against the interest, of the general public. We do not object to the +concentration of wealth and administration; but we do believe in the +distribution of the wealth in profits to the real owners, and in +securing to the public the full benefit of the concentrated +administration. We believe that with concentration in administration +there can come both be advantage of a larger ownership and of a more +equitable distribution of profits, and at the same time a better +service to the commonwealth. We believe that the administration should +be for the benefit of the many; and that greed and rascality, practiced +on a large scale, should be punished as relentlessly as if practiced on +a small scale. + +We do not for a moment believe that the problem will be solved by any +short and easy method. The solution will come only by pressing various +concurrent remedies. Some of these remedies must lie outside the domain +of all government. Some must lie outside the domain of the Federal +Government. But there is legislation which the Federal Government alone +can enact and which is absolutely vital in order to secure the +attainment of our purpose. Many laws are needed. There should be +regulation by the National Government of the great interstate +corporations, including a simple method of account keeping, publicity, +supervision of the issue securities, abolition of rebates, and of +special privileges. There should be short time franchises for all +corporations engaged in public business; including the corporations +which get power from water rights. There should be National as well as +State guardianship of mines and forests. The labor legislation +hereinafter referred to should concurrently be enacted into law. + +To accomplish this, means of course a certain increase in the use +of--not the creation of--power, by the Central Government. The power +already exists; it does not have to be created; the only question is +whether it shall be used or left idle--and meanwhile the corporations +over which the power ought to be exercised will not remain idle. Let +those who object to this increase in the use of the only power +available, the national power, be frank, and admit openly that they +propose to abandon any effort to control the great business +corporations and to exercise supervision over the accumulation and +distribution of wealth; for such supervision and control can only come +through this particular kind of increase of power. We no more believe +in that empiricism which demand, absolutely unrestrained individualism +than we do in that empiricism which clamors for a deadening socialism +which would destroy all individual initiative and would ruin the +country with a completeness that not even an unrestrained individualism +itself could achieve. The danger to American democracy lies not in the +least in the concentration of administrative power in responsible and +accountable hands. It lies in having the power insufficiently +concentrated, so that no one can be held responsible to the people for +its use. Concentrated power is palpable, visible, responsible, easily +reached, quickly held to account. Power scattered through many +administrators, many legislators, many men who work behind and through +legislators and administrators, is impalpable, is unseen, is +irresponsible, can not be reached, can not be held to account. +Democracy is in peril wherever the administration of political power is +scattered among a variety of men who work in secret, whose very names +are unknown to the common people. It is not in peril from any man who +derives authority from the people, who exercises it in sight of the +people, and who is from time to time compelled to give an account of +its exercise to the people. + +LABOR. + +There are many matters affecting labor and the status of the +wage-worker to which I should like to draw your attention, but an +exhaustive discussion of the problem in all its aspects is not now +necessary. This administration is nearing its end; and, moreover, under +our form of government the solution of the problem depends upon the +action of the States as much as upon the action of the Nation. +Nevertheless, there are certain considerations which I wish to set +before you, because I hope that our people will more and more keep them +in mind. A blind and ignorant resistance to every effort for the reform +of abuses and for the readjustment of society to modern industrial +conditions represents not true conservatism, but an incitement to the +wildest radicalism; for wise radicalism and wise conservatism go hand +in hand, one bent on progress, the other bent on seeing that no change +is made unless in the right direction. I believe in a steady effort, or +perhaps it would be more accurate to say in steady efforts in many +different directions, to bring about a condition of affairs under which +the men who work with hand or with brain, the laborers, the +superintendents, the men who produce for the market and the men who +find a market for the articles produced, shall own a far greater share +than at present of the wealth they produce, and be enabled to invest it +in the tools and instruments by which all work is carried on. As far as +possible I hope to see a frank recognition of the advantages conferred +by machinery, organization, and division of labor, accompanied by an +effort to bring about a larger share in the ownership by wage-worker of +railway, mill and factory. In farming, this simply means that we wish +to see the farmer own his own land; we do not wish to see the farms so +large that they become the property of absentee landlords who farm them +by tenants, nor yet so small that the farmer becomes like a European +peasant. Again, the depositors in our savings banks now number over +one-tenth of our entire population. These are all capitalists, who +through the savings banks loan their money to the workers--that is, in +many cases to themselves--to carry on their various industries. The +more we increase their number, the more we introduce the principles of +cooperation into our industry. Every increase in the number of small +stockholders in corporations is a good thing, for the same reasons; and +where the employees are the stockholders the result is particularly +good. Very much of this movement must be outside of anything that can +be accomplished by legislation; but legislation can do a good deal. +Postal savings banks will make it easy for the poorest to keep their +savings in absolute safety. The regulation of the national highways +must be such that they shall serve all people with equal justice. +Corporate finances must be supervised so as to make it far safer than +at present for the man of small means to invest his money in stocks. +There must be prohibition of child labor, diminution of woman labor, +shortening of hours of all mechanical labor; stock watering should be +prohibited, and stock gambling so far as is possible discouraged. There +should be a progressive inheritance tax on large fortunes. Industrial +education should be encouraged. As far as possible we should lighten +the burden of taxation on the small man. We should put a premium upon +thrift, hard work, and business energy; but these qualities cease to be +the main factors in accumulating a fortune long before that fortune +reaches a point where it would be seriously affected by any inheritance +tax such as I propose. It is eminently right that the Nation should fix +the terms upon which the great fortunes are inherited. They rarely do +good and they often do harm to those who inherit them in their +entirety. + +PROTECTION FOR WAGEWORKERS. + +The above is the merest sketch, hardly even a sketch in outline, of the +reforms for which we should work. But there is one matter with which +the Congress should deal at this session. There should no longer be any +paltering with the question of taking care of the wage-workers who, +under our present industrial system, become killed, crippled, or worn +out as part of the regular incidents of a given business. The majority +of wageworkers must have their rights secured for them by State action; +but the National Government should legislate in thoroughgoing and +far-reaching fashion not only for all employees of the National +Government, but for all persons engaged in interstate commerce. The +object sought for could be achieved to a measurable degree, as far as +those killed or crippled are concerned, by proper employers' liability +laws. As far as concerns those who have been worn out, I call your +attention to the fact that definite steps toward providing old-age +pensions have been taken in many of our private industries. These may +be indefinitely extended through voluntary association and contributory +schemes, or through the agency of savings banks, as under the recent +Massachusetts plan. To strengthen these practical measures should be +our immediate duty; it is not at present necessary to consider the +larger and more general governmental schemes that most European +governments have found themselves obliged to adopt. + +Our present system, or rather no system, works dreadful wrong, and is +of benefit to only one class of people--the lawyers. When a workman is +injured what he needs is not an expensive and doubtful lawsuit, but the +certainty of relief through immediate administrative action. The number +of accidents which result in the death or crippling of wageworkers, in +the Union at large, is simply appalling; in a very few years it runs up +a total far in excess of the aggregate of the dead and wounded in any +modern war. No academic theory about "freedom of contract" or +"constitutional liberty to contract" should be permitted to interfere +with this and similar movements. Progress in civilization has +everywhere meant a limitation and regulation of contract. I call your +especial attention to the bulletin of the Bureau of Labor which gives a +statement of the methods of treating the unemployed in European +countries, as this is a subject which in Germany, for instance, is +treated in connection with making provision for worn-out and crippled +workmen. + +Pending a thoroughgoing investigation and action there is certain +legislation which should be enacted at once. The law, passed at the +last session of the Congress, granting compensation to certain classes +of employees of the Government, should be extended to include all +employees of the Government and should be made more liberal in its +terms. There is no good ground for the distinction made in the law +between those engaged in hazardous occupations and those not so +engaged. If a man is injured or killed in any line of work, it was +hazardous in his case. Whether 1 per cent or 10 per cent of those +following a given occupation actually suffer injury or death ought not +to have any bearing on the question of their receiving compensation. It +is a grim logic which says to an injured employee or to the dependents +of one killed that he or they are entitled to no compensation because +very few people other than he have been injured or killed in that +occupation. Perhaps one of the most striking omissions in the law is +that it does not embrace peace officers and others whose lives may be +sacrificed in enforcing the laws of the United States. The terms of the +act providing compensation should be made more liberal than in the +present act. A year's compensation is not adequate for a wage-earner's +family in the event of his death by accident in the course of his +employment. And in the event of death occurring, say, ten or eleven +months after the accident, the family would only receive as +compensation the equivalent of one or two months' earnings. In this +respect the generosity of the United States towards its employees +compares most unfavorably with that of every country in Europe--even +the poorest. + +The terms of the act are also a hardship in prohibiting payment in +cases where the accident is in any way due to the negligence of the +employee. It is inevitable that daily familiarity with danger will lead +men to take chances that can be construed into negligence. So well is +this recognized that in practically all countries in the civilized +world, except the United States, only a great degree of negligence acts +as a bar to securing compensation. Probably in no other respect is our +legislation, both State and National, so far behind practically the +entire civilized world as in the matter of liability