that the great corporations known as trusts are in certain of their
features and tendencies hurtful to the general welfare. This springs
from no spirit of envy or uncharitableness, nor lack of pride in the
great industrial achievements that have placed this country at the head
of the nations struggling for commercial supremacy. It does not rest
upon a lack of intelligent appreciation of the necessity of meeting
changing and changed conditions of trade with new methods, nor upon
ignorance of the fact that combination of capital in the effort to
accomplish great things is necessary when the world's progress demands
that great things be done. It is based upon sincere conviction that
combination and concentration should be, not prohibited, but supervised
and within reasonable limits controlled; and in my judgment this
conviction is right.

It is no limitation upon property rights or freedom of contract to
require that when men receive from Government the privilege of doing
business under corporate form, which frees them from individual
responsibility, and enables them to call into their enterprises the
capital of the public, they shall do so upon absolutely truthful
representations as to the value of the property in which the capital is
to be invested. Corporations engaged in interstate commerce should be
regulated if they are found to exercise a license working to the public
injury. It should be as much the aim of those who seek for social
betterment to rid the business world of crimes of cunning as to rid the
entire body politic of crimes of violence. Great corporations exist only
because they are created and safeguarded by our institutions; and it is
therefore our right and our duty to see that they work in harmony with
these institutions.

The first essential in determining how to deal with the great industrial
combinations is knowledge of the facts--publicity. In the interest of
the public, the Government should have the right to inspect and examine
the workings of the great corporations engaged in interstate business.
Publicity is the only sure remedy which we can now invoke. What further
remedies are needed in the way of governmental regulation, or taxation,
can only be determined after publicity has been obtained, by process of
law, and in the course of administration. The first requisite is
knowledge, full and complete--knowledge which may be made public to the
world.

Artificial bodies, such as corporations and joint stock or other
associations, depending upon any statutory law for their existence or
privileges, should be subject to proper governmental supervision, and
full and accurate information as to their operations should be made
public regularly at reasonable intervals.

The large corporations, commonly called trusts, though organized in one
State, always do business in many States, often doing very little
business in the State where they are incorporated. There is utter lack
of uniformity in the State laws about them; and as no State has any
exclusive interest in or power over their acts, it has in practice
proved impossible to get adequate regulation through State action.
Therefore, in the interest of the whole people, the Nation should,
without interfering with the power of the States in the matter itself,
also assume power of supervision and regulation over all corporations
doing an interstate business. This is especially true where the
corporation derives a portion of its wealth from the existence of some
monopolistic element or tendency in its business. There would be no
hardship in such supervision; banks are subject to it, and in their case
it is now accepted as a simple matter of course. Indeed, it is probable
that supervision of corporations by the National Government need not go
so far as is now the case with the supervision exercised over them by so
conservative a State as Massachusetts, in order to produce excellent
results.

When the Constitution was adopted, at the end of the eighteenth century,
no human wisdom could foretell the sweeping changes, alike in industrial
and political conditions, which were to take place by the beginning of
the twentieth century. At that time it was accepted as a matter of
course that the several States were the proper authorities to regulate,
so far as was then necessary, the comparatively insignificant and
strictly localized corporate bodies of the day. The conditions are now
wholly different and wholly different action is called for. I believe
that a law can be framed which will enable the National Government to
exercise control along the lines above indicated; profiting by the
experience gained through the passage and administration of the
Interstate-Commerce Act. If, however, the judgment of the Congress is
that it lacks the constitutional power to pass such an act, then a
constitutional amendment should be submitted to confer the power.

There should be created a Cabinet officer, to be known as Secretary of
Commerce and Industries, as provided in the bill introduced at the last
session of the Congress. It should be his province to deal with commerce
in its broadest sense; including among many other things whatever
concerns labor and all matters affecting the great business corporations
and our merchant marine.

The course proposed is one phase of what should be a comprehensive and
far-reaching scheme of constructive statesmanship for the purpose of
broadening our markets, securing our business interests on a safe basis,
and making firm our new position in the international industrial world;
while scrupulously safeguarding the rights of wage-worker and
capitalist, of investor and private citizen, so as to secure equity as
between man and man in this Republic.

With the sole exception of the farming interest, no one matter is of
such vital moment to our whole people as the welfare of the
wage-workers. If the farmer and the wage-worker are well off, it is
absolutely certain that all others will be well off too. It is therefore
a matter for hearty congratulation that on the whole wages are higher
to-day in the United States than ever before in our history, and far
higher than in any other country. The standard of living is also higher
than ever before. Every effort of legislator and administrator should be
bent to secure the permanency of this condition of things and its
improvement wherever possible. Not only must our labor be protected by
the tariff, but it should also be protected so far as it is possible
from the presence in this country of any laborers brought over by
contract, or of those who, coming freely, yet represent a standard of
living so depressed that they can undersell our men in the labor market
and drag them to a lower level. I regard it as necessary, with this end
in view, to re-enact immediately the law excluding Chinese laborers and
to strengthen it wherever necessary in order to make its enforcement
entirely effective.

The National Government should demand the highest quality of service
from its employees; and in return it should be a good employer. If
possible legislation should be passed, in connection with the Interstate
Commerce Law, which will render effective the efforts of different
States to do away with the competition of convict contract labor in the
open labor market. So far as practicable under the conditions of
Government work, provision should be made to render the enforcement of
the eight-hour law easy and certain. In all industries carried on
directly or indirectly for the United States Government women and
children should be protected from excessive hours of labor, from night
work, and from work under unsanitary conditions. The Government should
provide in its contracts that all work should be done under "fair"
conditions, and in addition to setting a high standard should uphold it
by proper inspection, extending if necessary to the subcontractors. The
Government should forbid all night work for women and children, as well
as excessive overtime. For the District of Columbia a good factory law
should be passed; and, as a powerful indirect aid to such laws,
provision should be made to turn the inhabited alleys, the existence of
which is a reproach to our Capital city, into minor streets, where the
inhabitants can live under conditions favorable to health and morals.

American wage-workers work with their heads as well as their hands.
Moreover, they take a keen pride in what they are doing; so that,
independent of the reward, they wish to turn out a perfect job. This is
the great secret of our success in competition with the labor of foreign
countries.

The most vital problem with which this country, and for that matter the
whole civilized world, has to deal, is the problem which has for one
side the betterment of social conditions, moral and physical, in large
cities, and for another side the effort to deal with that tangle of
far-reaching questions which we group together when we speak of "labor."
The chief factor in the success of each man--wage-worker, farmer, and
capitalist alike--must ever be the sum total of his own individual
qualities and abilities. Second only to this comes the power of acting
in combination or association with others. Very great good has been and
will be accomplished by associations or unions of wage-workers, when
managed with forethought, and when they combine insistence upon their
own rights with law-abiding respect for the rights of others. The
display of these qualities in such bodies is a duty to the nation no
less than to the associations themselves. Finally, there must also in
many cases be action by the Government in order to safeguard the rights
and interests of all. Under our Constitution there is much more scope
for such action by the State and the municipality than by the nation.
But on points such as those touched on above the National Government can
act.

When all is said and done, the rule of brotherhood remains as the
indispensable prerequisite to success in the kind of national life for
which we strive. Each man must work for himself, and unless he so works
no outside help can avail him; but each man must remember also that he
is indeed his brother's keeper, and that while no man who refuses to
walk can be carried with advantage to himself or anyone else, yet that
each at times stumbles or halts, that each at times needs to have the
helping hand outstretched to him. To be permanently effective, aid must
always take the form of helping a man to help himself; and we can all
best help ourselves by joining together in the work that is of common
interest to all.

Our present immigration laws are unsatisfactory. We need every honest
and efficient immigrant fitted to become an American citizen, every
immigrant who comes here to stay, who brings here a strong body, a stout
heart, a good head, and a resolute purpose to do his duty well in every
way and to bring up his children as law-abiding and God-fearing members
of the community. But there should be a comprehensive law enacted with
the object of working a threefold improvement over our present system.
First, we should aim to exclude absolutely not only all persons who are
known to be believers in anarchistic principles or members of
anarchistic societies, but also all persons who are of a low moral
tendency or of unsavory reputation. This means that we should require a
more thorough system of inspection abroad and a more rigid system of
examination at our immigration ports, the former being especially
necessary.

The second object of a proper immigration law ought to be to secure by a
careful and not merely perfunctory educational test some intelligent
capacity to appreciate American institutions and act sanely as American
citizens. This would not keep out all anarchists, for many of them
belong to the intelligent criminal class. But it would do what is also
in point, that is, tend to decrease the sum of ignorance, so potent in
producing the envy, suspicion, malignant passion, and hatred of order,
out of which anarchistic sentiment inevitably springs. Finally, all
persons should be excluded who are below a certain standard of economic
fitness to enter our industrial field as competitors with American
labor. There should be proper proof of personal capacity to earn an
American living and enough money to insure a decent start under American
conditions. This would stop the influx of cheap labor, and the resulting
competition which gives rise to so much of bitterness in American
industrial life; and it would dry up the springs of the pestilential
social conditions in our great cities, where anarchistic organizations
have their greatest possibility of growth.

Both the educational and economic tests in a wise immigration law should
be designed to protect and elevate the general body politic and social.
A very close supervision should be exercised over the steamship
companies which mainly bring over the immigrants, and they should be
held to a strict accountability for any infraction of the law.

There is general acquiescence in our present tariff system as a national
policy. The first requisite to our prosperity is the continuity and
stability of this economic policy. Nothing could be more unwise than to
disturb the business interests of the country by any general tariff
change at this time. Doubt, apprehension, uncertainty are exactly what
we most wish to avoid in the interest of our commercial and material
well-being. Our experience in the past has shown that sweeping revisions
of the tariff are apt to produce conditions closely approaching panic in
the business world. Yet it is not only possible, but eminently
desirable, to combine with the stability of our economic system a
supplementary system of reciprocal benefit and obligation with other
nations. Such reciprocity is an incident and result of the firm
establishment and preservation of our present economic policy. It was
specially provided for in the present tariff law.

Reciprocity must be treated as the handmaiden of protection. Our first
duty is to see that the protection granted by the tariff in every case
where it is needed is maintained, and that reciprocity be sought for so
far as it can safely be done without injury to our home industries. Just
how far this is must be determined according to the individual case,
remembering always that every application of our tariff policy to meet
our shifting national needs must be conditioned upon the cardinal fact
that the duties must never be reduced below the point that will cover
the difference between the labor cost here and abroad. The well-being of
the wage-worker is a prime consideration of our entire policy of
economic legislation.

Subject to this proviso of the proper protection necessary to our
industrial well-being at home, the principle of reciprocity must command
our hearty support. The phenomenal growth of our export trade emphasizes
the urgency of the need for wider markets and for a liberal policy in
dealing with foreign nations. Whatever is merely petty and vexatious in
the way of trade restrictions should be avoided. The customers to whom
we dispose of our surplus products in the long run, directly or
indirectly, purchase those surplus products by giving us something in
return. Their ability to purchase our products should as far as possible
be secured by so arranging our tariff as to enable us to take from them
those products which we can use without harm to our own industries and
labor, or the use of which will be of marked benefit to us.

It is most important that we should maintain the high level of our
present prosperity. We have now reached the point in the development of
our interests where we are not only able to supply our own markets but
to produce a constantly growing surplus for which we must find markets
abroad. To secure these markets we can utilize existing duties in any
case where they are no longer needed for the purpose of protection, or
in any case where the article is not produced here and the duty is no
longer necessary for revenue, as giving us something to offer in
exchange for what we ask. The cordial relations with other nations which
are so desirable will naturally be promoted by the course thus required
by our own interests.

