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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 1908)
PRESIDENT TO CONGRESS I - Message Read to Both Houses of National Assembly LEGISLATION CALLED FOR Financial Standing of the Nation De clared Excellent—Control of Cor porations, the President Thinks, Should Be Left to the National Government—Labcr Leaders Come in for Criticism—Respect for Law Vital to the Well-Being of Country. _ »* astunglon.—The message of Presi dent Huoncvr-h was read in both ! houses of congress Tuesday. In sub- I stance the document was as follows: I to the Senate and House of Represen | !htires: The financial standing of the ation at the present time is excellent, i ■'lid the financial management uf the na tion's Interests by the government dur ir the last seven years has shown the | most satisfactory results. But our cur- | rency system Is Imperfect, and it Is ear fe -j»Uy to be hoped that the currency •mmisslon will be able to propose a I thoroughly good system which will do sway with the existing defects. During the period from July 1, 1901. to ' e. nUiinber 30, there was an increase j the amount of money in circulation of : tw_.9Sl.399. The increase in the per capita i •taring this period was JT.ofi. Within this . : me there were several occasions when ] W h was necessary for the treasury de- | rtment to come to the relief of thi i : oney market by purchases or redemp :'on> of United States bonds; by inereas : .e deposits in national banks: by stim • olating additional issues of national bank j ' -O'e and by facilitating importations i from abroad of gold Our imperfect eur- | I rency system has made these proceedings ( ii'-etssary, and they were effective until 1 too monetary disturbance in the fall of I - "’7 immensely Increased the difficulty of dinary methods ot relief. By the mid I ok- of November the available working a nee in the treasury had been reduced L to approximately $5,OW.OOO. Clearing V l ouse associations throughout the coun B r had been obhged to resort to the K • xpedient of issuing clearing house cer I I ideates, to be used as money. In this | emergency it was determined to Invite | s inscriptions for $30,901,000 Panama canal I bonds, and $100,000,000 three p. r cent, y 1 •■"tiheates of indebtedness author5 ,ed by If fie act of June 13. 1899. It was j ,_osed S Pi redeposlt in the national lw. Jie K pioceeds of these issues, and t • nit j •(. t neir use as a basis for addition , cu lating notes of national banks. The E moral effect of this procedure was so kJjk great that it was necessary to issue only ■H $24.021.980 of the Panama bonds and $13, E O 30U of the certificates of indebtedness. : During the period from July 1. 1901, to |r September 30, 1908, the balance between the net ordinary receipts and the net E or dinary expenses of the government Bellowed a surplus in the four years 1902. E fi*<K. 1900, and 1S©7, and a deficit in the Byars l!s>4, 1905, ISOs and a fractional part Bi'f the fiscal year 1909. Tic net result ^Bw.o' a surplus cf $99.33.413.34. Tiie finan ;&, < lal operations of the government during j ■-t..is period, based uiion these differences Blc tween receipts and expenditures. re ■ s .‘led in a net reduction of the interest B 1 itrlr.g debt of the United States from I F $,e>‘7.141.040 to $897,233,990. notwithstanding p■■it there had been two sales of Panama ■ rr. il bonds amounting in tiie aggregate t | to $34 031.9X0, and an issue of tiirec per | I E* :i-- certificates of indebtedness under 9®* e act Jun‘- 13. amounting to ®»: ,420.500. Refunding operations of the IBar usury department under the act of aBivareh 14. 1900. resulted in the conver v Mum into two per cent, consols of 1930 of ^^■2"'.3c9.4UU bonds bearing liigher rates of |B: to rest. A decrease of $8,687,956 in the ^^Ennual interest charge resulted from j ■ ic short, during tiie sewn years and ijn ires months tiier, lias been a net sur ■W -a of nearly one hundred millions of SS®"- "Jits over expenditures, a reduction Jpt the interest-bearing debt by ninety ■hi. ions, in spite of the extraordinary ex rsc of tin- Panama '-anal, and a saving &;§*■ nearly nine millions on tin- annual , ‘lu rest charge. Control of Corporations. ■ regard* the great corporations »n ug-d in interstate liusin s. and ospe tile mi'road*. I can only repeat | Mra>i.u* I hav. alrtudv again and again said ISiaE1 •1!^ messages to the eongr ss I l>. MraHeve that under tin interstate clause of i constitution the i'nited States has v ^complete and paramount right to eon ,^*tr -i all agencies of interstate commerce. Hfi»' *• I believe that the national govern ' Hr- ut alone can exercise this right with - and effeetiven* sc so as both to i-u:x- justice from, and to do justice to. ^Kh- great corporations which are th< ^Biost important factors ir. modern lr.:si fs^aS'ess. 1 believe that it is worse than ^^Ko.iy to attempt to prohibit ull c0m jg&f tuitions as is done by the Sherman jMSa tf trust law. because such a law can Hb- i nforeed only imperfectly and un ■Hriy—tay, aud its enforcement works al ^Br.ist as much hardship as good. I HBa§s* ror.giy advocate that instead of an un Hpv-ise effort to prohibit all combinations. Siltiiere shall be substituted a law which ^Hphall expressly permit combinations go, which are in the interest of tlie public. B but shall at the same time give to som. B agency in the national government full : I power of control and supervision over them. One of the chief features of this control should be securing entiri pub licity In all matters which the public has a right to know, and furthermore, w t he power, not by judicial but by cxceu ™ Tive uction. to prevent or put a stop to every form of Improper favoritism or other wrongdoing. The railways of the country should be put completely under the interstate com merce commission and removed from the domain of the anti-trust law. The power of the commission should be made thoroughgoing, so that it could exercise complete supervision and control over tiie issue of securities as well as over tile raising and lowering of rates. As r'-gurds rates, at least, this power should lie summary. . . . Rutes must be made a» low as is compatible with giving prop er returns to all the employes of the rail road, from the highest to the lowest, and proper returns to the shareholders, but they must not. for instance, be re duced in such fashion as to necessitate a cut in