and compensation +for accidents in industry. It is humiliating that at European +international congresses on accidents the United States should be +singled out as the most belated among the nations in respect to +employers' liability legislation. This Government is itself a large +employer of labor, and in its dealings with its employees it should set +a standard in this country which would place it on a par with the most +progressive countries in Europe. The laws of the United States in this +respect and the laws of European countries have been summarized in a +recent Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, and no American who reads this +summary can fail to be struck by the great contrast between our +practices and theirs--a contrast not in any sense to our credit. + +The Congress should without further delay pass a model employers' +liability law for the District of Columbia. The employers' liability +act recently declared unconstitutional, on account of apparently +including in its provisions employees engaged in intrastate commerce as +well as those engaged in interstate commerce, has been held by the +local courts to be still in effect so far as its provisions apply to +District of Columbia. There should be no ambiguity on this point. If +there is any doubt on the subject, the law should be reenacted with +special reference to the District of Columbia. This act, however, +applies only to employees of common carriers. In all other occupations +the liability law of the District is the old common law. The severity +and injustice of the common law in this matter has been in some degree +or another modified in the majority of our States, and the only +jurisdiction under the exclusive control of the Congress should be +ahead and not behind the States of the Union in this respect. A +comprehensive employers' liability law should be passed for the +District of Columbia. + +I renew my recommendation made in a previous message that half-holidays +be granted during summer to all wageworkers in Government employ. + +I also renew my recommendation that the principle of the eight-hour day +should as rapidly and as far as practicable be extended to the entire +work being carried on by the Government; the present law should be +amended to embrace contracts on those public works which the present +wording of the act seems to exclude. + +THE COURTS. + +I most earnestly urge upon the Congress the duty of increasing the +totally inadequate salaries now given to our Judges. On the whole there +is no body of public servants who do as valuable work, nor whose +moneyed reward is so inadequate compared to their work. Beginning with +the Supreme Court, the Judges should have their salaries doubled. It is +not befitting the dignity of the Nation that its most honored public +servants should be paid sums so small compared to what they would earn +in private life that the performance of public service by them implies +an exceedingly heavy pecuniary sacrifice. + +It is earnestly to be desired that some method should be devised for +doing away with the long delays which now obtain in the administration +of justice, and which operate with peculiar severity against persons of +small means, and favor only the very criminals whom it is most +desirable to punish. These long delays in the final decisions of cases +make in the aggregate a crying evil; and a remedy should be devised. +Much of this intolerable delay is due to improper regard paid to +technicalities which are a mere hindrance to justice. In some noted +recent cases this over-regard for technicalities has resulted in a +striking denial of justice, and flagrant wrong to the body politic. + +At the last election certain leaders of organized labor made a violent +and sweeping attack upon the entire judiciary of the country, an attack +couched in such terms as to include the most upright, honest and +broad-minded judges, no less than those of narrower mind and more +restricted outlook. It was the kind of attack admirably fitted to +prevent any successful attempt to reform abuses of the judiciary, +because it gave the champions of the unjust judge their eagerly desired +opportunity to shift their ground into a championship of just judges +who were unjustly assailed. Last year, before the House Committee on +the Judiciary, these same labor leaders formulated their demands, +specifying the bill that contained them, refusing all compromise, +stating they wished the principle of that bill or nothing. They +insisted on a provision that in a labor dispute no injunction should +issue except to protect a property right, and specifically provided +that the right to carry on business should not be construed as a +property right; and in a second provision their bill made legal in a +labor dispute any act or agreement by or between two or more persons +that would not have been unlawful if done by a single person. In other +words, this bill legalized blacklisting and boycotting in every form, +legalizing, for instance, those forms of the secondary boycott which +the anthracite coal strike commission so unreservedly condemned; while +the right to carry on a business was explicitly taken out from under +that protection which the law throws over property. The demand was made +that there should be trial by jury in contempt cases, thereby most +seriously impairing the authority of the courts. All this represented a +course of policy which, if carried out, would mean the enthronement of +class privilege in its crudest and most brutal form, and the +destruction of one of the most essential functions of the judiciary in +all civilized lands. + +The violence of the crusade for this legislation, and its complete +failure, illustrate two truths which it is essential our people should +learn. In the first place, they ought to teach the workingman, the +laborer, the wageworker, that by demanding what is improper and +impossible he plays into the hands of his foes. Such a crude and +vicious attack upon the courts, even if it were temporarily successful, +would inevitably in the end cause a violent reaction and would band the +great mass of citizens together, forcing them to stand by all the +judges, competent and incompetent alike, rather than to see the wheels +of justice stopped. A movement of this kind can ultimately result in +nothing but damage to those in whose behalf it is nominally undertaken. +This is a most healthy truth, which it is wise for all our people to +learn. Any movement based on that class hatred which at times assumes +the name of "class consciousness" is certain ultimately to fail, and if +it temporarily succeeds, to do far-reaching damage. "Class +consciousness," where it is merely another name for the odious vice of +class selfishness, is equally noxious whether in an employer's +association or in a workingman's association. The movement in question +was one in which the appeal was made to all workingmen to vote +primarily, not as American citizens, but as individuals of a certain +class in society. Such an appeal in the first place revolts the more +high-minded and far-sighted among the persons to whom it is addressed, +and in the second place tends to arouse a strong antagonism among all +other classes of citizens, whom it therefore tends to unite against the +very organization on whose behalf it is issued. The result is therefore +unfortunate from every standpoint. This healthy truth, by the way, will +be learned by the socialists if they ever succeed in establishing in +this country an important national party based on such class +consciousness and selfish class interest. + +The wageworkers, the workingmen, the laboring men of the country, by +the way in which they repudiated the effort to get them to cast their +votes in response to an appeal to class hatred, have emphasized their +sound patriotism and Americanism. The whole country has cause to fell +pride in this attitude of sturdy independence, in this uncompromising +insistence upon acting simply as good citizens, as good Americans, +without regard to fancied--and improper--class interests. Such an +attitude is an object-lesson in good citizenship to the entire nation. + +But the extreme reactionaries, the persons who blind themselves to the +wrongs now and then committed by the courts on laboring men, should +also think seriously as to what such a movement as this portends. The +judges who have shown themselves able and willing effectively to check +the dishonest activity of the very rich man who works iniquity by the +mismanagement of corporations, who have shown themselves alert to do +justice to the wageworker, and sympathetic with the needs of the mass +of our people, so that the dweller in the tenement houses, the man who +practices a dangerous trade, the man who is crushed by excessive hours +of labor, feel that their needs are understood by the courts--these +judges are the real bulwark of the courts; these judges, the judges of +the stamp of the president-elect, who have been fearless in opposing +labor when it has gone wrong, but fearless also in holding to strict +account corporations that work iniquity, and far-sighted in seeing that +the workingman gets his rights, are the men of all others to whom we +owe it that the appeal for such violent and mistaken legislation has +fallen on deaf ears, that the agitation for its passage proved to be +without substantial basis. The courts are jeopardized primarily by the +action of those Federal and State judges who show inability or +unwillingness to put a stop to the wrongdoing of very rich men under +modern industrial conditions, and inability or unwillingness to give +relief to men of small means or wageworkers who are crushed down by +these modern industrial conditions; who, in other words, fail to +understand and apply the needed remedies for the new wrongs produced by +the new and highly complex social and industrial civilization which has +grown up in the last half century. + +The rapid changes in our social and industrial life which have attended +this rapid growth have made it necessary that, in applying to concrete +cases the great rule of right laid down in our Constitution, there +should be a full understanding and appreciation of the new conditions +to which the rules are to be applied. What would have been an +infringement upon liberty half a century ago may be the necessary +safeguard of liberty to-day. What would have been an injury to property +then may be necessary to the enjoyment of property now. Every judicial +decision involves two terms--one, as interpretation of the law; the +other, the understanding of the facts to which it is to be applied. The +great mass of our judicial officers are, I believe, alive to those +changes of conditions which so materially affect the performance of +their judicial duties. Our judicial system is sound and effective at +core, and it remains, and must ever be maintained, as the safeguard of +those principles of liberty and justice which stand at the foundation +of American institutions; for, as Burke finely said, when liberty and +justice are separated, neither is safe. There are, however, some +members of the judicial body who have lagged behind in their +understanding of these great and vital changes in the body politic, +whose minds have never been opened to the new applications of the old +principles made necessary by the new conditions. Judges of this stamp +do lasting harm by their decisions, because they convince poor men in +need of protection that the courts of the land are profoundly ignorant +of and out of sympathy with their needs, and profoundly indifferent or +hostile to any proposed remedy. To such men it seems a cruel mockery to +have any court decide against them on the ground that it desires to +preserve "liberty" in a purely technical form, by withholding liberty +in any real and constructive sense. It is desirable that the +legislative body should possess, and wherever necessary exercise, the +power to determine whether in a given case employers and employees are +not on an equal footing, so that the necessities of the latter compel +them to submit to such exactions as to hours and conditions of labor as +unduly to tax their strength; and only mischief can result when such +determination is upset on the ground that there must be no +"interference with the liberty to contract"--often a merely academic +"liberty," the exercise of which is the negation of real liberty. + +There are certain