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About The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 1904)
"SK--- i&mvtsnai im uFg-r.tMg(r) yrgzr?-' y' tl iti ft.: IK b. t :. ; i- - i -i ' 'i . t . ,"-" PRESIDENTS READ Document Deals Voluminously with Questions of State Tariff Left for Future Communication Position of the Government Toward Organized ' Labor Dealing with Illegal Combinations. Tresfdent Roosevelt's message to Ctocgress, read at the opening of the kort session of that body, deals vol uminously with questions of state. Tfce subject of tariff revision is left far a further communication. Sub stantially the message is as follows: To the Senate and House of Represen tatives: The nation continues to enjoy note worthv prosperity. Such prosperity" Is of course .primarily due to the high individ ual average of our citizenship, taken to Crther with our great natural resources; lit an imtwntant l!'-tor therein is the working of nr lor.s-coiitlnued sovcrn wtental policies The people have em phatically expressed their approval of the principles un rlylm; these policies, and heir ili-sIr'- that thes" principles he kept ubsUintially unchansi-d. although of nwrse applied in a progressive spirit to :cet changing rorditio'is. Cauticn Against Extravagance. The inlargi merit of scope of the func tions of the national government re uiril liy our development as a nation involves, of course inciease of expense: nd the pcricd of prosperity through Vitich tin country is passing justifies ix jenditiirs fn- pcrt..anent improvements far Rre:itT than wf.uid le wise in hard imes. ISiiltle ships and forts. public fcuildings. anil improved waterways are investments which should ! made when me have the money; but abundant rev enues and a large surplus always invite xtravaganee. and constant care should e taken to guard against unnecessary increase of the ordinary expenses of gov ernment. Capital and Labor. In th vast and complicated mechanism T our modern civilized life the dominant aote is the t.ote of industrialism: and the relations of capital and labor, and espe cially of organized capital ai:d organized labor, to each other and to the public at ars? come second in Importance only to the intimate quest ions of family life. As long as the states retain the prim ary control of the police power the cir cumstances must be altogether extreme which require interference by the federal authorities, whether in the way of safe guarding the lights of labor or in the av of seeing that wrong is not done by nruly persons wbo shield themselves be tilnd the name of labor. If there is re sistance, to the l'i deral courts, interfer ence wltli thff ma IN. or interstate com anerce, or molestation of federal property, r If the state 'authorities in some crisis which they are unable to face call for lielp. then the federal goernriicnt may interfere; but thoech uch interference nay be caused by :t cu'ditlon of things arising out of trorble oonriected with ome question of labor. tfie interference itself simply takes the form of restoring Tiler without regard to (he .questions which have caused the Lre-ich of order tar to keep ortler is a p-!m:iry duty and in a time of ili-ouKr and iolenco all oth r ijiii-stions sii:k into abeyance until or der has N-cn restored. In the District f Columbia and ii the territories the federal law covcr-s the entire In Id of gov ernment: but the labor uueiion i only acute in populous -n-is of c.ciitnerce. manufactures, or ir.iri'iig. Nevertheless. Iioth in the enactment aril in the en forcement of law the fed ra! go"ernment within its restricted s.h'-:e should set an xampl6 to the state go-, ernrm-nt.. espe cially in a ttriiter .-- ir 1 as this afTcct tng I-ibor. 1 If'ie.e ilat uaJer modern niiustrial coiulitior.3 it l.s o'Un necisxury. and even where not necssary. it is yet often wine, that there shcuStl be oig-.in-Ization of lab'ir in older better to secure the rights of the irdivi.lual wage-worker. All encour-agcrrert sl.i.uM be siwn to any such organization, so lfa as It is con ducted with a I'.tie and cYcetit regard for he rights of others. There are in this coontry sonic l.ibor union:; which have abitfinlly. and oilier !:.lnr unions which lave often, been among the most effec tive agents in working for good citizen ship and for uplifting the condition of those Y."hoc wi Ifare should be closest to ur hearts. Kitt wl:et any labor union eeks Improper ends, or seeks to achieve proper cads by improper means, all good citizens and more especially all honorable public servants must oppose the wrong doing as rcroUitely as they would oppose the wrongdoing of any srreat corporation. tf course biiv violence, brutality, or cor ruption. sloi'd net for one moment be tolerated. M:ige-worl.e".s have an entire eight to organize and h all peaceful and tionorable means to endeavor to persuade heir fellows to join with them in organ isations They have a legal right, which, according to citct instances, may or may cot li a moral risht. to refuse to work in company with men who decline to join their oianiuizations. They have under no circumstances the ri.;ht to commit vio lence upor. those, uiieliior c:ipitalists or wage-v.-o:iors. who refu.-e to support their orgRnisatienr. or who ride with th'we witii v.hori ;I:ey are at odds; for ar.oT rule is inlolei-ilile in any form. The amendment Rnd BtrenstheninR f the employers" liability law is rec mmended. and the passage of a law rcquiriup; the adoption jf a block sig nal system, to prevent railroad acci dents urged. Unions of Government Employes. j The message continues: There is r.o objection to employes of the government forming or belonging to anions; but the government can neither discs iminate for nor discriminate against aon-vr-!on men who ate in its employ r.:en'. or who setk to Le employed under it. Moreover, it is a very grave impro priety fr government employes to band hrmsetie? together for the purpose of extorti-ig impiopor'y high salaries from the government. Ksneolally is this true el these within the classified service. The 'letter carriers, both municipal an! rural, are as a whole an excellent biniy of pub lic servants. They should be amply paid. tut tl.eir payment must be obtained by aixu:ng their claims faiily and honorably rfoie the Congress. a"d not by Landing together for the defeat of those ongress aaen who refuse to give promises which at.ey can not in conscience give. The Administration hrs already taken steps prevent and punish abuses of this na ture: but it w.ll W wise for the Congress o supplement this action b;. legi-Uition. Currsu of Labcr. BTuch citr e done ly the government a labor r.iatttrs mettly by giving pub rlty to certain cor.diti-ns. The buresu mi Ialor has done cxei-llent wotk of this linJ in mr.r.y different d'rectloas. I sliall shortly lay Jvefcre yoj in a specbtl mes ase the full report C the investigation af the bureau t iab-;r iito the Colorado anining strike, r.s this :s a strike in which 'trrfain very evil tor-.. which are more mv less at work -v,eiywliere under the . eandltlons of . moo-: u industrialism, be came startlingly prominent. Ccrporsticns. nncn we roinc to ileal with great cor anrations hc ru--I for the government to art directly is far greater than in the ease of labor. cc.v.:s-- great colorations mxa become such only by engaging in in terstate commerc. and Interstate com- aaerce Is peculiarly the field of the gen erat eovmmen. It is an absurdity to ex pct to eliminate the shades in great cor Varations by state action. It is difficult to patient with an argument that such tatters should be left to the states, be- more than one state pursues the of creating on easy terms corpora- whM: tmi r?cvt ??2--.ed -v ithin that state at all. but in other states araose laws they ignore. The national Cerernmcnt alone can deal adequately . arMTi these great corporations. To try to dteal with them in an intemperate, de atmctive. or demagogic spirit would, in , afl probability, mean that nothing what erer would b accomplished, and. with aavelute certainty, that if anything were accomplished it would be of a harmful alaii The American people need to esallimr to show the very qualities that aaey have shown that is. moderation. 