the wages of the employes or t.»c abolition of the proper and legitimat. profits of honest shareholders. Telegraph and telephone companies en gaged in interstate business should 1m put under tlie jurisdiction of the inter - ;it commerce commission. ft is very earnestly to ,b. wished that cur people, through their representatives. ; cold act in this matter. It is to the interest of all of us that i here should be a premium put upon in dividual initiative and individual ca fe jwif-ity, and an ample reward for the I great directing intelligences alone com ' jielent to manage the great business op erations of to-day. It is well to keep in mind that exactly as the anarchist is tlie worst enemy of liberty and tile reaction ary the worst enemy of order, so the men who defend tlie rights of property have most to fear from the wrongdoers of great wealth, and the men who are lutmpioning popular rights have most to fear from the demagogues who in the / name of popular rights would do wrong T : o and oppress honest business men. hones’ men of wealth: for the success of cither type of wrongdoer necessarily in vites a violent reaction against the cause the wrongdoer nominally upholds. . . Need of Centralization. The proposal to make the na tional government supreme over, and therefore to give It complete control over, the railroads and other instruments of interstate commerce is merely a propos al to carry out to the letter one of the prime purposes, if not the prime purpose, for which the constitution was founded. It does not represent centralization. It represents merely the acknowledgment of the patent fact that centralization has already come in business. If this irre sponsible outside business power is to be controlled in the interest of the general public It can only be controlled in one way; by giving adequate power of con trol to the one sovereignty capable of ex ercising such power—the national govern ment. To abandon the effort for national control means to abandon the effort for all adequate control and yet to render like ly continual bursts of action by state leg islatures, which cannot achieve the pur pose sought for. but which can do a great deal of damage to the corporation without conferring any real benefit on the public. Corporations Learning Wisdom. I believe that the more farsighted cor porations are themselves coming to rec ognize the unwisdom of the violent hos tility they have displayed during the last few years to regulation and control by the national government of combinations engaged in interstate business. The truth is that w<> who believe in this movement of asserting and exercising a genuine control, in the public interest, over these gr**at - orporations have to contend against two sets of enemies, who. though nominally opposed to one another, arc really allies in preventing a proper solution of th* problem. There aTV'. first, the big corporation men, and th*- extreme individualists among busi ness men, who genuinely believe in ut unregulated business—that is. in ihc reign of plutocracy; and. second, ili« men who, living blind to the econom ic mov* ments of the day. believe in a movement of repression rather than of regulation of corporations, and who de nounce both the power of the railroads and the exercise of the federal power which alone can really control the rail roads. Those who believe in efficient na tional control, on the other hand, do not in the least object to combinations; do not in the least object to concentration in business administration. On tlic* con trary. they favor both, with the all-impor tant proviso that there shall be such pub licity about their workings, and such thoroughgoing control over them, as to insure their Ivina in tht interest, and not against tht interest, of the general P* blit We do not object to the concen tr. don of wealth and administration: but we do beli.-v* in tht* distribution of the wealth in profits to tht* real owners, and in securing to the public the full benefit of tin concentrated administration. We believe that with concentration in ad ministration there can come both the advantage of a larger owneship and of a more equitable distribution of profits, and at the sam*- time a bettor service to the commonwealth. We believe that the administration should b** for the benefit of the maty, arid that greed and ras eality, practiced on a large scale, should be punished as relentlessly as if practiced on a small scale. We do not for a moment believe that the problem will be solved by any short and easy method. The solution will come only by pressing various concurrent remedies. Some of these remedies must lie outside the domain of all government. Some must lie outside the domain of the federal government. But there is leg islation which the federal government alone can enact and which is absolutely vital in order to secure the attainment of our purpose. Many laws are needed. There should he regulation by the na tional government of the great interstate corporations, including a simple method of account keeping, publicity, supervision of the issue of securities, abolition of rebates and of special privileges. There should be short-time franchises for all corporations engaged in public business; including the corporations which get power from water rights. There should bi national as well as stat* guardianship of mines and forests. Th** labor legisla tion hereinafter referred to should con currently be enacted into law. To accomplish this, means a certain in « -case in the use of—not the creation of owvr. by th* central government. The wer already exists, it does not have » be created: tie* only question is . whether it shall be used or left idle— and meanwhil* '1:** corporations over ] which tie* pn\v. r ought to be exercised i will i t remain idi Th<* danger to Amer ican democracy lies not in tin* 1* ast in th** concentration of administrative power in responsible and a cotintabb hands. It lies in having tl power insufficiently concentrated. s.» that no one tan be held respte -able to tic p*opl* for its use. Concentrated power is palpable, visible, responsible. easily reached, quickly held to account. Democracy is in peril wherever the administration of po litical power is scattered among a variety of men who work in secret, whose very names are un known to th** common people. It is not in peril from any na n who derives au thority from the people, who exercises it in sight of the people, and who is from time to time compelled to give an a* count of its »•>. rc;s«- to the people. Legislation for Wageworker. Ther- arc many matters affecting labor id lie status of the wageworker to which l should like to draw your atten tion. hut an exhaustive discussion of tit problem in all its aspects is not now nec essary. 