The natural line of development for a policy of reciprocity will be in
connection with those of our productions which no longer require all of
the support once needed to establish them upon a sound basis, and with
those others where either because of natural or of economic causes we
are beyond the reach of successful competition.

I ask the attention of the Senate to the reciprocity treaties laid
before it by my predecessor.

The condition of the American merchant marine is such as to call for
immediate remedial action by the Congress. It is discreditable to us as
a Nation that our merchant marine should be utterly insignificant in
comparison to that of other nations which we overtop in other forms of
business. We should not longer submit to conditions under which only a
trifling portion of our great commerce is carried in our own ships. To
remedy this state of things would not .merely serve to build up our
shipping interests, but it would also result in benefit to all who are
interested in the permanent establishment of a wider market for American
products, and would provide an auxiliary force for the Navy. Ships work
for their own countries just as railroads work for their terminal
points. Shipping lines, if established to the principal countries with
which we have dealings, would be of political as well as commercial
benefit. From every standpoint it is unwise for the United States to
continue to rely upon the ships of competing nations for the
distribution of our goods. It should be made advantageous to carry
American goods in American-built ships.

At present American shipping is under certain great disadvantages when
put in competition with the shipping of foreign countries. Many of the
fast foreign steamships, at a speed of fourteen knots or above, are
subsidized; and all our ships, sailing vessels and steamers alike, cargo
carriers of slow speed and mail carriers of high speed, have to meet the
fact that the original cost of building American ships is greater than
is the case abroad; that the wages paid American officers and seamen are
very much higher than those paid the officers and seamen of foreign
competing countries; and that the standard of living on our ships is far
superior to the standard of living on the ships of our commercial
rivals.

Our Government should take such action as will remedy these
inequalities. The American merchant marine should be restored to the
ocean.

The Act of March 14, 1900, intended unequivocally to establish gold as
the standard money and to maintain at a parity therewith all forms of
money medium in use with us, has been shown to be timely and judicious.
The price of our Government bonds in the world's market, when compared
with the price of similar obligations issued by other nations, is a
flattering tribute to our public credit. This condition it is evidently
desirable to maintain.

In many respects the National Banking Law furnishes sufficient liberty
for the proper exercise of the banking function; but there seems to be
need of better safeguards against the deranging influence of commercial
crises and financial panics. Moreover, the currency of the country
should be made responsive to the demands of our domestic trade and
commerce.

The collections from duties on imports and internal taxes continue to
exceed the ordinary expenditures of the Government, thanks mainly to the
reduced army expenditures. The utmost care should be taken not to reduce
the revenues so that there will be any possibility of a deficit; but,
after providing against any such contingency, means should be adopted
which will bring the revenues more nearly within the limit of our actual
needs. In his report to the Congress the Secretary of the Treasury
considers all these questions at length, and I ask your attention to the
report and recommendations.

I call special attention to the need of strict economy in expenditures.
The fact that our national needs forbid us to be niggardly in providing
whatever is actually necessary to our well-being, should make us doubly
careful to husband our national resources, as each of us husbands his
private resources, by scrupulous avoidance of anything like wasteful or
reckless expenditure. Only by avoidance of spending money on what is
needless or unjustifiable can we legitimately keep our income to the
point required to meet our needs that are genuine.

In 1887 a measure was enacted for the regulation of interstate railways,
commonly known as the Interstate Commerce Act. The cardinal provisions
of that act were that railway rates should be just and reasonable and
that all shippers, localities, and commodities should be accorded equal
treatment. A commission was created and endowed with what were supposed
to be the necessary powers to execute the provisions of this act. That
law was largely an experiment. Experience has shown the wisdom of its
purposes, but has also shown, possibly that some of its requirements are
wrong, certainly that the means devised for the enforcement of its
provisions are defective. Those who complain of the management of the
railways allege that established rates are not maintained; that rebates
and similar devices are habitually resorted to; that these preferences
are usually in favor of the large shipper; that they drive out of
business the smaller competitor; that while many rates are too low, many
others are excessive; and that gross preferences are made, affecting
both localities and commodities. Upon the other hand, the railways
assert that the law by its very terms tends to produce many of these
illegal practices by depriving carriers of that right of concerted
action which they claim is necessary to establish and maintain
non-discriminating rates.

The act should be amended. The railway is a public servant. Its rates
should be just to and open to all shippers alike. The Government should
see to it that within its jurisdiction this is so and should provide a
speedy, inexpensive, and effective remedy to that end. At the same time
it must not be forgotten that our railways are the arteries through
which the commercial lifeblood of this Nation flows. Nothing could be
more foolish than the enactment of legislation which would unnecessarily
interfere with the development and operation of these commercial
agencies. The subject is one of great importance and calls for the
earnest attention of the Congress.

The Department of Agriculture during the past fifteen years has steadily
broadened its work on economic lines, and has accomplished results of
real value in upbuilding domestic and foreign trade. It has gone into
new fields until it is now in touch with all sections of our country and
with two of the island groups that have lately come under our
jurisdiction, whose people must look to agriculture as a livelihood. It
is searching the world for grains, grasses, fruits, and vegetables
specially fitted for introduction into localities in the several States
and Territories where they may add materially to our resources. By
scientific attention to soil survey and possible new crops, to breeding
of new varieties of plants, to experimental shipments, to animal
industry and applied chemistry, very practical aid has been given our
farming and stock-growing interests. The products of the farm have taken
an unprecedented place in our export trade during the year that has just
closed.

Public opinion throughout the United States has moved steadily toward a
just appreciation of the value of forests, whether planted or of natural
growth. The great part played by them in the creation and maintenance of
the national wealth is now more fully realized than ever before.

Wise forest protection does not mean the withdrawal of forest resources,
whether of wood, water, or grass, from contributing their full share to
the welfare of the people, but, on the contrary, gives the assurance of
larger and more certain supplies. The fundamental idea of forestry is
the perpetuation of forests by use. Forest protection is not an end of
itself; it is a means to increase and sustain the resources of our
country and the industries which depend upon them. The preservation of
our forests is an imperative business necessity. We have come to see
clearly that whatever destroys the forest, except to make way for
agriculture, threatens our well being.

The practical usefulness of the national forest reserves to the mining,
grazing, irrigation, and other interests of the regions in which the
reserves lie has led to a widespread demand by the people of the West
for their protection and extension. The forest reserves will inevitably
be of still greater use in the future than in the past. Additions should
be made to them whenever practicable, and their usefulness should be
increased by a thoroughly business-like management.

At present the protection of the forest reserves rests with the General
Land Office, the mapping and description of their timber with the United
States Geological Survey, and the preparation of plans for their
conservative use with the Bureau of Forestry, which is also charged with
the general advancement of practical forestry in the United States.
These various functions should be united in the Bureau of Forestry, to
which they properly belong. The present diffusion of responsibility is
bad from every standpoint. It prevents that effective co-operation
between the Government and the men who utilize the resources of the
reserves, without which the interests of both must suffer. The
scientific bureaus generally should be put under the Department of
Agriculture. The President should have by law the power of transferring
lands for use as forest reserves to the Department of Agriculture. He
already has such power in the case of lands needed by the Departments of
War and the Navy.

The wise administration of the forest reserves will be not less helpful
to the interests which depend on water than to those which depend on
wood and grass. The water supply itself depends upon the forest. In the
arid region it is water, not land, which measures production. The
western half of the United States would sustain a population greater
than that of our whole country to-day if the waters that now run to
waste were saved and used for irrigation. The forest and water problems
are perhaps the most vital internal questions of the United States.

Certain of the forest reserves should also be made preserves for the
wild forest creatures. All of the reserves should be better protected
from fires. Many of them need special protection because of the great
injury done by live stock, above all by sheep. The increase in deer,
elk, and other animals in the Yellowstone Park shows what may be
expected when other mountain forests are properly protected by law and
properly guarded. Some of these areas have been so denuded of surface
vegetation by overgrazing that the ground breeding birds, including
grouse and quail, and many mammals, including deer, have been
exterminated or driven away. At the same time the water-storing capacity
of the surface has been decreased or destroyed, thus promoting floods in
times of rain and diminishing the flow of streams between rains.

In cases where natural conditions have been restored for a few years,
vegetation has again carpeted the ground, birds and deer are coming
back, and hundreds of persons, especially from the immediate
neighborhood, come each summer to enjoy the privilege of camping. Some
at least of the forest reserves should afford perpetual protection to
the native fauna and flora, safe havens of refuge to our rapidly
diminishing wild animals of the larger kinds, and free camping grounds
for the ever-increasing numbers of men and women who have learned to
find rest, health, and recreation in the splendid forests and
flower-clad meadows of our mountains. The forest reserves should be set
apart forever for the use and benefit of our people as a whole and not
sacrificed to the shortsighted greed of a few.

The forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the streams in flood
and replenishing them in drought they make possible the use of waters
otherwise wasted. They prevent the soil from washing, and so protect the
storage reservoirs from filling up with silt. Forest conservation is
therefore an essential condition of water conservation.

The forests alone cannot, however, fully regulate and conserve the
waters of the arid region. Great storage works are necessary to equalize
the flow of streams and to save the flood waters. Their construction has
been conclusively shown to be an undertaking too vast for private
effort. Nor can it be best accomplished by the individual States acting
alone. Far-reaching interstate problems are involved; and the resources
of single States would often be inadequate. It is properly a national
function, at least in some of its features. It is as right for the
National Government to make the streams and rivers of the arid region
useful by engineering works for water storage as to make useful the
rivers and harbors of the humid region by engineering works of another
kind. The storing of the floods in reservoirs at the headwaters of our
rivers is but an enlargement of our present policy of river control,
under which levees are built on the lower reaches of the same streams.

The Government should construct and maintain these reservoirs as it does
other public works. Where their purpose is to regulate the flow of
streams, the water should be turned freely into the channels in the dry
season to take the same course under the same laws as the natural flow.

The reclamation of the unsettled arid public lands presents a different
problem. Here it is not enough to regulate the flow of streams. The
object of the Government is to dispose of the land to settlers who will
build homes upon it. To accomplish this object water must be brought
within their reach.

The pioneer settlers on the arid public domain chose their homes along
streams from which they could themselves divert the water to reclaim
their holdings. Such opportunities are practically gone. There remain,
however, vast areas of public land which can be made available for
homestead settlement, but only by reservoirs and main-line canals
impracticable for private enterprise. These irrigation works should be
built by the National Government. The lands reclaimed by them should be
reserved by the Government for actual settlers, and the cost of
construction should so far as possible be repaid by the land reclaimed.
The distribution of the water, the division of the streams among
irrigators, should be left to the settlers themselves in conformity with
State laws and without interference with those laws or with vested
fights. The policy of the National Government should be to aid
irrigation in the several States and Territories in such manner as will
enable the people in the local communities to help themselves, and as
will stimulate needed reforms in the State laws and regulations
governing irrigation.

The reclamation and settlement of the arid lands will enrich every
portion of our country, just as the settlement of the Ohio and
Mississippi valleys brought prosperity to the Atlantic States. The
increased demand for manufactured articles will stimulate industrial
production, while wider home markets and the trade of Asia will consume
the larger food supplies and effectually prevent Western competition
with Eastern agriculture. Indeed, the products of irrigation will be
consumed chiefly in upbuilding local centers of mining and other
industries, which would otherwise not come into existence at all. Our
people as a whole will profit, for successful home-making is but another
name for the upbuilding of the nation.

