Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Falls City tribune. (Falls City, Neb.) 1904-191? | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 1908)
PRESIDENT TO CONGRESS Message Read to Both Houses of National Assembly LEGISLATION CALLED FOR Financial Standing of the Nation De clared Excellent—Control of Cor poration*, the President Thinks, Should Be Left to the National Government—Labor Leaders Come In for Criticism—Respect for Law Vital to the Well-Being of Country. Washington.—The message of Presi dent Roosevelt was read in both bouses of congress Tuesday. In sub stance the document was as follows: <. To the Senate and House of Represen tatives: The financial standing of the nation at the present time is excellent, and the financial management of the na tion’s Interests by the government dur ing the last seven years has shown the most satisfactory results. But our cur rency system is imperfect, and it is ear nestly to be hoped that the currency commission will be able to propose a thoroughly good system which will do away with the existing defects. During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, there was an increase in the amount of money in circulation of $961,991,399 The increase in the per capita during this period was $7.06. Within this lime there were several occasions when it was necessary for the treasury de partment to come to the relief of the money market by purchases or redemp tions of United States bonds; by increas ing deposits in national banks; by stim ulating additional issues of national bank notes, and by facilitating importations from abroad of gold. Our Imperfect cur rency system has made these proceedings necessary, and they were effective until the monetary disturbance in the fall of 1907 immensely increased the difficulty of ordinary methods of relief. By the mid- ' ,dle of November the available working balance in the treasury had been reduced to approximately $5,000,000. Clearing house associations throughout the coun try had been obliged to resort to the expedient of issuing clearing house cer tificates, to be used as money. In this emergency it was determined to invite subscriptions for $50.000,000 Panama canal bonds, and $100,000,000 three per cent. «ertificates of indebtedness authorized by the act of June 13, 1898. It was proposed to redeposit in the national banks the proceeds of these issues, and to permit their use as a basis for additional circu lating notes of national banks. The moral effect of this procedure was so great that it was necessary to issue only $24,631,980 of the Panama bonds and $15. 436.500 of the certificates of indebtedness. During the period from July 1, 1901, to Roptember 30. 1908, the balance between the net ordinary receipts and the net ordinary expenses of the government showed a surplus in the four years 1902. 1903, 1906, and 1907, and a deficit In the years 1904. 1905. 1908 and a fractional part of the fiscal year 1909. The net result was a surplus of $99,283,413.54. The finan < ial operations of the government during this period, based upon these differences between receipts and expenditures, re sulted in a net reduction of the intere?*t bearing debt of the United states from $987,141,040 to $897,253,990, notwithstanding that there had been two sales of Panama canal bonds amounting in the aggregate to $54,631,980. and an issue of three per cent, certificates of indebtedness under the act of June 13. 1898. amounting to $15,436,500. Refunding operations of the treasury department under the act of March 14, 1900, resulted in the conver sion into two per cent, consols of 1930 of $200,309,400 bonds bearing higher rates of interest. A decrease of $8,687,956 in the annual Interest charge resulted from these operations. In short, during the seven years and three months there has been a net sur plus of nearly one hundred millions of receipts over expenditures, a reduction of the interest-bearing debt by ninety millions, In spite of the extraordinary ex pense of the Panama canal, and a saving of nearly nine millions on the annual Interest charge. Control of Corporations. As regards the great corporations en gaged In interstate business, and espe cially the railroads, I can only repeat what 1 have already ngain and again said in my messages to the congress. I be lieve ihat under the Interstate clause of the constitution the United States has complete and paramount right to con trol all agencies of Interstate commerce, and I believe that the national govern ment alone can exercise this right with wisdom and effectiveness so as both to secure Justice from, and to do Justice to, the great corporations which are the most important factor* in modern busi ness. 1 believe that It is worse than folly to attempt to prohibit all com binations as is done by the Sherman anti-trust law, because such a law can be enforced only imperfectly and un equally, and its enforcement works al most as much hardship as good. I etrongly advocate that instead of an un wise effort to prohibit all combinations, there shall be substituted a law which shall expressly permit combinations which are In the interest of the public, but shall at the same time give to some agency In the national government full power of control and supervision over them. One of the chief features of this control should be securing entire pub licity in all matters which the public has a right to know, and furthermore, the power, not by Judicial but by execu tive action, to prevent or put a stop to every form of Improper favoritism or other wrongdoing. The railways or the country should oe 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 the issue of securities an well as over the raising and lowering of rui n As