1 believe in steady ef fort. or perhaps it would lx? more accurate to say in steady efforts in many different directions, to bring about a condition of affairs under which tiie men who work with hand or v. th brain, the laborers, the superintendents, the men who produce the market and tiie men who find a market fur the articles produced, shall own a far greater share titan at present of lie- wealtli they pro duee, r.nti be enabled to invest it in the tools and instruments by which all work is carried on. As far as possible I hope to se- a frank recognition of the advan tages conferred by machinery, organiza tion and division of labor, accompanied by an effort to bring about a larger share in the ownership by wage-worker of rail way, mill and factory. Postal Savings hanks will make it easy for the poorest to keep their sav- i itigr in absolute safety. The regulation I of the national highways must be such that they shall serve all people with I equal justi-e Corporate finances must he supervised sb as to make it far safer than at present for the man of small means to invest his money in stocks. There must be prohibition of child la bor. ^.minution of women labor, short- ! ening of hours of all mechanical labor; I stock watering should be prohibited, j and stock gambling so far as is possi- I hie discouraged. There should be a ; progressive inheritance tax on large fortunes. Industrial education should he encouraged. As far as possible we should lighten the burden of taxation I on the small man. We should put a premium upon thrift, hard work, and business energy; but these qualities I cease to he the main factors in accu mulating a fortune long before that fortune readies a point where it would be seriously affected by any inheri tance tux such as I propose. It is emi nently right that the nation should fix tiie terms upon which tiie great for- I tunes are inherited. They rarely do I good and they often do harm to those I who inherit them in their entirety. There should no long :• he any palter ing with the- question of taking care of 1 the wage-workers who. under our pres- I ent industrial system, become killed, crippled, or worn out as part of the j regular incidents of a given busi ness. As far as concerns those yvho have been worn out. I call your attention to the fact that definite steps toward providing old-age pen sions have been taken in many of our private industries. These may be in- : definitely extended through voluntary association and contributory schemes, or through the agency of savings banks, as under the Massachusetts plan. Urgent Need of Reform. Our present system, or rather no sys tem. works dreadful wrong, and is of benefit to only one class of people—the lawyers. When a workman is injured what he needs is not an expensive and doubtful lawsuit, hut the certainty of relief through immediate administra tive action. No academic theory about “freedom of contract" or “consti tutional liberty to contract" should be permitted to interfere with this and similar movements. Pending a thoroughgoing investiga tion and action there is certain legis lation which should be enacted at once The law. passed at the last session of the congress .granting compensation to certain classes of employes of the gov ernment .should be extended to include all employes of the government and should be made more liberal in its terms. There is no good ground for the distinction made in the law be tween those engaged in hazardous oc cupations and those not so en gaged. The terms of the act pro viding compensation should be made more liberal than in the present act. A year’s compensation is not ade quate for a wage-earner's family in the event of his death by accident in the course of his employment. And in the event of death occurring, say. ten or eleven months after the accident, the family would only receive as compen sation the equivalent of one or two months' earnings. In this respect the generosity of the United States towards its employes compares most unfavora bly with that of every country in Eu rope—even the poorest The terms of the act are also a hard ship in prohibiting payment in cases where the accident is in any way due to the negligence of the employe. It is inevitable that daily familiarity with danger will lead men to take chances that can be construed into negligence. So well is this recognized that in prac tically all countries in the civilized world, except the United States, only a great degree of negligence acts as a bar to securing compensation. Proba bly in no other respect is our legisla tion. both state and national, so far be hind practically the entire civilized world as in the matter of liability and compensation for accidents in industry. It is humiliating that St European in ternational congresses on accidents the United States should be singled out as the most belated among the nations in respect to emr vyers' liability legisla tion. This government is itself a large employer of labor .and in its dealings with its employes it should set a «tan dard in this country which woul» piacc it on a par with the most progressive countries In Europe. The laws of the United States in this respect and the laws of European countries have been summarized in a recent bulletin of the bureau of labor, and no American who rends this summary can fail to be struck by the great con.rast between our practices and theirs—a contrast r.ot in any sense to our credit. I renew my recommendation made in a previous message that half-holidays be granted during summer to all wage workers in government employ . I also renew my recommendation that the principle of the eight-hour day should as rapidly and as far as practi cable be extended to the entire work being carried on by the government; the presint law should be amended to embrace contracts on those public works which the present wording of the act seems to exclude. Would Double Salaries of Judges. I most earnestly urge upon the con gress the duty of increasing the totally inadequate salaries now given to our judges. On the whole there