9sai sense, the earnest desire to avoid satar, any damage, and yet the quiet de tnatnation to proceed, step by step. ajttkeut halt and without hurry, in elim MESSAGE TO CONGRESS inating or at least in minimizing what ever or mischief or of evil there is to in terstate commerce in the conduct of great corporations. They are acting In no spirit of hostility to wealth, cither In dividual or corporate. They are not against the rich man any more than against the poor man. On the contrary, they are friendly alike toward rich man and toward poor man. provided only that each acts in a spirit of justice and de cency toward his fellows. Great corpora tions are necessary, and only men of great and singular mental power can manage such corporations successfully, and such man must have great rewards. Hut these corporations should be man aged with due rcpanl to the Interest of the public as a whole. Where this can be done under the present laws it must be done. Where these laws come short others should be enacted to supplement them. The bureau of corporations has made careful preliminary investigation of many important corporations. It will make a special report on the beef industry. Bureau of Corporations. The policy of the bureau is to accom plish the purposes of its creation by co operation, not antagonism; by making constructive legislation, not destructive prosecution, the immediate object of its inquiries; by conservative investigation of law and fact, and by refusal to issue incomplete and hence necessarily inaccu rate reports. Its policy being thus one of open inquiry into, and not attack up on, business, the bureau has been able to gain not only the confidence, but. better still, the co-operation of men engaged in legitimate business. The bureau offers to the Congress the means of getting at the cost of produc tion of our various great staples of com merce. Rebates. Above all else, we must strive to keep the highway. of commerce open to all on equal terms: and to do this it Is nec essary to put a complete stop to all re bates. Whether the shipper or the rail road Is to blame makes no difference: the relate must be stopped, the abuses of the private car and private terminal track and side-track systems must be stopped, and the legislation of the Fifty eighth Congress which declares it to be unlawful for any person or corporation to offer, grant, give, solicit, accept, or re ceive any rebate, concession, or discrim ination in respect of the transportation of any property in interstate or foreign commerce whereby such property shall by any device whatever be transported at a less rate, than that named in the tariffs published by the carrier must be enforced. While I am of the opinion that at present it would be undesirable, if it were not impracticable, linally to CiOthe the Interstate. Commerce Commission with general authority to fix railroad rates. I do not believe that, as a lair se curity to shippers, the Commission should be vested with the power, where a given rate has been challenged and after full healing found to be unreasonable, to de cide, subject to judicial review, what shall In a reasonable Kite to take its place; the ruling of the commission to take effect immediately, and to obiain unless and until it is reversed by the court of review. In my judgment the most Important legislative act now need iii as regards the regulation of corpora tions is this act to confer on the Inter state Commerce Commission the power to revise rale.s and legulations. the re vised rate to a: once go into effect, and to stay in effect unless and until the court of review reveises it. Much space is here devoted to a consideration of the problem of the proper housing of the poor in our great cities, and the importance of a proper solution of the question shown. On this subject the message says: There should be severe child-labeir and factory-inspection laws. It is very desir able that married women should not - -ork in factories. The prime duty of the man is to work, to be the breadwinner; the prime duty of the woman is to be the mother, the housewife. All questions of tariff- and finance sink into utter insig nificance when comiurcil with the tre mendous, the vital importance of trying to shape conditions so that those two duties of tlie man and of the woman can 10 fulfilled under reasonably favorable circumstances. If a nice does not have plenty of children, or if the children do not grow up. or if when they grow up they are unhealthy In body and stunted or vicious in mind, thru Hint race is de cadent, and no heaping up of wealth, no splendor of momentary material prosper ity, can avail in any degree as offsets. Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture has grown into an educational institution with a faculty of two thousand special ists making research into all the sciences of production. The Congress appropri ates, directly and indirectly, six millions of dollars annually to carry on this work. It reaches every state and territory in the Union and the islands of the sea late ly come under our Hag. Co-operation Is had with the state experiment stations, and with many other Institutions and in dividuals. The world is carefully search ed for new varieties of grains, fruits, grasses, vegetables, trees, and shrubs, suitable to various localities in our coun try: and marked benelit to our producers has resulted. Irrigation. During the two and a half years that have elapsed since the passage of the reclamation act rapid progress has been made in the surveys and examinations of the opportunities for reclamation, irj the thirteen states and three territories of the arid West. Construction has already been begun on the largest and most im portant of the irrigation works, and plans are being completed for works which will utilize the funds now available. The reclamation act has been found to be re markably complete and effective, and so broad in its provisions that a wide range of undertakings has been possible under it. At the same time, economy is guar anteed by the fact that the funds must ultimately be returned to be used over again. Forests. It is the cardinal principle of the forest-reserve policy of this Administration that the reserves are for use. What ever interferes with the use. of their re sourcs is to be avoided by every possible means. But these resources must be used in such a way as to make them perma nent. Although the wisdom of creating for est reserves is nearly everywhere heart ily recognized, yet in a few localities there has been misunderstanding and complaint. The following statement is therefore desirable: The forest-teserve policy can be suc cessful only when it has the full support of the peoplj of the West. It can not safely, and shculd not in any case, be im posed upon them against their wpl. But neither can we accept the views of those whose only interest in the forest is tem porary: who are anxious to reap what they have not sown and then move away, leaving desolation behind them. The making of forest reserves within railroad and wagon-road land-grant lim its will hereafter, as for the past three years, be so managed as to prevent the issue, undir the act of June 4. 