regard* rates, at least, this power should tie summary. . . . Kates must be made as low as is. compatible with giving prop er returns to all th» employes of the rail road, from the highest to the lowest, and proper return's to the shareholders, but they must tio«, for Instance, be re duced In syeh fashion ua to necessitate a cut In the w ' c; s of the employes or the abolition of the proper and legitimate profits of honest shareholders. Telegraph and telephone companies en gaged in Interstate business should he put under the jurisdiction of the Inter state commerce commission. It Is very earnestly to be wished that our people, through their representatives, -should act In this matter. It is to |the Interest of all of us that Ethere should be a premium put upon in w tridual Initiative and^IndMd11*1 ca parity, and an ample reward for the great directing intelligences alone com petent to manage tl e great business op erations of to-da\ It is well to keep in mind that exactly as the anarchist is the worst enemy of liberty and the reaction ary the worst enemy of order, ho the men who defend the rights of property have most to fear from the wrongdoers of great wealth, and the men who are championing popular rights have most to fear from the demagogues who In the name of popular rights would do wrong to and oppress honest business men. honest men of wealth; for the success of either type of wrongdoer necessarily 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. There should be 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 pow'er from water rights. There should be national as well as state guardianship of mines and forests. The labor legisla tion hereinafter referred to should con currently be enacted into law. To accomplish this, means a certain In crease in the use of—not the creation of —power, by the central government. The power already exists; It does not have to be created; the only question is whether it shall be used or left idle— and meanwhile the corporations over which the power ought to be exercised will not remain idle. The danger to Amer ican democracy lies not in the least in the concentration of administrative power In responsible and accountable hands. It lies in having the power insufficiently concentrated, so that no one can be held responsible to the people for its use. Concentrated power is palpable, visible, responsible, easily reached, quickly held to account. 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 the common people. It is not in peril from any man 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 account of its exercise to the people. Legislation for Wageworker. There are many matters affecting labor and the status of the wageworker to which I should like to draw your atten tion. but an exhaustive discussion of the problem in all its aspects is not now nec essary. I believe In a steady ef fort, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say in steady efforts in many different directions, to bring about a condition of affairs imder which the men who work with Hand or with brain, the laborers, the superintendents, tire men who produce the market and the men who find a market for the articles produced, shall own a far greater share than at present of the wealth they pro duce, and be enabled to invest it in the tools and instruments by which all work is carried on. As far as possible I hope to see a frank recognition of the 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 Ravings banks will make It easy for the poorest to keep their sav ings in absolute safety. The regulation of the national highways must be such that they shall serve all people with equal Justice. Corporate finances must be supervised so as to make It far safer than at present for the man of small means to Invest his money in stocks. There must be prohibition of child la bor. u.minutlon of women labor, short ening of hours of all mechanical labor; stock watering should be. prohibited, and stock gambling so far as Is possi ble discouraged. There should be a progressive inheritance tax on large fortunes. Industrial education should be encouraged. As far as possible we should lighten the burden of taxation on the small man. We should put a premium upon thrift, hard work, and business energy; but these qualities cease to be the main factors in accu mulating a fortune long before that fortune reaches a point where It would be seriously affected by any Inheri tance tax such as I propose. It is emi nently right that the nation should fix the terms upon which the great for tunes are Inherited. They rarely do good and they often do harm to those who inherit them In their entirety. There should no longer be any palter ing with the question of taking care of the wageworkers who, under our pres ent industrial system, become killed, crippled, or worn out as part of the regular Incidents of a given busi ness. As far as concerns those who 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 msy 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, but 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 deatli 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 I’nited States towards its employes compares most unfavora- j bly with that of every country in Ku* rope even the poorest. 1 renew my recommendation made In 1 a previous message that half-holidays he granted during summer to all wage workers in government employ . 1 also renew my recommendation that the principle of the eight-hour day should as rapidly and a* far as practi cable be extended to the entire wrork being carried on by the government; the present law should he amended to embrace contracts on those public works which the present wording of the act seem* to exclude. Would Double Salaries of Judges. 