The necessary foundation has already been laid for the inauguration of
the policy just described. It would be unwise to begin by doing too
much, for a great deal will doubtless be learned, both as to what can
and what cannot be safely attempted, by the early efforts, which must of
necessity be partly experimental in character. At the very beginning the
Government should make clear, beyond shadow of doubt, its intention to
pursue this policy on lines of the broadest public interest. No
reservoir or canal should ever be built to satisfy selfish personal or
local interests; but only in accordance with the advice of trained
experts, after long investigation has shown the locality where all the
conditions combine to make the work most needed and fraught with the
greatest usefulness to the community as a whole. There should be no
extravagance, and the believers in the need of irrigation will most
benefit their cause by seeing to it that it is free from the least taint
of excessive or reckless expenditure of the public moneys.

Whatever the nation does for the extension of irrigation should
harmonize with, and tend to improve, the condition of those now living
on irrigated land. We are not at the starting point of this development.
Over two hundred millions of private capital has already been expended
in the construction of irrigation works, and many million acres of arid
land reclaimed. A high degree of enterprise and ability has been shown
in the work itself; but as much cannot be said in reference to the laws
relating thereto. The security and value of the homes created depend
largely on the stability of titles to water; but the majority of these
rest on the uncertain foundation of court decisions rendered in ordinary
suits at law. With a few creditable exceptions, the arid States have
failed to provide for the certain and just division of streams in times
of scarcity. Lax and uncertain laws have made it possible to establish
rights to water in excess of actual uses or necessities, and many
streams have already passed into private ownership, or a control
equivalent to ownership.

Whoever controls a stream practically controls the land it renders
productive, and the doctrine of private ownership of water apart from
land cannot prevail without causing enduring wrong. The recognition of
such ownership, which has been permitted to grow up in the arid regions,
should give way to a more enlightened and larger recognition of the
rights of the public in the control and disposal of the public water
supplies. Laws founded upon conditions obtaining in humid regions, where
water is too abundant to justify hoarding it, have no proper application
in a dry country.

In the arid States the only right to water which should be recognized is
that of use. In irrigation this right should attach to the land
reclaimed and be inseparable therefrom. Granting perpetual water rights
to others than users, without compensation to the public, is open to all
the objections which apply to giving away perpetual franchises to the
public utilities of cities. A few of the Western States have already
recognized this, and have incorporated in their constitutions the
doctrine of perpetual State ownership of water.

The benefits which have followed the unaided development of the past
justify the nation's aid and co-operation in the more difficult and
important work yet to be accomplished. Laws so vitally affecting homes
as those which control the water supply will only be effective when they
have the sanction of the irrigators; reforms can only be final and
satisfactory when they come through the enlightenment of the people most
concerned. The larger development which national aid insures should,
however, awaken in every arid State the determination to make its
irrigation system equal in justice and effectiveness that of any country
in the civilized world. Nothing could be more unwise than for isolated
communities to continue to learn everything experimentally, instead of
profiting by what is already known elsewhere. We are dealing with a new
and momentous question, in the pregnant years while institutions are
forming, and what we do will affect not only the present but future
generations.

Our aim should be not simply to reclaim the largest area of land and
provide homes for the largest number of people, but to create for this
new industry the best possible social and industrial conditions; and
this requires that we not only understand the existing situation, but
avail ourselves of the best experience of the time in the solution of
its problems. A careful study should be made, both by the Nation and the
States, of the irrigation laws and conditions here and abroad.
Ultimately it will probably be necessary for the Nation to co-operate
with the several arid States in proportion as these States by their
legislation and administration show themselves fit to receive it.

In Hawaii our aim must be to develop the Territory on the traditional
American lines. We do not wish a region of large estates tilled by cheap
labor; we wish a healthy American community of men who themselves till
the farms they own. All our legislation for the islands should be shaped
with this end in view; the well-being of the average home-maker must
afford the true test of the healthy development of the islands. The land
policy should as nearly as possible be modeled on our homestead system.

It is a pleasure to say that it is hardly more necessary to report as to
Puerto Rico than as to any State or Territory within our continental
limits. The island is thriving as never before, and it is being
administered efficiently and honestly. Its people are now enjoying
liberty and order under the protection of the United States, and upon
this fact we congratulate them and ourselves. Their material welfare
must be as carefully and jealously considered as the welfare of any
other portion of our country. We have given them the great gift of free
access for their products to the markets of the United States. I ask the
attention of the Congress to the need of legislation concerning the
public lands of Puerto Rico.

In Cuba such progress has been made toward putting the independent
government of the island upon a firm footing that before the present
session of the Congress closes this will be an accomplished fact. Cuba
will then start as her own mistress; and to the beautiful Queen of the
Antilles, as she unfolds this new page of her destiny, we extend our
heartiest greetings and good wishes. Elsewhere I have discussed the
question of reciprocity. In the case of Cuba, however, there are weighty
reasons of morality and of national interest why the policy should be
held to have a peculiar application, and I most earnestly ask your
attention to the wisdom, indeed to the vital need, of providing for a
substantial reduction in the tariff duties on Cuban imports into the
United States. Cuba has in her constitution affirmed what we desired:
that she should stand, in international matters, in closer and more
friendly relations with us than with any other power; and we are bound
by every consideration of honor and expediency to pass commercial
measures in the interest of her material well-being.

In the Philippines our problem is larger. They are very rich tropical
islands, inhabited by many varying tribes, representing widely different
stages of progress toward civilization. Our earnest effort is to help
these people upward along the stony and difficult path that leads to
self-government. We hope to make our administration of the islands
honorable to our Nation by making it of the highest benefit to the
Filipinos themselves; and as an earnest of what we intend to do, we
point to what we have done. Already a greater measure of material
prosperity and of governmental honesty and efficiency has been attained
in the Philippines than ever before in their history.

It is no light task for a nation to achieve the temperamental qualities
without which the institutions of free government are but an empty
mockery. Our people are now successfully governing themselves, because
for more than a thousand years they have been slowly fitting themselves,
sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, toward this end. What
has taken us thirty generations to achieve, we cannot expect to have
another race accomplish out of hand, especially when large portions of
that race start very far behind the point which our ancestors had
reached even thirty generations ago. In dealing with the Philippine
people we must show both patience and strength, forbearance and
steadfast resolution. Our aim is high. We do not desire to do for the
islanders merely what has elsewhere been done for tropic peoples by even
the best foreign governments. We hope to do for them what has never
before been done for any people of the tropics--to make them fit for
self-government after the fashion of the really free nations.

History may safely be challenged to show a single instance in which a
masterful race such as ours, having been forced by the exigencies of war
to take possession of an alien land, has behaved to its inhabitants with
the disinterested zeal for their progress that our people have shown in
the Philippines. To leave the islands at this time would mean that they
would fall into a welter of murderous anarchy. Such desertion of duty on
our part would be a crime against humanity. The character of Governor
Taft and of his associates and subordinates is a proof, if such be
needed, of the sincerity of our effort to give the islanders a
constantly increasing measure of self-government, exactly as fast as
they show themselves fit to exercise it. Since the civil government was
established not an appointment has been made in the islands with any
reference to considerations of political influence, or to aught else
Save the fitness of the man and the needs of the service.

In our anxiety for the welfare and progress of the Philippines, may be
that here and there we have gone too rapidly in giving them local
self-government. It is on this side that our error, if any, has been
committed. No competent observer, sincerely desirous of finding out the
facts and influenced only by a desire for the welfare of the natives,
can assert that we have not gone far enough. We have gone to the very
verge of safety in hastening the process. To have taken a single step
farther or faster in advance would have been folly and weakness, and
might well have been crime. We are extremely anxious that the natives
shall show the power of governing themselves. We are anxious, first for
their sakes, and next, because it relieves us of a great burden. There
need not be the slightest fear of our not continuing to give them all
the liberty for which they are fit.

The only fear is test in our overanxiety we give them a degree of
independence for which they are unfit, thereby inviting reaction and
disaster. As fast as there is any reasonable hope that in a given
district the people can govern themselves, self-government has been
given in that district. There is not a locality fitted for
self-government which has not received it. But it may well be that in
certain cases it will have to be withdrawn because the inhabitants show
themselves unfit to exercise it; such instances have already occurred.
In other words, there is not the slightest chance of our failing to show
a sufficiently humanitarian spirit. The danger comes in the opposite
direction.

There are still troubles ahead in the islands. The insurrection has
become an affair of local banditti and marauders, who deserve no higher
regard than the brigands of portions of the Old World. Encouragement,
direct or indirect, to these insurrectors stands on the same footing as
encouragement to hostile Indians in the days when we still had Indian
wars. Exactly as our aim is to give to the Indian who remains peaceful
the fullest and amplest consideration, but to have it understood that we
will show no weakness if he goes on the warpath, so we must make it
evident, unless we are false to our own traditions and to the demands of
civilization and humanity, that while we will do everything in our power
for the Filipino who is peaceful, we will take the sternest measures
with the Filipino who follows the path of the insurrecto and the
ladrone.

The heartiest praise is due to large numbers of the natives of the
islands for their steadfast loyalty. The Macabebes have been conspicuous
for their courage and devotion to the flag. I recommend that the
Secretary of War be empowered to take some systematic action in the way
of aiding those of these men who are crippled in the service and the
families of those who are killed.

The time has come when there should be additional legislation for the
Philippines. Nothing better can be done for the islands than to
introduce industrial enterprises. Nothing would benefit them so much as
throwing them open to industrial development. The connection between
idleness and mischief is proverbial, and the opportunity to do
remunerative work is one of the surest preventatives of war. Of course
no business man will go into the Philippines unless it is to his
interest to do so; and it is immensely to the interest of the islands
that he should go in. It is therefore necessary that the Congress should
pass laws by which the resources of the islands can be developed; so
that franchises (for limited terms of years) can be granted to companies
doing business in them, and every encouragement be given to the incoming
of business men of every kind.

Not to permit this is to do a wrong to the Philippines. The franchises
must be granted and the business permitted only under regulations which
will guarantee the islands against any kind of improper exploitation.
But the vast natural wealth of the islands must be developed, and the
capital willing to develop it must be given the opportunity. The field
must be thrown open to individual enterprise, which has been the real
factor in the development of every region over which our flag has flown.
It is urgently necessary to enact suitable laws dealing with general
transportation, mining, banking, currency, homesteads, and the use and
ownership of the lands and timber. These laws will give free play to
industrial enterprise; and the commercial development which will surely
follow will accord to the people of the islands the best proofs of the
sincerity of our desire to aid them.

I call your attention most earnestly to the crying need of a cable to
Hawaii and the Philippines, to be continued from the Philippines to
points in Asia. We should not defer a day longer than necessary the
construction of such a cable. It is demanded not merely for commercial
but for political and military considerations.

Either the Congress should immediately provide for the construction of a
Government cable, or else an arrangement should be made by which like
advantages to those accruing from a Government cable may be secured to
the Government by contract with a private cable company.

No single great material work which remains to be undertaken on this
continent is of such consequence to the American people as the building
of a canal across the Isthmus connecting North and South America. Its
importance to the Nation is by no means limited merely to its material
effects upon our business prosperity; and yet with view to these effects
alone it would be to the last degree important for us immediately to
begin it. While its beneficial effects would perhaps be most marked upon
the Pacific Coast and the Gulf and South Atlantic States, it would also
greatly benefit other sections. It is emphatically a work which it is
for the interest of the entire country to begin and complete as soon as
possible; it is one of those great works which only a great nation can
undertake with prospects of success, and which when done are not only
permanent assets in the nation's material interests, but standing
monuments to its constructive ability.