1SS7. of base for cxciiange or lieu selection (usu ally called scrip). In all eases w-her j forest reserves within areas covered In land grants appear to be essential to the prosperity of settlers, miners, or oth ers, the government lands within such proposed forest reserves will, as in the recent past, be withdrawn from sale or entry pending the completion of such negotiations with the owners of the land grants as will prevent the creation of so called scrip. Establishment of game reserves wherein may be preserved specimens cf our wild animals which are now rapidly tending toward extinction is urged. Pensions. The veterans of the civil war have a claim upon the nation such as no other body of our citizens possess. The pen sion bureau has never In Its history been managed in a more satisfactory manner than Is now the case Indians. The progress of the Indians toward civ ilization, though not lapid. is perhaps all that could te hoped for In view of the circumstances. It is commonly declared that the slow advance of the Indians is due to the unsatisfactory character of the men appointed to take Immediate charge of them, and to some extent this is true. While the standard of the em ployes in the Indian service shows great improvement over that of bygone years, and while actual corruption or flagrant dishonesty is now the rare exception. It is nevertheless the fact that the salaries paid Indian agents are not large enough to attract the best men to that field of work. To achieve satisfactory results the official in charge of an Indian tribe should possess the high qualifications which arc required in the manager of a large business, but only In exceptional cases is it possible to secure men of such a type for these positions. Postal Service. In the Postoffice Department the serv ive has increased In efficiency, and con ditions as to revenue and expenditure continue satisfactory. The Increase of revenue during the year was S9.358.181.10. or 5.9 per cent, the total receipts amount ing to S143.3S2.G24.C4. The expenditures were $152,362,116.70. an Increase of about 9 per cent over the previous year, being thui SS.979.4W.36 In excess of the cur rent revenue. Included in these expendi tures was a total appropriation of $12. 9.")6.637.35 for the continuation and exten sion of the rural freu delivery service, which was an increase of $4,902,237.33 over the amount cxpended for this pur pose in the preceding fiscal year. I-argo as this expenditure has been the benefi cent results attained in extending the free distribution of mails to the residents of rural districts have justified the wis dom of the outlay. Statistics brought down to the 1st of October. 1904. show that on that date there were 27,138 rural routes established, serving approximately 12.000.000 of people in rural districts re mote from postofllces. and that there were pending at that time 3.Sr.9 petitions for the establishment of new rural routes. I'liquestlonably some part of the general increase in receipts is due to the In creased postal facilities which the rural service has afforded. The revenues have also been aided greatly by amendments in the classification of mail- matter, and the curtailment of abuses of the second class mailing privilege. The average in crease in the volume of mail matter for the period beginning with 1902 and end ing June. 190.1 (that portion for 1903 be ing estimated), is 40.47 per cent, as com pared with 25.46 per cent for the period immediately preceding, and 15.92 for the four-year period immediately preceding that." The message here points out the need for improvement in our consular system, advises the creation of a na tional art gallery and suggests the enactment of a national quarantine law. Extravagance in Printing. I call your attention to the great ex travagance in printing and binding gov ernment publications, anil especially to the fact that altogether too many of these publications are printed. There is a constant tendency to increase their number and their volume. It is an un derstatement to say that no appreciable harm would be caused by. and substan tial lienetit would accrue from, decreas ing tlie amount of printing now, done by at least one-half. Laws Concerning Citizenship. Xot only are the laws relating to nat uralization now defective, but those re lating to citizenship of tlie United States ought also to be made the subject of scientific inquiry with a view to prob able further legislation. By what acts expatriation may be assumed to have been accomplished, how long an Amer ican citizen may reside abroad and re ceive the protection of our passport, whether any degree of protection should be extended to one who has made the declar.it ion of intention to bcromc a citi zen of the Vniteil States but has not se emed naturalization, arc questions of serious import, involving personal rights and otten producing friction between this government and foreign governments. Yet upon these questions our laws are silent. I recommend that an examination be made into the subjects of citizenship, expatriation, and prole'ctlon of Ameri cans abroad, with a view to appropriate legislation. Currency. The attention of tlie Congress should be especially given to the currency ques tion, and that the standing committees on the matter in the two houses charged with the duty, take up the matter of our currency and see whether it is not pos sible to secure an agreement in the busi ness world for bettering the system: the committees should consider the question of the retirement of tlie greenbacks and the problem of securing in our currency such elasticity as is consistent with safe ty. Kvery silver dollar should be made by law redeemable irr gold at the option of tlie holder. Merchant Marine. I especially commend to your immedi ate attention the encouragement of our merchant marine by appropriate legisla tion. Tariff. On tlie tariff I shall communicate with you later. Immigration and Naturalization. In ib-aling with tlie questions of immi gration and naturalization it is indis pensable to keep certain facts ever be fore the minds of those who share in en acting tlie laws. First and foremost, let us remember that the question of being a good American has nothing whatever to do