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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 1904)
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE READ TO CONGRESS Document Deaid^ Voluminously with Questions of State—Tariff Left for "Future Communication—Position of Eie ^ Government Toward Organized abor—Dealing with Illegal Combi nations. President . Roosevelt’s message to Congtesw, Mad at the opening of the sfeort session of that body, deals vol uminously with questions of state. The subject of tariff revision is left Tor ft further communication. Sub stantially the message is as follows: To the Senate and House of Represen iwtives: The nation continues to enjoy note worthy prosperity. Stir h prosperity is of course prim.-uMy due to the high individ ual average of our citizenship, taken to gether wiih'our great natural resources; tiqt an important factor therein is the working of our long-continued govern mental i>oticies. The people have em phatically expressed their approval of the principles underlying these t*>ticies. and _ their desire that these principles be kept substantially unchanged, although of course applied in a progressive spirit to inert changing conditions. Caution Against Extravagance. The enlargrment of scope of the func tions of the national government le quired by our development as n nation Involves, of course, increase of expense: and the period of piosperity through which the country is passing justifies ex penditures for permanent improvements tar greater than would be wise In bard times. Battle ships and foils. public buildings, and improved waterways are investments which should be made when we have the money: but abundant rev enues aud a large surplus, always Invite -• * extravagance, and constant care should be taken to guard against unnecessary Increase of the 01 dinary expenses of gov ernment. Capital and Labor. In the vast and complicated mechanism of our modern civilized life the dominant note is the note of Industrialism; and the relations of capital and labor, and espe cially of organized capital and organized labor, to each other and to the public at targe come second in Importance only to the intimate questions of family life. A* long as the slates retain the prim ary control of the police power the cir cumstances must be altogether extreme which require interference by the federal wuthnrttles. whether In the way of safe guarding the rights of labor or in the way of seeing that wrong is not done by » nraty persons who shield themselves be **IM the name of labor. U there is re 4/staeee. to the federal courts. Interfer ence with the mails, or interstate com <ner<*e, or molestation of federal property. or h mf stale authorities in some crisis •which t|»ey are unable to face call for then the federal government may interfere,; bet 11 rough such interference fiiay be caused by a condition of things arising nut of trouble connected with *ome question of labor, tiie interference Itself simply takes the fouri of restoring order without regard to the questions which have caused the breach of order— for to keep order is a primary dutv and in a time of disorder and violence all oth er questions sink into abeyance until or der has been restored. In the District of Columbia and in the territories the federal law covers the entire held of gov ernment; but the labor question Is only eoute. in populous centers of commerce, manufactures, or mining. Nevertheless, 1m.th In tiie enactment and in the en forcement of law the federal government within Its restricted sphere should set an example to the state governments, espe cially In a matter so vital as this affect ing labor. I believe that under miKiern Industrial conditions it is often necessary, end even where not necessary, it Is yet often wise, that there should be organ ization pt ipbor in order better to secure the tights of the individual wage-worker. AII encouragement should be given to any •yich organization, so long as it is con ducted ffitfe a due and decent regard for the lights of others. There are in this country some labor unions which have habitually, and other labor unions which have often, been among the most effec tive agents in working for good citizen ship and for uplifting the condition of those whose welfare should be closest to onr hearts. Hut when any labor union seeks improper ends, or seeks to achieve proper ends by improper means, ail good citizens and more especially alt honorable public servants must oppose tiie wiong dolng as resolutely as they would oppose the wrongdoing of any great rorpoiation »*f course any violence, brutality, or eor ;ciipj*on. should not for one moment be Hdg&fod. ^Wage-workers have an entire to organize and bv ail peaceful and oonsrahle g§eajas to endeavor to persuade t hsle-feti©®*-tie-join with them In organ izations. They have a legal right, which, according to eircumstances. may or may pot l*e a moral flgbj, to refuse to work in company wiufcjpqp who decline to Join their organizations. They have under no circumstances the right lo commit vio lence upon those, vrhether capitalists or wage-workers, who refpse to support their organizations, or who side with those pith whom they are at odds; for mob rule is tDtultf&Ue in any form. The amendment ind strengthening ot liability law is rec lommenWdMrod'-tbe‘ptfffsago of a law requiring the adoption of a block sig nal syst^rq, to prevent railroad acct steois urged. UiMpyf of Government Employee. T*#frf&atge There Is no objection to employes of >lhe government forming or belonging to .