Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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To the Senate and House of Representa tives: We still continue In a period of un bounded 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 leg islation 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 de scendants of pioneers or, in a sense, pio neers themselves—of men winnowed out from among the nations of the old world by the energy, boldness and love of ad venture 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 mak ing our future even larger than the past. In particular the events of the last four years have delinileiy decided tnat for woe or lor weal our place must be great among lue nations. \\ e may either fail greatly or succt^d greatly, but we cannot avoid the endeavor from which either great failure or great success must come. J>iven if we would we cannot 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 pdople, 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 ot heart and resolute of will. Ours is not the creed of the weakling and the coward; ours is the gospel of hope and ot til- umphant endeavor. We do not shrink from the struggle before us. {here are manv problems for us to face at the out set of the twentieth century—grave prob lems 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 »iualities of head and heart which were shown by the men w'ho in the days of Washington founded this government and in the days of Bin- coin 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 tor 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 devel opment, and most of these fortunes have been won not by doing evil, but as an in cident to action which has benetited the community as a whole. Never before has material well being been so widely dif fused among our people. Great fortunes have been accumulated, and yet in the aggregate these fortunes are small in deed when compared to the wealth of the people us a whole. The plain ptople are better off than they have ever been be fore. The insurance companies, which are practically mutual benetit societies— especially helpful to men of moderate means—represent accumulations of capi tal which are among the largest in this country. There are more deposits in the savings b.4!i..o, mote owners of farms, more well paid wageworkers in this coun try now than ever before in our history. Of course when the conditions have fa vored the gro.vth of so much that was good they have also favored somewhat the growth of what was evil. It is emi- neni. «r.-iary that we should endeavor to cut out mis evil, but let us keep a due sense of proportion; let us not in lixing our gaze upon the less r evil forget the grea.cr good, 'ihe evils arc real, and some of them a» menacing, but they are the outgrowt’ .ot of misery or decadence, but of prosp .u.y, of the progress of our gigantic industrial development. This in dustrial 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 patient ly, with practical common sense as well as resolution, srparating 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 lirst session I discussed at length the question of the regulation of those big corporations commonly doing an in terstate business, often with some tenden cy to monopoly, which are popularly * known as trusts. The experience of the past year has emphasized, in my opinion, tho desirability of the steps I then pro posed. A fundamental requisite of social efficiency is a high standard of individual energy and excellence, hut this is in no wise inconsistent with power to act in combination for aims which cannot so well be achieved by the individual acting alone. A fundamental base of civilization is the inviolability of property; but this Is in nowise 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 cor porate franchises in such a way as to prevent the misuse of these powers. Cor porations. and (.specially combinations of corporations, should be managed under public regulation. Experience has shown that tinder our system of government the necessary supervision cannot he 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 indus trialism. and the effort to destroy them would be futile unless accomplished in ways that would work the utmost mis chief to the entire body politic. We can do nothing of good in the way of regulat ing 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 bo BO 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, per forms some great Industrial feat by which he wins money Is a welldoer, not a wrong doer, 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 overtender about sparing the dishonest corporation. In curbing and regulating the combina tions of capital which are or may become Injurious to the public we must be care ful not to stop the great enterprises which have legitimately reduced the cost of pro duction, 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 wageworker Idle In the streets and leaving the farmer without a market for what he grows. Insistence upon the im possible means delay In achieving the pos sible exactly as. on the other hand, the Stubborn defense alike of what is good and what is had in the existing system, the resolute effort to obstruct any at tempt 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 ef the regu lation of interstate business. This country cannot afford to sit supine on the plea that under our peculiar system of govern ment 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 Inter state commerce Is an absolute and un- quallfled grant and without limitations other than those prescribed by the consti tution. 