I am glad to be able to announce to you that our negotiations on this
subject with Great Britain, conducted on both sides in a spirit of
friendliness and mutual good will and respect, have resulted in my being
able to lay before the Senate a treaty which if ratified will enable us
to begin preparations for an Isthmian canal at any time, and which
guarantees to this Nation every right that it has ever asked in
connection with the canal. In this treaty, the old Clayton-Bulwer
treaty, so long recognized as inadequate to supply the base for the
construction and maintenance of a necessarily American ship canal, is
abrogated. It specifically provides that the United States alone shall
do the work of building and assume the responsibility of safeguarding
the canal and shall regulate its neutral use by all nations on terms of
equality without the guaranty or interference of any outside nation from
any quarter. The signed treaty will at once be laid before the Senate,
and if approved the Congress can then proceed to give effect to the
advantages it secures us by providing for the building of the canal.

The true end of every great and free people should be self-respecting
peace; and this Nation most earnestly desires sincere and cordial
friendship with all others. Over the entire world, of recent years, wars
between the great civilized powers have become less and less frequent.
Wars with barbarous or semi-barbarous peoples come in an entirely
different category, being merely a most regrettable but necessary
international police duty which must be performed for the sake of the
welfare of mankind. Peace can only be kept with certainty where both
sides wish to keep it; but more and more the civilized peoples are
realizing the wicked folly of war and are attaining that condition of
just and intelligent regard for the rights of others which will in the
end, as we hope and believe, make world-wide peace possible. The peace
conference at The Hague gave definite expression to this hope and belief
and marked a stride toward their attainment.

This same peace conference acquiesced in our statement of the Monroe
Doctrine as compatible with the purposes and aims of the conference.

The Monroe Doctrine should be the cardinal feature of the foreign policy
of all the nations of the two Americas, as it is of the United States.
Just seventy-eight years have passed since President Monroe in his
Annual Message announced that "The American continents are henceforth
not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European
power." In other words, the Monroe Doctrine is a declaration that there
must be no territorial aggrandizement by any non-American power at the
expense of any American power on American soil. It is in no wise
intended as hostile to any nation in the Old World. Still less is it
intended to give cover to any aggression by one New World power at the
expense of any other. It is simply a step, and a long step, toward
assuring the universal peace of the world by securing the possibility of
permanent peace on this hemisphere.

During the past century other influences have established the permanence
and independence of the smaller states of Europe. Through the Monroe
Doctrine we hope to be able to safeguard like independence and secure
like permanence for the lesser among the New World nations.

This doctrine has nothing to do with the commercial relations of any
American power, save that it in truth allows each of them to form such
as it desires. In other words, it is really a guaranty of the commercial
independence of the Americas. We do not ask under this doctrine for any
exclusive commercial dealings with any other American state. We do not
guarantee any state against punishment if it misconducts itself,
provided that punishment does not take the form of the acquisition of
territory by any non-American power.

Our attitude in Cuba is a sufficient guaranty of our own good faith. We
have not the slightest desire to secure any territory at the expense of
any of our neighbors. We wish to work with them hand in hand, so that
all of us may be uplifted together, and we rejoice over the good fortune
of any of them, we gladly hail their material prosperity and political
stability, and are concerned and alarmed if any of them fall into
industrial or political chaos. We do not wish to see any Old World
military power grow up on this continent, or to be compelled to become a
military power ourselves. The peoples of the Americas can prosper best
if left to work out their own salvation in their own way.

The work of upbuilding the Navy must be steadily continued. No one point
of our policy, foreign or domestic, is more important than this to the
honor and material welfare, and above all to the peace, of our nation in
the future. Whether we desire it or not, we must henceforth recognize
that we have international duties no less than international rights.
Even if our flag were hauled down in the Philippines and Puerto Rico,
even if we decided not to build the Isthmian Canal, we should need a
thoroughly trained Navy of adequate size, or else be prepared definitely
and for all time to abandon the idea that our nation is among those
whose sons go down to the sea in ships. Unless our commerce is always to
be carried in foreign bottoms, we must have war craft to protect it.

Inasmuch, however, as the American people have no thought of abandoning
the path upon which they have entered, and especially in view of the
fact that the building of the Isthmian Canal is fast becoming one of the
matters which the whole people are united in demanding, it is imperative
that our Navy should be put and kept in the highest state of efficiency,
and should be made to answer to our growing needs. So far from being in
any way a provocation to war, an adequate and highly trained navy is the
best guaranty against war, the cheapest and most effective peace
insurance. The cost of building and maintaining such a navy represents
the very lightest premium for insuring peace which this nation can
possibly pay.

Probably no other great nation in the world is so anxious for peace as
we are. There is not a single civilized power which has anything
whatever to fear from aggressiveness on our part. All we want is peace;
and toward this end we wish to be able to secure the same respect for
our rights from others which we are eager and anxious to extend to their
rights in return, to insure fair treatment to us commercially, and to
guarantee the safety of the American people.

Our people intend to abide by the Monroe Doctrine and to insist upon it
as the one sure means of securing the peace of the Western Hemisphere.
The Navy offers us the only means of making our insistence upon the
Monroe Doctrine anything but a subject of derision to whatever nation
chooses to disregard it. We desire the peace which comes as of right to
the just man armed; not the peace granted on terms of ignominy to the
craven and the weakling.

It is not possible to improvise a navy after war breaks out. The ships
must be built and the men trained long in advance. Some auxiliary
vessels can be turned into makeshifts which will do in default of any
better for the minor work, and a proportion of raw men can be mixed with
the highly trained, their shortcomings being made good by the skill of
their fellows; but the efficient fighting force of the Navy when pitted
against an equal opponent will be found almost exclusively in the war
ships that have been regularly built and in the officers and men who
through years of faithful performance of sea duty have been trained to
handle their formidable but complex and delicate weapons with the
highest efficiency. In the late war with Spain the ships that dealt the
decisive blows at Manila and Santiago had been launched from two to
fourteen years, and they were able to do as they did because the men in
the conning towers, the gun turrets, and the engine-rooms had through
long years of practice at sea learned how to do their duty.

Our present Navy was begun in 1882. At that period our Navy consisted of
a collection of antiquated wooden ships, already almost as out of place
against modern war vessels as the galleys of Alcibiades and
Hamilcar--certainly as the ships of Tromp and Blake. Nor at that time
did we have men fit to handle a modern man-of-war. Under the wise
legislation of the Congress and the successful administration of a
succession of patriotic Secretaries of the Navy, belonging to both
political parties, the work of upbuilding the Navy went on, and ships
equal to any in the world of their kind were continually added; and what
was even more important, these ships were exercised at sea singly and in
squadrons until the men aboard them were able to get the best possible
service out of them. The result was seen in the short war with Spain,
which was decided with such rapidity because of the infinitely greater
preparedness of our Navy than of the Spanish Navy.

While awarding the fullest honor to the men who actually commanded and
manned the ships which destroyed the Spanish sea forces in the
Philippines and in Cuba, we must not forget that an equal meed of praise
belongs to those without whom neither blow could have been struck. The
Congressmen who voted years in advance the money to lay down the ships,
to build the guns, to buy the armor-plate; the Department officials and
the business men and wage-workers who furnished what the Congress had
authorized; the Secretaries of the Navy who asked for and expended the
appropriations; and finally the officers who, in fair weather and foul,
on actual sea service, trained and disciplined the crews of the ships
when there was no war in sight--all are entitled to a full share in the
glory of Manila and Santiago, and the respect accorded by every true
American to those who wrought such signal triumph for our country. It
was forethought and preparation which secured us the overwhelming
triumph of 1898. If we fail to show forethought and preparation now,
there may come a time when disaster will befall us instead of triumph;
and should this time come, the fault will rest primarily, not upon those
whom the accident of events puts in supreme command at the moment, but
upon those who have failed to prepare in advance.

There should be no cessation in the work of completing our Navy. So far
ingenuity has been wholly unable to devise a substitute for the great
war craft whose hammering guns beat out the mastery of the high seas. It
is unsafe and unwise not to provide this year for several additional
Battle ships and heavy armored cruisers, with auxiliary and lighter
craft in proportion; for the exact numbers and character I refer you to
the report of the Secretary of the Navy. But there is something we need
even more than additional ships, and this is additional officers and
men. To provide battle ships and cruisers and then lay them up, with the
expectation of leaving them unmanned until they are needed in actual
war, would be worse than folly; it would be a crime against the Nation.

To send any war ship against a competent enemy unless those aboard it
have been trained by years of actual sea service, including incessant
gunnery practice, would be to invite not merely disaster, but the
bitterest shame and humiliation. Four thousand additional seamen and one
thousand additional marines should be provided; and an increase in the
officers should be provided by making a large addition to the classes at
Annapolis. There is one small matter which should be mentioned in
connection with Annapolis. The pretentious and unmeaning title of "naval
cadet" should be abolished; the title of "midshipman," full of historic
association, should be restored.

Even in time of peace a war ship should be used until it wears out, for
only so can it be kept fit to respond to any emergency. The officers and
men alike should be kept as much as possible on blue water, for it is
there only they can learn their duties as they should be learned. The
big vessels should be manoeuvred in squadrons containing not merely
battle ships, but the necessary proportion of cruisers and scouts. The
torpedo boats should be handled by the younger officers in such manner
as will best fit the latter to take responsibility and meet the
emergencies of actual warfare.

Every detail ashore which can be performed by a civilian should be so
performed, the officer being kept for his special duty in the sea
service. Above all, gunnery practice should be unceasing. It is
important to have our Navy of adequate size, but it is even more
important that ship for ship it should equal in efficiency any navy in
the world. This is possible only with highly drilled crews and officers,
and this in turn imperatively demands continuous and progressive
instruction in target practice, ship handling, squadron tactics, and
general discipline. Our ships must be assembled in squadrons actively
cruising away from harbors and never long at anchor. The resulting wear
upon engines and hulls must be endured; a battle ship worn out in long
training of officers and men is well paid for by the results, while, on
the other hand, no matter in how excellent condition, it is useless if
the crew be not expert.

We now have seventeen battle ships appropriated for, of which nine are
completed and have been commissioned for actual service. The remaining
eight will be ready in from two to four years, but it will take at least
that time to recruit and train the men to fight them. It is of vast
concern that we have trained crews ready for the vessels by the time
they are commissioned. Good ships and good guns are simply good weapons,
and the best weapons are useless save in the hands of men who know how
to fight with them. The men must be trained and drilled under a thorough
and well-planned system of progressive instruction, while the recruiting
must be carried on with still greater vigor. Every effort must be made
to exalt the main function of the officer--the command of men. The
leading graduates of the Naval Academy should be assigned to the
combatant branches, the line and marines.

Many of the essentials of success are already recognized by the General
Board, which, as the central office of a growing staff, is moving
steadily toward a proper war efficiency and a proper efficiency of the
whole Navy, under the Secretary. This General Board, by fostering the
creation of a general staff, is providing for the official and then the
general recognition of our altered conditions as a Nation and of the
true meaning of a great war fleet, which meaning is, first, the best
men, and, second, the best ships.

Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, vol. 9,
p.6667

The Naval Militia forces are State organizations, and are trained for
coast service, and in event of war they will constitute the inner line
of defense. They should receive hearty encouragement from the General
Government.

But in addition we should at once provide for a National Naval Reserve,
organized and trained under the direction of the Navy Department, and
subject to the call of the Chief Executive whenever war becomes
imminent. It should be a real auxiliary to the naval seagoing peace
establishment, and offer material to be drawn on at once for manning our
ships in time of war. It should be composed of graduates of the Naval
Academy, graduates of the Naval Militia, officers and crews of
coast-line steamers, longshore schooners, fishing vessels, and steam
yachts, together with the coast population about such centers as
lifesaving stations and light-houses.

The American people must either build and maintain an adequate navy or
else make up their minds definitely to accept a secondary position in
international affairs, not merely in political, but in commercial,
matters. It has been well said that there is no surer way of courting
national disaster than to be "opulent, aggressive, and unarmed."

