The financial standing of the Nation at the present time is excellent, and the financial management of the Nation's interests by the Government during the last seven years has shown the most satisfactory results. But our currency system is imperfect, and it is earnestly to be hoped that the Currency Commission will be able to propose a thoroughly good system which will do away with the existing defects. During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, there was an increase in the amount of money in circulation of $902,991,399. The increase in the per capita during this period was $7.06. Within this time there were several occasions when it was necessary for the Treasury Department to come to the relief of the money market by purchases or redemptions of United States bonds; by increasing deposits in national banks; by stimulating additional issues of national bank notes, and by facilitating importations from abroad of gold. Our imperfect currency system has made these proceedings necessary, and they were effective until the monetary disturbance in the fall of 1907 immensely increased the difficulty of ordinary methods of relief. By the middle of November the available working balance in the Treasury had been reduced to approximately $5,000,000. Clearing house associations throughout the country had been obliged to resort to the expedient of issuing clearing house certificates, to be used as money. In this emergency it was determined to invite subscriptions for $50,000,000 Panama Canal bonds, and $100,000,000 three per cent certificates of indebtedness authorized by the act of June 13, 1898. It was proposed to re-deposit in the national banks the proceeds of these issues, and to permit their use as a basis for additional circulating notes of national banks. The moral effect of this procedure was so great that it was necessary to issue only $24,631,980 of the Panama Canal bonds and $15,436,500 of the certificates of indebtedness. During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, the balance between the net ordinary receipts and the net ordinary expenses of the Government showed a surplus in the four years 1902, 1903, 1906 and 1907, and a deficit in the years 1904, 1905, 1908 and a fractional part of the fiscal year 1909. The net result was a surplus of $99,283,413.54. The financial operations of the Government during this period, based upon these differences between receipts and expenditures, resulted in a net reduction of the interest-bearing debt of the United States from $987,141,040 to $897,253,990, notwithstanding that there had been two sales of Panama Canal bonds amounting in the aggregate to $54,631,980, and an issue of three per cent certificates of indebtedness under the act of June 13, 1998, amounting to $15,436,500. Refunding operations of the Treasury Department under the act of March 14, 1900, resulted in the conversion into two per cent consols of 1930 of $200,309,400 bonds bearing higher rates of interest. A decrease of $8,687,956 in the annual interest charge resulted from these operations. In short, during the seven years and three months there has been a net surplus of nearly one hundred millions of receipts over expenditures, a reduction of the interest-bearing debt by ninety millions, in spite of the extraordinary expense of the Panama Canal, and a saving of nearly nine millions on the annual interest charge. This is an exceedingly satisfactory showing, especially in view of the fact that during this period the Nation has never hesitated to undertake any expenditure that it regarded as necessary. There have been no new taxes and no increase of taxes; on the contrary, some taxes have been taken off; there has been a reduction of taxation.  . As regards the great corporations engaged in interstate business, and especially the railroad, I can only repeat what I have already again and again said in my messages to the Congress, I believe that under the interstate clause of the Constitution the United States has complete and paramount right to control all agencies of interstate commerce, and I believe that the National Government alone can exercise this right with wisdom and effectiveness so as both to secure justice from, and to do justice to, the great corporations which are the most important factors in modern business. I believe that it is worse than folly to attempt to prohibit all combinations as is done by the Sherman anti-trust law, because such a law can be enforced only imperfectly and unequally, and its enforcement works almost as much hardship as good. I strongly advocate that instead of an unwise effort to prohibit all combinations there shall be substituted a law which shall expressly permit combinations which are in the interest of the public, but shall at the same time give to some agency of the National Government full power of control and supervision over them. One of the chief features of this control should be securing entire publicity in all matters which the public has a right to know, and furthermore, the power, not by judicial but by executive action, to prevent or put a stop to every form of improper favoritism or other wrongdoing. The railways of the country should be put completely under the Interstate Commerce Commission and removed from the domain of the anti-trust law. The power of the Commission should be made thoroughgoing, so that it could exercise complete supervision and control over the issue of securities as well as over the raising and lowering of rates. As regards rates, at least, this power should be summary. The power to investigate the financial operations and accounts of the railways has been one of the most valuable features in recent legislation. Power to make combinations and traffic agreements should be explicitly conferred upon the railroads, the permission of the Commission being first gained and the combination or agreement being published in all its details. In the interest of the public the representatives of the public should have complete power to see that the railroads do their duty by the public, and as a matter of course this power should also be exercised so as to see that no injustice is done to the railroads. The shareholders, the employees and the shippers all have interests that must be guarded. It is to the interest of all of them that no swindling stock speculation should be allowed, and that there should be no improper issuance of securities. The guiding intelligences necessary for the successful building and successful management of railroads should receive ample remuneration; but no man should be allowed to make money in connection with railroads out of fraudulent over-capitalization and kindred stock-gambling performances; there must be no defrauding of investors, oppression of the farmers and business men who ship freight, or callous disregard of the rights and needs of the employees. In addition to this the interests of the shareholders, of the employees, and of the shippers should all be guarded as against one another. To give any one of them undue and improper consideration is to do injustice to the others. Rates must be made as low as is compatible with giving proper returns to all the employees of the railroad, from the highest to the lowest, and proper returns to the shareholders; but they must not, for instance, be reduced in such fashion as to necessitate a cut in the wages of the employees or the abolition of the proper and legitimate profits of honest shareholders. Telegraph and telephone companies engaged in interstate business should be put under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission. It is very earnestly to be wished that our people, through their representatives, should act in this matter. It is hard to say whether most damage to the country at large would come from entire failure on the part of the public to supervise and control the actions of the great corporations, or from the exercise of the necessary governmental power in a way which would do injustice and wrong to the corporations. Both the preachers of an unrestricted individualism, and the preachers of an oppression which would deny to able men of business the just reward of their initiative and business sagacity, are advocating policies that would be fraught with the gravest harm to the whole country. To permit every lawless capitalist, every law-defying corporation, to take any action, no matter how iniquitous, in the effort to secure an improper profit and to build up privilege, would be ruinous to the Republic and would mark the abandonment of the effort to secure in the industrial world the spirit of democratic fair dealing. On the other hand, to attack these wrongs in that spirit of demagogy which can see wrong only when committed by the man of wealth, and is dumb and blind in the presence of wrong committed against men of property or by men of no property, is exactly as evil as corruptly to defend the wrongdoing of men of wealth. The war we wage must be waged against misconduct, against wrongdoing wherever it is found; and we must stand heartily for the rights of every decent man, whether he be a man of great wealth or a man who earns his livelihood as a wage-worker or a tiller of the soil. It is to the interest of all of us that there should be a premium put upon individual initiative and individual capacity, and an ample reward for the great directing intelligences alone competent to manage the great business operations of to-day. It is well to keep in mind that exactly as the anarchist is the worst enemy of liberty and the reactionary the worst enemy of order, so the men who defend the rights of property have most to fear from the wrongdoers of great wealth, and the men who are championing popular rights have most to fear from the demagogues who in the name of popular rights would do wrong to and oppress honest business men, honest men of wealth; for the success of either type of wrongdoer necessarily invites a violent reaction against the cause the wrongdoer nominally upholds. In point of danger to the Nation there is nothing to choose between on the one hand the corruptionist, the bribe-giver, the bribe-taker, the man who employs his great talent to swindle his fellow-citizens on a large scale, and, on the other hand, the preacher of class hatred, the man who, whether from ignorance or from willingness to sacrifice his country to his ambition, persuades well-meaning but wrong-headed men to try to destroy the instruments upon which our prosperity mainly rests. Let each group of men beware of and guard against the shortcomings to which that group is itself most liable. Too often we see the business community in a spirit of unhealthy class consciousness deplore the effort to hold to account under the law the wealthy men who in their management of great corporations, whether railroads, street railways, or other industrial enterprises, have behaved in a way that revolts the conscience of the plain, decent people. Such an attitude can not be condemned too severely, for men of property should recognize that they jeopardize the rights of property when they fail heartily to join in the effort to do away with the abuses of wealth. On the other hand, those who advocate proper control on behalf of the public, through the State, of these great corporations, and of the wealth engaged on a giant scale in business operations, must ever keep in mind that unless they do scrupulous justice to the corporation, unless they permit ample profit, and cordially encourage capable men of business so long as they act with honesty, they are striking at the root of our national well-being; for in the long run, under the mere pressure of material distress, the people as a whole would probably go back to the reign of an unrestricted individualism rather than submit to a control by the State so drastic and so foolish, conceived in a spirit of such unreasonable and narrow hostility to wealth, as to prevent business operations from being profitable, and therefore to bring ruin upon the entire business community, and ultimately upon the entire body of citizens. The opposition to Government control of these great corporations makes its most effective effort in the shape of an appeal to the old doctrine of State's rights. Of course there are many sincere men who now believe in unrestricted individualism in business, just as there were formerly many sincere men who believed in slavery--that is, in the unrestricted right of an individual to own another individual. These men do not by themselves have great weight, however. The effective fight against adequate Government control and supervision of individual, and especially of corporate, wealth engaged in interstate business is chiefly done under cover; and especially under cover of an appeal to State's rights. It is not at all infrequent to read in the same speech a denunciation of predatory wealth fostered by special privilege and defiant of both the public welfare and law of the land, and a denunciation of centralization in the Central Government of the power to deal with this centralized and organized wealth. Of course the policy set forth in such twin denunciations amounts to absolutely nothing, for the first half is nullified by the second half. The chief reason, among the many sound and compelling reasons, that led to the formation of the National Government was the absolute need that the Union, and not the several States, should deal with interstate and foreign commerce; and the power to deal with interstate commerce was granted absolutely and plenarily to the Central Government and was exercised completely as regards the only instruments of interstate commerce known in those days--the waterways, the highroads, as well as the partnerships of individuals who then conducted all of what business there was. Interstate commerce is now chiefly conducted by railroads; and the great corporation has supplanted the mass of small partnerships or individuals. The proposal to make the National Government supreme over, and therefore to give it complete control over, the railroads and other instruments of interstate commerce is merely a proposal to carry out to the letter one of the prime purposes, if not the prime purpose, for which the Constitution was rounded. It does not represent centralization. It represents merely the acknowledgment of the patent fact that centralization has already come in business. If this irresponsible outside business power is to be controlled in the interest of the general public it can only be controlled in one way--by giving adequate power of control to the one sovereignty capable of exercising such power--the National Government. Forty or fifty separate state governments can not exercise that power over corporations doing business in most or all of them; first, because they absolutely lack the authority to deal with interstate business in any form; and second, because of the inevitable conflict of authority sure to arise in the effort to enforce different kinds of state regulation, often inconsistent with one another and sometimes oppressive in themselves. Such divided authority can not regulate commerce with wisdom and effect. The Central Government is the only power which, without oppression, can nevertheless thoroughly and adequately control and supervise the large corporations. To abandon the effort for National control means to abandon the effort for all adequate control and yet to render likely continual bursts of action by State legislatures, which can not achieve the purpose sought for, but which can do a great deal of damage to the corporation without conferring any real benefit on the public. I believe that the more farsighted corporations are themselves coming to recognize the unwisdom of the violent hostility they have displayed during the last few years to regulation and control by the National Government of combinations engaged in interstate business. The truth is that we who believe in this movement of asserting and exercising a genuine control, in the public interest, over these great corporations have to contend against two sets of enemies, who, though nominally opposed to one another, are really allies in preventing a proper solution of the problem. There are, first, the big corporation men, and the extreme individualists among business men, who genuinely believe in utterly unregulated business that is, in the reign of plutocracy; and, second, the men who, being blind to the economic movements of the day, believe in a movement of repression rather than of regulation of corporations, and who denounce both the power of the railroads and the exercise of the Federal power which alone can really control the railroads. Those who believe in efficient national control, on the other hand, do not in the least object to combinations; do not in the least object to concentration in business administration. On the contrary, they favor both, with the all important proviso that there shall be such publicity about their workings, and such thoroughgoing control over them, as to insure their being in the interest, and not against the interest, of the general public. We do not object to the concentration of wealth and administration; but we do believe in the distribution of the wealth in profits to the real owners, and in securing to the public the full benefit of the concentrated administration. We believe that with concentration in administration there can come both be advantage of a larger ownership and of a more equitable distribution of profits, and at the same time a better service to the commonwealth. We believe that the administration should be for the benefit of the many; and that greed and rascality, practiced on a large scale, should be punished as relentlessly as if practiced on a small scale. We do not for a moment believe that the problem will be solved by any short and easy method. The solution will come only by pressing various concurrent remedies. Some of these remedies must lie outside the domain of all government. Some must lie outside the domain of the Federal Government. But there is legislation which the Federal Government alone can enact and which is absolutely vital in order to secure the attainment of our purpose. Many laws are needed. There should be regulation by the National Government of the great interstate corporations, including a simple method of account keeping, publicity, supervision of the issue securities, abolition of rebates, and of special privileges. There should be short time franchises for all corporations engaged in public business; including the corporations which get power from water rights. There should be National as well as State guardianship of mines and forests. The labor legislation hereinafter referred to should concurrently be enacted into law. To accomplish this, means of course a certain increase in the use of--not the creation of--power, by the Central Government. The power already exists; it does not have to be created; the only question is whether it shall be used or left idle--and meanwhile the corporations over which the power ought to be exercised will not remain idle. Let those who object to this increase in the use of the only power available, the national power, be frank, and admit openly that they propose to abandon any effort to control the great business corporations and to exercise supervision over the accumulation and distribution of wealth; for such supervision and control can only come through this particular kind of increase of power. We no more believe in that empiricism which demand, absolutely unrestrained individualism than we do in that empiricism which clamors for a deadening socialism which would destroy all individual initiative and would ruin the country with a completeness that not even an unrestrained individualism itself could achieve. The danger to American democracy lies not in the least in the concentration of administrative power in responsible and accountable hands. It lies in having the power insufficiently concentrated, so that no one can be held responsible to the people for its use. Concentrated power is palpable, visible, responsible, easily reached, quickly held to account. Power scattered through many administrators, many legislators, many men who work behind and through legislators and administrators, is impalpable, is unseen, is irresponsible, can not be reached, can not be held to account. Democracy is in peril wherever the administration of political power is scattered among a variety of men who work in secret, whose very names are unknown to the common people. It is not in peril from any man who derives authority from the people, who exercises it in sight of the people, and who is from time to time compelled to give an account of its exercise to the people. There are many matters affecting labor and the status of the wage-worker to which I should like to draw your attention, but an exhaustive discussion of the problem in all its aspects is not now necessary. This administration is nearing its end; and, moreover, under our form of government the solution of the problem depends upon the action of the States as much as upon the action of the Nation. Nevertheless, there are certain considerations which I wish to set before you, because I hope that our people will more and more keep them in mind. A blind and ignorant resistance to every effort for the reform of abuses and for the readjustment of society to modern industrial conditions represents not true conservatism, but an incitement to the wildest radicalism; for wise radicalism and wise conservatism go hand in hand, one bent on progress, the other bent on seeing that no change is made unless in the right direction. I believe in a steady effort, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say in steady efforts in many different directions, to bring about a condition of affairs under which the men who work with hand or with brain, the laborers, the superintendents, the men who produce for the market and the men who find a market for the articles produced, shall own a far greater share than at present of the wealth they produce, and be enabled to invest it in the tools and instruments by which all work is carried on. As far as possible I hope to see a frank recognition of the advantages conferred by machinery, organization, and division of labor, accompanied by an effort to bring about a larger share in the ownership by wage-worker of railway, mill and factory. In farming, this simply means that we wish to see the farmer own his own land; we do not wish to see the farms so large that they become the property of absentee landlords who farm them by tenants, nor yet so small that the farmer becomes like a European peasant. Again, the depositors in our savings banks now number over one-tenth of our entire population. These are all capitalists, who through the savings banks loan their money to the workers--that is, in many cases to themselves--to carry on their various industries. The more we increase their number, the more we introduce the principles of cooperation into our industry. Every increase in the number of small stockholders in corporations is a good thing, for the same reasons; and where the employees are the stockholders the result is particularly good. Very much of this movement must be outside of anything that can be accomplished by legislation; but legislation can do a good deal. Postal savings banks will make it easy for the poorest to keep their savings in absolute safety. The regulation of the national highways must be such that they shall serve all people with equal justice. Corporate finances must be supervised so as to make it far safer than at present for the man of small means to invest his money in stocks. There must be prohibition of child labor, diminution of woman labor, shortening of hours of all mechanical labor; stock watering should be prohibited, and stock gambling so far as is possible discouraged. There should be a progressive inheritance tax on large fortunes. Industrial education should be encouraged. As far as possible we should lighten the burden of taxation on the small man. We should put a premium upon thrift, hard work, and business energy; but these qualities cease to be the main factors in accumulating a fortune long before that fortune reaches a point where it would be seriously affected by any inheritance tax such as I propose. It is eminently right that the Nation should fix the terms upon which the great fortunes are inherited. They rarely do good and they often do harm to those who inherit them in their entirety. The above is the merest sketch, hardly even a sketch in outline, of the reforms for which we should work. But there is one matter with which the Congress should deal at this session. There should no longer be any paltering with the question of taking care of the wage-workers who, under our present industrial system, become killed, crippled, or worn out as part of the regular incidents of a given business. The majority of wageworkers must have their rights secured for them by State action; but the National Government should legislate in thoroughgoing and far-reaching fashion not only for all employees of the National Government, but for all persons engaged in interstate commerce. The object sought for could be achieved to a measurable degree, as far as those killed or crippled are concerned, by proper employers' liability laws. As far as concerns those who have been worn out, I call your attention to the fact that definite steps toward providing old-age pensions have been taken in many of our private industries. These may be indefinitely extended through voluntary association and contributory schemes, or through the agency of savings banks, as under the recent Massachusetts plan. To strengthen these practical measures should be our immediate duty; it is not at present necessary to consider the larger and more general governmental schemes that most European governments have found themselves obliged to adopt. Our present system, or rather no system, works dreadful wrong, and is of benefit to only one class of people--the lawyers. When a workman is injured what he needs is not an expensive and doubtful lawsuit, but the certainty of relief through immediate administrative action. The number of accidents which result in the death or crippling of wageworkers, in the Union at large, is simply appalling; in a very few years it runs up a total far in excess of the aggregate of the dead and wounded in any modern war. No academic theory about "freedom of contract" or "constitutional liberty to contract" should be permitted to interfere with this and similar movements. Progress in civilization has everywhere meant a limitation and regulation of contract. I call your especial attention to the bulletin of the Bureau of Labor which gives a statement of the methods of treating the unemployed in European countries, as this is a subject which in Germany, for instance, is treated in connection with making provision for worn-out and crippled workmen. Pending a thoroughgoing investigation and action there is certain legislation which should be enacted at once. The law, passed at the last session of the Congress, granting compensation to certain classes of employees of the Government, should be extended to include all employees of the Government and should be made more liberal in its terms. There is no good ground for the distinction made in the law between those engaged in hazardous occupations and those not so engaged. If a man is injured or killed in any line of work, it was hazardous in his case. Whether 1 per cent or 10 per cent of those following a given occupation actually suffer injury or death ought not to have any bearing on the question of their receiving compensation. It is a grim logic which says to an injured employee or to the dependents of one killed that he or they are entitled to no compensation because very few people other than he have been injured or killed in that occupation. Perhaps one of the most striking omissions in the law is that it does not embrace peace officers and others whose lives may be sacrificed in enforcing the laws of the United States. The terms of the act providing compensation should be made more liberal than in the present act. A year's compensation is not adequate for a wage-earner's family in the event of his death by accident in the course of his employment. And in the event of death occurring, say, ten or eleven months after the accident, the family would only receive as compensation the equivalent of one or two months' earnings. In this respect the generosity of the United States towards its employees compares most unfavorably with that of every country in Europe--even the poorest. The terms of the act are also a hardship in prohibiting payment in cases where the accident is in any way due to the negligence of the employee. It is inevitable that daily familiarity with danger will lead men to take chances that can be construed into negligence. So well is this recognized that in practically all countries in the civilized world, except the United States, only a great degree of negligence acts as a bar to securing compensation. Probably in no other respect is our legislation, both State and National, so far behind practically the entire civilized world as in the matter of liability and compensation for accidents in industry. It is humiliating that at European international congresses on accidents the United States should be singled out as the most belated among the nations in respect to employers' liability legislation. This Government is itself a large employer of labor, and in its dealings with its employees it should set a standard in this country which would place it on a par with the most progressive countries in Europe. The laws of the United States in this respect and the laws of European countries have been summarized in a recent Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, and no American who reads this summary can fail to be struck by the great contrast between our practices and theirs--a contrast not in any sense to our credit. The Congress should without further delay pass a model employers' liability law for the District of Columbia. The employers' liability act recently declared unconstitutional, on account of apparently including in its provisions employees engaged in intrastate commerce as well as those engaged in interstate commerce, has been held by the local courts to be still in effect so far as its provisions apply to District of Columbia. There should be no ambiguity on this point. If there is any doubt on the subject, the law should be reenacted with special reference to the District of Columbia. This act, however, applies only to employees of common carriers. In all other occupations the liability law of the District is the old common law. The severity and injustice of the common law in this matter has been in some degree or another modified in the majority of our States, and the only jurisdiction under the exclusive control of the Congress should be ahead and not behind the States of the Union in this respect. A comprehensive employers' liability law should be passed for the District of Columbia. I renew my recommendation made in a previous message that half-holidays be granted during summer to all wageworkers in Government employ. I also renew my recommendation that the principle of the eight-hour day should as rapidly and as far as practicable be extended to the entire work being carried on by the Government; the present law should be amended to embrace contracts on those public works which the present wording of the act seems to exclude. I most earnestly urge upon the Congress the duty of increasing the totally inadequate salaries now given to our Judges. On the whole there is no body of public servants who do as valuable work, nor whose moneyed reward is so inadequate compared to their work. Beginning with the Supreme Court, the Judges should have their salaries doubled. It is not befitting the dignity of the Nation that its most honored public servants should be paid sums so small compared to what they would earn in private life that the performance of public service by them implies an exceedingly heavy pecuniary sacrifice. It is earnestly to be desired that some method should be devised for doing away with the long delays which now obtain in the administration of justice, and which operate with peculiar severity against persons of small means, and favor only the very criminals whom it is most desirable to punish. These long delays in the final decisions of cases make in the aggregate a crying evil; and a remedy should be devised. Much of this intolerable delay is due to improper regard paid to technicalities which are a mere hindrance to justice. In some noted recent cases this over-regard for technicalities has resulted in a striking denial of justice, and flagrant wrong to the body politic. At the last election certain leaders of organized labor made a violent and sweeping attack upon the entire judiciary of the country, an attack couched in such terms as to include the most upright, honest and broad-minded judges, no less than those of narrower mind and more restricted outlook. It was the kind of attack admirably fitted to prevent any successful attempt to reform abuses of the judiciary, because it gave the champions of the unjust judge their eagerly desired opportunity to shift their ground into a championship of just judges who were unjustly assailed. Last year, before the House Committee on the Judiciary, these same labor leaders formulated their demands, specifying the bill that contained them, refusing all compromise, stating they wished the principle of that bill or nothing. They insisted on a provision that in a labor dispute no injunction should issue except to protect a property right, and specifically provided that the right to carry on business should not be construed as a property right; and in a second provision their bill made legal in a labor dispute any act or agreement by or between two or more persons that would not have been unlawful if done by a single person. In other words. this bill legalized blacklisting and boycotting in every form, legalizing, for instance, those forms of the secondary boycott which the anthracite coal strike commission so unreservedly condemned; while the right to carry on a business was explicitly taken out from under that protection which the law throws over property. The demand was made that there should be trial by jury in contempt cases, thereby most seriously impairing the authority of the courts. All this represented a course of policy which, if carried out, would mean the enthronement of class privilege in its crudest and most brutal form, and the destruction of one of the most essential functions of the judiciary in all civilized lands. The violence of the crusade for this legislation, and its complete failure, illustrate two truths which it is essential our people should learn. In the first place, they ought to teach the workingman, the laborer, the wageworker, that by demanding what is improper and impossible he plays into the hands of his foes. Such a crude and vicious attack upon the courts, even if it were temporarily successful, would inevitably in the end cause a violent reaction and would band the great mass of citizens together, forcing them to stand by all the judges, competent and incompetent alike, rather than to see the wheels of justice stopped. A movement of this kind can ultimately result in nothing but damage to those in whose behalf it is nominally undertaken. This is a most healthy truth, which it is wise for all our people to learn. Any movement based on that class hatred which at times assumes the name of "class consciousness" is certain ultimately to fail, and if it temporarily succeeds, to do far-reaching damage. "Class consciousness," where it is merely another name for the odious vice of class selfishness, is equally noxious whether in an employer's association or in a workingman's association. The movement in question was one in which the appeal was made to all workingmen to vote primarily, not as American citizens, but as individuals of a certain class in society. Such an appeal in the first place revolts the more high-minded and far-sighted among the persons to whom it is addressed, and in the second place tends to arouse a strong antagonism among all other classes of citizens, whom it therefore tends to unite against the very organization on whose behalf it is issued. The result is therefore unfortunate from every standpoint. This healthy truth, by the way, will be learned by the socialists if they ever succeed in establishing in this country an important national party based on such class consciousness and selfish class interest. The wageworkers, the workingmen, the laboring men of the country, by the way in which they repudiated the effort to get them to cast their votes in response to an appeal to class hatred, have emphasized their sound patriotism and Americanism. The whole country has cause to fell pride in this attitude of sturdy independence, in this uncompromising insistence upon acting simply as good citizens, as good Americans, without regard to fancied--and improper--class interests. Such an attitude is an object-lesson in good citizenship to the entire nation. But the extreme reactionaries, the persons who blind themselves to the wrongs now and then committed by the courts on laboring men, should also think seriously as to what such a movement as this portends. The judges who have shown themselves able and willing effectively to check the dishonest activity of the very rich man who works iniquity by the mismanagement of corporations, who have shown themselves alert to do justice to the wageworker, and sympathetic with the needs of the mass of our people, so that the dweller in the tenement houses, the man who practices a dangerous trade, the man who is crushed by excessive hours of labor, feel that their needs are understood by the courts--these judges are the real bulwark of the courts; these judges, the judges of the stamp of the president-elect, who have been fearless in opposing labor when it has gone wrong, but fearless also in holding to strict account corporations that work iniquity, and far-sighted in seeing that the workingman gets his rights, are the men of all others to whom we owe it that the appeal for such violent and mistaken legislation has fallen on deaf ears, that the agitation for its passage proved to be without substantial basis. The courts are jeopardized primarily by the action of those Federal and State judges who show inability or unwillingness to put a stop to the wrongdoing of very rich men under modern industrial conditions, and inability or unwillingness to give relief to men of small means or wageworkers who are crushed down by these modern industrial conditions; who, in other words, fail to understand and apply the needed remedies for the new wrongs produced by the new and highly complex social and industrial civilization which has grown up in the last half century. The rapid changes in our social and industrial life which have attended this rapid growth have made it necessary that, in applying to concrete cases the great rule of right laid down in our Constitution, there should be a full understanding and appreciation of the new conditions to which the rules are to be applied. What would have been an infringement upon liberty half a century ago may be the necessary safeguard of liberty to-day. What would have been an injury to property then may be necessary to the enjoyment of property now. Every judicial decision involves two terms--one, as interpretation of the law; the other, the understanding of the facts to which it is to be applied. The great mass of our judicial officers are, I believe, alive to those changes of conditions which so materially affect the performance of their judicial duties. Our judicial system is sound and effective at core, and it remains, and must ever be maintained, as the safeguard of those principles of liberty and justice which stand at the foundation of American institutions; for, as Burke finely said, when liberty and justice are separated, neither is safe. There are, however, some members of the judicial body who have lagged behind in their understanding of these great and vital changes in the body politic, whose minds have never been opened to the new applications of the old principles made necessary by the new conditions. Judges of this stamp do lasting harm by their decisions, because they convince poor men in need of protection that the courts of the land are profoundly ignorant of and out of sympathy with their needs, and profoundly indifferent or hostile to any proposed remedy. To such men it seems a cruel mockery to have any court decide against them on the ground that it desires to preserve "liberty" in a purely technical form, by withholding liberty in any real and constructive sense. It is desirable that the legislative body should possess, and wherever necessary exercise, the power to determine whether in a given case employers and employees are not on an equal footing, so that the necessities of the latter compel them to submit to such exactions as to hours and conditions of labor as unduly to tax their strength; and only mischief can result when such determination is upset on the ground that there must be no "interference with the liberty to contract"--often a merely academic "liberty," the exercise of which is the negation of real liberty. There are certain decisions by various courts which have been exceedingly detrimental to the rights of wageworkers. This is true of all the decisions that decide that men and women are, by the Constitution, "guaranteed their liberty" to contract to enter a dangerous occupation, or to work an undesirable or improper number of hours, or to work in unhealthy surroundings; and therefore can not recover damages when maimed in that occupation and can not be forbidden to work what the legislature decides is an excessive number of hours, or to carry on the work under conditions which the legislature decides to be unhealthy. The most dangerous occupations are often the poorest paid and those where the hours of work are longest; and in many cases those who go into them are driven by necessity so great that they have practically no alternative. Decisions such as those alluded to above nullify the legislative effort to protect the wage-workers who most need protection from those employers who take advantage of their grinding need. They halt or hamper the movement for securing better and more equitable conditions of labor. The talk about preserving to the misery-hunted beings who make contracts for such service their "liberty" to make them, is either to speak in a spirit of heartless irony or else to show an utter lack of knowledge of the conditions of life among the great masses of our fellow-countrymen, a lack which unfits a judge to do good service just as it would unfit any executive or legislative officer. There is also, I think, ground for the belief that substantial injustice is often suffered by employees in consequence of the custom of courts issuing temporary injunctions without notice to them, and punishing them for contempt of court in instances where, as a matter of fact, they have no knowledge of any proceedings. Outside of organized labor there is a widespread feeling that this system often works great injustice to wageworkers when their efforts to better their working condition result in industrial disputes. A temporary injunction procured ex parte may as a matter of fact have all the effect of a permanent injunction in causing disaster to the wageworkers' side in such a dispute. Organized labor is chafing under the unjust restraint which comes from repeated resort to this plan of procedure. Its discontent has been unwisely expressed, and often improperly expressed, but there is a sound basis for it, and the orderly and law-abiding people of a community would be in a far stronger position for upholding the courts if the undoubtedly existing abuses could be provided against. Such proposals as those mentioned above as advocated by the extreme labor leaders contain the vital error of being class legislation of the most offensive kind, and even if enacted into law I believe that the law would rightly be held unconstitutional. Moreover, the labor people are themselves now beginning to invoke the use of the power of injunction. During the last ten years, and within my own knowledge, at least fifty injunctions have been obtained by labor unions in New York City alone, most of them being to protect the union label (a "property right"), but some being obtained for other reasons against employers. The power of injunction is a great equitable remedy, which should on no account be destroyed. But safeguards should be erected against its abuse. I believe that some such provisions as those I advocated a year ago for checking the abuse of the issuance of temporary injunctions should be adopted. In substance, provision should be made that no injunction or temporary restraining order issue otherwise than on notice, except where irreparable injury would otherwise result; and in such case a hearing on the merits of the order should be had within a short fixed period, and, if not then continued after hearing, it should forthwith lapse. Decisions should be rendered immediately, and the chance of delay minimized in every way. Moreover, I believe that the procedure should be sharply defined, and the judge required minutely to state the particulars both of his action and of his reasons therefor, so that the Congress can, if it desires, examine and investigate the same. The chief lawmakers in our country may be, and often are, the judges, because they are the final seat of authority. Every time they interpret contract, property, vested rights, due process of law, liberty, they necessarily enact into law parts of a system of social philosophy, and as such interpretation is fundamental, they give direction to all law-making. The decisions of the courts on economic and social questions depend upon their economic and social philosophy; and for the peaceful progress of our people during the twentieth century we shall owe most to those judges who hold to a twentieth century economic and social philosophy and not to a long outgrown philosophy, which was itself the product of primitive economic conditions. Of course a judge's views on progressive social philosophy are entirely second in importance to his possession of a high and fine character; which means the possession of such elementary virtues as honesty, courage, and fair-mindedness. The judge who owes his election to pandering to demagogic sentiments or class hatreds and prejudices, and the judge who owes either his election or his appointment to the money or the favor of a great corporation, are alike unworthy to sit on the bench, are alike traitors to the people; and no profundity of legal learning, or correctness of abstract conviction on questions of public policy, can serve as an offset to such shortcomings. But it is also true that judges, like executives and legislators, should hold sound views on the questions of public policy which are of vital interest to the people. The legislators and executives are chosen to represent the people in enacting and administering the laws. The judges are not chosen to represent the people in this sense. Their function is to interpret the laws. The legislators are responsible for the laws; the judges for the spirit in which they interpret and enforce the laws. We stand aloof from the reckless agitators who would make the judges mere pliant tools of popular prejudice and passion; and we stand aloof from those equally unwise partisans of reaction and privilege who deny the proposition that, inasmuch as judges are chosen to serve the interests of the whole people, they should strive to find out what those interests are, and, so far as they conscientiously can, should strive to give effect to popular conviction when deliberately and duly expressed by the lawmaking body. The courts are to be highly commended and staunchly upheld when they set their faces against wrongdoing or tyranny by a majority; but they are to be blamed when they fail to recognize under a government like ours the deliberate judgment of the majority as to a matter of legitimate policy, when duly expressed by the legislature. Such lawfully expressed and deliberate judgment should be given effect by the courts, save in the extreme and exceptional cases where there has been a clear violation of a constitutional provision. Anything like frivolity or wantonness in upsetting such clearly taken governmental action is a grave offense against the Republic. To protest against tyranny, to protect minorities from oppression, to nullify an act committed in a spasm of popular fury, is to render a service to the Republic. But for the courts to arrogate to themselves functions which properly belong to the legislative bodies is all wrong, and in the end works mischief. The people should not be permitted to pardon evil and slipshod legislation on the theory that the court will set it right; they should be taught that the right way to get rid of a bad law is to have the legislature repeal it, and not to have the courts by ingenious hair-splitting nullify it. A law may be unwise and improper; but it should not for these reasons be declared unconstitutional by a strained interpretation, for the result of such action is to take away from the people at large their sense of responsibility and ultimately to destroy their capacity for orderly self restraint and self government. Under such a popular government as ours, rounded on the theory that in the long run the will of the people is supreme, the ultimate safety of the Nation can only rest in training and guiding the people so that what they will shall be right, and not in devising means to defeat their will by the technicalities of strained construction. For many of the shortcomings of justice in our country our people as a whole are themselves to blame, and the judges and juries merely bear their share together with the public as a whole. It is discreditable to us as a people that there should be difficulty in convicting murderers, or in bringing to justice men who as public servants have been guilty of corruption, or who have profited by the corruption of public servants. The result is equally unfortunate, whether due to hairsplitting technicalities in the interpretation of law by judges, to sentimentality and class consciousness on the part of juries, or to hysteria and sensationalism in the daily press. For much of this failure of justice no responsibility whatever lies on rich men as such. We who make up the mass of the people can not shift the responsibility from our own shoulders. But there is an important part of the failure which has specially to do with inability to hold to proper account men of wealth who behave badly. The chief breakdown is in dealing with the new relations that arise from the mutualism, the interdependence of our time. Every new social relation begets a new type of wrongdoing--of sin, to use an old-fashioned word--and many years always elapse before society is able to turn this sin into crime which can be effectively punished at law. During the lifetime of the older men now alive the social relations have changed far more rapidly than in the preceding two centuries. The immense growth of corporations, of business done by associations, and the extreme strain and pressure of modern life, have produced conditions which render the public confused as to who its really dangerous foes are; and among the public servants who have not only shared this confusion, but by some of their acts have increased it, are certain judges. Marked inefficiency has been shown in dealing with corporations and in re-settling the proper attitude to be taken by the public not only towards corporations, but towards labor and towards the social questions arising out of the factory system and the enormous growth of our great cities. The huge wealth that has been accumulated by a few individuals of recent years, in what has amounted to a social and industrial revolution, has been as regards some of these individuals made possible only by the improper use of the modern corporation. A certain type of modern corporation, with its officers and agents, its many issues of securities, and its constant consolidation with allied undertakings, finally becomes an instrument so complex as to contain a greater number of elements that, under various judicial decisions, lend themselves to fraud and oppression than any device yet evolved in the human brain. Corporations are necessary instruments of modern business. They have been permitted to become a menace largely because the governmental representatives of the people have worked slowly in providing for adequate control over them. The chief offender in any given case may be an executive, a legislature, or a judge. Every executive head who advises violent, instead of gradual, action, or who advocates ill-considered and sweeping measures of reform (especially if they are tainted with vindictiveness and disregard for the rights of the minority) is particularly blameworthy. The several legislatures are responsible for the fact that our laws are often prepared with slovenly haste and lack of consideration. Moreover, they are often prepared, and still more frequently amended during passage, at the suggestion of the very parties against whom they are afterwards enforced. Our great clusters of corporations, huge trusts and fabulously wealthy multi-millionaires, employ the very best lawyers they can obtain to pick flaws in these statutes after their passage; but they also employ a class of secret agents who seek, under the advice of experts, to render hostile legislation innocuous by making it unconstitutional, often through the insertion of what appear on their face to be drastic and sweeping provisions against the interests of the parties inspiring them; while the demagogues, the corrupt creatures who introduce blackmailing schemes to "strike" corporations, and all who demand extreme, and undesirably radical, measures, show themselves to be the worst enemies of the very public whose loud-mouthed champions they profess to be. A very striking illustration of the consequences of carelessness in the preparation of a statute was the employers' liability law of 1906. In the cases arising under that law, four out of six courts of first instance held it unconstitutional; six out of nine justices of the Supreme Court held that its subject-matter was within the province of congressional action; and four of the nine justices held it valid. It was, however, adjudged unconstitutional by a bare majority of the court--five to four. It was surely a very slovenly piece of work to frame the legislation in such shape as to leave the question open at all. Real damage has been done by the manifold and conflicting interpretations of the interstate commerce law. Control over the great corporations doing interstate business can be effective only if it is vested with full power in an administrative department, a branch of the Federal executive, carrying out a Federal law; it can never be effective if a divided responsibility is left in both the States and the Nation; it can never be effective if left in the hands of the courts to be decided by lawsuits. The courts hold a place of peculiar and deserved sanctity under our form of government. Respect for the law is essential to the permanence of our institutions; and respect for the law is largely conditioned upon respect for the courts. It is an offense against the Republic to say anything which can weaken this respect, save for the gravest reason and in the most carefully guarded manner. Our judges should be held in peculiar honor; and the duty of respectful and truthful comment and criticism, which should be binding when we speak of anybody, should be especially binding when we speak of them. On an average they stand above any other servants of the community, and the greatest judges have reached the high level held by those few greatest patriots whom the whole country delights to honor. But we must face the fact that there are wise and unwise judges, just as there are wise and unwise executives and legislators. When a president or a governor behaves improperly or unwisely, the remedy is easy, for his term is short; the same is true with the legislator, although not to the same degree, for he is one of many who belong to some given legislative body, and it is therefore less easy to fix his personal responsibility and hold him accountable therefor. With a judge, who, being human, is also likely to err, but whose tenure is for life, there is no similar way of holding him to responsibility. Under ordinary conditions the only forms of pressure to which he is in any way amenable are public opinion and the action of his fellow judges. It is the last which is most immediately effective, and to which we should look for the reform of abuses. Any remedy applied from without is fraught with risk. It is far better, from every standpoint, that the remedy should come from within. In no other nation in the world do the courts wield such vast and far-reaching power as in the United States. All that is necessary is that the courts as a whole should exercise this power with the farsighted wisdom already shown by those judges who scan the future while they act in the present. Let them exercise this great power not only honestly and bravely, but with wise insight into the needs and fixed purposes of the people, so that they may do justice and work equity, so that they may protect all persons in their rights, and yet break down the barriers of privilege, which is the foe of right.  . If there is any one duty which more than another we owe it to our children and our children's children to perform at once, it is to save the forests of this country, for they constitute the first and most important element in the conservation of the natural resources of the country. There are of course two kinds of natural resources, One is the kind which can only be used as part of a process of exhaustion; this is true of mines, natural oil and gas wells, and the like. The other, and of course ultimately by far the most important, includes the resources which can be improved in the process of wise use; the soil, the rivers, and the forests come under this head. Any really civilized nation will so use all of these three great national assets that the nation will have their benefit in the future. Just as a farmer, after all his life making his living from his farm, will, if he is an expert farmer, leave it as an asset of increased value to his son, so we should leave our national domain to our children, increased in value and not worn out. There are small sections of our own country, in the East and the West, in the Adriondacks, the White Mountains, and the Appalachians, and in the Rocky Mountains, where we can already see for ourselves the damage in the shape of permanent injury to the soil and the river systems which comes from reckless deforestation. It matters not whether this deforestation is due to the actual reckless cutting of timber, to the fires that inevitably follow such reckless cutting of timber, or to reckless and uncontrolled grazing, especially by the great migratory bands of sheep, the unchecked wandering of which over the country means destruction to forests and disaster to the small home makers, the settlers of limited means. Shortsighted persons, or persons blinded to the future by desire to make money in every way out of the present, sometimes speak as if no great damage would be done by the reckless destruction of our forests. It is difficult to have patience with the arguments of these persons. Thanks to our own recklessness in the use of our splendid forests, we have already crossed the verge of a timber famine in this country, and no measures that we now take can, at least for many years, undo the mischief that has already been done. But we can prevent further mischief being done; and it would be in the highest degree reprehensible to let any consideration of temporary convenience or temporary cost interfere with such action, especially as regards the National Forests which the nation can now, at this very moment, control. All serious students of the question are aware of the great damage that has been done in the Mediterranean countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa by deforestation. The similar damage that has been done in Eastern Asia is less well known. A recent investigation into conditions in North China by Mr. Frank N. Meyer, of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture, has incidentally furnished in very striking fashion proof of the ruin that comes from reckless deforestation of mountains, and of the further fact that the damage once done may prove practically irreparable. So important are these investigations that I herewith attach as an appendix to my message certain photographs showing present conditions in China. They show in vivid fashion the appalling desolation, taking the shape of barren mountains and gravel and sand-covered plains, which immediately follows and depends upon the deforestation of the mountains. Not many centuries ago the country of northern China was one of the most fertile and beautiful spots in the entire world, and was heavily forested. We know this not only from the old Chinese records, but from the accounts given by the traveler, Marco Polo. He, for instance, mentions that in visiting the provinces of Shansi and Shensi he observed many plantations of mulberry trees. Now there is hardly a single mulberry tree in either of these provinces, and the culture of the silkworm has moved farther south, to regions of atmospheric moisture. As an illustration of the complete change in the rivers, we may take Polo's statement that a certain river, the Hun Ho, was so large and deep that merchants ascended it from the sea with heavily laden boats; today this river is simply a broad sandy bed, with shallow, rapid currents wandering hither and thither across it, absolutely unnavigable. But we do not have to depend upon written records. The dry wells, and the wells with water far below the former watermark, bear testimony to the good days of the past and the evil days of the present. Wherever the native vegetation has been allowed to remain, as, for instance, here and there around a sacred temple or imperial burying ground, there are still huge trees and tangled jungle, fragments of the glorious ancient forests. The thick, matted forest growth formerly covered the mountains to their summits. All natural factors favored this dense forest growth, and as long as it was permitted to exist the plains at the foot of the mountains were among the most fertile on the globe, and the whole country was a garden. Not the slightest effort was made, however, to prevent the unchecked cutting of the trees, or to secure reforestation. Doubtless for many centuries the tree-cutting by the inhabitants of the mountains worked but slowly in bringing about the changes that have now come to pass; doubtless for generations the inroads were scarcely noticeable. But there came a time when the forest had shrunk sufficiently to make each year's cutting a serious matter, and from that time on the destruction proceeded with appalling rapidity; for of course each year of destruction rendered the forest less able to recuperate, less able to resist next year's inroad. Mr. Meyer describes the ceaseless progress of the destruction even now, when there is so little left to destroy. Every morning men and boys go out armed with mattox or axe, scale the steepest mountain sides, and cut down and grub out, root and branch, the small trees and shrubs still to be found. The big trees disappeared centuries ago, so that now one of these is never seen save in the neighborhood of temples, where they are artificially protected; and even here it takes all the watch and care of the tree-loving priests to prevent their destruction. Each family, each community, where there is no common care exercised in the interest of all of them to prevent deforestation, finds its profit in the immediate use of the fuel which would otherwise be used by some other family or some other community. In the total absence of regulation of the matter in the interest of the whole people, each small group is inevitably pushed into a policy of destruction which can not afford to take thought for the morrow. This is just one of those matters which it is fatal to leave to unsupervised individual control. The forest can only be protected by the State, by the Nation; and the liberty of action of individuals must be conditioned upon what the State or Nation determines to be necessary for the common safety. The lesson of deforestation in China is a lesson which mankind should have learned many times already from what has occurred in other places. Denudation leaves naked soil; then gullying cuts down to the bare rock; and meanwhile the rock-waste buries the bottomlands. When the soil is gone, men must go; and the process does not take long. This ruthless destruction of the forests in northern China has brought about, or has aided in bringing about, desolation, just as the destruction of the forests in central Asia aid in bringing ruin to the once rich central Asian cities; just as the destruction of the forest in northern Africa helped towards the ruin of a region that was a fertile granary in Roman days. Shortsighted man, whether barbaric, semi-civilized, or what he mistakenly regards as fully civilized, when he has destroyed the forests, has rendered certain the ultimate destruction of the land itself. In northern China the mountains are now such as are shown by the accompanying photographs, absolutely barren peaks. Not only have the forests been destroyed, but because of their destruction the soil has been washed off the naked rock. The terrible consequence is that it is impossible now to undo the damage that has been done. Many centuries would have to pass before soil would again collect, or could be made to collect, in sufficient quantity once more to support the old-time forest growth. In consequence the Mongol Desert is practically extending eastward over northern China. The climate has changed and is still changing. It has changed even within the last half century, as the work of tree destruction has been consummated. The great masses of arboreal vegetation on the mountains formerly absorbed the heat of the sun and sent up currents of cool air which brought the moisture-laden clouds lower and forced them to precipitate in rain a part of their burden of water. Now that there is no vegetation, the barren mountains, scorched by the sun, send up currents of heated air which drive away instead of attracting the rain clouds, and cause their moisture to be disseminated. In consequence, instead of the regular and plentiful rains which existed in these regions of China when the forests were still in evidence, the unfortunate inhabitants of the deforested lands now see their crops wither for lack of rainfall, while the seasons grow more and more irregular; and as the air becomes dryer certain crops refuse longer to grow at all. That everything dries out faster than formerly is shown by the fact that the level of the wells all over the land has sunk perceptibly, many of them having become totally dry. In addition to the resulting agricultural distress, the watercourses have changed. Formerly they were narrow and deep, with an abundance of clear water the year around; for the roots and humus of the forests caught the rainwater and let it escape by slow, regular seepage. They have now become broad, shallow stream beds, in which muddy water trickles in slender currents during the dry seasons, while when it rains there are freshets, and roaring muddy torrents come tearing down, bringing disaster and destruction everywhere. Moreover, these floods and freshets, which diversify the general dryness, wash away from the mountain sides, and either wash away or cover in the valleys, the rich fertile soil which it took tens of thousands of years for Nature to form; and it is lost forever, and until the forests grow again it can not be replaced. The sand and stones from the mountain sides are washed loose and come rolling down to cover the arable lands, and in consequence, throughout this part of China, many formerly rich districts are now sandy wastes, useless for human cultivation and even for pasture. The cities have been of course seriously affected, for the streams have gradually ceased to be navigable. There is testimony that even within the memory of men now living there has been a serious diminution of the rainfall of northeastern China. The level of the Sungari River in northern Manchuria has been sensibly lowered during the last fifty years, at least partly as the result of the indiscriminate rutting of the forests forming its watershed. Almost all the rivers of northern China have become uncontrollable, and very dangerous to the dwellers along their banks, as a direct result of the destruction of the forests. The journey from Pekin to Jehol shows in melancholy fashion how the soil has been washed away from whole valleys, so that they have been converted into deserts. In northern China this disastrous process has gone on so long and has proceeded so far that no complete remedy could be applied. There are certain mountains in China from which the soil is gone so utterly that only the slow action of the ages could again restore it; although of course much could be done to prevent the still further eastward extension of the Mongolian Desert if the Chinese Government would act at once. The accompanying cuts from photographs show the inconceivable desolation of the barren mountains in which certain of these rivers rise--mountains, be it remembered, which formerly supported dense forests of larches and firs, now unable to produce any wood, and because of their condition a source of danger to the whole country. The photographs also show the same rivers after they have passed through the mountains, the beds having become broad and sandy because of the deforestation of the mountains. One of the photographs shows a caravan passing through a valley. Formerly, when the mountains were forested, it was thickly peopled by prosperous peasants. Now the floods have carried destruction all over the land and the valley is a stony desert. Another photograph shows a mountain road covered with the stones and rocks that are brought down in the rainy season from the mountains which have already been deforested by human hands. Another shows a pebbly river-bed in southern Manchuria where what was once a great stream has dried up owing to the deforestation in the mountains. Only some scrub wood is left, which will disappear within a half century. Yet another shows the effect of one of the washouts, destroying an arable mountain side, these washouts being due to the removal of all vegetation; yet in this photograph the foreground shows that reforestation is still a possibility in places. What has thus happened in northern China, what has happened in Central Asia, in Palestine, in North Africa, in parts of the Mediterranean countries of Europe, will surely happen in our country if we do not exercise that wise forethought which should be one of the chief marks of any people calling itself civilized. Nothing should be permitted to stand in the way of the preservation of the forests, and it is criminal to permit individuals to purchase a little gain for themselves through the destruction of forests when this destruction is fatal to the well-being of the whole country in the future. Action should be begun forthwith, during the present session of the Congress, for the improvement of our inland waterways--action which will result in giving us not only navigable but navigated rivers. We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars upon these waterways, yet the traffic on nearly all of them is steadily declining. This condition is the direct result of the absence of any comprehensive and far-seeing plan of waterway improvement, Obviously we can not continue thus to expend the revenues of the Government without return. It is poor business to spend money for inland navigation unless we get it. Inquiry into the condition of the Mississippi and its principal tributaries reveals very many instances of the utter waste caused by the methods which have hitherto obtained for the so-called "improvement" of navigation. A striking instance is supplied by the "improvement" of the Ohio, which, begun in 1824, was continued under a single plan for half a century. In 1875 a new plan was adopted and followed for a quarter of a century. In 1902 still a different plan was adopted and has since been pursued at a rate which only promises a navigable river in from twenty to one hundred years longer. Such shortsighted, vacillating, and futile methods are accompanied by decreasing water-borne commerce and increasing traffic congestion on land, by increasing floods, and by the waste of public money. The remedy lies in abandoning the methods which have so signally failed and adopting new ones in keeping with the needs and demands of our people. In a report on a measure introduced at the first session of the present Congress, the Secretary of War said: "The chief defect in the methods hitherto pursued lies in the absence of executive authority for originating comprehensive plans covering the country or natural divisions thereof." In this opinion I heartily concur. The present methods not only fail to give us inland navigation, but they are injurious to the army as well. What is virtually a permanent detail of the corps of engineers to civilian duty necessarily impairs the efficiency of our military establishment. The military engineers have undoubtedly done efficient work in actual construction, but they are necessarily unsuited by their training and traditions to take the broad view, and to gather and transmit to the Congress the commercial and industrial information and forecasts, upon which waterway improvement must always so largely rest. Furthermore, they have failed to grasp the great underlying fact that every stream is a unit from its source to its mouth, and that all its uses are interdependent. Prominent officers of the Engineer Corps have recently even gone so far as to assert in print that waterways are not dependent upon the conservation of the forests about their headwaters. This position is opposed to all the recent work of the scientific bureaus of the Government and to the general experience of mankind. A physician who disbelieved in vaccination would not be the right man to handle an epidemic of smallpox, nor should we leave a doctor skeptical about the transmission of yellow fever by the Stegomyia mosquito in charge of sanitation at Havana or Panama. So with the improvement of our rivers; it is no longer wise or safe to leave this great work in the hands of men who fail to grasp the essential relations between navigation and general development and to assimilate and use the central facts about our streams. Until the work of river improvement is undertaken in a modern way it can not have results that will meet the needs of this modern nation. These needs should be met without further dilly-dallying or delay. The plan which promises the best and quickest results is that of a permanent commission authorized to coordinate the work of all the Government departments relating to waterways, and to frame and supervise the execution of a comprehensive plan. Under such a commission the actual work of construction might be entrusted to the reclamation service; or to the military engineers acting with a sufficient number of civilians to continue the work in time of war; or it might be divided between the reclamation service and the corps of engineers. Funds should be provided from current revenues if it is deemed wise--otherwise from the sale of bonds. The essential thing is that the work should go forward under the best possible plan, and with the least possible delay. We should have a new type of work and a new organization for planning and directing it. The time for playing with our waterways is past. The country demands results.  . I urge that all our National parks adjacent to National forests be placed completely under the control of the forest service of the Agricultural Department, instead of leaving them as they now are, under the Interior Department and policed by the army. The Congress should provide for superintendents with adequate corps of first-class civilian scouts, or rangers, and, further, place the road construction under the superintendent instead of leaving it with the War Department. Such a change in park management would result in economy and avoid the difficulties of administration which now arise from having the responsibility of care and protection divided between different departments. The need for this course is peculiarly great in the Yellowstone Park. This, like the Yosemite, is a great wonderland, and should be kept as a national playground. In both, all wild things should be protected and the scenery kept wholly unmarred. I am happy to say that I have been able to set aside in various parts of the country small, well-chosen tracts of ground to serve as sanctuaries and nurseries for wild creatures. I had occasion in my message of May 4, 1906, to urge the passage of some law putting alcohol, used in the arts, industries, and manufactures, upon the free list--that is, to provide for the withdrawal free of tax of alcohol which is to be denatured for those purposes. The law of June 7, 1906, and its amendment of March 2, 1907, accomplished what was desired in that respect, and the use of denatured alcohol, as intended, is making a fair degree of progress and is entitled to further encouragement and support from the Congress. The pure food legislation has already worked a benefit difficult to overestimate. It has been my purpose from the beginning of my administration to take the Indian Service completely out of the atmosphere of political activity, and there has been steady progress toward that end. The last remaining stronghold of politics in that service was the agency system, which had seen its best days and was gradually falling to pieces from natural or purely evolutionary causes, but, like all such survivals, was decaying slowly in its later stages. It seems clear that its extinction had better be made final now, so that the ground can be cleared for larger constructive work on behalf of the Indians, preparatory to their induction into the full measure of responsible citizenship. On November 1 only eighteen agencies were left on the roster; with two exceptions, where some legal questions seemed to stand temporarily in the way, these have been changed to superintendencies, and their heads brought into the classified civil service. Last year an amendment was incorporated in the measure providing for the Secret Service, which provided that there should be no detail from the Secret Service and no transfer therefrom. It is not too much to say that this amendment has been of benefit only, and could be of benefit only, to the criminal classes. If deliberately introduced for the purpose of diminishing the effectiveness of war against crime it could not have been better devised to this end. It forbade the practices that had been followed to a greater or less extent by the executive heads of various departments for twenty years. To these practices we owe the securing of the evidence which enabled us to drive great lotteries out of business and secure a quarter of a million of dollars in fines from their promoters. These practices have enabled us to get some of the evidence indispensable in order in connection with the theft of government land and government timber by great corporations and by individuals. These practices have enabled us to get some of the evidence indispensable in order to secure the conviction of the wealthiest and most formidable criminals with whom the Government has to deal, both those operating in violation of the anti-trust law and others. The amendment in question was of benefit to no one excepting to these criminals, and it seriously hampers the Government in the detection of crime and the securing of justice. Moreover, it not only affects departments outside of the Treasury, but it tends to hamper the Secretary of the Treasury himself in the effort to utilize the employees of his department so as to best meet the requirements of the public service. It forbids him from preventing frauds upon the customs service, from investigating irregularities in branch mints and assay offices, and has seriously crippled him. It prevents the promotion of employees in the Secret Service, and this further discourages good effort. In its present form the restriction operates only to the advantage of the criminal, of the wrongdoer. The chief argument in favor of the provision was that the Congressmen did not themselves wish to be investigated by Secret Service men. Very little of such investigation has been done in the past; but it is true that the work of the Secret Service agents was partly responsible for the indictment and conviction of a Senator and a Congressman for land frauds in Oregon. I do not believe that it is in the public interest to protect criminally in any branch of the public service, and exactly as we have again and again during the past seven years prosecuted and convicted such criminals who were in the executive branch of the Government, so in my belief we should be given ample means to prosecute them if found in the legislative branch. But if this is not considered desirable a special exception could be made in the law prohibiting the use of the Secret Service force in investigating members of the Congress. It would be far better to do this than to do what actually was done, and strive to prevent or at least to hamper effective action against criminals by the executive branch of the Government. I again renew my recommendation for postal savings hanks, for depositing savings with the security of the Government behind them. The object is to encourage thrift and economy in the wage-earner and person of moderate means. In 14 States the deposits in savings banks as reported to the Comptroller of the Currency amount to $3,590,245,402, or 98.4 per cent of the entire deposits, while in the remaining 32 States there are only $70,308,543, or 1.6 per cent, showing conclusively that there are many localities in the United States where sufficient opportunity is not given to the people to deposit their savings. The result is that money is kept in hiding and unemployed. It is believed that in the aggregate vast sums of money would be brought into circulation through the instrumentality of the postal savings banks. While there are only 1,453 savings banks reporting to the Comptroller there are more than 61,000 post-offices, 40,000 of which are money order offices. Postal savings banks are now in operation in practically all of the great civilized countries with the exception of the United States. In my last annual message I commended the Postmaster-General's recommendation for an extension of the parcel post on the rural routes. The establishment of a local parcel post on rural routes would be to the mutual benefit of the farmer and the country storekeeper, and it is desirable that the routes, serving more than 15,000,000 people, should be utilized to the fullest practicable extent. An amendment was proposed in the Senate at the last session, at the suggestion of the Postmaster-General, providing that, for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability of establishing a special local parcel post system on the rural routes throughout the United States, the Postmaster-General be authorized and directed to experiment and report to the Congress the result of such experiment by establishing a special local parcel post system on rural delivery routes in not to exceed four counties in the United States for packages of fourth-class matter originating on a rural route or at the distributing post office for delivery by rural carriers. It would seem only proper that such an experiment should be tried in order to demonstrate the practicability of the proposition, especially as the Postmaster-General estimates that the revenue derived from the operation of such a system on all the rural routes would amount to many million dollars.  . The share that the National Government should take in the broad work of education has not received the attention and the care it rightly deserves. The immediate responsibility for the support and improvement of our educational systems and institutions rests and should always rest with the people of the several States acting through their state and local governments, but the Nation has an opportunity in educational work which must not be lost and a duty which should no longer be neglected. The National Bureau of Education was established more than forty years ago. Its purpose is to collect and diffuse such information "as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country." This purpose in no way conflicts with the educational work of the States, but may be made of great advantage to the States by giving them the fullest, most accurate, and hence the most helpful information and suggestion regarding the best educational systems. The Nation, through its broader field of activities, its wider opportunity for obtaining information from all the States and from foreign countries, is able to do that which not even the richest States can do, and with the distinct additional advantage that the information thus obtained is used for the immediate benefit of all our people. With the limited means hitherto provided, the Bureau of Education has rendered efficient service, but the Congress has neglected to adequately supply the bureau with means to meet the educational growth of the country. The appropriations for the general work of the bureau, outside education in Alaska, for the year 1909 are but $87,500--an amount less than they were ten years ago, and some of the important items in these appropriations are less than they were thirty years ago. It is an inexcusable waste of public money to appropriate an amount which is so inadequate as to make it impossible properly to do the work authorized, and it is unfair to the great educational interests of the country to deprive them of the value of the results which can be obtained by proper appropriations. I earnestly recommend that this unfortunate state of affairs as regards the national educational office be remedied by adequate appropriations. This recommendation is urged by the representatives of our common schools and great state universities and the leading educators, who all unite in requesting favorable consideration and action by the Congress upon this subject.  . I strongly urge that the request of the Director of the Census in connection with the decennial work so soon to be begun be complied with and that the appointments to the census force be placed under the civil service law, waiving the geographical requirements as requested by the Director of the Census. The supervisors and enumerators should not be appointed under the civil service law, for the reasons given by the Director. I commend to the Congress the careful consideration of the admirable report of the Director of the Census, and I trust that his recommendations will be adopted and immediate action thereon taken. It is highly advisable that there should be intelligent action on the part of the Nation on the question of preserving the health of the country. Through the practical extermination in San Francisco of disease-bearing rodents our country has thus far escaped the bubonic plague. This is but one of the many achievements of American health officers; and it shows what can be accomplished with a better organization than at present exists. The dangers to public health from food adulteration and from many other sources, such as the menace to the physical, mental and moral development of children from child labor, should be met and overcome. There are numerous diseases, which are now known to be preventable, which are, nevertheless, not prevented. The recent International Congress on Tuberculosis has made us painfully aware of the inadequacy of American public health legislation. This Nation can not afford to lag behind in the world-wide battle now being waged by all civilized people with the microscopic foes of mankind, nor ought we longer to ignore the reproach that this Government takes more pains to protect the lives of hogs and of cattle than of human beings. The first legislative step to be taken is that for the concentration of the proper bureaus into one of the existing departments. I therefore urgently recommend the passage of a bill which shall authorize a redistribution of the bureaus which shall best accomplish this end. I recommend that legislation be enacted placing under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce and Labor the Government Printing Office. At present this office is under the combined control, supervision, and administrative direction of the President and of the Joint Committee on Printing of the two Houses of the Congress. The advantage of having the 4,069 employees in this office and the expenditure of the $5,761,377.57 appropriated therefor supervised by an executive department is obvious, instead of the present combined supervision. All Soldiers' Homes should be placed under the complete jurisdiction and control of the War Department. Economy and sound business policy require that all existing independent bureaus and commissions should be placed under the jurisdiction of appropriate executive departments. It is unwise from every standpoint, and results only in mischief, to have any executive work done save by the purely executive bodies, under the control of the President; and each such executive body should be under the immediate supervision of a Cabinet Minister.  . I advocate the immediate admission of New Mexico and Arizona as States. This should be done at the present session of the Congress. The people of the two Territories have made it evident by their votes that they will not come in as one State. The only alternative is to admit them as two, and I trust that this will be done without delay. I call the attention of the Congress to the importance of the problem of the fisheries in the interstate waters. On the Great Lakes we are now, under the very wise treaty of April 11th of this year, endeavoring to come to an international agreement for the preservation and satisfactory use of the fisheries of these waters which can not otherwise be achieved. Lake Erie, for example, has the richest fresh water fisheries in the world; but it is now controlled by the statutes of two Nations, four States, and one Province, and in this Province by different ordinances in different counties. All these political divisions work at cross purposes, and in no case can they achieve protection to the fisheries, on the one hand, and justice to the localities and individuals on the other. The case is similar in Puget Sound. But the problem is quite as pressing in the interstate waters of the United States. The salmon fisheries of the Columbia River are now but a fraction of what they were twenty-five years ago, and what they would be now if the United States Government had taken complete charge of them by intervening between Oregon and Washington. During these twenty-five years the fishermen of each State have naturally tried to take all they could get, and the two legislatures have never been able to agree on joint action of any kind adequate in degree for the protection of the fisheries. At the moment the fishing on the Oregon side is practically closed, while there is no limit on the Washington side of any kind, and no one can tell what the courts will decide as to the very statutes under which this action and non-action result. Meanwhile very few salmon reach the spawning grounds, and probably four years hence the fisheries will amount to nothing; and this comes from a struggle between the associated, or gill-net, fishermen on the one hand, and the owners of the fishing wheels up the river. The fisheries of the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Potomac are also in a bad way. For this there is no remedy except for the United States to control and legislate for the interstate fisheries as part of the business of interstate commerce. In this case the machinery for scientific investigation and for control already exists in the United States Bureau of Fisheries. In this as in similar problems the obvious and simple rule should be followed of having those matters which no particular State can manage taken in hand by the United States; problems which in the seesaw of conflicting State legislatures are absolutely unsolvable are easy enough for Congress to control. The federal statute regulating interstate traffic in game should be extended to include fish. New federal fish hatcheries should be established. The administration of the Alaskan fur-seal service should be vested in the Bureau of Fisheries. This Nation's foreign policy is based on the theory that right must be done between nations precisely as between individuals, and in our actions for the last ten years we have in this matter proven our faith by our deeds. We have behaved, and are behaving, towards other nations as in private life an honorable man would behave towards his fellows. The commercial and material progress of the twenty Latin-American Republics is worthy of the careful attention of the Congress. No other section of the world has shown a greater proportionate development of its foreign trade during the last ten years and none other has more special claims on the interest of the United States. It offers to-day probably larger opportunities for the legitimate expansion of our commerce than any other group of countries. These countries will want our products in greatly increased quantities, and we shall correspondingly need theirs. The International Bureau of the American Republics is doing a useful work in making these nations and their resources better known to us, and in acquainting them not only with us as a people and with our purposes towards them, but with what we have to exchange for their goods. It is an international institution supported by all the governments of the two Americas. The work on the Panama Canal is being done with a speed, efficiency and entire devotion to duty which make it a model for all work of the kind. No task of such magnitude has ever before been undertaken by any nation; and no task of the kind has ever been better performed. The men on the isthmus, from Colonel Goethals and his fellow commissioners through the entire list of employees who are faithfully doing their duty, have won their right to the ungrudging respect and gratitude of the American people. I again recommend the extension of the ocean mail act of 1891 so that satisfactory American ocean mail lines to South America, Asia, the Philippines, and Australiasia may be established. The creation of such steamship lines should be the natural corollary of the voyage of the battle fleet. It should precede the opening of the Panamal Canal. Even under favorable conditions several years must elapse before such lines can be put into operation. Accordingly I urge that the Congress act promptly where foresight already shows that action sooner or later will be inevitable.  . I call particular attention to the Territory of Hawaii. The importance of those islands is apparent, and the need of improving their condition and developing their resources is urgent. In recent years industrial conditions upon the islands have radically changed, The importation of coolie labor has practically ceased, and there is now developing such a diversity in agricultural products as to make possible a change in the land conditions of the Territory, so that an opportunity may be given to the small land owner similar to that on the mainland. To aid these changes, the National Government must provide the necessary harbor improvements on each island, so that the agricultural products can be carried to the markets of the world. The coastwise shipping laws should be amended to meet the special needs of the islands, and the alien contract labor law should be so modified in its application to Hawaii as to enable American and European labor to be brought thither. We have begun to improve Pearl Harbor for a naval base and to provide the necessary military fortifications for the protection of the islands, but I can not too strongly emphasize the need of appropriations for these purposes of such an amount as will within the shortest possible time make those islands practically impregnable. It is useless to develop the industrial conditions of the islands and establish there bases of supply for our naval and merchant fleets unless we insure, as far as human ingenuity can, their safety from foreign seizure. One thing to be remembered with all our fortifications is that it is almost useless to make them impregnable from the sea if they are left open to land attack. This is true even of our own coast, but it is doubly true of our insular possessions. In Hawaii, for instance, it is worse than useless to establish a naval station unless we establish it behind fortifications so strong that no landing force can take them save by regular and long-continued siege operations. Real progress toward self-government is being made in the Philippine Islands. The gathering of a Philippine legislative body and Philippine assembly marks a process absolutely new in Asia, not only as regards Asiatic colonies of European powers but as regards Asiatic possessions of other Asiatic powers; and, indeed, always excepting the striking and wonderful example afforded by the great Empire of Japan, it opens an entirely new departure when compared with anything which has happened among Asiatic powers which are their own masters. Hitherto this Philippine legislature has acted with moderation and self-restraint, and has seemed in practical fashion to realize the eternal truth that there must always be government, and that the only way in which any body of individuals can escape the necessity of being governed by outsiders is to show that they are able to restrain themselves, to keep down wrongdoing and disorder. The Filipino people, through their officials, are therefore making real steps in the direction of self-government. I hope and believe that these steps mark the beginning of a course which will continue till the Filipinos become fit to decide for themselves whether they desire to be an independent nation. But it is well for them (and well also for those Americans who during the past decade have done so much damage to the Filipinos by agitation for an immediate independence for which they were totally unfit) to remember that self-government depends, and must depend, upon the Filipinos themselves. All we can do is to give them the opportunity to develop the capacity for self-government. If we had followed the advice of the foolish doctrinaires who wished us at any time during the last ten years to turn the Filipino people adrift, we should have shirked the plainest possible duty and have inflicted a lasting wrong upon the Filipino people. We have acted in exactly the opposite spirit. We have given the Filipinos constitutional government--a government based upon justice--and we have shown that we have governed them for their good and not for our aggrandizement. At the present time, as during the past ten years, the inexorable logic of facts shows that this government must be supplied by us and not by them. We must be wise and generous; we must help the Filipinos to master the difficult art of self-control, which is simply another name for self-government. But we can not give them self-government save in the sense of governing them so that gradually they may, if they are able, learn to govern themselves. Under the present system of just laws and sympathetic administration, we have every reason to believe that they are gradually acquiring the character which lies at the basis of self-government, and for which, if it be lacking, no system of laws, no paper constitution, will in any wise serve as a substitute. Our people in the Philippines have achieved what may legitimately be called a marvelous success in giving to them a government which marks on the part of those in authority both the necessary understanding of the people and the necessary purpose to serve them disinterestedly and in good faith. I trust that within a generation the time will arrive when the Philippines can decide for themselves whether it is well for them to become independent, or to continue under the protection of a strong and disinterested power, able to guarantee to the islands order at home and protection from foreign invasion. But no one can prophesy the exact date when it will be wise to consider independence as a fixed and definite policy. It would be worse than folly to try to set down such a date in advance, for it must depend upon the way in which the Philippine people themselves develop the power of self-mastery. I again recommend that American citizenship be conferred upon the people of Porto Rico.  . In Cuba our occupancy will cease in about two months' time, the Cubans have in orderly manner elected their own governmental authorities, and the island will be turned over to them. Our occupation on this occasion has lasted a little over two years, and Cuba has thriven and prospered under it. Our earnest hope and one desire is that the people of the island shall now govern themselves with justice, so that peace and order may be secure. We will gladly help them to this end; but I would solemnly warn them to remember the great truth that the only way a people can permanently avoid being governed from without is to show that they both can and will govern themselves from within. The Japanese Government has postponed until 1917 the date of the great international exposition, the action being taken so as to insure ample time in which to prepare to make the exposition all that it should be made. The American commissioners have visited Japan and the postponement will merely give ampler opportunity for America to be represented at the exposition. Not since the first international exposition has there been one of greater importance than this will be, marking as it does the fiftieth anniversary of the ascension to the throne of the Emperor of Japan. The extraordinary leap to a foremost place among the nations of the world made by Japan during this half century is something unparalleled in all previous history. This exposition will fitly commemorate and signalize the giant progress that has been achieved. It is the first exposition of its kind that has ever been held in Asia. The United States, because of the ancient friendship between the two peoples, because each of us fronts on the Pacific, and because of the growing commercial relations between this country and Asia, takes a peculiar interest in seeing the exposition made a success in every way. I take this opportunity publicly to state my appreciation of the way in which in Japan, in Australia, in New Zealand, and in all the States of South America, the battle fleet has been received on its practice voyage around the world. The American Government can not too strongly express its appreciation of the abounding and generous hospitality shown our ships in every port they visited. As regards the Army I call attention to the fact that while our junior officers and enlisted men stand very high, the present system of promotion by seniority results in bringing into the higher grades many men of mediocre capacity who have but a short time to serve. No man should regard it as his vested right to rise to the highest rank in the Army any more than in any other profession. It is a curious and by no means creditable fact that there should be so often a failure on the part of the public and its representatives to understand the great need, from the standpoint of the service and the Nation, of refusing to promote respectable, elderly incompetents. The higher places should be given to the most deserving men without regard to seniority; at least seniority should be treated as only one consideration. In the stress of modern industrial competition no business firm could succeed if those responsible for its management were chosen simply on the ground that they were the oldest people in its employment; yet this is the course advocated as regards the Army, and required by law for all grades except those of general officer. As a matter of fact, all of the best officers in the highest ranks of the Army are those who have attained their present position wholly or in part by a process of selection. The scope of retiring boards should be extended so that they could consider general unfitness to command for any cause, in order to secure a far more rigid enforcement than at present in the elimination of officers for mental, physical or temperamental disabilities. But this plan is recommended only if the Congress does not see fit to provide what in my judgment is far better; that is, for selection in promotion, and for elimination for age. Officers who fail to attain a certain rank by a certain age should be retired--for instance, if a man should not attain field rank by the time he is 45 he should of course be placed on the retired list. General officers should be selected as at present, and one-third of the other promotions should be made by selection, the selection to be made by the President or the Secretary of War from a list of at least two candidates proposed for each vacancy by a board of officers from the arm of the service from which the promotion is to be made. A bill is now before the Congress having for its object to secure the promotion of officers to various grades at reasonable ages through a process of selection, by boards of officers, of the least efficient for retirement with a percentage of their pay depending upon length of service. The bill, although not accomplishing all that should be done, is a long step in the right direction; and I earnestly recommend its passage, or that of a more completely effective measure. The cavalry arm should be reorganized upon modern lines. This is an arm in which it is peculiarly necessary that the field officers should not be old. The cavalry is much more difficult to form than infantry, and it should be kept up to the maximum both in efficiency and in strength, for it can not be made in a hurry. At present both infantry and artillery are too few in number for our needs. Especial attention should be paid to development of the machine gun. A general service corps should be established. As things are now the average soldier has far too much labor of a nonmilitary character to perform. Now that the organized militia, the National Guard, has been incorporated with the Army as a part of the national forces, it behooves the Government to do every reasonable thing in its power to perfect its efficiency. It should be assisted in its instruction and otherwise aided more liberally than heretofore. The continuous services of many well-trained regular officers will be essential in this connection. Such officers must be specially trained at service schools best to qualify them as instructors of the National Guard. But the detailing of officers for training at the service schools and for duty with the National Guard entails detaching them from their regiments which are already greatly depleted by detachment of officers for assignment to duties prescribed by acts of the Congress. A bill is now pending before the Congress creating a number of extra officers in the Army, which if passed, as it ought to be, will enable more officers to be trained as instructors of the National Guard and assigned to that duty. In case of war it will be of the utmost importance to have a large number of trained officers to use for turning raw levies into good troops. There should be legislation to provide a complete plan for organizing the great body of volunteers behind the Regular Army and National Guard when war has come. Congressional assistance should be given those who are endeavoring to promote rifle practice so that our men, in the services or out of them, may know how to use the rifle. While teams representing the United States won the rifle and revolver championships of the world against all comers in England this year, it is unfortunately true that the great body of our citizens shoot less and less as time goes on. To meet this we should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services, by every means in our power. Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving the peace of the world. Fit to hold our own against the strong nations of the earth, our voice for peace will carry to the ends of the earth. Unprepared, and therefore unfit, we must sit dumb and helpless to defend ourselves, protect others, or preserve peace. The first step--in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come--is to teach our men to shoot. I approve the recommendations of the General Board for the increase of the Navy, calling especial attention to the need of additional destroyers and colliers, and above all, of the four battleships. It is desirable to complete as soon as possible a squadron of eight battleships of the best existing type. The North Dakota, Delaware, Florida, and Utah will form the first division of this squadron. The four vessels proposed will form the second division. It will be an improvement on the first, the ships being of the heavy, single caliber, all big gun type. All the vessels should have the same tactical qualities--that is, speed and turning circle--and as near as possible these tactical qualities should be the same as in the four vessels before named now being built. I most earnestly recommend that the General Board be by law turned into a General Staff. There is literally no excuse whatever for continuing the present bureau organization of the Navy. The Navy should be treated as a purely military organization, and everything should be subordinated to the one object of securing military efficiency. Such military efficiency can only be guaranteed in time of war if there is the most thorough previous preparation in time of peace--a preparation, I may add, which will in all probability prevent any need of war. The Secretary must be supreme, and he should have as his official advisers a body of line officers who should themselves have the power to pass upon and coordinate all the work and all the proposals of the several bureaus. A system of promotion by merit, either by selection or by exclusion, or by both processes, should be introduced. It is out of the question, if the present principle of promotion by mere seniority is kept, to expect to get the best results from the higher officers. Our men come too old, and stay for too short a time, in the high command positions. Two hospital ships should be provided. The actual experience of the hospital ship with the fleet in the Pacific has shown the invaluable work which such a ship does, and has also proved that it is well to have it kept under the command of a medical officer. As was to be expected, all of the anticipations of trouble from such a command have proved completely baseless. It is as absurd to put a hospital ship under a line officer as it would be to put a hospital on shore under such a command. This ought to have been realized before, and there is no excuse for failure to realize it now. Nothing better for the Navy from every standpoint has ever occurred than the cruise of the battle fleet around the world. The improvement of the ships in every way has been extraordinary, and they have gained far more experience in battle tactics than they would have gained if they had stayed in the Atlantic waters. The American people have cause for profound gratification, both in view of the excellent condition of the fleet as shown by this cruise, and in view of the improvement the cruise has worked in this already high condition. I do not believe that there is any other service in the world in which the average of character and efficiency in the enlisted men is as high as is now the case in our own. I believe that the same statement can be made as to our officers, taken as a whole; but there must be a reservation made in regard to those in the highest ranks--as to which I have already spoken--and in regard to those who have just entered the service; because we do not now get full benefit from our excellent naval school at Annapolis. It is absurd not to graduate the midshipmen as ensigns; to keep them for two years in such an anomalous position as at present the law requires is detrimental to them and to the service. In the academy itself, every first classman should be required in turn to serve as petty officer and officer; his ability to discharge his duties as such should be a prerequisite to his going into the line, and his success in commanding should largely determine his standing at graduation. The Board of Visitors should be appointed in January, and each member should be required to give at least six days' service, only from one to three days' to be performed during June week, which is the least desirable time for the board to be at Annapolis so far as benefiting the Navy by their observations is concerned.