<interns; but the government can neither discriminate for lior discriminate against V*® ,n ,ts employ -Mebl.w ttetu^asok 4b be employed under Moreover? It is a very grave impro ji-ernment employes to hand together for the purpose of _ Improperly high salaries from rernment.r frlfgwl»tty is this true within tfie classified service. The carriers, both munUdpal and rural. ■ e whole gn excellent body of pub lic servants.. Tley should-ts? amply paid. Hwt their payment must be"obtained hy arguing their claims fairly and honorably befpre OieJ’onBtess. and not hy banding thcr.fdr the defeat of those cougre*9 : #ho wefuse to give proiwjee* which ■ ejtfi in Conscience m\e. The »l!5«r<ftion, ha* eirfjfidy t#m steps to prevent and punish abuses of this na ture; tout It wit! be wlye for tfie^Congress to supplement this action by legislation Bureau of Labor. Much can be^dbge by. the government in labor mattrfs merely by;; gltlitfc pub licity to certain conditions. The bureau wt-tabor has done segcrtlent. wo/k ,©f this kind to many different dbections. T shall 4t||M|iHA7 before you In * special mes e^f^wPfult r op art of th£J(TOe;it}gatlon U th» bureau Of. labor Intolh* Colorado mining strike, aa this Is n "strike th which »;i*lo .very, evil forces, which are more «F7ie(h» ” it work everywhere- wader the eenditiena of modern tn$lu*t£latlsnj. be danie startlingly prominent. < / ' j t Corporations. Viftisn we come to deal with great cor porations Ute need for the. government to *ct directly la far gjcgt^R than In 'the aasi of labor. because great rfrti>oiations ran become *vch only h* engaging J/> »n ter state commerce, and infat state com inerca Is peculiarly the beta vi the gen eral government. It is an absurdity to ex pect te eliminate tlio abuses jn great cor porations by state action. It laiUmcult to ha patient with ar.r tufjment that such matters should be left tb the states, be cause more than one state pursues the policy of creating on easy terms corpora tions which are never operated v.ithln that state at all, hut in other states whose laws they Ignore. The national government alone can deal adequately with these great corporations. To try to deal with them in an intemperate, de structive. or demagogic spirit would, in all prohabilitv, mean that nothing what ever would be accomplished, and. with absolute certainty, that if anything were accomplished it would be of a harmful nature. The American people need to continue to show the very qualities that thev have shown—that is. moderation, good sense, the earnest desire to avoid doing anv damage, and yet the quiet de termination to proceed, step by step, without halt and without hurry, in enm -inatrng-or at least in minimizing what ever of mischief or of evil there is to in terstate commerce in the conduct of great corporations. They are acting in no spirit of hostility to wealth, either In dividual or corporate. They are not against the rich man any more than against the poor man. On the contrary, they are friendly alike toward rich man and toward poor man. provided only that each acts in a spirit of Justice and de cency toward his fellows. Great corpora tions are necessary, and only men of great and singular mental power can manage such corporations successfully, and such man must have great rewards. I.ut these corporations should be man aged with due regard to the Interest of the public as a whole. Where this can be done under the present laws It must' be done. Where these laws come short others should be enacted to supplement them. The bureau of corporations has made careful preliminary Investigation of many impoitant corporations It will make a special report on the beef Industry. Bureau of Corporations. The policy of tha bureau is to accom plish the purposes of its creation by ro operation, not antagonism; by making constructive legislation, not destructive prosecution, the Immediate object of Us inquiries; by conservative investigation of law and fact, and by refusal to issue Incomplete arid hence necessarily Inaccu rate reports. Its policy being thus one of open Inquiry into, and not attack up on. business, the bureau hjs been able to gain not only the confidence, but. better still, the co operation of men engaged in legitimate business. The bureau offers to the Congress the means of getting at the cost of produc tion of our various great staples of com merce. Rebates. Above all else, we must strive to keep the highways of commerce open to all on equal terms; anil to do this It is nec essary to put a complete stop to all re bates. Whether the shipper or the rail toad 13 to blame makes no difference; the rebate must bo slopped, the abuses of the private ear and private terminal track and side-traik systems must be stopped, and the legislation of the Fifty eighth Congress winch declares it to be unlawful for any person or corporation to offer, grant, give, solicit, accept, or re ceive ary icbato. concession, or discrim ination In respect of the transportation of any property in interstate or foieign commerce whereby such property shall by nnv device whatever be transput ted at a less rate than that named in the tariffs published by the canter must lie enforced. While 1 am of the opinion that at piosenf It would he uudesiiahle, if It were not impracticable, finally to clothe (he Interstate Commerce Commission with general authmity to n* railroad rates. 1 do not believe that, as a faif se curity to shippers, ihe Commission should be vested with the power, where a given rate has been challenged and after ,„ll hearing found to be unreasonable, to de oide, subject to judicial review, what shall be a reasonable rate to lake Its place; the ruling of the commission to take effort immediately, ami to obtain unless and until it Is reversed by the court of review. In my judgment the most Important legislative act now need ed as regards tire regulation of corpora tions is tills net to confer on the Inter state Commerce Commission the power to revise rates ami regulations, the re vised rate to at once go into effect, nml to stay In effect unless and until the court of review reverses It Much space is here devoted to a consideration of the problem of the proper bousing of the poor In onr great cities, and the importance of a proper solution of the question shown. On'this subject the message says; There should be severe child-labor and factory-inspection laws, it is very desir able that married women should not -*ork in factories. The prime duty of the mart is to work, to be the breadwinner; the prime duty of tire woman is to he the mother, the housewife. All questions of tariff and finance sink into utter insig nificance when - compared with the tre mendous. the vital importance of trying to shape conditions so that these two duties of the man and of the woman can be fulfilled under reasonably favorable circumstances. If a race does not have plenty of children, or if the children do not grow up. or if when they grow up they are unhealthy In body and stunted or vicious in mind, then that race is de cadent. and no heaping up of wealth, no splendor of momentary material prosper ity, can avail in any degree as offsets. Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture has grown into an educational institution with a faculty of two thousand special ists making research Into all the sciences of production. The Congress appropri ates. directly and indirectly, six millions of dollars annually to carry on this work. It. reaches every slate and territory in the Union and the inlands of ttie- sea late ly come under our Hag. Co operation is had with the state experiment stations, and with many other institutions and in dividual. The world Is catefully search ed for new varieties of grains, fruits, grasses, vegetables, trees, and shrubs, suitable to vailous localities in our coun try, and marked benefit to oui producers has resulted. Irrigation. During the two and a half years that have elapsed since the passage of the reclamation act rapid progress has been made in the surveys and examinations of the opportunities for reclamation in fhe thirteen states and three territories of the arid West. Construction has already been begun on the largest and most Im portant of the Irrigation works, and plans are being completed for works which will utilize the fund9 now available. The reclamation act has been found to be re markably complete and effective, and so broad In Its provisions that a wide range of undertakings has been possible under It. At the same time, economy is guar anteed by the fact that the funds must ultimately be returned to be used over again. Establishment of game reserves wherein may be preserved specimens of our wild animals which are now rapidly tending toward extinction Is urged. Pensions. The veterans of the civil war- have a claim upon the nation such as no other body of our citizens possess. The pen sion bureau has never in its history been managed In a more satisfactory manner than is now the case. Postal Service. In the Postoffice Department the serv Ive has increased in efficiency, and con ditions as to revenue and expenditure continue satisfactory. The increase of revenue during the year was $9,358,181.10, or 6.9 per cent, the total receipts amount ing to $143,382,624.34. The expenditures were $152,362,116.70. an increase of about 9 per cent over the previous year, being thus $S.979,492.36 in excess of the cur rent revenue. Included in these expendi tures was a total appropriation of $12, 956.637 35 for the continuation end exten sion of the rural free delivery service, which was an increase of $4,902,237.35 over the amount expended for this pur pose In the preceding iiscal year. I,arge as this expenditure has been the benefi cent results attained In extending the free distribution of mails to the residents of rural districts have justified the wis dom of the outlay-. Statistics brought down to the 1st of October. 1904. show that on<that.date there were,27.138 rural routes established, serving approximately 12.000.000 of people in rural districts re mote from postoffices, and that there were pending at that time 3.859 petitions for the establishment of new rural routes. Unquestionably some part of the general increase in receipts is due to the in creased postal facilities which the rural service has afforded. The revenues have also been aided greatly by amendments In the classification of mail matter, and the curtailment of abuses of the second class mailing privilege. The average in crease in the volume of mail matter for I he period beginning with 1902 and end ing June. ft05 (that portion for 1905 be ing estimated). Is 40.47 per cent, as com pared with 25.46 per cent for the period immediately preceding, and 15 92 for the four-year period immediately preceding that. • The message here points out the need for improvement in our consular system, advises the creation of a na tional art gallery and suggests the enactment of a national quarantine law. Laws Concerning Citizenship. Not only are the laws relating to nat uralization now defective, but those re lating to citizenship of the United States ought also to be made the subject of scientific inquiry with a view to prob able further legislation. By what acts expatriation may be assumed to have been accomplished, how long an Amer ican citizen may reside abroad and re ceive tha protection of our passport, whether any degree of protection should he extended to one who has made the declaiation of intention to become a citi zen of the United States but has not se cured naturalization, are questions of serious impott. involving person'll rights and often producing friction between this government and foreign governments. Vet upon these questions our laws are silent. I recommend that an examination be made into the subjects of citizenship, expatriation, and protection of Ameri cans abroad, with a view to appropiiate legislation. Currency. The attention of the Congress should be especially given to the currency ques tion. and that the standing committees on (he matter In the two houses charged with the duty, take up the matter of our currency and see whether it is not pos sible to secure an agreement In the busi ness world for bettering the system: the committees should consider the question of the retirement of the greenbacks and the problem of securing In our currency such elasticity as is consistent with safe tv. Every silver dollar should be made by law redeemable in gold at the option cf the holder. Merchant Marine. I especially commend to your immedi ate attention the encouragement of our merchant marine by appiopilate legtsla linn Tariff. On the tariff I shall communicate with you later. Immigration and Naturalization. In dealing with the questions of immi gration and naturalization it is indis pensable to keep certain facts ever be fore the minds of those who share In en acting the laws. First and foremost, let us remember that the question of being a good American has nothing whatever to do with a man's birthplace any more than It lias to do with his creed. In every generation from the time this gov ernment was founded men of foreign