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 ex hausted by any foglslatlon now on the statute books. It is evident, therefore, that ovlls restrictive of commercial free dom and entailing restraint upon national commerce fall within the regulative pow er 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 bs erad icated. * I believe that monopolies, unjust dis criminations, which prevent or cripple competition, fraudulent overcapitalisation and other evils In trust organizations and practices which Injuriously affect inter state trade can be prevented under the power of the congress to "regulate com merce 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 Anally adjudicated that now raise doubts as to the necessity of constitutional amend ment. if it prove impossible to accom plish the purposes above set forth by such a law. then assuredly we should not shrink from amending the constitution so ns to secure beyond peradventure the power sought. The congress has not heretofore made any appropriation for the "better enforce- ment of the antitrust law as it now stands. Very much has been done by the department of justice in securing the en forcement of this law. but much more could be done if 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 1 have described. Not merely would this be wholly ineffec tive. but the diversion of our efforts in such a direction would mean the aban donment of all intelligent attempt to do away with these evils. Many of the lar gest corpora lions, many of those which should certainly lie included in any proper scheme of regulation, would not be af fected in the slightest degree by a change in the tariff, save as such change inter fered 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 f imply to make-manufactures un- proiitable. To remove the tariff as a punitive measure directed against trusts would inevitably result it) ruin to the weaker competitors who are struggling against them. Our aim should be not by unwise tariff changes to give foreign prod ucts the advantage over domestic prod ucts. but by proper regulation to give do mestic competition a fair chance, and this end cannot 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 tarifi" revision. Stability of economic policy must al- ways be the prime economic need of this country. This stability should not be fos- eilization. The country lias acquiesced in the wisdom of the protective tariff principle. It is exceedingly undesirable that tills system should be destroyed or that there should be violent and radical changes therein. Our past experience shows that great prosperity in this coun try has always come underaprotective tar iff and that the country cannot prosper under fitful tariff changes at short inter- vals. Moreover, if the tariff laws as a whole work well and if business has pros pered under them and is prospering, it is better to endure for a time slight incon veniences and inequalities in some sched ules than to upset business by too quick and too radical changes. It is most ear nestly 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 cun be made secondary to the business interests of the country—that is, to the interests of our people as a whole. Unouestionably these business interests will best be served if together with lixity of principle as re gards the tariff we combine a system Which will permit us from time to time to make the necessary reapplication of tlu* 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 pro duce paralysis in the business energies of the community. The first considera tion in making these changes would, of course, lie to preserve the principle which underlies our whole tariff system—that is, the principle of putting American busi ness interests at least on a full equality with interests abroad and of always al lowing a sufficient rate of duty to more than cover the difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The well be ing of the wageworker, like the well be- in-; of the tiller of the soil, should be tr- ated as an essential in shaping our wdiole economic policy. There must never he any change which will jeopardize the standard of comfort, the standard of wng- s, of the American wageworker. One way In which the readjustment sought can Le reached is by reciprocity treaties. It is greatly to be desired that such treaties may be adopted. They can lie usi-d 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 when the minimum of dam age done may be disregarded for the sake of the maximum of good accomplished. If it prove Impossible to ratify the pend ing treaties and if there seem to be no warrant for the endeavor to execute oth ers 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 cannot with advan tage be made by the application of the reciprocity Idea, then It can be made out right by a lowering of duties on a given product. If possible, such change should be made only after the fullest considera tion by practical experts, who should ap proach the subject from a business stand point. having in view both the particular interests affected and the commercial well being of the people as a whole. The ma chinery for providing such careful inves tigation can readily be supplied. The ex ecutive department has already at its disposal methods of collecting facts and figures, and if the congress desires addi tional 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 with out also changing the great prosperity whl9h this country is now enjoying or upsetting its fixed economic policy. The cases in which the tariff can pro duce a monopoly are so few as to consti tute an Inconsiderable factor In the ques tion; but. of course. If In any case It be found that a given rate of duty does pro mote a monopoly which works ill, no pro tectionist 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 crisee; 