with a man's birthplace any more than it has to do with his creed. In every generation from the time this gov ernment was founded men of foreign birth have stood in the very foremost rank of good citizenship, and that not merely in one but in every field of Amer ican activity: while to try to draw a dis tinction between tlie man whose parents came to this country and the man whose ancestors came to it several generations back is a mere absurdity. Good Ameri canism is a matter of heart, of consci ence, of lofty aspiration, of sound com mon sense, but not of birthplace or of creed. There is no danger of having too many immigrants of the right kind. But the citizenship of this country should not be debased. It is vital that we should keep high the standard of well-being among our wage-workers, and therefore we should not admit masses of men whose standards of living and whose personal customs and habits arc such that they tend to lower the level of the American wage-worker: and above all we should not admit any man of an unworthy type, any man concerning whom we can say that he will himself be a bad citizen, or that his children and grandchildrem will detract from instead of adding to the sum of the good citizenship of the coun try. Similarly we should take the great est care about naturalization. Under the Constitution it is In the power of the Congress "to establish a uniform rule of naturalization." and numerous laws have from time to time been t enacted for that purpose, which have been supplemented in a few states by state laws having special application. There should be a comprehensive revision of the naturalization laws. The courts having power to naturalize should be definitely named by national authority; the testimony upon which naturalization may be conferred should be definitely pre scribed: publication of impending natural ization applications should be required in advance of their hearing in court: the form and wording of all certificates issued should be uniform throughout the coun try, and the courts should be required to make returns to the Secretary of State at stated periods of all naturalizations conferred. Protection of Elections. The power of the government to pro tect the integrity of the elections of Its own officials is inherent and has been recognized and affirmed by repeated dec larations of the Supreme court. There Is no enemy of free government more dangerous and none so insidious as the corruption of th electorate. No one de fends or excuses corruption, and it would seem to follow that none would oppose vigorous mcasuts to eradicate it. I recommend the enactment of a law di rected against bribery and corruption in Federal elections. The details of such a law may be safely left to the wise discre tion of the Congress, but it should go as far as under the Constitution it is possible to go. and should include severe penalties against him who gives or re ceives a bribe intended to influence his act or opinion as an elector: and provi sions for the publication not only of the expenditures for nominations and elec tions of all candidates but also of all contributions received and expenditures i made by political committees. Delays in Criminal Prosecutions. No subject is better worthy the atten tion of the Congress than that portion of the report of the Attorney-General deal ing with the long delays and the great obstruction to justice experienced in the cases of Beavers. Green and Gaynor. and Benson. Were these isolated and special cases. I should not call your attention to them: but the difficulties encountered as regards these men who have been indict ed for criminal practices are not excep tional; they are precisely similar in kind to what occurs again and again in the case of criminal! who have sufficient means to enable them to tako advantage of a system of procedure which has grown up in the Federal courts and which amounts in effect to making the law easy of enforcement against the man who has no money, and difficult of en forcement, even to the point' of some times securing immunity, as regards tne man who has money. In criminal cases the writ of the United States should run throughout its borders. The wheels of justice should not be clogged, as they have been clogged in the cases above mentioned, where it has proved absolute ly impossible to bring the accused to the place appointed by the Constitution for his trial: At present the Interests of the Inno cent man are amply safeguarded: but the interests of the government, that is. the interests of honest administration, that is the Interests of the people, are not recognized as they should be. No subject better warrants the attention of the Congress. Indeed, no subject betbsr warrants the attention of the bench and the bar throughout the United States. Many suggestions for the Improve ment of conditions in Alaska are made, among others the admission of a delegate from that territory to con gress. Hawaii and Porto Rico. The AIaskan natives should be given tlie right to acquire, hold, and dispose of property upon the same conditions as given other inhabitants: and the privilege of citizenship should be given to such us may be able to meet certain definite re quirements. In Hawaii Congress should give the governor power to remove all the officials appointed Aii'der him. The harbor of Honolulu should be dredged. The marine-hospital service should be empowered to study leprosy in the is lands. I ask special consideration for the report and recommendations of tlie governor of Porto Rico. Foreign Policy. In treating of our foreign policy and of the attitude that this great nation should assume in the world at large, it is abso lutely necessary to consider the army and the navy, and the Congress, through which the thought of the nation finds its expression, should keep ever vividly in mind the fundamental fact that it is Impossible to treat our foreign policy, whether this policy takes shape In the effort to secura justice for others or jus tice for ourselves, save as conditioned upon the attitude wc are willing to take toward our army, and especially toward our navy. It is not merely unwise, it is contemptible, for a nation, as for an in dividual, to use high-sounding language to proclaim its purposes, or to tako po sitions which are ridiculous if unsupport ed by potential force, and then to refuse to provide this force. If there is no in tention of providing and of keeping tlie force necessary to back up a strong atti tude, then it is far better not to assume sueh an attitude. The steady aim of this nation, as of all enlightened nations, should be to strive to bring ever nearer the day when there shall prevail throughout the world the peace of justice. There are kinds of peace which are highly undesirable, which are 'in the long run as destructive as any war. Tyrants and oppressors have many times made a wilderness and called it peace. The peace of tyrannous terror, the peace of craven weakness, the peace of injustice, ail these should be shunned as we shun unrighteous war. The goal to set before us as a nation, the go:;l which should be set' before all mankind, is the attainment of the peace of jus tice, of the peace which comes when each