It is not necessary to increase our Army beyond its present size at this
time. But it is necessary to keep it at the highest point of efficiency.
The individual units who as officers and enlisted men compose this Army,
are, we have good reason to believe, at least as efficient as those of
any other army in the entire world. It is our duty to see that their
training is of a kind to insure the highest possible expression of power
to these units when acting in combination.

The conditions of modern war are such as to make an infinitely heavier
demand than ever before upon the individual character and capacity of
the officer and the enlisted man, and to make it far more difficult for
men to act together with effect. At present the fighting must be done in
extended order, which means that each man must act for himself and at
the same time act in combination with others with whom he is no longer
in the old-fashioned elbow-to-elbow touch. Under such conditions a few
men of the highest excellence are worth more than many men without the
special skill which is only found as the result of special training
applied to men of exceptional physique and morale. But nowadays the most
valuable fighting man and the most difficult to perfect is the rifleman
who is also a skillful and daring rider.

The proportion of our cavalry regiments has wisely been increased. The
American cavalryman, trained to manoeuvre and fight with equal facility
on foot and on horseback, is the best type of soldier for general
purposes now to be found in the world. The ideal cavalryman of the
present day is a man who can fight on foot as effectively as the best
infantryman, and who is in addition unsurpassed in the care and
management of his horse and in his ability to fight on horseback.

A general staff should be created. As for the present staff and supply
departments, they should be filled by details from the line, the men so
detailed returning after a while to their line duties. It is very
undesirable to have the senior grades of the Army composed of men who
have come to fill the positions by the mere fact of seniority. A system
should be adopted by which there shall be an elimination grade by grade
of those who seem unfit to render the best service in the next grade.
Justice to the veterans of the Civil War who are still in the Army would
seem to require that in the matter of retirements they be given by law
the same privileges accorded to their comrades in the Navy.

The process of elimination of the least fit should be conducted in a
manner that would render it practically impossible to apply political or
social pressure on behalf of any candidate, so that each man may be
judged purely on his own merits. Pressure for the promotion of civil
officials for political reasons is bad enough, but it is tenfold worse
where applied on behalf of officers of the Army or Navy. Every promotion
and every detail under the War Department must be made solely with
regard to the good of the service and to the capacity and merit of the
man himself. No pressure, political, social, or personal, of any kind,
will be permitted to exercise the least effect in any question of
promotion or detail; and if there is reason to believe that such
pressure is exercised at the instigation of the officer concerned, it
will be held to militate against him. In our Army we cannot afford to
have rewards or duties distributed save on the simple ground that those
who by their own merits are entitled to the rewards get them, and that
those who are peculiarly fit to do the duties are chosen to perform
them.

Every effort should be made to bring the Army to a constantly increasing
state of efficiency. When on actual service no work save that directly
in the line of such service should be required. The paper work in the
Army, as in the Navy, should be greatly reduced. What is needed is
proved power of command and capacity to work well in the field. Constant
care is necessary to prevent dry rot in the transportation and
commissary departments.

Our Army is so small and so much scattered that it is very difficult to
give the higher officers (as well as the lower officers and the enlisted
men) a chance to practice manoeuvres in mass and on a comparatively
large scale. In time of need no amount of individual excellence would
avail against the paralysis which would follow inability to work as a
coherent whole, under skillful and daring leadership. The Congress
should provide means whereby it will be possible to have field exercises
by at least a division of regulars, and if possible also a division of
national guardsmen, once a year. These exercises might take the form of
field manoeuvres; or, if on the Gulf Coast or the Pacific or Atlantic
Seaboard, or in the region of the Great Lakes, the army corps when
assembled could be marched from some inland point to some point on the
water, there embarked, disembarked after a couple of days' journey at
some other point, and again marched inland. Only by actual handling and
providing for men in masses while they are marching, camping, embarking,
and disembarking, will it be possible to train the higher officers to
perform their duties well and smoothly.

A great debt is owing from the public to the men of the Army and Navy.
They should be so treated as to enable them to reach the highest point
of efficiency, so that they may be able to respond instantly to any
demand made upon them to sustain the interests of the Nation and the
honor of the flag. The individual American enlisted man is probably on
the whole a more formidable fighting man than the regular of any other
army. Every consideration should be shown him, and in return the highest
standard of usefulness should be exacted from him. It is well worth
while for the Congress to consider whether the pay of enlisted men upon
second and subsequent enlistments should not be increased to correspond
with the increased value of the veteran soldier.

Much good has already come from the act reorganizing the Army, passed
early in the present year. The three prime reforms, all of them of
literally inestimable value, are, first, the substitution of four-year
details from the line for permanent appointments in the so-called staff
divisions; second, the establishment of a corps of artillery with a
chief at the head; third, the establishment of a maximum and minimum
limit for the Army. It would be difficult to overestimate the
improvement in the efficiency of our Army which these three reforms are
making, and have in part already effected.

The reorganization provided for by the act has been substantially
accomplished. The improved conditions in the Philippines have enabled
the War Department materially to reduce the military charge upon our
revenue and to arrange the number of soldiers so as to bring this number
much nearer to the minimum than to the maximum limit established by law.
There is, however, need of supplementary legislation. Thorough military
education must be provided, and in addition to the regulars the
advantages of this education should be given to the officers of the
National Guard and others in civil life who desire intelligently to fit
themselves for possible military duty. The officers should be given the
chance to perfect themselves by study in the higher branches of this
art. At West Point the education should be of the kind most apt to turn
out men who are good in actual field service; too much stress should not
be laid on mathematics, nor should proficiency therein be held to
establish the right of entry to a corps d'elite. The typical American
officer of the best kind need not be a good mathematician; but he must
be able to master himself, to control others, and to show boldness and
fertility of resource in every emergency.

Action should be taken in reference to the militia and to the raising of
volunteer forces. Our militia law is obsolete and worthless. The
organization and armament of the National Guard of the several States,
which are treated as militia in the appropriations by the Congress,
should be made identical with those provided for the regular forces. The
obligations and duties of the Guard in time of war should be carefully
defined, and a system established by law under which the method of
procedure of raising volunteer forces should be prescribed in advance.
It is utterly impossible in the excitement and haste of impending war to
do this satisfactorily if the arrangements have not been made long
beforehand. Provision should be made for utilizing in the first
volunteer organizations called out the training of those citizens who
have already had experience under arms, and especially for the selection
in advance of the officers of any force which may be raised; for careful
selection of the kind necessary is impossible after the outbreak of war.

That the Army is not at all a mere instrument of destruction has been
shown during the last three years. In the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto
Rico it has proved itself a great constructive force, a most potent
implement for the upbuilding of a peaceful civilization.

No other citizens deserve so well of the Republic as the veterans, the
survivors of those who saved the Union. They did the one deed which if
left undone would have meant that all else in our history went for
nothing. But for their steadfast prowess in the greatest crisis of our
history, all our annals would be meaningless, and our great experiment
in popular freedom and self-government a gloomy failure. Moreover, they
not only left us a united Nation, but they left us also as a heritage
the memory of the mighty deeds by which the Nation was kept united. We
are now indeed one Nation, one in fact as well as in name; we are united
in our devotion to the flag which is the symbol of national greatness
and unity; and the very completeness of our union enables us all, in
every part of the country, to glory in the valor shown alike by the sons
of the North and the sons of the South in the times that tried men's
souls.

The men who in the last three years have done so well in the East and
the West Indies and on the mainland of Asia have shown that this
remembrance is not lost. In any serious crisis the United States must
rely for the great mass of its fighting men upon the volunteer soldiery
who do not make a permanent profession of the military career; and
whenever such a crisis arises the deathless memories of the Civil War
will give to Americans the lift of lofty purpose which comes to those
whose fathers have stood valiantly in the forefront of the battle.

The merit system of making appointments is in its essence as democratic
and American as the common school system itself. It simply means that in
clerical and other positions where the duties are entirely
non-political, all applicants should have a fair field and no favor,
each standing on his merits as he is able to show them by practical
test. Written competitive examinations offer the only available means in
many cases for applying this system. In other cases, as where laborers
are employed, a system of registration undoubtedly can be widely
extended. There are, of course, places where the written competitive
examination cannot be applied, and others where it offers by no means an
ideal solution, but where under existing political conditions it is,
though an imperfect means, yet the best present means of getting
satisfactory results.

Wherever the conditions have permitted the application of the merit
system in its fullest and widest sense, the gain to the Government has
been immense. The navy-yards and postal service illustrate, probably
better than any other branches of the Government, the great gain in
economy, efficiency, and honesty due to the enforcement of this
principle.

I recommend the passage of a law which will extend the classified
service to the District of Columbia, or will at least enable the
President thus to extend it. In my judgment all laws providing for the
temporary employment of clerks should hereafter contain a provision that
they be selected under the Civil Service Law.

It is important to have this system obtain at home, but it is even more
important to have it applied rigidly in our insular possessions. Not an
office should be filled in the Philippines or Puerto Rico with any
regard to the man's partisan affiliations or services, with any regard
to the political, social, or personal influence which he may have at his
command; in short, heed should be paid to absolutely nothing save the
man's own character and capacity and the needs of the service.

The administration of these islands should be as wholly free from the
suspicion of partisan politics as the administration of the Army and
Navy. All that we ask from the public servant in the Philippines or
Puerto Rico is that he reflect honor on his country by the way in which
he makes that country's rule a benefit to the peoples who have come
under it. This is all that we should ask, and we cannot afford to be
content with less.

The merit system is simply one method of securing honest and efficient
administration of the Government; and in the long run the sole
justification of any type of government lies in its proving itself both
honest and efficient.

The consular service is now organized under the provisions of a law
passed in 1856, which is entirely inadequate to existing conditions. The
interest shown by so many commercial bodies throughout the country in
the reorganization of the service is heartily commended to your
attention. Several bills providing for a new consular service have in
recent years been submitted to the Congress. They are based upon the
just principle that appointments to the service should be made only
after a practical test of the applicant's fitness, that promotions
should be governed by trustworthiness, adaptability, and zeal in the
performance of duty, and that the tenure of office should be unaffected
by partisan considerations.

The guardianship and fostering of our rapidly expanding foreign
commerce, the protection of American citizens resorting to foreign
countries in lawful pursuit of their affairs, and the maintenance of the
dignity of the nation abroad, combine to make it essential that our
consuls should be men of character, knowledge and enterprise. It is true
that the service is now, in the main, efficient, but a standard of
excellence cannot be permanently maintained until the principles set
forth in the bills heretofore submitted to the Congress on this subject
are enacted into law.

In my judgment the time has arrived when we should definitely make up
our minds to recognize the Indian as an individual and not as a member
of a tribe. The General Allotment Act is a mighty pulverizing engine to
break up the tribal mass. It acts directly upon the family and the
individual. Under its provisions some sixty thousand Indians have
already become citizens of the United States. We should now break up the
tribal funds, doing for them what allotment does for the tribal lands;
that is, they should be divided into individual holdings. There will be
a transition period during which the funds will in many cases have to be
held in trust. This is the case also with the lands. A stop should be
put upon the indiscriminate permission to Indians to lease their
allotments. The effort should be steadily to make the Indian work like
any other man on his own ground. The marriage laws of the Indians should
be made the same as those of the whites.