The financial standing of the Nation at the present time is excellent, and the financial management of the Nation's interests by the Government during the last seven years has shown the most satisfactory results. But our currency system is imperfect, and it is earnestly to be hoped that the Currency Commission will be able to propose a thoroughly good system which will do away with the existing defects. During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, there was an increase in the amount of money in circulation of $902,991,399. The increase in the per capita during this period was $7.06. Within this time there were several occasions when it was necessary for the Treasury Department to come to the relief of the money market by purchases or redemptions of United States bonds; by increasing deposits in national banks; by stimulating additional issues of national bank notes, and by facilitating importations from abroad of gold. Our imperfect currency system has made these proceedings necessary, and they were effective until the monetary disturbance in the fall of 1907 immensely increased the difficulty of ordinary methods of relief. By the middle of November the available working balance in the Treasury had been reduced to approximately $5,000,000. Clearing house associations throughout the country had been obliged to resort to the expedient of issuing clearing house certificates, to be used as money. In this emergency it was determined to invite subscriptions for $50,000,000 Panama Canal bonds, and $100,000,000 three per cent certificates of indebtedness authorized by the act of June 13, 1898. It was proposed to re-deposit in the national banks the proceeds of these issues, and to permit their use as a basis for additional circulating notes of national banks. The moral effect of this procedure was so great that it was necessary to issue only $24,631,980 of the Panama Canal bonds and $15,436,500 of the certificates of indebtedness. During the period from July 1, 1901, to September 30, 1908, the balance between the net ordinary receipts and the net ordinary expenses of the Government showed a surplus in the four years 1902, 1903, 1906 and 1907, and a deficit in the years 1904, 1905, 1908 and a fractional part of the fiscal year 1909. The net result was a surplus of $99,283,413.54. The financial operations of the Government during this period, based upon these differences between receipts and expenditures, resulted in a net reduction of the interest-bearing debt of the United States from $987,141,040 to $897,253,990, notwithstanding that there had been two sales of Panama Canal bonds amounting in the aggregate to $54,631,980, and an issue of three per cent certificates of indebtedness under the act of June 13, 1998, amounting to $15,436,500. Refunding operations of the Treasury Department under the act of March 14, 1900, resulted in the conversion into two per cent consols of 1930 of $200,309,400 bonds bearing higher rates of interest. A decrease of $8,687,956 in the annual interest charge resulted from these operations. In short, during the seven years and three months there has been a net surplus of nearly one hundred millions of receipts over expenditures, a reduction of the interest-bearing debt by ninety millions, in spite of the extraordinary expense of the Panama Canal, and a saving of nearly nine millions on the annual interest charge. This is an exceedingly satisfactory showing, especially in view of the fact that during this period the Nation has never hesitated to undertake any expenditure that it regarded as necessary. There have been no new taxes and no increase of taxes; on the contrary, some taxes have been taken off; there has been a reduction of taxation. . As regards the great corporations engaged in interstate business, and especially the railroad, I can only repeat what I have already again and again said in my messages to the Congress, I believe that under the interstate clause of the Constitution the United States has complete and paramount right to control all agencies of interstate commerce, and I believe that the National Government alone can exercise this right with wisdom and effectiveness so as both to secure justice from, and to do justice to, the great corporations which are the most important factors in modern business. I believe that it is worse than folly to attempt to prohibit all combinations as is done by the Sherman anti-trust law, because such a law can be enforced only imperfectly and unequally, and its enforcement works almost as much hardship as good. I strongly advocate that instead of an unwise effort to prohibit all combinations there shall be substituted a law which shall expressly permit combinations which are in the interest of the public, but shall at the same time give to some agency of the National Government full power of control and supervision over them. One of the chief features of this control should be securing entire publicity in all matters which the public has a right to know, and furthermore, the power, not by judicial but by executive action, to prevent or put a stop to every form of improper favoritism or other wrongdoing. The railways of the country should be put completely under the Interstate Commerce Commission and removed from the domain of the anti-trust law. The power of the Commission should be made thoroughgoing, so that it could exercise complete supervision and control over the issue of securities as well as over the raising and lowering of rates. As regards rates, at least, this power should be summary. The power to investigate the financial operations and accounts of the railways has been one of the most valuable features in recent legislation. Power to make combinations and traffic agreements should be explicitly conferred upon the railroads, the permission of the Commission being first gained and the combination or agreement being published in all its details. In the interest of the public the representatives of the public should have complete power to see that the railroads do their duty by the public, and as a matter of course this power should also be exercised so as to see that no injustice is done to the railroads. The shareholders, the employees and the shippers all have interests that must be guarded. It is to the interest of all of them that no swindling stock speculation should be allowed, and that there should be no improper issuance of securities. The guiding intelligences necessary for the successful building and successful management of railroads should receive ample remuneration; but no man should be allowed to make money in connection with railroads out of fraudulent over-capitalization and kindred stock-gambling performances; there must be no defrauding of investors, oppression of the farmers and business men who ship freight, or callous disregard of the rights and needs of the employees. In addition to this the interests of the shareholders, of the employees, and of the shippers should all be guarded as against one another. To give any one of them undue and improper consideration is to do injustice to the others. Rates must be made as low as is compatible with giving proper returns to all the employees of the railroad, from the highest to the lowest, and proper returns to the shareholders; but they must not, for instance, be reduced in such fashion as to necessitate a cut in the wages of the employees or the abolition of the proper and legitimate profits of honest shareholders. Telegraph and telephone companies engaged in interstate business should be put under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission. It is very earnestly to be wished that our people, through their representatives, should act in this matter. It is hard to say whether most damage to the country at large would come from entire failure on the part of the public to supervise and control the actions of the great corporations, or from the exercise of the necessary governmental power in a way which would do injustice and wrong to the corporations. Both the preachers of an unrestricted individualism, and the preachers of an oppression which would deny to able men of business the just reward of their initiative and business sagacity, are advocating policies that would be fraught with the gravest harm to the whole country. To permit every lawless capitalist, every law-defying corporation, to take any action, no matter how iniquitous, in the effort to secure an improper profit and to build up privilege, would be ruinous to the Republic and would mark the abandonment of the effort to secure in the industrial world the spirit of democratic fair dealing. On the other hand, to attack these wrongs in that spirit of demagogy which can see wrong only when committed by the man of wealth, and is dumb and blind in the presence of wrong committed against men of property or by men of no property, is exactly as evil as corruptly to defend the wrongdoing of men of wealth. The war we wage must be waged against misconduct, against wrongdoing wherever it is found; and we must stand heartily for the rights of every decent man, whether he be a man of great wealth or a man who earns his livelihood as a wage-worker or a tiller of the soil. It is to the interest of all of us that there should be a premium put upon individual initiative and individual capacity, and an ample reward for the great directing intelligences alone competent to manage the great business operations of to-day. It is well to keep in mind that exactly as the anarchist is the worst enemy of liberty and the reactionary the worst enemy of order, so the men who defend the rights of property have most to fear from the wrongdoers of great wealth, and the men who are championing popular rights have most to fear from the demagogues who in the name of popular rights would do wrong to and oppress honest business men, honest men of wealth; for the success of either type of wrongdoer necessarily invites a violent reaction against the because the wrongdoer nominally upholds. In point of danger to the Nation there is nothing to choose between on the one hand the corruptionist, the bribe-giver, the bribe-taker, the man who employs his great talent to swindle his fellow-citizens on a large scale, and, on the other hand, the preacher of class hatred, the man who, whether from ignorance or from willingness to sacrifice his country to his ambition, persuades well-meaning but wrong-headed men to try to destroy the instruments upon which our prosperity mainly rests. Let each group of men beware of and guard against the shortcomings to which that group is itself most liable. Too often we see the business community in a spirit of unhealthy class consciousness deplore the effort to hold to account under the law the wealthy men who in their management of great corporations, whether railroads, street railways, or other industrial enterprises, have behaved in a way that revolts the conscience of the plain, decent people. Such an attitude can not be condemned too severely, for men of property should recognize that they jeopardize the rights of property when they fail heartily to join in the effort to do away with the abuses of wealth. On the other hand, those who advocate proper control on behalf of the public, through the State, of these great corporations, and of the wealth engaged on a giant scale in business operations, must ever keep in mind that unless they do scrupulous justice to the corporation, unless they permit ample profit, and cordially encourage capable men of business so long as they act with honesty, they are striking at the root of our national well-being; for in the long run, under the mere pressure of material distress, the people as a whole would probably go back to the reign of an unrestricted individualism rather than submit to a control by the State so drastic and so foolish, conceived in a spirit of such unreasonable and narrow hostility to wealth, as to prevent business operations from being profitable, and therefore to bring ruin upon the entire business community, and ultimately upon the entire body of citizens. The opposition to Government control of these great corporations makes its most effective effort in the shape of an appeal to the old doctrine of State's rights. Of course there are many sincere men who now believe in unrestricted individualism in business, just as there were formerly many sincere men who believed in slavery--that is, in the unrestricted right of an individual to own another individual. These men do not by themselves have great weight, however. The effective fight against adequate Government control and supervision of individual, and especially of corporate, wealth engaged in interstate business is chiefly done under cover; and especially under cover of an appeal to State's rights. It is not at all infrequent to read in the same speech a denunciation of predatory wealth fostered by special privilege and defiant of both the public welfare and law of the land, and a denunciation of centralization in the Central Government of the power to deal with this centralized and organized wealth. Of course the policy set forth in such twin denunciations amounts to absolutely nothing, for the first half is nullified by the second half. The chief reason, among the many sound and compelling reasons, that led to the formation of the National Government was the absolute need that the Union, and not the several States, should deal with interstate and foreign commerce; and the power to deal with interstate commerce was granted absolutely and plenarily to the Central Government and was exercised completely as regards the only instruments of interstate commerce known in those days--the waterways, the highroads, as well as the partnerships of individuals who then conducted all of what business there was. Interstate commerce is now chiefly conducted by railroads; and the great corporation has supplanted the mass of small partnerships or individuals. The proposal to make the National Government supreme over, and therefore to give it complete control over, the railroads and other instruments of interstate commerce is merely a proposal to carry out to the letter one of the prime purposes, if not the prime purpose, for which the Constitution was rounded. It does not represent centralization. It represents merely the acknowledgment of the patent fact that centralization has already come in business. If this irresponsible outside business power is to be controlled in the interest of the general public it can only be controlled in one way--by giving adequate power of control to the one sovereignty capable of exercising such power--the National Government. Forty or fifty separate state governments can not exercise that power over corporations doing business in most or all of them; first, because they absolutely lack the authority to deal with interstate business in any form; and second, because of the inevitable conflict of authority sure to arise in the effort to enforce different kinds of state regulation, often inconsistent with one another and sometimes oppressive in themselves. Such divided authority can not regulate commerce with wisdom and effect. The Central Government is the only power which, without oppression, can nevertheless thoroughly and adequately control and supervise the large corporations. To abandon the effort for National control means to abandon the effort for all adequate control and yet to render likely continual bursts of action by State legislatures, which can not achieve the purpose sought for, but which can do a great deal of damage to the corporation without conferring any real benefit on the public. I believe that the more farsighted corporations are themselves coming to recognize the unwisdom of the violent hostility they have displayed during the last few years to regulation and control by the National Government of combinations engaged in interstate business. The truth is that we who believe in this movement of asserting and exercising a genuine control, in the public interest, over these great corporations have to contend against two sets of enemies, who, though nominally opposed to one another, are really allies in preventing a proper solution of the problem. There are, first, the big corporation men, and the extreme individualists among business men, who genuinely believe in utterly unregulated business that is, in the reign of plutocracy; and, second, the men who, being blind to the economic movements of the day, believe in a movement of repression rather than of regulation of corporations, and who denounce both the power of the railroads and the exercise of the Federal power which alone can really control the railroads. Those who believe in efficient national control, on the other hand, do not in the least object to combinations; do not in the least object to concentration in business administration. On the contrary, they favor both, with the all important proviso that there shall be such publicity about their workings, and such thoroughgoing control over them, as to insure their being in the interest, and not against the interest, of the general public. We do not object to the concentration of wealth and administration; but we do believe in the distribution of the wealth in profits to the real owners, and in securing to the public the full benefit of the concentrated administration. We believe that with concentration in administration there can come both be advantage of a larger ownership and of a more equitable distribution of profits, and at the same time a better service to the commonwealth. We believe that the administration should be for the benefit of the many; and that greed and rascality, practiced on a large scale, should be punished as relentlessly as if practiced on a small scale. We do not for a moment believe that the problem will be solved by any short and easy method. The solution will come only by pressing various concurrent remedies. Some of these remedies must lie outside the domain of all government. Some must lie outside the domain of the Federal Government. But there is legislation which the Federal Government alone can enact and which is absolutely vital in order to secure the attainment of our purpose. Many laws are needed. There should be regulation by the National Government of the great interstate corporations, including a simple method of account keeping, publicity, supervision of the issue securities, abolition of rebates, and of special privileges. There should be short time franchises for all corporations engaged in public business; including the corporations which get power from water rights. There should be National as well as State guardianship of mines and forests. The labor legislation hereinafter referred to should concurrently be enacted into law. To accomplish this, means of course a certain increase in the use of--not the creation of--power, by the Central Government. The power already exists; it does not have to be created; the only question is whether it shall be used or left idle--and meanwhile the corporations over which the power ought to be exercised will not remain idle. Let those who object to this increase in the use of the only power available, the national power, be frank, and admit openly that they propose to abandon any effort to control the great business corporations and to exercise supervision over the accumulation and distribution of wealth; for such supervision and control can only come through this particular kind of increase of power. We no more believe in that empiricism which demand, absolutely unrestrained individualism than we do in that empiricism which clamors for a deadening socialism which would destroy all individual initiative and would ruin the country with a completeness that not even an unrestrained individualism itself could achieve. The danger to American democracy lies not in the least in the concentration of administrative power in responsible and accountable hands. It lies in having the power insufficiently concentrated, so that no one can be held responsible to the people for its use. Concentrated power is palpable, visible, responsible, easily reached, quickly held to account. Power scattered through many administrators, many legislators, many men who work behind and through legislators and administrators, is impalpable, is unseen, is irresponsible, can not be reached, can not be held to account. Democracy is in peril wherever the administration of political power is scattered among a variety of men who work in secret, whose very names are unknown to the common people. It is not in peril from any man who derives authority from the people, who exercises it in sight of the people, and who is from time to time compelled to give an account of its exercise to the people. There are many matters affecting labor and the status of the wage-worker to which I should like to draw your attention, but an exhaustive discussion of the problem in all its aspects is not now necessary. This administration is nearing its end; and, moreover, under our form of government the solution of the problem depends upon the action of the States as much as upon the action of the Nation. Nevertheless, there are certain considerations which I wish to set before you, because I hope that our people will more and more keep them in mind. A blind and ignorant resistance to every effort for the reform of abuses and for the readjustment of society to modern industrial conditions represents not true conservatism, but an incitement to the wildest radicalism; for wise radicalism and wise conservatism go hand in hand, one bent on progress, the other bent on seeing that no change is made unless in the right direction. I believe in a steady effort, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say in steady efforts in many different directions, to bring about a condition of affairs under which the men who work with hand or with brain, the laborers, the superintendents, the men who produce for the market and the men who find a market for the articles produced, shall own a far greater share than at present of the wealth they produce, and be enabled to invest it in the tools and instruments by which all work is carried on. As far as possible I hope to see a frank recognition of the advantages conferred by machinery, organization, and division of labor, accompanied by an effort to bring about a larger share in the ownership by wage-worker of railway, mill and factory. In farming, this simply means that we wish to see the farmer own his own land; we do not wish to see the farms so large that they become the property of absentee landlords who farm them by tenants, nor yet so small that the farmer becomes like a European peasant. Again, the depositors in our savings banks now number over one-tenth of our entire population. These are all capitalists, who through the savings banks loan their money to the workers--that is, in many cases to themselves--to carry on their various industries. The more we increase their number, the more we introduce the principles of cooperation into our industry. Every increase in the number of small stockholders in corporations is a good thing, for the same reasons; and where the employees are the stockholders the result is particularly good. Very much of this movement must be outside of anything that can be accomplished by legislation; but legislation can do a good deal. Postal savings banks will make it easy for the poorest to keep their savings in absolute safety. The regulation of the national highways must be such that they shall serve all people with equal justice. Corporate finances must be supervised so as to make it far safer than at present for the man of small means to invest his money in stocks. There must be prohibition of child labor, diminution of woman labor, shortening of hours of all mechanical labor; stock watering should be prohibited, and stock gambling so far as is possible discouraged. There should be a progressive inheritance tax on large fortunes. Industrial education should be encouraged. As far as possible we should lighten the burden of taxation on the small man. We should put a premium upon thrift, hard work, and business energy; but these qualities cease to be the main factors in accumulating a fortune long before that fortune reaches a point where it would be seriously affected by any inheritance tax such as I propose. It is eminently right that the Nation should fix the terms upon which the great fortunes are inherited. They rarely do good and they often do harm to those who inherit them in their entirety. The above is the merest sketch, hardly even a sketch in outline, of the reforms for which we should work. But there is one matter with which the Congress should deal at this session. There should no longer be any paltering with the question of taking care of the wage-workers who, under our present industrial system, become killed, crippled, or worn out as part of the regular incidents of a given business. The majority of wageworkers must have their rights secured for them by State action; but the National Government should legislate in thoroughgoing and far-reaching fashion not only for all employees of the National Government, but for all persons engaged in interstate commerce. The object sought for could be achieved to a measurable degree, as far as those killed or crippled are concerned, by proper employers' liability laws. As far as concerns those who have been worn out, I call your attention to the fact that definite steps toward providing old-age pensions have been taken in many of our private industries. These may be indefinitely extended through voluntary association and contributory schemes, or through the agency of savings banks, as under the recent Massachusetts plan. To strengthen these practical measures should be our immediate duty; it is not at present necessary to consider the larger and more general governmental schemes that most European governments have found themselves obliged to adopt. Our present system, or rather no system, works dreadful wrong, and is of benefit to only one class of people--the lawyers. When a workman is injured what he needs is not an expensive and doubtful lawsuit, but the certainty of relief through immediate administrative action. The number of accidents which result in the death or crippling of wageworkers, in the Union at large, is simply appalling; in a very few years it runs up a total far in excess of the aggregate of the dead and wounded in any modern war. No academic theory about "freedom of contract" or "constitutional liberty to contract" should be permitted to interfere with this and similar movements. Progress in civilization has everywhere meant a limitation and regulation of contract. I call your especial attention to the bulletin of the Bureau of Labor which gives a statement of the methods of treating the unemployed in European countries, as this is a subject which in Germany, for instance, is treated in connection with making provision for worn-out and crippled workmen. Pending a thoroughgoing investigation and action there is certain legislation which should be enacted at once. The law, passed at the last session of the Congress, granting compensation to certain classes of employees of the Government, should be extended to include all employees of the Government and should be made more liberal in its terms. There is no good ground for the distinction made in the law between those engaged in hazardous occupations and those not so engaged. If a man is injured or killed in any line of work, it was hazardous in his case. Whether 1 per cent or 10 per cent of those following a given occupation actually suffer injury or death ought not to have any bearing on the question of their receiving compensation. It is a grim logic which says to an injured employee or to the dependents of one killed that he or they are entitled to no compensation because very few people other than he have been injured or killed in that occupation. Perhaps one of the most striking omissions in the law is that it does not embrace peace officers and others whose lives may be sacrificed in enforcing the laws of the United States. The terms of the act providing compensation should be made more liberal than in the present act. A year's compensation is not adequate for a wage-earner's family in the event of his death by accident in the course of his employment. And in the event of death occurring, say, ten or eleven months after the accident, the family would only receive as compensation the equivalent of one or two months' earnings. In this respect the generosity of the United States towards its employees compares most unfavorably with that of every country in Europe--even the poorest. The terms of the act are also a hardship in prohibiting payment in cases where the accident is in any way due to the negligence of the employee. It is inevitable that daily familiarity with danger will lead men to take chances that can be construed into negligence. So well is this recognized that in practically all countries in the civilized world, except the United States, only a great degree of negligence acts as a bar to securing compensation. Probably in no other respect is our legislation, both State and National, so far behind practically the entire civilized world as in the matter of liability and compensation for accidents in industry. It is humiliating that at European international congresses on accidents the United States should be singled out as the most belated among the nations in respect to employers' liability legislation. This Government is itself a large employer of labor, and in its dealings with its employees it should set a standard in this country which would place it on a par with the most progressive countries in Europe. The laws of the United States in this respect and the laws of European countries have been summarized in a recent Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, and no American who reads this summary can fail to be struck by the great contrast between our practices and theirs--a contrast not in any sense to our credit. The Congress should without further delay pass a model employers' liability law for the District of Columbia. The employers' liability act recently declared unconstitutional, on account of apparently including in its provisions employees engaged in intrastate commerce as well as those engaged in interstate commerce, has been held by the local courts to be still in effect so far as its provisions apply to District of Columbia. There should be no ambiguity on this point. If there is any doubt on the subject, the law should be reenacted with special reference to the District of Columbia. This act, however, applies only to employees of common carriers. In all other occupations the liability law of the District is the old common law. The severity and injustice of the common law in this matter has been in some degree or another modified in the majority of our States, and the only jurisdiction under the exclusive control of the Congress should be ahead and not behind the States of the Union in this respect. A comprehensive employers' liability law should be passed for the District of Columbia. I renew my recommendation made in a previous message that half-holidays be granted during summer to all wageworkers in Government employ. I also renew my recommendation that the principle of the eight-hour day should as rapidly and as far as practicable be extended to the entire work being carried on by the Government; the present law should be amended to embrace contracts on those public works which the present wording of the act seems to exclude. I most earnestly urge upon the Congress the duty of increasing the totally inadequate salaries now given to our Judges. On the whole there is no body of public servants who do as valuable work, nor whose moneyed reward is so inadequate compared to their work. Beginning with the Supreme Court, the Judges should have their salaries doubled. It is not befitting the dignity of the Nation that its most honored public servants should be paid sums so small compared to what they would earn in private life that the performance of public service by them implies an exceedingly heavy pecuniary sacrifice. It is earnestly to be desired that some method should be devised for doing away with the long delays which now obtain in the administration of justice, and which operate with peculiar severity against persons of small means, and favor only the very criminals whom it is most desirable to punish. These long delays in the final decisions of cases make in the aggregate a crying evil; and a remedy should be devised. Much of this intolerable delay is due to improper regard paid to technicalities which are a mere hindrance to justice. In some noted recent cases this over-regard for technicalities has resulted in a striking denial of justice, and flagrant wrong to the body politic. At the last election certain leaders of organized labor made a violent and sweeping attack upon the entire judiciary of the country, an attack couched in such terms as to include the most upright, honest and broad-minded judges, no less than those of narrower mind and more restricted outlook. It was the kind of attack admirably fitted to prevent any successful attempt to reform abuses of the judiciary, because it gave the champions of the unjust judge their eagerly desired opportunity to shift their ground into a championship of just judges who were unjustly assailed. Last year, before the House Committee on the Judiciary, these same labor leaders formulated their demands, specifying the bill that contained them, refusing all compromise, stating they wished the principle of that bill or nothing. They insisted on a provision that in a labor dispute no injunction should issue except to protect a property right, and specifically provided that the right to carry on business should not be construed as a property right; and in a second provision their bill made legal in a labor dispute any act or agreement by or between two or more persons that would not have been unlawful if done by a single person. In other words. this bill legalized blacklisting and boycotting in every form, legalizing, for instance, those forms of the secondary boycott which the anthracite coal strike commission so unreservedly condemned; while the right to carry on a business was explicitly taken out from under that protection which the law throws over property. The demand was made that there should be trial by jury in contempt cases, thereby most seriously impairing the authority of the courts. All this represented a course of policy which, if carried out, would mean the enthronement of class privilege in its crudest and most brutal form, and the destruction of one of the most essential functions of the judiciary in all civilized lands. The violence of the crusade for this legislation, and its complete failure, illustrate two truths which it is essential our people should learn. In the first place, they ought to teach the workingman, the laborer, the wageworker, that by demanding what is improper and impossible he plays into the hands of his foes. Such a crude and vicious attack upon the courts, even if it were temporarily successful, would inevitably in the end because a violent reaction and would band the great mass of citizens together, forcing them to stand by all the judges, competent and incompetent alike, rather than to see the wheels of justice stopped. A movement of this kind can ultimately result in nothing but damage to those in whose behalf it is nominally undertaken. This is a most healthy truth, which it is wise for all our people to learn. Any movement based on that class hatred which at times assumes the name of "class consciousness" is certain ultimately to fail, and if it temporarily succeeds, to do far-reaching damage. "Class consciousness," where it is merely another name for the odious vice of class selfishness, is equally noxious whether in an employer's association or in a workingman's association. The movement in question was one in which the appeal was made to all workingmen to vote primarily, not as American citizens, but as individuals of a certain class in society. Such an appeal in the first place revolts the more high-minded and far-sighted among the persons to whom it is addressed, and in the second place tends to arouse a strong antagonism among all other classes of citizens, whom it therefore tends to unite against the very organization on whose behalf it is issued. The result is therefore unfortunate from every standpoint. This healthy truth, by the way, will be learned by the socialists if they ever succeed in establishing in this country an important national party based on such class consciousness and selfish class interest. The wageworkers, the workingmen, the laboring men of the country, by the way in which they repudiated the effort to get them to cast their votes in response to an appeal to class hatred, have emphasized their sound patriotism and Americanism. The whole country has because to fell pride in this attitude of sturdy independence, in this uncompromising insistence upon acting simply as good citizens, as good Americans, without regard to fancied--and improper--class interests. Such an attitude is an object-lesson in good citizenship to the entire nation. But the extreme reactionaries, the persons who blind themselves to the wrongs now and then committed by the courts on laboring men, should also think seriously as to what such a movement as this portends. The judges who have shown themselves able and willing effectively to check the dishonest activity of the very rich man who works iniquity by the mismanagement of corporations, who have shown themselves alert to do justice to the wageworker, and sympathetic with the needs of the mass of our people, so that the dweller in the tenement houses, the man who practices a dangerous trade, the man who is crushed by excessive hours of labor, feel that their needs are understood by the courts--these judges are the real bulwark of the courts; these judges, the judges of the stamp of the president-elect, who have been fearless in opposing labor when it has gone wrong, but fearless also in holding to strict account corporations that work iniquity, and far-sighted in seeing that the workingman gets his rights, are the men of all others to whom we owe it that the appeal for such violent and mistaken legislation has fallen on deaf ears, that the agitation for its passage proved to be without substantial basis. The courts are jeopardized primarily by the action of those Federal and State judges who show inability or unwillingness to put a stop to the wrongdoing of very rich men under modern industrial conditions, and inability or unwillingness to give relief to men of small means or wageworkers who are crushed down by these modern industrial conditions; who, in other words, fail to understand and apply the needed remedies for the new wrongs produced by the new and highly complex social and industrial civilization which has grown up in the last half century. The rapid changes in our social and industrial life which have attended this rapid growth have made it necessary that, in applying to concrete cases the great rule of right laid down in our Constitution, there should be a full understanding and appreciation of the new conditions to which the rules are to be applied. What would have been an infringement upon liberty half a century ago may be the necessary safeguard of liberty to-day. What would have been an injury to property then may be necessary to the enjoyment of property now. Every judicial decision involves two terms--one, as interpretation of the law; the other, the understanding of the facts to which it is to be applied. The great mass of our judicial officers are, I believe, alive to those changes of conditions which so materially affect the performance of their judicial duties. Our judicial system is sound and effective at core, and it remains, and must ever be maintained, as the safeguard of those principles of liberty and justice which stand at the foundation of American institutions; for, as Burke finely said, when liberty and justice are separated, neither is safe. There are, however, some members of the judicial body who have lagged behind in their understanding of these great and vital changes in the body politic, whose minds have never been opened to the new applications of the old principles made necessary by the new conditions. Judges of this stamp do lasting harm by their decisions, because they convince poor men in need of protection that the courts of the land are profoundly ignorant of and out of sympathy with their needs, and profoundly indifferent or hostile to any proposed remedy. To such men it seems a cruel mockery to have any court decide against them on the ground that it desires to preserve "liberty" in a purely technical form, by withholding liberty in any real and constructive sense. It is desirable that the legislative body should possess, and wherever necessary exercise, the power to determine whether in a given case employers and employees are not on an equal footing, so that the necessities of the latter compel them to submit to such exactions as to hours and conditions of labor as unduly to tax their strength; and only mischief can result when such determination is upset on the ground that there must be no "interference with the liberty to contract"--often a merely academic "liberty," the exercise of which is the negation of real liberty. There are certain decisions by various courts which have been exceedingly detrimental to the rights of wageworkers. This is true of all the decisions that decide that men and women are, by the Constitution, "guaranteed their liberty" to contract to enter a dangerous occupation, or to work an undesirable or improper number of hours, or to work in unhealthy surroundings; and therefore can not recover damages when maimed in that occupation and can not be forbidden to work what the legislature decides is an excessive number of hours, or to carry on the work under conditions which the legislature decides to be unhealthy. The most dangerous occupations are often the poorest paid and those where the hours of work are longest; and in many cases those who go into them are driven by necessity so great that they have practically no alternative. Decisions such as those alluded to above nullify the legislative effort to protect the wage-workers who most need protection from those employers who take advantage of their grinding need. They halt or hamper the movement for securing better and more equitable conditions of labor. The talk about preserving to the misery-hunted beings who make contracts for such service their "liberty" to make them, is either to speak in a spirit of heartless irony or else to show an utter lack of knowledge of the conditions of life among the great masses of our fellow-countrymen, a lack which unfits a judge to do good service just as it would unfit any executive or legislative officer. There is also, I think, ground for the belief that substantial injustice is often suffered by employees in consequence of the custom of courts issuing temporary injunctions without notice to them, and punishing them for contempt of court in instances where, as a matter of fact, they have no knowledge of any proceedings. Outside of organized labor there is a widespread feeling that this system often works great injustice to wageworkers when their efforts to better their working condition result in industrial disputes. A temporary injunction procured ex parte may as a matter of fact have all the effect of a permanent injunction in causing disaster to the wageworkers' side in such a dispute. Organized labor is chafing under the unjust restraint which comes from repeated resort to this plan of procedure. Its discontent has been unwisely expressed, and often improperly expressed, but there is a sound basis for it, and the orderly and law-abiding people of a community would be in a far stronger position for upholding the courts if the undoubtedly existing abuses could be provided against. Such proposals as those mentioned above as advocated by the extreme labor leaders contain the vital error of being class legislation of the most offensive kind, and even if enacted into law I believe that the law would rightly be held unconstitutional. Moreover, the labor people are themselves now beginning to invoke the use of the power of injunction. During the last ten years, and within my own knowledge, at least fifty injunctions have been obtained by labor unions in New York City alone, most of them being to protect the union label (a "property right"), but some being obtained for other reasons against employers. The power of injunction is a great equitable remedy, which should on no account be destroyed. But safeguards should be erected against its abuse. I believe that some such provisions as those I advocated a year ago for checking the abuse of the issuance of temporary injunctions should be adopted. In substance, provision should be made that no injunction or temporary restraining order issue otherwise than on notice, except where irreparable injury would otherwise result; and in such case a hearing on the merits of the order should be had within a short fixed period, and, if not then continued after hearing, it should forthwith lapse. Decisions should be rendered immediately, and the chance of delay minimized in every way. Moreover, I believe that the procedure should be sharply defined, and the judge required minutely to state the particulars both of his action and of his reasons therefor, so that the Congress can, if it desires, examine and investigate the same. The chief lawmakers in our country may be, and often are, the judges, because they are the final seat of authority. Every time they interpret contract, property, vested rights, due process of law, liberty, they necessarily enact into law parts of a system of social philosophy, and as such interpretation is fundamental, they give direction to all law-making. The decisions of the courts on economic and social questions depend upon their economic and social philosophy; and for the peaceful progress of our people during the twentieth century we shall owe most to those judges who hold to a twentieth century economic and social philosophy and not to a long outgrown philosophy, which was itself the product of primitive economic conditions. Of course a judge's views on progressive social philosophy are entirely second in importance to his possession of a high and fine character; which means the possession of such elementary virtues as honesty, courage, and fair-mindedness. The judge who owes his election to pandering to demagogic sentiments or class hatreds and prejudices, and the judge who owes either his election or his appointment to the money or the favor of a great corporation, are alike unworthy to sit on the bench, are alike traitors to the people; and no profundity of legal learning, or correctness of abstract conviction on questions of public policy, can serve as an offset to such shortcomings. But it is also true that judges, like executives and legislators, should hold sound views on the questions of public policy which are of vital interest to the people. The legislators and executives are chosen to represent the people in enacting and administering the laws. The judges are not chosen to represent the people in this sense. Their function is to interpret the laws. The legislators are responsible for the laws; the judges for the spirit in which they interpret and enforce the laws. We stand aloof from the reckless agitators who would make the judges mere pliant tools of popular prejudice and passion; and we stand aloof from those equally unwise partisans of reaction and privilege who deny the proposition that, inasmuch as judges are chosen to serve the interests of the whole people, they should strive to find out what those interests are, and, so far as they conscientiously can, should strive to give effect to popular conviction when deliberately and duly expressed by the lawmaking body. The courts are to be highly commended and staunchly upheld when they set their faces against wrongdoing or tyranny by a majority; but they are to be blamed when they fail to recognize under a government like ours the deliberate judgment of the majority as to a matter of legitimate policy, when duly expressed by the legislature. Such lawfully expressed and deliberate judgment should be given effect by the courts, save in the extreme and exceptional cases where there has been a clear violation of a constitutional provision. Anything like frivolity or wantonness in upsetting such clearly taken governmental action is a grave offense against the Republic. To protest against tyranny, to protect minorities from oppression, to nullify an act committed in a spasm of popular fury, is to render a service to the Republic. But for the courts to arrogate to themselves functions which properly belong to the legislative bodies is all wrong, and in the end works mischief. The people should not be permitted to pardon evil and slipshod legislation on the theory that the court will set it right; they should be taught that the right way to get rid of a bad law is to have the legislature repeal it, and not to have the courts by ingenious hair-splitting nullify it. A law may be unwise and improper; but it should not for these reasons be declared unconstitutional by a strained interpretation, for the result of such action is to take away from the people at large their sense of responsibility and ultimately to destroy their capacity for orderly self restraint and self government. Under such a popular government as ours, rounded on the theory that in the long run the will of the people is supreme, the ultimate safety of the Nation can only rest in training and guiding the people so that what they will shall be right, and not in devising means to defeat their will by the technicalities of strained construction. For many of the shortcomings of justice in our country our people as a whole are themselves to blame, and the judges and juries merely bear their share together with the public as a whole. It is discreditable to us as a people that there should be difficulty in convicting murderers, or in bringing to justice men who as public servants have been guilty of corruption, or who have profited by the corruption of public servants. The result is equally unfortunate, whether due to hairsplitting technicalities in the interpretation of law by judges, to sentimentality and class consciousness on the part of juries, or to hysteria and sensationalism in the daily press. For much of this failure of justice no responsibility whatever lies on rich men as such. We who make up the mass of the people can not shift the responsibility from our own shoulders. But there is an important part of the failure which has specially to do with inability to hold to proper account men of wealth who behave badly. The chief breakdown is in dealing with the new relations that arise from the mutualism, the interdependence of our time. Every new social relation begets a new type of wrongdoing--of sin, to use an old-fashioned word--and many years always elapse before society is able to turn this sin into crime which can be effectively punished at law. During the lifetime of the older men now alive the social relations have changed far more rapidly than in the preceding two centuries. The immense growth of corporations, of business done by associations, and the extreme strain and pressure of modern life, have produced conditions which render the public confused as to who its really dangerous foes are; and among the public servants who have not only shared this confusion, but by some of their acts have increased it, are certain judges. Marked inefficiency has been shown in dealing with corporations and in re-settling the proper attitude to be taken by the public not only towards corporations, but towards labor and towards the social questions arising out of the factory system and the enormous growth of our great cities. The huge wealth that has been accumulated by a few individuals of recent years, in what has amounted to a social and industrial revolution, has been as regards some of these individuals made possible only by the improper use of the modern corporation. A certain type of modern corporation, with its officers and agents, its many issues of securities, and its constant consolidation with allied undertakings, finally becomes an instrument so complex as to contain a greater number of elements that, under various judicial decisions, lend themselves to fraud and oppression than any device yet evolved in the human brain. Corporations are necessary instruments of modern business. They have been permitted to become a menace largely because the governmental representatives of the people have worked slowly in providing for adequate control over them. The chief offender in any given case may be an executive, a legislature, or a judge. Every executive head who advises violent, instead of gradual, action, or who advocates ill-considered and sweeping measures of reform (especially if they are tainted with vindictiveness and disregard for the rights of the minority) is particularly blameworthy. The several legislatures are responsible for the fact that our laws are often prepared with slovenly haste and lack of consideration. Moreover, they are often prepared, and still more frequently amended during passage, at the suggestion of the very parties against whom they are afterwards enforced. Our great clusters of corporations, huge trusts and fabulously wealthy multi-millionaires, employ the very best lawyers they can obtain to pick flaws in these statutes after their passage; but they also employ a class of secret agents who seek, under the advice of experts, to render hostile legislation innocuous by making it unconstitutional, often through the insertion of what appear on their face to be drastic and sweeping provisions against the interests of the parties inspiring them; while the demagogues, the corrupt creatures who introduce blackmailing schemes to "strike" corporations, and all who demand extreme, and undesirably radical, measures, show themselves to be the worst enemies of the very public whose loud-mouthed champions they profess to be. A very striking illustration of the consequences of carelessness in the preparation of a statute was the employers' liability law of 1906. In the cases arising under that law, four out of six courts of first instance held it unconstitutional; six out of nine justices of the Supreme Court held that its subject-matter was within the province of congressional action; and four of the nine justices held it valid. It was, however, adjudged unconstitutional by a bare majority of the court--five to four. It was surely a very slovenly piece of work to frame the legislation in such shape as to leave the question open at all. Real damage has been done by the manifold and conflicting interpretations of the interstate commerce law. Control over the great corporations doing interstate business can be effective only if it is vested with full power in an administrative department, a branch of the Federal executive, carrying out a Federal law; it can never be effective if a divided responsibility is left in both the States and the Nation; it can never be effective if left in the hands of the courts to be decided by lawsuits. The courts hold a place of peculiar and deserved sanctity under our form of government. Respect for the law is essential to the permanence of our institutions; and respect for the law is largely conditioned upon respect for the courts. It is an offense against the Republic to say anything which can weaken this respect, save for the gravest reason and in the most carefully guarded manner. Our judges should be held in peculiar honor; and the duty of respectful and truthful comment and criticism, which should be binding when we speak of anybody, should be especially binding when we speak of them. On an average they stand above any other servants of the community, and the greatest judges have reached the high level held by those few greatest patriots whom the whole country delights to honor. But we must face the fact that there are wise and unwise judges, just as there are wise and unwise executives and legislators. When a president or a governor behaves improperly or unwisely, the remedy is easy, for his term is short; the same is true with the legislator, although not to the same degree, for he is one of many who belong to some given legislative body, and it is therefore less easy to fix his personal responsibility and hold him accountable therefor. With a judge, who, being human, is also likely to err, but whose tenure is for life, there is no similar way of holding him to responsibility. Under ordinary conditions the only forms of pressure to which he is in any way amenable are public opinion and the action of his fellow judges. It is the last which is most immediately effective, and to which we should look for the reform of abuses. Any remedy applied from without is fraught with risk. It is far better, from every standpoint, that the remedy should come from within. In no other nation in the world do the courts wield such vast and far-reaching power as in the United States. All that is necessary is that the courts as a whole should exercise this power with the farsighted wisdom already shown by those judges who scan the future while they act in the present. Let them exercise this great power not only honestly and bravely, but with wise insight into the needs and fixed purposes of the people, so that they may do justice and work equity, so that they may protect all persons in their rights, and yet break down the barriers of privilege, which is the foe of right. . If there is any one duty which more than another we owe it to our children and our children's children to perform at once, it is to save the forests of this country, for they constitute the first and most important element in the conservation of the natural resources of the country. There are of course two kinds of natural resources, One is the kind which can only be used as part of a process of exhaustion; this is true of mines, natural oil and gas wells, and the like. The other, and of course ultimately by far the most important, includes the resources which can be improved in the process of wise use; the soil, the rivers, and the forests come under this head. Any really civilized nation will so use all of these three great national assets that the nation will have their benefit in the future. Just as a farmer, after all his life making his living from his farm, will, if he is an expert farmer, leave it as an asset of increased value to his son, so we should leave our national domain to our children, increased in value and not worn out. There are small sections of our own country, in the East and the West, in the Adriondacks, the White Mountains, and the Appalachians, and in the Rocky Mountains, where we can already see for ourselves the damage in the shape of permanent injury to the soil and the river systems which comes from reckless deforestation. It matters not whether this deforestation is due to the actual reckless cutting of timber, to the fires that inevitably follow such reckless cutting of timber, or to reckless and uncontrolled grazing, especially by the great migratory bands of sheep, the unchecked wandering of which over the country means destruction to forests and disaster to the small home makers, the settlers of limited means. Shortsighted persons, or persons blinded to the future by desire to make money in every way out of the present, sometimes speak as if no great damage would be done by the reckless destruction of our forests. It is difficult to have patience with the arguments of these persons. Thanks to our own recklessness in the use of our splendid forests, we have already crossed the verge of a timber famine in this country, and no measures that we now take can, at least for many years, undo the mischief that has already been done. But we can prevent further mischief being done; and it would be in the highest degree reprehensible to let any consideration of temporary convenience or temporary cost interfere with such action, especially as regards the National Forests which the nation can now, at this very moment, control. All serious students of the question are aware of the great damage that has been done in the Mediterranean countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa by deforestation. The similar damage that has been done in Eastern Asia is less well known. A recent investigation into conditions in North China by Mr. Frank N. Meyer, of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture, has incidentally furnished in very striking fashion proof of the ruin that comes from reckless deforestation of mountains, and of the further fact that the damage once done may prove practically irreparable. So important are these investigations that I herewith attach as an appendix to my message certain photographs showing present conditions in China. They show in vivid fashion the appalling desolation, taking the shape of barren mountains and gravel and sand-covered plains, which immediately follows and depends upon the deforestation of the mountains. Not many centuries ago the country of northern China was one of the most fertile and beautiful spots in the entire world, and was heavily forested. We know this not only from the old Chinese records, but from the accounts given by the traveler, Marco Polo. He, for instance, mentions that in visiting the provinces of Shansi and Shensi he observed many plantations of mulberry trees. Now there is hardly a single mulberry tree in either of these provinces, and the culture of the silkworm has moved farther south, to regions of atmospheric moisture. As an illustration of the complete change in the rivers, we may take Polo's statement that a certain river, the Hun Ho, was so large and deep that merchants ascended it from the sea with heavily laden boats; today this river is simply a broad sandy bed, with shallow, rapid currents wandering hither and thither across it, absolutely unnavigable. But we do not have to depend upon written records. The dry wells, and the wells with water far below the former watermark, bear testimony to the good days of the past and the evil days of the present. Wherever the native vegetation has been allowed to remain, as, for instance, here and there around a sacred temple or imperial burying ground, there are still huge trees and tangled jungle, fragments of the glorious ancient forests. The thick, matted forest growth formerly covered the mountains to their summits. All natural factors favored this dense forest growth, and as long as it was permitted to exist the plains at the foot of the mountains were among the most fertile on the globe, and the whole country was a garden. Not the slightest effort was made, however, to prevent the unchecked cutting of the trees, or to secure reforestation. Doubtless for many centuries the tree-cutting by the inhabitants of the mountains worked but slowly in bringing about the changes that have now come to pass; doubtless for generations the inroads were scarcely noticeable. But there came a time when the forest had shrunk sufficiently to make each year's cutting a serious matter, and from that time on the destruction proceeded with appalling rapidity; for of course each year of destruction rendered the forest less able to recuperate, less able to resist next year's inroad. Mr. Meyer describes the ceaseless progress of the destruction even now, when there is so little left to destroy. Every morning men and boys go out armed with mattox or axe, scale the steepest mountain sides, and cut down and grub out, root and branch, the small trees and shrubs still to be found. The big trees disappeared centuries ago, so that now one of these is never seen save in the neighborhood of temples, where they are artificially protected; and even here it takes all the watch and care of the tree-loving priests to prevent their destruction. Each family, each community, where there is no common care exercised in the interest of all of them to prevent deforestation, finds its profit in the immediate use of the fuel which would otherwise be used by some other family or some other community. In the total absence of regulation of the matter in the interest of the whole people, each small group is inevitably pushed into a policy of destruction which can not afford to take thought for the morrow. This is just one of those matters which it is fatal to leave to unsupervised individual control. The forest can only be protected by the State, by the Nation; and the liberty of action of individuals must be conditioned upon what the State or Nation determines to be necessary for the common safety. The lesson of deforestation in China is a lesson which mankind should have learned many times already from what has occurred in other places. Denudation leaves naked soil; then gullying cuts down to the bare rock; and meanwhile the rock-waste buries the bottomlands. When the soil is gone, men must go; and the process does not take long. This ruthless destruction of the forests in northern China has brought about, or has aided in bringing about, desolation, just as the destruction of the forests in central Asia aid in bringing ruin to the once rich central Asian cities; just as the destruction of the forest in northern Africa helped towards the ruin of a region that was a fertile granary in Roman days. Shortsighted man, whether barbaric, semi-civilized, or what he mistakenly regards as fully civilized, when he has destroyed the forests, has rendered certain the ultimate destruction of the land itself. In northern China the mountains are now such as are shown by the accompanying