nation is, not merely safe-guarded in its own rights, but scrupulously re-cognizes and performs its duty toward others. There is as yet no judicial way of en forcing a right in international Saw. When one nation wrong another or wrongs many others, there is no trib'i nal before which the wrongdoer can he brought. Either it is necessary supinely to acquiesce in tlie wrong, and thus put a premium upon brutality and aggres sion, or else it is necessary for the ag grieved nation valiantly to stand up for its rights. Until some method is devised by which there shall be a degree, of in ternational control over offending na tions, it would be a wicked thing for the most civilized powers, for those with most sense of international obligations and with keenest and most generous ap preciation of the difference between right and wrong, to disarm. If the great civ ilized nations of the present day should completely disarm, tlie result would mean an immediate recrudescence of barbar ism in one form or another. Arbitration Treaties. We arc in every way endeavoring to help on. with cordial good will, every movement which will tend to bring us into more friendly relations with the rest of mankind. In pursuance of this policy I shall shortly lay before the Senate treaties of arbitration with all powers which are willing to enter into these treaties with us. Furthermore, at the request of the Interparliamentary Union, an eminent body composed of practical statesmen from all countries. I have asked the Powers to join with thN gov ernment in a second Hague conference. at which it is hoped that the work al ready so happily begun at The Hague may be carried some steps further to ward completion. This carries out the desire expre-ssed by the first Hague con ference itself. Policy on Western Hemisphere. It is not true that the United States feels any land hunger or entertains any projects as regards the other nations of the western hemisphere save such as are for their welfare. All that this coun try desires is to see tlie neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct them selves well can count upon our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable effi ciency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear nD interference from the United States. Chronic wrong doing, or an impotence which result. in a general loosening of the ties of civil ized society, may in America, as else where, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and in tlie western hemisphere the adherents of the United States to the Monroe doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an inter national police power. Our interests and those of our south ern neighbors are in reality identical. They have great natural riches, and if within their borders the reign of law and justice obtains, prosperity is sure to come to them. While they thus obey the pri mary laws of civilized society they may rest assured that they will be treated by us in a spirit of cordial and helpful sym pathy. We would interfere with them only in the last resort, and then only if it became evident that their inabii.ty or unwillingness to do justice at home and abroad had violated tlie lights of the United States or had I:tvitc-d foreign aggression to the detriment of the en tire body of American nations. In asserting the Monroe doctrine, in taking such steps as we have taken in regard to Cuba. Venezuela. anJ Panama, and in endeavoring to circumscribe tlie theater of war in the far Kast. and to secure the open door in China, we have acted in our own interest as well as in the interest of humanity at large. There are. however, cases in which, while our own interests arc not greatly involved, strong appeal is made to our sympathies. There are occasional crimes committed on so vast a scale and of such peculiar horror as to make us doubt whether it is not our manifest duty to endeavor at least to show our disapproval of the deed and our sympathy with those who have suffered by It. The cases must be ex treme in which such a course is justi fiable. But In extreme cases action may be justifiable and proper. What form the action shall take must depend upon the circumstances of the case; that is. upon the degree of the atrocity and upon our power to remedy It. The cases in which we could interfere by force of arms as we interfered to put a stop to intolerable conditions in Cuba are neces sarily very few. Yet It is not to be ex pected that a people like ours, which in spite of certain very obvious shortcom ings, nevertheless as a whole shows by its. consistent practice its belief in tlie principles of civil and religious liberty and of orderly freedom, a people among whom even the worst ciime. like the crime of lynching, is never more than sporadic, so that individuals and not classes are molested In their fundamental lights it is inevitable that such a na tion should desire eagerly to give ex pression to its horror on an occasion like that of the massacre of the Jews m Kishenef. or'when it witnesses such sys tematic and long-extended' cruelty and oppression as the cruelty and oppression of which the Armenians have been the victims, and which have won for them the indignant pity of the civilized world. Rights of American Citizens Abroad. Even where it is not possible to se cure in other nations the observance of the principles which we accept us ax iomatic. It Is necessary for us firmly to insist uron the rights of our own citi zens without regard to their creed or race: without regard to whether they were born here or born abroad. The Navy. The strong arm of the government In enforcing respect for its just rights In international matters is the navy of the United States I most earnestly recom mend that there be no halt in th work of upbutlding the American navy. There is no more patriotic duty before us as a people than to keep the navy adequate to the needs of this country's position. We have undertaken to build the Isth mian canal. We have undertaken to se cure for ourselves our just share in the trade of the Orient. We have under taken to protect our citizens from im proper treatment in foreign lands. We continue steat'ily to insist on the appli cation of the Monroe doctrine to the western hemisphere. Unless our attitude in these and all similar mutters is to be a mere boastful sham we can not afford to abandon our iraval programme. Our voice is now potent for peace, and is so potent because we are not afraid of war. But our protestations upon behalf of peace would neither receive nor deserve the slightest attention If we were im potent to make them good. The Army. Within the last three years the United States has set an example in disarma ment where disarmament was proper. By law our nrmy is fixed at a maximum of one hundred thousand and a minimum of sixty thousand men. When there was insurrection in the Philippines we kept the army at the maximum. Peace came in the Philippines, and now our army has been reduced to the minimum at which it is possible to keep it with due regard to its efficiency. The guns now mounted require twenty-eight thousand men. if the coast fortification.? are to be adequately manned. Relatively to the nation, it is not now so large as the