1 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 nadequate compared 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 what they would earn in private life that the performance of public service by them Implies an ex ceedingly heavy pecuniary sacrifice. It is earnestly to be desired that some method should be devised for doing away with the long delays which now obtain in the administration of justice, and which operate with peculiar sever ity against persons of small means, and favor only the very criminals whom It I is most desirable to punish. These long delays in the final decisions of cases make in the aggregate a crying evil; and a remedy shout i be devised. Much of this intolerable delay Is due to improper regard paid to technicali ties which are a mere hinderance to justice. In some noted recent cases this over-regard for technicalities has re sulted in a striking denial of justice, and flagrant wrong to the body politic. Labor Leaders Criticised. At the last election certain leaders of j organized labor made a violent and 1 sweeping attack upon the entire judi ciary.of the country, an attack couched in such terms as to include thp most upright, honest and broad4minded j judges, no less than tb«*«* of narrower mind and more restricted outlook. Last year, before the house com mittee on Judiciary, ' these suine 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 their bill 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 single person. In other words, this bill legalized blacklisting and boycotting in every form, legalizing, for Instance, those forms of the secondary boycott which the anthracite coal strike com mission so unreservedly condemned; while the right to carry on a business was explicitly taken out from under that protection which the law throws over property. The demand was made | that there should be trial by Jury in contempt cases, thereby most seriously impairing the authority of the courts. All this represented a course of policy which, if carried out. would mean the enthronement of class privilege in its i crudest and most brutal form, and the | destruction of one of the most essen tial functions of the judilcary 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 i workingman, the laborer, the wage worker. that by demanding what is im 1 proper and impossible lie 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 I reaction and would hand the great i mass of citizens together, forcing them i to stand by all the judges, competent and incompetent alike, rather than to 1 see the wheels of Justice slopped. The wageworkers, the workingmen, the laboring men of the country by the , way in which they repudiated the ef j 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 stand at the foundation of American Institutions; for. as Burke finely said, when liberty and justice are separated, neither Is safe. There are, however, some members of the judicial body who have lagged 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 o' protection that the courts of the land are pro foundly ignorant of and out if sympathy with their 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 therefor# 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 prote< t 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 chafing under the unjust restraint which comes from repeated resort to this plan of procedure. Its discontent lias been unwisely expressed, and often improperly expressed, but there i Is a sound basis for It, and ttie or derly and law-abiding people of a com munity would be In a far stronger posi j tion for upholding the courts If the un doubtedly existing abuses could be pro vided against. 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 he made that no injunction or temporary re straining order Issue otherwise than on notice, except where Irreparable injury would otherwise result, and In such case a hearing on the merits of the order should he 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 minimised In every way. Moreover. I believe that the procedure should be sharply defined, and the Judge required minutely to stute 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 many of the shortcomings of Justice In our country our people as a whole are themselves to blame, and the judges and Juries merely hear their share together wrlth the public as a whole. It is discreditable to us as a people that there should he difficulty In convicting murderers, or in bringing to Justice men who as public servants have been guilty of corruption, or who have profited by the corruption of public servants. The result Is equally unfortunate, whether due to hairsplit 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 wnlch has spe cially to do with inability to hold to proper account men of wealth who behave badly. The Modern Corporation. The huge wealth that has been accu mulated by a few individuals of recent years, in what has amounted to a so cial and industrial revolution, has been aa regards some of these individuals made possible only by the Improper use of the modern corporation. A certain type of modern corporation, with its officers and agents, its many Issues of securities, and its constant consolida tion with allied undertakings, finally hetomfi 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 evolved 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 slowly 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; hut 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. often through the inser tion of what appear on their face to be drastic and sweeping 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 whose loud- ! mouthed champions they profess to he. j