photographs, absolutely barren peaks. Not only have the forests been destroyed, but because of their destruction the soil has been washed off the naked rock. The terrible consequence is that it is impossible now to undo the damage that has been done. Many centuries would have to pass before soil would again collect, or could be made to collect, in sufficient quantity once more to support the old-time forest growth. In consequence the Mongol Desert is practically extending eastward over northern China. The climate has changed and is still changing. It has changed even within the last half century, as the work of tree destruction has been consummated. The great masses of arboreal vegetation on the mountains formerly absorbed the heat of the sun and sent up currents of cool air which brought the moisture-laden clouds lower and forced them to precipitate in rain a part of their burden of water. Now that there is no vegetation, the barren mountains, scorched by the sun, send up currents of heated air which drive away instead of attracting the rain clouds, and because their moisture to be disseminated. In consequence, instead of the regular and plentiful rains which existed in these regions of China when the forests were still in evidence, the unfortunate inhabitants of the deforested lands now see their crops wither for lack of rainfall, while the seasons grow more and more irregular; and as the air becomes dryer certain crops refuse longer to grow at all. That everything dries out faster than formerly is shown by the fact that the level of the wells all over the land has sunk perceptibly, many of them having become totally dry. In addition to the resulting agricultural distress, the watercourses have changed. Formerly they were narrow and deep, with an abundance of clear water the year around; for the roots and humus of the forests caught the rainwater and let it escape by slow, regular seepage. They have now become broad, shallow stream beds, in which muddy water trickles in slender currents during the dry seasons, while when it rains there are freshets, and roaring muddy torrents come tearing down, bringing disaster and destruction everywhere. Moreover, these floods and freshets, which diversify the general dryness, wash away from the mountain sides, and either wash away or cover in the valleys, the rich fertile soil which it took tens of thousands of years for Nature to form; and it is lost forever, and until the forests grow again it can not be replaced. The sand and stones from the mountain sides are washed loose and come rolling down to cover the arable lands, and in consequence, throughout this part of China, many formerly rich districts are now sandy wastes, useless for human cultivation and even for pasture. The cities have been of course seriously affected, for the streams have gradually ceased to be navigable. There is testimony that even within the memory of men now living there has been a serious diminution of the rainfall of northeastern China. The level of the Sungari River in northern Manchuria has been sensibly lowered during the last fifty years, at least partly as the result of the indiscriminate rutting of the forests forming its watershed. Almost all the rivers of northern China have become uncontrollable, and very dangerous to the dwellers along their banks, as a direct result of the destruction of the forests. The journey from Pekin to Jehol shows in melancholy fashion how the soil has been washed away from whole valleys, so that they have been converted into deserts. In northern China this disastrous process has gone on so long and has proceeded so far that no complete remedy could be applied. There are certain mountains in China from which the soil is gone so utterly that only the slow action of the ages could again restore it; although of course much could be done to prevent the still further eastward extension of the Mongolian Desert if the Chinese Government would act at once. The accompanying cuts from photographs show the inconceivable desolation of the barren mountains in which certain of these rivers rise--mountains, be it remembered, which formerly supported dense forests of larches and firs, now unable to produce any wood, and because of their condition a source of danger to the whole country. The photographs also show the same rivers after they have passed through the mountains, the beds having become broad and sandy because of the deforestation of the mountains. One of the photographs shows a caravan passing through a valley. Formerly, when the mountains were forested, it was thickly peopled by prosperous peasants. Now the floods have carried destruction all over the land and the valley is a stony desert. Another photograph shows a mountain road covered with the stones and rocks that are brought down in the rainy season from the mountains which have already been deforested by human hands. Another shows a pebbly river-bed in southern Manchuria where what was once a great stream has dried up owing to the deforestation in the mountains. Only some scrub wood is left, which will disappear within a half century. Yet another shows the effect of one of the washouts, destroying an arable mountain side, these washouts being due to the removal of all vegetation; yet in this photograph the foreground shows that reforestation is still a possibility in places. What has thus happened in northern China, what has happened in Central Asia, in Palestine, in North Africa, in parts of the Mediterranean countries of Europe, will surely happen in our country if we do not exercise that wise forethought which should be one of the chief marks of any people calling itself civilized. Nothing should be permitted to stand in the way of the preservation of the forests, and it is criminal to permit individuals to purchase a little gain for themselves through the destruction of forests when this destruction is fatal to the well-being of the whole country in the future. Action should be begun forthwith, during the present session of the Congress, for the improvement of our inland waterways--action which will result in giving us not only navigable but navigated rivers. We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars upon these waterways, yet the traffic on nearly all of them is steadily declining. This condition is the direct result of the absence of any comprehensive and far-seeing plan of waterway improvement, Obviously we can not continue thus to expend the revenues of the Government without return. It is poor business to spend money for inland navigation unless we get it. Inquiry into the condition of the Mississippi and its principal tributaries reveals very many instances of the utter waste caused by the methods which have hitherto obtained for the so-called "improvement" of navigation. A striking instance is supplied by the "improvement" of the Ohio, which, begun in 1824, was continued under a single plan for half a century. In 1875 a new plan was adopted and followed for a quarter of a century. In 1902 still a different plan was adopted and has since been pursued at a rate which only promises a navigable river in from twenty to one hundred years longer. Such shortsighted, vacillating, and futile methods are accompanied by decreasing water-borne commerce and increasing traffic congestion on land, by increasing floods, and by the waste of public money. The remedy lies in abandoning the methods which have so signally failed and adopting new ones in keeping with the needs and demands of our people. In a report on a measure introduced at the first session of the present Congress, the Secretary of War said: "The chief defect in the methods hitherto pursued lies in the absence of executive authority for originating comprehensive plans covering the country or natural divisions thereof." In this opinion I heartily concur. The present methods not only fail to give us inland navigation, but they are injurious to the army as well. What is virtually a permanent detail of the corps of engineers to civilian duty necessarily impairs the efficiency of our military establishment. The military engineers have undoubtedly done efficient work in actual construction, but they are necessarily unsuited by their training and traditions to take the broad view, and to gather and transmit to the Congress the commercial and industrial information and forecasts, upon which waterway improvement must always so largely rest. Furthermore, they have failed to grasp the great underlying fact that every stream is a unit from its source to its mouth, and that all its uses are interdependent. Prominent officers of the Engineer Corps have recently even gone so far as to assert in print that waterways are not dependent upon the conservation of the forests about their headwaters. This position is opposed to all the recent work of the scientific bureaus of the Government and to the general experience of mankind. A physician who disbelieved in vaccination would not be the right man to handle an epidemic of smallpox, nor should we leave a doctor skeptical about the transmission of yellow fever by the Stegomyia mosquito in charge of sanitation at Havana or Panama. So with the improvement of our rivers; it is no longer wise or safe to leave this great work in the hands of men who fail to grasp the essential relations between navigation and general development and to assimilate and use the central facts about our streams. Until the work of river improvement is undertaken in a modern way it can not have results that will meet the needs of this modern nation. These needs should be met without further dilly-dallying or delay. The plan which promises the best and quickest results is that of a permanent commission authorized to coordinate the work of all the Government departments relating to waterways, and to frame and supervise the execution of a comprehensive plan. Under such a commission the actual work of construction might be entrusted to the reclamation service; or to the military engineers acting with a sufficient number of civilians to continue the work in time of war; or it might be divided between the reclamation service and the corps of engineers. Funds should be provided from current revenues if it is deemed wise--otherwise from the sale of bonds. The essential thing is that the work should go forward under the best possible plan, and with the least possible delay. We should have a new type of work and a new organization for planning and directing it. The time for playing with our waterways is past. The country demands results. . I urge that all our National parks adjacent to National forests be placed completely under the control of the forest service of the Agricultural Department, instead of leaving them as they now are, under the Interior Department and policed by the army. The Congress should provide for superintendents with adequate corps of first-class civilian scouts, or rangers, and, further, place the road construction under the superintendent instead of leaving it with the War Department. Such a change in park management would result in economy and avoid the difficulties of administration which now arise from having the responsibility of care and protection divided between different departments. The need for this course is peculiarly great in the Yellowstone Park. This, like the Yosemite, is a great wonderland, and should be kept as a national playground. In both, all wild things should be protected and the scenery kept wholly unmarred. I am happy to say that I have been able to set aside in various parts of the country small, well-chosen tracts of ground to serve as sanctuaries and nurseries for wild creatures. I had occasion in my message of May 4, 1906, to urge the passage of some law putting alcohol, used in the arts, industries, and manufactures, upon the free list--that is, to provide for the withdrawal free of tax of alcohol which is to be denatured for those purposes. The law of June 7, 1906, and its amendment of March 2, 1907, accomplished what was desired in that respect, and the use of denatured alcohol, as intended, is making a fair degree of progress and is entitled to further encouragement and support from the Congress. The pure food legislation has already worked a benefit difficult to overestimate. It has been my purpose from the beginning of my administration to take the Indian Service completely out of the atmosphere of political activity, and there has been steady progress toward that end. The last remaining stronghold of politics in that service was the agency system, which had seen its best days and was gradually falling to pieces from natural or purely evolutionary causes, but, like all such survivals, was decaying slowly in its later stages. It seems clear that its extinction had better be made final now, so that the ground can be cleared for larger constructive work on behalf of the Indians, preparatory to their induction into the full measure of responsible citizenship. On November 1 only eighteen agencies were left on the roster; with two exceptions, where some legal questions seemed to stand temporarily in the way, these have been changed to superintendencies, and their heads brought into the classified civil service. Last year an amendment was incorporated in the measure providing for the Secret Service, which provided that there should be no detail from the Secret Service and no transfer therefrom. It is not too much to say that this amendment has been of benefit only, and could be of benefit only, to the criminal classes. If deliberately introduced for the purpose of diminishing the effectiveness of war against crime it could not have been better devised to this end. It forbade the practices that had been followed to a greater or less extent by the executive heads of various departments for twenty years. To these practices we owe the securing of the evidence which enabled us to drive great lotteries out of business and secure a quarter of a million of dollars in fines from their promoters. These practices have enabled us to get some of the evidence indispensable in order in connection with the theft of government land and government timber by great corporations and by individuals. These practices have enabled us to get some of the evidence indispensable in order to secure the conviction of the wealthiest and most formidable criminals with whom the Government has to deal, both those operating in violation of the anti-trust law and others. The amendment in question was of benefit to no one excepting to these criminals, and it seriously hampers the Government in the detection of crime and the securing of justice. Moreover, it not only affects departments outside of the Treasury, but it tends to hamper the Secretary of the Treasury himself in the effort to utilize the employees of his department so as to best meet the requirements of the public service. It forbids him from preventing frauds upon the customs service, from investigating irregularities in branch mints and assay offices, and has seriously crippled him. It prevents the promotion of employees in the Secret Service, and this further discourages good effort. In its present form the restriction operates only to the advantage of the criminal, of the wrongdoer. The chief argument in favor of the provision was that the Congressmen did not themselves wish to be investigated by Secret Service men. Very little of such investigation has been done in the past; but it is true that the work of the Secret Service agents was partly responsible for the indictment and conviction of a Senator and a Congressman for land frauds in Oregon. I do not believe that it is in the public interest to protect criminally in any branch of the public service, and exactly as we have again and again during the past seven years prosecuted and convicted such criminals who were in the executive branch of the Government, so in my belief we should be given ample means to prosecute them if found in the legislative branch. But if this is not considered desirable a special exception could be made in the law prohibiting the use of the Secret Service force in investigating members of the Congress. It would be far better to do this than to do what actually was done, and strive to prevent or at least to hamper effective action against criminals by the executive branch of the Government. I again renew my recommendation for postal savings hanks, for depositing savings with the security of the Government behind them. The object is to encourage thrift and economy in the wage-earner and person of moderate means. In 14 States the deposits in savings banks as reported to the Comptroller of the Currency amount to $3,590,245,402, or 98.4 per cent of the entire deposits, while in the remaining 32 States there are only $70,308,543, or 1.6 per cent, showing conclusively that there are many localities in the United States where sufficient opportunity is not given to the people to deposit their savings. The result is that money is kept in hiding and unemployed. It is believed that in the aggregate vast sums of money would be brought into circulation through the instrumentality of the postal savings banks. While there are only 1,453 savings banks reporting to the Comptroller there are more than 61,000 post-offices, 40,000 of which are money order offices. Postal savings banks are now in operation in practically all of the great civilized countries with the exception of the United States. In my last annual message I commended the Postmaster-General's recommendation for an extension of the parcel post on the rural routes. The establishment of a local parcel post on rural routes would be to the mutual benefit of the farmer and the country storekeeper, and it is desirable that the routes, serving more than 15,000,000 people, should be utilized to the fullest practicable extent. An amendment was proposed in the Senate at the last session, at the suggestion of the Postmaster-General, providing that, for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability of establishing a special local parcel post system on the rural routes throughout the United States, the Postmaster-General be authorized and directed to experiment and report to the Congress the result of such experiment by establishing a special local parcel post system on rural delivery routes in not to exceed four counties in the United States for packages of fourth-class matter originating on a rural route or at the distributing post office for delivery by rural carriers. It would seem only proper that such an experiment should be tried in order to demonstrate the practicability of the proposition, especially as the Postmaster-General estimates that the revenue derived from the operation of such a system on all the rural routes would amount to many million dollars. . The share that the National Government should take in the broad work of education has not received the attention and the care it rightly deserves. The immediate responsibility for the support and improvement of our educational systems and institutions rests and should always rest with the people of the several States acting through their state and local governments, but the Nation has an opportunity in educational work which must not be lost and a duty which should no longer be neglected. The National Bureau of Education was established more than forty years ago. Its purpose is to collect and diffuse such information "as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems and otherwise promote the because of education throughout the country." This purpose in no way conflicts with the educational work of the States, but may be made of great advantage to the States by giving them the fullest, most accurate, and hence the most helpful information and suggestion regarding the best educational systems. The Nation, through its broader field of activities, its wider opportunity for obtaining information from all the States and from foreign countries, is able to do that which not even the richest States can do, and with the distinct additional advantage that the information thus obtained is used for the immediate benefit of all our people. With the limited means hitherto provided, the Bureau of Education has rendered efficient service, but the Congress has neglected to adequately supply the bureau with means to meet the educational growth of the country. The appropriations for the general work of the bureau, outside education in Alaska, for the year 1909 are but $87,500--an amount less than they were ten years ago, and some of the important items in these appropriations are less than they were thirty years ago. It is an inexcusable waste of public money to appropriate an amount which is so inadequate as to make it impossible properly to do the work authorized, and it is unfair to the great educational interests of the country to deprive them of the value of the results which can be obtained by proper appropriations. I earnestly recommend that this unfortunate state of affairs as regards the national educational office be remedied by adequate appropriations. This recommendation is urged by the representatives of our common schools and great state universities and the leading educators, who all unite in requesting favorable consideration and action by the Congress upon this subject. . I strongly urge that the request of the Director of the Census in connection with the decennial work so soon to be begun be complied with and that the appointments to the census force be placed under the civil service law, waiving the geographical requirements as requested by the Director of the Census. The supervisors and enumerators should not be appointed under the civil service law, for the reasons given by the Director. I commend to the Congress the careful consideration of the admirable report of the Director of the Census, and I trust that his recommendations will be adopted and immediate action thereon taken. It is highly advisable that there should be intelligent action on the part of the Nation on the question of preserving the health of the country. Through the practical extermination in San Francisco of disease-bearing rodents our country has thus far escaped the bubonic plague. This is but one of the many achievements of American health officers; and it shows what can be accomplished with a better organization than at present exists. The dangers to public health from food adulteration and from many other sources, such as the menace to the physical, mental and moral development of children from child labor, should be met and overcome. There are numerous diseases, which are now known to be preventable, which are, nevertheless, not prevented. The recent International Congress on Tuberculosis has made us painfully aware of the inadequacy of American public health legislation. This Nation can not afford to lag behind in the world-wide battle now being waged by all civilized people with the microscopic foes of mankind, nor ought we longer to ignore the reproach that this Government takes more pains to protect the lives of hogs and of cattle than of human beings. The first legislative step to be taken is that for the concentration of the proper bureaus into one of the existing departments. I therefore urgently recommend the passage of a bill which shall authorize a redistribution of the bureaus which shall best accomplish this end. I recommend that legislation be enacted placing under the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce and Labor the Government Printing Office. At present this office is under the combined control, supervision, and administrative direction of the President and of the Joint Committee on Printing of the two Houses of the Congress. The advantage of having the 4,069 employees in this office and the expenditure of the $5,761,377.57 appropriated therefor supervised by an executive department is obvious, instead of the present combined supervision. All Soldiers' Homes should be placed under the complete jurisdiction and control of the War Department. Economy and sound business policy require that all existing independent bureaus and commissions should be placed under the jurisdiction of appropriate executive departments. It is unwise from every standpoint, and results only in mischief, to have any executive work done save by the purely executive bodies, under the control of the President; and each such executive body should be under the immediate supervision of a Cabinet Minister. . I advocate the immediate admission of New Mexico and Arizona as States. This should be done at the present session of the Congress. The people of the two Territories have made it evident by their votes that they will not come in as one State. The only alternative is to admit them as two, and I trust that this will be done without delay. I call the attention of the Congress to the importance of the problem of the fisheries in the interstate waters. On the Great Lakes we are now, under the very wise treaty of April 11th of this year, endeavoring to come to an international agreement for the preservation and satisfactory use of the fisheries of these waters which can not otherwise be achieved. Lake Erie, for example, has the richest fresh water fisheries in the world; but it is now controlled by the statutes of two Nations, four States, and one Province, and in this Province by different ordinances in different counties. All these political divisions work at cross purposes, and in no case can they achieve protection to the fisheries, on the one hand, and justice to the localities and individuals on the other. The case is similar in Puget Sound. But the problem is quite as pressing in the interstate waters of the United States. The salmon fisheries of the Columbia River are now but a fraction of what they were twenty-five years ago, and what they would be now if the United States Government had taken complete charge of them by intervening between Oregon and Washington. During these twenty-five years the fishermen of each State have naturally tried to take all they could get, and the two legislatures have never been able to agree on joint action of any kind adequate in degree for the protection of the fisheries. At the moment the fishing on the Oregon side is practically closed, while there is no limit on the Washington side of any kind, and no one can tell what the courts will decide as to the very statutes under which this action and non-action result. Meanwhile very few salmon reach the spawning grounds, and probably four years hence the fisheries will amount to nothing; and this comes from a struggle between the associated, or gill-net, fishermen on the one hand, and the owners of the fishing wheels up the river. The fisheries of the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Potomac are also in a bad way. For this there is no remedy except for the United States to control and legislate for the interstate fisheries as part of the business of interstate commerce. In this case the machinery for scientific investigation and for control already exists in the United States Bureau of Fisheries. In this as in similar problems the obvious and simple rule should be followed of having those matters which no particular State can manage taken in hand by the United States; problems which in the seesaw of conflicting State legislatures are absolutely unsolvable are easy enough for Congress to control. The federal statute regulating interstate traffic in game should be extended to include fish. New federal fish hatcheries should be established. The administration of the Alaskan fur-seal service should be vested in the Bureau of Fisheries. This Nation's foreign policy is based on the theory that right must be done between nations precisely as between individuals, and in our actions for the last ten years we have in this matter proven our faith by our deeds. We have behaved, and are behaving, towards other nations as in private life an honorable man would behave towards his fellows. The commercial and material progress of the twenty Latin-American Republics is worthy of the careful attention of the Congress. No other section of the world has shown a greater proportionate development of its foreign trade during the last ten years and none other has more special claims on the interest of the United States. It offers to-day probably larger opportunities for the legitimate expansion of our commerce than any other group of countries. These countries will want our products in greatly increased quantities, and we shall correspondingly need theirs. The International Bureau of the American Republics is doing a useful work in making these nations and their resources better known to us, and in acquainting them not only with us as a people and with our purposes towards them, but with what we have to exchange for their goods. It is an international institution supported by all the governments of the two Americas. The work on the Panama Canal is being done with a speed, efficiency and entire devotion to duty which make it a model for all work of the kind. No task of such magnitude has ever before been undertaken by any nation; and no task of the kind has ever been better performed. The men on the isthmus, from Colonel Goethals and his fellow commissioners through the entire list of employees who are faithfully doing their duty, have won their right to the ungrudging respect and gratitude of the American people. I again recommend the extension of the ocean mail act of 1891 so that satisfactory American ocean mail lines to South America, Asia, the Philippines, and Australiasia may be established. The creation of such steamship lines should be the natural corollary of the voyage of the battle fleet. It should precede the opening of the Panamal Canal. Even under favorable conditions several years must elapse before such lines can be put into operation. Accordingly I urge that the Congress act promptly where foresight already shows that action sooner or later will be inevitable. . I call particular attention to the Territory of Hawaii. The importance of those islands is apparent, and the need of improving their condition and developing their resources is urgent. In recent years industrial conditions upon the islands have radically changed, The importation of coolie labor has practically ceased, and there is now developing such a diversity in agricultural products as to make possible a change in the land conditions of the Territory, so that an opportunity may be given to the small land owner similar to that on the mainland. To aid these changes, the National Government must provide the necessary harbor improvements on each island, so that the agricultural products can be carried to the markets of the world. The coastwise shipping laws should be amended to meet the special needs of the islands, and the alien contract labor law should be so modified in its application to Hawaii as to enable American and European labor to be brought thither. We have begun to improve Pearl Harbor for a naval base and to provide the necessary military fortifications for the protection of the islands, but I can not too strongly emphasize the need of appropriations for these purposes of such an amount as will within the shortest possible time make those islands practically impregnable. It is useless to develop the industrial conditions of the islands and establish there bases of supply for our naval and merchant fleets unless we insure, as far as human ingenuity can, their safety from foreign seizure. One thing to be remembered with all our fortifications is that it is almost useless to make them impregnable from the sea if they are left open to land attack. This is true even of our own coast, but it is doubly true of our insular possessions. In Hawaii, for instance, it is worse than useless to establish a naval station unless we establish it behind fortifications so strong that no landing force can take them save by regular and long-continued siege operations. Real progress toward self-government is being made in the Philippine Islands. The gathering of a Philippine legislative body and Philippine assembly marks a process absolutely new in Asia, not only as regards Asiatic colonies of European powers but as regards Asiatic possessions of other Asiatic powers; and, indeed, always excepting the striking and wonderful example afforded by the great Empire of Japan, it opens an entirely new departure when compared with anything which has happened among Asiatic powers which are their own masters. Hitherto this Philippine legislature has acted with moderation and self-restraint, and has seemed in practical fashion to realize the eternal truth that there must always be government, and that the only way in which any body of individuals can escape the necessity of being governed by outsiders is to show that they are able to restrain themselves, to keep down wrongdoing and disorder. The Filipino people, through their officials, are therefore making real steps in the direction of self-government. I hope and believe that these steps mark the beginning of a course which will continue till the Filipinos become fit to decide for themselves whether they desire to be an independent nation. But it is well for them (and well also for those Americans who during the past decade have done so much damage to the Filipinos by agitation for an immediate independence for which they were totally unfit) to remember that self-government depends, and must depend, upon the Filipinos themselves. All we can do is to give them the opportunity to develop the capacity for self-government. If we had followed the advice of the foolish doctrinaires who wished us at any time during the last ten years to turn the Filipino people adrift, we should have shirked the plainest possible duty and have inflicted a lasting wrong upon the Filipino people. We have acted in exactly the opposite spirit. We have given the Filipinos constitutional government--a government based upon justice--and we have shown that we have governed them for their good and not for our aggrandizement. At the present time, as during the past ten years, the inexorable logic of facts shows that this government must be supplied by us and not by them. We must be wise and generous; we must help the Filipinos to master the difficult art of self-control, which is simply another name for self-government. But we can not give them self-government save in the sense of governing them so that gradually they may, if they are able, learn to govern themselves. Under the present system of just laws and sympathetic administration, we have every reason to believe that they are gradually acquiring the character which lies at the basis of self-government, and for which, if it be lacking, no system of laws, no paper constitution, will in any wise serve as a substitute. Our people in the Philippines have achieved what may legitimately be called a marvelous success in giving to them a government which marks on the part of those in authority both the necessary understanding of the people and the necessary purpose to serve them disinterestedly and in good faith. I trust that within a generation the time will arrive when the Philippines can decide for themselves whether it is well for them to become independent, or to continue under the protection of a strong and disinterested power, able to guarantee to the islands order at home and protection from foreign invasion. But no one can prophesy the exact date when it will be wise to consider independence as a fixed and definite policy. It would be worse than folly to try to set down such a date in advance, for it must depend upon the way in which the Philippine people themselves develop the power of self-mastery. I again recommend that American citizenship be conferred upon the people of Porto Rico. . In Cuba our occupancy will cease in about two months' time, the Cubans have in orderly manner elected their own governmental authorities, and the island will be turned over to them. Our occupation on this occasion has lasted a little over two years, and Cuba has thriven and prospered under it. Our earnest hope and one desire is that the people of the island shall now govern themselves with justice, so that peace and order may be secure. We will gladly help them to this end; but I would solemnly warn them to remember the great truth that the only way a people can permanently avoid being governed from without is to show that they both can and will govern themselves from within. The Japanese Government has postponed until 1917 the date of the great international exposition, the action being taken so as to insure ample time in which to prepare to make the exposition all that it should be made. The American commissioners have visited Japan and the postponement will merely give ampler opportunity for America to be represented at the exposition. Not since the first international exposition has there been one of greater importance than this will be, marking as it does the fiftieth anniversary of the ascension to the throne of the Emperor of Japan. The extraordinary leap to a foremost place among the nations of the world made by Japan during this half century is something unparalleled in all previous history. This exposition will fitly commemorate and signalize the giant progress that has been achieved. It is the first exposition of its kind that has ever been held in Asia. The United States, because of the ancient friendship between the two peoples, because each of us fronts on the Pacific, and because of the growing commercial relations between this country and Asia, takes a peculiar interest in seeing the exposition made a success in every way. I take this opportunity publicly to state my appreciation of the way in which in Japan, in Australia, in New Zealand, and in all the States of South America, the battle fleet has been received on its practice voyage around the world. The American Government can not too strongly express its appreciation of the abounding and generous hospitality shown our ships in every port they visited. As regards the Army I call attention to the fact that while our junior officers and enlisted men stand very high, the present system of promotion by seniority results in bringing into the higher grades many men of mediocre capacity who have but a short time to serve. No man should regard it as his vested right to rise to the highest rank in the Army any more than in any other profession. It is a curious and by no means creditable fact that there should be so often a failure on the part of the public and its representatives to understand the great need, from the standpoint of the service and the Nation, of refusing to promote respectable, elderly incompetents. The higher places should be given to the most deserving men without regard to seniority; at least seniority should be treated as only one consideration. In the stress of modern industrial competition no business firm could succeed if those responsible for its management were chosen simply on the ground that they were the oldest people in its employment; yet this is the course advocated as regards the Army, and required by law for all grades except those of general officer. As a matter of fact, all of the best officers in the highest ranks of the Army are those who have attained their present position wholly or in part by a process of selection. The scope of retiring boards should be extended so that they could consider general unfitness to command for any because, in order to secure a far more rigid enforcement than at present in the elimination of officers for mental, physical or temperamental disabilities. But this plan is recommended only if the Congress does not see fit to provide what in my judgment is far better; that is, for selection in promotion, and for elimination for age. Officers who fail to attain a certain rank by a certain age should be retired--for instance, if a man should not attain field rank by the time he is 45 he should of course be placed on the retired list. General officers should be selected as at present, and one-third of the other promotions should be made by selection, the selection to be made by the President or the Secretary of War from a list of at least two candidates proposed for each vacancy by a board of officers from the arm of the service from which the promotion is to be made. A bill is now before the Congress having for its object to secure the promotion of officers to various grades at reasonable ages through a process of selection, by boards of officers, of the least efficient for retirement with a percentage of their pay depending upon length of service. The bill, although not accomplishing all that should be done, is a long step in the right direction; and I earnestly recommend its passage, or that of a more completely effective measure. The cavalry arm should be reorganized upon modern lines. This is an arm in which it is peculiarly necessary that the field officers should not be old. The cavalry is much more difficult to form than infantry, and it should be kept up to the maximum both in efficiency and in strength, for it can not be made in a hurry. At present both infantry and artillery are too few in number for our needs. Especial attention should be paid to development of the machine gun. A general service corps should be established. As things are now the average soldier has far too much labor of a nonmilitary character to perform. Now that the organized militia, the National Guard, has been incorporated with the Army as a part of the national forces, it behooves the Government to do every reasonable thing in its power to perfect its efficiency. It should be assisted in its instruction and otherwise aided more liberally than heretofore. The continuous services of many well-trained regular officers will be essential in this connection. Such officers must be specially trained at service schools best to qualify them as instructors of the National Guard. But the detailing of officers for training at the service schools and for duty with the National Guard entails detaching them from their regiments which are already greatly depleted by detachment of officers for assignment to duties prescribed by acts of the Congress. A bill is now pending before the Congress creating a number of extra officers in the Army, which if passed, as it ought to be, will enable more officers to be trained as instructors of the National Guard and assigned to that duty. In case of war it will be of the utmost importance to have a large number of trained officers to use for turning raw levies into good troops. There should be legislation to provide a complete plan for organizing the great body of volunteers behind the Regular Army and National Guard when war has come. Congressional assistance should be given those who are endeavoring to promote rifle practice so that our men, in the services or out of them, may know how to use the rifle. While teams representing the United States won the rifle and revolver championships of the world against all comers in England this year, it is unfortunately true that the great body of our citizens shoot less and less as time goes on. To meet this we should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys, and indeed among all classes, as well as in the military services, by every means in our power. Thus, and not otherwise, may we be able to assist in preserving the peace of the world. Fit to hold our own against the strong nations of the earth, our voice for peace will carry to the ends of the earth. Unprepared, and therefore unfit, we must sit dumb and helpless to defend ourselves, protect others, or preserve peace. The first step--in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible, and to be fit for war if it should come--is to teach our men to shoot. I approve the recommendations of the General Board for the increase of the Navy, calling especial attention to the need of additional destroyers and colliers, and above all, of the four battleships. It is desirable to complete as soon as possible a squadron of eight battleships of the best existing type. The North Dakota, Delaware, Florida, and Utah will form the first division of this squadron. The four vessels proposed will form the second division. It will be an improvement on the first, the ships being of the heavy, single caliber, all big gun type. All the vessels should have the same tactical qualities--that is, speed and turning circle--and as near as possible these tactical qualities should be the same as in the four vessels before named now being built. I most earnestly recommend that the General Board be by law turned into a General Staff. There is literally no excuse whatever for continuing the present bureau organization of the Navy. The Navy should be treated as a purely military organization, and everything should be subordinated to the one object of securing military efficiency. Such military efficiency can only be guaranteed in time of war if there is the most thorough previous preparation in time of peace--a preparation, I may add, which will in all probability prevent any need of war. The Secretary must be supreme, and he should have as his official advisers a body of line officers who should themselves have the power to pass upon and coordinate all the work and all the proposals of the several bureaus. A system of promotion by merit, either by selection or by exclusion, or by both processes, should be introduced. It is out of the question, if the present principle of promotion by mere seniority is kept, to expect to get the best results from the higher officers. Our men come too old, and stay for too short a time, in the high command positions. Two hospital ships should be provided. The actual experience of the hospital ship with the fleet in the Pacific has shown the invaluable work which such a ship does, and has also proved that it is well to have it kept under the command of a medical officer. As was to be expected, all of the anticipations of trouble from such a command have proved completely baseless. It is as absurd to put a hospital ship under a line officer as it would be to put a hospital on shore under such a command. This ought to have been realized before, and there is no excuse for failure to realize it now. Nothing better for the Navy from every standpoint has ever occurred than the cruise of the battle fleet around the world. The improvement of the ships in every way has been extraordinary, and they have gained far more experience in battle tactics than they would have gained if they had stayed in the Atlantic waters. The American people have because for profound gratification, both in view of the excellent condition of the fleet as shown by this cruise, and in view of the improvement the cruise has worked in this already high condition. I do not believe that there is any other service in the world in which the average of character and efficiency in the enlisted men is as high as is now the case in our own. I believe that the same statement can be made as to our officers, taken as a whole; but there must be a reservation made in regard to those in the highest ranks--as to which I have already spoken--and in regard to those who have just entered the service; because we do not now get full benefit from our excellent naval school at Annapolis. It is absurd not to graduate the midshipmen as ensigns; to keep them for two years in such an anomalous position as at present the law requires is detrimental to them and to the service. In the academy itself, every first classman should be required in turn to serve as petty officer and officer; his ability to discharge his duties as such should be a prerequisite to his going into the line, and his success in commanding should largely determine his standing at graduation. The Board of Visitors should be appointed in January, and each member should be required to give at least six days' service, only from one to three days' to be performed during June week, which is the least desirable time for the board to be at Annapolis so far as benefiting the Navy by their observations is concerned.
the financial standing of the nation at the present time is excellent and the financial management of the nation interests by the government during the last seven years has shown the most satisfactory results but our currency system is imperfect and it is earnestly to be hoped that the currency commission will be able to propose a thoroughly good system which will do away with the existing defects during the period from july 1 1901 to september 30 1908 there was an increase in the amount of money in circulation of the increase in the per capita during this period was within this time there were several occasions when it was necessary for the treasury department to come to the relief of the money market by purchases or redemptions of united states bonds by increasing deposits in national banks by stimulating additional issues of national bank notes and by facilitating importations from abroad of gold our imperfect currency system has made these proceedings necessary and they were effective until the monetary disturbance in the fall of 1907 immensely increased the difficulty of ordinary methods of relief by the middle of november the available working balance in the treasury had been reduced to approximately clearing house associations throughout the country had been obliged to resort to the expedient of issuing clearing house certificates to be used as money in this emergency it was determined to invite subscriptions for panama canal bonds and three per cent certificates of indebtedness authorized by the act of june 13 1898 it was proposed to in the national banks the proceeds of these issues and to permit their use as a basis for additional circulating notes of national banks the moral effect of this procedure was so great that it was necessary to issue only of the panama canal bonds and of the certificates of indebtedness during the period from july 1 1901 to september 30 1908 the balance between the net ordinary receipts and the net ordinary expenses of the government showed a surplus in the four years 1902 1903 1906 and 1907 and a deficit in the years 1904 1905 1908 and a fractional part of the fiscal year 1909 the net result was a surplus of the financial operations of the government during this period based upon these differences between receipts and expenditures resulted in a net reduction of the debt of the united states from to notwithstanding that there had been two sales of panama canal bonds amounting in the aggregate to and an issue of three per cent certificates of indebtedness under the act of june 13 1998 amounting to refunding operations of the treasury department under the act of march 14 1900 resulted in the conversion into two per cent consols of 1930 of bonds bearing higher rates of interest a decrease of in the annual interest charge resulted from these operations in short during the seven years and three months there has been a net surplus of nearly one hundred millions of receipts over expenditures a reduction of the debt by ninety millions in spite of the extraordinary expense of the panama canal and a saving of nearly nine millions on the annual interest charge this is an exceedingly satisfactory showing especially in view of the fact that during this period the nation has never hesitated to undertake any expenditure that it regarded as necessary there have been no new taxes and no increase of taxes on the contrary some taxes have been taken off there has been a reduction of taxation as regards the great corporations engaged in interstate business and especially the railroad i can only repeat what i have already again and again said in my messages to the congress i believe that under the interstate clause of the constitution the united states has complete and paramount right to control all agencies of interstate commerce and i believe that the national government alone can exercise this right with wisdom and effectiveness so as both to secure justice from and to do justice to the great corporations which are the most important factors in modern business i believe that it is worse than folly to attempt to prohibit all combinations as is done by the sherman law because such a law can be enforced only imperfectly and unequally and its enforcement works almost as much hardship as good i strongly advocate that instead of an unwise effort to prohibit all combinations there shall be substituted a law which shall expressly permit combinations which are in the interest of the public but shall at the same time give to some agency of the national government full power of control and supervision over them one of the chief features of this control should be securing entire publicity in all matters which the public has a right to know and furthermore the power not by judicial but by executive action to prevent or put a stop to every form of improper favoritism or other wrongdoing the railways of the country should be put completely under the interstate commerce commission and removed from the domain of the law the power of the commission should be made thoroughgoing so that it could exercise complete supervision and control over the issue of securities as well as over the raising and lowering of rates as regards rates at least this power should be summary the power to investigate the financial operations and accounts of the railways has been one of the most valuable features in recent legislation power to make combinations and traffic agreements should be explicitly conferred upon the railroads the permission of the commission being first gained and the combination or agreement being published in all its details in the interest of the public the representatives of the public should have complete power to see that the railroads do their duty by the public and as a matter of course this power should also be exercised so as to see that no injustice is done to the railroads the shareholders the employees and the shippers all have interests that must be guarded it is to the interest of all of them that no swindling stock speculation should be allowed and that there should be no improper issuance of securities the guiding intelligences necessary for the successful building and successful management of railroads should receive ample remuneration but no man should be allowed to make money in connection with railroads out of fraudulent and kindred performances there must be no defrauding of investors oppression of the farmers and business men who ship freight or callous disregard of the rights and needs of the employees in addition to this the interests of the shareholders of the employees and of the shippers should all be guarded as against one another to give any one of them undue and improper consideration is to do injustice to the others rates must be made as low as is compatible with giving proper returns to all the employees of the railroad from the highest to the lowest and proper returns to the shareholders but they must not for instance be reduced in such fashion as to necessitate a cut in the wages of the employees or the abolition of the proper and legitimate profits of honest shareholders telegraph and telephone companies engaged in interstate business should be put under the jurisdiction of the interstate commerce commission it is very earnestly to be wished that our people through their representatives should act in this matter it is hard to say whether most damage to the country at large would come from entire failure on the part of the public to supervise and control the actions of the great corporations or from the exercise of the necessary governmental power in a way which would do injustice and wrong to the corporations both the preachers of an unrestricted individualism and the preachers of an oppression which would deny to able men of business the just reward of their initiative and business sagacity are advocating policies that would be fraught with the gravest harm to the whole country to permit every lawless capitalist every corporation to take any action no matter how iniquitous in the effort to secure an improper profit and to build up privilege would be ruinous to the republic and would mark the abandonment of the effort to secure in the industrial world the spirit of democratic fair dealing on the other hand to attack these wrongs in that spirit of demagogy which can see wrong only when committed by the man of wealth and is dumb and blind in the presence of wrong committed against men of property or by men of no property is exactly as evil as corruptly to defend the wrongdoing of men of wealth the war we wage must be waged against misconduct against wrongdoing wherever it is found and we must stand heartily for the rights of every decent man whether he be a man of great wealth or a man who earns his livelihood as a or a tiller of the soil it is to the interest of all of us that there should be a premium put upon individual initiative and individual capacity and an ample reward for the great directing intelligences alone competent to manage the great business operations of it is well to keep in mind that exactly as the anarchist is the worst enemy of liberty and the reactionary the worst enemy of order so the men who defend the rights of property have most to fear from the wrongdoers of great wealth and the men who are championing popular rights have most to fear from the demagogues who in the name of popular rights would do wrong to and oppress honest business men honest men of wealth for the success of either type of wrongdoer necessarily invites a violent reaction against the because the wrongdoer nominally upholds in point of danger to the nation there is nothing to choose between on the one hand the corruptionist the the the man who employs his great talent to swindle his on a large scale and on the other hand the preacher of class hatred the man who whether from ignorance or from willingness to sacrifice his country to his ambition persuades but men to try to destroy the instruments upon which our prosperity mainly rests let each group of men beware of and guard against the shortcomings to which that group is itself most liable too often we see the business community in a spirit of unhealthy class consciousness deplore the effort to hold to account under the law the wealthy men who in their management of great corporations whether railroads street railways or other industrial enterprises have behaved in a way that revolts the conscience of the plain decent people such an attitude can not be condemned too severely for men of property should recognize that they jeopardize the rights of property when they fail heartily to join in the effort to do away with the abuses of wealth on the other hand those who advocate proper control on behalf of the public through the state of these great corporations and of the wealth engaged on a giant scale in business operations must ever keep in mind that unless they do scrupulous justice to the corporation unless they permit ample profit and cordially encourage capable men of business so long as they act with honesty they are striking at the root of our national for in the long run under the mere pressure of material distress the people as a whole would probably go back to the reign of an unrestricted individualism rather than submit to a control by the state so drastic and so foolish conceived in a spirit of such unreasonable and narrow hostility to wealth as to prevent business operations from being profitable and therefore to bring ruin upon the entire business community and ultimately upon the entire body of citizens the opposition to government control of these great corporations makes its most effective effort in the shape of an appeal to the old doctrine of state rights of course there are many sincere men who now believe in unrestricted individualism in business just as there were formerly many sincere men who believed in slavery that is in the unrestricted right