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 vary ing 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 ele ment of elasticity in our monetary sys tem. Banks are the natural servants of commerce, and upon them should be placed, as far as practicable, the burden of furnishing and maintaining a circula tion adequate to supply the needs of our diversified Industries and of our domestic and foreign commerce, and the issue of tills should be so regulated that a suffi cient supply should be always available for the business Interests of the country. It would be both unwise and unneces sary at this time to attempt to recon struct our financial system, which has been the growth of a century, but some adiiltlonul 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 en couraging the use of such Instrumentali ties as will automatically supply every legitimate demand of productive Indus tries and of commerce, not only In the amount, but In the character of circula tion, and of making all kinds of money Interchangeable and, at the will of the holder, convertible Into the eatabllshed gold standard. I again call your attention to the need of pasalng a proper Immigration law. cov ering the points outlined In my message to you at the first session of the present congre/s. Substantially such a bill has already parsed the house. How to secure fair treatment alike for labor and for capital, how to hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether em- f iloyer or emp.uyee, without weakening ndividual Inltiudve, 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 larsighted 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 corpora tions to grow larger, so it Is often neces sary for laboring men to work in federa tions. 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 botli do evil. Opposi tion to each kind of organization should take the form of opposition to whatever is bad in the conduct of any given corpora tion or union, not of attacks upon cor porations as such nor upon unions as such, for some of the most farreachlng beneficent work for our people has been accomplished through both corporations and unions. Each must refrain from ar bitrary or tyrannous interference with the rights of others. Organized capital and organized labor alike should remem ber 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 wageWorker, must be guaranteed his liberty and his right to do as he likes with his property or his labor so long as lie does not infringe upon the rights of others. It is of the highest im portance 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 habit ual an attitude of sour hostility and dis trust toward the other, k ew people de serve better of the country than those rep resentatives both of capital and labor— and there are many such—who work con tinually to bring about a good understand ing 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 pos sible, even more wicked, even more de structive to national welfare, than sec tional. race or religious animosity. We can get good government only upon condi tion 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 occupa tion, 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 up right man, rich or poor. So far as the constitutional powers of the national gov ernment touch these matters of general ami 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 he created, with a seat in the cabinet. The rapid multiplication of questions affecting labor and capital, the growth and complexity of the organiza tions through which both labor and capi tal now find expression, the steady tend ency toward the employment of capital in huge corporations and the wonderful strides of tills 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 ad vance 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 in creased as experience might show the need. I hope soon to submit to the senate a reciprocity treaty with Cuba. On May 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 af fects 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 w'ith 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 lie given some of the benefits of becoming part of our eco nomic system. It is, from our own stand point. a shortsighted and mischievous pol icy to fail to recognize this need. More over. it is unworthy of a mighty and gon ers.us 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 al ways fearlessly Insist i pon 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 reci- procity 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 ail our sister nations of the American continent feel that whenever they will permit it we desire to show our selves disinterestedly and effectively their friend. A convention with Great Britain has been concluded, which will he at once laid before the senate for ratification, provid ing for reciprocal trade arrangements be tween the United States and Newfound land on substantially the lines of the con vention formerly negotiated by the secre tary of state, Mr. Blaine. I believe recip rocal trade relations will be greatly to the advantage of both countries. As civilization grows warfare becomes less and less the normal condition of for eign relations. The last century has seen a marked diminution of wars be tween civilized powers. Wars with un civilized powers are largely mere matters of International police duty, essential for the welfare of the world. Wherever pos sible arbitration or some similar method should be employed in lieu of war to settle difficulties between civilized nations, al though as yet the world has not pro gressed sufficiently to render it possible or necessarily desirable to invoke arbitra tion 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 perma nent tribunal than