birth have stood in the very foremost rank of good citizenship, and that not merely in one hut in every field of Amer ican activity; while* to try to draw a dis tinction between the man whose parents came to this country and tire man whose ancestors came to it several generations track Is a mere absurdity, flood Ameri canism is a matter of heart, or consci ence. of lofty aspiration, of sound com mon sense, but not of birthplace or of creed. There is no danger of having too many immigrants of the right kind But the citizenship of tills country should not be debased. It is vital that we should keep high the standard of well-being among our wage worker;*. and therefore w« should not admit masses of men whose standards of living and whose personal customs and habits are such that they tend to tower the level of the American wage worker; and above alt we should not admit any man of an unworthy type, any man concerning whom we can say that he will himself be a bad citizen, or that iris children and grandchildren will detract from instead of adding to the sum of the good citizenship of the coun try. Similarly we should take the great est care about naturalization. Under the Constitution It is in the power of the Congress "to establish a uniform rule of naturalization.” and numerous laws have from time to time been enacted for that purpose, which have been supplemented In :i few states try state laws having special application. There should be a comprehensive revision or the naturalization laws. The courts having power to naturalize should be definitely named by national authority; the testimony upon which naturalization may be conferred should be definitely pre scribed; publication of impending natural ization applications should be required in advance of their hearing in court; the form and wording of all certificates issued should be uniform throughout the coun try, and the courts should be required to make returns to the Secretary of State at stated periods of ait naturalizations conferred. Protection of Elections. The power of the government to pro tect the Integrity of the elections of its own officials Is inherent and has been recognised and affirmed by repeated dec larations of the Supreme court. There is no enemy of free government more dangerous and none so insidious as the corruption of the electorate. No one de fends or excuses corruption, and It would seem to follow that none would oppose vigorous measures to eradicate It. I recommend the enactment of a law di rected against bribery and corruption In Federal elections. The details of such a law may be safely left to the wise discre tion of the Congress, but it should go ns far as under the Constitution it is possible to go. and should include severe penalties against him who gives or re ceives a bribe intended to influence his act or opinion as an elector; and provi sions for the publication not only of the expenditures for nominations and elec tions of all candidates but also of all contributions received and expenditures made by political committees. Delays in Criminal Prosecutions. No subject Is better worthy the atten tion of the Congress than that portion of the report of the Attorney-General deal ing with the long delays and the great obstruction to justice experienced in the cases of Beavers. Green and Gaynor. and Benson. Were these Isolated and special cases. I should not call your attention to them; but the difficulties encountered as regards these men who have been indict ed for criminal practices are not excep tional; they are precisely similar In kind to what occurs again and again In the case of criminals who have sufficient means to enable them to take advantage of a system of procedure which has grown up in the Federal courts and which amounts in effect to making the law easy of enforcement against the man who has no money, and difficult of en forcement, even to the point of some times securing immunity, as regards the* man who has money. In criminal cases the writ of the United States should run throughout its borders. The wheels of Justice should not be clogged, as they have been clogged in the cases above mentioned, where it has proved absolute ly impossible to bring the accused to the place appointed by the Constitution for his trial. At present the Interests of the Inno cent man are amply safeguarded: but the Interests of the government, that Is, the interests of honest administration, that is the interests of the people, are not recognized as they should be. No subject better warrants the attention of the Congress. Indeed, no subject better warrants the attention of the bench and the bar throughout the United States. Many suggestions for the improve ment of conditions in Alaska are made, among others the admission of a delegate from that territory to con gress. Hawaii and Porto Rico. The Alaskan natives should be given the right to acquire, hold, and dispose of property upon the same conditions as given other inhabitants; and the pnvilege of citizenship should be given to such as may be able to meet certain definite re quirements. In Hawaii Congress should give the governor power to remove all the officials appointed under him. The harbor of Honolulu should bo dredged. The marine-hospital service should be empowered to study leprosy in the is lands. I ask special consideration for the report and recommendsltuns of the governor of J’orto IJico. Foreign Policy. Tn treating of nur foreign policy and of the attitude that this great nation should assume in the world at large, it is abso lutely necessary to consider the artny and the navy, and the Congress, through which the thought of the nation finds Its expression, should keep ever vividly in mind the fundamental fact that It Is Impossible to treat our foreign policy, whether this policy takes shape in the effort to secure Justice for others or Jus tice for ourselves, save ns conditioned upon tha attitude we are wilting to take toward ojr army, ami especially toward our navy. It is not merely unwise. It Is onntemptible. for a nation, as for an In dividual, to use high sounding language to proclaim its purposes, or to take po sitions which are ridiculous If unsuppor t ed by potential force, and then to refuse to