of an individual to own another individual these men do not by themselves have great weight however the effective fight against adequate government control and supervision of individual and especially of corporate wealth engaged in interstate business is chiefly done under cover and especially under cover of an appeal to state rights it is not at all infrequent to read in the same speech a denunciation of predatory wealth fostered by special privilege and defiant of both the public welfare and law of the land and a denunciation of centralization in the central government of the power to deal with this centralized and organized wealth of course the policy set forth in such twin denunciations amounts to absolutely nothing for the first half is nullified by the second half the chief reason among the many sound and compelling reasons that led to the formation of the national government was the absolute need that the union and not the several states should deal with interstate and foreign commerce and the power to deal with interstate commerce was granted absolutely and plenarily to the central government and was exercised completely as regards the only instruments of interstate commerce known in those days the waterways the highroads as well as the partnerships of individuals who then conducted all of what business there was interstate commerce is now chiefly conducted by railroads and the great corporation has supplanted the mass of small partnerships or individuals the proposal to make the national government supreme over and therefore to give it complete control over the railroads and other instruments of interstate commerce is merely a proposal to carry out to the letter one of the prime purposes if not the prime purpose for which the constitution was rounded it does not represent centralization it represents merely the acknowledgment of the patent fact that centralization has already come in business if this irresponsible outside business power is to be controlled in the interest of the general public it can only be controlled in one way by giving adequate power of control to the one sovereignty capable of exercising such power the national government forty or fifty separate state governments can not exercise that power over corporations doing business in most or all of them first because they absolutely lack the authority to deal with interstate business in any form and second because of the inevitable conflict of authority sure to arise in the effort to enforce different kinds of state regulation often inconsistent with one another and sometimes oppressive in themselves such divided authority can not regulate commerce with wisdom and effect the central government is the only power which without oppression can nevertheless thoroughly and adequately control and supervise the large corporations to abandon the effort for national control means to abandon the effort for all adequate control and yet to render likely continual bursts of action by state legislatures which can not achieve the purpose sought for but which can do a great deal of damage to the corporation without conferring any real benefit on the public i believe that the more farsighted corporations are themselves coming to recognize the unwisdom of the violent hostility they have displayed during the last few years to regulation and control by the national government of combinations engaged in interstate business the truth is that we who believe in this movement of asserting and exercising a genuine control in the public interest over these great corporations have to contend against two sets of enemies who though nominally opposed to one another are really allies in preventing a proper solution of the problem there are first the big corporation men and the extreme individualists among business men who genuinely believe in utterly unregulated business that is in the reign of plutocracy and second the men who being blind to the economic movements of the day believe in a movement of repression rather than of regulation of corporations and who denounce both the power of the railroads and the exercise of the federal power which alone can really control the railroads those who believe in efficient national control on the other hand do not in the least object to combinations do not in the least object to concentration in business administration on the contrary they favor both with the all important proviso that there shall be such publicity about their workings and such thoroughgoing control over them as to insure their being in the interest and not against the interest of the general public we do not object to the concentration of wealth and administration but we do believe in the distribution of the wealth in profits to the real owners and in securing to the public the full benefit of the concentrated administration we believe that with concentration in administration there can come both be advantage of a larger ownership and of a more equitable distribution of profits and at the same time a better service to the commonwealth we believe that the administration should be for the benefit of the many and that greed and rascality practiced on a large scale should be punished as relentlessly as if practiced on a small scale we do not for a moment believe that the problem will be solved by any short and easy method the solution will come only by pressing various concurrent remedies some of these remedies must lie outside the domain of all government some must lie outside the domain of the federal government but there is legislation which the federal government alone can enact and which is absolutely vital in order to secure the attainment of our purpose many laws are needed there should be regulation by the national government of the great interstate corporations including a simple method of account keeping publicity supervision of the issue securities abolition of rebates and of special privileges there should be short time franchises for all corporations engaged in public business including the corporations which get power from water rights there should be national as well as state guardianship of mines and forests the labor legislation hereinafter referred to should concurrently be enacted into law to accomplish this means of course a certain increase in the use of not the creation of power by the central government the power already exists it does not have to be created the only question is whether it shall be used or left idle and meanwhile the corporations over which the power ought to be exercised will not remain idle let those who object to this increase in the use of the only power available the national power be frank and admit openly that they propose to abandon any effort to control the great business corporations and to exercise supervision over the accumulation and distribution of wealth for such supervision and control can only come through this particular kind of increase of power we no more believe in that empiricism which demand absolutely unrestrained individualism than we do in that empiricism which clamors for a deadening socialism which would destroy all individual initiative and would ruin the country with a completeness that not even an unrestrained individualism itself could achieve the danger to american democracy lies not in the least in the concentration of administrative power in responsible and accountable hands it lies in having the power insufficiently concentrated so that no one can be held responsible to the people for its use concentrated power is palpable visible responsible easily reached quickly held to account power scattered through many administrators many legislators many men who work behind and through legislators and administrators is impalpable is unseen is irresponsible can not be reached can not be held to account democracy is in peril wherever the administration of political power is scattered among a variety of men who work in secret whose very names are unknown to the common people it is not in peril from any man who derives authority from the people who exercises it in sight of the people and who is from time to time compelled to give an account of its exercise to the people there are many matters affecting labor and the status of the to which i should like to draw your attention but an exhaustive discussion of the problem in all its aspects is not now necessary this administration is nearing its end and moreover under our form of government the solution of the problem depends upon the action of the states as much as upon the action of the nation nevertheless there are certain considerations which i wish to set before you because i hope that our people will more and more keep them in mind a blind and ignorant resistance to every effort for the reform of abuses and for the readjustment of society to modern industrial conditions represents not true conservatism but an incitement to the wildest radicalism for wise radicalism and wise conservatism go hand in hand one bent on progress the other bent on seeing that no change is made unless in the right direction i believe in a steady effort or perhaps it would be more accurate to say in steady efforts in many different directions to bring about a condition of affairs under which the men who work with hand or with brain the laborers the superintendents the men who produce for the market and the men who find a market for the articles produced shall own a far greater share than at present of the wealth they produce and be enabled to invest it in the tools and instruments by which all work is carried on as far as possible i hope to see a frank recognition of the advantages conferred by machinery organization and division of labor accompanied by an effort to bring about a larger share in the ownership by of railway mill and factory in farming this simply means that we wish to see the farmer own his own land we do not wish to see the farms so large that they become the property of absentee landlords who farm them by tenants nor yet so small that the farmer becomes like a european peasant again the depositors in our savings banks now number over of our entire population these are all capitalists who through the savings banks loan their money to the workers that is in many cases to themselves to carry on their various industries the more we increase their number the more we introduce the principles of cooperation into our industry every increase in the number of small stockholders in corporations is a good thing for the same reasons and where the employees are the stockholders the result is particularly good very much of this movement must be outside of anything that can be accomplished by legislation but legislation can do a good deal postal savings banks will make it easy for the poorest to keep their savings in absolute safety the regulation of the national highways must be such that they shall serve all people with equal justice corporate finances must be supervised so as to make it far safer than at present for the man of small means to invest his money in stocks there must be prohibition of child labor diminution of woman labor shortening of hours of all mechanical labor stock watering should be prohibited and stock gambling so far as is possible discouraged there should be a progressive inheritance tax on large fortunes industrial education should be encouraged as far as possible we should lighten the burden of taxation on the small man we should put a premium upon thrift hard work and business energy but these qualities cease to be the main factors in accumulating a fortune long before that fortune reaches a point where it would be seriously affected by any inheritance tax such as i propose it is eminently right that the nation should fix the terms upon which the great fortunes are inherited they rarely do good and they often do harm to those who inherit them in their entirety the above is the merest sketch hardly even a sketch in outline of the reforms for which we should work but there is one matter with which the congress should deal at this session there should no longer be any paltering with the question of taking care of the who under our present industrial system become killed crippled or worn out as part of the regular incidents of a given business the majority of wageworkers must have their rights secured for them by state action but the national government should legislate in thoroughgoing and fashion not only for all employees of the national government but for all persons engaged in interstate commerce the object sought for could be achieved to a measurable degree as far as those killed or crippled are concerned by proper employers liability laws as far as concerns those who have been worn out i call your attention to the fact that definite steps toward providing pensions have been taken in many of our private industries these may be indefinitely extended through voluntary association and contributory schemes or through the agency of savings banks as under the recent massachusetts plan to strengthen these practical measures should be our immediate duty it is not at present necessary to consider the larger and more general governmental schemes that most european governments have found themselves obliged to adopt our present system or rather no system works dreadful wrong and is of benefit to only one class of people the lawyers when a workman is injured what he needs is not an expensive and doubtful lawsuit but the certainty of relief through immediate administrative action the number of accidents which result in the death or crippling of wageworkers in the union at large is simply appalling in a very few years it runs up a total far in excess of the aggregate of the dead and wounded in any modern war no academic theory about freedom of contract or constitutional liberty to contract should be permitted to interfere with this and similar movements progress in civilization has everywhere meant a limitation and regulation of contract i call your especial attention to the bulletin of the bureau of labor which gives a statement of the methods of treating the unemployed in european countries as this is a subject which in germany for instance is treated in connection with making provision for and crippled workmen pending a thoroughgoing investigation and action there is certain legislation which should be enacted at once the law passed at the last session of the congress granting compensation to certain classes of employees of the government should be extended to include all employees of the government and should be made more liberal in its terms there is no good ground for the distinction made in the law between those engaged in hazardous occupations and those not so engaged if a man is injured or killed in any line of work it was hazardous in his case whether 1 per cent or 10 per cent of those following a given occupation actually suffer injury or death ought not to have any bearing on the question of their receiving compensation it is a grim logic which says to an injured employee or to the dependents of one killed that he or they are entitled to no compensation because very few people other than he have been injured or killed in that occupation perhaps one of the most striking omissions in the law is that it does not embrace peace officers and others whose lives may be sacrificed in enforcing the laws of the united states the terms of the act providing compensation should be made more liberal than in the present act a year compensation is not adequate for a family in the event of his death by accident in the course of his employment and in the event of death occurring say ten or eleven months after the accident the family would only receive as compensation the equivalent of one or two months earnings in this respect the generosity of the united states towards its employees compares most unfavorably with that of every country in europe even the poorest the terms of the act are also a hardship in prohibiting payment in cases where the accident is in any way due to the negligence of the employee it is inevitable that daily familiarity with danger will lead men to take chances that can be construed into negligence so well is this recognized that in practically all countries in the civilized world except the united states only a great degree of negligence acts as a bar to securing compensation probably in no other respect is our legislation both state and national so far behind practically the entire civilized world as in the matter of liability and compensation for accidents in industry it is humiliating that at european international congresses on accidents the united states should be singled out as the most belated among the nations in respect to employers liability legislation this government is itself a large employer of labor and in its dealings with its employees it should set a standard in this country which would place it on a par with the most progressive countries in europe the laws of the united states in this respect and the laws of european countries have been summarized in a recent bulletin of the bureau of labor and no american who reads this summary can fail to be struck by the great contrast between our practices and theirs a contrast not in any sense to our credit the congress should without further delay pass a model employers liability law for the district of columbia the employers liability act recently declared unconstitutional on account of apparently including in its provisions employees engaged in intrastate commerce as well as those engaged in interstate commerce has been held by the local courts to be still in effect so far as its provisions apply to district of columbia there should be no ambiguity on this point if there is any doubt on the subject the law should be reenacted with special reference to the district of columbia this act however applies only to employees of common carriers in all other occupations the liability law of the district is the old common law the severity and injustice of the common law in this matter has been in some degree or another modified in the majority of our states and the only jurisdiction under the exclusive control of the congress should be ahead and not behind the states of the union in this respect a comprehensive employers liability law should be passed for the district of columbia i renew my recommendation made in a previous message that be granted during summer to all wageworkers in government employ i also renew my recommendation that the principle of the day should as rapidly and as far as practicable be extended to the entire work being carried on by the government the present law should be amended to embrace contracts on those public works which the present wording of the act seems to exclude i most earnestly urge upon the congress the duty of increasing the totally inadequate salaries now given to our judges on the whole there is no body of public servants who do as valuable work nor whose moneyed reward is so inadequate compared to their work beginning with the supreme court the judges should have their salaries doubled it is not befitting the dignity of the nation that its most honored public servants should be paid sums so small compared to what they would earn in private life that the performance of public service by them implies an exceedingly heavy pecuniary sacrifice it is earnestly to be desired that some method should be devised for doing away with the long delays which now obtain in the administration of justice and which operate with peculiar severity against persons of small means and favor only the very criminals whom it is most desirable to punish these long delays in the final decisions of cases make in the aggregate a crying evil and a remedy should be devised much of this intolerable delay is due to improper regard paid to technicalities which are a mere hindrance to justice in some noted recent cases this for technicalities has resulted in a striking denial of justice and flagrant wrong to the body politic at the last election certain leaders of organized labor made a violent and sweeping attack upon the entire judiciary of the country an attack couched in such terms as to include the most upright honest and judges no less than those of narrower mind and more restricted outlook it was the kind of attack admirably fitted to prevent any successful attempt to reform abuses of the judiciary because it gave the champions of the unjust judge their eagerly desired opportunity to shift their ground into a championship of just judges who were unjustly assailed last year before the house committee on the judiciary these same labor leaders formulated their demands specifying the bill that contained them refusing all compromise stating they wished the principle of that bill or nothing they insisted on a provision that in a labor dispute no injunction should issue except to protect a property right and specifically provided that the right to carry on business should not be construed as a property right and in a second provision their bill made legal in a labor dispute any act or agreement by or between two or more persons that would not have been unlawful if done by a single person in other words this bill legalized blacklisting and boycotting in every form legalizing for instance those forms of the secondary boycott which the anthracite coal strike commission so unreservedly condemned while the right to carry on a business was explicitly taken out from under that protection which the law throws over property the demand was made that there should be trial by jury in contempt cases thereby most seriously impairing the authority of the courts all this represented a course of policy which if carried out would mean the enthronement of class privilege in its crudest and most brutal form and the destruction of one of the most essential functions of the judiciary in all civilized lands the violence of the crusade for this legislation and its complete failure illustrate two truths which it is essential our people should learn in the first place they ought to teach the workingman the laborer the wageworker that by demanding what is improper and impossible he plays into the hands of his foes such a crude and vicious attack upon the courts even if it were temporarily successful would inevitably in the end because a violent reaction and would band the great mass of citizens together forcing them to stand by all the judges competent and incompetent alike rather than to see the wheels of justice stopped a movement of this kind can ultimately result in nothing but damage to those in whose behalf it is nominally undertaken this is a most healthy truth which it is wise for all our people to learn any movement based on that class hatred which at times assumes the name of class consciousness is certain ultimately to fail and if it temporarily succeeds to do damage class consciousness where it is merely another name for the odious vice of class selfishness is equally noxious whether in an employer association or in a workingman association the movement in question was one in which the appeal was made to all workingmen to vote primarily not as american citizens but as individuals of a certain class in society such an appeal in the first place revolts the more and among the persons to whom it is addressed and in the second place tends to arouse a strong antagonism among all other classes of citizens whom it therefore tends to unite against the very organization on whose behalf it is issued the result is therefore unfortunate from every standpoint this healthy truth by the way will be learned by the socialists if they ever succeed in establishing in this country an important national party based on such class consciousness and selfish class interest the wageworkers the workingmen the laboring men of the country by the way in which they repudiated the effort to get them to cast their votes in response to an appeal to class hatred have emphasized their sound patriotism and americanism the whole country has because to fell pride in this attitude of sturdy independence in this uncompromising insistence upon acting simply as good citizens as good americans without regard to fancied and improper class interests such an attitude is an in good citizenship to the entire nation but the extreme reactionaries the persons who blind themselves to the wrongs now and then committed by the courts on laboring men should also think seriously as to what such a movement as this portends the judges who have shown themselves able and willing effectively to check the dishonest activity of the very rich man who works iniquity by the mismanagement of corporations who have shown themselves alert to do justice to the wageworker and sympathetic with the needs of the mass of our people so that the dweller in the tenement houses the man who practices a dangerous trade the man who is crushed by excessive hours of labor feel that their needs are understood by the courts these judges are the real bulwark of the courts these judges the judges of the stamp of the who have been fearless in opposing labor when it has gone wrong but fearless also in holding to strict account corporations that work iniquity and in seeing that the workingman gets his rights are the men of all others to whom we owe it that the appeal for such violent and mistaken legislation has fallen on deaf ears that the agitation for its passage proved to be without substantial basis the courts are jeopardized primarily by the action of those federal and state judges who show inability or unwillingness to put a stop to the wrongdoing of very rich men under modern industrial conditions and inability or unwillingness to give relief to men of small means or wageworkers who are crushed down by these modern industrial conditions who in other words fail to understand and apply the needed remedies for the new wrongs produced by the new and highly complex social and industrial civilization which has grown up in the last half century the rapid changes in our social and industrial life which have attended this rapid growth have made it necessary that in applying to concrete cases the great rule of right laid down in our constitution there should be a full understanding and appreciation of the new conditions to which the rules are to be applied what would have been an infringement upon liberty half a century ago may be the necessary safeguard of liberty what would have been an injury to property then may be necessary to the enjoyment of property now every judicial decision involves two terms one as interpretation of the law the other the understanding of the facts to which it is to be applied the great mass of our judicial officers are i believe alive to those changes of conditions which so materially affect the performance of their judicial duties our judicial system is sound and effective at core and it remains and must ever be maintained as the safeguard of those principles of liberty and justice which stand at the foundation of american institutions for as burke finely said when liberty and justice are separated neither is safe there are however some members of the judicial body who have lagged behind in their understanding of these great and vital changes in the body politic whose minds have never been opened to the new applications of the old principles made necessary by the new conditions judges of this stamp do lasting harm by their decisions because they convince poor men in need of protection that the courts of the land are profoundly ignorant of and out of sympathy with their needs and profoundly indifferent or hostile to any proposed remedy to such men it seems a cruel mockery to have any court decide against them on the ground that it desires to preserve liberty in a purely technical form by withholding liberty in any real and constructive sense it is desirable that the legislative body should possess and wherever necessary exercise the power to determine whether in a given case employers and employees are not on an equal footing so that the necessities of the latter compel them to submit to such exactions as to hours and conditions of labor as unduly to tax their strength and only mischief can result when such determination is upset on the ground that there must be no interference with the liberty to contract often a merely academic liberty the exercise of which is the negation of real liberty there are certain decisions by various courts which have been exceedingly detrimental to the rights of wageworkers this is true of all the decisions that decide that men and women are by the constitution guaranteed their liberty to contract to enter a dangerous occupation or to work an undesirable or improper number of hours or to work in unhealthy surroundings and therefore can not recover damages when maimed in that occupation and can not be forbidden to work what the legislature decides is an excessive number of hours or to carry on the work under conditions which the legislature decides to be unhealthy the most dangerous occupations are often the poorest paid and those where the hours of work are longest and in many cases those who go into them are driven by necessity so great that they have practically no alternative decisions such as those alluded to above nullify the legislative effort to protect the who most need protection from those employers who take advantage of their grinding need they halt or hamper the movement for securing better and more equitable conditions of labor the talk about preserving to the beings who make contracts for such service their liberty to make them is either to speak in a spirit of heartless irony or else to show an utter lack of knowledge of the conditions of life among the great masses of our a lack which unfits a judge to do good service just as it would unfit any executive or legislative officer there is also i think ground for the belief that substantial injustice is often suffered by employees in consequence of the custom of courts issuing temporary injunctions without notice to them and punishing them for contempt of court in instances where as a matter of fact they have no knowledge of any proceedings outside of organized labor there is a widespread feeling that this system often works great injustice to wageworkers when their efforts to better their working condition result in industrial disputes a temporary injunction procured ex parte may as a matter of fact have all the effect of a permanent injunction in causing disaster to the wageworkers side in such a dispute organized labor is chafing under the unjust restraint which comes from repeated resort to this plan of procedure its discontent has been unwisely expressed and often improperly expressed but there is a sound basis for it and the orderly and people of a community would be in a far stronger position for upholding the courts if the undoubtedly existing abuses could be provided against such proposals as those mentioned above as advocated by the extreme labor leaders contain the vital error of being class legislation of the most offensive kind and even if enacted into law i believe that the law would rightly be held unconstitutional moreover the labor people are themselves now beginning to invoke the use of the power of injunction during the last ten years and within my own knowledge at least fifty injunctions have been obtained by labor unions in new york city alone most of them being to protect the union label a property right but some being obtained for other reasons against employers the power of injunction is a great equitable remedy which should on no account be destroyed but safeguards should be erected against its abuse i believe that some such provisions as those i advocated a year ago for checking the abuse of the issuance of temporary injunctions should be adopted in substance provision should be made that no injunction or temporary restraining order issue otherwise than on notice except where irreparable injury would otherwise result and in such case a hearing on the merits of the order should be had within a short fixed period and if not then continued after hearing it should forthwith lapse decisions should be rendered immediately and the chance of delay minimized in every way moreover i believe that the procedure should be sharply defined and the judge required minutely to state the particulars both of his action and of his reasons therefor so that the congress can if it desires examine and investigate the same the chief lawmakers in our country may be and often are the judges because they are the final seat of authority every time they interpret contract property vested rights due process of law liberty they necessarily enact into law parts of a system of social philosophy and as such interpretation is fundamental they give direction to all the decisions of the courts on economic and social questions depend upon their economic and social philosophy and for the peaceful progress of our people during the twentieth century we shall owe most to those judges who hold to a twentieth century economic and social philosophy and not to a long outgrown philosophy which was itself the product of primitive economic conditions of course a judge views on progressive social philosophy are entirely second in importance to his possession of a high and fine character which means the possession of such elementary virtues as honesty courage and the judge who owes his election to pandering to demagogic sentiments or class hatreds and prejudices and the judge who owes either his election or his appointment to the money or the favor of a great corporation are alike unworthy to sit on the bench are alike traitors to the people and no profundity of legal learning or correctness of abstract conviction on questions of public policy can serve as an offset to such shortcomings but it is also true that judges like executives and legislators should hold sound views on the questions of public policy which are of vital interest to the people the legislators and executives are chosen to represent the people in enacting and administering the laws the judges are not chosen to represent the people in this sense their function is to interpret the laws the legislators are responsible for the laws the judges for the spirit in which they interpret and enforce the laws we stand aloof from the reckless agitators who would make the judges mere pliant tools of popular prejudice and passion and we stand aloof from those equally unwise partisans of reaction and privilege who deny the proposition that inasmuch as judges are chosen to serve the interests of the whole people they should strive to find out what those interests are and so far as they conscientiously can should strive to give effect to popular conviction when deliberately and duly expressed by the lawmaking body the courts are to be highly commended and staunchly upheld when they set their faces against wrongdoing or tyranny by a majority but they are to be blamed when they fail to recognize under a government like ours the deliberate judgment of the majority as to a matter of legitimate policy when duly expressed by the legislature such lawfully expressed and deliberate judgment should be given effect by the courts save in the extreme and exceptional cases where there has been a clear violation of a constitutional provision anything like frivolity or wantonness in upsetting such clearly taken governmental action is a grave offense against the republic to protest against tyranny to protect minorities from oppression to nullify an act committed in a spasm of popular fury is to render a service to the republic but for the courts to arrogate to themselves functions which properly belong to the legislative bodies is all wrong and in the end works mischief the people should not be permitted to pardon evil and slipshod legislation on the theory that the court will set it right they should be taught that the right way to get rid of a bad law is to have the legislature repeal it and not to have the courts by ingenious nullify it a law may be unwise and improper but it should not for these reasons be declared unconstitutional by a strained interpretation for the result of such action is to take away from the people at large their sense of responsibility and ultimately to destroy their capacity for orderly self restraint and self government under such a popular government as ours rounded on the theory that in the long run the will of the people is supreme the ultimate safety of the nation can only rest in training and guiding the people so that what they will shall be right and not in devising means to defeat their will by the technicalities of strained construction for many of the shortcomings of justice in our country our people as a whole are themselves to blame and the judges and juries merely bear their share together with the public as a whole it is discreditable to us as a people that there should be difficulty in convicting murderers or in bringing to justice men who as public servants have been guilty of corruption or who have profited by the corruption of public servants the result is equally unfortunate whether due to hairsplitting technicalities in the interpretation of law by judges to sentimentality and class consciousness on the part of juries or to hysteria and sensationalism in the daily press for much of this failure of justice no responsibility whatever lies on rich men as such we who make up the mass of the people can not shift the responsibility from our own shoulders but there is an important part of the failure which has specially to do with inability to hold to proper account men of wealth who behave badly the chief breakdown is in dealing with the new relations that arise from the mutualism the interdependence of our time every new social relation begets a new type of wrongdoing of sin to use an word and many years always elapse before society is able to turn this sin into crime which can be effectively punished at law during the lifetime of the older men now alive the social relations have changed far more rapidly than in the preceding two centuries the immense growth of corporations of business done by associations and the extreme strain and pressure of modern life have produced conditions which render the public confused as to who its really dangerous foes are and among the public servants who have not only shared this confusion but by some of their acts have increased it are certain judges marked inefficiency has been shown in dealing with corporations and in the proper attitude to be taken by the public not only towards corporations but towards labor and towards the social questions arising out of the factory system and the enormous growth of our great cities the huge wealth that has been accumulated by a few individuals of recent years in what has amounted to a social and industrial revolution has been as regards some of these individuals made possible only by the improper use of the modern corporation a certain type of modern corporation with its officers and agents its many issues of securities and its constant consolidation with allied undertakings finally becomes an instrument so complex as to contain a greater number of elements that under various judicial decisions lend themselves to fraud and oppression than any device yet evolved in the human brain corporations are necessary instruments of modern business they have been permitted to become a menace largely because the governmental representatives of the people have worked slowly in providing for adequate control over them the chief offender in any given case may be an executive a legislature or a judge every executive head who advises violent instead of gradual action or who advocates and sweeping measures of reform especially if they are tainted with vindictiveness and disregard for the rights of the minority is particularly blameworthy the several legislatures are responsible for the fact that our laws are often prepared with slovenly haste and lack of consideration moreover they are often prepared and still more frequently amended during passage at the suggestion of the very parties against whom they are afterwards enforced our great clusters of corporations huge trusts and fabulously wealthy employ the very best lawyers they can obtain to pick flaws in these statutes after their passage but they also employ a class of secret agents who seek under the advice of experts to render hostile legislation innocuous by making it unconstitutional often through the insertion of what appear on their face to be drastic and sweeping provisions against the interests of the parties inspiring them while the demagogues the corrupt creatures who introduce blackmailing schemes to strike corporations and all who demand extreme and undesirably radical measures show themselves to be the worst enemies of the very public whose champions they profess to be a very striking illustration of the consequences of carelessness in the preparation of a statute was the employers liability law of 1906 in the cases arising under that law four out of six courts of first instance held it unconstitutional six out of nine justices of the supreme court held that its was within the province of congressional action and four of the nine justices held it valid it was however adjudged unconstitutional by a bare majority of the court five to four it was surely a very slovenly piece of work to frame the legislation in such shape as to leave the question open at all real damage has been done by the manifold and conflicting interpretations of the interstate commerce law control over the great corporations doing interstate business can be effective only if it is vested with full power in an administrative department a branch of the federal executive carrying out a federal law it can never be effective if a divided responsibility is left in both the states and the nation it can never be effective if left in the hands of the courts to be decided by lawsuits the courts hold a place of peculiar and deserved sanctity under our form of government respect for the law is essential to the permanence of our institutions and respect for the law is largely conditioned upon respect for the courts it is an offense against the republic to say anything which can weaken this respect save for the gravest reason and in the most carefully guarded manner our judges should be held in peculiar honor and the duty of respectful and truthful comment and criticism which should be binding when we speak of anybody should be especially binding when we speak of them on an average they stand above any other servants of the community and the greatest judges have reached the high level held by those few greatest patriots whom the whole country delights to honor but we must face the fact that there are wise and unwise judges just as there are wise and unwise executives and legislators when a president or a governor behaves improperly or unwisely the remedy is easy for his term is short the same is true with the legislator although not to the same degree for he is one of many who belong to some given legislative body and it is therefore less easy to fix his personal responsibility and hold him accountable therefor with a judge who being human is also likely to err but whose tenure is for life there is no similar way of holding him to responsibility under ordinary conditions the only forms of pressure to which he is in any way amenable are public opinion and the action of his fellow judges it is the last which is most immediately effective and to which we should look for the reform of abuses any remedy applied from without is fraught with risk it is far better from every standpoint that the remedy should come from within in no other nation in the world do the courts wield such vast and power as in the united states all that is necessary is that the courts as a whole should exercise this power with the farsighted wisdom already shown by those judges who scan the future while they act in the present let them exercise this great power not only honestly and bravely but with wise insight into the needs and fixed purposes of the people so that they may do justice and work equity so that they may protect all persons in their rights and yet break down the barriers of privilege which is the foe of right if there is any one duty which more than another we owe it to our children and our children children to perform at once it is to save the forests of this country for they constitute the first and most important element in the conservation of the natural resources of the country there are of course two kinds of natural resources one is the kind which can only be used as part of a process of exhaustion this is true of mines natural oil and gas wells and the like the other and of course ultimately by far the most important includes the resources which can be improved in the process of wise use the soil the rivers and the forests come under this head any really civilized nation will so use all of these three great national assets that the nation will have their benefit in the future just as a farmer after all his life making his living from his farm will if he is an expert farmer leave it as an asset of increased value to his son so we should leave our national domain to our children increased in value and not worn out there are small sections of our own country in the east and the west in the adriondacks the white mountains and the appalachians and in the rocky mountains where we can already see for ourselves the damage in the shape of permanent injury to the soil and the river systems which comes from reckless deforestation it matters not whether this deforestation is due to the actual reckless cutting of timber to the fires that inevitably follow such reckless cutting of timber or to reckless and uncontrolled grazing especially by the great migratory bands of sheep the unchecked wandering of which over the country means destruction to forests and disaster to the small home makers the settlers of limited means shortsighted persons or persons blinded to the future by desire to make money in every way out of the present sometimes speak as if no great damage would be done by the reckless destruction of our forests it is difficult to have patience with the arguments of these persons thanks to our own recklessness in the use of our splendid forests we have already crossed the verge of a timber famine in this country and no measures that we now take can at least for many years undo the mischief that has already been done but we can prevent further mischief being done and it would be in the highest degree reprehensible to let any consideration of temporary convenience or temporary cost interfere with such action especially as regards the national forests which the nation can now at this very moment control all serious students of the question are aware of the great damage that has been done in the mediterranean countries of europe asia and africa by deforestation the similar damage that has been done in eastern asia is less well known a recent investigation into conditions in north china by frank meyer of the bureau of plant industry of the united states department of agriculture has incidentally furnished in very striking fashion proof of the ruin that comes from reckless deforestation of mountains and of the further fact that the damage once done may prove practically irreparable so important are these investigations that i herewith attach as an appendix to my message certain photographs showing present conditions in china they show in vivid fashion the appalling desolation taking the shape of barren mountains and gravel and plains which immediately follows and depends upon the deforestation of the mountains not many centuries ago the country of northern china was one of the most fertile and beautiful spots in the entire world and was heavily forested we know this not only from the old chinese records but from the accounts given by the traveler marco polo he for instance mentions that in visiting the provinces of shansi and shensi he observed many plantations of mulberry trees now there is hardly a single mulberry tree in either of these provinces and the culture of the silkworm has moved farther south to regions of atmospheric moisture as an illustration of the complete change in the rivers we may take polo statement that a certain river the hun ho was so large and deep that merchants ascended it from the sea with heavily laden boats today this river is simply a broad sandy bed with shallow rapid currents wandering hither and thither across it absolutely unnavigable but we do not have to depend upon written records the dry wells and the wells with water far below the former watermark bear testimony to the good days of the past and the evil days of the present wherever the native vegetation has been allowed to remain as for instance here and there around a sacred temple or imperial burying ground there are still huge trees and tangled jungle fragments of the glorious ancient forests the thick matted forest growth formerly covered the mountains to their summits all natural factors favored this dense forest growth and as long as it was permitted to exist the plains at the foot of the mountains were among the most fertile on the globe and the whole country was a garden not the slightest effort was made however to prevent the unchecked cutting of the trees or to secure reforestation doubtless for many centuries the by the inhabitants of the mountains worked but slowly in bringing about the changes that have now come to pass doubtless for generations the inroads were scarcely noticeable but there came a time when the forest had shrunk sufficiently to make each year cutting a serious matter and from that time on the destruction proceeded with appalling rapidity for of course each year of destruction rendered the forest less able to recuperate less able to resist next year inroad meyer describes the ceaseless progress of the destruction even now when there is so little left to destroy every morning men and boys go out armed with mattox or axe scale the steepest mountain sides and cut down and grub out root and branch the small trees and shrubs still to be found the big trees disappeared centuries ago so that now one of these is never seen save in the neighborhood of temples where they are artificially protected and even here it takes all the watch and care of the priests to prevent their destruction each family each community where there is no common care exercised in the interest of all of them to prevent deforestation finds its profit in the immediate use of the fuel which would otherwise be used by some other family or some other community in the total absence of regulation of the matter in the interest of the whole people each small group is inevitably pushed into a policy of destruction which can not afford to take thought for the morrow this is just one of those matters which it is fatal to leave to unsupervised individual control the forest can only be protected by the state by the nation and the liberty of action of individuals must be conditioned upon what the state or nation determines to be necessary for the common safety the lesson of deforestation in china is a lesson which mankind should have learned many times already from what has occurred in other places denudation leaves naked soil then gullying cuts down to the bare rock and meanwhile the buries the bottomlands when the soil is gone men must go and the process does not take long this ruthless destruction of the forests in northern china has brought about or has aided in bringing about desolation just as the destruction of the forests in central asia aid in bringing ruin to the once rich central asian cities just as the destruction of the forest in northern africa helped towards the ruin of a region that was a fertile granary in roman days shortsighted man whether barbaric or what he mistakenly regards as fully civilized when he has destroyed the forests has rendered certain the ultimate destruction of the land itself in northern china the mountains are now such as are shown by the accompanying photographs absolutely barren peaks not only have the forests been destroyed but because of their destruction the soil has been washed off the naked rock the terrible consequence is that it is impossible now to undo the damage that has been done many centuries would have to pass before soil would again collect or could be made to collect in sufficient quantity once more to support the forest growth in consequence the mongol desert is practically extending eastward over northern china the climate has changed and is still changing it has changed even within the last half century as the work of tree destruction has been consummated the great masses of arboreal vegetation on the mountains formerly absorbed the heat of the sun and sent up currents of cool air which brought the clouds lower and forced them to precipitate in rain a part of their burden of water now that there is no vegetation the barren mountains scorched by the sun send up currents of heated air which drive away instead of attracting the rain clouds and because their moisture to be disseminated in consequence instead of the regular and plentiful rains which existed in these regions of china when the forests were still in evidence the unfortunate inhabitants of the deforested lands now see their crops wither for lack of rainfall while the seasons grow more and more irregular and as the air becomes dryer certain crops refuse longer to grow at all that everything dries out faster than formerly is shown by the fact that the level of the wells all over the land has sunk perceptibly many of them having become totally dry in addition to the resulting agricultural distress the watercourses have changed formerly they were narrow and deep with an abundance of clear water the year around for the roots and humus of the forests caught the rainwater and let it escape by slow regular seepage they have now become broad shallow stream beds in which muddy water trickles in slender currents during the dry seasons while when it rains there are freshets and roaring muddy torrents come tearing down bringing disaster and destruction everywhere moreover these floods and freshets which diversify the general dryness wash away from the mountain sides and either wash away or cover in the valleys the rich fertile soil which it took tens of thousands of years for nature to form and it is lost forever and until the forests grow again it can not be replaced the sand and stones from the mountain sides are washed loose and come rolling down to cover the arable lands and in consequence throughout this part of china many formerly rich districts are now sandy wastes useless for human cultivation and even for pasture the cities have been of course seriously affected for the streams have gradually ceased to be navigable there is testimony that even within the memory of men now living there has been a serious diminution of the rainfall of northeastern china the level of the sungari river in northern manchuria has been sensibly lowered during the last fifty years at least partly as the result of the indiscriminate rutting of the forests forming its watershed almost all the rivers of northern china have become uncontrollable and very dangerous to the dwellers along their banks as a direct result of the destruction of the forests the journey from pekin to jehol shows in melancholy fashion how the soil has been washed away from whole valleys so that they have been converted into deserts in northern china this disastrous process has gone on so long and has proceeded so far that no complete remedy could be applied there are certain mountains in china from which the soil is gone so utterly that only the slow action of the ages could again restore it although of course much could be done to prevent the still further eastward extension of the mongolian desert if the chinese government would act at once the accompanying cuts from photographs show the inconceivable desolation of the barren mountains in which certain of these rivers rise mountains be it remembered which formerly supported dense forests of larches and firs now unable to produce any wood and because of their condition a source of danger to the whole country the photographs also show the same rivers after they have passed through the mountains the beds having become broad and sandy because of the deforestation of the mountains one of the photographs shows a caravan passing through a valley formerly when the mountains were forested it was thickly peopled by prosperous peasants now the floods have carried destruction all over the land and the valley is a stony desert another photograph shows a mountain road covered with the stones and rocks that are brought down in the rainy season from the mountains which have already been deforested by human hands another shows a pebbly in southern manchuria where what was once a great stream has dried up owing to the deforestation in the mountains only some scrub wood is left which will disappear within a half century yet another shows the effect of one of the washouts destroying an arable mountain side these washouts being due to the removal of all vegetation yet in this photograph the foreground shows that reforestation is still a possibility in places what has thus happened in northern china what has happened in central asia in palestine in north africa in parts of the mediterranean countries of europe will surely happen in our country if we do not exercise that wise forethought which should be one of the chief marks of any people calling itself civilized nothing should be permitted to stand in the way of the preservation of the forests and it is criminal to permit individuals to purchase a little gain for themselves through the destruction of forests when this destruction is fatal to the of the whole country in the future action should be begun forthwith during the present session of the congress for the improvement of our inland waterways action which will result in giving us not only navigable but navigated rivers we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars upon these waterways yet the traffic on nearly all of them is steadily declining this condition is the direct result of the absence of any comprehensive and plan of waterway improvement obviously we can not continue thus to expend the revenues of the government without return it is poor business to spend money for inland navigation unless we get it inquiry into the condition of the mississippi and its principal tributaries reveals very many instances of the utter waste caused by the methods which have hitherto obtained for the improvement of navigation a striking instance is supplied by the improvement of the ohio which begun in 1824 was continued under a single plan for half a century in 1875 a new plan was adopted and followed for a quarter of a century in 1902 still a different plan was adopted and has since been pursued at a rate which only promises a navigable river in from twenty to one hundred years longer such shortsighted vacillating and futile methods are accompanied by decreasing commerce and increasing traffic congestion on land by increasing floods and by the waste of public money the remedy lies in abandoning the methods which have so signally failed and adopting new ones in keeping with the needs and demands of our people in a report on a measure introduced at the first session of the present congress the secretary of war said the chief defect in the methods hitherto pursued lies in the absence of executive authority for originating comprehensive plans covering the country or natural divisions thereof in this opinion i heartily concur the present methods not only fail to give us inland navigation but they are injurious to the army as well what is virtually a permanent detail of the corps of engineers to civilian