to create special arbi trators 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 satis factory 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 considera tion 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 gen eral reports that we can undoubtedly ac quire good title from the French Panama canal company. Negotiations are now pending with Colombia to secure her as sent to our building the canal. This canal will be one of the greatest engineering feats of the twentieth century, a greater engine* ring feat than has yet been ac- cnnipllsh**! during the history of mankind. The work should be carried out as a con tinuing policy without regard to change jt administration, and it should be begun under circumstances which will make it s 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 in dustrially an 1 also as improving our mil itary 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 im prove their m-t Tlal conditions by recog nize •> t • . s* • • - nd order are the prerequisites of siu-ci ful development. No Independent nation in America need h . e the slightest fear of aggression from i ,u . riled States, it behooves each one to i i, .a!n r r with'u its own borders ii id .(/ itisei. u;,e its just obligations to fort! . rs. '.'/hen this is done, they can r"St . . ed ili; t, be they strong or weak, the;, h .'(• nothing to dread from outside interfc mte. More ami more the increas ing Inuvdcpendeneo and complexity ot international political and economic rela tions 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 addnssed to the secretary of state Asking Whether permission would be granted b> the president to a corporation to lay a cabM from a point on the Cali fornia coast to the Philippine islands by way of Hawaii. A statement of condi tions or terms upon which such corpora tion 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 applica tion until the congress had first an oppor tunity to act. The congress adjourned without taking any action, leaving the matter in exactly the same condition In which it stood when the congress con vened. Meanwhile it appears that the Commer cial 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 sound ings taken by the United States steamship Nero for the purpose of discovering a practicable route for a transpacific 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 at tach 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 sound ings and to consent to the landing and laying of the cable, subject to any altera tions or additions thereto Imposed by the congress. This was deemed proper, espe cially as it was clear that a cable con nection of some kind with China, a for eign country, was a part of the company’s plan. This course was, moreover, in ac cordance wiih a line of precedents, includ ing President Grant’s action in the case of the first French cable, explained to the congress in his annual message of De cember, 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 oth er things, a maximum rate for commer cial messages and that the company should construct a line from the Philip pine Islands to China, there being at pres ent. as is well known, a British line from Manila to Hongkong. The representatives of the cable compa ny kept these conditions long under con sideration. 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 cot,press to modify or re peal 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 ad ministration. On July 4 last, on the one hundred and twenty-sixth anniversary of the declara tion of our independence, peace and am nesty were promulgated in the Philippine Islands. Some trouble has since from time to time threatened with the Moham medan Moros, but with the late insurrec tionary 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 be fore known during the recorded history of the islands, but the people, taken as a whole, now enjoy a measure of self gov ernment 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 in terests of the Philippine people themselves it was wise or just to go. To hurry mat ters. 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 it self in more signal manner than the poli cy of holding the Philippines. The tri umph of our arms, above all the triumph of our laws and principles, has come soon er than we had any right to expect. Too much praise cannot be given to the army for what It has done in the Philippines, botli in warfare and from an administra tive standpoint, in preparing the way for civil government, and similar credit be longs 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 un flinching endurance, the high soldierly effi ciency and the general kind heartedness and humanity of our troops have been strikingly manifested. There now remain only some 15,ii00 troops in the islands. All told, over 100,000 have been sent there. Of course there have been individual In stances of wrongdoing among them. They warred under fearful difficulties of cli mate 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 de tect 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 semi- civilized or barbarous forces where there has been so little wrongdoing by the vic tors as in the Philippine Islands. On the other hand, the amount of difficult. Impor tant 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 ques tioned whether anywhere else In modern times the world has seen a better exam ple of real constructive statesmanship than our people have given in the Philip pine Islands. High praise should also be given those Filipinos—in the aggregate very numerous—who have accepted the new conditions and Joined with our repre sentatives to work with hearty good will for the welfare of the islands. The army has been reduced to the mini mum allowed