provide this force. If there Is no in tention of providing and of keeping the force necessary to back up a atcurig atti tude, then it is far better not to assume such an attitude. The steady aim of this nation, as of all enlightened nations, should ha to strive to bring ever neater the day when there shall prevail throughout the world the peace of justice. There are kinds' of peace which are highly undesirable, which aro In the long run as destructive as any war. Tyrants and oppressors have many times made a wilderness and called It peace. The j*eace of tyrannous terror. me peace or craven weakness, ine peace of injustice, all liicse should he shunned as we shun unrighteous war. The goal to set before us as a nation, the goal which should he set before all mankind. Is the attainment of the peace of jus tice. of the peace which comes when each nation is not merely safe-guarded In its own rights, hut scrupulously rec ognizes and performs its duty toward others. There Is as yet no judicial way of en forcing a right in international law. When one nation wrongs another or wrongs many others, there is no tribu nal before which the wrongdoer can be brought. Either it is necessary supinely to acquiesce In the wrong, and thus put a premium upon brutality and aggres sion. or else it is necessary for the ag grieved nation valiantly to stand up for Its rights. Until some method is devised by which there shall ho a degree of in ternational control over offending na tions, it woulcl be a wicked thing for the most civilized powers, for those with most sense of international obligations and with keenest and most generous ap preciation of the difference between right and wrong, to disarm. If the great civ ilized nations of the present day should completely disarm, the result would mean an immediate recrudescence of barbar ism in one form or another. Arbitration Treaties. We are in every way endeavoring to help on, with cordial good will, every movement which will tend to bring ns into more friendly relations with the rest of mankind. In pursuance of this policy f shall shortly lay before the Senate treaties of arbitration with-all powers w-hich are willing to enter into these treaties with us. Furthermore, at the request of the Interparliamentary Union, an eminent body composed of practical statesmen from all countries. I have asked t.fb Powers to join with this gov ernment' in a second Hague conference, at which it Is hoped that the work ■al ready so happily begun at The Hague may be. carried some steps further to ward completion. This carries out the desire expressed by the first Hague con ference Itseif. Policy on Western Hemisphere. It is r.ot true that tlie United States feels any land hunger or entei tains any projects as regards the other nations of the western hemisphere save such as are for their welfare. All that this coun try desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct them selves well can count upon our hearty fiiendshlp. If a nation shows that it knows how to act with, reasonable effi ciency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no inteiference from the United States. Chronic wrong doing. or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civil ized society, may in America, as else where. ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and In the western hemisphere the adherents of tire United States to the Monroe doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exetelse of an inter national police power. Our interests and those of our south ern neighbors ate in reality identical. They have great natural riches, and If within their borders the reign of law and justice obtains, prosperity is sura to come to them. While they thus obey (he pri mary laws of civilized society they may rest assured that thev will be treated by us in a spirit of cordial and helpful sym pathy. We would interfere with them only in the last resort, and then only if it became evident that their inability or unwillingness to do justice at home and abroad had violated the rights of the United States or had Invited foreign aggression to the detriment of the en tire body of American nations. In asserting the Monroe doctrine, in taking such steps as we have taken in regard to Cuba. Venezuela, and Panama, and In endeavoring to circumscribe the theater of war in the far East, and to secure the open door in China, we have acted In our own interest as well as in the Interest of humanity at large. There are. however, cases In which, while our own interests are not greatly involved, strong appeal is made to our sympathies. There are occasional crimes committed on so vast a scale and of such peculiar horror as to make us doubt whether it is not our manifest duty to endeavor at least to show our disapproval of the deed and our sympathy with those who have suffered by it. The cases must be ex treme in which such a course is Justi fiable. But In extreme cases action may be Justifiable and proper. What form the action shall take must depend upon the circumstances of the case; that is. upon the degree of the atrocity and upon our power to remedy it. The cases In which we could interfere by force of arms as we interfered to put a stop to intolerable conditions in Cuba are neces sarily very few. Yet It is not to be ex pected that a people like ours, which in spite of certain very obvious shortcom ings. nevertheless as a whole shows by Its consistent practice its belief In the principles of ctvil and religious liberty and of orderly freedom, a people among whom even the worst crime. like the crime of lynching. Is never more than sporadic, so that individuals and not classes are molested in their fundamental rights—it Is inevitable that such a na tion should desire eagerly to give ex orcssion to. its horror on an occasion like that ot the massacre of the Jews In Kishenef. or when it witnesses such sys tematic and long-extended cruelty and oppression as the cruelty and oppression of which the Armenians ha\e been the victims, and which have wen for them the indignant pity of the civilized world. Rights of American Citizens Abroad. Even where it is not possible to se cure in other nations the observance of the principles which we accept as ax