In the schools the education should be elementary and largely
industrial. The need of higher education among the Indians is very, very
limited. On the reservations care should be taken to try to suit the
teaching to the needs of the particular Indian. There is no use in
attempting to induce agriculture in a country suited only for cattle
raising, where the Indian should be made a stock grower. The ration
system, which is merely the corral and the reservation system, is highly
detrimental to the Indians. It promotes beggary, perpetuates pauperism,
and stifles industry. It is an effectual barrier to progress. It must
continue to a greater or less degree as long as tribes are herded on
reservations and have everything in common. The Indian should be treated
as an individual--like the white man. During the change of treatment
inevitable hardships will occur; every effort should be made to minimize
these hardships; but we should not because of them hesitate to make the
change. There should be a continuous reduction in the number of
agencies.

In dealing with the aboriginal races few things are more important than
to preserve them from the terrible physical and moral degradation
resulting from the liquor traffic. We are doing all we can to save our
own Indian tribes from this evil. Wherever by international agreement
this same end can be attained as regards races where we do not possess
exclusive control, every effort should be made to bring it about.

I bespeak the most cordial support from the Congress and the people for
the St. Louis Exposition to commemorate the One Hundredth Anniversary of
the Louisiana Purchase. This purchase was the greatest instance of
expansion in our history. It definitely decided that we were to become a
great continental republic, by far the foremost power in the Western
Hemisphere. It is one of three or four great landmarks in our
history--the great turning points in our development. It is eminently
fitting that all our people should join with heartiest good will in
commemorating it, and the citizens of St. Louis, of Missouri, of all the
adjacent region, are entitled to every aid in making the celebration a
noteworthy event in our annals. We earnestly hope that foreign nations
will appreciate the deep interest our country takes in this Exposition,
and our view of its importance from every standpoint, and that they will
participate in securing its success. The National Government should be
represented by a full and complete set of exhibits.

The people of Charleston, with great energy and civic spirit, are
carrying on an Exposition which will continue throughout most of the
present session of the Congress. I heartily commend this Exposition to
the good will of the people. It deserves all the encouragement that can
be given it. The managers of the Charleston Exposition have requested
the Cabinet officers to place thereat the Government exhibits which have
been at Buffalo, promising to pay the necessary expenses. I have taken
the responsibility of directing that this be done, for I feel that it is
due to Charleston to help her in her praiseworthy effort. In my opinion
the management should not be required to pay all these expenses. I
earnestly recommend that the Congress appropriate at once the small sum
necessary for this purpose.

The Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo has just closed. Both from the
industrial and the artistic standpoint this Exposition has been in a
high degree creditable and useful, not merely to Buffalo but to the
United States. The terrible tragedy of the President's assassination
interfered materially with its being a financial success. The Exposition
was peculiarly in harmony with the trend of our public policy, because
it represented an effort to bring into closer touch all the peoples of
the Western Hemisphere, and give them an increasing sense of unity. Such
an effort was a genuine service to the entire American public.

The advancement of the highest interests of national science and
learning and the custody of objects of art and of the valuable results
of scientific expeditions conducted by the United States have been
committed to the Smithsonian Institution. In furtherance of its declared
purpose--for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge among men"--the
Congress has from time to time given it other important functions. Such
trusts have been executed by the Institution with notable fidelity.
There should be no halt in the work of the Institution, in accordance
with the plans which its Secretary has presented, for the preservation
of the vanishing races of great North American animals in the National
Zoological Park. The urgent needs of the National Museum are recommended
to the favorable consideration of the Congress.

Perhaps the most characteristic educational movement of the past fifty
years is that which has created the modern public library and developed
it into broad and active service. There are now over five thousand
public libraries in the United States, the product of this period. In
addition to accumulating material, they are also striving by
organization, by improvement in method, and by co-operation, to give
greater efficiency to the material they hold, to make it more widely
useful, and by avoidance of unnecessary duplication in process to reduce
the cost of its administration.

In these efforts they naturally look for assistance to the Federal
library, which, though still the Library of Congress, and so entitled,
is the one national library of the United States. Already the largest
single collection of books on the Western Hemisphere, and certain to
increase more rapidly than any other through purchase, exchange, and the
operation of the copyright law, this library has a unique opportunity to
render to the libraries of this country--to American
scholarship--service of the highest importance. It is housed in a
building which is the largest and most magnificent yet erected for
library uses. Resources are now being provided which will develop the
collection properly, equip it with the apparatus and service necessary
to its effective use, render its bibliographic work widely available,
and enable it to become, not merely a center of research, but the chief
factor in great co-operative efforts for the diffusion of knowledge and
the advancement of learning.

For the sake of good administration, sound economy, and the advancement
of science, the Census Office as now constituted should be made a
permanent Government bureau. This would insure better, cheaper, and more
satisfactory work, in the interest not only of our business but of
statistic, economic, and social science.

The remarkable growth of the postal service is shown in the fact that
its revenues have doubled and its expenditures have nearly doubled
within twelve years. Its progressive development compels constantly
increasing outlay, but in this period of business energy and prosperity
its receipts grow so much faster than its expenses that the annual
deficit has been steadily reduced from $11,411,779 in 1897 to $3,923,727
in 1901. Among recent postal advances the success of rural free delivery
wherever established has been so marked, and actual experience has made
its benefits so plain, that the demand for its extension is general and
urgent.

It is just that the great agricultural population should share in the
improvement of the service. The number of rural routes now in operation
is 6,009, practically all established within three years, and there are
6,000 applications awaiting action. It is expected that the number in
operation at the close of the current fiscal year will reach 8,600. The
mail will then be daily carried to the doors of 5,700,000 of our people
who have heretofore been dependent upon distant offices, and one-third
of all that portion of the country which is adapted to it will be
covered by this kind of service.

The full measure of postal progress which might be realized has long
been hampered and obstructed by the heavy burden imposed on the
Government through the intrenched and well-understood abuses which have
grown up in connection with second-class mail matter. The extent of this
burden appears when it is stated that while the second-class matter
makes nearly three-fifths of the weight of all the mail, it paid for the
last fiscal year only $4,294,445 of the aggregate postal revenue of
$111,631,193. If the pound rate of postage, which produces the large
loss thus entailed, and which was fixed by the Congress with the purpose
of encouraging the dissemination of public information, were limited to
the legitimate newspapers and periodicals actually contemplated by the
law, no just exception could be taken. That expense would be the
recognized and accepted cost of a liberal public policy deliberately
adopted for a justifiable end. But much of the matter which enjoys the
privileged rate is wholly outside of the intent of the law, and has
secured admission only through an evasion of its requirements or through
lax construction. The proportion of such wrongly included matter is
estimated by postal experts to be one-half of the whole volume of
second-class mail. If it be only one-third or one-quarter, the magnitude
of the burden is apparent. The Post-Office Department has now undertaken
to remove the abuses so far as is possible by a stricter application of
the law; and it should be sustained in its effort.

Owing to the rapid growth of our power and our interests on the Pacific,
whatever happens in China must be of the keenest national concern to us.

The general terms of the settlement of the questions growing out of the
antiforeign uprisings in China of 1900, having been formulated in a
joint note addressed to China by the representatives of the injured
powers in December last, were promptly accepted by the Chinese
Government. After protracted conferences the plenipotentiaries of the
several powers were able to sign a final protocol with the Chinese
plenipotentiaries on the 7th of last September, setting forth the
measures taken by China in compliance with the demands of the joint
note, and expressing their satisfaction therewith. It will be laid
before the Congress, with a report of the plenipotentiary on behalf of
the United States, Mr. William Woodville Rockhill, to whom high praise
is due for the tact, good judgment, and energy he has displayed in
performing an exceptionally difficult and delicate task.

The agreement reached disposes in a manner satisfactory to the powers of
the various grounds of complaint, and will contribute materially to
better future relations between China and the powers. Reparation has
been made by China for the murder of foreigners during the uprising and
punishment has been inflicted on the officials, however high in rank,
recognized as responsible for or having participated in the outbreak.
Official examinations have been forbidden for a period of five years in
all cities in which foreigners have been murdered or cruelly treated,
and edicts have been issued making all officials directly responsible
for the future safety of foreigners and for the suppression of violence
against them.

Provisions have been made for insuring the future safety of the foreign
representatives in Peking by setting aside for their exclusive use a
quarter of the city which the powers can make defensible and in which
they can if necessary maintain permanent military guards; by dismantling
the military works between the capital and the sea; and by allowing the
temporary maintenance of foreign military posts along this line. An
edict has been issued by the Emperor of China prohibiting for two years
the importation of arms and ammunition into China. China has agreed to
pay adequate indemnities to the states, societies, and individuals for
the losses sustained by them and for the expenses of the military
expeditions sent by the various powers to protect life and restore
order.

Under the provisions of the joint note of December, 1900, China has
agreed to revise the treaties of commerce and navigation and to take
such other steps for the purpose of facilitating foreign trade as the
foreign powers may decide to be needed.

The Chinese Government has agreed to participate financially in the work
of bettering the water approaches to Shanghai and to Tientsin, the
centers of foreign trade in central and northern China, and an
international conservancy board, in which the Chinese Government is
largely represented, has been provided for the improvement of the
Shanghai River and the control of its navigation. In the same line of
commercial advantages a revision of the present tariff on imports has
been assented to for the purpose of substituting specific for ad valorem
duties, and an expert has been sent abroad on the part of the United
States to assist in this work. A list of articles to remain free of
duty, including flour, cereals, and rice, gold and silver coin and
bullion, has also been agreed upon in the settlement.

During these troubles our Government has unswervingly advocated
moderation, and has materially aided in bringing about an adjustment
which tends to enhance the welfare of China and to lead to a more
beneficial intercourse between the Empire and the modern world; while in
the critical period of revolt and massacre we did our full share in
safe-guarding life and property, restoring order, and vindicating the
national interest and honor. It behooves us to continue in these paths,
doing what lies in our power to foster feelings of good will, and
leaving no effort untried to work out the great policy of full and fair
intercourse between China and the nations, on a footing of equal rights
and advantages to all. We advocate the "open door" with all that it
implies; not merely the procurement of enlarged commercial opportunities
on the coasts, but access to the interior by the waterways with which
China has been so extraordinarily favored. Only by bringing the people
of China into peaceful and friendly community of trade with all the
peoples of the earth can the work now auspiciously begun be carried to
fruition. In the attainment of this purpose we necessarily claim parity
of treatment, under the conventions, throughout the Empire for our trade
and our citizens with those of all other powers.

We view with lively interest and keen hopes of beneficial results the
proceedings of the Pan-American Congress, convoked at the invitation of
Mexico, and now sitting at the Mexican capital. The delegates of the
United States are under the most liberal instructions to cooperate with
their colleagues in all matters promising advantage to the great family
of American commonwealths, as well in their relations among themselves
as in their domestic advancement and in their intercourse with the world
at large.

My predecessor communicated to the Congress the fact that the Weil and
La Abra awards against Mexico have been adjudged by the highest courts
of our country to have been obtained through fraud and perjury on the
part of the claimants, and that in accordance with the acts of the
Congress the money remaining in the hands of the Secretary of State on
these awards has been returned to Mexico. A considerable portion of the
money received from Mexico on these awards had been paid by this
Government to the claimants before the decision of the courts was
rendered. My judgment is that the Congress should return to Mexico an
amount equal to the sums thus already paid to the claimants.

The death of Queen Victoria caused the people of the United States deep
and heartfelt sorrow, to which the Government gave full expression. When
President McKinley died, our Nation in turn received from every quarter
of the British Empire expressions of grief and sympathy no less sincere.
The death of the Empress Dowager Frederick of Germany also aroused the
genuine sympathy of the American people; and this sympathy was cordially
reciprocated by Germany when the President was assassinated. Indeed,
from every quarter of the civilized world we received, at the time of
the President's death, assurances of such grief and regard as to touch
the hearts of our people. In the midst of our affliction we reverently
thank the Almighty that we are at peace with the nations of mankind; and
we firmly intend that our policy shall be such as to continue unbroken
these international relations of mutual respect and good will.