by law. It is very small for the size of the nation and most certainly should be kept at the highest point of effi ciency. The senior officers are given scant chance under ordinary conditions to ex ercise 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 be gun and should be steadily continued. Without such maneuvers it is folly to ex pect 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. .Vo better material can be found. But th* \ must be thoroughly trained, both as indi viduals and In the mass. The markstnan- shlp of the men must receive special at tention. In the circumstances of modern warfare the man must act far more on his own individual responsibility than ever before, and the high individual efli- ciency of the unit is of the utmost im portance. Formerly this unit was the regiment. It Is now not the regiment, not even the troop or company; it is the Indi vidual soldier. Every effort must be made to develop every workmanlike and sol dierly quality in both the officer and the enlisted man. ' . I urgently call your attention to the seed of passing a bill providing for a gen- •ra] staff and for the reorganization of the supply deoartments 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 aerutiny into their careers and capacity, to keep them of the same high relative excellence throughout their career*. The measure providing for the reorgan ization of the militia system and for se curing tho highest efficiency In the nation al guard, winch has alr-ady passed the house, should receive prompt attention and action. It is of great Importance that the relation of the national glard to the militia and volunteer forces ofshe United States should be defined and tisit In place of our present obsolete laws A practical and efficient system snould be adopted. Provision should be made to enable the secretary of war to keep cavalry and ar tillery horses worn out in long perform ance 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 ad miral 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 in crease asked for by the secretary of the navy in the appropriation for Improving the marksmanship 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 encour age 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 terri tory and great in population, a country, moreover, which lias an army diminutive indeed when compared with that of any other first class power. We have deliber ately made our own certain foreign poli cies 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 build ing 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, hut 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 pfbviding for the manning of the ships. Serious trouble threatens us if we cannot do better than we are now doing as regards securing tho services of a sufficient number of the high est type of sailormen. of sea mechanics. Tho veteran seamen of our warships 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 reso lution, in readiness, in thorough knowl edge of their profession. They deserve ev ery 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 warship. To build the finest ship, with the deadliest battery, and to send It afloat with a raw crew, no matter how brave they were in dividually. 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 ana tinder construction. The classes at the naval school at Annapolis should he gseatly enlarged. At the same time that we thus add the officers where we need them, we should facilitate the re tirement 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 un skilled men necessarily put aboard the new vessels as they have been commis sioned has thrown upon our officers, and especially on the lieutenants and Junior grades, unusual labor and fatigue and has gravely strained their powers of endur ance. Nor is there sign of any immediate letup 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 tile development of our war fleet the conduct of all our officers has been cred itable to the service, and the lieutenants and junior grades in particular have dis played an ability and a steadfast cheer fulness which entitle them to the ungrudging thanks of all who realize the disheartening trials and fatigues to which they are of necessity sub jected. 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 slate ot things may contiflue, and the way to insure its continuance is to provide for a thoroughly efficient navy. The rehoa! to main tain such a navy would invite trouble, and if trouble came would insure disaster, fatuous self complacency or vanity or shortsightedness in re fusing to prepare for danger is both foolish and wicked in such a nation as ours, and past experi ence lias shown that such fatuity in refusing to recognise or prepare for any crisis in advance is usually succeeded by a mad panic of hysterical fear once the crisis lias actually arrived. Tlie striking increase in the revenues of the postofflee department shows clearly the prosperity of our people and the increasing activity of the business of the country. The receipts of the postofflee department for the fiscal year ending June .'iff last amounted to $121,848,017.26, an increase of 810,210,863.87 over the preceding year, the largest increase known in the history of the postal service. The magnitude of tills increase will bed appear from the fact that tlie entire postal receipts for the year 1800 amounted to but $8,618,067. Rural free delivery service is no longer in the experimental stage. It lias 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 postofflee receipts in the rural districts of tlie countiy is about 2 per cent. We are now able, by actual results, to show that where rural free delivery service has been established to sucli an extent us to enable us to make comparisons the yearly increase has been upward of 10 per cent. On Nov. 1, 1902, 11,660 rural free delivery routes bad 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 establish ment of the service has met and the need of fur ther 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 wifi 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 ita further ex tension. 