Real damage has been done by the manifold nnd conflicting Interpretations 01 the interstate commerce law. Con trol over the great corporations doing interstate business can be effective only if it is vested with full power in an administrative department, a branch of the federal executive, carrying out a federal law; it can never be effective if a divided responsibility is left In both the states and the nation; it can never be effective if left in the hands of the courts to be decided by lawsuits. Respect for Law Must Be Upheld. The courts hold u 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 la largely conditioned upon respect for the courts. It Is art 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 no 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 act In the present. Let them exercise this great power not only honestly and bravely, but with wise Insight Into the needs and fixed purposes of the people, so that they may do Justice, and work equity, so that they may protect all per sons In their rights, and yet break down the barriers 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 perf„im at once. It Is to save the for est* 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 ae an asset of In creased value to ills 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 west, in the Adirondacks, the White mountains and the Appalachians, and In the Rocky mountains, where we can already see for ourselves the damage In the shape of permanent injury to the soil ami the river systems which comes from reckless deforestation. It matters not whether this deforestation is due to the actual reckless cutting of timber, to the fires that Inevitably follow such reckless 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 I'ountry means destruction to forests and disaster to the small home-makers, the settlers of limited means Thanks to our own recklessness In the use of our splendid forests, we have already crossed the verge of a timber famine In this country, and no measures that we now take can, at least for many years, undo the mischief that has already been done. But we can pre vent further mischief being done; and It would be 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 eat results is that of a per manent commission authorized to ro-or- | dtnale 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 l»e entrusted to the reclama tlon service or to the military engineers acting with r 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 'iirrent revenues if it Is deemed wise— itherwtss from the sale of bonds. The •ssentlal 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 Hervice of the agricultural depart ment; he also points out the benefits derived from ptire food legislation. The message continues: Need* of the Secret Service. !.»*t 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 justlre. The chief argument In favor of the provision was that the congressmen did not them selves wish to be Investigated by the secret service men. Very little of such Investlgstlon has been done In the past; but It Is true that the work of the secret service agents was partly responsible for the Indictment end conviction of a sen ator and a congressman for land frauds In Oregon. I do not believe that It la In 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 he made In the law prohibiting the use of the secret service force In Inves tigating members of the congress. Postal Saving* 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. II Is believed that In the aggregate vast sums of money would be brought Into circulation through the In strumentality of the postal savings hanks. Parcel Post. In my last annual message I com mended the post master-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 he to the mutual benefit of the farmer and the country storekeeper, and II Is desirable that the routes, serving more than 15,000.000 people, should he utilised to the fullest practicable extent Education. With the limited means hitherto pro vided. the bureau of e duration lias rendered efficient service, but the con gress tins 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 tiy 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 tills subject. The president points out the neces sity of better organization of the vari ous bureaus responsible for the pub'Ir 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 slates. This should tie done al the present session of the congress. The people of the two ter ritories have made It evident bv their votes that they will not come In as one state. The only alternative Is to admit them as two, and 1 trust that this will be done without delay. Interstate Fiaheries. I call the attention of the congress to the Importance of the problem of the fisheries In the Interstate waters. On the Oreat t-akes we are now, under the very1 wlae 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. T,ake Erie, for example has the richest fresh water fisheilea !<• the world; but It la now controlled by the statutes of two nations, four ciates, and one province, and this province by two different ordi nances In different counties. All 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 other. Foreign Affaire. This nations 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 tills matter proven our faith by our deeds. We have behaved, and are behaving, to wards other nations, as in private life an honotable 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 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 gratitude of the American people. Ocean Mail Lines. I again recommend the extension of the ocean mail act of 18S1 so that satis factory American ocean mail lines to South America. Asia, the Philippines, and Australasia may be established. Hawaii. I call particular attention to the Ter ritory of Hawaii. The importance of those Islands is apparent, and the need of improving their condition and de veloping I heir resources Is urgent. The Philippines. Heal progress toward self-government Is being made In the Philippine Islands. 