***

State of the Union Address
Theodore Roosevelt
December 2, 1902

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

We still continue in a period of unbounded prosperity. This prosperity
is not the creature of law, but undoubtedly the laws under which we work
have been instrumental in creating the conditions which made it
possible, and by unwise legislation it would be easy enough to destroy
it. There will undoubtedly be periods of depression. The wave will
recede; but the tide will advance. This Nation is seated on a continent
flanked by two great oceans. It is composed of men the descendants of
pioneers, or, in a sense, pioneers themselves; of men winnowed out from
among the nations of the Old World by the energy, boldness, and love of
adventure found in their own eager hearts. Such a Nation, so placed,
will surely wrest success from fortune.

As a people we have played a large part in the world, and we are bent
upon making our future even larger than the past. In particular, the
events of the last four years have definitely decided that, for woe or
for weal, our place must be great among the nations. We may either fall
greatly or succeed greatly; but we can not avoid the endeavor from which
either great failure or great success must come. Even if we would, we
can not play a small part. If we should try, all that would follow would
be that we should play a large part ignobly and shamefully.

But our people, the sons of the men of the Civil War, the sons of the
men who had iron in their blood, rejoice in the present and face the
future high of heart and resolute of will. Ours is not the creed of the
weakling and the coward; ours is the gospel of hope and of triumphant
endeavor. We do not shrink from the struggle before us. There are many
problems for us to face at the outset of the twentieth century--grave
problems abroad and still graver at home; but we know that we can solve
them and solve them well, provided only that we bring to the solution
the qualities of head and heart which were shown by the men who, in the
days of Washington, rounded this Government, and, in the days of
Lincoln, preserved it.

No country has ever occupied a higher plane of material well-being than
ours at the present moment. This well-being is due to no sudden or
accidental causes, but to the play of the economic forces in this
country for over a century; to our laws, our sustained and continuous
policies; above all, to the high individual average of our citizenship.
Great fortunes have been won by those who have taken the lead in this
phenomenal industrial development, and most of these fortunes have been
won not by doing evil, but as an incident to action which has benefited
the community as a whole. Never before has material well-being been so
widely diffused among our people. Great fortunes have been accumulated,
and yet in the aggregate these fortunes are small Indeed when compared
to the wealth of the people as a whole. The plain people are better off
than they have ever been before. The insurance companies, which are
practically mutual benefit societies--especially helpful to men of
moderate means--represent accumulations of capital which are among the
largest in this country. There are more deposits in the savings banks,
more owners of farms, more well-paid wage-workers in this country now
than ever before in our history. Of course, when the conditions have
favored the growth of so much that was good, they have also favored
somewhat the growth of what was evil. It is eminently necessary that we
should endeavor to cut out this evil, but let us keep a due sense of
proportion; let us not in fixing our gaze upon the lesser evil forget
the greater good. The evils are real and some of them are menacing, but
they are the outgrowth, not of misery or decadence, but of
prosperity--of the progress of our gigantic industrial development. This
industrial development must not be checked, but side by side with it
should go such progressive regulation as will diminish the evils. We
should fail in our duty if we did not try to remedy the evils, but we
shall succeed only if we proceed patiently, with practical common sense
as well as resolution, separating the good from the bad and holding on
to the former while endeavoring to get rid of the latter.

In my Message to the present Congress at its first session I discussed
at length the question of the regulation of those big corporations
commonly doing an interstate business, often with some tendency to
monopoly, which are popularly known as trusts. The experience of the
past year has emphasized, in my opinion, the desirability of the steps I
then proposed. A fundamental requisite of social efficiency is a high
standard of individual energy and excellence; but this is in no wise
inconsistent with power to act in combination for aims which can not so
well be achieved by the individual acting alone. A fundamental base of
civilization is the inviolability of property; but this is in no wise
inconsistent with the right of society to regulate the exercise of the
artificial powers which it confers upon the owners of property, under
the name of corporate franchises, in such a way as to prevent the misuse
of these powers. Corporations, and especially combinations of
corporations, should be managed under public regulation. Experience has
shown that under our system of government the necessary supervision can
not be obtained by State action. It must therefore be achieved by
national action. Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the
contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of modern
industrialism, and the effort to destroy them would be futile unless
accomplished in ways that would work the utmost mischief to the entire
body politic. We can do nothing of good in the way of regulating and
supervising these corporations until we fix clearly in our minds that we
are not attacking the corporations, but endeavoring to do away with any
evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that
they shall be so handled as to subserve the public good. We draw the
line against misconduct, not against wealth. The capitalist who, alone
or in conjunction with his fellows, performs some great industrial feat
by which he wins money is a welldoer, not a wrongdoer, provided only he
works in proper and legitimate lines. We wish to favor such a man when
he does well. We wish to supervise and control his actions only to
prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can do no harm to the honest
corporation; and we need not be over tender about sparing the dishonest
corporation.  In curbing and regulating the combinations of capital
which are, or may become, injurious to the public we must be careful not
to stop the great enterprises which have legitimately reduced the cost
of production, not to abandon the place which our country has won in the
leadership of the international industrial world, not to strike down
wealth with the result of closing factories and mines, of turning the
wage-worker idle in the streets and leaving the farmer without a market
for what he grows. Insistence upon the impossible means delay in
achieving the possible, exactly as, on the other hand, the stubborn
defense alike of what is good and what is bad in the existing system,
the resolute effort to obstruct any attempt at betterment, betrays
blindness to the historic truth that wise evolution is the sure
safeguard against revolution.

No more important subject can come before the Congress than this of the
regulation of interstate business. This country can not afford to sit
supine on the plea that under our peculiar system of government we are
helpless in the presence of the new conditions, and unable to grapple
with them or to cut out whatever of evil has arisen in connection with
them. The power of the Congress to regulate interstate commerce is an
absolute and unqualified grant, and without limitations other than those
prescribed by the Constitution. The Congress has constitutional
authority to make all laws necessary and proper for executing this
power, and I am satisfied that this power has not been exhausted by any
legislation now on the statute books. It is evident, therefore, that
evils restrictive of commercial freedom and entailing restraint upon
national commerce fall within the regulative power of the Congress, and
that a wise and reasonable law would be a necessary and proper exercise
of Congressional authority to the end that such evils should be
eradicated.

I believe that monopolies, unjust discriminations, which prevent or
cripple competition, fraudulent overcapitalization, and other evils in
trust organizations and practices which injuriously affect interstate
trade can be prevented under the power of the Congress to "regulate
commerce with foreign nations and among the several States" through
regulations and requirements operating directly upon such commerce, the
instrumentalities thereof, and those engaged therein.

I earnestly recommend this subject to the consideration of the Congress
with a view to the passage of a law reasonable in its provisions and
effective in its operations, upon which the questions can be finally
adjudicated that now raise doubts as to the necessity of constitutional
amendment. If it prove impossible to accomplish the purposes above set
forth by such a law, then, assuredly, we should not shrink from amending
the Constitution so as to secure beyond peradventure the power sought.

The Congress has not heretofore made any appropriation for the better
enforcement of the antitrust law as it now stands. Very much has been
done by the Department of Justice in securing the enforcement of this
law, but much more could be done if the Congress would make a special
appropriation for this purpose, to be expended under the direction of
the Attorney-General.

One proposition advocated has been the reduction of the tariff as a
means of reaching the evils of the trusts which fall within the category
I have described. Not merely would this be wholly ineffective, but the
diversion of our efforts in such a direction would mean the abandonment
of all intelligent attempt to do away with these evils. Many of the
largest corporations, many of those which should certainly be included
in any proper scheme of regulation, would not be affected in the
slightest degree by a change in the tariff, save as such change
interfered with the general prosperity of the country. The only relation
of the tariff to big corporations as a whole is that the tariff makes
manufactures profitable, and the tariff remedy proposed would be in
effect simply to make manufactures unprofitable. To remove the tariff as
a punitive measure directed against trusts would inevitably result in
ruin to the weaker competitors who are struggling against them. Our aim
should be not by unwise tariff changes to give foreign products the
advantage over domestic products, but by proper regulation to give
domestic competition a fair chance; and this end can not be reached by
any tariff changes which would affect unfavorably all domestic
competitors, good and bad alike. The question of regulation of the
trusts stands apart from the question of tariff revision.

Stability of economic policy must always be the prime economic need of
this country. This stability should not be fossilization. The country
has acquiesced in the wisdom of the protective-tariff principle. It is
exceedingly undesirable that this system should be destroyed or that
there should be violent and radical changes therein. Our past experience
shows that great prosperity in this country has always come under a
protective tariff; and that the country can not prosper under fitful
tariff changes at short intervals. Moreover, if the tariff laws as a
whole work well, and if business has prospered under them and is
prospering, it is better to endure for a time slight inconveniences and
inequalities in some schedules than to upset business by too quick and
too radical changes. It is most earnestly to be wished that we could
treat the tariff from the standpoint solely of our business needs. It
is, perhaps, too much to hope that partisanship may be entirely excluded
from consideration of the subject, but at least it can be made secondary
to the business interests of the country--that is, to the interests of
our people as a whole. Unquestionably these business interests will best
be served if together with fixity of principle as regards the tariff we
combine a system which will permit us from time to time to make the
necessary reapplication of the principle to the shifting national needs.
We must take scrupulous care that the reapplication shall be made in
such a way that it will not amount to a dislocation of our system, the
mere threat of which (not to speak of the performance) would produce
paralysis in the business energies of the community. The first
consideration in making these changes would, of course, be to preserve
the principle which underlies our whole tariff system--that is, the
principle of putting American business interests at least on a full
equality with interests abroad, and of always allowing a sufficient rate
of duty to more than cover the difference between the labor cost here
and abroad. The well-being of the wage-worker, like the well-being of
the tiller of the soil, should be treated as an essential in shaping our
whole economic policy. There must never be any change which will
jeopardize the standard of comfort, the standard of wages of the
American wage-worker.

One way in which the readjustment sought can be reached is by
reciprocity treaties. It is greatly to be desired that such treaties may
be adopted. They can be used to widen our markets and to give a greater
field for the activities of our producers on the one hand, and on the
other hand to secure in practical shape the lowering of duties when they
are no longer needed for protection among our own people, or when the
minimum of damage done may be disregarded for the sake of the maximum of
good accomplished. If it prove impossible to ratify the pending
treaties, and if there seem to be no warrant for the endeavor to execute
others, or to amend the pending treaties so that they can be ratified,
then the same end--to secure reciprocity--should be met by direct
legislation.

Wherever the tariff conditions are such that a needed change can not
with advantage be made by the application of the reciprocity idea, then
it can be made outright by a lowering of duties on a given product. If
possible, such change should be made only after the fullest
consideration by practical experts, who should approach the subject from
a business standpoint, having in view both the particular interests
affected and the commercial well-being of the people as a whole. The
machinery for providing such careful investigation can readily be
supplied. The executive department has already at its disposal methods
of collecting facts and figures; and if the Congress desires additional
consideration to that which will be given the subject by its own
committees, then a commission of business experts can be appointed whose
duty it should be to recommend action by the Congress after a deliberate
and scientific examination of the various schedules as they are affected
by the changed and changing conditions. The unhurried and unbiased
report of this commission would show what changes should be made in the
various schedules, and how far these changes could go without also
changing the great prosperity which this country is now enjoying, or
upsetting its fixed economic policy.

The cases in which the tariff can produce a monopoly are so few as to
constitute an inconsiderable factor in the question; but of course if in
any case it be found that a given rate of duty does promote a monopoly
which works ill, no protectionist would object to such reduction of the
duty as would equalize competition.