decisions by various courts which have been +exceedingly detrimental to the rights of wageworkers. This is true of +all the decisions that decide that men and women are, by the +Constitution, "guaranteed their liberty" to contract to enter a +dangerous occupation, or to work an undesirable or improper number of +hours, or to work in unhealthy surroundings; and therefore can not +recover damages when maimed in that occupation and can not be forbidden +to work what the legislature decides is an excessive number of hours, +or to carry on the work under conditions which the legislature decides +to be unhealthy. The most dangerous occupations are often the poorest +paid and those where the hours of work are longest; and in many cases +those who go into them are driven by necessity so great that they have +practically no alternative. Decisions such as those alluded to above +nullify the legislative effort to protect the wage-workers who most +need protection from those employers who take advantage of their +grinding need. They halt or hamper the movement for securing better and +more equitable conditions of labor. The talk about preserving to the +misery-hunted beings who make contracts for such service their +"liberty" to make them, is either to speak in a spirit of heartless +irony or else to show an utter lack of knowledge of the conditions of +life among the great masses of our fellow-countrymen, a lack which +unfits a judge to do good service just as it would unfit any executive +or legislative officer. + +There is also, I think, ground for the belief that substantial +injustice is often suffered by employees in consequence of the custom +of courts issuing temporary injunctions without notice to them, and +punishing them for contempt of court in instances where, as a matter of +fact, they have no knowledge of any proceedings. Outside of organized +labor there is a widespread feeling that this system often works great +injustice to wageworkers when their efforts to better their working +condition result in industrial disputes. A temporary injunction +procured ex parte may as a matter of fact have all the effect of a +permanent injunction in causing disaster to the wageworkers' side in +such a dispute. Organized labor is chafing under the unjust restraint +which comes from repeated resort to this plan of procedure. Its +discontent has been unwisely expressed, and often improperly expressed, +but there is a sound basis for it, and the orderly and law-abiding +people of a community would be in a far stronger position for upholding +the courts if the undoubtedly existing abuses could be provided +against. + +Such proposals as those mentioned above as advocated by the extreme +labor leaders contain the vital error of being class legislation of the +most offensive kind, and even if enacted into law I believe that the +law would rightly be held unconstitutional. Moreover, the labor people +are themselves now beginning to invoke the use of the power of +injunction. During the last ten years, and within my own knowledge, at +least fifty injunctions have been obtained by labor unions in New York +City alone, most of them being to protect the union label (a "property +right"), but some being obtained for other reasons against employers. +The power of injunction is a great equitable remedy, which should on no +account be destroyed. But safeguards should be erected against its +abuse. I believe that some such provisions as those I advocated a year +ago for checking the abuse of the issuance of temporary injunctions +should be adopted. In substance, provision should be made that no +injunction or temporary restraining order issue otherwise than on +notice, except where irreparable injury would otherwise result; and in +such case a hearing on the merits of the order should be had within a +short fixed period, and, if not then continued after hearing, it should +forthwith lapse. Decisions should be rendered immediately, and the +chance of delay minimized in every way. Moreover, I believe that the +procedure should be sharply defined, and the judge required minutely to +state the particulars both of his action and of his reasons therefor, +so that the Congress can, if it desires, examine and investigate the +same. + +The chief lawmakers in our country may be, and often are, the judges, +because they are the final seat of authority. Every time they interpret +contract, property, vested rights, due process of law, liberty, they +necessarily enact into law parts of a system of social philosophy, and +as such interpretation is fundamental, they give direction to all +law-making. The decisions of the courts on economic and social +questions depend upon their economic and social philosophy; and for the +peaceful progress of our people during the twentieth century we shall +owe most to those judges who hold to a twentieth century economic and +social philosophy and not to a long outgrown philosophy, which was +itself the product of primitive economic conditions. Of course a +judge's views on progressive social philosophy are entirely second in +importance to his possession of a high and fine character; which means +the possession of such elementary virtues as honesty, courage, and +fair-mindedness. The judge who owes his election to pandering to +demagogic sentiments or class hatreds and prejudices, and the judge who +owes either his election or his appointment to the money or the favor +of a great corporation, are alike unworthy to sit on the bench, are +alike traitors to the people; and no profundity of legal learning, or +correctness of abstract conviction on questions of public policy, can +serve as an offset to such shortcomings. But it is also true that +judges, like executives and legislators, should hold sound views on the +questions of public policy which are of vital interest to the people. + +The legislators and executives are chosen to represent the people in +enacting and administering the laws. The judges are not chosen to +represent the people in this sense. Their function is to interpret the +laws. The legislators are responsible for the laws; the judges for the +spirit in which they interpret and enforce the laws. We stand aloof +from the reckless agitators who would make the judges mere pliant tools +of popular prejudice and passion; and we stand aloof from those equally +unwise partisans of reaction and privilege who deny the proposition +that, inasmuch as judges are chosen to serve the interests of the whole +people, they should strive to find out what those interests are, and, +so far as they conscientiously can, should strive to give effect to +popular conviction when deliberately and duly expressed by the +lawmaking body. The courts are to be highly commended and staunchly +upheld when they set their faces against wrongdoing or tyranny by a +majority; but they are to be blamed when they fail to recognize under a +government like ours the deliberate judgment of the majority as to a +matter of legitimate policy, when duly expressed by the legislature. +Such lawfully expressed and deliberate judgment should be given effect +by the courts, save in the extreme and exceptional cases where there +has been a clear violation of a constitutional provision. Anything like +frivolity or wantonness in upsetting such clearly taken governmental +action is a grave offense against the Republic. To protest against +tyranny, to protect minorities from oppression, to nullify an act +committed in a spasm of popular fury, is to render a service to the +Republic. But for the courts to arrogate to themselves functions which +properly belong to the legislative bodies is all wrong, and in the end +works mischief. The people should not be permitted to pardon evil and +slipshod legislation on the theory that the court will set it right; +they should be taught that the right way to get rid of a bad law is to +have the legislature repeal it, and not to have the courts by ingenious +hair-splitting nullify it. A law may be unwise and improper; but it +should not for these reasons be declared unconstitutional by a strained +interpretation, for the result of such action is to take away from the +people at large their sense of responsibility and ultimately to destroy +their capacity for orderly self restraint and self government. Under +such a popular government as ours, rounded on the theory that in the +long run the will of the people is supreme, the ultimate safety of the +Nation can only rest in training and guiding the people so that what +they will shall be right, and not in devising means to defeat their +will by the technicalities of strained construction. + +For many of the shortcomings of justice in our country our people as a +whole are themselves to blame, and the judges and juries merely bear +their share together with the public as a whole. It is discreditable to +us as a people that there should be difficulty in convicting murderers, +or in bringing to justice men who as public servants have been guilty +of corruption, or who have profited by the corruption of public +servants. The result is equally unfortunate, whether due to +hairsplitting technicalities in the interpretation of law by judges, to +sentimentality and class consciousness on the part of juries, or to +hysteria and sensationalism in the daily press. For much of this +failure of justice no responsibility whatever lies on rich men as such. +We who make up the mass of the people can not shift the responsibility +from our own shoulders. But there is an important part of the failure +which has specially to do with inability to hold to proper account men +of wealth who behave badly. + +The chief breakdown is in dealing with the new relations that arise +from the mutualism, the interdependence of our time. Every new social +relation begets a new type of wrongdoing--of sin, to use an +old-fashioned word--and many years always elapse before society is able +to turn this sin into crime which can be effectively punished at law. +During the lifetime of the older men now alive the social relations +have changed far more rapidly than in the preceding two centuries. The +immense growth of corporations, of business done by associations, and +the extreme strain and pressure of modern life, have produced +conditions which render the public confused as to who its really +dangerous foes are; and among the public servants who have not only +shared this confusion, but by some of their acts have increased it, are +certain judges. Marked inefficiency has been shown in dealing with +corporations and in re-settling the proper attitude to be taken by the +public not only towards corporations, but towards labor and towards the +social questions arising out of the factory system and the enormous +growth of our great cities. + +The huge wealth that has been accumulated by a few individuals of +recent years, in what has amounted to a social and industrial +revolution, has been as regards some of these individuals made possible +only by the improper use of the modern corporation. A certain type of +modern corporation, with its officers and agents, its many issues of +securities, and its constant consolidation with allied undertakings, +finally becomes an instrument so complex as to contain a greater number +of elements that, under various judicial decisions, lend themselves to +fraud and oppression than any device yet evolved in the human brain. +Corporations are necessary instruments of modern business. They have +been permitted to become a menace largely because the governmental +representatives of the people have worked slowly in providing for +adequate control over them. + +The chief offender in any given case may be an executive, a +legislature, or a judge. Every executive head who advises violent, +instead of gradual, action, or who advocates ill-considered and +sweeping measures of reform (especially if they are tainted with +vindictiveness and disregard for the rights of the minority) is +particularly blameworthy. The several legislatures are responsible for +the fact that our laws are often prepared with slovenly haste and lack +of consideration. Moreover, they are often prepared, and still more +frequently amended during passage, at the suggestion of the very +parties against whom they are afterwards enforced. Our great clusters +of corporations, huge trusts and fabulously wealthy multi-millionaires, +employ the very best lawyers they can obtain to pick flaws in these +statutes after their