is no body of public servants who do as valuable work, nor whose moneyed reward is so inadequate eompar d to their work. Be ginning with the supreme court the Judges should have their salaries dou bled. It is not befitting the dignity of the nation that its most honored public servants should be paid sums so small compared to wiiat th»y would earn in private life that the performance of public service by them implies an ex ceedingly heavy pcouniury sacrifice. It is earnestly to be desired that some method should be devised for doing away with the long delays which new obtain in the administration of justice, and which operate with peculiar sever ity against persons of small means, and favor only the very criminals whom it is most desirable to punish. These long delays in the final decisions of cases make in the aggregate u crying evil: und a remedy shou.j l>e devised Much of this intolerable delay is due to improper regard paid to technicali ties which are a m -re liinderance to Justice. In some not- r. cent cases this over-regard for technicalities has re- 1 suited in a striking denial of justice, and flagrant wrong to the bods- politic. | Labor Leaders Criticised. At the last election certain leaders of organized labor mad- a violent and sweeping attack upon the entire judi ciary of the country, an attack couched in such terms as p. include the most upright. honest “and broad-minded judgi s. no li ; s than those of narrower mind and more restricted outlook. | I-ast year, before the house com mittee on Judiciary. these same labor leaders formulated their de mands, specifying the bill that contained them, refusing all compro mise. stating they wished the principle of that bill or nothing. They insisted on a provision that in a labor dispute no injunction should Issue except to protect a property right and specifical ly provided that the right to carry on business should not be construed as a property right; and in a second provis ion tlieir 1)111 made legal in a labor dis pute any act or agreement by or be tween two' or more persons that would not have been unlawful if done by a since person, lr. other words, this hill legalized blacklisting and boycotting in every form, legalizing, for instance, those forms of the secondary boycott ! which the anthracite coal strike com- I mission so unreservedly condemned: while the right to carry on a business wus explicitly taken out from under that protection which the law throws over property. The demand was made that there should be trial by jury in contempt cases, thereby most seriously impairing the authority of the courts. All this represented a course of policy which, if carried out. would mean the enthronement of class privilege In its i rudest and most brutal form, and the destruction of one of the most essen tial functions of the judiicary in all civ ilized lands. The violence of the crusade for this legislation, and its complete failure, illustrate two truths which it is essen tial our people should learn. In the first place, they ought to teach the workingman, the laborer, the wage worker, that by demanding what is im proper and impossible he plays into the hands of his foes. Such a crude and vicious attack upon the courts, even if it were temporarily successful, would inevitably in the end cause a violent reaction and would band the great mass of citizens together, forcing them to stand by all the judges, competent and incompetent alike, rather than to see the wheels of justice stopped. The wageworkers, the workingmen, the laboring men of the country by the way in which they repudiated the ef fort to get them to cast their votes In response to an appeal to class hatred, have emphasized their sound patriotism and Americanism. Such an attitude Is an object lesson in good citizenship to the entire nation. Judicial System Sound. Our judicial system is sound and effective at core. and it remains, and must ever be maintained, as the safeguard of those principles of lib erty and justice which c’er.d at the foundation of American Institutions: for. as Burke finely said, when liberty and justice are separated, neither is safe. There are. however, some members of the judicial body who have lagged be hind in their understanding of these great and vital changes in the body politic, whose minds have never been opened to the new applications of the old principles made necessary by the new conditions. Judges of this stamp do last ing harm by their decisions, because they convince poor men in need of protection that the courts of the land are pro foundly ignorant of and out of sympathy with tlieir needs, and profoundly ignorant or hostile to any proposed remedy. To such men it seems a cruel mockery to have any court decide against them on the ground that it desires to preserve "liberty'' in a purely technical form, by withholding liberty in any real and con structive sense There are certain decisions by various courts which have been exceedingly det rimental to the rights of wage-workers. This is true of all decisions that decide that men are, by the constitution, “guar anteed their liberty” to contract to enter ^— a dangerous occupation, or to work an undesirable or Improper number of hours, or to work In unhealthy surroundings; and therefore cannot recover damages when maimed In that occupation, and cannot be forbidden to work what the legislature decides Is an excessive num ber of hours, or to carry on the work under conditions which the legislature decides to be unhealthy. Decisions such as those nullify the legislative effort to protect the wage-workers who most need protection from those employ ers who take advantage of their grind ing need. They halt or hamper the move ment for securing better and more equi table conditions of labor. There is also. I think, ground for the belief that substantial injustice is often suffered by employes in consequence of the custom of courts Issuing temporary Injunctions without notice to them, and punishing them for contempt of court In Instances where, as a matter of fact, they have no knowledge of any proceed ings. Organized labor is chating under the unjust restraint which comes from repeated resort to this plan of procedure. Its discontent ha* been unwisely expressed. and often improperly expressed, but there is a sound basis for it. and the or derly and law-abiding people of a com munity wouid be in u far stronger posi tion for upholding the