iomatic. it is necessary for us firmly to insist upon the rights of our own citi zens without regard to their cieed or race; without regard to whether they were born here or born abroad. The Navy. The strong arm of the government In enforcing respect for its just rights in international mailers is the navy of the United States I most earnestly recom mend that there be no halt in the work of ppbuiiding the American navy. There is no more patriotic duty before us as a people than to keep the navy adequate to the needs of this country's position. We have undertaken to build the Isth mian canal. We have undertaken to se cuie for ourselves our just share in the trade of the Orient. We have under taken to protect our citizens from im proper treatment in foreign lands. We continue steadily to insist on the appli cation of the Monroe doctrine to the western hemisphere. Unless our attitude in these and all similar matters is to be a mere boastful sham we can not afford to abandon our naval progiamme. Our voice is now potent for peace, and is so potent because we are not afraid of war. But our protestations upon behalf of peace weul.l neither receive nor deterve the slightest attention tf we were im potent to make them good. The Army. Within the last three years the United States lias set an example in disarma ment where disarmament was proper. By law our army is fixed at a maximum of on* hundred thousand and a nnrumum of sixty thousand men. When tlreie was Insurrection in the Philippines we kept the army at the maximum. Peace came in the Philippines, and now our army has been reduced to the minimum at which it is possible tn keep it with due regaid to Its efficiency The guns now mounted require I went v eight thousand men. if tlie coast fortifications are to he adequately manned. Relatively to the nation. It is not now so laige a« the po lice force of New York or Chicago rela lively to the population of either city. We need more officers; there are not enough to perform the regular army work. It Is very important that the offi cers of the army should he accustomed to handle their mer, in masses, as it is also important that the national guard of the several slates should he accus tomed to actual field maneuvering, espe cially in connection with the regulars For this reason w-c are to In* congratu lated upon thf success of the field ma enuvers at Manassas last fall, maneuvers in which a larger number of regulars and national guard took part than was ever before assembled together in lime of peace. No oilier civilized nation has. relatively to its population, such a di minutive army as ours; and whiie the army is so small wo are not to be ex cused if we fail to keep it at a very high grade of proficiency. The Philippines. In the Philippine islands there has been during the past year a continuation of the steady progress which has ob tained ever since our troops definitely got the upper hand of the insurgents. The Philippine people, or. to speak more accurately, the many tribes, and even races. sundered from one another more or les3 sharply, who go to make up the people of the Philippine islands, contain many elements of good, and some ele ments which we have a right to hope stand for progress. At present they are utterly incapable of existing in inde pendence at all or of building lip a civ ilization of their own. I firmly believe that we can help them to rise higher and higher in the scale of civilization and of capacity for self-government, and I most earnestly hope that in the end they will be able to stand, if not entirely alone, yet in some such relation to the United States as Cuba now stands. This end is not vet in sight, and it may be in definitely postponed if our people are foolish enough to turn the attention of the Filipinos away from the problems of achieving motal and material prosperity, of working for a stable, orderly, and just government, and toward foolish and dan gerous intrigues for a complete independ ence for which they are as yet totally unfit. On the other hand our people must keep steadily before their minds the fact that the justification for our stay in the Philippines must ultimately rest chiefly upon ttie good we are able to do in the islands. I do not overlook the fact that in the development our interests in the Pacific ocean and along its coasts, the Philippines have played and will play an important part, and that our interests have been served in more than one way by the possession of the islands. But our chief reason for continuing to hold them must be that we ought in good faith to try to do our share of the world’s work, and this particular piece of work has been imposed upon us by the results of the war with Spain. The problem presented to us in the Philip pine Islands is akin to, but not exactly like, the problems presented to the other great civilized powers which have pos sessions In the Orient. More distinctly than any of the powers we are endeav oring to develop the natives themselves so that they shall taka an ever-increas ing share in their ow n'government, and as far as is prudent we are already ad mitting their representatives to a gov ernmental equality with our own. There are commissioners, judges, and governors in the Islands who are Filipinos and who have exactly the same share in the gov ernment of the islands as have their col leagues who are Americans, while in the lower ranks, of course, the great major ity of the public servants are Filipinos. Within two years we shall bo trying the experiment of an elective lower house in the Philippine legislator. Meanwhile our own people should re member that there Is need for the high est standard of conduct among the Amer icans sent to the Philippine islands, not only among the public servants but among the private Individuals who go to them. It Is because I feel this so deeply that In the administration of these islands I have positively refused to per mit any discrimination whatsoever for political reasons and have insisted that in choosing the public servants consid eration should be paid solely to the worth of the men chosen and to the needs of the Islands. There is no high er body of men tn our public service than we have In the Philippine islands under