In my judgment, the tariff on anthracite coal should be removed, and
anthracite put actually, where it now is nominally, on the free list.
This would have no effect at all save in crises; but in crises it might
be of service to the people.

Interest rates are a potent factor in business activity, and in order
that these rates may be equalized to meet the varying needs of the
seasons and of widely separated communities, and to prevent the
recurrence of financial stringencies which injuriously affect legitimate
business, it is necessary that there should be an element of elasticity
in our monetary system. Banks are the natural servants of commerce, and
upon them should be placed, as far as practicable, the burden of
furnishing and maintaining a circulation adequate to supply the needs of
our diversified industries and of our domestic and foreign commerce; and
the issue of this should be so regulated that a sufficient supply should
be always available for the business interests of the country.

It would be both unwise and unnecessary at this time to attempt to
reconstruct our financial system, which has been the growth of a
century; but some additional legislation is, I think, desirable. The
mere outline of any plan sufficiently comprehensive to meet these
requirements would transgress the appropriate limits of this
communication. It is suggested, however, that all future legislation on
the subject should be with the view of encouraging the use of such
instrumentalities as will automatically supply every legitimate demand
of productive industries and of commerce, not only in the amount, but in
the character of circulation; and of making all kinds of money
interchangeable, and, at the will of the holder, convertible into the
established gold standard.

I again call your attention to the need of passing a proper immigration
law, covering the points outlined in my Message to you at the first
session of the present Congress; substantially such a bill has already
passed the House.

How to secure fair treatment alike for labor and for capital, how to
hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether employer or employee,
without weakening individual initiative, without hampering and cramping
the industrial development of the country, is a problem fraught with
great difficulties and one which it is of the highest importance to
solve on lines of sanity and far-sighted common sense as well as of
devotion to the right. This is an era of federation and combination.
Exactly as business men find they must often work through corporations,
and as it is a constant tendency of these corporations to grow larger,
so it is often necessary for laboring men to work in federations, and
these have become important factors of modern industrial life. Both
kinds of federation, capitalistic and labor, can do much good, and as a
necessary corollary they can both do evil. Opposition to each kind of
organization should take the form of opposition to whatever is bad in
the conduct of any given corporation or union--not of attacks upon
corporations as such nor upon unions as such; for some of the most
far-reaching beneficent work for our people has been accomplished
through both corporations and unions. Each must refrain from arbitrary
or tyrannous interference with the rights of others. Organized capital
and organized labor alike should remember that in the long run the
interest of each must be brought into harmony with the interest of the
general public; and the conduct of each must conform to the fundamental
rules of obedience to the law, of individual freedom, and of justice and
fair dealing toward all. Each should remember that in addition to power
it must strive after the realization of healthy, lofty, and generous
ideals. Every employer, every wage-worker, must be guaranteed his
liberty and his right to do as he likes with his property or his labor
so long as he does not infringe upon the rights of others. It is of the
highest importance that employer and employee alike should endeavor to
appreciate each the viewpoint of the other and the sure disaster that
will come upon both in the long run if either grows to take as habitual
an attitude of sour hostility and distrust toward the other. Few people
deserve better of the country than those representatives both of capital
and labor--and there are many such--who work continually to bring about
a good understanding of this kind, based upon wisdom and upon broad and
kindly sympathy between employers and employed. Above all, we need to
remember that any kind of class animosity in the political world is, if
possible, even more wicked, even more destructive to national welfare,
than sectional, race, or religious animosity. We can get good government
only upon condition that we keep true to the principles upon which this
Nation was founded, and judge each man not as a part of a class, but
upon his individual merits. All that we have a right to ask of any man,
rich or poor, whatever his creed, his occupation, his birthplace, or his
residence, is that he shall act well and honorably by his neighbor and
by, his country. We are neither for the rich man as such nor for the
poor man as such; we are for the upright man, rich or poor. So far as
the constitutional powers of the National Government touch these matters
of general and vital moment to the Nation, they should be exercised in
conformity with the principles above set forth.

It is earnestly hoped that a secretary of commerce may be created, with
a seat in the Cabinet. The rapid multiplication of questions affecting
labor and capital, the growth and complexity of the organizations
through which both labor and capital now find expression, the steady
tendency toward the employment of capital in huge corporations, and the
wonderful strides of this country toward leadership in the international
business world justify an urgent demand for the creation of such a
position. Substantially all the leading commercial bodies in this
country have united in requesting its creation. It is desirable that
some such measure as that which has already passed the Senate be enacted
into law. The creation of such a department would in itself be an
advance toward dealing with and exercising supervision over the whole
subject of the great corporations doing an interstate business; and with
this end in view, the Congress should endow the department with large
powers, which could be increased as experience might show the need.

I hope soon to submit to the Senate a reciprocity treaty with Cuba. On
May 20 last the United States kept its promise to the island by formally
vacating Cuban soil and turning Cuba over to those whom her own people
had chosen as the first officials of the new Republic.

Cuba lies at our doors, and whatever affects her for good or for ill
affects us also. So much have our people felt this that in the Platt
amendment we definitely took the ground that Cuba must hereafter have
closer political relations with us than with any other power. Thus in a
sense Cuba has become a part of our international political system. This
makes it necessary that in return she should be given some of the
benefits of becoming part of our economic system. It is, from our own
standpoint, a short-sighted and mischievous policy to fail to recognize
this need. Moreover, it is unworthy of a mighty and generous nation,
itself the greatest and most successful republic in history, to refuse
to stretch out a helping hand to a young and weak sister republic just
entering upon its career of independence. We should always fearlessly
insist upon our rights in the face of the strong, and we should with
ungrudging hand do our generous duty by the weak. I urge the adoption of
reciprocity with Cuba not only because it is eminently for our own
interests to control the Cuban market and by every means to foster our
supremacy in the tropical lands and waters south of us, but also because
we, of the giant republic of the north, should make all our sister
nations of the American Continent feel that whenever they will permit it
we desire to show ourselves disinterestedly and effectively their
friend.

A convention with Great Britain has been concluded, which will be at
once laid before the Senate for ratification, providing for reciprocal
trade arrangements between the United States and Newfoundland on
substantially the lines of the convention formerly negotiated by the
Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine. I believe reciprocal trade relations
will be greatly to the advantage of both countries.

As civilization grows warfare becomes less and less the normal condition
of foreign relations. The last century has seen a marked diminution of
wars between civilized powers; wars with uncivilized powers are largely
mere matters of international police duty, essential for the welfare of
the world. Wherever possible, arbitration or some similar method should
be employed in lieu of war to settle difficulties between civilized
nations, although as yet the world has not progressed sufficiently to
render it possible, or necessarily desirable, to invoke arbitration in
every case. The formation of the international tribunal which sits at
The Hague is an event of good omen from which great consequences for the
welfare of all mankind may flow. It is far better, where possible, to
invoke such a permanent tribunal than to create special arbitrators for
a given purpose.

It is a matter of sincere congratulation to our country that the United
States and Mexico should have been the first to use the good offices of
The Hague Court. This was done last summer with most satisfactory
results in the case of a claim at issue between us and our sister
Republic. It is earnestly to be hoped that this first case will serve as
a precedent for others, in which not only the United States but foreign
nations may take advantage of the machinery already in existence at The
Hague.

I commend to the favorable consideration of the Congress the Hawaiian
fire claims, which were the subject of careful investigation during the
last session.

The Congress has wisely provided that we shall build at once an isthmian
canal, if possible at Panama. The Attorney-General reports that we can
undoubtedly acquire good title from the French Panama Canal Company.
Negotiations are now pending with Colombia to secure her assent to our
building the canal. This canal will be one of the greatest engineering
feats of the twentieth century; a greater engineering feat than has yet
been accomplished during the history of mankind. The work should be
carried out as a continuing policy without regard to change of
Administration; and it should be begun under circumstances which will
make it a matter of pride for all Administrations to continue the
policy.

The canal will be of great benefit to America, and of importance to all
the world. It will be of advantage to us industrially and also as
improving our military position. It will be of advantage to the
countries of tropical America. It is earnestly to be hoped that all of
these countries will do as some of them have already done with signal
success, and will invite to their shores commerce and improve their
material conditions by recognizing that stability and order are the
prerequisites of successful development. No independent nation in
America need have the slightest fear of aggression from the United
States. It behoves each one to maintain order within its own borders and
to discharge its just obligations to foreigners. When this is done, they
can rest assured that, be they strong or weak, they have nothing to
dread from outside interference. More and more the increasing
interdependence and complexity of international political and economic
relations render it incumbent on all civilized and orderly powers to
insist on the proper policing of the world.

During the fall of 1901 a communication was addressed to the Secretary
of State, asking whether permission would be granted by the President to
a corporation to lay a cable from a point on the California coast to the
Philippine Islands by way of Hawaii. A statement of conditions or terms
upon which such corporation would undertake to lay and operate a cable
was volunteered.

Inasmuch as the Congress was shortly to convene, and Pacific-cable
legislation had been the subject of consideration by the Congress for
several years, it seemed to me wise to defer action upon the application
until the Congress had first an opportunity to act. The Congress
adjourned without taking any action, leaving the matter in exactly the
same condition in which it stood when the Congress convened.

Meanwhile it appears that the Commercial Pacific Cable Company had
promptly proceeded with preparations for laying its cable. It also made
application to the President for access to and use of soundings taken by
the U. S. S. Nero, for the purpose of discovering a practicable route
for a trans-Pacific cable, the company urging that with access to these
soundings it could complete its cable much sooner than if it were
required to take soundings upon its own account. Pending consideration
of this subject, it appeared important and desirable to attach certain
conditions to the permission to examine and use the soundings, if it
should be granted.

In consequence of this solicitation of the cable company, certain
conditions were formulated, upon which the President was willing to
allow access to these soundings and to consent to the landing and laying
of the cable, subject to any alterations or additions thereto imposed by
the Congress. This was deemed proper, especially as it was clear that a
cable connection of some kind with China, a foreign country, was a part
of the company's plan. This course was, moreover, in accordance with a
line of precedents, including President Grant's action in the case of
the first French cable, explained to the Congress in his Annual Message
of December, 1875, and the instance occurring in 1879 of the second
French cable from Brest to St. Pierre, with a branch to Cape Cod.

These conditions prescribed, among other things, a maximum rate for
commercial messages and that the company should construct a line from
the Philippine Islands to China, there being at present, as is well
known, a British line from Manila to Hongkong.

The representatives of the cable company kept these conditions long
under consideration, continuing, in the meantime, to prepare for laying
the cable. They have, however, at length acceded to them, and an
all-American line between our Pacific coast and the Chinese Empire, by
way of Honolulu and the Philippine Islands, is thus provided for, and is
expected within a few months to be ready for business.

Among the conditions is one reserving the power of the Congress to
modify or repeal any or all of them. A copy of the conditions is
herewith transmitted.

Of Porto Rico it is only necessary to say that the prosperity of the
island and the wisdom with which it has been governed have been such as
to make it serve as an example of all that is best in insular
administration.

On July 4 last, on the one hundred and twenty-sixth anniversary of the
declaration of our independence, peace and amnesty were promulgated in
the Philippine Islands. Some trouble has since from time to time
threatened with the Mohammedan Moros, but with the late insurrectionary
Filipinos the war has entirely ceased. Civil government has now been
introduced. Not only does each Filipino enjoy such rights to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as he has never before known
during the recorded history of the islands, but the people taken as a
whole now enjoy a measure of self-government greater than that granted
to any other Orientals by any foreign power and greater than that
enjoyed by any other Orientals under their own governments, save the
Japanese alone. We have not gone too far in granting these rights of
liberty and self-government; but we have certainly gone to the limit