passage; but they also employ a class of secret +agents who seek, under the advice of experts, to render hostile +legislation innocuous by making it unconstitutional, often through the +insertion of what appear on their face to be drastic and sweeping +provisions against the interests of the parties inspiring them; while +the demagogues, the corrupt creatures who introduce blackmailing +schemes to "strike" corporations, and all who demand extreme, and +undesirably radical, measures, show themselves to be the worst enemies +of the very public whose loud-mouthed champions they profess to be. A +very striking illustration of the consequences of carelessness in the +preparation of a statute was the employers' liability law of 1906. In +the cases arising under that law, four out of six courts of first +instance held it unconstitutional; six out of nine justices of the +Supreme Court held that its subject-matter was within the province of +congressional action; and four of the nine justices held it valid. It +was, however, adjudged unconstitutional by a bare majority of the +court--five to four. It was surely a very slovenly piece of work to +frame the legislation in such shape as to leave the question open at +all. + +Real damage has been done by the manifold and conflicting +interpretations of the interstate commerce law. Control over the great +corporations doing interstate business can be effective only if it is +vested with full power in an administrative department, a branch of the +Federal executive, carrying out a Federal law; it can never be +effective if a divided responsibility is left in both the States and +the Nation; it can never be effective if left in the hands of the +courts to be decided by lawsuits. + +The courts hold a place of peculiar and deserved sanctity under our +form of government. Respect for the law is essential to the permanence +of our institutions; and respect for the law is largely conditioned +upon respect for the courts. It is an offense against the Republic to +say anything which can weaken this respect, save for the gravest reason +and in the most carefully guarded manner. Our judges should be held in +peculiar honor; and the duty of respectful and truthful comment and +criticism, which should be binding when we speak of anybody, should be +especially binding when we speak of them. On an average they stand +above any other servants of the community, and the greatest judges have +reached the high level held by those few greatest patriots whom the +whole country delights to honor. But we must face the fact that there +are wise and unwise judges, just as there are wise and unwise +executives and legislators. When a president or a governor behaves +improperly or unwisely, the remedy is easy, for his term is short; the +same is true with the legislator, although not to the same degree, for +he is one of many who belong to some given legislative body, and it is +therefore less easy to fix his personal responsibility and hold him +accountable therefor. With a judge, who, being human, is also likely to +err, but whose tenure is for life, there is no similar way of holding +him to responsibility. Under ordinary conditions the only forms of +pressure to which he is in any way amenable are public opinion and the +action of his fellow judges. It is the last which is most immediately +effective, and to which we should look for the reform of abuses. Any +remedy applied from without is fraught with risk. It is far better, +from every standpoint, that the remedy should come from within. In no +other nation in the world do the courts wield such vast and +far-reaching power as in the United States. All that is necessary is +that the courts as a whole should exercise this power with the +farsighted wisdom already shown by those judges who scan the future +while they act in the present. Let them exercise this great power not +only honestly and bravely, but with wise insight into the needs and +fixed purposes of the people, so that they may do justice and work +equity, so that they may protect all persons in their rights, and yet +break down the barriers of privilege, which is the foe of right. + +FORESTS. + +If there is any one duty which more than another we owe it to our +children and our children's children to perform at once, it is to save +the forests of this country, for they constitute the first and most +important element in the conservation of the natural resources of the +country. There are of course two kinds of natural resources, One is the +kind which can only be used as part of a process of exhaustion; this is +true of mines, natural oil and gas wells, and the like. The other, and +of course ultimately by far the most important, includes the resources +which can be improved in the process of wise use; the soil, the rivers, +and the forests come under this head. Any really civilized nation will +so use all of these three great national assets that the nation will +have their benefit in the future. Just as a farmer, after all his life +making his living from his farm, will, if he is an expert farmer, leave +it as an asset of increased value to his son, so we should leave our +national domain to our children, increased in value and not worn out. +There are small sections of our own country, in the East and the West, +in the Adriondacks, the White Mountains, and the Appalachians, and in +the Rocky Mountains, where we can already see for ourselves the damage +in the shape of permanent injury to the soil and the river systems +which comes from reckless deforestation. It matters not whether this +deforestation is due to the actual reckless cutting of timber, to the +fires that inevitably follow such reckless cutting of timber, or to +reckless and uncontrolled grazing, especially by the great migratory +bands of sheep, the unchecked wandering of which over the country means +destruction to forests and disaster to the small home makers, the +settlers of limited means. + +Shortsighted persons, or persons blinded to the future by desire to +make money in every way out of the present, sometimes speak as if no +great damage would be done by the reckless destruction of our forests. +It is difficult to have patience with the arguments of these persons. +Thanks to our own recklessness in the use of our splendid forests, we +have already crossed the verge of a timber famine in this country, and +no measures that we now take can, at least for many years, undo the +mischief that has already been done. But we can prevent further +mischief being done; and it would be in the highest degree +reprehensible to let any consideration of temporary convenience or +temporary cost interfere with such action, especially as regards the +National Forests which the nation can now, at this very moment, +control. + +All serious students of the question are aware of the great damage that +has been done in the Mediterranean countries of Europe, Asia, and +Africa by deforestation. The similar damage that has been done in +Eastern Asia is less well known. A recent investigation into conditions +in North China by Mr. Frank N. Meyer, of the Bureau of Plant Industry +of the United States Department of Agriculture, has incidentally +furnished in very striking fashion proof of the ruin that comes from +reckless deforestation of mountains, and of the further fact that the +damage once done may prove practically irreparable. So important are +these investigations that I herewith attach as an appendix to my +message certain photographs showing present conditions in China. They +show in vivid fashion the appalling desolation, taking the shape of +barren mountains and gravel and sand-covered plains, which immediately +follows and depends upon the deforestation of the mountains. Not many +centuries ago the country of northern China was one of the most fertile +and beautiful spots in the entire world, and was heavily forested. We +know this not only from the old Chinese records, but from the accounts +given by the traveler, Marco Polo. He, for instance, mentions that in +visiting the provinces of Shansi and Shensi he observed many +plantations of mulberry trees. Now there is hardly a single mulberry +tree in either of these provinces, and the culture of the silkworm has +moved farther south, to regions of atmospheric moisture. As an +illustration of the complete change in the rivers, we may take Polo's +statement that a certain river, the Hun Ho, was so large and deep that +merchants ascended it from the sea with heavily laden boats; today this +river is simply a broad sandy bed, with shallow, rapid currents +wandering hither and thither across it, absolutely unnavigable. But we +do not have to depend upon written records. The dry wells, and the +wells with water far below the former watermark, bear testimony to the +good days of the past and the evil days of the present. Wherever the +native vegetation has been allowed to remain, as, for instance, here +and there around a sacred temple or imperial burying ground, there are +still huge trees and tangled jungle, fragments of the glorious ancient +forests. The thick, matted forest growth formerly covered the mountains +to their summits. All natural factors favored this dense forest growth, +and as long as it was permitted to exist the plains at the foot of the +mountains were among the most fertile on the globe, and the whole +country was a garden. Not the slightest effort was made, however, to +prevent the unchecked cutting of the trees, or to secure reforestation. +Doubtless for many centuries the tree-cutting by the inhabitants of the +mountains worked but slowly in bringing about the changes that have now +come to pass; doubtless for generations the inroads were scarcely +noticeable. But there came a time when the forest had shrunk +sufficiently to make each year's cutting a serious matter, and from +that time on the destruction proceeded with appalling rapidity; for of +course each year of destruction rendered the forest less able to +recuperate, less able to resist next year's inroad. Mr. Meyer describes +the ceaseless progress of the destruction even now, when there is so +little left to destroy. Every morning men and boys go out armed with +mattox or axe, scale the steepest mountain sides, and cut down and grub +out, root and branch, the small trees and shrubs still to be found. The +big trees disappeared centuries ago, so that now one of these is never +seen save in the neighborhood of temples, where they are artificially +protected; and even here it takes all the watch and care of the +tree-loving priests to prevent their destruction. Each family, each +community, where there is no common care exercised in the interest of +all of them to prevent deforestation, finds its profit in the immediate +use of the fuel which would otherwise be used by some other family or +some other community. In the total absence of regulation of the matter +in the interest of the whole people, each small group is inevitably +pushed into a policy of destruction which can not afford to take +thought for the morrow. This is just one of those matters which it is +fatal to leave to unsupervised individual control. The forest can only +be protected by the State, by the Nation; and the liberty of action of +individuals must be conditioned upon what the State or Nation +determines to be necessary for the common safety. + +The lesson of deforestation in China is a lesson which mankind should +have learned many times already from what has occurred in other places. +Denudation leaves naked soil; then gullying cuts down to the bare rock; +and meanwhile the rock-waste buries the bottomlands. When the soil is +gone, men must go; and the process does not take long. + +This ruthless destruction of the forests in northern China has brought +about, or has aided in bringing about, desolation, just as the +destruction of the forests in central Asia aid in bringing ruin to the +once rich central Asian cities; just as the destruction of the forest +in northern Africa helped towards the ruin of a region that was a +fertile granary in Roman days. Shortsighted man, whether barbaric, +semi-civilized, or what he mistakenly regards as fully civilized, when +he has destroyed the forests, has rendered certain the ultimate +destruction of the land itself. In northern China the mountains are now +such as are shown by the accompanying photographs, absolutely barren +peaks. Not only have the forests been destroyed, but because of their +destruction the soil has been washed off the naked rock. The terrible +consequence is that it is impossible now to undo the damage that has +been done. Many centuries would have to pass before soil would again +collect, or could be made to collect, in sufficient quantity once more +to support the old-time forest growth. In consequence the Mongol Desert +is practically extending eastward over northern China. The climate has +changed and is still changing. It has changed even within the last half +century, as the work of tree destruction has been consummated. The +great masses of arboreal vegetation on the mountains formerly absorbed +the heat of the sun and sent up currents of cool air which brought the +moisture-laden clouds lower and forced them to precipitate in rain a +part of their burden of water. Now that there is no vegetation, the +barren mountains, scorched by the sun, send up currents of heated air +which drive away instead of attracting the rain clouds, and cause their +moisture to be disseminated. In consequence, instead of the regular and +plentiful rains which existed in these regions of China when the +forests were still in evidence, the unfortunate inhabitants of the +deforested lands now see their crops wither for lack of rainfall, while +the seasons grow more and more irregular; and as the air becomes dryer +certain crops refuse longer to grow at all. That everything dries out +faster than formerly is shown by the fact that the level of the wells +all over the land has sunk perceptibly, many of them having become +totally dry. In addition to the resulting agricultural distress, the +watercourses have changed. Formerly they were narrow and deep, with an +abundance of clear water the year around; for the roots and humus of +the forests caught the rainwater and let it escape by slow, regular +seepage. They have now become broad, shallow stream beds, in which +muddy water trickles in slender currents during the dry seasons, while +when it rains there are freshets, and roaring muddy torrents come +tearing down, bringing disaster and destruction everywhere. Moreover, +these floods and freshets, which diversify the general dryness, wash +away from the mountain sides, and either wash away or cover in the +valleys, the rich fertile soil which it took tens of thousands of years +for Nature to form; and it is lost forever, and until the forests grow +again it can not be replaced. The sand and stones from the mountain +sides are washed loose and come rolling down to cover the arable lands, +and in consequence, throughout this part of China, many formerly rich +districts are now sandy wastes, useless for human cultivation and even +for pasture. The cities have been of course seriously affected, for the +streams have gradually ceased to be navigable. There is testimony that +even within the memory of men now living there has been a serious +diminution of the rainfall of northeastern China. The level of the +Sungari River in northern Manchuria has been sensibly lowered during +the last fifty years, at least partly as the result of the +indiscriminate rutting of the forests forming its watershed. Almost all +the rivers of northern China have become uncontrollable, and very +dangerous to the dwellers along their banks, as a direct result of the +destruction of the forests. The journey from Pekin to Jehol shows in +melancholy fashion how the soil has been washed away from whole +valleys, so that they have been converted into deserts. + +In northern China this disastrous process has gone on so long and has +proceeded so far that no complete remedy could be applied. There are +certain mountains in China from which the soil is gone so utterly that +only the slow action of the ages could again restore it; although of +course much could be done to prevent the still further eastward +extension of the Mongolian Desert if the Chinese Government would act +at once. The accompanying cuts from photographs show the inconceivable +desolation of the barren mountains in which certain of these rivers +rise--mountains, be it remembered, which formerly supported dense +forests of larches and firs, now unable to produce any wood, and +because of their condition a source of danger to the whole country. The +photographs also show the same rivers after they have passed through +the mountains, the beds having become broad and sandy because of the +deforestation of the mountains. One of the photographs shows a caravan +passing through a valley. Formerly, when the mountains were forested, +it was thickly peopled by prosperous peasants. Now the floods have +carried destruction all over the land and the valley is a stony desert. +Another photograph shows a mountain road covered with the stones and +rocks that are brought down in the rainy season from the mountains +which have already been deforested by human hands. Another shows a +pebbly river-bed in southern Manchuria where what was once a great +stream has dried up owing to the deforestation in the mountains. Only +some scrub wood is left, which will disappear within a half century. +Yet another shows the effect of one of the washouts, destroying an +arable mountain side, these washouts being due to the removal of all +vegetation; yet in this photograph the foreground shows that +reforestation is still a possibility in places. + +What has thus happened in northern China, what has happened in Central +Asia, in Palestine, in North Africa, in parts of the Mediterranean +countries of Europe, will surely happen in our country if we do not +exercise that wise forethought which should be one of the chief marks +of any people calling itself civilized. Nothing should be permitted to +stand in the way of the preservation of the forests, and it is criminal +to permit individuals to purchase a little gain for themselves through +the destruction of forests when this destruction is fatal to the +well-being of the whole country in the future. + +INLAND WATERWAYS. + +Action should be begun forthwith, during the present session of the +Congress, for the improvement of our inland waterways--action which +will result in giving us not only navigable but navigated rivers. We +have spent hundreds of millions of dollars upon these waterways, yet +the traffic on nearly all of them is steadily declining. This condition +is the direct result of the absence of any comprehensive and far-seeing +plan of waterway improvement, Obviously we can not continue thus to +expend the revenues of the Government without return. It is poor +business to spend money for inland navigation unless we get it. + +Inquiry into the condition of the Mississippi and its principal +tributaries reveals very many instances of the utter waste caused by +the methods which have hitherto obtained for the so-called +"improvement" of navigation. A striking instance is supplied by the +"improvement" of the Ohio, which, begun in 1824, was continued under a +single plan for half a century. In 1875 a new plan was adopted and +followed for a quarter of a century. In 1902 still a different plan was +adopted and has since been pursued at a rate which only promises a +navigable river in from twenty to one hundred years longer. + +Such shortsighted, vacillating, and futile methods are accompanied by +decreasing water-borne commerce and increasing traffic congestion on +land, by increasing floods, and by the waste of public money. The +remedy lies in abandoning the methods which have so signally failed and +adopting new ones in keeping with the needs and demands of our people. + +In a report on a measure introduced at the first session of the present +Congress, the Secretary of War said: "The chief defect in the methods +hitherto pursued lies in the absence of executive authority for +originating comprehensive plans covering the country or natural +divisions thereof." In this opinion I heartily concur. The present +methods not only fail to give us inland navigation, but they are +injurious to the army as well. What is virtually a permanent detail of +the corps of engineers to civilian duty necessarily impairs the +efficiency of our military establishment. The military engineers have +undoubtedly done efficient work in actual construction, but they are +necessarily unsuited by their training and traditions to take the broad +view, and to gather and transmit to the Congress the commercial and +industrial information and forecasts, upon which waterway improvement +must always so largely rest. Furthermore, they have failed to grasp the +great underlying fact that every stream is a unit from its source to +its mouth, and that all its uses are interdependent. Prominent officers +of the Engineer Corps have recently even gone so far as to assert in +print that waterways are not dependent upon the conservation of the +forests about their headwaters. This position is opposed to all the +recent work of the scientific bureaus of the Government and to the +general experience of mankind. A physician who disbelieved in +vaccination would not be the right man to handle an epidemic of +smallpox, nor should we leave a doctor skeptical about the transmission +of yellow fever by the Stegomyia mosquito in charge of sanitation at +Havana or Panama. So with the improvement of our rivers; it is no +longer wise or safe to leave this great work in the hands of men who +fail to grasp the essential relations between navigation and general +development and to assimilate and use the central facts about our +streams. + +Until the work of river improvement is undertaken in a modern way it +can not have results that will meet the needs of this modern nation. +These needs should be met without further dilly-dallying or delay. The +plan which promises the best and quickest results is that of a +permanent commission authorized to coordinate the work of all the +Government departments relating to waterways, and to frame and +supervise the execution of a comprehensive plan. Under such a +commission the actual work of construction might be entrusted to the +reclamation service; or to the military engineers acting with a +sufficient number of civilians to continue the work in time of war; or +it might be divided between the reclamation service and the corps of +engineers. Funds should be provided from current revenues if it is +deemed wise--otherwise from the sale of bonds. The essential thing is +that the work should go forward under the best possible plan, and with +the least possible delay. We should have a new type of work and a new +organization for planning and directing it. The time for playing with +our waterways is past. The country demands results. + +NATIONAL PARKS. + +I urge that all our National parks adjacent to National forests be +placed completely under the control of the forest service of the +Agricultural Department, instead of leaving them as they now are, under +the Interior Department and policed by the army. The Congress should +provide for superintendents with adequate corps of first-class civilian +scouts, or rangers, and, further, place the road construction under the +superintendent instead of leaving it with the War Department. Such a +change in park management would result in economy and avoid the +difficulties of administration which now arise from having the +responsibility of care and protection divided between different +departments. The need for this course is peculiarly great in the +Yellowstone Park. This, like the Yosemite, is a great wonderland, and +should be kept as a national playground. In both, all wild things +should be protected and the scenery kept wholly unmarred. + +I am happy to say that I have been able to set aside in various parts +of the country small, well-chosen tracts of ground to serve as +sanctuaries and nurseries for wild creatures. + +DENATURED ALCOHOL. + +I had occasion in my message of May 4, 1906, to urge the passage of +some law putting alcohol, used in the arts, industries, and +manufactures, upon the free list--that is, to provide for the +withdrawal free of tax of alcohol which is to be denatured for those +purposes. The law of June 7, 1906, and its amendment of March 2, 1907, +accomplished what was desired in that respect, and the use of denatured +alcohol, as intended, is making a fair degree of progress and is +entitled to further encouragement and support from the Congress. + +PURE FOOD. + +The pure food legislation has already worked a benefit difficult to +overestimate. + +INDIAN SERVICE. + +It has been my purpose from the beginning