courts If the un doubtedly existing abuses could be pro vided against. Matters for Thought for Labor. Such proposals as those mentioned above as advocated by the extreme labor leaders, contain the vital error of being class legislation of the most offensive kind, and even if enacted into law I be lieve that the law would rightly be held unconstitutional. Moreover, the labor people are themselves now beginning to invoke the use of the power of injunc tion. During the last ten years, and within my own knowledge, at least fifty Injunctions have been obtained by labor unions in New York city alone, most of them being to protect the union label (a “property right”), but some being ob tained for other reasons against employ ers. Injunction Must Remain. The power of injunction is a great equitable remedy, which should on no account be destroyed. But safeguards should be erected against its abuse. In substance, provision should be made that no injunction or temporary re straining order issue otherwise than on notice, except when* irreparable injury would otherwise result, and in such case a hearing on the merits of the order should be had within a short fixed pe riod. and. if not then continued after hearing, it should forthwith lapse. De cisions should be rendered immediately, and the chance of delay minimized in every way. Moreover. I believe that the procedure should be sharply defined, and the judge required minutely to state the particulars both of his action and of his reasons therefor, so that the congress can if it desires examine and investigate the same. For man}' of the shortcomings of justice in our country our people as a v/hole are themselves to blame, and the judges and juries merely bear their share together with the public as a w'hole. It is discreditable to us as a people that there should be difficulty in convicting murderers, or in bringing to justice men who as public servants have been guilty of corruption, or who nave profited by the corruption of public servants. The result is equally unfortunate, whether due to hairsplit- J ting technicalities in the interpretation of law by judges, to sentimentality and class consciousness on the part of juries, or to hysteria and sensational ism in the daily press. For much of this failure of justice no responsibility whatever lies on rich men as such. We who make up the mass of the people cannot shift the responsibility from our own shoulders. But there is an impor tant part of the failure w..ich has spe cially to do with inability to hold to proper account men of wealth who behave badly. The Modern Corporation. The hu£rc wealth that has been accu mulated by a few individuals of recent years, in what has amounted to a so cial and industrial revolution, lias been as regards some of these individuals made possible only by tin* improper use of the modern corporation. A certain type of modern corporation, with its officer?* and agents, its many issues of securities, and its constant consolida tion with allied undertakings, finally beeomen an instrument so complex as to contain a greater number of ele ments that, under various judicial de cisions. lend themselves to fraud and oppression than any device yet ♦ volved in the human brain. Corporations are necessary instruments of modern busi ness. They have been permitted to become a menace largely because the governmental representatives of the people have worked sl.owly in provid ing for adequate control over them. Our great clusters of corpora tions. huge trusts and fabulously wealthy multimillionaires, employ the very best lawyers they can obtain to pick flaws in statutes after their passage; but they also employ a class of secret agents who seek, under the advice of experts, to render hostile legisla.ion innocuous by making it un constitutional. ofton through the inser tion of what apprar on th< ir fac» to be drastic and swe* ping provisions against ’ the interests of the parties inspiring them; while the demagogues, the cor rupt creatures who introduce black mailing schemes to “strike” corpora tions. and all who demand extreme, and undesirably radical. measures, show themselves to be the worst ene mies of the very public w'hose loud mouthed champions they profess to be. Real damage has been done by the manifold and conflicting interpretations Ox the interstate commerce law. Con trol over the great corporations doing interstate business can be effective only if it is vested with fuil power in an administrative department, a branch of the federal executive, carrying out a federal law; it can never be effective if a divided responsibility is left in both the states and the nation^ it can never be effective if left in the hands of the courts to be decided by lawsuits. Respect for Law Must Be Upheld. The courts hold a place of peculiar and deserved sanctity under our form of gov ernment. Respect for the law is essen tial to the permanence of our institu tions. and respect for the law is largely conditioned upon respect for the courts. It is an offense against the republic to say anything which can weaken this re spect, save for the gravest reason and in the most carefully guarded manner. In np other nation in the world do the courts wield such vast and far-reaching power as in the United States. All that is nec essary is that the courts as a whole should exercise this power with the far sighted wisdom already shown by those judges who scan the future while they aci In the present. Let them exercise this great power not only honestly and bravely, but with wise insight into the needs and fixed purposes of the people, so that they may do justice, and work equity, so that they may protect all per sons In their rights, and yet break down tile harriers of privilege, which is the foe of right. Forest Preservation. If there is any one duty which more than another we owe it to our children to perform at once, it is to save the for ests of this country, for they* constitute the first and most important element in the conservation of the natural re sources of the country. . . . Just as a farmer, after all his life making his living from his farm, will, if he is an ex pert farmer, leave it as an asset of in creased value to his son, so we should leave our national domain to our chil dren, increased in value and not worn out There are small sections of our own country, in the east and in the w*est, in tiie Adirondacks. the White mountains