po lice force of New York or Chicago rela tively to the population of cither city. We need more officer-:; there are not enough to perform the regular army work. It is very important that the offi cers t.f the army should be accustomed to handle their men in masses, as it is also important that the national guard of the several states should be accus tomed to actual field maneuvering, espe cially in connection with the regulars. For this reason we are to be cougratu lated upon the success of the field ma ennvers at Manassas last fall, maneuvers in which a larger number of regulars anil national ' guard took patt than was ever before assembled together in time of peace. No other civilised ration has. relatively tc its population, such a di minutive army as ours; and while the army is so small we are not to be ex cused if we fail to keep it at a e:y high grade of proficiency. Great progress has been made in pro tecting our coasts by adequate fortifi cations with sufficient guns. We should, however, pay much more heed than at present to the development of an exten sive system of floating mines for use in all our more important iiarbon;. These mines have bsr proved to be a most for midable safeguard against' hostile fleets. The Philippines. In the Philippine islands theie has 1 en during tins ptst year a continuation of tli steady progress which lias ob tained ever since our troops definitely got the up,;er hand of tiro insurgents. The Pliilinpine people, or, to' speak more accurately, the many tribes', and even races, sundeied from one another more or less sharply, who go to make up the people of the Philippine islands, contain many elements of -iood. and some ele ments which v.-c have a right to hope s'and for progress. At present they arc utterly incapable of existing in hide- per.dence all or of building u,; n civ ilization o: their own. I firmly believe thPt we i.v.n hr-'p them to rise higher and higher in the scale of ci ilizatiou and of eapafity for self-government. ii.d I n'.'-t earnestly hope that in the ir.d they will be able to --tai.il. if not entirely alone, yet in some si'ch relation to tlie United States as Cuba now stands. This end is not yet in iiglit. and It may bo in definitely postponed if our people aie foolish chough to turn the attention of t'.ie Filipinos away from the pioblems of achieving moral and material prosperity, e.f woiking for a stable, orderly, and just Government, and toward foolish and dan gerous intrigues for a complete independ ence for which they are as yet totally unfit. On the other hand our people must keep steadily before their minus the fact that the justification for our stay in the Philippines must ultimately rest chiefly upon the good we are able to tio in the islands. I do not overlook the fact that in the development of our inter esid in the Pacific c.:.-in and along Its coasts, the Philippine: 1i?hj prayed and will play an important part, and that our interests have been served in more than one way by the possession of the islands. But our chief reason for continuing; to hold them must be thrt v. onghj in good faith to try to do our chare of the world's work, and this particular rb'ee of work lias been imposed upen us by the results of the war with Ppuin. The problem presented to us in the Philip pine islands is akin to. but 'irt exactly like. th problems presented to the other great civilized powers which have pos sessions in the Orient. More distinctly than any of the powers we are endav oring to develop the natives themselves so that they shall take an ever-increasing share in their own government, and as far as s prudent we are already ad mitting their representatives to a gov ernmental eu'ia'ity with our own. There ate commissi;:-..! s. judges, and governors in the islands '.vi.o are Filipinos and who have exactly the same share in the gov ernment of th i'-land:; as have their col leagues wlo a-e Americans, while in tlie lower ranks, of course, the great major ity of the fjublic servants are Filipinos. Within t-e a9 r.-e shall be tryins he experiment of an elective lower house in tire I'hilipi.ine legislature. Meanwhile our own peoolc should re member that there Is need for the high est standard of conduct among the Amer icans 'e:it to the Philippine islands, not only among the pubiic servants but among the private individuals who go to them. U is because I feel this so deeply that in the administration of these islands I have positively refused to per mit any discrimination whatsoever for political reasons and have insisted that in choosing tlie public servants consid eration should be paid solely to the. worth of the men chosen and to the needs of the islands. There is no high er body of men in our public service than we have in the Philippine islands under Gov. Wright and his associates. So far a.: possible these men should be given a free hand, and their suggestions should receive the hearty backing both of the Executive and of the Congress. There is need of a vigilant and disinter ested support of our public servants in the Philippines by good citizens here in the United Slates. Unfortunately hither to thoe "of our people here at home who have specially claimed to be the cham pions of the Filipinos have in reality been their worst enemies. This will continue to be the case as long as they strive to make tlie Filipinos independent, and stop all industrial development of the Islands by crying out against the laws which would bring it on the ground that capitalists must not "exploit" the islands. Such proceedings are not only unwise, but are most harmful to the Fil ipinos, who do not nceo independence at all. but who do reed good laws, good public servants, anu ine ::mu.iri;u uc- i velopment that car. only come if the in vestment of American ami foreign capital ' in the islands is favored In :11 legitimate ways. Every measure taken concerning the islands should be taken primarily with a view to their advantage. We should cer tainly give them lower tariff rates on their exports to the- United States; if this is not done it w'll be a wrong to j extend our shipping laws to tnem. I earnestly hope for the i mured bite enact ment into law of the legislation now pending to encourage American capital to seek investment in the islands in rail roads, in factories, in plantations, and In lumbering and mining. THEODORE ROOSEVELT. The White House. Dec. 5. 