of my administration to take +the Indian Service completely out of the atmosphere of political +activity, and there has been steady progress toward that end. The last +remaining stronghold of politics in that service was the agency system, +which had seen its best days and was gradually falling to pieces from +natural or purely evolutionary causes, but, like all such survivals, +was decaying slowly in its later stages. It seems clear that its +extinction had better be made final now, so that the ground can be +cleared for larger constructive work on behalf of the Indians, +preparatory to their induction into the full measure of responsible +citizenship. On November 1 only eighteen agencies were left on the +roster; with two exceptions, where some legal questions seemed to stand +temporarily in the way, these have been changed to superintendencies, +and their heads brought into the classified civil service. + +SECRET SERVICE. + +Last year an amendment was incorporated in the measure providing for +the Secret Service, which provided that there should be no detail from +the Secret Service and no transfer therefrom. It is not too much to say +that this amendment has been of benefit only, and could be of benefit +only, to the criminal classes. If deliberately introduced for the +purpose of diminishing the effectiveness of war against crime it could +not have been better devised to this end. It forbade the practices that +had been followed to a greater or less extent by the executive heads of +various departments for twenty years. To these practices we owe the +securing of the evidence which enabled us to drive great lotteries out +of business and secure a quarter of a million of dollars in fines from +their promoters. These practices have enabled us to get some of the +evidence indispensable in order in connection with the theft of +government land and government timber by great corporations and by +individuals. These practices have enabled us to get some of the +evidence indispensable in order to secure the conviction of the +wealthiest and most formidable criminals with whom the Government has +to deal, both those operating in violation of the anti-trust law and +others. The amendment in question was of benefit to no one excepting to +these criminals, and it seriously hampers the Government in the +detection of crime and the securing of justice. Moreover, it not only +affects departments outside of the Treasury, but it tends to hamper the +Secretary of the Treasury himself in the effort to utilize the +employees of his department so as to best meet the requirements of the +public service. It forbids him from preventing frauds upon the customs +service, from investigating irregularities in branch mints and assay +offices, and has seriously crippled him. It prevents the promotion of +employees in the Secret Service, and this further discourages good +effort. In its present form the restriction operates only to the +advantage of the criminal, of the wrongdoer. The chief argument in +favor of the provision was that the Congressmen did not themselves wish +to be investigated by Secret Service men. Very little of such +investigation has been done in the past; but it is true that the work +of the Secret Service agents was partly responsible for the indictment +and conviction of a Senator and a Congressman for land frauds in +Oregon. I do not believe that it is in the public interest to protect +criminally in any branch of the public service, and exactly as we have +again and again during the past seven years prosecuted and convicted +such criminals who were in the executive branch of the Government, so +in my belief we should be given ample means to prosecute them if found +in the legislative branch. But if this is not considered desirable a +special exception could be made in the law prohibiting the use of the +Secret Service force in investigating members of the Congress. It would +be far better to do this than to do what actually was done, and strive +to prevent or at least to hamper effective action against criminals by +the executive branch of the Government. + +POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS. + +I again renew my recommendation for postal savings hanks, for +depositing savings with the security of the Government behind them. The +object is to encourage thrift and economy in the wage-earner and person +of moderate means. In 14 States the deposits in savings banks as +reported to the Comptroller of the Currency amount to $3,590,245,402, +or 98.4 per cent of the entire deposits, while in the remaining 32 +States there are only $70,308,543, or 1.6 per cent, showing +conclusively that there are many localities in the United States where +sufficient opportunity is not given to the people to deposit their +savings. The result is that money is kept in hiding and unemployed. It +is believed that in the aggregate vast sums of money would be brought +into circulation through the instrumentality of the postal savings +banks. While there are only 1,453 savings banks reporting to the +Comptroller there are more than 61,000 post-offices, 40,000 of which +are money order offices. Postal savings banks are now in operation in +practically all of the great civilized countries with the exception of +the United States. + +PARCEL POST. + +In my last annual message I commended the Postmaster-General's +recommendation for an extension of the parcel post on the rural routes. +The establishment of a local parcel post on rural routes would be to +the mutual benefit of the farmer and the country storekeeper, and it is +desirable that the routes, serving more than 15,000,000 people, should +be utilized to the fullest practicable extent. An amendment was +proposed in the Senate at the last session, at the suggestion of the +Postmaster-General, providing that, for the purpose of ascertaining the +practicability of establishing a special local parcel post system on +the rural routes throughout the United States, the Postmaster-General +be authorized and directed to experiment and report to the Congress the +result of such experiment by establishing a special local parcel post +system on rural delivery routes in not to exceed four counties in the +United States for packages of fourth-class matter originating on a +rural route or at the distributing post office for delivery by rural +carriers. It would seem only proper that such an experiment should be +tried in order to demonstrate the practicability of the proposition, +especially as the Postmaster-General estimates that the revenue derived +from the operation of such a system on all the rural routes would +amount to many million dollars. + +EDUCATION. + +The share that the National Government should take in the broad work of +education has not received the attention and the care it rightly +deserves. The immediate responsibility for the support and improvement +of our educational systems and institutions rests and should always +rest with the people of the several States acting through their state +and local governments, but the Nation has an opportunity in educational +work which must not be lost and a duty which should no longer be +neglected. + +The National Bureau of Education was established more than forty years +ago. Its purpose is to collect and diffuse such information "as shall +aid the people of the United States in the establishment and +maintenance of efficient school systems and otherwise promote the cause +of education throughout the country." This purpose in no way conflicts +with the educational work of the States, but may be made of great +advantage to the States by giving them the fullest, most accurate, and +hence the most helpful information and suggestion regarding the best +educational systems. The Nation, through its broader field of +activities, its wider opportunity for obtaining information from all +the States and from foreign countries, is able to do that which not +even the richest States can do, and with the distinct additional +advantage that the information thus obtained is used for the immediate +benefit of all our people. + +With the limited means hitherto provided, the Bureau of Education has +rendered efficient service, but the Congress has neglected to +adequately supply the bureau with means to meet the educational growth +of the country. The appropriations for the general work of the bureau, +outside education in Alaska, for the year 1909 are but $87,500--an +amount less than they were ten years ago, and some of the important +items in these appropriations are less than they were thirty years ago. +It is an inexcusable waste of public money to appropriate an amount +which is so inadequate as to make it impossible properly to do the work +authorized, and it is unfair to the great educational interests of the +country to deprive them of the value of the results which can be +obtained by proper appropriations. + +I earnestly recommend that this unfortunate state of affairs as regards +the national educational office be remedied by adequate appropriations. +This recommendation is urged by the representatives of our common +schools and great state universities and the leading educators, who all +unite in requesting favorable consideration and action by the Congress +upon this subject. + +CENSUS. + +I strongly urge that the request of the Director of the Census in +connection with the decennial work so soon to be begun be complied with +and that the appointments to the census force be placed under the civil +service law, waiving the geographical requirements as requested by the +Director of the Census. The supervisors and enumerators should not be +appointed under the civil service law, for the reasons given by the +Director. I commend to the Congress the careful consideration of the +admirable report of the Director of the Census, and I trust that his +recommendations will be adopted and immediate action thereon taken. + +PUBLIC HEALTH. + +It is highly advisable that there should be intelligent action on the +part of the Nation on the question of preserving the health of the +country. Through the practical extermination in San Francisco of +disease-bearing rodents our country has thus far escaped the bubonic +plague. This is but one of the many achievements of American health +officers; and it shows what can be accomplished with a better +organization than at present exists. The dangers to public health from +food adulteration and from many other sources, such as the menace to +the physical, mental and moral development of children from child +labor, should be met and overcome. There are numerous diseases, which +are now known to be preventable, which are, nevertheless, not +prevented. The recent International Congress on Tuberculosis has made +us painfully aware of the inadequacy of American public health +legislation. This Nation can not afford to lag behind in the world-wide +battle now being waged by all civilized people with the microscopic +foes of mankind, nor ought we longer to ignore the reproach that this +Government takes more pains to protect the lives of hogs and of cattle +than of human beings. + +REDISTRIBUTION OF BUREAUS. + +The first legislative step to be taken is that for the concentration of +the proper bureaus into one of the existing departments. I therefore +urgently recommend the passage of a bill which shall authorize a +redistribution of the bureaus which shall best accomplish this end. + +GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. + +I recommend that legislation be enacted placing under the jurisdiction +of the Department of Commerce and Labor the Government Printing Office. +At present this office is under the combined control, supervision, and +administrative direction of the President and of the Joint Committee on +Printing of the two Houses of the Congress. The advantage of having the +4,069 employees in this office and the expenditure of the $5,761,377.57 +appropriated therefor supervised by an executive department is obvious, +instead of the present combined supervision. + +SOLDIERS' HOMES. + +All Soldiers' Homes should be placed under the complete jurisdiction +and control of the War Department. + +INDEPENDENT BUREAUS AND COMMISSIONS. + +Economy and sound business policy require that all existing independent +bureaus and commissions should be placed under the jurisdiction of +appropriate executive departments. It is unwise from every standpoint, +and results only in mischief, to have any