and the Appalachians, and in the Rockv mountains, where we can already see for ourselves the damage in the shape of permanent injury to the soil and the river sy'stems which comes from reckless deforestation. It matters not whether this deforestation is due to the actual reckless cutting of timber, to the fires that inevitably follow such reckless cut ting of timber, or to reckless and uncon trolled grazing, especially by the great migratory bands of sheep. the un checked wandering of which over the country means destruction to forests and disaster to the small home-makers, the settlers of limited means. Thanks to oar own recklessness in the use of our splendid forests, we have already crossed the verge of a timber famine In this country, and no measures that wc now take can. at least for many years, undo the mischief that has already been done. But we can pre vent further mischief being done; and it would he in the highest degree reprehen sible to let any consideration of tem porary convenience or temporary cost interfere with such action, especially as regards the national forests which the nation can now, at this very moment, control. The lesson of deforestation In China is a lesson which mankind should have learned many times already from what has occurred in other places. Denuda tion leaves naked soil; then gullying cuts down to the bare rock; and mean while the rock-waste buries the bottom lands. When the soil is gone, men must go; and the process does not take long. Plea for Inland Waterways. Action should be begun forthwith, dur ing the present session of the congress, for the improvement of our Inland water ways—action which will result in giving us not only navigable but navigated rivers. Until the work of river improvement is undertaken in a modern way it can not have results that will meet the needs of this modern nation. The plan which promises the best and quick est results is that of a per manent commission authorized to co-or dinate the work of all the government departments relating to waterways, and to frame and supervise the execution of a comprehensive plan. Under such a commission the actual work of construc tion might be entrusted to the reclama tion service; or to the military engineers acting with a sufficient number of civili ans to continue the work in time of war; or it might be divided between the rec lamation service and the corps of en gineers. Funds should be provided from ,'urrent revenues if it is deemed wise— jtherwisc from the sale of bonds. The essential thing is that the work should go forward under the best possible plan, and with the least possible delay. The time for playing with our waterways is past. The country demands results. The president urges that national parks adjacent to national forests be placed under the control of the forest service ot the agricultural depart ment: he also points out the benefits derived from pure food legislation. The message continues: Needs of the Secret Service. Last year an amendment was incor porated in the measure providing for the secret service, which provided that there should be no detail from the secret serv ice and no transfer therefrom. The amendment in question was of benefit to no one excepting to criminals, and it seriously hampers the government in the detection of crime and the securing of justice. The chief argument in favor of the provision was that the congressmen did not them selves wish to b»* investigated by the secret service men. Very little of such Investigation has been done in the past, but it Is true that the work of the secret service agents was partly responsible for the indictment and conviction of a sen ator and a congressman for land frauds in Oregon I do not believe that it is m the public interest to protect criminals in any branch of the public service, and exactly as we have again and again dur ing the past seven years prosecuted and convicted such criminals who were in the executive branch of the government, so in my belief we should be given ample means to prosecute them if found in the legislative branch. But if this is not considered desirable a special exception could be made in the law prohibiting th* use of the secret service force in inves tigating members of the congress. Posts! Savings Banks. I again renew my recommendation for postal savings banks, for deposit ing savings with the security of the government behind them. The object is to encourage thrift and economy in the wage-earner and person of mod erate means. It is believed that in the aggregate vast sums of money would be brought into circulation through tin* in strumentality of the postal savings Parrel Post. In my lust annual message I com mended the postmaster-general's recommendation for an extension of the parcel post on the rural routes. The establishment of a local parcel post on rural routes would be to the mutual benefit of the farmer and the country storekeeper, and it is desirable that the routes, serving more thar la.000.000 people, should be utilized to the fullest practicable extent. Education. With tiie limited means hitherto pro vided. the bureau of e ducation has ! rentlercd efficient service, but the con gress has neglected to adequately sup ply the bureau with means to meet the educational growth of the country. I earnestly recommend that this un fortunate state of affairs as regards the national educational office be reme died by adequate appropriations. This recommendation is urged by the repre sentatives of our common schools and great state universities and the leading educators, who all unite in requesting favorable consideration and action by the congress upon this subject. The president points out the neces sity of better organization of the vari ous bureaus responsible for the public health, and urges the placing of all soldiers' homes under the jurisdiction of the war department. Statehood. On the question of statehood the president says: I advocate the immediate admission of New Mexico and Arizona as states. This should he done at the present session of the congress. The people of the two ter ritories have made It evident b5' their votes that they will not come in as one state. The only alternative is to admit them as two. and I trust that this will be done without delay. Interstate Fisheries. I call the attention of the congress to the importance of the problem of the fisheries in the interstate waters. On the Great