190t. Dolphin in Eastern River. Mr. Otis O. Story and Capt. Bum ham captured a small dolphin in the river at Essex, Mass.. recently which measured 6 feet G inches. It is pre sumed that it got into the rhei by runrinr after the herrinp Sth fur food. Consider the Lilies. The lii'cs of the field, whose bloom Is brief We are as they: Like them we fade away; 4s doth a leaf. Consider. The sparrows oi the air. of small ac count. Our Cod doth view. Whether they fall or mount He .guards us. too. Consider. The lilies that do neither spin nor toil Yet are most .fair What profit all this care And all this toil? Consider. The birds that have no barn nor har vest weeks, God gives1 them food Much more our Father seeks To do us good. Consider. Christina Rossettl. A Weighing Contest. , Here is a jolly kind of entertainment for you boys and girls to make use of the next time you give a party. It will please your little guests ever so much Get two sets of scales, one to weigh large articles and one for the smaller things, i-or some of the tiny objects suggested be!ov it will perhaps be bet ter to buy a cheap pair at a toy shop. Having arranged for the weighing, se lect a number of articles to be weighed. Have these as unlike and deceptive as possible, so that there really will be great difficulty in decid ing. For instance, the following list: A man's hat and a book. A pair of scissors and a bunch of keys. A boot and a pasteboard box (con taining, say, a stone or something very heavy). A large book and a pasteboard box (this one empty). A watch and a bottle of ink. A pen nib and a feather. A pin and a little piece of paper. An envelope and a postcard. A one-cent piece and a bow or rib bon. A doll and a shoe. A newspaper and a package of tacks. A rubber ball and a sponge. Arrange the articles beforehand, and let each boy and girl write down on a slip of paper which of the two articles in each lot they think is the heavier. Tlie competitor hands the list, signed, of course, to the judge. Then com mences the weighing. A prize should be given to the one guessing the greatest number correct ly. A Dainty Handkerchief Apron. Have any of our readers ever seen the pretty aprons made of handker chiefs? It is a gift that will delight & your friends. To make this pretty and useful gift two embroidered handker chiefs, or two gentleman's initial silk handkerchiefs, one yard of hamhurg insertion, three yards of one-inch rib bon, four yards of baby ribbon and three yards of Valenciennes lace are required. Cut one of the handkerchiefs into four parts diagonally and join to the ! other with the Valenciennes insertion. The outside edge is then shaped to give the rounded effect, edged with Valenciennes insertion run with baby ribbon and Valenciennes lace. The belt is made of inch-wide insertion laced with baby ribbon an inch wide and leaving enough of the ribbon at either end for ties. The accompany ing illustration will be of great bene fit to you in making this apron. A Little Window-Garden. Here is something children can grow in their own windows: Get some raw peanuts and plant in a pot of good earth. They will sprout, and very soon a pretty leaved vine will be running over the top of the pot. Tho saucer garden is a daintv thing. Put in the middle of a saucer a single pine cone, and place moss about it. Sprinkle the cone with mus tard seed, and then keep the whole very moist. The seeds will sprout, and soon the tiny plants will be cov ered with tiny yellow flowers. Canary seed and fine grass may also be plant ed. national Magazine. Christmas Day Games For the children are as necessary as a plum pudding, and they are welcome to many grownups. SANTA CLAUS PACK: All form in. line and march to a lively strain on the piano to the next room, where a table Tiolds the contents of Santa Claus' pack. They look at every ob ject on the table and then march back. The company now divides in half, one-half leaving the room, the table and its contents having been coveted. Those remaining choose some object, which they remember seeing, the piano begins to play again. and the others ietum. The leader gives to the returning party a word which rhymes with the object chosen. Thus, if it was a ball, he might men tion the word "hall." The returning party now proceed to guess what object has been chosen, and they express their guess by acting In pantomime. They do not all sug gest the object in the same way. but each according to his individual fancy: but they must all agree upon the object they will guess. If wrong they go out for another trial, and so ou until guessed, when the other half of the company goes out and they re main and select the object for the others to guess. HIDING THE MISTLETOE: All form in line, single file, and march about the room or several rooms until the music stops. They then proceed j to hunt the mistletoe, which the lead er carried in his hand and concealed somewhere during the march. The finder must effect a return to the starting point without being touched by the leader. SANTA CLAUS' SLEIGH: Six girls are harnessed to a little sleigh or sled, and the white ribbon reins are held bj a seventh. The sled is filled with small parcels in colored papcre con taining Christmas crackers or any trifles as favors. The party goes round the room several times, dis pensing the favors to the young men. snfin.a-n.tittn: v: ft. nvQ-. i ; u. rn r i who proceed to select partners and uance until a signal from the leader calls all to march around the room and back to their places. Left and Right Hands. You know that your eye sees objects upside-down, the head being down ward, as it were, and the impression being reversed in the brain. This ap pears strange, doesnt' it? But it is not more so than what follows. Take a soft pencil in your right hand and write a word upon your forehead; then look in a mirror to see what you have produced. You' know that when writing is reflected in a mirror the characters read backward in the reflection. If you wonder why your playmates laugh when they see what you have written, look at yourself in the mirror. You will find the word reflected so that the letters are produced toward the right, when they should read to the left, so it will be backward upon your forehead. Now write upon a piece of paper and place this on your forehead: this time the writing, when reflected, will appear to be produced from right to left. Another amusing experiment con sists in taking a pencil in each hand ?.nd in trying to write or draw a de sign with both at the same time. The movements of the two hands must be simultaneous. The left hand will make exactly the same movements as the right, but in the opposite directions. You will then have two words or designs, but one will be just the reverse of the other. Laughter Games. The children of many nations have games that consist in saying or doing something funny while each ch:ld tries not to smile, giggle or laugh. The i Eskimos, the North American Indians, the Italians and the Germans all have a great variety of these laughter games. One of them, which is almost the same among the children of both the civilized and uncivilized nations, is as follows: One child stands in the middle of a ring formed by the others. In turn they step up to the one and pluck her by the chin, saying: "Aunty thick and thin I pluck you by the chin; If you se-e me laugh or smile 1 must take your place awhile." Now it seems easy enough to say these words without laughing or grin ning when you read about it. But it isn't a bit easy when you try it. Candle Trick. How would you arrange, with a room full of people, to place a candle in such a position that all hut one would see it. and that person must not bo blindfolded? Place the candle upon the head o! the person who is not to see it. Should there be a mirror in tlie room, and this one person should make use of it, he does not see the candle, but only its reflection. Fish and the Sixth Sense. It is stated that there are some indi cations that fishes possess a sixth sense, the organs of which are