1 trust that within a generation the time will ai rive w hen the Philippines can decide for themselves whether It la well for them to become Independent, or to continue under the protection of a strong and disinterested power, able to guarantee to the Islands order at horns and protection from foreign Invasion Porto Rico. I again recommend that American clt isenshlp be conferred upon the people of Porto Itlco. Cuba. In Cuba our occupancy will cease In about two months' time; the Cubans have In orderly manner elected their own governmental authnillies. and the Island, will be turned over to them. Our occu-1 patlon on this occasion has lasted a lit tle over Iwo years, and Cuba has thriv en and prospered under It. Our earnest hope and one desire Is that the people of the Island shall now govern them selvea with Justice, so that peace and of-' der may be secure. Japanese Exposition. The Japanese government has post poned until 1917 the date of the great, international exposition, the action be-, lug taken so as to Insure ample time In which to prepare to make the expo sition all that It should be made The American commlaaloners have visited Japan and the postponement will mere ly give ampler opportunity for Ameri ca to be represented at the exposition. Not since the drat 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 Japas| during this half century Is somethin# unparalleled In all previous lilstorvj' I take this opportunity publicly t^ state my appreciation of the way lit which in Japan. In Australia. In New Zealand, and In all the states of Boutl^ America, the battle fleet has been re* reived 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. Tha Army. As regards the army I call attention to the fact that while our junior ofll! cere and enlisted men stand very high, the present system of promotion by seniority results In bringing Into this higher grades many men of medlocry capacity who have but a short tima to serve. No man should regard It as hlis vested right to rise to the highest rank In the army any more than In any other profession. It Is a curloua and by no mentis 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 be given to the most deserving men without regard to seniority; st 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 ns 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 offlrers In the highest ranks of the army are those wtio have attained their present posi tion wholly or In part by a process of select Ion. The scope of retiring boards should he 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 |n the elimination of officers for mental, physical or temperamental disabilities. Hot this plan is recommended only If the ( ongress does not see fit to provide what In my Judgment Is far better, that Is. for selection in promotion, and for elimination for age Officers who fall 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 lime he Is 4f. he should of course he placed ori the re tired list. General officer* should be selected ns at present, and one-third of the ottier promotions should be 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 hoard of officers froni tlie arm of the service from which the promotion Is to he made. A bill Is now before the congress having for it* 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. Tha bill, although not accomplishing all that should be done. Is a long step in the right direction; and 1 earnestly recommend its passage, or that o( a more completely effective measure. National Guard. Now that the organized militia, the National Guard, has been Incorporated with the army at a part of the national forces. It behooves the government to do every reasonable thing In its power to perfect Its efficiency. It should bo assisted In its Instruction end other wise aided more liberally than hereto fore. The continuous services of many well-trained regular officers will be essential in this connection, i 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 law levies Into good troops. The Navy. I approve the recommendations of the general board for the in crease of the navy, calling especial attention to the need of addi tional destroyers and colliers, and above all. of the four battleships. It is desir able to complete us soon as possible a squadron of eight battleships of the best existing type. I most earnestly recommend that the gcnernl 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 be treated as a purely mili tary organisation, 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 expect to get the best results from the higher officers. Our men come too old, and stay for too short a time, in the high command positions. Nothing better for the navy from every standpoint has ever occurred than the cruise of the battle fleet around the world. The Improvement of the ships In every way has been extraordinary, and they have gained far more experience In battle tactics than they would have gained if they had stayed In the Atlantic waters. The American people have cause for profound gratification, both In view of the excellent condition of the fleet as shown by this cruise, and in view of the improvement the cruise has worked In Hits 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 unlisted men is as high ns is now the case In our own. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. The White House, Tuesday, December *, M ,