Lakes wre are now, under the very wise treaty of April 11 of this year, en deavoring to come to an international agreement for the preservation and sat isfactory use of the fisheries of these wa ters which can not otherwise be achieved. Lake Erie, for example, has the richest fresh water fisheries in the world: hut It is now controlled by the statutes of two nations, four states, and one province, and this province by two different ordi nances in different counties. Ail these political divisions work at cross pur poses, and in no case can they achieve protection to the fisheries, on the one hand, and justice to the localities and in dividuals on the oth“r. Foreign Affairs. This nation's foreign policy is based on the theory that right must be done between nations precisely as between individuals, and in our actions for the last ten years we have in this matter proven our faith by our deeds. We have behaved, and are behaving, to wards other nations, as in private life an honorable man would behave to wards his fellows. Latin-American Republics. The commercial and material prog ress of the 20 Latin-American republics is worthy of the careful attention of the congress. The International Bureau of the American Republics is doing a useful work in making these nations J and their resources better known to : us. and in acquainting them not only ! with us as a people and with our pur poses towards them, but with what we have to exchange for their goods. Panama Canal. The work on the Panama canal is be ing done with a speed, efficiency and entire devotion to duty, which make it ' a model for all work of the kind. The men on the Isthmus, from Col. Goethals and his fellow commissioners through the entire list of employes who are faithfully doing their duty, have won their right to the ungrudging respect And irratituda of tka Anaricaa kfumia. I again recommend the extension at the ocean mail act of 1891 so that sat)** factory American ocean mail lines ts South America. Asia, the Philippine*, and Australasia may be established Hawaii. I call particular attention to the Ter ritory of Hawaii. The importance ot those islands is apparent, and the need of improving their condition and de veloping their resources is urgent. The Philippines. Real progress toward sell-governmenl is being made in the Philippine islands. I trust that within a generation the time will arrive when the Philippine# can decide for themselves w’hether It i* well for them to become independent, or to continue under the protection of a strong and disinterested power, able tc guarantee to the islands order at home and protection from foreign invasion. Porto Rico. I again recommend that American cit izenship be conferred upon the people o) Porto Rico. Cuba. In Cuba our occupancy will cease ir about two months’ time; the Cubant have in orderly manner elected their owr. governmental authorities, and the islanr, will be turned over to them. Our occu patlon on this occasion has lasted a lit tie over two years, and Cuba has thriv en and prospered under it. Our earnesi hope and one desire is that the peop! of the island shall now govern them selves with justice, so that peace and or der may be secure. Japanese Exposition. The Japanese government has post poned until 1917 the date of the greai international exposition, the action be ing taken so as to insure ample tiro* in which to prepare to make the expo sition all that it should be made. The American commissioners have visited Japan and the postponement will mere ly give ampler opportunity for Ameri ca to be represented at the exposition. Not since the first international expo sition has there been one of greater importance than this will be. marking, as it does, the fiftieth anniversary of the ascension to the throne of the em peror of Japan. The extraordinary leap to the foremost place among the nations of the world made by Japan during this half century is something unparalleled in all previous history. I take this opportunity publicly to state my appreciation of the way in which in Japan, in Australia, in New Zealand, and in all the states of South America, the battle fleet has been re ceived on its practice voyage around the world. The American government can not too strongly express its appre ciation of the abounding and generous hospitality shown our ships in every port they visited. The Army. A- regards the army I call attention to the fact that while our junior offi cers and enlisted men stand very high the present system of promotion by seniority results in bringing into thf higher grades many men of mediocre capacity who have but a short time to serve. No mar. should regard it as his vested right to rise to the highest rank in the army any more than in any other profession. It is a curious and by nci means creditable fact that there should be so often a failure on the part of the public and its representa tives to understand the great need, from the standpoint of the service and the nation of refusing to promote re spectable. elderly incompetents. The higher places should he given to the most deserving men without regard to seniority; at least seniority should be treated as only one consideration. In the stress of modern industrial com petition no business firm could succeed if those responsible for its management were chosen simply on the ground that they were the oldest people In its em ployment; yet this is the course advo cated as regards the army, and re quired by law for all grades except those of general officer. As a matter of fact all of the best officers in th highest ranks of the army are those who have attained their present posi tion wholly or in part by a process of selection. Tile scope of retiring hoards should be extended so that they could con sider general unfitness to command for any cause, in order to secure a far more rigid enforcement than at present in the elimination of officers for mental, physical or temperamental disabilities-. But this plan is recommended only if the congress does not see tit to provide what in my judgment is far better, that is. for selection in promotion, and for elimination for age. Officers who fail to attain a certain rank by a cer tain age. should be retired—for in stance. if a man should not attain field rank by the time he is 45 he should of course be placed on the re tired list. General officers should be selected as at present, and one-third of the other