duty necessarily impairs the efficiency of our military establishment the military engineers have undoubtedly done efficient work in actual construction but they are necessarily unsuited by their training and traditions to take the broad view and to gather and transmit to the congress the commercial and industrial information and forecasts upon which waterway improvement must always so largely rest furthermore they have failed to grasp the great underlying fact that every stream is a unit from its source to its mouth and that all its uses are interdependent prominent officers of the engineer corps have recently even gone so far as to assert in print that waterways are not dependent upon the conservation of the forests about their headwaters this position is opposed to all the recent work of the scientific bureaus of the government and to the general experience of mankind a physician who disbelieved in vaccination would not be the right man to handle an epidemic of smallpox nor should we leave a doctor skeptical about the transmission of yellow fever by the stegomyia mosquito in charge of sanitation at havana or panama so with the improvement of our rivers it is no longer wise or safe to leave this great work in the hands of men who fail to grasp the essential relations between navigation and general development and to assimilate and use the central facts about our streams until the work of river improvement is undertaken in a modern way it can not have results that will meet the needs of this modern nation these needs should be met without further or delay the plan which promises the best and quickest results is that of a permanent commission authorized to coordinate the work of all the government departments relating to waterways and to frame and supervise the execution of a comprehensive plan under such a commission the actual work of construction might be entrusted to the reclamation service or to the military engineers acting with a sufficient number of civilians to continue the work in time of war or it might be divided between the reclamation service and the corps of engineers funds should be provided from current revenues if it is deemed wise otherwise from the sale of bonds the essential thing is that the work should go forward under the best possible plan and with the least possible delay we should have a new type of work and a new organization for planning and directing it the time for playing with our waterways is past the country demands results i urge that all our national parks adjacent to national forests be placed completely under the control of the forest service of the agricultural department instead of leaving them as they now are under the interior department and policed by the army the congress should provide for superintendents with adequate corps of civilian scouts or rangers and further place the road construction under the superintendent instead of leaving it with the war department such a change in park management would result in economy and avoid the difficulties of administration which now arise from having the responsibility of care and protection divided between different departments the need for this course is peculiarly great in the yellowstone park this like the yosemite is a great wonderland and should be kept as a national playground in both all wild things should be protected and the scenery kept wholly unmarred i am happy to say that i have been able to set aside in various parts of the country small tracts of ground to serve as sanctuaries and nurseries for wild creatures i had occasion in my message of may 4 1906 to urge the passage of some law putting alcohol used in the arts industries and manufactures upon the free list that is to provide for the withdrawal free of tax of alcohol which is to be denatured for those purposes the law of june 7 1906 and its amendment of march 2 1907 accomplished what was desired in that respect and the use of denatured alcohol as intended is making a fair degree of progress and is entitled to further encouragement and support from the congress the pure food legislation has already worked a benefit difficult to overestimate it has been my purpose from the beginning of my administration to take the indian service completely out of the atmosphere of political activity and there has been steady progress toward that end the last remaining stronghold of politics in that service was the agency system which had seen its best days and was gradually falling to pieces from natural or purely evolutionary causes but like all such survivals was decaying slowly in its later stages it seems clear that its extinction had better be made final now so that the ground can be cleared for larger constructive work on behalf of the indians preparatory to their induction into the full measure of responsible citizenship on november 1 only eighteen agencies were left on the roster with two exceptions where some legal questions seemed to stand temporarily in the way these have been changed to superintendencies and their heads brought into the classified civil service last year an amendment was incorporated in the measure providing for the secret service which provided that there should be no detail from the secret service and no transfer therefrom it is not too much to say that this amendment has been of benefit only and could be of benefit only to the criminal classes if deliberately introduced for the purpose of diminishing the effectiveness of war against crime it could not have been better devised to this end it forbade the practices that had been followed to a greater or less extent by the executive heads of various departments for twenty years to these practices we owe the securing of the evidence which enabled us to drive great lotteries out of business and secure a quarter of a million of dollars in fines from their promoters these practices have enabled us to get some of the evidence indispensable in order in connection with the theft of government land and government timber by great corporations and by individuals these practices have enabled us to get some of the evidence indispensable in order to secure the conviction of the wealthiest and most formidable criminals with whom the government has to deal both those operating in violation of the law and others the amendment in question was of benefit to no one excepting to these criminals and it seriously hampers the government in the detection of crime and the securing of justice moreover it not only affects departments outside of the treasury but it tends to hamper the secretary of the treasury himself in the effort to utilize the employees of his department so as to best meet the requirements of the public service it forbids him from preventing frauds upon the customs service from investigating irregularities in branch mints and assay offices and has seriously crippled him it prevents the promotion of employees in the secret service and this further discourages good effort in its present form the restriction operates only to the advantage of the criminal of the wrongdoer the chief argument in favor of the provision was that the congressmen did not themselves wish to be investigated by secret service men very little of such investigation has been done in the past but it is true that the work of the secret service agents was partly responsible for the indictment and conviction of a senator and a congressman for land frauds in oregon i do not believe that it is in the public interest to protect criminally in any branch of the public service and exactly as we have again and again during the past seven years prosecuted and convicted such criminals who were in the executive branch of the government so in my belief we should be given ample means to prosecute them if found in the legislative branch but if this is not considered desirable a special exception could be made in the law prohibiting the use of the secret service force in investigating members of the congress it would be far better to do this than to do what actually was done and strive to prevent or at least to hamper effective action against criminals by the executive branch of the government i again renew my recommendation for postal savings hanks for depositing savings with the security of the government behind them the object is to encourage thrift and economy in the and person of moderate means in 14 states the deposits in savings banks as reported to the comptroller of the currency amount to or per cent of the entire deposits while in the remaining 32 states there are only or per cent showing conclusively that there are many localities in the united states where sufficient opportunity is not given to the people to deposit their savings the result is that money is kept in hiding and unemployed it is believed that in the aggregate vast sums of money would be brought into circulation through the instrumentality of the postal savings banks while there are only savings banks reporting to the comptroller there are more than of which are money order offices postal savings banks are now in operation in practically all of the great civilized countries with the exception of the united states in my last annual message i commended the recommendation for an extension of the parcel post on the rural routes the establishment of a local parcel post on rural routes would be to the mutual benefit of the farmer and the country storekeeper and it is desirable that the routes serving more than people should be utilized to the fullest practicable extent an amendment was proposed in the senate at the last session at the suggestion of the providing that for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability of establishing a special local parcel post system on the rural routes throughout the united states the be authorized and directed to experiment and report to the congress the result of such experiment by establishing a special local parcel post system on rural delivery routes in not to exceed four counties in the united states for packages of matter originating on a rural route or at the distributing post office for delivery by rural carriers it would seem only proper that such an experiment should be tried in order to demonstrate the practicability of the proposition especially as the estimates that the revenue derived from the operation of such a system on all the rural routes would amount to many million dollars the share that the national government should take in the broad work of education has not received the attention and the care it rightly deserves the immediate responsibility for the support and improvement of our educational systems and institutions rests and should always rest with the people of the several states acting through their state and local governments but the nation has an opportunity in educational work which must not be lost and a duty which should no longer be neglected the national bureau of education was established more than forty years ago its purpose is to collect and diffuse such information as shall aid the people of the united states in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems and otherwise promote the because of education throughout the country this purpose in no way conflicts with the educational work of the states but may be made of great advantage to the states by giving them the fullest most accurate and hence the most helpful information and suggestion regarding the best educational systems the nation through its broader field of activities its wider opportunity for obtaining information from all the states and from foreign countries is able to do that which not even the richest states can do and with the distinct additional advantage that the information thus obtained is used for the immediate benefit of all our people with the limited means hitherto provided the bureau of education has rendered efficient service but the congress has neglected to adequately supply the bureau with means to meet the educational growth of the country the appropriations for the general work of the bureau outside education in alaska for the year 1909 are but an amount less than they were ten years ago and some of the important items in these appropriations are less than they were thirty years ago it is an inexcusable waste of public money to appropriate an amount which is so inadequate as to make it impossible properly to do the work authorized and it is unfair to the great educational interests of the country to deprive them of the value of the results which can be obtained by proper appropriations i earnestly recommend that this unfortunate state of affairs as regards the national educational office be remedied by adequate appropriations this recommendation is urged by the representatives of our common schools and great state universities and the leading educators who all unite in requesting favorable consideration and action by the congress upon this subject i strongly urge that the request of the director of the census in connection with the decennial work so soon to be begun be complied with and that the appointments to the census force be placed under the civil service law waiving the geographical requirements as requested by the director of the census the supervisors and enumerators should not be appointed under the civil service law for the reasons given by the director i commend to the congress the careful consideration of the admirable report of the director of the census and i trust that his recommendations will be adopted and immediate action thereon taken it is highly advisable that there should be intelligent action on the part of the nation on the question of preserving the health of the country through the practical extermination in san francisco of rodents our country has thus far escaped the bubonic plague this is but one of the many achievements of american health officers and it shows what can be accomplished with a better organization than at present exists the dangers to public health from food adulteration and from many other sources such as the menace to the physical mental and moral development of children from child labor should be met and overcome there are numerous diseases which are now known to be preventable which are nevertheless not prevented the recent international congress on tuberculosis has made us painfully aware of the inadequacy of american public health legislation this nation can not afford to lag behind in the battle now being waged by all civilized people with the microscopic foes of mankind nor ought we longer to ignore the reproach that this government takes more pains to protect the lives of hogs and of cattle than of human beings the first legislative step to be taken is that for the concentration of the proper bureaus into one of the existing departments i therefore urgently recommend the passage of a bill which shall authorize a redistribution of the bureaus which shall best accomplish this end i recommend that legislation be enacted placing under the jurisdiction of the department of commerce and labor the government printing office at present this office is under the combined control supervision and administrative direction of the president and of the joint committee on printing of the two houses of the congress the advantage of having the employees in this office and the expenditure of the appropriated therefor supervised by an executive department is obvious instead of the present combined supervision all soldiers homes should be placed under the complete jurisdiction and control of the war department economy and sound business policy require that all existing independent bureaus and commissions should be placed under the jurisdiction of appropriate executive departments it is unwise from every standpoint and results only in mischief to have any executive work done save by the purely executive bodies under the control of the president and each such executive body should be under the immediate supervision of a cabinet minister i advocate the immediate admission of new mexico and arizona as states this should be done at the present session of the congress the people of the two territories have made it evident by their votes that they will not come in as one state the only alternative is to admit them as two and i trust that this will be done without delay i call the attention of the congress to the importance of the problem of the fisheries in the interstate waters on the great lakes we are now under the very wise treaty of april 11th of this year endeavoring to come to an international agreement for the preservation and satisfactory use of the fisheries of these waters which can not otherwise be achieved lake erie for example has the richest fresh water fisheries in the world but it is now controlled by the statutes of two nations four states and one province and in this province by different ordinances in different counties all these political divisions work at cross purposes and in no case can they achieve protection to the fisheries on the one hand and justice to the localities and individuals on the other the case is similar in puget sound but the problem is quite as pressing in the interstate waters of the united states the salmon fisheries of the columbia river are now but a fraction of what they were years ago and what they would be now if the united states government had taken complete charge of them by intervening between oregon and washington during these years the fishermen of each state have naturally tried to take all they could get and the two legislatures have never been able to agree on joint action of any kind adequate in degree for the protection of the fisheries at the moment the fishing on the oregon side is practically closed while there is no limit on the washington side of any kind and no one can tell what the courts will decide as to the very statutes under which this action and result meanwhile very few salmon reach the spawning grounds and probably four years hence the fisheries will amount to nothing and this comes from a struggle between the associated or fishermen on the one hand and the owners of the fishing wheels up the river the fisheries of the mississippi the ohio and the potomac are also in a bad way for this there is no remedy except for the united states to control and legislate for the interstate fisheries as part of the business of interstate commerce in this case the machinery for scientific investigation and for control already exists in the united states bureau of fisheries in this as in similar problems the obvious and simple rule should be followed of having those matters which no particular state can manage taken in hand by the united states problems which in the seesaw of conflicting state legislatures are absolutely unsolvable are easy enough for congress to control the federal statute regulating interstate traffic in game should be extended to include fish new federal fish hatcheries should be established the administration of the alaskan service should be vested in the bureau of fisheries this nation foreign policy is based on the theory that right must be done between nations precisely as between individuals and in our actions for the last ten years we have in this matter proven our faith by our deeds we have behaved and are behaving towards other nations as in private life an honorable man would behave towards his fellows the commercial and material progress of the twenty republics is worthy of the careful attention of the congress no other section of the world has shown a greater proportionate development of its foreign trade during the last ten years and none other has more special claims on the interest of the united states it offers probably larger opportunities for the legitimate expansion of our commerce than any other group of countries these countries will want our products in greatly increased quantities and we shall correspondingly need theirs the international bureau of the american republics is doing a useful work in making these nations and their resources better known to us and in acquainting them not only with us as a people and with our purposes towards them but with what we have to exchange for their goods it is an international institution supported by all the governments of the two americas the work on the panama canal is being done with a speed efficiency and entire devotion to duty which make it a model for all work of the kind no task of such magnitude has ever before been undertaken by any nation and no task of the kind has ever been better performed the men on the isthmus from colonel goethals and his fellow commissioners through the entire list of employees who are faithfully doing their duty have won their right to the ungrudging respect and gratitude of the american people i again recommend the extension of the ocean mail act of 1891 so that satisfactory american ocean mail lines to south america asia the philippines and australiasia may be established the creation of such steamship lines should be the natural corollary of the voyage of the battle fleet it should precede the opening of the panamal canal even under favorable conditions several years must elapse before such lines can be put into operation accordingly i urge that the congress act promptly where foresight already shows that action sooner or later will be inevitable i call particular attention to the territory of hawaii the importance of those islands is apparent and the need of improving their condition and developing their resources is urgent in recent years industrial conditions upon the islands have radically changed the importation of coolie labor has practically ceased and there is now developing such a diversity in agricultural products as to make possible a change in the land conditions of the territory so that an opportunity may be given to the small land owner similar to that on the mainland to aid these changes the national government must provide the necessary harbor improvements on each island so that the agricultural products can be carried to the markets of the world the coastwise shipping laws should be amended to meet the special needs of the islands and the alien contract labor law should be so modified in its application to hawaii as to enable american and european labor to be brought thither we have begun to improve pearl harbor for a naval base and to provide the necessary military fortifications for the protection of the islands but i can not too strongly emphasize the need of appropriations for these purposes of such an amount as will within the shortest possible time make those islands practically impregnable it is useless to develop the industrial conditions of the islands and establish there bases of supply for our naval and merchant fleets unless we insure as far as human ingenuity can their safety from foreign seizure one thing to be remembered with all our fortifications is that it is almost useless to make them impregnable from the sea if they are left open to land attack this is true even of our own coast but it is doubly true of our insular possessions in hawaii for instance it is worse than useless to establish a naval station unless we establish it behind fortifications so strong that no landing force can take them save by regular and siege operations real progress toward is being made in the philippine islands the gathering of a philippine legislative body and philippine assembly marks a process absolutely new in asia not only as regards asiatic colonies of european powers but as regards asiatic possessions of other asiatic powers and indeed always excepting the striking and wonderful example afforded by the great empire of japan it opens an entirely new departure when compared with anything which has happened among asiatic powers which are their own masters hitherto this philippine legislature has acted with moderation and and has seemed in practical fashion to realize the eternal truth that there must always be government and that the only way in which any body of individuals can escape the necessity of being governed by outsiders is to show that they are able to restrain themselves to keep down wrongdoing and disorder the filipino people through their officials are therefore making real steps in the direction of i hope and believe that these steps mark the beginning of a course which will continue till the filipinos become fit to decide for themselves whether they desire to be an independent nation but it is well for them and well also for those americans who during the past decade have done so much damage to the filipinos by agitation for an immediate independence for which they were totally unfit to remember that depends and must depend upon the filipinos themselves all we can do is to give them the opportunity to develop the capacity for if we had followed the advice of the foolish doctrinaires who wished us at any time during the last ten years to turn the filipino people adrift we should have shirked the plainest possible duty and have inflicted a lasting wrong upon the filipino people we have acted in exactly the opposite spirit we have given the filipinos constitutional government a government based upon justice and we have shown that we have governed them for their good and not for our aggrandizement at the present time as during the past ten years the inexorable logic of facts shows that this government must be supplied by us and not by them we must be wise and generous we must help the filipinos to master the difficult art of which is simply another name for but we can not give them save in the sense of governing them so that gradually they may if they are able learn to govern themselves under the present system of just laws and sympathetic administration we have every reason to believe that they are gradually acquiring the character which lies at the basis of and for which if it be lacking no system of laws no paper constitution will in any wise serve as a substitute our people in the philippines have achieved what may legitimately be called a marvelous success in giving to them a government which marks on the part of those in authority both the necessary understanding of the people and the necessary purpose to serve them disinterestedly and in good faith i trust that within a generation the time will arrive when the philippines can decide for themselves whether it is well for them to become independent or to continue under the protection of a strong and disinterested power able to guarantee to the islands order at home and protection from foreign invasion but no one can prophesy the exact date when it will be wise to consider independence as a fixed and definite policy it would be worse than folly to try to set down such a date in advance for it must depend upon the way in which the philippine people themselves develop the power of i again recommend that american citizenship be conferred upon the people of porto rico in cuba our occupancy will cease in about two months time the cubans have in orderly manner elected their own governmental authorities and the island will be turned over to them our occupation on this occasion has lasted a little over two years and cuba has thriven and prospered under it our earnest hope and one desire is that the people of the island shall now govern themselves with justice so that peace and order may be secure we will gladly help them to this end but i would solemnly warn them to remember the great truth that the only way a people can permanently avoid being governed from without is to show that they both can and will govern themselves from within the japanese government has postponed until 1917 the date of the great international exposition the action being taken so as to insure ample time in which to prepare to make the exposition all that it should be made the american commissioners have visited japan and the postponement will merely give ampler opportunity for america to be represented at the exposition not since the first international exposition has there been one of greater importance than this will be marking as it does the fiftieth anniversary of the ascension to the throne of the emperor of japan the extraordinary leap to a foremost place among the nations of the world made by japan during this half century is something unparalleled in all previous history this exposition will fitly commemorate and signalize the giant progress that has been achieved it is the first exposition of its kind that has ever been held in asia the united states because of the ancient friendship between the two peoples because each of us fronts on the pacific and because of the growing commercial relations between this country and asia takes a peculiar interest in seeing the exposition made a success in every way i take this opportunity publicly to state my appreciation of the way in which in japan in australia in new zealand and in all the states of south america the battle fleet has been received on its practice voyage around the world the american government can not too strongly express its appreciation of the abounding and generous hospitality shown our ships in every port they visited as regards the army i call attention to the fact that while our junior officers and enlisted men stand very high the present system of promotion by seniority results in bringing into the higher grades many men of mediocre capacity who have but a short time to serve no man should regard it as his vested right to rise to the highest rank in the army any more than in any other profession it is a curious and by no means creditable fact that there should be so often a failure on the part of the public and its representatives to understand the great need from the standpoint of the service and the nation of refusing to promote respectable elderly incompetents the higher places should be given to the most deserving men without regard to seniority at least seniority should be treated as only one consideration in the stress of modern industrial competition no business firm could succeed if those responsible for its management were chosen simply on the ground that they were the oldest people in its employment yet this is the course advocated as regards the army and required by law for all grades except those of general officer as a matter of fact all of the best officers in the highest ranks of the army are those who have attained their present position wholly or in part by a process of selection the scope of retiring boards should be extended so that they could consider general unfitness to command for any because in order to secure a far more rigid enforcement than at present in the elimination of officers for mental physical or temperamental disabilities but this plan is recommended only if the congress does not see fit to provide what in my judgment is far better that is for selection in promotion and for elimination for age officers who fail to attain a certain rank by a certain age should be retired for instance if a man should not attain field rank by the time he is 45 he should of course be placed on the retired list general officers should be selected as at present and of the other promotions should be made by selection the selection to be made by the president or the secretary of war from a list of at least two candidates proposed for each vacancy by a board of officers from the arm of the service from which the promotion is to be made a bill is now before the congress having for its object to secure the promotion of officers to various grades at reasonable ages through a process of selection by boards of officers of the least efficient for retirement with a percentage of their pay depending upon length of service the bill although not accomplishing all that should be done is a long step in the right direction and i earnestly recommend its passage or that of a more completely effective measure the cavalry arm should be reorganized upon modern lines this is an arm in which it is peculiarly necessary that the field officers should not be old the cavalry is much more difficult to form than infantry and it should be kept up to the maximum both in efficiency and in strength for it can not be made in a hurry at present both infantry and artillery are too few in number for our needs especial attention should be paid to development of the machine gun a general service corps should be established as things are now the average soldier has far too much labor of a nonmilitary character to perform now that the organized militia the national guard has been incorporated with the army as a part of the national forces it behooves the government to do every reasonable thing in its power to perfect its efficiency it should be assisted in its instruction and otherwise aided more liberally than heretofore the continuous services of many regular officers will be essential in this connection such officers must be specially trained at service schools best to qualify them as instructors of the national guard but the detailing of officers for training at the service schools and for duty with the national guard entails detaching them from their regiments which are already greatly depleted by detachment of officers for assignment to duties prescribed by acts of the congress a bill is now pending before the congress creating a number of extra officers in the army which if passed as it ought to be will enable more officers to be trained as instructors of the national guard and assigned to that duty in case of war it will be of the utmost importance to have a large number of trained officers to use for turning raw levies into good troops there should be legislation to provide a complete plan for organizing the great body of volunteers behind the regular army and national guard when war has come congressional assistance should be given those who are endeavoring to promote rifle practice so that our men in the services or out of them may know how to use the rifle while teams representing the united states won the rifle and revolver championships of the world against all comers in england this year it is unfortunately true that the great body of our citizens shoot less and less as time goes on to meet this we should encourage rifle practice among schoolboys and indeed among all classes as well as in the military services by every means in our power thus and not otherwise may we be able to assist in preserving the peace of the world fit to hold our own against the strong nations of the earth our voice for peace will carry to the ends of the earth unprepared and therefore unfit we must sit dumb and helpless to defend ourselves protect others or preserve peace the first step in the direction of preparation to avert war if possible and to be fit for war if it should come is to teach our men to shoot i approve the recommendations of the general board for the increase of the navy calling especial attention to the need of additional destroyers and colliers and above all of the four battleships it is desirable to complete as soon as possible a squadron of eight battleships of the best existing type the north dakota delaware florida and utah will form the first division of this squadron the four vessels proposed will form the second division it will be an improvement on the first the ships being of the heavy single caliber all big gun type all the vessels should have the same tactical qualities that is speed and turning circle and as near as possible these tactical qualities should be the same as in the four vessels before named now being built i most earnestly recommend that the general board be by law turned into a general staff there is literally no excuse whatever for continuing the present bureau organization of the navy the navy should be treated as a purely military organization and everything should be subordinated to the one object of securing military efficiency such military efficiency can only be guaranteed in time of war if there is the most thorough previous preparation in time of peace a preparation i may add which will in all probability prevent any need of war the secretary must be supreme and he should have as his official advisers a body of line officers who should themselves have the power to pass upon and coordinate all the work and all the proposals of the several bureaus a system of promotion by merit either by selection or by exclusion or by both processes should be introduced it is out of the question if the present principle of promotion by mere seniority is kept to expect to get the best results from the higher officers our men come too old and stay for too short a time in the high command positions two hospital ships should be provided the actual experience of the hospital ship with the fleet in the pacific has shown the invaluable work which such a ship does and has also proved that it is well to have it kept under the command of a medical officer as was to be expected all of the anticipations of trouble from such a command have proved completely baseless it is as absurd to put a hospital ship under a line officer as it would be to put a hospital on shore under such a command this ought to have been realized before and there is no excuse for failure to realize it now nothing better for the navy from every standpoint has ever occurred than the cruise of the battle fleet around the world the improvement of the ships in every way has been extraordinary and they have gained far more experience in battle tactics than they would have gained if they had stayed in the atlantic waters the american people have because for profound gratification both in view of the excellent condition of the fleet as shown by this cruise and in view of the improvement the cruise has worked in this already high condition i do not believe that there is any other service in the world in which the average of character and efficiency in the enlisted men is as high as is now the case in our own i believe that the same statement can be made as to our officers taken as a whole but there must be a reservation made in regard to those in the highest ranks as to which i have already spoken and in regard to those who have just entered the service because we do not now get full benefit from our excellent naval school at annapolis it is absurd not to graduate the midshipmen as ensigns to keep them for two years in such an anomalous position as at present the law requires is detrimental to them and to the service in the academy itself every first classman should be required in turn to serve as petty officer and officer his ability to discharge his duties as such should be a prerequisite to his going into the line and his success in commanding should largely determine his standing at graduation the board of visitors should be appointed in january and each member should be required to give at least six days service only from one to three days to be performed during june week which is the least desirable time for the board to be at annapolis so far as benefiting the navy by their observations is concerned
financial standing nation present time excellent financial management nation interests government last seven years shown satisfactory results currency system imperfect earnestly hoped currency commission able propose thoroughly good system away existing defects period july 1 1901 september 30 1908 increase amount money circulation increase per capita period within time several occasions necessary treasury department come relief money market purchases redemptions united states bonds increasing deposits national banks stimulating additional issues national bank notes facilitating importations abroad gold imperfect currency system made proceedings necessary effective monetary disturbance fall 1907 immensely increased difficulty ordinary methods relief middle november available working balance treasury reduced approximately clearing house associations throughout country obliged resort expedient issuing clearing house certificates used money emergency determined invite subscriptions panama canal bonds three per cent certificates indebtedness authorized act june 13 1898 proposed national banks proceeds issues permit use basis additional circulating notes national banks moral effect procedure great necessary issue panama canal bonds certificates indebtedness period july 1 1901 september 30 1908 balance net ordinary receipts net ordinary expenses government showed surplus four years 1902 1903 1906 1907 deficit years 1904 1905 1908 fractional part fiscal year 1909 net result surplus financial operations government period based upon differences receipts expenditures resulted net reduction debt united states notwithstanding two sales panama canal bonds amounting aggregate issue three per cent certificates indebtedness act june 13 1998 amounting refunding operations treasury department act march 14 1900 resulted conversion two per cent consols 1930 bonds bearing higher rates interest decrease annual interest charge resulted operations short seven years three months net surplus nearly one hundred millions receipts expenditures reduction debt ninety millions spite extraordinary expense panama canal saving nearly nine millions annual interest charge exceedingly satisfactory showing especially view fact period nation never hesitated undertake expenditure regarded necessary new taxes increase taxes contrary taxes taken reduction taxation regards great corporations engaged interstate business especially railroad repeat already said messages congress believe interstate clause constitution united states complete paramount right control agencies interstate commerce believe national government alone exercise right wisdom effectiveness secure justice justice great corporations important factors modern business believe worse folly attempt prohibit combinations done sherman law law enforced imperfectly unequally enforcement works almost much hardship good strongly advocate instead unwise effort prohibit combinations shall substituted law shall expressly permit combinations interest public shall time give agency national government full power control supervision one chief features control securing entire publicity matters public right know furthermore power judicial executive action prevent put stop every form improper favoritism wrongdoing railways country put completely interstate commerce commission removed domain law power commission made thoroughgoing could exercise complete supervision control issue securities well raising lowering rates regards rates least power summary power investigate financial operations accounts railways one valuable features recent legislation power make combinations traffic agreements explicitly conferred upon railroads permission commission first gained combination agreement published details interest public representatives public complete power see railroads duty public matter course power also exercised see injustice done railroads shareholders employees shippers interests must guarded interest swindling stock speculation allowed improper issuance securities guiding intelligences necessary successful building successful management railroads receive ample remuneration man allowed make money connection railroads fraudulent kindred performances must defrauding investors oppression farmers business men ship freight callous disregard rights needs employees addition interests shareholders employees shippers guarded one another give one undue improper consideration injustice others rates must made low compatible giving proper returns employees railroad highest lowest proper returns shareholders must instance reduced fashion necessitate cut wages employees abolition proper legitimate profits honest shareholders telegraph telephone companies engaged interstate business put jurisdiction interstate commerce commission earnestly wished people representatives act matter hard say whether damage country large would come entire failure part public supervise control actions great corporations exercise necessary governmental power way would injustice wrong corporations preachers unrestricted individualism preachers oppression would deny able men business reward initiative business sagacity advocating policies would fraught gravest harm whole country permit every lawless capitalist every corporation take action matter iniquitous effort secure improper profit build privilege would ruinous republic would mark abandonment effort secure industrial world spirit democratic fair dealing hand attack wrongs spirit demagogy see wrong committed man wealth dumb blind presence wrong committed men property men property exactly evil corruptly defend wrongdoing men wealth war wage must waged misconduct wrongdoing wherever found must stand heartily rights every decent man whether man great wealth man earns livelihood tiller soil interest us premium put upon individual initiative individual capacity ample reward great directing intelligences alone competent manage great business operations well keep mind exactly anarchist worst enemy liberty reactionary worst enemy order men defend rights property fear wrongdoers great wealth men championing popular rights fear demagogues name popular rights would wrong oppress honest business men honest men wealth success either type wrongdoer necessarily invites violent reaction wrongdoer nominally upholds point danger nation nothing choose one hand corruptionist man employs great talent swindle large scale hand preacher class hatred man whether ignorance willingness sacrifice country ambition persuades men try destroy instruments upon prosperity mainly rests let group men beware guard shortcomings group liable often see business community spirit unhealthy class consciousness deplore effort hold account law wealthy men management great corporations whether railroads street railways industrial enterprises behaved way revolts conscience plain decent people attitude condemned severely men property recognize jeopardize rights property fail heartily join effort away abuses wealth hand advocate proper control behalf public state great corporations wealth engaged giant scale business operations must ever keep mind unless scrupulous justice corporation unless permit ample profit cordially encourage capable men business long act honesty striking root national long run mere pressure material distress people whole would probably go back reign unrestricted individualism rather submit control state drastic foolish conceived spirit unreasonable narrow hostility wealth prevent business operations profitable therefore bring ruin upon entire business community ultimately upon entire body citizens opposition government control great corporations makes effective effort shape appeal old doctrine state rights course many sincere men believe unrestricted individualism business formerly many sincere men believed slavery unrestricted right individual another individual men great weight however effective fight adequate government control supervision individual especially corporate wealth engaged interstate business chiefly done cover especially cover appeal state rights infrequent read speech denunciation predatory wealth fostered special privilege defiant public welfare law land denunciation centralization central government power deal centralized organized wealth course policy set forth twin denunciations amounts absolutely nothing first half nullified second half chief reason among many sound compelling reasons led formation national government absolute need union several states deal interstate foreign commerce power deal interstate commerce granted absolutely plenarily central government exercised completely regards instruments interstate commerce known days waterways highroads well partnerships individuals conducted business interstate commerce chiefly conducted railroads great corporation supplanted mass small partnerships individuals proposal make national government supreme therefore give complete control railroads instruments interstate commerce merely proposal carry letter one prime purposes prime purpose constitution rounded represent centralization represents merely acknowledgment patent fact centralization already come business irresponsible outside business power controlled interest general public controlled one way giving adequate power control one sovereignty capable exercising power national government forty fifty separate state governments exercise power corporations business first absolutely lack authority deal interstate business form second inevitable conflict authority sure arise effort enforce different kinds state regulation often inconsistent one another sometimes oppressive divided authority regulate commerce wisdom effect central government power without oppression nevertheless thoroughly adequately control supervise large corporations abandon effort national control means abandon effort adequate control yet render likely continual bursts action state legislatures achieve purpose sought great deal damage corporation without conferring real benefit public believe farsighted corporations coming recognize unwisdom violent hostility displayed last years regulation control national government combinations engaged interstate business truth believe movement asserting exercising genuine control public interest great corporations contend two sets enemies though nominally opposed one another really allies preventing proper solution problem first big corporation men extreme individualists among business men genuinely believe utterly unregulated business reign plutocracy second men blind economic movements day believe movement repression rather regulation corporations denounce power railroads exercise federal power alone really control railroads believe efficient national control hand least object combinations least object concentration business administration contrary favor important proviso shall publicity workings thoroughgoing control insure interest interest general public object concentration wealth administration believe distribution wealth profits real owners securing public full benefit concentrated administration believe concentration administration come advantage larger ownership equitable distribution profits time better service commonwealth believe administration benefit many greed rascality practiced large scale punished relentlessly practiced small scale moment believe problem solved short easy method solution come pressing various concurrent remedies remedies must lie outside domain government must lie outside domain federal government legislation federal government alone enact absolutely vital order secure attainment purpose many laws needed regulation national government great interstate corporations including simple method account keeping publicity supervision issue securities abolition rebates special privileges short time franchises corporations engaged public business including corporations get power water rights national well state guardianship mines forests labor legislation hereinafter referred concurrently enacted law accomplish means course certain increase use creation power central government power already exists created question whether shall used left idle meanwhile corporations power ought exercised remain idle let object increase use power available national power frank admit openly propose abandon effort control great business corporations exercise supervision accumulation distribution wealth supervision control come particular kind increase power believe empiricism demand absolutely unrestrained individualism empiricism clamors deadening socialism would destroy individual initiative would ruin country completeness even unrestrained individualism could achieve danger american democracy lies least concentration administrative power responsible accountable hands lies power insufficiently concentrated one held responsible people use concentrated power palpable visible responsible easily reached quickly held account power scattered many administrators many legislators many men work behind legislators administrators impalpable unseen irresponsible reached held account democracy peril wherever administration political power scattered among variety men work secret whose names unknown common people peril man derives authority people exercises sight people time time compelled give account exercise people many matters affecting labor status like draw attention exhaustive discussion problem aspects necessary administration nearing end moreover form government solution problem depends upon action states much upon action nation nevertheless certain considerations wish set hope people keep mind blind ignorant resistance every effort reform abuses readjustment society modern industrial conditions represents true conservatism incitement wildest radicalism wise radicalism wise conservatism go hand hand one bent progress bent seeing change made unless right direction believe steady effort perhaps would accurate say steady efforts many different directions bring condition affairs men work hand brain laborers superintendents men produce market men find market articles produced shall far greater share present wealth produce enabled invest tools instruments work carried far possible hope see frank recognition advantages conferred machinery organization division labor accompanied effort bring larger share ownership railway mill factory farming simply means wish see farmer land wish see farms large become property absentee landlords farm tenants yet small farmer becomes like european peasant depositors savings banks number entire population capitalists savings banks loan money workers many cases carry various industries increase number introduce principles cooperation industry every increase number small stockholders corporations good thing reasons employees stockholders result particularly good much movement must outside anything accomplished legislation legislation good deal postal savings banks make easy poorest keep savings absolute safety regulation national highways must shall serve people equal justice corporate finances must supervised make far safer present man small means invest money stocks must prohibition child labor diminution woman labor shortening hours mechanical labor stock watering prohibited stock gambling far possible discouraged progressive inheritance tax large fortunes industrial education encouraged far possible lighten burden taxation small man put premium upon thrift hard work business energy qualities cease main factors accumulating fortune long fortune reaches point would seriously affected inheritance tax propose eminently right nation fix terms upon great fortunes inherited rarely good often harm inherit entirety merest sketch hardly even sketch outline reforms work one matter congress deal session longer paltering question taking care present industrial system become killed crippled worn part regular incidents given business majority wageworkers must rights secured state action national government legislate thoroughgoing fashion employees national government persons engaged interstate commerce object sought could achieved measurable degree far killed crippled concerned proper employers liability laws far concerns worn call attention fact definite steps toward providing pensions taken many private industries may indefinitely extended voluntary association contributory schemes agency savings banks recent massachusetts plan strengthen practical measures immediate duty present necessary consider larger general governmental schemes european governments found obliged adopt present system rather system works dreadful wrong benefit one class people lawyers workman injured needs expensive doubtful lawsuit certainty relief immediate administrative action number accidents result death crippling wageworkers union large simply appalling years runs total far excess aggregate dead wounded modern war academic theory freedom contract constitutional liberty contract permitted interfere similar movements progress civilization everywhere meant limitation regulation contract call especial attention bulletin bureau labor gives statement methods treating unemployed european countries subject germany instance treated connection making provision crippled workmen pending thoroughgoing investigation action certain legislation enacted law passed last session congress granting compensation certain classes employees government extended include employees government made liberal terms good ground distinction made law engaged hazardous occupations engaged man injured killed line work hazardous case whether 1 per cent 10 per cent following given occupation actually suffer injury death ought bearing question receiving compensation grim logic says injured employee dependents one killed entitled compensation people injured killed occupation perhaps one striking omissions law embrace peace officers others whose lives may sacrificed enforcing laws united states terms act providing compensation made liberal present act year compensation adequate family event death accident course employment event death occurring say ten eleven months accident family would receive compensation equivalent one two months earnings respect generosity united states towards employees compares unfavorably every country europe even poorest terms act also hardship prohibiting payment cases accident way due negligence employee inevitable daily familiarity danger lead men take chances construed negligence well recognized practically countries civilized world except united states great degree negligence acts bar securing compensation probably respect legislation state national far behind practically entire civilized world matter liability compensation accidents industry humiliating european international congresses accidents united states singled belated among nations respect employers liability legislation government large employer labor dealings employees set standard country would place par progressive countries europe laws united states respect laws european countries summarized recent bulletin bureau labor american reads summary fail struck great contrast practices contrast sense credit congress without delay pass model employers liability law district columbia employers liability act recently declared unconstitutional account apparently including provisions employees engaged intrastate commerce well engaged interstate commerce held local courts still effect far provisions apply district columbia ambiguity point doubt subject law reenacted special reference district columbia act however applies employees common carriers occupations liability law district old common law severity injustice common law matter degree another modified majority states jurisdiction exclusive control congress ahead behind states union respect comprehensive employers liability law passed district columbia renew recommendation made previous message granted summer wageworkers government employ also renew recommendation principle day rapidly far practicable extended entire work carried government present law amended embrace contracts public works present wording act seems exclude earnestly urge upon congress duty increasing totally inadequate salaries given judges whole body public servants valuable work whose moneyed reward inadequate compared work beginning supreme court judges salaries doubled befitting dignity nation honored public servants paid sums small compared would earn private life performance public service implies exceedingly heavy pecuniary sacrifice earnestly desired method devised away long delays obtain administration justice operate peculiar severity persons small means favor criminals desirable punish long delays final decisions cases make aggregate crying evil remedy devised much intolerable delay due improper regard paid technicalities mere hindrance justice noted recent cases technicalities resulted striking denial justice flagrant wrong body politic last election certain leaders organized labor made violent sweeping attack upon entire judiciary country attack