executive work done save by +the purely executive bodies, under the control of the President; and +each such executive body should be under the immediate supervision of a +Cabinet Minister. + +STATEHOOD. + +I advocate the immediate admission of New Mexico and Arizona as States. +This should be done at the present session of the Congress. The people +of the two Territories have made it evident by their votes that they +will not come in as one State. The only alternative is to admit them as +two, and I trust that this will be done without delay. + +INTERSTATE FISHERIES. + +I call the attention of the Congress to the importance of the problem +of the fisheries in the interstate waters. On the Great Lakes we are +now, under the very wise treaty of April 11th of this year, endeavoring +to come to an international agreement for the preservation and +satisfactory use of the fisheries of these waters which can not +otherwise be achieved. Lake Erie, for example, has the richest fresh +water fisheries in the world; but it is now controlled by the statutes +of two Nations, four States, and one Province, and in this Province by +different ordinances in different counties. All these political +divisions work at cross purposes, and in no case can they achieve +protection to the fisheries, on the one hand, and justice to the +localities and individuals on the other. The case is similar in Puget +Sound. + +But the problem is quite as pressing in the interstate waters of the +United States. The salmon fisheries of the Columbia River are now but a +fraction of what they were twenty-five years ago, and what they would +be now if the United States Government had taken complete charge of +them by intervening between Oregon and Washington. During these +twenty-five years the fishermen of each State have naturally tried to +take all they could get, and the two legislatures have never been able +to agree on joint action of any kind adequate in degree for the +protection of the fisheries. At the moment the fishing on the Oregon +side is practically closed, while there is no limit on the Washington +side of any kind, and no one can tell what the courts will decide as to +the very statutes under which this action and non-action result. +Meanwhile very few salmon reach the spawning grounds, and probably four +years hence the fisheries will amount to nothing; and this comes from a +struggle between the associated, or gill-net, fishermen on the one +hand, and the owners of the fishing wheels up the river. The fisheries +of the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Potomac are also in a bad way. +For this there is no remedy except for the United States to control and +legislate for the interstate fisheries as part of the business of +interstate commerce. In this case the machinery for scientific +investigation and for control already exists in the United States +Bureau of Fisheries. In this as in similar problems the obvious and +simple rule should be followed of having those matters which no +particular State can manage taken in hand by the United States; +problems which in the seesaw of conflicting State legislatures are +absolutely unsolvable are easy enough for Congress to control. + +FISHERIES AND FUR SEALS. + +The federal statute regulating interstate traffic in game should be +extended to include fish. New federal fish hatcheries should be +established. The administration of the Alaskan fur-seal service should +be vested in the Bureau of Fisheries. + +FOREIGN AFFAIRS. + +This Nation's foreign policy is based on the theory that right must be +done between nations precisely as between individuals, and in our +actions for the last ten years we have in this matter proven our faith +by our deeds. We have behaved, and are behaving, towards other nations +as in private life an honorable man would behave towards his fellows. + +LATIN-AMERICAN REPUBLICS. + +The commercial and material progress of the twenty Latin-American +Republics is worthy of the careful attention of the Congress. No other +section of the world has shown a greater proportionate development of +its foreign trade during the last ten years and none other has more +special claims on the interest of the United States. It offers to-day +probably larger opportunities for the legitimate expansion of our +commerce than any other group of countries. These countries will want +our products in greatly increased quantities, and we shall +correspondingly need theirs. The International Bureau of the American +Republics is doing a useful work in making these nations and their +resources better known to us, and in acquainting them not only with us +as a people and with our purposes towards them, but with what we have +to exchange for their goods. It is an international institution +supported by all the governments of the two Americas. + +PANAMA CANAL. + +The work on the Panama Canal is being done with a speed, efficiency and +entire devotion to duty which make it a model for all work of the kind. +No task of such magnitude has ever before been undertaken by any +nation; and no task of the kind has ever been better performed. The men +on the isthmus, from Colonel Goethals and his fellow commissioners +through the entire list of employees who are faithfully doing their +duty, have won their right to the ungrudging respect and gratitude of +the American people. + +OCEAN MAIL LINERS. + +I again recommend the extension of the ocean mail act of 1891 so that +satisfactory American ocean mail lines to South America, Asia, the +Philippines, and Australasia may be established. The creation of such +steamship lines should be the natural corollary of the voyage of the +battle fleet. It should precede the opening of the Panama Canal. Even +under favorable conditions several years must elapse before such lines +can be put into operation. Accordingly I urge that the Congress act +promptly where foresight already shows that action sooner or later will +be inevitable. + +HAWAII. + +I call particular attention to the Territory of Hawaii. The importance +of those islands is apparent, and the need of improving their condition +and developing their resources is urgent. In recent years industrial +conditions upon the islands have radically changed, The importation of +coolie labor has practically ceased, and there is now developing such a +diversity in agricultural products as to make possible a change in the +land conditions of the Territory, so that an opportunity may be given +to the small land owner similar to that on the mainland. To aid these +changes, the National Government must provide the necessary harbor +improvements on each island, so that the agricultural products can be +carried to the markets of the world. The coastwise shipping laws should +be amended to meet the special needs of the islands, and the alien +contract labor law should be so modified in its application to Hawaii +as to enable American and European labor to be brought thither. + +We have begun to improve Pearl Harbor for a naval base and to provide +the necessary military fortifications for the protection of the +islands, but I can not too strongly emphasize the need of +appropriations for these purposes of such an amount as will within the +shortest possible time make those islands practically impregnable. It +is useless to develop the industrial conditions of the islands and +establish there bases of supply for our naval and merchant fleets +unless we insure, as far as human ingenuity can, their safety from +foreign seizure. + +One thing to be remembered with all our fortifications is that it is +almost useless to make them impregnable from the sea if they are left +open to land attack. This is true even of our own coast, but it is +doubly true of our insular possessions. In Hawaii, for instance, it is +worse than useless to establish a naval station unless we establish it +behind fortifications so strong that no landing force can take them +save by regular and long-continued siege operations. + +THE PHILIPPINES. + +Real progress toward self-government is being made in the Philippine +Islands. The gathering of a Philippine legislative body and Philippine +assembly marks a process absolutely new in Asia, not only as regards +Asiatic colonies of European powers but as regards Asiatic possessions +of other Asiatic powers; and, indeed, always excepting the striking and +wonderful example afforded by the great Empire of Japan, it opens an +entirely new departure when compared with anything which has happened +among Asiatic powers which are their own masters. Hitherto this +Philippine legislature has acted with moderation and self-restraint, +and has seemed in practical fashion to realize the eternal truth that +there must always be government, and that the only way in which any +body of individuals can escape the necessity of being governed by +outsiders is to show that they are able to restrain themselves, to keep +down wrongdoing and disorder. The Filipino people, through their +officials, are therefore making real steps in the direction of +self-government. I hope and believe that these steps mark the beginning +of a course which will continue till the Filipinos become fit to decide +for themselves whether they desire to be an independent nation. But it +is well for them (and well also for those Americans who during the past +decade have done so much damage to the Filipinos by agitation for an +immediate independence for which they were totally unfit) to remember +that self-government depends, and must depend, upon the Filipinos +themselves. All we can do is to give them the opportunity to develop +the capacity for self-government. If we had followed the advice of the +foolish doctrinaires who wished us at any time during the last ten +years to turn the Filipino people adrift, we should have shirked the +plainest possible duty and have inflicted a lasting wrong upon the +Filipino people. We have acted in exactly the opposite spirit. We have +given the Filipinos constitutional government--a government based upon +justice--and we have shown that we have governed them for their good +and not for our aggrandizement. At the present time, as during the past +ten years, the inexorable logic of facts shows that this government +must be supplied by us and not by them. We must be wise and generous; +we must help the Filipinos to master the difficult art of self-control, +which is simply another name for self-government. But we can not give +them self-government save in the sense of governing them so that +gradually they may, if they are able, learn to govern themselves. Under +the present system of just laws and sympathetic administration, we have +every reason to believe that they are gradually acquiring the character +which lies at the basis of self-government, and for which, if it be +lacking, no system of laws, no paper constitution, will in any wise +serve as a substitute. Our people in the Philippines have achieved what +may legitimately be called a marvelous success in giving to them a +government which marks on the part of those in authority both the +necessary understanding of the people and the necessary purpose to +serve them disinterestedly and in good faith. I trust that within a +generation the time will arrive when the Philippines can decide for +themselves whether it is well for them to become independent, or to +continue under the protection of a strong and disinterested power, able +to guarantee to the islands order at home and protection from foreign +invasion. But no one can prophesy the exact date when it will be wise +to consider independence as a fixed and definite policy. It would be +worse than folly to try to set down such a date in advance, for it must +depend upon the way in which the Philippine people themselves develop +the power of self-mastery. + +PORTO RICO. + +I again recommend that American citizenship be conferred upon the +people of Porto Rico. + +CUBA. + +In Cuba our occupancy will cease in about two months' time, the Cubans +have in orderly manner elected their own governmental authorities, and +the island will be turned over to them. Our occupation on this occasion +has lasted a little over two years, and Cuba has thriven and prospered +under it. Our earnest hope and one desire is that the people of the +island shall now govern themselves with justice, so that peace and +order may be secure. We will gladly help them to this end; but I would +solemnly warn them to remember the great truth