Gov Wright and his associates. So far as possible these men should be given a free hand, and their suggestions should receive the hearty backirg both of the Executive and of the Congress. There Is need of a vigilant and disinter ested support of our public servants in the Philippines by good cit«ens here in the United States. Unfortunately hither to those of our people here at home who hava specially claimed to be the cham pions of the Filipinos have in reality been their worst enemies. This will continue to be the case as long as they strive to make the Filipinos independent, and stop all industrial development of the islands by crying out against the laws which would bring it on the ground that capitalists must not "exploit” the islands. Such proceedings are not only unwise, but are most harmful to the Fil ipinos. who do not need independence at ail, but who do need good laws, good public servants, and the industrial de velopment that can only come If the In vestment of American and foreign capital in the islands Is favored In all legitimate waVs. Every measure taken concerning the Islands should be taken primarily with a view to their advantage. We should cer tainty give them lower tariff rates ou their exports to the United States; It this Is not done it will be a wrong tg extend our shipping laws to them. | earnestly hope for the Immediate enact* ment into law of the legislation now pending to encourage American capital tg seek Investment in the islands In rail roads. In factories, In plantations, aai in lumbering and mining. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. The White House, Dec. I, 1904. AFTER LIAOYANG FIGHT Newspaper Correspondent with the Rus sian Army Tells How Well-Laid Plans Were Brought to Nought. At the close of a bustling London bank holiday you may sometimes see the collapsed heap of a man on the pavement outside a public house on the doorstep'of which stands, trucu lent in rolled-up sleeves, the barman who has just ejected him. He half scrambles, is half assisted, to his «n steady feet, rubs his eyes and looks incredulously at the unaccustomed col or which his hands have carried away from his nose. “What was it?” he asks in a dazed sort of way. “What was it I tumbled over?” “Come ’ome, Bill,” says Prudence, his friend, diplomatically; “come just a little way up the street. You caught your foot in something. You don't want no disturbance here—not to night.” And Bill, with a little natural reluc tance, allows himself to be persuaded. At the corner of the street, when the barman has gone inside, Bill, facing round, shakes his fist in the direction of the closed door and says: “All right, you. You wait a bit. I know where to put my 'and on you when I want you—you and half a dozen like you. Grinnin’, bloomin’ monkey.” Then he recalls, with the sympathetic assistance of his friends, the unfore seeable circumstances that extenuate the fact. The Only Way. Well, there is Liaovang, away down the street, with the Japanese in pos session; and here are we, the Russian army, back in Mukden trying to under stand how it all happened. Frankly, we do not understand it at all. Our recollection of details is a good deal blurred; but, as far as we are able to remember, when it came to straight fighting, man ao man, we were as good as he wras, and gave at least as good as we got. He won't see too well with that right eye of his in a hurry, and you could see for yourself, by the way he was nursing it, that the knuckles of his left hand were badly abraded, but, as Bill's extenuating sympathizers explained it. “You see your back was too close up against the partition and he came over the counter sudden in stead of through the saloon as you natchly expected; so it couldn't be helped; you had to go.” With us it was the flank that did It —the position the Japanese had held from the beginning of the war in the hills on our east flank. We did well enough in the fighting, division against division, man against man, but when it come to moving, to the making of fresh dispositions, geography was against us—we were too close up against the partition. We could not dislodge them—poor, brave, harassed Keller had wwn himself out and final ly had lost his life in successive dash ing, hopeless endeavors—and when it :ame to the moving of army corps there was only one way to move—out. To advance southward, even suppos ing that it had been possible to drive ♦he Japanese back in that direction, was only to run again into danger; to advance eastward against the hill po sitions had been demonstrated to be suicide; to move westward, except to counter, was starvation and destruc tion. It was only by a movement northward that the troops could be employed with any hope of utility against the Japanese, and to move northward was another word for re treat. Preparing for a Great Blow. On the 26th, 27th and 28th of Aug ust there had been three days of mur derous fighting that do not count. Each day saw much fighting, of which no one now seems to know anything. Its importance and its fury, almost the memory of it, were blotted out by the overwhelming experiences that fol lowed. It was merely the fighting incident al to the final disposition for the great struggle. The Japanese were closing up their front within striking distance, and driving outposts back upon the main Russian positions, until the two armies were ranged in two cencentric serai-circles, of which Liaoyang Was the center. The Russians, to meet the coming attack, had withdrawn for the advantage of concentration, as far as concentration could be carried with out degeneration into overcrowding. With the inside track and the shorter arc of the inner circle, Gen. Kouro patkin could bring as many of his troops as he desired to bear in which ever direction the turn of events migh| make desirable; and if necessary the whole power and weight of the army could be launched In one terrific blow against Kuroki alone on the top of the eastern plain. The Japanese, so much wider spread, were incapable of any such quick concentration. They were three distinct armies, which could act in concert but not in unity. But suppose the Japanese did not make a perilous frontal attack? Sup pose, instead, that Kuroki