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 tlie 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 protec tion of the game and the wild creatures gener ally on the foreet reserves. The sensei sas slaugh ter of game, which can by judicious protection be permanently preserved on our national reserves tor the people as a whole, should be stop|>ed at once. It is. for instanoe, a serious count against our national good sense to permit the present practice of butchering off such a stalely and beautiful creature aa the elk for ita antler* or tusks. So far aa they are available for agriculture and to wliatever extent they may be reclaimed under the national irrigation law, the remaining public lands should be held rigidly for the homebuilder, the settler who lives on his land, and for no one else. In their actual use the desert land law, the timber and atone law and the commutation clause' of the homestead law have been so per verted from the intention witli which they were enacted as to permit the acquisition of large areas of the public domain for other than actual settlers and the consequent pretention of settle ment. Moreover, the approaching exhaustion of the public ranges has of late led to much dia- cuseion aa to the beet manner of using theae pub lic lands In the weet which are suitable chiefly or only for grazing. The sound and steady develop ment of the west depend* upon the building up of homes therein. Much of our prosperity as a nation haa bean due to the operation of the home stead law. On the other hand, we should recog nise the fact that in the grating region the man who corresponds to the homesteader may be un able to settle permanently if only allowed to use the same amount of pasture land that hi* brother, the homesteader, is allowed to use of arable land. One hundred and sixty acres of fairly rich and well watered toil or a much smaller amount of Irrigated land may keep a family in plenty, where as no one could get a living from 160 acres of dry pssture land capable of supporting at the outside onlv one head of rattle to svery ten acre*. In the pad gr it tracts of the pul lie domain have been fenced in by persons having no litis thereto, in direct defiance of the law forbidding the maintenance or construction of any such un lawful inclosure of public land. For various rra- ns there has been little interference with such inclosures in the past, hut ample notice lias now been given the trespassers, and all the re sources at the command of the government will henaf.er be used to put a stop to such trespassing. In \ie\* of the capital importance of these mat ters 1 commend them to the earnest consideration of tlie congress, and if the congress finds diffi culty in dealing with them from lack of thorough knowledge of the subject I recommend that pro vision be made for a commission of experts spe cially to investigate and report upon the com plicated questions involved. 1 ispecklly ur; e upon the emigres* the need of wise ilegislation for Alaska. It is not to our credit as a nation that Alaska, which has been ours for thirty-five years, should still hav 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 stock growing. It is a territory of great size and varied re sources, well fitted to support a large permanent population. Alaska needs a good land law and such provisions for homesteaos and pre-emptic .* as will encourage permanent settlement. \*t 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, un der proper regulations, for their own use. Laws should be enacted to protect tlie Alaskan salmon fisheries against the greed which would destroy them. They should be preserved as a permanent indu. try and food supply. Their management and control should lie turned over to tlie commis sion 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, hut in many cases this absorption must and should be very slow. In portions of the In dian Territory the mixture of blood has gone on at tlie 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 perceptilde 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 iias made considerable advance ami lives on fertile farming soil it is possible to allot tlie members lands in severalty much as is the case with white settlers. There are other tribes where such u course is not desirable. On the arid prairie lands the effort should he to induce tlie Indians to lead pastoral rather than agricul tural lives and to permit them to settle in vil lages lather 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, nn immense amount of additional work must be done on the reservations themselves among the old, and, above all, among the young Indians. Tlie first and most important step toward the absorption of tlie Indian is to teach him to earn his living, yet it is not necessarily to he assumed that in each community ail Indians must become either tillers of tlie soil or stock raisers. Their industries may properly be diversified, and those who show special desire or adaptability lor itia trial or even commercial pursuits should be en couraged so far as practicable to follow out each his own bent. Every effort should he made to develop tH In dian along the lines of natural aptitude and to encourage the existing native industries pe ulia- 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 tie given confident command of col