couched terms include upright honest judges less narrower mind restricted outlook kind attack admirably fitted prevent successful attempt reform abuses judiciary gave champions unjust judge eagerly desired opportunity shift ground championship judges unjustly assailed last year house committee judiciary labor leaders formulated demands specifying bill contained refusing compromise stating wished principle bill nothing insisted provision labor dispute injunction issue except protect property right specifically provided right carry business construed property right second provision bill made legal labor dispute act agreement two persons would unlawful done single person words bill legalized blacklisting boycotting every form legalizing instance forms secondary boycott anthracite coal strike commission unreservedly condemned right carry business explicitly taken protection law throws property demand made trial jury contempt cases thereby seriously impairing authority courts represented course policy carried would mean enthronement class privilege crudest brutal form destruction one essential functions judiciary civilized lands violence crusade legislation complete failure illustrate two truths essential people learn first place ought teach workingman laborer wageworker demanding improper impossible plays hands foes crude vicious attack upon courts even temporarily successful would inevitably end violent reaction would band great mass citizens together forcing stand judges competent incompetent alike rather see wheels justice stopped movement kind ultimately result nothing damage whose behalf nominally undertaken healthy truth wise people learn movement based class hatred times assumes name class consciousness certain ultimately fail temporarily succeeds damage class consciousness merely another name odious vice class selfishness equally noxious whether employer association workingman association movement question one appeal made workingmen vote primarily american citizens individuals certain class society appeal first place revolts among persons addressed second place tends arouse strong antagonism among classes citizens therefore tends unite organization whose behalf issued result therefore unfortunate every standpoint healthy truth way learned socialists ever succeed establishing country important national party based class consciousness selfish class interest wageworkers workingmen laboring men country way repudiated effort get cast votes response appeal class hatred emphasized sound patriotism americanism whole country fell pride attitude sturdy independence uncompromising insistence upon acting simply good citizens good americans without regard fancied improper class interests attitude good citizenship entire nation extreme reactionaries persons blind wrongs committed courts laboring men also think seriously movement portends judges shown able willing effectively check dishonest activity rich man works iniquity mismanagement corporations shown alert justice wageworker sympathetic needs mass people dweller tenement houses man practices dangerous trade man crushed excessive hours labor feel needs understood courts judges real bulwark courts judges judges stamp fearless opposing labor gone wrong fearless also holding strict account corporations work iniquity seeing workingman gets rights men others owe appeal violent mistaken legislation fallen deaf ears agitation passage proved without substantial basis courts jeopardized primarily action federal state judges show inability unwillingness put stop wrongdoing rich men modern industrial conditions inability unwillingness give relief men small means wageworkers crushed modern industrial conditions words fail understand apply needed remedies new wrongs produced new highly complex social industrial civilization grown last half century rapid changes social industrial life attended rapid growth made necessary applying concrete cases great rule right laid constitution full understanding appreciation new conditions rules applied would infringement upon liberty half century ago may necessary safeguard liberty would injury property may necessary enjoyment property every judicial decision involves two terms one interpretation law understanding facts applied great mass judicial officers believe alive changes conditions materially affect performance judicial duties judicial system sound effective core remains must ever maintained safeguard principles liberty justice stand foundation american institutions burke finely said liberty justice separated neither safe however members judicial body lagged behind understanding great vital changes body politic whose minds never opened new applications old principles made necessary new conditions judges stamp lasting harm decisions convince poor men need protection courts land profoundly ignorant sympathy needs profoundly indifferent hostile proposed remedy men seems cruel mockery court decide ground desires preserve liberty purely technical form withholding liberty real constructive sense desirable legislative body possess wherever necessary exercise power determine whether given case employers employees equal footing necessities latter compel submit exactions hours conditions labor unduly tax strength mischief result determination upset ground must interference liberty contract often merely academic liberty exercise negation real liberty certain decisions various courts exceedingly detrimental rights wageworkers true decisions decide men women constitution guaranteed liberty contract enter dangerous occupation work undesirable improper number hours work unhealthy surroundings therefore recover damages maimed occupation forbidden work legislature decides excessive number hours carry work conditions legislature decides unhealthy dangerous occupations often poorest paid hours work longest many cases go driven necessity great practically alternative decisions alluded nullify legislative effort protect need protection employers take advantage grinding need halt hamper movement securing better equitable conditions labor talk preserving beings make contracts service liberty make either speak spirit heartless irony else show utter lack knowledge conditions life among great masses lack unfits judge good service would unfit executive legislative officer also think ground belief substantial injustice often suffered employees consequence custom courts issuing temporary injunctions without notice punishing contempt court instances matter fact knowledge proceedings outside organized labor widespread feeling system often works great injustice wageworkers efforts better working condition result industrial disputes temporary injunction procured ex parte may matter fact effect permanent injunction causing disaster wageworkers side dispute organized labor chafing unjust restraint comes repeated resort plan procedure discontent unwisely expressed often improperly expressed sound basis orderly people community would far stronger position upholding courts undoubtedly existing abuses could provided proposals mentioned advocated extreme labor leaders contain vital error class legislation offensive kind even enacted law believe law would rightly held unconstitutional moreover labor people beginning invoke use power injunction last ten years within knowledge least fifty injunctions obtained labor unions new york city alone protect union label property right obtained reasons employers power injunction great equitable remedy account destroyed safeguards erected abuse believe provisions advocated year ago checking abuse issuance temporary injunctions adopted substance provision made injunction temporary restraining order issue otherwise notice except irreparable injury would otherwise result case hearing merits order within short fixed period continued hearing forthwith lapse decisions rendered immediately chance delay minimized every way moreover believe procedure sharply defined judge required minutely state particulars action reasons therefor congress desires examine investigate chief lawmakers country may often judges final seat authority every time interpret contract property vested rights due process law liberty necessarily enact law parts system social philosophy interpretation fundamental give direction decisions courts economic social questions depend upon economic social philosophy peaceful progress people twentieth century shall owe judges hold twentieth century economic social philosophy long outgrown philosophy product primitive economic conditions course judge views progressive social philosophy entirely second importance possession high fine character means possession elementary virtues honesty courage judge owes election pandering demagogic sentiments class hatreds prejudices judge owes either election appointment money favor great corporation alike unworthy sit bench alike traitors people profundity legal learning correctness abstract conviction questions public policy serve offset shortcomings also true judges like executives legislators hold sound views questions public policy vital interest people legislators executives chosen represent people enacting administering laws judges chosen represent people sense function interpret laws legislators responsible laws judges spirit interpret enforce laws stand aloof reckless agitators would make judges mere pliant tools popular prejudice passion stand aloof equally unwise partisans reaction privilege deny proposition inasmuch judges chosen serve interests whole people strive find interests far conscientiously strive give effect popular conviction deliberately duly expressed lawmaking body courts highly commended staunchly upheld set faces wrongdoing tyranny majority blamed fail recognize government like deliberate judgment majority matter legitimate policy duly expressed legislature lawfully expressed deliberate judgment given effect courts save extreme exceptional cases clear violation constitutional provision anything like frivolity wantonness upsetting clearly taken governmental action grave offense republic protest tyranny protect minorities oppression nullify act committed spasm popular fury render service republic courts arrogate functions properly belong legislative bodies wrong end works mischief people permitted pardon evil slipshod legislation theory court set right taught right way get rid bad law legislature repeal courts ingenious nullify law may unwise improper reasons declared unconstitutional strained interpretation result action take away people large sense responsibility ultimately destroy capacity orderly self restraint self government popular government rounded theory long run people supreme ultimate safety nation rest training guiding people shall right devising means defeat technicalities strained construction many shortcomings justice country people whole blame judges juries merely bear share together public whole discreditable us people difficulty convicting murderers bringing justice men public servants guilty corruption profited corruption public servants result equally unfortunate whether due hairsplitting technicalities interpretation law judges sentimentality class consciousness part juries hysteria sensationalism daily press much failure justice responsibility whatever lies rich men make mass people shift responsibility shoulders important part failure specially inability hold proper account men wealth behave badly chief breakdown dealing new relations arise mutualism interdependence time every new social relation begets new type wrongdoing sin use word many years always elapse society able turn sin crime effectively punished law lifetime older men alive social relations changed far rapidly preceding two centuries immense growth corporations business done associations extreme strain pressure modern life produced conditions render public confused really dangerous foes among public servants shared confusion acts increased certain judges marked inefficiency shown dealing corporations proper attitude taken public towards corporations towards labor towards social questions arising factory system enormous growth great cities huge wealth accumulated individuals recent years amounted social industrial revolution regards individuals made possible improper use modern corporation certain type modern corporation officers agents many issues securities constant consolidation allied undertakings finally becomes instrument complex contain greater number elements various judicial decisions lend fraud oppression device yet evolved human brain corporations necessary instruments modern business permitted become menace largely governmental representatives people worked slowly providing adequate control chief offender given case may executive legislature judge every executive head advises violent instead gradual action advocates sweeping measures reform especially tainted vindictiveness disregard rights minority particularly blameworthy several legislatures responsible fact laws often prepared slovenly haste lack consideration moreover often prepared still frequently amended passage suggestion parties afterwards enforced great clusters corporations huge trusts fabulously wealthy employ best lawyers obtain pick flaws statutes passage also employ class secret agents seek advice experts render hostile legislation innocuous making unconstitutional often insertion appear face drastic sweeping provisions interests parties inspiring demagogues corrupt creatures introduce blackmailing schemes strike corporations demand extreme undesirably radical measures show worst enemies public whose champions profess striking illustration consequences carelessness preparation statute employers liability law 1906 cases arising law four six courts first instance held unconstitutional six nine justices supreme court held within province congressional action four nine justices held valid however adjudged unconstitutional bare majority court five four surely slovenly piece work frame legislation shape leave question open real damage done manifold conflicting interpretations interstate commerce law control great corporations interstate business effective vested full power administrative department branch federal executive carrying federal law never effective divided responsibility left states nation never effective left hands courts decided lawsuits courts hold place peculiar deserved sanctity form government respect law essential permanence institutions respect law largely conditioned upon respect courts offense republic say anything weaken respect save gravest reason carefully guarded manner judges held peculiar honor duty respectful truthful comment criticism binding speak anybody especially binding speak average stand servants community greatest judges reached high level held greatest patriots whole country delights honor must face fact wise unwise judges wise unwise executives legislators president governor behaves improperly unwisely remedy easy term short true legislator although degree one many belong given legislative body therefore less easy fix personal responsibility hold accountable therefor judge human also likely err whose tenure life similar way holding responsibility ordinary conditions forms pressure way amenable public opinion action fellow judges last immediately effective look reform abuses remedy applied without fraught risk far better every standpoint remedy come within nation world courts wield vast power united states necessary courts whole exercise power farsighted wisdom already shown judges scan future act present let exercise great power honestly bravely wise insight needs fixed purposes people may justice work equity may protect persons rights yet break barriers privilege foe right one duty another owe children children children perform save forests country constitute first important element conservation natural resources country course two kinds natural resources one kind used part process exhaustion true mines natural oil gas wells like course ultimately far important includes resources improved process wise use soil rivers forests come head really civilized nation use three great national assets nation benefit future farmer life making living farm expert farmer leave asset increased value son leave national domain children increased value worn small sections country east west adriondacks white mountains appalachians rocky mountains already see damage shape permanent injury soil river systems comes reckless deforestation matters whether deforestation due actual reckless cutting timber fires inevitably follow reckless cutting timber reckless uncontrolled grazing especially great migratory bands sheep unchecked wandering country means destruction forests disaster small home makers settlers limited means shortsighted persons persons blinded future desire make money every way present sometimes speak great damage would done reckless destruction forests difficult patience arguments persons thanks recklessness use splendid forests already crossed verge timber famine country measures take least many years undo mischief already done prevent mischief done would highest degree reprehensible let consideration temporary convenience temporary cost interfere action especially regards national forests nation moment control serious students question aware great damage done mediterranean countries europe asia africa deforestation similar damage done eastern asia less well known recent investigation conditions north china frank meyer bureau plant industry united states department agriculture incidentally furnished striking fashion proof ruin comes reckless deforestation mountains fact damage done may prove practically irreparable important investigations herewith attach appendix message certain photographs showing present conditions china show vivid fashion appalling desolation taking shape barren mountains gravel plains immediately follows depends upon deforestation mountains many centuries ago country northern china one fertile beautiful spots entire world heavily forested know old chinese records accounts given traveler marco polo instance mentions visiting provinces shansi shensi observed many plantations mulberry trees hardly single mulberry tree either provinces culture silkworm moved farther south regions atmospheric moisture illustration complete change rivers may take polo statement certain river hun ho large deep merchants ascended sea heavily laden boats today river simply broad sandy bed shallow rapid currents wandering hither thither across absolutely unnavigable depend upon written records dry wells wells water far former watermark bear testimony good days past evil days present wherever native vegetation allowed remain instance around sacred temple imperial burying ground still huge trees tangled jungle fragments glorious ancient forests thick matted forest growth formerly covered mountains summits natural factors favored dense forest growth long permitted exist plains foot mountains among fertile globe whole country garden slightest effort made however prevent unchecked cutting trees secure reforestation doubtless many centuries inhabitants mountains worked slowly bringing changes come pass doubtless generations inroads scarcely noticeable came time forest shrunk sufficiently make year cutting serious matter time destruction proceeded appalling rapidity course year destruction rendered forest less able recuperate less able resist next year inroad meyer describes ceaseless progress destruction even little left destroy every morning men boys go armed mattox axe scale steepest mountain sides cut grub root branch small trees shrubs still found big trees disappeared centuries ago one never seen save neighborhood temples artificially protected even takes watch care priests prevent destruction family community common care exercised interest prevent deforestation finds profit immediate use fuel would otherwise used family community total absence regulation matter interest whole people small group inevitably pushed policy destruction afford take thought morrow one matters fatal leave unsupervised individual control forest protected state nation liberty action individuals must conditioned upon state nation determines necessary common safety lesson deforestation china lesson mankind learned many times already occurred places denudation leaves naked soil gullying cuts bare rock meanwhile buries bottomlands soil gone men must go process take long ruthless destruction forests northern china brought aided bringing desolation destruction forests central asia aid bringing ruin rich central asian cities destruction forest northern africa helped towards ruin region fertile granary roman days shortsighted man whether barbaric mistakenly regards fully civilized destroyed forests rendered certain ultimate destruction land northern china mountains shown accompanying photographs absolutely barren peaks forests destroyed destruction soil washed naked rock terrible consequence impossible undo damage done many centuries would pass soil would collect could made collect sufficient quantity support forest growth consequence mongol desert practically extending eastward northern china climate changed still changing changed even within last half century work tree destruction consummated great masses arboreal vegetation mountains formerly absorbed heat sun sent currents cool air brought clouds lower forced precipitate rain part burden water vegetation barren mountains scorched sun send currents heated air drive away instead attracting rain clouds moisture disseminated consequence instead regular plentiful rains existed regions china forests still evidence unfortunate inhabitants deforested lands see crops wither lack rainfall seasons grow irregular air becomes dryer certain crops refuse longer grow everything dries faster formerly shown fact level wells land sunk perceptibly many become totally dry addition resulting agricultural distress watercourses changed formerly narrow deep abundance clear water year around roots humus forests caught rainwater let escape slow regular seepage become broad shallow stream beds muddy water trickles slender currents dry seasons rains freshets roaring muddy torrents come tearing bringing disaster destruction everywhere moreover floods freshets diversify general dryness wash away mountain sides either wash away cover valleys rich fertile soil took tens thousands years nature form lost forever forests grow replaced sand stones mountain sides washed loose come rolling cover arable lands consequence throughout part china many formerly rich districts sandy wastes useless human cultivation even pasture cities course seriously affected streams gradually ceased navigable testimony even within memory men living serious diminution rainfall northeastern china level sungari river northern manchuria sensibly lowered last fifty years least partly result indiscriminate rutting forests forming watershed almost rivers northern china become uncontrollable dangerous dwellers along banks direct result destruction forests journey pekin jehol shows melancholy fashion soil washed away whole valleys converted deserts northern china disastrous process gone long proceeded far complete remedy could applied certain mountains china soil gone utterly slow action ages could restore although course much could done prevent still eastward extension mongolian desert chinese government would act accompanying cuts photographs show inconceivable desolation barren mountains certain rivers rise mountains remembered formerly supported dense forests larches firs unable produce wood condition source danger whole country photographs also show rivers passed mountains beds become broad sandy deforestation mountains one photographs shows caravan passing valley formerly mountains forested thickly peopled prosperous peasants floods carried destruction land valley stony desert another photograph shows mountain road covered stones rocks brought rainy season mountains already deforested human hands another shows pebbly southern manchuria great stream dried owing deforestation mountains scrub wood left disappear within half century yet another shows effect one washouts destroying arable mountain side washouts due removal vegetation yet photograph foreground shows reforestation still possibility places thus happened northern china happened central asia palestine north africa parts mediterranean countries europe surely happen country exercise wise forethought one chief marks people calling civilized nothing permitted stand way preservation forests criminal permit individuals purchase little gain destruction forests destruction fatal whole country future action begun forthwith present session congress improvement inland waterways action result giving us navigable navigated rivers spent hundreds millions dollars upon waterways yet traffic nearly steadily declining condition direct result absence comprehensive plan waterway improvement obviously continue thus expend revenues government without return poor business spend money inland navigation unless get inquiry condition mississippi principal tributaries reveals many instances utter waste caused methods hitherto obtained improvement navigation striking instance supplied improvement ohio begun 1824 continued single plan half century 1875 new plan adopted followed quarter century 1902 still different plan adopted since pursued rate promises navigable river twenty one hundred years longer shortsighted vacillating futile methods accompanied decreasing commerce increasing traffic congestion land increasing floods waste public money remedy lies abandoning methods signally failed adopting new ones keeping needs demands people report measure introduced first session present congress secretary war said chief defect methods hitherto pursued lies absence executive authority originating comprehensive plans covering country natural divisions thereof opinion heartily concur present methods fail give us inland navigation injurious army well virtually permanent detail corps engineers civilian duty necessarily impairs efficiency military establishment military engineers undoubtedly done efficient work actual construction necessarily unsuited training traditions take broad view gather transmit congress commercial industrial information forecasts upon waterway improvement must always largely rest furthermore failed grasp great underlying fact every stream unit source mouth uses interdependent prominent officers engineer corps recently even gone far assert print waterways dependent upon conservation forests headwaters position opposed recent work scientific bureaus government general experience mankind physician disbelieved vaccination would right man handle epidemic smallpox leave doctor skeptical transmission yellow fever stegomyia mosquito charge sanitation havana panama improvement rivers longer wise safe leave great work hands men fail grasp essential relations navigation general development assimilate use central facts streams work river improvement undertaken modern way results meet needs modern nation needs met without delay plan promises best quickest results permanent commission authorized coordinate work government departments relating waterways frame supervise execution comprehensive plan commission actual work construction might entrusted reclamation service military engineers acting sufficient number civilians continue work time war might divided reclamation service corps engineers funds provided current revenues deemed wise otherwise sale bonds essential thing work go forward best possible plan least possible delay new type work new organization planning directing time playing waterways past country demands results urge national parks adjacent national forests placed completely control forest service agricultural department instead leaving interior department policed army congress provide superintendents adequate corps civilian scouts rangers place road construction superintendent instead leaving war department change park management would result economy avoid difficulties administration arise responsibility care protection divided different departments need course peculiarly great yellowstone park like yosemite great wonderland kept national playground wild things protected scenery kept wholly unmarred happy say able set aside various parts country small tracts ground serve sanctuaries nurseries wild creatures occasion message may 4 1906 urge passage law putting alcohol used arts industries manufactures upon free list provide withdrawal free tax alcohol denatured purposes law june 7 1906 amendment march 2 1907 accomplished desired respect use denatured alcohol intended making fair degree progress entitled encouragement support congress pure food legislation already worked benefit difficult overestimate purpose beginning administration take indian service completely atmosphere political activity steady progress toward end last remaining stronghold politics service agency system seen best days gradually falling pieces natural purely evolutionary causes like survivals decaying slowly later stages seems clear extinction better made final ground cleared larger constructive work behalf indians preparatory induction full measure responsible citizenship november 1 eighteen agencies left roster two exceptions legal questions seemed stand temporarily way changed superintendencies heads brought classified civil service last year amendment incorporated measure providing secret service provided detail secret service transfer therefrom much say amendment benefit could benefit criminal classes deliberately introduced purpose diminishing effectiveness war crime could better devised end forbade practices followed greater less extent executive heads various departments twenty years practices owe securing evidence enabled us drive great lotteries business secure quarter million dollars fines promoters practices enabled us get evidence indispensable order connection theft government land government timber great corporations individuals practices enabled us get evidence indispensable order secure conviction wealthiest formidable criminals government deal operating violation law others amendment question benefit one excepting criminals seriously hampers government detection crime securing justice moreover affects departments outside treasury tends hamper secretary treasury effort utilize employees department best meet requirements public service forbids preventing frauds upon customs service investigating irregularities branch mints assay offices seriously crippled prevents promotion employees secret service discourages good effort present form restriction operates advantage criminal wrongdoer chief argument favor provision congressmen wish investigated secret service men little investigation done past true work secret service agents partly responsible indictment conviction senator congressman land frauds oregon believe public interest protect criminally branch public service exactly past seven years prosecuted convicted criminals executive branch government belief given ample means prosecute found legislative branch considered desirable special exception could made law prohibiting use secret service force investigating members congress would far better actually done strive prevent least hamper effective action criminals executive branch government renew recommendation postal savings hanks depositing savings security government behind object encourage thrift economy person moderate means 14 states deposits savings banks reported comptroller currency amount per cent entire deposits remaining 32 states per cent showing conclusively many localities united states sufficient opportunity given people deposit savings result money kept hiding unemployed believed aggregate vast sums money would brought circulation instrumentality postal savings banks savings banks reporting comptroller money order offices postal savings banks operation practically great civilized countries exception united states last annual message commended recommendation extension parcel post rural routes establishment local parcel post rural routes would mutual benefit farmer country storekeeper desirable routes serving people utilized fullest practicable extent amendment proposed senate last session suggestion providing purpose ascertaining practicability establishing special local parcel post system rural routes throughout united states authorized directed experiment report congress result experiment establishing special local parcel post system rural delivery routes exceed four counties united states packages matter originating rural route distributing post office delivery rural carriers would seem proper experiment tried order demonstrate practicability proposition especially estimates revenue derived operation system rural routes would amount many million dollars share national government take broad work education received attention care rightly deserves immediate responsibility support improvement educational systems institutions rests always rest people several states acting state local governments nation opportunity educational work must lost duty longer neglected national bureau education established forty years ago purpose collect diffuse information shall aid people united states establishment maintenance efficient school systems otherwise promote education throughout country purpose way conflicts educational work states may made great advantage states giving fullest accurate hence helpful information suggestion regarding best educational systems nation broader field activities wider opportunity obtaining information states foreign countries able even richest states distinct additional advantage information thus obtained used immediate benefit people limited means hitherto provided bureau education rendered efficient service congress neglected adequately supply bureau means meet educational growth country appropriations general work bureau outside education alaska year 1909 amount less ten years ago important items appropriations less thirty years ago inexcusable waste public money appropriate amount inadequate make impossible properly work authorized unfair great educational interests country deprive value results obtained proper appropriations earnestly recommend unfortunate state affairs regards national educational office remedied adequate appropriations recommendation urged representatives common schools great state universities leading educators unite requesting favorable consideration action congress upon subject strongly urge request director census connection decennial work soon begun complied appointments census force placed civil service law waiving geographical requirements requested director census supervisors enumerators appointed civil service law reasons given director commend congress careful consideration admirable report director census trust recommendations adopted immediate action thereon taken highly advisable intelligent action part nation question preserving health country practical extermination san francisco rodents country thus far escaped bubonic plague one many achievements american health officers shows accomplished better organization present exists dangers public health food adulteration many sources menace physical mental moral development children child labor met overcome numerous diseases known preventable nevertheless prevented recent international congress tuberculosis made us painfully aware inadequacy american public health legislation nation afford lag behind battle waged civilized people microscopic foes mankind ought longer ignore reproach government takes pains protect lives hogs cattle human beings first legislative step taken concentration proper bureaus one existing departments therefore urgently recommend passage bill shall authorize redistribution bureaus shall best accomplish end recommend legislation enacted placing jurisdiction department commerce labor government printing office present office combined control supervision administrative direction president joint committee printing two houses congress advantage employees office expenditure appropriated therefor supervised executive department obvious instead present combined supervision soldiers homes placed complete jurisdiction control war department economy sound business policy require existing independent bureaus commissions placed jurisdiction appropriate executive departments unwise every standpoint results mischief executive work done save purely executive bodies control president executive body immediate supervision cabinet minister advocate immediate admission new mexico arizona states done present session congress people two territories made evident votes come one state alternative admit two trust done without delay call attention congress importance problem fisheries interstate waters great lakes wise treaty april 11th year endeavoring come international agreement preservation satisfactory use fisheries waters otherwise achieved lake erie example richest fresh water fisheries world controlled statutes two nations four states one province province different ordinances different counties political divisions work cross purposes case achieve protection fisheries one hand justice localities individuals case similar puget sound problem quite pressing interstate waters united states salmon fisheries columbia river fraction years ago would united states government taken complete charge intervening oregon washington years fishermen state naturally tried take could get two legislatures never able agree joint action kind adequate degree protection fisheries moment fishing oregon side practically closed limit washington side kind one tell courts decide statutes action result meanwhile salmon reach spawning grounds probably four years hence fisheries amount nothing comes struggle associated fishermen one hand owners fishing wheels river fisheries mississippi ohio potomac also bad way remedy except united states control legislate interstate fisheries part business interstate commerce case machinery scientific investigation control already exists united states bureau fisheries similar problems obvious simple rule followed matters particular state manage taken hand united states problems seesaw conflicting state legislatures absolutely unsolvable easy enough congress control federal statute regulating interstate traffic game extended include fish new federal fish hatcheries established administration alaskan service vested bureau fisheries nation foreign policy based theory right must done nations precisely individuals actions last ten years matter proven faith deeds behaved behaving towards nations private life honorable man would behave towards fellows commercial material progress twenty republics worthy careful attention congress section world shown greater proportionate development foreign trade last ten years none special claims interest united states offers probably larger opportunities legitimate expansion commerce group countries countries want products greatly increased quantities shall correspondingly need international bureau american republics useful work making nations resources better known us acquainting us people purposes towards exchange goods international institution supported governments two americas work panama canal done speed efficiency entire devotion duty make model work kind task magnitude ever undertaken nation task kind ever better performed men isthmus colonel goethals fellow commissioners entire list employees faithfully duty right ungrudging respect gratitude american people recommend extension ocean mail act 1891 satisfactory american ocean mail lines south america asia philippines australiasia may established creation steamship lines natural corollary voyage battle fleet precede opening panamal canal even favorable conditions several years must elapse lines put operation accordingly urge congress act promptly foresight already shows action sooner later inevitable call particular attention territory hawaii importance islands apparent need improving condition developing resources urgent recent years industrial conditions upon islands radically changed importation coolie labor practically ceased developing diversity agricultural products make possible change land conditions territory opportunity may given small land owner similar mainland aid changes national government must provide necessary harbor improvements island agricultural products carried markets world coastwise shipping laws amended meet special needs islands alien contract labor law modified application hawaii enable american european labor brought thither begun improve pearl harbor naval base provide necessary military fortifications protection islands strongly emphasize need appropriations purposes amount within shortest possible time make islands practically impregnable useless develop industrial conditions islands establish bases supply naval merchant fleets unless insure far human ingenuity safety foreign seizure one thing remembered fortifications almost useless make impregnable sea left open land attack true even coast doubly true insular possessions hawaii instance worse useless establish naval station unless establish behind fortifications strong landing force take save regular siege operations real progress toward made philippine islands gathering philippine legislative body philippine assembly marks process absolutely new asia regards asiatic colonies european powers regards asiatic possessions asiatic powers indeed always excepting striking wonderful example afforded great empire japan opens entirely new departure compared anything happened among asiatic powers masters hitherto philippine legislature acted moderation seemed practical fashion realize eternal truth must always government way body individuals escape necessity governed outsiders show able restrain keep wrongdoing disorder filipino people officials therefore making real steps direction hope believe steps mark beginning course continue till filipinos become fit decide whether desire independent nation well well also americans past decade done much damage filipinos agitation immediate independence totally unfit remember depends must depend upon filipinos give opportunity develop capacity followed advice foolish doctrinaires wished us time last ten years turn filipino people adrift shirked plainest possible duty inflicted lasting wrong upon filipino people acted exactly opposite spirit given filipinos constitutional government government based upon justice shown governed good aggrandizement present time past ten years inexorable logic facts shows government must supplied us must wise generous must help filipinos master difficult art simply another name give save sense governing gradually may able learn govern present system laws sympathetic administration every reason believe gradually acquiring character lies basis lacking system laws paper constitution wise serve substitute people philippines achieved may legitimately called marvelous success giving government marks part authority necessary understanding people necessary purpose serve disinterestedly good faith trust within generation time arrive philippines decide whether well become independent continue protection strong disinterested power able guarantee islands order home protection foreign invasion one prophesy exact date wise consider independence fixed definite policy would worse folly try set date advance must depend upon way philippine people develop power recommend american citizenship conferred upon people porto rico cuba occupancy cease two months time cubans orderly manner elected governmental authorities island turned occupation occasion lasted little two years cuba thriven prospered earnest hope one desire people island shall govern justice peace order may secure gladly help end would solemnly warn remember great truth way people permanently avoid governed without show govern within japanese government postponed 1917 date great international exposition action taken insure ample time prepare make exposition made american commissioners visited japan postponement merely give ampler opportunity america represented exposition since first international exposition one greater importance marking fiftieth anniversary ascension throne emperor japan extraordinary leap foremost place among nations world made japan half century something unparalleled previous history exposition fitly commemorate signalize giant progress achieved first exposition kind ever held asia united states ancient friendship two peoples us fronts pacific growing commercial relations country asia takes peculiar interest seeing exposition made success every way take opportunity publicly state appreciation way japan australia new zealand states south america battle fleet received practice voyage around world american government strongly express appreciation abounding generous hospitality shown ships every port visited regards army call attention fact junior officers enlisted men stand high present system promotion seniority results bringing higher grades many men mediocre capacity short time serve man regard vested right rise highest rank army profession curious means creditable fact often failure part public representatives understand great need standpoint service nation refusing promote respectable elderly incompetents higher places given deserving men without regard seniority least seniority treated one consideration stress modern industrial competition business firm could succeed responsible management chosen simply ground oldest people employment yet course advocated regards army required law grades except general officer matter fact best officers highest ranks army attained present position wholly part process selection scope retiring boards extended could consider general unfitness command order secure far rigid enforcement present elimination officers mental physical temperamental disabilities plan recommended congress see fit provide judgment far better selection promotion elimination age officers fail attain certain rank certain age retired instance man attain field rank time 45 course placed retired list general officers selected present promotions made selection selection made president secretary war list least two candidates proposed vacancy board officers arm service promotion made bill congress object secure promotion officers various grades reasonable ages process selection boards officers least efficient retirement percentage pay depending upon length service bill although accomplishing done long step right direction earnestly recommend passage completely effective measure cavalry arm reorganized upon modern lines arm peculiarly necessary field officers old cavalry much difficult form infantry kept maximum efficiency strength made hurry present infantry artillery number needs especial attention paid development machine gun general service corps established things average soldier far much labor nonmilitary character perform organized militia national guard incorporated army part national forces behooves government every reasonable thing power perfect efficiency assisted instruction otherwise aided liberally heretofore continuous services many regular officers essential connection officers must specially trained service schools best qualify instructors national guard detailing officers training service schools duty national guard entails detaching regiments already greatly depleted detachment officers assignment duties prescribed acts congress bill pending congress creating number extra officers army passed ought enable officers trained instructors national guard assigned duty case war utmost importance large number trained officers use turning raw levies good troops legislation provide complete plan organizing great body volunteers behind regular army national guard war come congressional assistance given endeavoring promote rifle practice men services may know use rifle teams representing united states rifle revolver championships world comers england year unfortunately true great body citizens shoot less less time goes meet encourage rifle practice among schoolboys indeed among classes well military services every means power thus otherwise may able assist preserving peace world fit hold strong nations earth voice peace carry ends earth unprepared therefore unfit must sit dumb helpless defend protect others preserve peace first step direction preparation avert war possible fit war come teach men shoot approve recommendations general board increase navy calling especial attention need additional destroyers colliers four battleships desirable complete soon possible squadron eight battleships best existing type north dakota delaware florida utah form first division squadron four vessels proposed form second division improvement first ships heavy single caliber big gun type vessels tactical qualities speed turning circle near possible tactical qualities four vessels named built earnestly recommend general board law turned general staff literally excuse whatever continuing present bureau organization navy navy treated purely military organization everything subordinated one object securing military efficiency military efficiency guaranteed time war thorough previous preparation time peace preparation may add probability prevent need war secretary must supreme official advisers body line officers power pass upon coordinate work proposals several bureaus system promotion merit either selection exclusion processes introduced question present principle promotion mere seniority kept expect get best results higher officers men come old stay short time high command positions two hospital ships provided actual experience hospital ship fleet pacific shown invaluable work ship also proved well kept command medical officer expected anticipations trouble command proved completely baseless absurd put hospital ship line officer would put hospital shore command ought realized excuse failure realize nothing better navy every standpoint ever occurred cruise battle fleet around world improvement ships every way extraordinary gained far experience battle tactics would gained stayed atlantic waters american people profound gratification view excellent condition fleet shown cruise view improvement cruise worked already high condition believe service world average character efficiency enlisted men high case believe statement made officers taken whole must reservation made regard highest ranks already spoken regard entered service get full benefit excellent naval school annapolis absurd graduate midshipmen ensigns keep two years anomalous position present law requires detrimental service academy every first classman required turn serve petty officer officer ability discharge duties prerequisite going line success commanding largely determine standing graduation board visitors appointed january member required give least six days service one three days performed june week least desirable time board annapolis far benefiting navy observations concerned