the pores of the head and of the latteral band. This band is a row of little canals connected with the external , world by holes through the scales. In tr.ese cavities, under which runs a large nerve, are found nerve heads or terminations like those of other sense organs. The use of this apparatus iK unknown. Jolly Blindfold Game. In "Parlor Blind .Man" I he leader is I blindfolded, while the other playurs ! stand or sit about the room. Tlie man 1 agcr of the game has told eai'li child what animal he is to represent for th" time being, and when he is touched by the blinded child he must imitate the noise made by that particular animal, repeating the r.oise three times if re nuested. From the noise thus made : the "blind man" must guess the for j tner's name. If successful, the child named takes the place of the blind i folded one, and so the game goes on. j For instance, ore child mews like a ; cat. another barks like a dog. still an- 1 other hisses like a goose, and so oft. World's Lawmaking Bodies. The name of the lawmaking bodies in the United States is the congress, in England, the parliament; in France, the assembly; in Germany, the reichstag; in Holland, the states general; in Spain, the cortes; in Greece, the boule, and in Denmark, the landsthing. How to Lift Oneself Up. No doubt you have often heard how impossible it is for a man to lift him self from the ground by pulling on the strap of his boots. Other thirds are supposed to be equally impossible. one of them being to lift one's self by i means of a rope and pulley. While this is perfectly true in the case of a straight pull, there is a very j simple way to do it which you may t easily prove to the astonishment of your friends. Throw a rope over the limb o a SANDOW'S WRIST AND Xo.U S.i 9o.. Many, even among otherwise very strong, people forget that "a chain is as strong as its weakest link." The il9m!; fincers and wrists are often overlooked in the desire for a big bi ceps only. Here are a series of movements spe cially directed to strengthen these parts: EXERCISE 1 Position: Fingers close together, thumb pressing against the side of the first fingernot in frcnt. Movement: Slowly widen out the fingers to their fullest extent all in one plane; pause momentarily, and re turn to the ready position, pressing the fingers tightly together. EXERCISE 2 Ready position Back of the hand upward, fingers together. thumb sligntiy apart.. . Movement: Reverse, brinsins the j tree, and in one end of the rope make a strong loop large enough to hold your foot. Now you are to pull your self up as the boy in the picture- is doing. You stand on the ground with your left foot in the loop of the rope' and pull your best on the other end of the rope. but. though you feel a good deal of strain on your foot in the loop you do not stir. Now you are doing, exactly what is done by the man who tries to lift himself over the fence by pulling on his bootstraps. By this time you are convinced that there is a trick to it. Indeed, there Lifting One's Self. is. but so simple a one. that you wilt have no trouble in performing it. Bear your weight on the rope in your hands and lift your legs, swinging them up ward from your hips. The result will be that your feet will go up about three feet from the ground, while tho rope in your hands will sink till your head is about on a level with your feet. Now climb up the rope, "hand over hand," till your head is above your feet and lift your feet as before, pull ing on the rope at the same time. You do rot easily pull yourself up this way. but it looks so to the spec tators. You climb up the rope hand over hand, and could do it just as well withpjut having your foot in the oop at afl, providing the rope was fastened to the limb. The Laughing Game. The laughing game is one of th jolliest. It requires no preparation whatever, but may be played by a roomful of boys and girls the moment it is suggested. Any number of play ers may take part in it. They first select a leader, who should bo a bright, alert, quick-witted boy. cap aide of preserving his self-possession while fun and laughter are going on all around him. The players seat themselves in a sir cle. and the leader takes his place in the center. Ho holds in his hand a white handkerchief, which he has knotted so as to make it partly solid. When everything is ready the leader tosses the handkerchief up in the air. :.nd theft every player must begin laughing. But they must all stop laughing by the time the handkerchief reaches the floor, and if any one does not stop and the leader catches hint either laughing or smiling he imposes a forfeit or a fine. Or. instead of mak ing the delected laugher pay a forfeit, he may be required to drop out of W-i circle. If played in this way the play ers drop out one after another, until only one is left, and that one wins the prize. The Paper Duel. Two boys are ptaced back to back' with balls made of soft paper in their hands. Two other boys are their sec onds, to pick up the balls. They walk away from each other about eight feet, turn around and throw the balls at each other until one is hit. The sec onds pick up the ball whenever they fall and replace the duelists. Toy Boat. If you will make a. toy boat from a sheet of celluloid, put in a deck of i cork, and above the cork an upper dock of blotting paper, and then satu rate tho edge of tho blotter at the j stern of the boat with ether, or some other volatile chemical, the boat win propel itself about in the water at a rapid rate. The motion ts dm to the turning of the liquid into a gas which pushes the boat. Care must be taken not to bring this boat near a flame, for both celluloid and ether easily catch fire. How Fishes Talk. Fishes undoubtedly communicate with their fellows. Even if they can not "talk." they have other means of communication that are better adapted to their needs, says St. Nich olas. Wo know how readily fishes recognize their mates, and how quick ly broo'ding fishes repel intruders of their own or other species. Some-. thing besides seeing thorn, perhap.s some sense of which we have no con- caption, may do thts. .Many fishes communicate with their fellows by m;;ans of sounds produced through the medium of their air-bladders, by. grinding their teeth together, and in various other ways. HAND EX ERCISES. 20.1. '.i palm of the hand slowly up, so that the palm is perfectly horizontal; re turn to ready position and repeat. EXERCISE 3 Ready position, as in Exercise 2. Movement: Work the hand slowly from side to side as far as possible. EXERCISE 4 Ready position: Fin gers flexed upon themselves (not up on the palm), as shown in sketch. Movement: (a) Extend fingers to full extent, keeping them together. Flex them rapidly again to ready po sition (b) as before, but extend fin gers to full extent, fanwise. separated from one another instead of extending them together. EXERCISE 5 Ready position: Fist clenched. Movement: Work fist slowly back ward and forward upon the forearm, grinding the muscles thoroughly Sltiillll - . .. W - - "'T JT' . . - W: - - . - fc.. -if . - - i. -----.iI . -j - . . - ' - - .1 - ' - : .-. ' .;; V-.-,;:;: " . j "- -'- . r ' ..--: - Ui ' I . "1 1 ; v - . ' oi . . : fi d .$.- ? fc j -