loquial English and should ordinarily lie preparer! for a vigorous struggle with the conditions under which their people live rather than for Lntr.cu. ate absorption into some more highly developed community. # Tlie officials who represent the government in dealing with the Indians work under hard condi tions and also under conditions which render it easy to do wrong and very difficult to detect wrong. Consequently they should be amply paid on tlie one hand, and on the other hand a par ticularly high standard of conduct should he de- mundtd from them, and where misconduct can be proved the punirhtnenLjihould be exemplary. in no departm nt of governmental work in re cent years lias there been greater success than in that of giving scientific aid to the farming population, thereby showing them how most effi ciently to help them'-'Ives. There is no need o' insisting upon its importance, for tiie welfare of the f irmer is fundamentally mensmev to th; welfare of the republic as a wiio.c. in addition to such work as quarantine against animal and vegclaiile plagues, and warring against them when here introduced, much efficient help has been ren dered to the farmer by tlie introduction of new plants specially fitted for cultivation under the peculiar conditions existing in different portions of tlie country. New cereals have been established in the semiarid west. For instance, th'* oraefi- cability of producing the best types of in...,ar ,t i wheal* in regions of an annual rainfall of only ten inches or thereabout Ita.. been conclusiv ly demonstrated. Through the introduction of new rices in Louisiana and Texas the pn uetion cf rice in this country lias been made to about equal tlie borne demand. In the southwest the possibil ity of n grassing 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 he stored and shipped in such a way *.-> to find a profitable market abroad. 1 again recommend to the favorable considera tion cf tlie congress the plans of the Smithsonian institution fur ma! in,; tho museum under its chaigr worthy of the nation and for preserving at the national capital not only racords of the vanishing races of men, but of the animals of this continent which, like the buffalo, will soon be come extinct unless specimens from which their representatives may be renewed are sought in their native regions and maintained there in safety. Tiie District of Columbia i* the only part of our territory in which the national government exercises local or municipal func tions and where in consequence the government lias a free hand in reference to certain typos of social and eco nomic- lewi elation which must be- essentially local or municipal in their character. Tlie government should see to it, for instance, that the hygienic and sanitary legislation affeeting Washington is of a high,character. Tlie evils of slum dwellings, whether in tlie- shape of crowded and congested tenement house districts or of the hack alley type, should never he 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 Dis trict should receive consideration at the hands of tlie emigres* 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 tie important in itself, might he made a model for the rest of the nation. We should pass, for in stance, a wise employer’s liability art for the Dis trict of Columbia, asid we need such an act in our navy yards. Railroad companies in the Dis trict ought to be required by law to block their frogs. 'Hie safety appliance law. for the better pro tection of the lives ind limbs of railway em ployees, which was passed in 1893, went into full effect on Aug. 1. MW. It has resulted in avert ing thousands of casualties. Experience shows, however, the necessity of additional legislation to perfect this law. A loll to provide lor this pasaed the senate at the last aesston. It is to be hoped tiiat some such measure may now lie en acted Into law. There it 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 volume* arc turned out by the government R rinting presses for which there ia no justification. ■ thing should lie printed by any of the depart ments unlrsa 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 in* lined on abstract grounds to advocate the gov ernment’s doing any work whick /an with pro priety lie left in private hands. Gratifying progress lias bscn made during the vear in the extension of the merit system of mak ing appointment* in the government service. It should be extended by law to the District of Co lumbia. It is much to be desired that our con sular system be established by law on a basis providing for sppointment snd promotion only In consequent's of proved fitness. Through a wise provision of the congress at its last ses*ion the White House, which 1 ad become di-floured by incongruous additions and changes, lias now been restored to what it was planned to be by Washington. In making the restorations the utmost care lias been exercised to come aa A£*r a* possible to the early plant and to supple ment these plant by a enrsful studr of such buildings as that of the U dv rs ty of Virginia, Which was built by Jefferson. I fie While House Is the nroperty of the nation, and to ftr as is compatible with living therein it should b* kept as it originally was, for the same reasons that we keep M unt Vernon a* it originally was. Tbs stately simplicity of its architecture is an sx- i iression of the character of the tieriod in which t was built snd it in accord with ths purpose* it was designed to sen*. It is a good thing to preserve such building* a* historic monuments which keep alive our tense of continuity with the nation’s past. The report* of the several eseeutive depart menu are submitted to the longris* with thi* aonununlcation. THEODORE ROOSEVELT