financial stand nation present time excellent financial management nation interest government last seven year show satisfactory result currency system imperfect earnestly hop currency commission able propose thoroughly good system away exist defect period july 1 1901 september 30 1908 increase amount money circulation increase per capita period within time several occasion necessary treasury department come relief money market purchase redemption united state bond increase deposit national bank stimulate additional issue national bank note facilitate importation abroad gold imperfect currency system make proceeding necessary effective monetary disturbance fall 1907 immensely increase difficulty ordinary method relief middle november available work balance treasury reduce approximately clear house association throughout country oblige resort expedient issue clear house certificate use money emergency determine invite subscription panama canal bond three per cent certificate indebtedness authorize act june 13 1898 propose national bank proceeds issue permit use basis additional circulating note national bank moral effect procedure great necessary issue panama canal bond certificate indebtedness period july 1 1901 september 30 1908 balance net ordinary receipt net ordinary expense government show surplus four year 1902 1903 1906 1907 deficit year 1904 1905 1908 fractional part fiscal year 1909 net result surplus financial operation government period base upon difference receipt expenditure result net reduction debt unite state notwithstanding two sale panama canal bond amount aggregate issue three per cent certificate indebtedness act june 13 1998 amounting refund operation treasury department act march 14 1900 result conversion two per cent consols 1930 bond bear high rate interest decrease annual interest charge result operation short seven year three month net surplus nearly one hundred million receipt expenditures reduction debt ninety million spite extraordinary expense panama canal save nearly nine million annual interest charge exceedingly satisfactory show especially view fact period nation never hesitate undertake expenditure regard necessary new tax increase tax contrary tax take reduction taxation regard great corporation engage interstate business especially railroad repeat already say message congress believe interstate clause constitution united state complete paramount right control agency interstate commerce believe national government alone exercise right wisdom effectiveness secure justice justice great corporation important factor modern business believe bad folly attempt prohibit combination do sherman law law enforce imperfectly unequally enforcement work almost much hardship good strongly advocate instead unwise effort prohibit combination shall substitute law shall expressly permit combination interest public shall time give agency national government full power control supervision one chief feature control secure entire publicity matter public right know furthermore power judicial executive action prevent put stop every form improper favoritism wrongdoing railway country put completely interstate commerce commission remove domain law power commission make thoroughgoing could exercise complete supervision control issue security well raise lower rate regard rate least power summary power investigate financial operation account railways one valuable feature recent legislation power make combination traffic agreement explicitly confer upon railroad permission commission first gain combination agreement publish detail interest public representative public complete power see railroad duty public matter course power also exercise see injustice do railroad shareholder employee shipper interest must guard interest swindle stock speculation allow improper issuance security guide intelligence necessary successful build successful management railroad receive ample remuneration man allow make money connection railroad fraudulent kindred performance must defraud investor oppression farmer business men ship freight callous disregard right need employee addition interest shareholder employee shipper guard one another give one undue improper consideration injustice others rate must make low compatible give proper return employee railroad high low proper return shareholder must instance reduce fashion necessitate cut wage employee abolition proper legitimate profit honest shareholder telegraph telephone company engage interstate business put jurisdiction interstate commerce commission earnestly wish people representative act matter hard say whether damage country large would come entire failure part public supervise control action great corporation exercise necessary governmental power way would injustice wrong corporation preacher unrestricted individualism preacher oppression would deny able men business reward initiative business sagacity advocate policy would fraught grave harm whole country permit every lawless capitalist every corporation take action matter iniquitous effort secure improper profit build privilege would ruinous republic would mark abandonment effort secure industrial world spirit democratic fair deal hand attack wrong spirit demagogy see wrong committed man wealth dumb blind presence wrong commit men property men property exactly evil corruptly defend wrongdoing men wealth war wage must wag misconduct wrongdoing wherever find must stand heartily right every decent man whether man great wealth man earn livelihood tiller soil interest u premium put upon individual initiative individual capacity ample reward great directing intelligence alone competent manage great business operation well keep mind exactly anarchist bad enemy liberty reactionary worst enemy order men defend right property fear wrongdoer great wealth men champion popular right fear demagogue name popular right would wrong oppress honest business men honest men wealth success either type wrongdoer necessarily invite violent reaction wrongdoer nominally upholds point danger nation nothing choose one hand corruptionist man employ great talent swindle large scale hand preacher class hatred man whether ignorance willingness sacrifice country ambition persuades men try destroy instrument upon prosperity mainly rest let group men beware guard shortcoming group liable often see business community spirit unhealthy class consciousness deplore effort hold account law wealthy men management great corporation whether railroad street railway industrial enterprise behave way revolt conscience plain decent people attitude condemn severely men property recognize jeopardize right property fail heartily join effort away abuse wealth hand advocate proper control behalf public state great corporation wealth engage giant scale business operation must ever keep mind unless scrupulous justice corporation unless permit ample profit cordially encourage capable men business long act honesty strike root national long run mere pressure material distress people whole would probably go back reign unrestricted individualism rather submit control state drastic foolish conceive spirit unreasonable narrow hostility wealth prevent business operation profitable therefore bring ruin upon entire business community ultimately upon entire body citizen opposition government control great corporation make effective effort shape appeal old doctrine state right course many sincere men believe unrestricted individualism business formerly many sincere men believe slavery unrestricted right individual another individual men great weight however effective fight adequate government control supervision individual especially corporate wealth engage interstate business chiefly do cover especially cover appeal state right infrequent read speech denunciation predatory wealth foster special privilege defiant public welfare law land denunciation centralization central government power deal centralize organize wealth course policy set forth twin denunciation amount absolutely nothing first half nullified second half chief reason among many sound compel reason lead formation national government absolute need union several state deal interstate foreign commerce power deal interstate commerce grant absolutely plenarily central government exercise completely regards instrument interstate commerce know day waterway highroads well partnership individual conduct business interstate commerce chiefly conduct railroad great corporation supplant mass small partnership individual proposal make national government supreme therefore give complete control railroad instrument interstate commerce merely proposal carry letter one prime purpose prime purpose constitution round represent centralization represent merely acknowledgment patent fact centralization already come business irresponsible outside business power control interest general public control one way give adequate power control one sovereignty capable exercise power national government forty fifty separate state government exercise power corporation business first absolutely lack authority deal interstate business form second inevitable conflict authority sure arise effort enforce different kind state regulation often inconsistent one another sometimes oppressive divide authority regulate commerce wisdom effect central government power without oppression nevertheless thoroughly adequately control supervise large corporation abandon effort national control mean abandon effort adequate control yet render likely continual burst action state legislature achieve purpose sought great deal damage corporation without confer real benefit public believe farsighted corporation come recognize unwisdom violent hostility display last year regulation control national government combination engage interstate business truth believe movement assert exercise genuine control public interest great corporation contend two set enemy though nominally oppose one another really ally prevent proper solution problem first big corporation men extreme individualist among business men genuinely believe utterly unregulated business reign plutocracy second men blind economic movement day believe movement repression rather regulation corporation denounce power railroad exercise federal power alone really control railroad believe efficient national control hand least object combination least object concentration business administration contrary favor important proviso shall publicity working thoroughgoing control insure interest interest general public object concentration wealth administration believe distribution wealth profit real owner secure public full benefit concentrated administration believe concentration administration come advantage large ownership equitable distribution profit time well service commonwealth believe administration benefit many greed rascality practice large scale punish relentlessly practice small scale moment believe problem solve short easy method solution come press various concurrent remedy remedy must lie outside domain government must lie outside domain federal government legislation federal government alone enact absolutely vital order secure attainment purpose many law need regulation national government great interstate corporation include simple method account keep publicity supervision issue security abolition rebate special privilege short time franchise corporation engage public business include corporation get power water right national well state guardianship mine forest labor legislation hereinafter refer concurrently enact law accomplish mean course certain increase use creation power central government power already exist create question whether shall use leave idle meanwhile corporation power ought exercise remain idle let object increase use power available national power frank admit openly propose abandon effort control great business corporation exercise supervision accumulation distribution wealth supervision control come particular kind increase power believe empiricism demand absolutely unrestrained individualism empiricism clamor deaden socialism would destroy individual initiative would ruin country completeness even unrestrained individualism could achieve danger american democracy lie least concentration administrative power responsible accountable hand lie power insufficiently concentrate one held responsible people use concentrated power palpable visible responsible easily reach quickly hold account power scatter many administrator many legislator many men work behind legislator administrator impalpable unseen irresponsible reach hold account democracy peril wherever administration political power scatter among variety men work secret whose name unknown common people peril man derive authority people exercise sight people time time compel give account exercise people many matter affect labor status like draw attention exhaustive discussion problem aspect necessary administration near end moreover form government solution problem depend upon action state much upon action nation nevertheless certain consideration wish set hope people keep mind blind ignorant resistance every effort reform abuse readjustment society modern industrial condition represent true conservatism incitement wild radicalism wise radicalism wise conservatism go hand hand one bent progress bent see change make unless right direction believe steady effort perhaps would accurate say steady effort many different direction bring condition affair men work hand brain laborer superintendent men produce market men find market article produce shall far great share present wealth produce enable invest tool instrument work carry far possible hope see frank recognition advantage confer machinery organization division labor accompany effort bring large share ownership railway mill factory farm simply mean wish see farmer land wish see farm large become property absentee landlord farm tenant yet small farmer becomes like european peasant depositor savings bank number entire population capitalist savings bank loan money worker many case carry various industry increase number introduce principle cooperation industry every increase number small stockholder corporation good thing reason employee stockholder result particularly good much movement must outside anything accomplished legislation legislation good deal postal saving bank make easy poor keep saving absolute safety regulation national highway must shall serve people equal justice corporate finance must supervise make far safe present man small mean invest money stock must prohibition child labor diminution woman labor shorten hour mechanical labor stock watering prohibit stock gambling far possible discouraged progressive inheritance tax large fortune industrial education encourage far possible lighten burden taxation small man put premium upon thrift hard work business energy quality cease main factor accumulate fortune long fortune reach point would seriously affected inheritance tax propose eminently right nation fix term upon great fortune inherit rarely good often harm inherit entirety mere sketch hardly even sketch outline reform work one matter congress deal session longer palter question take care present industrial system become kill crippled worn part regular incident give business majority wageworkers must right secure state action national government legislate thoroughgoing fashion employee national government person engage interstate commerce object sought could achieve measurable degree far kill cripple concerned proper employer liability law far concern wear call attention fact definite step toward provide pension take many private industry may indefinitely extend voluntary association contributory schemes agency saving bank recent massachusetts plan strengthen practical measure immediate duty present necessary consider large general governmental scheme european government find oblige adopt present system rather system work dreadful wrong benefit one class people lawyer workman injured need expensive doubtful lawsuit certainty relief immediate administrative action number accident result death crippling wageworkers union large simply appal year run total far excess aggregate dead wound modern war academic theory freedom contract constitutional liberty contract permit interfere similar movement progress civilization everywhere mean limitation regulation contract call especial attention bulletin bureau labor give statement method treat unemployed european country subject germany instance treat connection make provision cripple workman pending thoroughgoing investigation action certain legislation enact law pass last session congress grant compensation certain class employee government extend include employee government make liberal term good ground distinction make law engage hazardous occupation engage man injure killed line work hazardous case whether 1 per cent 10 per cent follow give occupation actually suffer injury death ought bear question receive compensation grim logic say injure employee dependent one kill entitle compensation people injure kill occupation perhaps one strike omission law embrace peace officer others whose life may sacrifice enforce law united state term act provide compensation make liberal present act year compensation adequate family event death accident course employment event death occur say ten eleven month accident family would receive compensation equivalent one two month earnings respect generosity united state towards employee compare unfavorably every country europe even poor term act also hardship prohibiting payment case accident way due negligence employee inevitable daily familiarity danger lead men take chance construe negligence well recognize practically country civilize world except united state great degree negligence act bar secure compensation probably respect legislation state national far behind practically entire civilized world matter liability compensation accident industry humiliate european international congress accident united state single belated among nation respect employer liability legislation government large employer labor dealing employee set standard country would place par progressive country europe law united state respect law european country summarize recent bulletin bureau labor american read summary fail strike great contrast practice contrast sense credit congress without delay pas model employer liability law district columbia employer liability act recently declare unconstitutional account apparently include provision employee engage intrastate commerce well engage interstate commerce hold local court still effect far provision apply district columbia ambiguity point doubt subject law reenact special reference district columbia act however apply employee common carrier occupation liability law district old common law severity injustice common law matter degree another modify majority state jurisdiction exclusive control congress ahead behind state union respect comprehensive employer liability law pass district columbia renew recommendation make previous message grant summer wageworkers government employ also renew recommendation principle day rapidly far practicable extended entire work carry government present law amend embrace contract public work present word act seem exclude earnestly urge upon congress duty increase totally inadequate salary give judge whole body public servant valuable work whose moneyed reward inadequate compare work begin supreme court judge salary double befitting dignity nation honor public servant pay sums small compare would earn private life performance public service implies exceedingly heavy pecuniary sacrifice earnestly desire method devise away long delay obtain administration justice operate peculiar severity person small mean favor criminal desirable punish long delay final decision case make aggregate cry evil remedy devise much intolerable delay due improper regard pay technicality mere hindrance justice note recent case technicality result strike denial justice flagrant wrong body politic last election certain leader organize labor make violent sweeping attack upon entire judiciary country attack couch term include upright honest judge less narrow mind restrict outlook kind attack admirably fit prevent successful attempt reform abuse judiciary give champion unjust judge eagerly desire opportunity shift ground championship judge unjustly assail last year house committee judiciary labor leader formulate demand specify bill contain refuse compromise state wish principle bill nothing insisted provision labor dispute injunction issue except protect property right specifically provide right carry business construe property right second provision bill make legal labor dispute act agreement two person would unlawful do single person word bill legalize blacklist boycott every form legalize instance form secondary boycott anthracite coal strike commission unreservedly condemn right carry business explicitly take protection law throw property demand make trial jury contempt case thereby seriously impair authority court represent course policy carry would mean enthronement class privilege crudest brutal form destruction one essential function judiciary civilized land violence crusade legislation complete failure illustrate two truths essential people learn first place ought teach workingman laborer wageworker demand improper impossible play hand foe crude vicious attack upon court even temporarily successful would inevitably end violent reaction would band great mass citizens together forcing stand judge competent incompetent alike rather see wheels justice stop movement kind ultimately result nothing damage whose behalf nominally undertaken healthy truth wise people learn movement base class hatred time assumes name class consciousness certain ultimately fail temporarily succeed damage class consciousness merely another name odious vice class selfishness equally noxious whether employer association workingman association movement question one appeal make workingman vote primarily american citizen individual certain class society appeal first place revolt among person address second place tend arouse strong antagonism among class citizen therefore tend unite organization whose behalf issue result therefore unfortunate every standpoint healthy truth way learn socialist ever succeed establish country important national party base class consciousness selfish class interest wageworkers workingmen labor men country way repudiate effort get cast vote response appeal class hatred emphasized sound patriotism americanism whole country fell pride attitude sturdy independence uncompromising insistence upon act simply good citizen good american without regard fancy improper class interest attitude good citizenship entire nation extreme reactionary person blind wrong commit court labor men also think seriously movement portends judge show able willing effectively check dishonest activity rich man work iniquity mismanagement corporation show alert justice wageworker sympathetic need mass people dweller tenement house man practice dangerous trade man crush excessive hour labor feel need understood court judge real bulwark court judge judge stamp fearless oppose labor go wrong fearless also hold strict account corporation work iniquity see workingman get right men others owe appeal violent mistaken legislation fall deaf ear agitation passage prove without substantial basis court jeopardize primarily action federal state judge show inability unwillingness put stop wrongdoing rich men modern industrial condition inability unwillingness give relief men small mean wageworkers crush modern industrial condition word fail understand apply need remedy new wrong produce new highly complex social industrial civilization grow last half century rapid change social industrial life attend rapid growth make necessary apply concrete case great rule right lay constitution full understanding appreciation new condition rule apply would infringement upon liberty half century ago may necessary safeguard liberty would injury property may necessary enjoyment property every judicial decision involve two term one interpretation law understand fact apply great mass judicial officer believe alive change condition materially affect performance judicial duty judicial system sound effective core remain must ever maintain safeguard principle liberty justice stand foundation american institution burke finely say liberty justice separate neither safe however member judicial body lag behind understanding great vital change body politic whose mind never open new application old principle make necessary new condition judge stamp lasting harm decision convince poor men need protection court land profoundly ignorant sympathy need profoundly indifferent hostile propose remedy men seem cruel mockery court decide ground desire preserve liberty purely technical form withhold liberty real constructive sense desirable legislative body possess wherever necessary exercise power determine whether give case employer employee equal footing necessity latter compel submit exaction hour condition labor unduly tax strength mischief result determination upset ground must interference liberty contract often merely academic liberty exercise negation real liberty certain decision various court exceedingly detrimental right wageworkers true decision decide men woman constitution guarantee liberty contract enter dangerous occupation work undesirable improper number hour work unhealthy surroundings therefore recover damage maim occupation forbidden work legislature decide excessive number hour carry work condition legislature decide unhealthy dangerous occupation often poor pay hour work longest many case go driven necessity great practically alternative decision allude nullify legislative effort protect need protection employer take advantage grind need halt hamper movement secure well equitable condition labor talk preserve being make contract service liberty make either speak spirit heartless irony else show utter lack knowledge condition life among great mass lack unfits judge good service would unfit executive legislative officer also think ground belief substantial injustice often suffer employee consequence custom court issue temporary injunction without notice punish contempt court instance matter fact knowledge proceeding outside organize labor widespread feeling system often work great injustice wageworkers effort well work condition result industrial dispute temporary injunction procure ex parte may matter fact effect permanent injunction cause disaster wageworkers side dispute organize labor chafe unjust restraint come repeat resort plan procedure discontent unwisely express often improperly express sound basis orderly people community would far strong position uphold court undoubtedly exist abuse could provide proposal mention advocated extreme labor leader contain vital error class legislation offensive kind even enact law believe law would rightly hold unconstitutional moreover labor people begin invoke use power injunction last ten year within knowledge least fifty injunction obtain labor union new york city alone protect union label property right obtain reason employer power injunction great equitable remedy account destroy safeguard erect abuse believe provision advocate year ago check abuse issuance temporary injunction adopt substance provision make injunction temporary restrain order issue otherwise notice except irreparable injury would otherwise result case hear merit order within short fixed period continue hear forthwith lapse decision render immediately chance delay minimize every way moreover believe procedure sharply define judge require minutely state particular action reason therefor congress desire examine investigate chief lawmaker country may often judge final seat authority every time interpret contract property vested right due process law liberty necessarily enact law part system social philosophy interpretation fundamental give direction decision court economic social question depend upon economic social philosophy peaceful progress people twentieth century shall owe judge hold twentieth century economic social philosophy long outgrown philosophy product primitive economic condition course judge view progressive social philosophy entirely second importance possession high fine character mean possession elementary virtue honesty courage judge owe election pander demagogic sentiment class hatred prejudice judge owe either election appointment money favor great corporation alike unworthy sit bench alike traitor people profundity legal learning correctness abstract conviction question public policy serve offset shortcoming also true judge like executive legislator hold sound view question public policy vital interest people legislators executive choose represent people enact administer law judge choose represent people sense function interpret law legislator responsible law judge spirit interpret enforce law stand aloof reckless agitator would make judge mere pliant tool popular prejudice passion stand aloof equally unwise partisan reaction privilege deny proposition inasmuch judge choose serve interest whole people strive find interest far conscientiously strive give effect popular conviction deliberately duly express lawmaking body court highly commend staunchly upheld set face wrongdoing tyranny majority blame fail recognize government like deliberate judgment majority matter legitimate policy duly express legislature lawfully express deliberate judgment give effect court save extreme exceptional case clear violation constitutional provision anything like frivolity wantonness upset clearly take governmental action grave offense republic protest tyranny protect minority oppression nullify act commit spasm popular fury render service republic court arrogate function properly belong legislative body wrong end work mischief people permit pardon evil slipshod legislation theory court set right taught right way get rid bad law legislature repeal court ingenious nullify law may unwise improper reason declare unconstitutional strained interpretation result action take away people large sense responsibility ultimately destroy capacity orderly self restraint self government popular government round theory long run people supreme ultimate safety nation rest training guide people shall right devise mean defeat technicality strain construction many shortcoming justice country people whole blame judge jury merely bear share together public whole discreditable u people difficulty convict murderer bring justice men public servant guilty corruption profit corruption public servant result equally unfortunate whether due hairsplitting technicality interpretation law judge sentimentality class consciousness part jury hysteria sensationalism daily press much failure justice responsibility whatever lie rich men make mass people shift responsibility shoulder important part failure specially inability hold proper account men wealth behave badly chief breakdown deal new relation arise mutualism interdependence time every new social relation begets new type wrongdoing sin use word many year always elapse society able turn sin crime effectively punish law lifetime old men alive social relation change far rapidly precede two century immense growth corporation business do association extreme strain pressure modern life produce condition render public confuse really dangerous foe among public servant share confusion act increase certain judge mark inefficiency show deal corporation proper attitude take public towards corporation towards labor towards social question arise factory system enormous growth great city huge wealth accumulate individual recent year amount social industrial revolution regard individual make possible improper use modern corporation certain type modern corporation officer agent many issue security constant consolidation ally undertaking finally become instrument complex contain great number element various judicial decision lend fraud oppression device yet evolve human brain corporation necessary instrument modern business permit become menace largely governmental representative people work slowly provide adequate control chief offender give case may executive legislature judge every executive head advise violent instead gradual action advocate sweeping measure reform especially tainted vindictiveness disregard right minority particularly blameworthy several legislature responsible fact law often prepare slovenly haste lack consideration moreover often prepared still frequently amend passage suggestion party afterwards enforce great cluster corporation huge trust fabulously wealthy employ best lawyer obtain pick flaw statute passage also employ class secret agent seek advice expert render hostile legislation innocuous make unconstitutional often insertion appear face drastic sweeping provision interest party inspire demagogue corrupt creature introduce blackmail scheme strike corporation demand extreme undesirably radical measure show bad enemy public whose champion profess strike illustration consequence carelessness preparation statute employer liability law 1906 case arise law four six court first instance hold unconstitutional six nine justice supreme court hold within province congressional action four nine justice hold valid however adjudge unconstitutional bare majority court five four surely slovenly piece work frame legislation shape leave question open real damage do manifold conflicting interpretation interstate commerce law control great corporation interstate business effective vest full power administrative department branch federal executive carry federal law never effective divide responsibility leave state nation never effective leave hand court decide lawsuit court hold place peculiar deserve sanctity form government respect law essential permanence institution respect law largely condition upon respect court offense republic say anything weaken respect save grave reason carefully guard manner judge hold peculiar honor duty respectful truthful comment criticism bind speak anybody especially bind speak average stand servant community great judge reach high level hold great patriots whole country delight honor must face fact wise unwise judge wise unwise executive legislator president governor behave improperly unwisely remedy easy term short true legislator although degree one many belong give legislative body therefore less easy fix personal responsibility hold accountable therefor judge human also likely err whose tenure life similar way hold responsibility ordinary condition form pressure way amenable public opinion action fellow judge last immediately effective look reform abuse remedy apply without fraught risk far well every standpoint remedy come within nation world court wield vast power united state necessary court whole exercise power farsighted wisdom already show judge scan future act present let exercise great power honestly bravely wise insight need fix purpose people may justice work equity may protect person right yet break barrier privilege foe right one duty another owe child child child perform save forest country constitute first important element conservation natural resource country course two kinds natural resource one kind use part process exhaustion true mine natural oil gas well like course ultimately far important include resource improve process wise use soil river forest come head really civilized nation use three great national asset nation benefit future farmer life make living farm expert farmer leave asset increase value son leave national domain child increase value worn small section country east west adriondacks white mountain appalachian rocky mountain already see damage shape permanent injury soil river system come reckless deforestation matter whether deforestation due actual reckless cut timber fire inevitably follow reckless cut timber reckless uncontrolled grazing especially great migratory band sheep unchecked wandering country mean destruction forest disaster small home maker settler limit mean shortsighted person person blind future desire make money every way present sometimes speak great damage would do reckless destruction forest difficult patience argument person thanks recklessness use splendid forest already cross verge timber famine country measure take least many year undo mischief already do prevent mischief do would high degree reprehensible let consideration temporary convenience temporary cost interfere action especially regard national forest nation moment control serious student question aware great damage do mediterranean country europe asia africa deforestation similar damage do eastern asia less well know recent investigation condition north china frank meyer bureau plant industry unite state department agriculture incidentally furnish striking fashion proof ruin come reckless deforestation mountain fact damage do may prove practically irreparable important investigation herewith attach appendix message certain photographs show present condition china show vivid fashion appal desolation take shape barren mountains gravel plain immediately follow depend upon deforestation mountain many century ago country northern china one fertile beautiful spot entire world heavily forest know old chinese record account give traveler marco polo instance mention visit province shansi shensi observe many plantation mulberry tree hardly single mulberry tree either province culture silkworm move far south region atmospheric moisture illustration complete change river may take polo statement certain river hun ho large deep merchant ascend sea heavily laden boat today river simply broad sandy bed shallow rapid current wander hither thither across absolutely unnavigable depend upon write record dry well well water far former watermark bear testimony good day past evil day present wherever native vegetation allow remain instance around sacred temple imperial burying ground still huge tree tangle jungle fragment glorious ancient forest thick mat forest growth formerly cover mountain summits natural factor favor dense forest growth long permit exist plain foot mountain among fertile globe whole country garden slightest effort make however prevent unchecked cut tree secure reforestation doubtless many century inhabitant mountain work slowly bring change come pas doubtless generation inroads scarcely noticeable come time forest shrunk sufficiently make year cut serious matter time destruction proceed appalling rapidity course year destruction render forest less able recuperate less able resist next year inroad meyer describe ceaseless progress destruction even little leave destroy every morning men boys go armed mattox axe scale steep mountain side cut grub root branch small tree shrubs still find big tree disappear century ago one never see save neighborhood temple artificially protect even take watch care priests prevent destruction family community common care exercise interest prevent deforestation find profit immediate use fuel would otherwise use family community total absence regulation matter interest whole people small group inevitably push policy destruction afford take thought morrow one matter fatal leave unsupervised individual control forest protect state nation liberty action individual must condition upon state nation determines necessary common safety lesson deforestation china lesson mankind learn many time already occur place denudation leave naked soil gullying cut bare rock meanwhile buries bottomlands soil go men must go process take long ruthless destruction forest northern china bring aided bringing desolation destruction forest central asia aid bring ruin rich central asian city destruction forest northern africa help towards ruin region fertile granary roman day shortsighted man whether barbaric mistakenly regard fully civilize destroyed forest render certain ultimate destruction land northern china mountain show accompany photograph absolutely barren peak forest destroy destruction soil wash naked rock terrible consequence impossible undo damage do many century would pass soil would collect could make collect sufficient quantity support forest growth consequence mongol desert practically extend eastward northern china climate change still change change even within last half century work tree destruction consummate great mass arboreal vegetation mountain formerly absorb heat sun send current cool air bring cloud low force precipitate rain part burden water vegetation barren mountain scorch sun send current heat air drive away instead attract rain clouds moisture disseminate consequence instead regular plentiful rain exist region china forest still evidence unfortunate inhabitant deforest land see crop wither lack rainfall season grow irregular air become dryer certain crop refuse longer grow everything dry faster formerly show fact level well land sunk perceptibly many become totally dry addition result agricultural distress watercourse change formerly narrow deep abundance clear water year around root humus forest catch rainwater let escape slow regular seepage become broad shallow stream bed muddy water trickle slender current dry season rain freshet roar muddy torrent come tear bring disaster destruction everywhere moreover floods freshet diversify general dryness wash away mountain side either wash away cover valley rich fertile soil take ten thousand year nature form lose forever forest grow replace sand stone mountain side wash loose come roll cover arable land consequence throughout part china many formerly rich district sandy waste useless human cultivation even pasture city course seriously affect stream gradually cease navigable testimony even within memory men live serious diminution rainfall northeastern china level sungari river northern manchuria sensibly lower last fifty year least partly result indiscriminate rutting forest form watershed almost river northern china become uncontrollable dangerous dweller along bank direct result destruction forest journey pekin jehol show melancholy fashion soil wash away whole valley convert desert northern china disastrous process go long proceed far complete remedy could apply certain mountain china soil go utterly slow action age could restore although course much could do prevent still eastward extension mongolian desert chinese government would act accompany cut photograph show inconceivable desolation barren mountains certain river rise mountain remember formerly support dense forest larches fir unable produce wood condition source danger whole country photograph also show river pass mountain bed become broad sandy deforestation mountains one photograph show caravan pass valley formerly mountain forest thickly people prosperous peasant flood carry destruction land valley stony desert another photograph show mountain road cover stone rock bring rainy season mountain already deforest human hand another show pebbly southern manchuria great stream dry owe deforestation mountain scrub wood leave disappear within half century yet another show effect one washouts destroy arable mountain side washout due removal vegetation yet photograph foreground show reforestation still possibility place thus happen northern china happen central asia palestine north africa part mediterranean country europe surely happen country exercise wise forethought one chief mark people call civilized nothing permit stand way preservation forest criminal permit individual purchase little gain destruction forest destruction fatal whole country future action begin forthwith present session congress improvement inland waterways action result give u navigable navigated river spend hundred million dollar upon waterway yet traffic nearly steadily decline condition direct result absence comprehensive plan waterway improvement obviously continue thus expend revenue government without return poor business spend money inland navigation unless get inquiry condition mississippi principal tributary reveal many instance utter waste cause method hitherto obtain improvement navigation strike instance supply improvement ohio begin 1824 continue single plan half century 1875 new plan adopt followed quarter century 1902 still different plan adopt since pursue rate promise navigable river twenty one hundred year longer shortsighted vacillate futile method accompany decrease commerce increase traffic congestion land increase flood waste public money remedy lie abandon method signally fail adopt new one keep needs demand people report measure introduce first session present congress secretary war say chief defect method hitherto pursue lie absence executive authority originate comprehensive plan cover country natural division thereof opinion heartily concur present method fail give u inland navigation injurious army well virtually permanent detail corp engineer civilian duty necessarily impair efficiency military establishment military engineer undoubtedly do efficient work actual construction necessarily unsuited training tradition take broad view gather transmit congress commercial industrial information forecast upon waterway improvement must always largely rest furthermore fail grasp great underlying fact every stream unit source mouth use interdependent prominent officer engineer corp recently even go far assert print waterway dependent upon conservation forest headwater position oppose recent work scientific bureaus government general experience mankind physician disbelieve vaccination would right man handle epidemic smallpox leave doctor skeptical transmission yellow fever stegomyia mosquito charge sanitation havana panama improvement river longer wise safe leave great work hand men fail grasp essential relation navigation general development assimilate use central fact streams work river improvement undertaken modern way result meet needs modern nation need meet without delay plan promise best quick result permanent commission authorize coordinate work government department relate waterway frame supervise execution comprehensive plan commission actual work construction might entrust reclamation service military engineer act sufficient number civilian continue work time war might divide reclamation service corp engineer fund provide current revenue deem wise otherwise sale bond essential thing work go forward best possible plan least possible delay new type work new organization plan direct time play waterway past country demand result urge national park adjacent national forest place completely control forest service agricultural department instead leave interior department police army congress provide superintendent adequate corp civilian scout ranger place road construction superintendent instead leave war department change park management would result economy avoid difficulty administration arise responsibility care protection divide different department need course peculiarly great yellowstone park like yosemite great wonderland keep national playground wild thing protect scenery keep wholly unmarred happy say able set aside various part country small tract ground serve sanctuary nursery wild creature occasion message may 4 1906 urge passage law put alcohol use art industry manufacture upon free list provide withdrawal free tax alcohol denature purpose law june 7 1906 amendment march 2 1907 accomplish desire respect use denature alcohol intend make fair degree progress entitle encouragement support congress pure food legislation already work benefit difficult overestimate purpose begin administration take indian service completely atmosphere political activity steady progress toward end last remain stronghold politics service agency system see best day gradually fall piece natural purely evolutionary cause like survival decay slowly later stag seem clear extinction well make final ground clear large constructive work behalf indians preparatory induction full measure responsible citizenship november 1 eighteen agency leave roster two exception legal question seem stand temporarily way change superintendencies head bring classify civil service last year amendment incorporate measure provide secret service provide detail secret service transfer therefrom much say amendment benefit could benefit criminal class deliberately introduce purpose diminish effectiveness war crime could better devised end forbade practice follow great less extent executive head various department twenty year practice owe secure evidence enable u drive great lottery business secure quarter million dollar fines promoter practice enable u get evidence indispensable order connection theft government land government timber great corporation individual practice enable u get evidence indispensable order secure conviction wealthy formidable criminal government deal operate violation law others amendment question benefit one except criminal seriously hamper government detection crime secure justice moreover affect department outside treasury tends hamper secretary treasury effort utilize employee department best meet requirement public service forbids prevent frauds upon custom service investigate irregularity branch mint assay office seriously cripple prevents promotion employee secret service discourages good effort present form restriction operate advantage criminal wrongdoer chief argument favor provision congressman wish investigate secret service men little investigation do past true work secret service agent partly responsible indictment conviction senator congressman land frauds oregon believe public interest protect criminally branch public service exactly past seven year prosecute convicted criminal executive branch government belief give ample mean prosecute find legislative branch consider desirable special exception could make law prohibiting use secret service force investigate member congress would far well actually do strive prevent least hamper effective action criminal executive branch government renew recommendation postal saving hank deposit saving security government behind object encourage thrift economy person moderate mean 14 state deposit saving bank report comptroller currency amount per cent entire deposit remain 32 state per cent show conclusively many locality united state sufficient opportunity give people deposit saving result money kept hide unemployed believe aggregate vast sum money would bring circulation instrumentality postal saving bank saving bank report comptroller money order office postal saving bank operation practically great civilized country exception unite state last annual message commend recommendation extension parcel post rural route establishment local parcel post rural route would mutual benefit farmer country storekeeper desirable route serve people utilized full practicable extent amendment propose senate last session suggestion provide purpose ascertain practicability establish special local parcel post system rural route throughout united state authorize directed experiment report congress result experiment establish special local parcel post system rural delivery route exceed four county united state package matter originate rural route distribute post office delivery rural carrier would seem proper experiment try order demonstrate practicability proposition especially estimate revenue derive operation system rural route would amount many million dollar share national government take broad work education receive attention care rightly deserve immediate responsibility support improvement educational system institution rest always rest people several state act state local government nation opportunity educational work must lose duty longer neglect national bureau education establish forty year ago purpose collect diffuse information shall aid people united state establishment maintenance efficient school system otherwise promote education throughout country purpose way conflict educational work state may make great advantage state give full accurate hence helpful information suggestion regard best educational system nation broad field activity wider opportunity obtain information state foreign country able even rich state distinct additional advantage information thus obtain use immediate benefit people limit mean hitherto provide bureau education render efficient service congress neglect adequately supply bureau mean meet educational growth country appropriation general work bureau outside education alaska year 1909 amount less ten year ago important item appropriation less thirty year ago inexcusable waste public money appropriate amount inadequate make impossible properly work authorized unfair great educational interest country deprive value result obtain proper appropriation earnestly recommend unfortunate state affair regard national educational office remedied adequate appropriation recommendation urge representative common school great state university lead educator unite request favorable consideration action congress upon subject strongly urge request director census connection decennial work soon begin complied appointment census force place civil service law waive geographical requirement request director census supervisor enumerator appoint civil service law reason give director commend congress careful consideration admirable report director census trust recommendation adopt immediate action thereon take highly advisable intelligent action part nation question preserve health country practical extermination san francisco rodent country thus far escaped bubonic plague one many achievement american health officer show accomplish good organization present exist danger public health food adulteration many source menace physical mental moral development child child labor meet overcome numerous disease know preventable nevertheless prevent recent international congress tuberculosis make u painfully aware inadequacy american public health legislation nation afford lag behind battle wag civilized people microscopic foe mankind ought longer ignore reproach government take pain protect live hog cattle human being first legislative step take concentration proper bureau one exist department therefore urgently recommend passage bill shall authorize redistribution bureau shall best accomplish end recommend legislation enact place jurisdiction department commerce labor government print office present office combine control supervision administrative direction president joint committee print two house congress advantage employee office expenditure appropriate therefor supervise executive department obvious instead present combine supervision soldier home place complete jurisdiction control war department economy sound business policy require exist independent bureau commission place jurisdiction appropriate executive department unwise every standpoint result mischief executive work do save purely executive body control president executive body immediate supervision cabinet minister advocate immediate admission new mexico arizona state do present session congress people two territory make evident vote come one state alternative admit two trust do without delay call attention congress importance problem fishery interstate water great lake wise treaty april 11th year endeavor come international agreement preservation satisfactory use fisheries water otherwise achieve lake erie example rich fresh water fishery world control statute two nation four state one province province different ordinance different county political division work cross purpose case achieve protection fishery one hand justice locality individual case similar puget sound problem quite press interstate water united state salmon fishery columbia river fraction year ago would unite states government take complete charge intervene oregon washington year fishermen state naturally try take could get two legislature never able agree joint action kind adequate degree protection fishery moment fishing oregon side practically close limit washington side kind one tell court decide statute action result meanwhile salmon reach spawn ground probably four year hence fishery amount nothing come struggle associate fisherman one hand owner fish wheel river fishery mississippi ohio potomac also bad way remedy except united state control legislate interstate fishery part business interstate commerce case machinery scientific investigation control already exist united state bureau fishery similar problem obvious simple rule follow matter particular state manage take hand united state problem seesaw conflict state legislature absolutely unsolvable easy enough congress control federal statute regulate interstate traffic game extend include fish new federal fish hatchery establish administration alaskan service vest bureau fishery nation foreign policy base theory right must do nation precisely individual action last ten year matter proven faith deed behave behaving towards nation private life honorable man would behave towards fellows commercial material progress twenty republic worthy careful attention congress section world show great proportionate development foreign trade last ten year none special claim interest united state offer probably large opportunity legitimate expansion commerce group country country want product greatly increase quantity shall correspondingly need international bureau american republic useful work make nation resource well know u acquaint u people purpose towards exchange good international institution support government two americas work panama canal do speed efficiency entire devotion duty make model work kind task magnitude ever undertaken nation task kind ever well perform men isthmus colonel goethals fellow commissioner entire list employee faithfully duty right ungrudging respect gratitude american people recommend extension ocean mail act 1891 satisfactory american ocean mail line south america asia philippine australiasia may establish creation steamship line natural corollary voyage battle fleet precede open panamal canal even favorable condition several year must elapse line put operation accordingly urge congress act promptly foresight already show action sooner later inevitable call particular attention territory hawaii importance island apparent need improve condition develop resource urgent recent year industrial condition upon island radically change importation coolie labor practically cease develop diversity agricultural product make possible change land condition territory opportunity may give small land owner similar mainland aid change national government must provide necessary harbor improvement island agricultural product carry market world coastwise ship law amend meet special need island alien contract labor law modify application hawaii enable american european labor bring thither begin improve pearl harbor naval base provide necessary military fortification protection islands strongly emphasize need appropriation purpose amount within short possible time make island practically impregnable useless develop industrial condition island establish base supply naval merchant fleet unless insure far human ingenuity safety foreign seizure one thing remember fortification almost useless make impregnable sea leave open land attack true even coast doubly true insular possession hawaii instance bad useless establish naval station unless establish behind fortification strong landing force take save regular siege operation real progress toward make philippine island gather philippine legislative body philippine assembly mark process absolutely new asia regard asiatic colony european power regard asiatic possession asiatic power indeed always except strike wonderful example afford great empire japan open entirely new departure compare anything happen among asiatic power master hitherto philippine legislature act moderation seem practical fashion realize eternal truth must always government way body individual escape necessity govern outsider show able restrain keep wrongdoing disorder filipino people official therefore make real step direction hope believe step mark begin course continue till filipinos become fit decide whether desire independent nation well well also americans past decade do much damage filipinos agitation immediate independence totally unfit remember depends must depend upon filipino give opportunity develop capacity follow advice foolish doctrinaire wish u time last ten year turn filipino people adrift shirk plain possible duty inflict last wrong upon filipino people act exactly opposite spirit give filipinos constitutional government government base upon justice show govern good aggrandizement present time past ten year inexorable logic fact shows government must supply u must wise generous must help filipinos master difficult art simply another name give save sense govern gradually may able learn govern present system law sympathetic administration every reason believe gradually acquire character lie basis lack system law paper constitution wise serve substitute people philippines achieve may legitimately call marvelous success give government mark part authority necessary understanding people necessary purpose serve disinterestedly good faith trust within generation time arrive philippine decide whether well become independent continue protection strong disinterested power able guarantee island order home protection foreign invasion one prophesy exact date wise consider independence fix definite policy would worse folly try set date advance must depend upon way philippine people develop power recommend american citizenship confer upon people porto rico cuba occupancy cease two month time cubans orderly manner elect governmental authority island turn occupation occasion last little two year cuba thriven prosper earnest hope one desire people island shall govern justice peace order may secure gladly help end would solemnly warn remember great truth way people permanently avoid govern without show govern within japanese government postpone 1917 date great international exposition action take insure ample time prepare make exposition make american commissioner visit japan postponement merely give ampler opportunity america represent exposition since first international exposition one great importance mark fiftieth anniversary ascension throne emperor japan extraordinary leap foremost place among nation world make japan half century something unparalleled previous history exposition fitly commemorate signalize giant progress achieve first exposition kind ever hold asia united state ancient friendship two people u front pacific grow commercial relation country asia take peculiar interest see exposition make success every way take opportunity publicly state appreciation way japan australia new zealand state south america battle fleet receive practice voyage around world american government strongly express appreciation abound generous hospitality show ship every port visit regard army call attention fact junior officer enlist men stand high present system promotion seniority result bring high grade many men mediocre capacity short time serve man regard vest right rise high rank army profession curious mean creditable fact often failure part public representative understand great need standpoint service nation refuse promote respectable elderly incompetent higher place give deserve men without regard seniority least seniority treat one consideration stress modern industrial competition business firm could succeed responsible management choose simply ground old people employment yet course advocate regard army require law grade except general officer matter fact best officer high rank army attain present position wholly part process selection scope retire board extend could consider general unfitness command order secure far rigid enforcement present elimination officer mental physical temperamental disability plan recommend congress see fit provide judgment far good selection promotion elimination age officer fail attain certain rank certain age retire instance man attain field rank time 45 course place retired list general officer select present promotion make selection selection make president secretary war list least two candidate propose vacancy board officer arm service promotion make bill congress object secure promotion officer various grade reasonable age process selection board officer least efficient retirement percentage pay depend upon length service bill although accomplish do long step right direction earnestly recommend passage completely effective measure cavalry arm reorganize upon modern line arm peculiarly necessary field officer old cavalry much difficult form infantry keep maximum efficiency strength make hurry present infantry artillery number need especial attention pay development machine gun general service corp establish thing average soldier far much labor nonmilitary character perform organize militia national guard incorporate army part national force behoove government every reasonable thing power perfect efficiency assist instruction otherwise aid liberally heretofore continuous service many regular officer essential connection officer must specially trained service school best qualify instructor national guard detail officer train service school duty national guard entail detach regiment already greatly deplete detachment officer assignment duty prescribe act congress bill pending congress create number extra officer army pass ought enable officer trained instructor national guard assign duty case war utmost importance large number train officer use turn raw levy good troop legislation provide complete plan organize great body volunteer behind regular army national guard war come congressional assistance give endeavor promote rifle practice men service may know use rifle team represent united state rifle revolver championships world comer england year unfortunately true great body citizen shoot less less time go meet encourage rifle practice among schoolboy indeed among class well military service every mean power thus otherwise may able assist preserve peace world fit hold strong nation earth voice peace carry end earth unprepared therefore unfit must sit dumb helpless defend protect others preserve peace first step direction preparation avert war possible fit war come teach men shoot approve recommendation general board increase navy call especial attention need additional destroyer collier four battleship desirable complete soon possible squadron eight battleship best exist type north dakota delaware florida utah form first division squadron four vessel propose form second division improvement first ship heavy single caliber big gun type vessel tactical quality speed turn circle near possible tactical quality four vessel name build earnestly recommend general board law turn general staff literally excuse whatever continue present bureau organization navy navy treat purely military organization everything subordinate one object secure military efficiency military efficiency guarantee time war thorough previous preparation time peace preparation may add probability prevent need war secretary must supreme official adviser body line officer power pas upon coordinate work proposal several bureaus system promotion merit either selection exclusion process introduced question present principle promotion mere seniority keep expect get best result high officer men come old stay short time high command position two hospital ship provide actual experience hospital ship fleet pacific show invaluable work ship also prove well kept command medical officer expect anticipation trouble command prove completely baseless absurd put hospital ship line officer would put hospital shore command ought realize excuse failure realize nothing well navy every standpoint ever occur cruise battle fleet around world improvement ship every way extraordinary gain far experience battle tactic would gain stayed atlantic water american people profound gratification view excellent condition fleet show cruise view improvement cruise work already high condition believe service world average character efficiency enlist men high case believe statement make officer take whole must reservation make regard high rank already speak regard enter service get full benefit excellent naval school annapolis absurd graduate midshipman ensigns keep two year anomalous position present law require detrimental service academy every first classman require turn serve petty officer officer ability discharge duty prerequisite go line success command largely determine stand graduation board visitor appoint january member require give least six day service one three day perform june week least desirable time board annapolis far benefit navy observation concern