that the only way a +people can permanently avoid being governed from without is to show +that they both can and will govern themselves from within. + +JAPANESE EXPOSITION. + +The Japanese Government has postponed until 1917 the date of the great +international exposition, the action being taken so as to insure ample +time in which to prepare to make the exposition all that it should be +made. The American commissioners have visited Japan and the +postponement will merely give ampler opportunity for America to be +represented at the exposition. Not since the first international +exposition has there been one of greater importance than this will be, +marking as it does the fiftieth anniversary of the ascension to the +throne of the Emperor of Japan. The extraordinary leap to a foremost +place among the nations of the world made by Japan during this half +century is something unparalleled in all previous history. This +exposition will fitly commemorate and signalize the giant progress that +has been achieved. It is the first exposition of its kind that has ever +been held in Asia. The United States, because of the ancient friendship +between the two peoples, because each of us fronts on the Pacific, and +because of the growing commercial relations between this country and +Asia, takes a peculiar interest in seeing the exposition made a success +in every way. + +I take this opportunity publicly to state my appreciation of the way in +which in Japan, in Australia, in New Zealand, and in all the States of +South America, the battle fleet has been received on its practice +voyage around the world. The American Government can not too strongly +express its appreciation of the abounding and generous hospitality +shown our ships in every port they visited. + +THE ARMY. + +As regards the Army I call attention to the fact that while our junior +officers and enlisted men stand very high, the present system of +promotion by seniority results in bringing into the higher grades many +men of mediocre capacity who have but a short time to serve. No man +should regard it as his vested right to rise to the highest rank in the +Army any more than in any other profession. It is a curious and by no +means creditable fact that there should be so often a failure on the +part of the public and its representatives to understand the great +need, from the standpoint of the service and the Nation, of refusing to +promote respectable, elderly incompetents. The higher places should be +given to the most deserving men without regard to seniority; at least +seniority should be treated as only one consideration. In the stress of +modern industrial competition no business firm could succeed if those +responsible for its management were chosen simply on the ground that +they were the oldest people in its employment; yet this is the course +advocated as regards the Army, and required by law for all grades +except those of general officer. As a matter of fact, all of the best +officers in the highest ranks of the Army are those who have attained +their present position wholly or in part by a process of selection. + +The scope of retiring boards should be extended so that they could +consider general unfitness to command for any cause, in order to secure +a far more rigid enforcement than at present in the elimination of +officers for mental, physical or temperamental disabilities. But this +plan is recommended only if the Congress does not see fit to provide +what in my judgment is far better; that is, for selection in promotion, +and for elimination for age. Officers who fail to attain a certain rank +by a certain age should be retired--for instance, if a man should not +attain field rank by the time he is 45 he should of course be placed on +the retired list. General officers should be selected as at present, +and one-third of the other promotions should be made by selection, the +selection to be made by the President or the Secretary of War from a +list of at least two candidates proposed for each vacancy by a board of +officers from the arm of the service from which the promotion is to be +made. A bill is now before the Congress having for its object to secure +the promotion of officers to various grades at reasonable ages through +a process of selection, by boards of officers, of the least efficient +for retirement with a percentage of their pay depending upon length of +service. The bill, although not accomplishing all that should be done, +is a long step in the right direction; and I earnestly recommend its +passage, or that of a more completely effective measure. + +The cavalry arm should be reorganized upon modern lines. This is an arm +in which it is peculiarly necessary that the field officers should not +be old. The cavalry is much more difficult to form than infantry, and +it should be kept up to the maximum both in efficiency and in strength, +for it can not be made in a hurry. At present both infantry and +artillery are too few in number for our needs. Especial attention +should be paid to development of the machine gun. A general service +corps should be established. As things are now the average soldier has +far too much labor of a nonmilitary character to perform. + +NATIONAL GUARD. + +Now that the organized militia, the National Guard, has been +incorporated with the Army as a part of the national forces, it +behooves the Government to do every reasonable thing in its power to +perfect its efficiency. It should be assisted in its instruction and +otherwise aided more liberally than heretofore. The continuous services +of many well-trained regular officers will be essential in this +connection. Such officers must be specially trained at service schools +best to qualify them as instructors of the National Guard. But the +detailing of officers for training at the service schools and for duty +with the National Guard entails detaching them from their regiments +which are already greatly depleted by detachment of officers for +assignment to duties prescribed by acts of the Congress. + +A bill is now pending before the Congress creating a number of extra +officers in the Army, which if passed, as it ought to be, will enable +more officers to be trained as instructors of the National Guard and +assigned to that duty. In case of war it will be of the utmost +importance to have a large number of trained officers to use for +turning raw levies into good troops. + +There should be legislation to provide a complete plan for organizing +the great body of volunteers behind the Regular Army and National Guard +when war has come. Congressional assistance should be given those who +are endeavoring to promote rifle practice so that our men, in the +services or out of them, may know how to use the rifle. While teams +representing the United States won the rifle and revolver championships +of the world against all comers in England this year, it is +unfortunately true that the great body of our citizens shoot less and +less as time goes on. To meet this we should encourage rifle practice +among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the +military services, by every means in our power. Thus, and not +otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving the peace of the +world. Fit to hold our own against the strong nations of the earth, our +voice for peace will carry to the ends of the earth. Unprepared, and +therefore unfit, we must sit dumb and helpless to defend ourselves, +protect others, or preserve peace. The first step--in the direction of +preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it +should come--is to teach our men to shoot. + +THE NAVY. + +I approve the recommendations of the General Board for the increase of +the Navy, calling especial attention to the need of additional +destroyers and colliers, and above all, of the four battleships. It is +desirable to complete as soon as possible a squadron of eight +battleships of the best existing type. The North Dakota, Delaware, +Florida, and Utah will form the first division of this squadron. The +four vessels proposed will form the second division. It will be an +improvement on the first, the ships being of the heavy, single caliber, +all big gun type. All the vessels should have the same tactical +qualities--that is, speed and turning circle--and as near as possible +these tactical qualities should be the same as in the four vessels +before named now being built. + +I most earnestly recommend that the General Board be by law turned into +a General Staff. There is literally no excuse whatever for continuing +the present bureau organization of the Navy. The Navy should be treated +as a purely military organization, and everything should be +subordinated to the one object of securing military efficiency. Such +military efficiency can only be guaranteed in time of war if there is +the most thorough previous preparation in time of peace--a preparation, +I may add, which will in all probability prevent any need of war. The +Secretary must be supreme, and he should have as his official advisers +a body of line officers who should themselves have the power to pass +upon and coordinate all the work and all the proposals of the several +bureaus. A system of promotion by merit, either by selection or by +exclusion, or by both processes, should be introduced. It is out of the +question, if the present principle of promotion by mere seniority is +kept, to expect to get the best results from the higher officers. Our +men come too old, and stay for too short a time, in the high command +positions. + +Two hospital ships should be provided. The actual experience of the +hospital ship with the fleet in the Pacific has shown the invaluable +work which such a ship does, and has also proved that it is well to +have it kept under the command of a medical officer. As was to be +expected, all of the anticipations of trouble from such a command have +proved completely baseless. It is as absurd to put a hospital ship +under a line officer as it would be to put a hospital on shore under +such a command. This ought to have been realized before, and there is +no excuse for failure to realize it now. + +Nothing better for the Navy from every standpoint has ever occurred +than the cruise of the battle fleet around the world. The improvement +of the ships in every way has been extraordinary, and they have gained +far more experience in battle tactics than they would have gained if +they had stayed in the Atlantic waters. The American people have cause +for profound gratification, both in view of the excellent condition of +the fleet as shown by this cruise, and in view of the improvement the +cruise has worked in this already high condition. I do not believe that +there is any other service in the world in which the average of +character and efficiency in the enlisted men is as high as is now the +case in our own. I believe that the same statement can be made as to +our officers, taken as a whole; but there must be a reservation made in +regard to those in the highest ranks--as to which I have already +spoken--and in regard to those who have just entered the service; +because we do not now get full benefit from our excellent naval school +at Annapolis. It is absurd not to graduate the midshipmen as ensigns; +to keep them for two years in such an anomalous position as at present +the law requires is detrimental to them and to the service. In the +academy itself, every first classman should be required in turn to +serve as petty officer and officer; his ability to discharge his duties +as such should be a prerequisite to his going into the line, and his +success in commanding should largely determine his standing at +graduation. The Board of Visitors should be appointed in January, and +each member should be required to give at least six days' service, only +from one to three days' to be performed during June week, which is the +least desirable time for the board to be at Annapolis so far as +benefiting the Navy by their observations is concerned. + +THE WHITE HOUSE, + +Tuesday, December 8, 1908. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OF ADDRESSES BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT *** + +This file should be named suroo11.txt or suroo11.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, suroo12.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, suroo10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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