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-defence 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 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 can not 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 ensures the defaulting republic from having to pay debts of an

improper character under duress, while it also ensures 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 ensuring 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 depositary for equitable division in case the

treaty shall be ratified, among the various creditors, whether European

or American.

The custom-houses offer wellnigh the only sources of revenue in Santo

Domingo, and the different revolutions usually have as their real aim

the obtaining possession 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 curse of interminable revolutionary

disturbance. It offers to all bonâ 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 defence 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 can not consider the question of our foreign policy without at the

same time treating of the Army and Navy. We now have a very small

army—indeed, one wellnigh 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

man 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 manœuvres 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 an 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. 3984, 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 me 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. Sea-going 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 can not 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 ensure 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, sea-going vessels. Sea-going 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 number 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 or 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

favorable 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 employee of the United States, and to provide a suitable

penalty therefor. Such officer or employee 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 employee

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 lies 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 employees 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

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 can not 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 bonâ 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

regulations.

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 reserves 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 defence 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

can not 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 despatch. 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 of the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia.

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 practical. 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 can not 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 immigration 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 congested 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 ensure 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 methods 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 can not afford to pay heed to whether he is of

one creed or another, of one nation or another. We can not 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. There 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

officers 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 can not expect to receive equity unless we do

equity. We can not 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 feelings for China and desires

China’s well-being. We cordially sympathized 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 administrative 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 put 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 the qualifications desired, and the Civil Service Commission

co-operates with them in securing persons with these qualifications

and ensuring 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 made 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 employees 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 employee 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 employee 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 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 wrong-doing. 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 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 amendments 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 interstate 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 foodstuffs

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 can not 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

reservation 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 Flathead

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

extension 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 can not 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 schoolhouses.

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 defences. It can not 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 can not 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 also 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 interest

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 can

not 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 can not 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 hardworking, 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 fulfilment 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 employees 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 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, 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.