promotions should he made by selection, the selection to be made by the president or secretary of war. from a list of at least two candi dates proposed for each vacancy by a board of officers from the arm of the service from which the promotion is to he made. A bill is now before the congress having for its object to se cure the promotion of officers to vari ous grades at reasonable ages through a process of selection, by boards of of ficers of the least efficient for retire ment with a percentage of their pay depending upon length of service. The bill, although not accomplishing all that should be done, is a long step in the right direction; and I earnestly recommend its passagg, or that of a more completely effective measure. National Guard. Now that the organized militia, the National Guard, has been incorporated with the army as a part or the national forces, it behooves the government to do every reasonable thing in its power to perfect its efficiency. It should be assisted in its instruction and other wise aided more liberally than hereto fore. The continuous services of many well-trained regular officers will be essential , in this connection. A bill is now pending before the congress creating a number of extra officers in the army, which if passed, as it ought to be. will enable more officers to be trained as instructors of National Guard and assigned to that duty. In case of war it will be of the utmost importance to have a large number of trained officers to use for turning raw levies into good troops. The Navy. 1 approve the recommendations of the general board for the in crease of the navy, calling especial attention to the need of addi tional destroj'ers and colliers, and above all. of the four battleships. It is desir able to complete as soon as possible a squadron of eight battleships of the best existing type. I most earnestly recommend that the general board be by law' turned into a general staff. There is literally no ex cuse whatever for continuing the pres ent bureau organization of the navy. The navy should Ik- treated as a purely mili tary organization, and everything should be subordinated to the one object of se curing military efficiency. A system of promotion by merit, either by selec tion or by exclusion, or by both processes, should be introduced. It is out of the question, if the present principle of promotion by mere seniority is kept, to expe.t to get the best results from the higher officers. Our men come too old. and stay for too short a time, in the high command positions. Nothing better for the navy from every standpoint has ever occurred than the cruise of the battle fleet around the world. The improvement c.f the ships in every way has been extraordinary, and they have gained far more experience in battle tactics than they would have gained if they had stayed in the Atlantic waters. The American people have cause for profound gratification, both in view of the excellent condition of the fleet as shown by this cruise, and in view of the improvement the ciuise has worked in this already high condition. I do not believe that there is any other service in the world in which the average of char acter and efficiency in the enlisted men is as high as is now the case in our own. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. S House’ Tuesday, December TO CURE A COUGH Or Break a Cold in 24 Hours Mis (wo ounces of Glycerine and a half ounce of Virgin Oil of Pine eam jiound pure with a half pint of Straight Whisky. Shake well and take a tea spoonful every four hours. The genuine Virgin Oil of Pine com pound pure is prepared only by The Leach Chemical Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, and is put up only in half-ounce vials, each vial securely sealed in a round wooden ease to insure its freshness and purity. j AMONGST THE BULL-RUSHES. r’r-—1 Lazy Larry—Woof! Just to think, with all this wasted effort, I could have won the Marathon race! Expert Pocket-Picking. An old lady was accosted in a Lon don street by a well-dressed and re fined-looking stranger, who effusively claimed her as a friend. “I really don't believe you remember me!" she exclaimed, reproachfully, and the old lady, never doubting that her memory was at fault, confessed that she could not quite recall the name. "Ah, but I have changed it since you knew me," said her interlocutor, gayly, and after a few more lively speeches she passed on. having possessed herself mean while of the old lady’s purse. Sheer white goods, In fact, any fine wash goods when new, owe much of their attractiveness to the way they are laundered, this being done in a manner to enhance their textile beau ty. Home laundering would be equal ly satisfactory if proper attention was given to starching, the first essential beiDg good Starch, which has sufficient strength to stiffen, without thickening the goods. Try Defiance Starch and you will be pleasantly surprised at the improved appearance of your work. Lachrymose. “Pa, Mary’s upstairs crying again." "What’s the matter this time, ma?" “I can’t just make out whether it’s because she’s afraid Jim won’t ask her to go to the theater to-night or whether she hasn’t anything fit to wear, if he should.”—Detroit Free Press. UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM SOUTH CAROLINA PRAISES PE RU NA. Ex-Senator M. C. Butler. Dyspepsia Is Often Caused by Catarrh of the Stomach—Peruna Relieves Ca tarrh of the Stomach and Is 'Therefore a Remedy for Dyspepsia. I Hon. M. C. Butler, U. S. Senator f 1 from South Carolina for two terms. I • in a letter from Washing-ton, D. C., * J writes to the Peruna Medicine Co., 1 2 as follows: » J “I can recommend Peruna for! 1 dyspepsia and stomach trouble. I f t have been using your medicine for T ! a short period and I feel very much • t relieved. It is indeed a wonderful \ f medicine, besides a good tonic.” T CATARRH of the stomach is the cor rect name for most eases of dyspep sia. Only an internal catarrh rem edy, such as Peruna, is available. Peruna Tablets can now be procured. Ask yot^r Druggist for a Free Peruna Almanac for i909. Omaha Directory Fuvs mST* Aulabaugh’s complete h catalogue will show p you wiiat you want. G. N. AULABAUGH Beet. ■. 1508 Douglas St.. OMAHA. RUBBER GOODS br mail at rat prices. Send for free catalogue. WYERS-DILLON DRUG CO.. OMAHA REBR TAFT’S CENTAL ROOKS W= 1517 Douglas St., OMAHA. KEB. Reliable Dentistry at Moderate Price*. ^