moved northward across the Taitseho and left that terrible mountain position from which it had been impossible tc dislodge him imperfectly guarded; dislodged himself, in fact, with the view of cutting the railway line and completing the investment of the posi tion? That w’as almost too good to come true. For, given a swift move ment of the concentrated forces, and for once there would be a battle with the Russians in vastly superior force. Kuroki would be detached and over whelmed, and the terrible bogy of the eastern hills would paralyze the Rus sian movement no more. It would be an easy matter after that to deal wirh the others. “But.” Well, it all happened just as it might have happened, only somehow or other it all seems to have happened differ ently. Oku and Nodzu made direct at tacks across the open, hurled them selves against the solid wall of rifles, against positions and trenches, weak ened themselves by successive attacks which accomplished little or nothing, and certainly never succeeded in car rying to the Russian mind the impres sion of a losing fight. And Kuroki left his impregnable mountains and moved northward across the Taitseho, and immediately came the swift movement of concentrated forces, and three army corps had him at their mercy. It had all come true, and victory, the inevi table victory, was resting with her old familiar friends, the Russian troops. But-. Well, here we are in Muk den trying to make out what hit us, what it was we tumbled over. Some say it was the Orloff regiments of the Fifth Siberian corps who fired on one another in the kaoliang instead of on Kuroki’s advancing legions, and, hav ing signally defeated one another, mis took their direction. Others say it was the fault of the kaoliang growing fif teen feet high, and others blame one of the Rrmy corps to which they them selves do not belong. I have a hazy sort of notion, which is worth nothing, that it was geog raphy that did it, geography in com bination with the as yet half-realized new conditions which modern long range arms have created. Those Far Eastern mountains were in the wrong place. Not According to Program. Perhaps the critical moment in the battle of Liaoyang was when the Japa nese took the Motienling pass. But as far as I can make out from a batch of contradictory explanations quite a lot of things went wrong just at the critical moment. Not only did the Japanese coming from the south de part in an inconsiderate manner from the program of What Ought to Have i Been; but Kuroki, on the east, varied it in at least one important particular. He duly crossed the river towards the coal mines east of Yentai, offering himself for separation and demolition by the concentrated force of three army corps. Either, however, he failed to be de molished, or the three army corps somehow were unable to get at him effectively. He was defeated hand somely enough. There was no doubt of that—defeated and isolated, for the hill positions between him and the south were brilliantly taken. But just at the moment when he was surrounded and the rest of the program was easy came the startling discovery that Liaoyang could be no longer held, that the Japanese south ern armies, instead of remaining at the standstill to which they had been beaten, were advancing with such ra pidity on the west, as well as on the east, that the whole Russian force was in imminent danger of being taken in the rear, as well as on both flanks. There was the disquieting discovery, also, that Kuroki was not exactly where he was supposed to be—that, in fact, he had edged northward in a most unpleasant way, and that the army was about to be surrounded, not in well-furnished, fortified Liaoyang. but out in the kaoliang plain about Yentai, where there were no positions, no perforations, no stores, no fortifi cations, and no earthly chance. Rifle bullets were already falling— from Kuroki’s rifles—on the east when from the west was heard the boom of Nodzu’s pursuing artillery. There was no time to be lost, and nothing for it but—hateful word, but we made no bones about it—retreat.—Charles E Hands in London Mail. Giant Turnip. What is thought to be the largest turnip ever grown in Colorado was raised this season near Centerville. It weighs twenty-one pounds and meas ures forty Inches in circumference. Question of Detail. Former Judge Mayer was relating how lawyers often badger witnesses unintentionally, and cited the case of a prizefighter who was on the stand to testify concerning a street fight in which he was a principal. The plain tiff’s attorney politely asked the burly witness: "Did I understand you to say that you were a pugilist?” "Dat’s what I am,” proudly an swered the prisoner. "Oral, manual or caligraphic?” suavely inquired the lawyer. The pugilist looked as if he had re ceived a blow in the solar plexus, his face grew red as a danger signal and he seemed about to spring out of the chair upon his inquisitor. Then, turn ing to the bench, he growled: "Say, Judge, I’m a fighter, and dat’s all, but I ain’t one o’ dem t’ings dat pie faced bloke calls me.” Judge Mayer said the attorney with drew the obnoxious question, and the case proceeded without further mis understanding on the part of the doughty defendant.—Philadelphia Led g*r. Size of the Two Stickneys. There are two Stickneys at the New York bar. Col. Albert Stickney. the sire, stands about five feet eleven incTies in his stockings, with a fac ulty of lengthening himself in a mo ment of wrath that seems to add one cubit to his stature. He is, withal, a censor of professional morals, and the terror of lawyers who attract the un favorable attention of the Bar asso ciation. Compared with his son, however, he is a short man, for Stickney, junior, measures lengthwise six feet four and one-half inches. The latter is the giraffe of his profession. “By all that’s good,” said Wheeler H. Peckham to the elder Stickney. “it is to be hoped, for the sake of the next generation of lawyers, that your son does not turn out to be such a miracle of virtue as you are, colo nel, setting the standard for his brethren.” “Explain yourself, Brother Peck ham; explain yourself.” “Just think what an effort it would be for them to look up to him.”—Kew York Mail.
